InternalAffairs
Internal Affairs
o Chairman Kim Jong-il conducted an on-site guidance on the business of developing folk food at a "folk food fair" organized by the Joseon Cooking Association, according to the Central Broadcasting Station on June 26.
- The association is a body established at Kim's instruction on August 6, 1988 and exercises jurisdiction over the cooking sector and its technical development.
o By strengthening its cooperation with scientifically and technologically advanced countries such as Russia, China and Germany, and actively participating in international organizations this year, North Korea has been making efforts to stimulate international cooperation in the science and technology field and introduce advanced technologies.
- North Korea has had 11 cases of international cooperative activities in the science and technology field so far this year, of which seven were concerned with the IT sector.
o A North Korean economy and trade delegation, led by Vice Trade Minister Kim Jeong-ki, conferred with its Chinese counterpart led by Chen Jien of the commerce ministry in Pyongyang June 30, according to the Central Broadcasting Station on July 1.
o On the occasion of the 54th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, North Korea opened Halls of Class Education in Cheongjin, Northern Hamgyeong Province, and Ganggye, Jagang Province, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on June 29.
- Such halls, set up in Pyongyang, Gaesong, Sariwon and other key cities, serve as venues displaying relevant materials and infusing anti-Japanese and anti-American attitudes into the population.
o The (North) Korean Central News Agency reported June 24 that North and South Korea had agreed on the joint entry of athletes into the main stadium during the opening and closing ceremonies of the Athens Olympics August 13-29.
o A ceremony to open a newly constructed salt refinement factory in Nakwon County, Southern Hamgyeong Province, was held on June 30 by the Nakwon Daeheung Fisheries Enterprise.
Relations with South Korea
o North Korea asserted that the root cause for the abduction and execution of South Korean Kim Sun-il by the Iraqi terrorists was the U.S. invasion of Iraq and pressures on South Korea to send additional troops to Iraq. It then demanded that the South rescind its decision to deploy additional troops. North Korea made the assertion through a commentary of the Rodong Sinmun on June 26 and a report two days later by the secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.
o North Korea reported on recent inter-Korean contact and other inter-Korean news. The Central Broadcasting Station reported on June 26 the second round of sub-committee meeting on the Gaesong industrial zone and the working-level bankers' contact on clearing settlement, and also broadcasted on July 1 the second round of working-level delegates' meeting on the Inter-Korean general-level military talks. Pyongyang Broadcasting Station reported on July 1 the ceremony for the completion the model complex at the Gaeseong Industrial Zone.
External Affairs
o While evaluating as "positive progress" the U.S.' proposal made in the third round of the six-party talks on the resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue, spokesperson for the North Korean Foreign Ministry expressed dissatisfaction over the proposal, saying that it merely contained various demands designed to disarm North Korea by stage, according to the KCNA June 28.
o Spokesperson for the North Korean Foreign Ministry asserted in an interview with the KCNA a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula, saying the reduction of the American forces was aimed at decimating North Korea through the introduction of qualitatively superior sophisticated weapons to Korea.
- The assertion was the first official reaction from Pyongyang on the relocation of U.S. military bases in South Korea.
o North Korean Foreign Minister Baik Nam-sun met separately with foreign ministers from Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and the United States, while participating in the 11th Asian Regional Forum (ARF) held in Jakarta July 1-2.
