Serial No. 686
Internal Affairs
o Chairman Kim Jong Il met with Li Zhaoxing, Chinese Foreign Minister who visited North Korea, reported Central Broadcasting Station and Pyongyang Broadcast Service on March 23.
o The 2nd session of the 11th Supreme People's Assembly was held at the Mansudae Assembly Hall on March 25. Agendas tabled include following:
- The cabinet's projects for 2003 and projects scheduled for 2004 (Pak Pong Ju, Prime Minister)
- Results of the 2003 budget and the budget for 2004 (Mun Il Bong, Finance Minister)
Chairman Kim Jong Il did not attend the session.
o North Korea announced that the 22nd "Spring Art Festival in April" will be held around April 15, the birthday of Kim Il Sung, and that the 6th Kim Il Sung Flower (Kimilsungia) Festival will be held from April 13 at the exhibition hall of Kimilsungia & Kimjongilia.
o The 4th "May 21 Architecture Festival" was held at the People's Palace of Culture March 23~26. The festival was attended by State Construction Minister Pae Tal Jun, architects, construction engineers and members of the science and education communities, according to a news report by Central Broadcasting Station on March 23.
o Rodong Sinmun announced in an editorial dated March 25 that all agricultural workers were urged to make efforts to engage in farming in the manner of the 'People's Army,' and to work enthusiastically to realize the political ideology, according to Central Broadcasting Station on March 25.
o Chairman Kim Jong Il sent a wreath expressing his condolences at the death of Nam Sang Rak, member of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party of Korea and deputy to the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, according to a news report by Central Broadcasting Station and Pyongyang Broadcasting Service on March 22.
o An anti-US rally was held March 23~25 in North Korea, in protest against the ROK-US Combined Forces Command's military exercise. The rally took place at five sites, including a factory, company, and universities including Pyongyang Medical School.
Relations with South Korea
o A Secretariat of North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland issued Information Bulletin No. 863 on March 19, in which it commented on South Korea's internal political turmoil following the move to impeach the South Korean President, and said that the U.S. is accountable.
- North Korea also criticized the South Korean Unification Minister for remarks implying that the North was to blame for the collapse of recent working-level talks on inter-Korean settlement and clearance, reported Central Broadcasting Station on March 20.
o North Korea denounced the ROK-US Combined Forces Command's exercise RSOI/Foal Eagle, calling it as a "reckless and senseless attempt to provoke a war so as to invade the DPRK," and demanded that the joint-military exercise be scrapped. The call came in statements issued by spokespersons for major government agencies and organizations such as North Korean Foreign Ministry (March 19, Central Broadcasting Station/Pyongyang Broadcasting Service), Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (March 20, Central Broadcasting Station), and Korean National Peace Committee (March 23, Central Broadcasting Station / Pyongyang Broadcasting Service).
o North Korea proposed postponing the inter-Korean working level talks for reconnecting railroads and highways until early April. The proposal came in a telephone message sent by the North Korean chairman of the inter-Korean Committee for the Promotion of Economic Cooperation.
- The North insisted that ROK-US Combined Forces Command's exercise RSOI/Foal Eagle has made it impossible to carry out the scheduled inter-Korean talks, according to a Pyongyang Broadcasting Service report on March 22.
External Affairs
o A North Korean Trade Bank delegation led by Vice Chancellor Kim Myon Suk visited Vietnam on March 5~12, signing a Trade Settlement Agreement with Vietnam Central Bank on March 8.
o In a KCNA briefing, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson criticized Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Sheik Ahmad Yassin, according to Central Broadcasting Station on March 25.
o On the occasion of the 1st anniversary of the U.S. war on Iraq, North Korea denounced Washington calling the war on Iraq a war without any justifiable cause, a criminal act of national terrorism and an infringement upon human rights, according to Pyongyang Broadcasting Service on March 20.
o The North Korean delegation led by Vice Foreign Trade Minister Ri Ryong Nam departed from Pyongyang to attend the 2nd DPRK-Nigeria Joint Committee meeting, according to Central Broadcasting Station and Pyongyang Broadcasting Service on March 25.
