1.InternalAffairs
1. Internal Affairs
o North Korea held soirees and other events to mark the seventh anniversary (October 8) of the installation of chairman Kim Jong-il as the party general secretary and the 59th anniversary (October 10) of the founding of the Korean Workers Party.
o Chairman Kim Jong-il, accompanied by Li Yong-cheol, first vice director of the party central committee and generals Hyeon Cheol-hae and Pak Jae-gyeong, visited air force unit 2623, and then air force unit 447, which was honored with Oh Joong Heup's Seventh Regiment Title October 13-14.
o Chairman Kim Jong-il, accompanied by cabinet premier Pak Bong-ju and vice marshal Kim Young-choon, recently conducted an on-site guidance of the 55,000 square meters Ryongji Duck Farm created by soldiers.
o North Korea adopted insurance regulations covering the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and real estate regulations covering the Mt. Geumgang Tourism Region in accordance with decisions No. 35 and 36 made by the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly.
o North Korea held the 15th National Program Competition and Exhibition October 1-8 under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences. Some 640 programs were entered in the competition held at the Three Revolutions Exhibition Hall.
o North Korea held a "session of hidden heroes of the military first-era and meritorious workers" at the People's Palace of Culture on October 14 in the presence of party secretary Jeong Ha-cheol and workers from the ministries and other central government agencies.
2. Relations with South Korea
o North Korea denounced the United States for its scheme to reinforce military strength, including the recent dispatch of an Aegis warship to the East Sea, in hopes of invading North Korea supported by South Korea. The denunciation came in the form of a joint statement October 18 by the DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland and the North Korean National Peace Committee.
o With regard to South Korea's Chungmu Defense Plan, North Korea condemned it as a grave declaration of war against Pyongyang and demanded the South to scrap the plans and apologize. The demand came in the form of an interview October 12 with the spokesman of the Committee for the Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland.
3. External Affairs
o Cheon Jae-hong, North Korean ambassador to Australia, presented his credentials to the president of Vanuatu October 7. Li Won-seon, North Korean ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, presented his credentials to the presidents of Sao Tome Principe and Congo, respectively, October 1 and October 12.
o North Korea demanded that the International Atomic Energy Agency return to its original mission and genuine fairness, while denouncing the IAEA for its attitude of investigating the South Korean ''nuclear material-related experiments.'' The demand and denunciation came October 14 in an interview made by the spokesman of its foreign ministry.
