InternalAffairs
Internal Affairs
o Chairman Kim Jong-il on May 13 visited the Guseul and the Bidan falls and Six ponds, which were newly discovered in Beopdong county, Gangwon province, and complimented soldiers for their work in developing the falls and ponds as a tourist attraction. Kim also watched a performance of the naval concert command the same day, showing his interest in and care for the navy.
o North Korea continued to hold mass rallies at organizations and manufacturing enterprises to implement "party central committee's slogans" in the social, cultural and economic sectors. In particular, stress was put on the defense-related economic sector.
o Emphasizing through a Rodong Sinmun editorial that the "military-first" ideology is based on science and technology, North Korea held a national exhibition of tools, auxiliary equipment and components , which were entered by some 40 ministries and other central agencies and organized by the central committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions.
o North Korea said through Radio Pyongyang May 10 that it constructed a 'folk street' with a total area of 15,000 square meters in Sariwon, Hwanghae province, on the occasion of Goguryeo's founding king, Dongmyeong's birthday. It sought to highlight the pride of Korean national culture as well as heritage of the legitimacy of national history by holding an exhibition depicting Goguryeo's history, photos and folk relics.
o This year's first rice planting took place on May 10 in the Wonhwa Cooperative Farm, where Kim Jong-il serves as an "honorary farmer."
Relations with South Korea
o North Korea expressed its intention to improve relations with the South through a series of 10 special features, titled "Inter-Korean Relationship between Fellow Koreans after June 15, 2000, (North-South Joint Declaration). The newspaper Joseon Sinmun carried the series on March 31-April 30.
- Describing inter-Korean private sector exchange and contact, reunion of separated families, and inter-Korean economic cooperation in detail, the series highly rated the performances and gave an optimistic prospect for the relations between the two Koreas.
o North Korea's Central Broadcast on May 12 argued that the if Korean people pool their strength together they could advance the day of unification, as it sought to highlight the significance of the "Three Major Charters for National Unification" and the "Five Principles" on the occasion of the proclamation of the so-called "five principles day (May 24, 1990)."
External Relations
o Through a further report on May 12, the Korean Central News Agency maintained that the United States was undermining the process of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, and shifted all responsibility on the United States, insisting that whether the peninsula will be free of nukes or not is up to the United States due to the United States.
* Through the statements of its foreign ministry spokesman October 25, 2002 and April 30, 2003, North Korea claimed that the 1992 inter-Korean joint declaration on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula was nullified.
o Asserting that Japan was following the US scheme to suffocate North Korea, Pyongyang vehemently condemned senior Japanese figures for their remarks in support of sanctions against North Korea.
o In connection with a recent terrorist bombing attack in Chechnya, Kim Young-nam sent a message of condolences to the Russian president, in which he said North Korea did not support terrorism and was opposed to all forms of terrorism.
