Internal Affairs
Internal Affairs
- Chairman Kim Jong-il has visited military unit 301. Of the six public activities carried out in 2003, he devoted half of them to the visits with military troops, exhorting them to strengthen their combat preparedness.
- During January 22-26, North Korea's social organizations, such as General Federation of Trade Unions, Union of Agricultural Workers and Democratic Women's Union, held plenary sessions, or rallies, in support of the "government statement" announcing the withdrawal from the NPT. They also vowed to carry out the tasks contained in this year's New Year joint editorial.
- North Korea held "workers' meeting of the nation's agricultural sector" and "workers' meeting of the nation's land environment protection sector" to give instructions on this year's priority tasks to frontline workers.
- On the occasion of the lunar New Year, North Korea, unlike previous years, provided various events of food sampling and folk entertainment, highlighting Kim Jong-il's compassion and benevolence for the population and his "virtuous politics."
Relations with South Korea
- Kim Young-nam, Kim Yong-soon and other North Korean VIPs met or conferred with the South Korean presidential envoy and exchanged opinions about the nuclear issue.
- South and North Korea put finishing touches on the institutional framework for their overland traffic when chief delegates to the inter-Korean military working-level meeting met on January 27 and signed an agreement for the inter-Korean traffic along the Eastern and Western Coastal Districts across the South-North Control Zones. They resolved the differences by accepting the United Nations Command's trans-border procedures in the Demilitarized Zone.
- The South and the North adopted an agreement on the linkage of trans-border railways and roads at a meeting (January 22-25) of working-level consultations on traffic connection along the Western and Eastern coasts of the Korean peninsula. As a result, a smooth progress in the work to link rail and subsequent operations of the inter-Korean railway are expected.
- Framework for an active unification movement for this year has been laid, when The "Council for the (Korean) People's Reconciliation" in North Korea and the "Headquarters for the Promotion of Co-hosting of the (Korean) People's Events" in South Korea agreed to co-host various "unification events" including the March 1st Independence Day event.
External Affairs
- North Korea indicated it would stick to its current stand on the nuclear issue after a bureau director at the foreign ministry denied the development of nuclear device in an interview with the Korean Central News Agency. He also stated that North Korea's withdrawal from the NPT was a step ordered by Kim Jong-il.
- Also, a spokesman for the foreign ministry emphasized January 25 that North Korea would absolutely not take part in a "5+5" formula or any other multilateral negotiations for the resolution of its nuclear issue. He argued that these ideas were part of US attempts to bring international pressures on North Korea.
- In a statement issued three days later, the foreign ministry spokesman reiterated Pyongyang's opposition to making the nuclear question an international issue.
- Chairman Choe Tae-bok of the Supreme People's Assembly and the assembly's vice chairman Jang Cheol attended international conferences held in China and India, respectively, and made diplomatic efforts to publicize Pyongyang's position on the nuclear issue and to win endorsements for its position from the international community.
