【Internal Affairs】
On September 14, the North Korean media
reported that Pak Pong Ju, vice-chairman of the State Affairs
Commission, gave field guidance at cooperative farms in South Hwanghae
Province hit by Typhoon Lingling.
On September 16, the North Korean media emphasized the importance of
self-reliance in the national economy and in national defense.
On September 16, the North Korean media encouraged the people to
focus on autumn harvesting and threshing.
On September 18, the North Korean media reported that Pak Pong Ju,
vice-chairman of the State Affairs Commission, provided field guidance
at cooperative farms in Pyeongyang.
On September 19, the North Korean media underscored the success of
the 14th National Conference of Teachers (September 3) and encouraged
the teachers and education officials to work hard.
【Inter-Korean Affairs】
On September 18, the North Korean
media asserted that the South had admitted to kidnapping the
restaurant workers who had defected to the South and called on Seoul
to repatriate them.
【Foreign Affairs】
On September 16, the North Korean media
reported that the director general of the Department of U.S. Affairs
of the Foreign Ministry, in a statement, emphasized the DPRK’s clear
and unwavering stand, saying, “The discussion of denuclearization may
be possible when threats and hurdles endangering our system security
and obstructing our development are clearly removed beyond all doubt.”
On September 17, the North Korean media reported that a spokesperson
for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a Q&A session with KCNA
reporters, maintained that “the expulsion of the Japanese ships from
our exclusive economic zone is a just and righteous exercise of our
sovereign rights.”
On September 20, the North Korean media reported that North Korea’s
chief nuclear negotiator Kim Myong Gil, in a statement, said that he
wanted to be “optimistic” that the United States would present the
“right calculation method at the upcoming talks” regarding Trump’s
mention of “a new method.”
On September 20, the North Korean media reported that Kim Jong Un
sent a reply to a congratulatory message from Chinese President Xi
Jinping on the occasion of the founding anniversary of the DPRK
(September 9), underscoring that North Korea and China should carry on
and further develop their friendship.