Pyongyang, December 25 (KCNA) -- An endless stream of people from all walks of life and officers and men of the Korean People's Army is visiting the historic sites associated with Kim Jong Suk, an indomitable anti-Japanese heroine, on the occasion of her 84th birth anniversary (December 24, 1917). Nowadays many people are visiting Hoeryong, her hometown, in North Hamgyong Province. There are her statue and native home and other historic sites. The visitors are recalling with deep emotion her brilliant life. She devotedly defended the leader by protecting the headquarters of the Korean revolution at the risk of her life in every bloody battle during the anti-Japanese armed struggle.
The Korean people have praised her as an anti-Japanese heroine from long ago. They built up the historic sites associated with her revolutionary activities and erected her statues and historic monuments there in order to hand down her exploits to posterity. Her statues were erected in Hoeryong city in Juche 58 (1969) and in Kim Jong Suk county in Juche 63 (1974). Her bust is standing in the highest part of the revolutionary martyrs' cemetery which was built on Mt. Taesong in Pyongyang in Juche 64 (1975).
The "Revolutionary Museum of Comrade Kim Jong Suk" and the "Sinpha Revolutionary Museum" were built in the Hoeryong revolutionary historic site and the Sinpha revolutionary historic site in the township of Kim Jong Suk county, Ryanggang Province. and the historic monuments associated with her exploits were erected in different parts of the country including Chongjin city, Kyongsong county and Puryong county in North Hamgyong Province and Samilpho-ri in Kosong county, Kangwon Province. Recently, monuments to her revolutionary activities were erected in various places including Insan-ri in Rangrim county, Jagang province.
Pyongyang, December 17 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the history society of the DPRK released a statement yesterday denouncing some of the South Korean religious organizations for conducting an undisguised anti-DPRK campaign over the issue of Tangun. The "Federation of Christians" and some other pro-U.S. anti-communist religious organizations in South Korea are savagely destroying statues of Tangun, the ancestral father of the Korean nation, in different parts of South Korea, the statement said, and went on:
Anyone born in this land should have great national pride and self-respect in finding the ancestral father of the nation. But some religious organizations in South Korea committed such vandalism as destroying statues of Tangun.
This is nothing but a treacherous act of those who are ignorant of their ancestor and nation. Such vandalism is intended to negate the ancient history and homogeneity of the Korean nation, sow the seeds of discord among compatriots, block national reconciliation and unity and throw a wet blanket over the growing desire of all the fellow countrymen for reunification. They should admit their reckless crime, apologize to the nation for it, stop destroying statues of Tangun at once and immediately discontinue their anti-national action of inciting inter-Korean confrontation and tensions as a shock brigade of the anti-reunification forces. Pro-U.S., anti-communist religious organizations of South Korea should face up to the trend of the times and act with discretion.
Pyongyang, November 29 (KCNA) -- The Korean publications import and export company has recently published "Korean history seen through pictures", a 100-volumes cycle of picture books which has already seen 20 volumes off the press. The homogeneous Korean nation boasts fine cultural traditions spanning its 5,000 years of history, but for ages the flunkeyist historians distorted or emasculated national history and foreign invaders destroyed or plundered a large stock of historical materials and relics. After Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, under the wise guidance of the Workers' Party of Korea, Korean history was smoothed out into a proper system and a multitude of distortions or omissions were straightened out.
The pictorial cycle shows the course of history from the reign of Tangun (founder king of Korea's first state in the early 30th century B.C.) to the early 20th century, through superbly illustrated accounts of state-founding myths, great events, historical figures, the rise and fall of successive dynasties and episodes. Its vocabulary and plots are so legible and instructive as to give an insight of 5,000-year-long Korean history. It was compiled by Choe Hong Sik, a writer well versed in history, after years of information gathering and research, and illustrated by such famous merited artists as Cha Hyong Sam and Kim Yong Gwang. The printing of the pictorial will be completed by April Juche 91 (2002).
Pyongyang, November 28 (KCNA) -- Historical relics and remains of Korea are under state protection. A well-organized system of preservation has been established throughout the country. The Pyongyang cultural relics management agency is a pacesetter in this campaign. The Pothong gate, the west gate of the central fort of the walled city of Pyongyang, capital of Koguryo in the mid-6th century, has been repainted to keep it in original state. Similar repainting was done on Ulmil pavilion, which served as the northern command post built in the same period in the inner fort of the walled city of Pyongyang and other relics on Moran Hill. Repair projects were carried out on the ridges of titles of Chilsong gate (named after the great bear) built as the northern gate of the inner fort of the walled city of Pyongyang, and others. Explanatory boards in the city are being replaced by natural stones.
Similar projects are under way in provinces. In Kaesong, particular effort is directed towards the good management of historical relics of national value including the mausoleum of king Wang Gon, founder of Koryo: the mausoleum of king Kongmin, king of Koryo in the latter half of the 14th century the Koryo Songgyungwan, the highest educational institution in the Koryo and Ri dynasties, with 1,000 year-long history. The ridges of dormitory of the Sungyang private school built in the mid-16th century and internal facilities have been restored to original state. The rehabilitation project of Ryongthong temple, a noted temple in the Koryo dynasty, is under way. Kangwon Province is not exception. The Podok hermitage, built half way up a cliff of Mt. Kumgang and roofed with peculiar styles, is kept in good order, and other relics of the inner Kumgang area are well preserved.
Pyongyang, November 7 (KCNA) -- At least 19,090,000 booklets of over 3,270 works of President Kim Il Sung have been translated into different languages and published over the last 50 years. Collections of his works were translated into Russian and English and came off the press in the DPRK in Juche 40 (1951) for the first time during the hard-fought fatherland liberation war.
Over 146,900 booklets of his 38 works were translated into Russian, English, Chinese, Japanese and other languages and published in the 1950s alone. The translation and publication of his works were brisk in the 1960s and the 1970s witnessed a fresh turn in this work. Among them were "Kim Il Sung's Selected Works" (vols. 1-8) and "Kim Il Sung's Works" (vols. 1-44) which were comprehensively and systematically edited in chronological order. They include collections of his works related to different affairs such as the Juche idea, the building of the party and power, socialist construction, policies for the independent and peaceful reunification of the country and booklets of his works published in each period and at each stage of the developing revolution.
Many collections and booklets such as "Theses on the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country", "Let us intensify the anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. struggle", "On Some Theoretical Problems of the Socialist Economy" and part 1 "The Anti-Japanese Revolution" (vols. 1-8) of his reminiscences "With The Century" have been brought out several times, evoking a lively response worldwide for the truth, greatness, invincible vitality and rare attraction of the ideas and theories set out in them. Over 1,279,500 volumes of his more than 350 works have so far been reprinted.
Pyongyang, November 1 (KCNA) -- The pen is a mighty ideological instrument of the Workers' Party of Korea. Rodong Sinmun , organ of the central committee of the WPK, today says this in a signed article dedicated to its foundation anniversary (November 1). The article says: President Kim Il Sung, who established "Saenal," "Monthly Samil" and many other revolutionary media during the anti-Japanese revolution, founded the newspaper Rodong Sinmun and other publications of the party on the basis of the glorious traditions of the revolutionary media after the liberation of the country. He had since paid deep concern to enhancing their militant function and role.
The sacred footmarks of the great communist revolutionary fighter Kim Jong Suk are vividly left in the history of Rodong Sinmun and other publications of the party. Leader Kim Jong Il has paid deep attention to the press from the first period of his revolutionary activities. He has intensified his guidance to the newspaper and other publications of the party in particular, from the early 1970s when our revolution was entering a great turning and developed the media of our party into a mighty ideological instrument conducive to modelling the whole society on the Juche idea. He said: "I attach great importance to the pen as well as arms." The basic mission of the pen held by our journalists and other pressmen is to defend him politically and ideologically at the risk of their lives. Under his deep concern and wise leadership they have grown up as staunch fighters who have the spirit of devotedly defending the leader.
It is their proud trait that they are devotedly defending his ideas and theories, line, authority and exploits, regarding the pen as an ideological weapon for defending him politically and ideologically at the risk of their lives. They are guided by his idea and theory on the press media. The traditions and exploits of the revolution in the press media established by him are carried forward by them in the new century. It is thanks to the large contingent of such faithful journalists and pressmen armed with the spirit of devotedly defending the leader that the revolutionary character of our party's media as his media is being firmly defended, our ideological position of socialism is invulnerable and the single-hearted unity of our party and revolutionary ranks with the people's army as the core is being cemented as firm as an iron wall.
The Korea Herald, October 26, 2001.The flag made its debut when Korea sent its first foreign envoy to Japan in 1882, and head delegate Pak Yeong-hyo placed the flag onto the ship's sails at King Gojong's orders. It is commonly believed that the flag was invented by King Gojong in the early 1880s as a sign of his firm conviction in Korea's self-reliance against foreign powers like China, although there is no actual evidence supporting this theory..//..
The issue of a national flag in the modern sense first arose in 1875, when a Japanese naval fleet approached Ganghwa Island and stirred up a commotion with the Korean military. Korean soldiers fired shots into the Japanese flag, which the Japanese used as an excuse to launch a severe retaliation against Korea. Until this event, Koreans had little understanding of the heavy symbolic weight of a national flag.
King Gojong requested advice concerning the matter of a flag from China, under whose protection Korea became a vassal state. China responded by advising Korea to use a design similar to the Chinese national flag at the time - a dragon with five claws on a yellow background. In response to the suggestion to adopt a similar dragon flag using blue as its background colour and four claws for the auspicious creature, the court thought it was "too elaborate" to draw.
In April 1882, Korea and China met to officially discuss the issue of the former national flag, and it was during this meeting when the taegeuk design was discussed as a strong option for the first time. Chinese representative Ma Chien-chung put forth his own idea of using the intertwining yin-yang circle of red and blue and eight I-ching combinations to his counterpart Kim Hong-jip, as recorded in official Korean court documents..//..
Ultimately, Korea accepted the proposed design under pressure from its strong northern neighbour and hoisted the national flag when it dispatched the diplomatic mission led by Prince Pak Yeong-hyo later in the year. The early taegeuk version proposed by Ma, however, was different from the current style but closer to the original I-ching symbols with eight diagrams. Ma's taegeuk flag went through accidental but far-reaching changes.
The head delegate of the 1882 mission, Prince Pak Yeong-hyo, recorded in his journals how four sets of the bar lines were eliminated and the final design established. He wrote that when the flag design was first presented to James, the English captain of the ship on which Pak and his diplomatic mission were travelling to visit Japan, the British captain complained the design was too complicated and proposed eliminating four bar sets to the current form..//..
Pyongyang, October 22 (KCNA) -- The Ryongsong Machine Complex of Korea is one of the nation's powerful bases producing ordered equipment. In recent years the workers of the complex have manufactured ordered equipment and large machine tools even under the conditions where the country has been hard pressed for everything and sent them to different sectors of the national economy. Once it could not properly process simple machine parts. In the postwar difficult period it made an 8 meter turning lathe, a 3,000-ton press and a 6,000-ton press by its own efforts. It produced complete sets of many ordered equipment including equipment for vinalon factory and vinyl chloride factory in the 1960s.
It manufactured a 20 meter lathe, an 18 meter turning lathe in the 1970s and a 70 metre gantry planning machine, and a 10,000-ton press as high as 10-storeyed apartment house in a little more than one year in the 1980s. President Kim Il Sung gave on-the-spot guidance to the complex on 25 occasions right from the liberation of the country to the last moments of his life. Leader Kim Jong Il visited it on April 11. Looking back upon the course of its development, he said that it has turned into a leading machine producer, a "mother complex". He stressed that the Ryongsong Machine Complex, the largest base producing ordered equipment and the face of the Korean industry, should produce more machines including compressors and send them to construction sites and industrial establishments. The complex was commissioned in Juche 35 (1946). It is situated in Hungnam, south Hamgyong province.
Samjiyon, October 20 (KCNA) -- A ground-breaking ceremony for the second-stage construction of revolutionary sites in the area of Mt. Paektu, Ryanggang province in the north-eastern part of Korea was held on Oct. 20 at the plaza before the Samjiyon grand monument where President Kim Il Sung's statue stands. Hong Song Nam, premier of the DPRK cabinet, said in his report made at the ceremony that the builders are faced with the tasks to construct facilities for permanently preserving materials and relics in the revolutionary battlesites and historical sites and many new houses and readjust and recondition over 190 km of roads and construct several power stations and wind up the overhaul of the existing power stations.Senior officials of the party and the government, ministries and national institutions and party information workers took part in ground-breaking in different worksites.
Pyongyang, October 13 (KCNA) -- The Russian newspaper Pravda Oct. 9 carried an article titled "main emphasis on people's well-being" under the headline "on the occasion of the 56th anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea." The half century-long history of the DPRK is a glorious history of victory achieved under the leadership of the WPK, it said, and continued: The WPK has played a great role in building Korean-style socialism. The state philosophy of the DPRK is the Juche idea known to the world as a philosophy of independence. Guided by this philosophy, the WPK set it as its final goal to fully realize independence of the masses and has consistently defended sovereignty of the country and the nation. Koreans' way of thinking and principle of their activities are clearly represented in the slogan "Let us live our own way" that can be seen everywhere in the DPRK. Self-reliance is a source of their might. Leader Kim Jong Il has followed the policy to increase the economic and national defence potentials of the DPRK and raise its international prestige while leading the party and state. Most of the countries around the world, developing countries in particular, highly praise the achievements made by the DPRK and are proud of having friendly relations with it. The DPRK-Russia relations are making particularly dynamic progress.
Pyongyang, October 10 (KCNA) -- The Korean people are now celebrating the 56th anniversary of the foundation of the Workers' Party of Korea (October 10, 1945), their guiding force. On this day the Korean people look back with deep emotion upon the proud road of struggle covered by the party. 56 years have passed since the WPK proclaimed its foundation but it is 75 years since the formation of the Down-with-imperialism Union at which the party began to take its root. The WPK has developed into a seasoned veteran party in the arduous revolutionary struggle and construction work and the fierce struggle against the imperialists and all enemies. It has also grown to be an invincible revolutionary party which enjoys absolute support and trust from the people.
The party has opened up a new way for the popular masses' cause of independence, the socialist cause, and made brilliant victories and tremendous changes in this course, thus performing immortal feats to be recorded in the history forever. The party has been able to create an example of revolutionary party building and attain the great successes in the revolution and construction because it has become a party of the leader and formed the single-hearted unity with the popular masses. The historic cause of developing the WPK into the eternal party of President Kim Il Sung has been successfully realized by leader Kim Jong Il. So, it can preserve its character as the revolutionary party of Juche type forever. Kim Jong Il has been highly praised and respected by the people as an outstanding leader of the WPK and the revolution from his early years. Nearly 40 years of his revolutionary activities are the immortal history in which he has created a model of present politics.
Pyongyang, October 10 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today runs an editorial captioned "Let us demonstrate the might of the party in the revolutionary advance in the new century" and Minju Joson an editorial titled "Let us dynamically speed up the socialist march of the red flag under the leadership of the great party" on the occasion of the 56th anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea.
Rodong Sinmun says: President Kim Il Sung founded the party of Juche type, the first of its kind in the history of a working class party building, 56 years ago. This is the most brilliant one of the immortal exploits performed by him. The WPK has adorned the arduous years of the revolution in the 20th century with proud victories holding President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il in high esteem. It is confidently steering the 21st century with its invincible might. The party enjoys high dignity and authority as a party leading the new century. It is entirely attributable to the fact that it has Kim Jong Il at its head. The party is a dignified party whose members are armed with the idea of Kim Jong Il. His revolutionary idea is a successor to the revolutionary idea of Kim Il Sung and a perfect idea making it possible to achieve the independence of the popular masses century after century. Prevailing throughout the party today is his revolutionary idea.
The WPK is a party around which the revolutionaries of Juche type, who absolutely follow his idea and are fully armed with it, are single-heartedly united. It is a party which holds fast to his idea as its lifeline and struggles going through thick and thin to put it into practice. The WPK is an invincible party that thoroughly applies his politics in all fields of the revolution and construction, the editorial notes, and goes on: Our party is praised as a great party leading the revolutionary advance in the 21st century to victory for his army-first politics, in particular. The army represents the party in Korea. The army-first political mode of the WPK perfected and tested under the seasoned leadership of Kim Jong Il will remain unchanged no matter how the situation may change. The WPK is a dynamic party that does everything in a fresh and innovative manner as required by the new century.
The WPK today has a bright future as it has features as a party leading the revolutionary struggle in the new century. The WPK confidently steering the Juche-oriented revolution inspires all the people to win new victory. It is the general task and consistent line of our party building to hold president Kim Il Sung in high esteem for all ages and to strengthen the WPK as an eternal party of Kim Il Sung. The editorial calls for holding Kim Jong Il in high esteem with intense loyalty, glorifying the immortal feats performed by him in the party building generation after generation and wholeheartedly upholding his army-first politics. It also underscores the need to dynamically accelerate the socialist construction under the party's leadership and thus build up powerful state economic potential commensurate with the 21st century, the new era of the army-first revolution.
Minju Joson calls upon all the working people to vigorously accelerate the socialist advance of the red flag under the leadership of the WPK rallied close around Kim Jong Il and thus build a powerful socialist nation at an early date and successfully accomplish the revolutionary cause of Juche.
Pyongyang, October 3 (KCNA) -- The Mansudae Art Troupe is a well-known art troupe in Korea. The troupe has created and staged revolutionary operas and music and dance pieces. The troupe produced the revolutionary opera "The Flower Girl" in 1972 and has performed it more than 1.300 times. The opera deals with the process by which its heroine Kot Bun grows to be a revolutionary, well aware of the anti-popular nature of the exploiting society. She embarks upon the road of revolution while selling flowers out of sorrow and filial piety. The opera was staged in foreign countries hundreds of times. The troupe produced music and dance tale "Song of Paradise" in 1976 and presented it more than 340 times. Many music and dance pieces on diverse themes were created by it. They include over 1,500 famous songs of the era such as "Song of Comradeship" and "Soldier's Desire" and over 500 instrumental music pieces such as "Spring at the Post ".
The troupe has given more than 700 performances in at least 50 countries such as China, Cuba, Italy and Japan. The troupe has the merited men's and women's choruses and women's instrumental concert group. Over 100 Kim Il Sung Prize winners, people's artistes and actors and actresses, merited artistes and actors and actresses have been produced from among its members. The troupe was awarded Kim Il Sung Order in Juche 61 (1972). Its predecessor was the Pyongyang Art Troupe founded in Juche 35 (1946). It was renamed the Mansudae Art Troupe in September Juche 58 (1969).
Pyongyang, October 3 (KCNA) -- A ceremony was held at King Tangun's mausoleum in Kangdong county, Pyongyang, today on the foundation day of Korea. Tangun is the ancestral father of the Korean nation. He was the founder of the first state of ancient Korea. The history of the Tangun nation's state foundation had been considered to be a myth. But it was President Kim Il Sung who, possessed of a noble patriotic will, instructed that King Tangun's mausoleum was unearthed and Tangun's remains and the year he died were scientifically ascertained. The discovery proved in 1993 that he was born 5011 years ago and actually existed and a state of ancient Korea was set up in the area of Pyongyang 5,000 years ago.
Present at the ceremony were Kim Yong Dae, chairman of the central committee of the Korean Social Democratic Party and president of the national reconciliation council, Ryu Mi Yong, chairperson of the central committee of the Korean Chondoist Chongu Party who is president of the consultative council for the reunification of the Tangun nation, officials of political parties, power organs, social organizations and religious organizations in the DPRK and overseas compatriots. The participants paid homage to King Tangun at a memorial service for him. Ryu Mi Yong said in her address that the commemoration of the foundation day of Korea by the Korean people, who are descendants of Tangun, is of great significance in accelerating the cause of independent reunification of the country by the concerted efforts of the Korean people bolstering up the pride and self-respect of being the homogeneous nation who has lived for 5,000 years since Korea was founded by him. She was followed by other speakers. A folk art performance was given by artistes in Pyongyang at the ceremony.
ВОЙНА в Корее, начавшаяся 25 июня 1950 г., и поныне остается во многом загадочной войной. В январе 1950 г. Ким Ир Сен настойчиво просил Кремль одобрить его план объединения Кореи военным путем. Сталин дал согласие на встречу с Ким Ир Сеном для обсуждения этого вопроса. В апреле 1950 г. Ким Ир Сен и его министр иностранных дел совершили секретную поездку в Москву и привезли с собой примерный план наступления на Юг, который получил одобрение Сталина.
Но все-таки Сталин выдвинул несколько условий: нужно быть абсолютно уверенным, что "Вашингтон не полезет в драку"; Пекин должен поддержать освободительную войну в Корее; необходимо срочно укрепить северокорейскую армию; война должна быть молниеносной. Сталин сказал Ким Ир Сену, чтобы тот обсудил этот вопрос лично с Мао Цзэдуном. Окончательно сталинское "добро" было получено только после консультаций Сталина с Мао в мае 1950 г. Последний, по информации советского посла в Китае Рощина, полностью одобрил план освобождения Южной Кореи и обещал оказать в случае необходимости помощь в военном плане.
Но никто из коммунистических лидеров не учел, что в марте 1950 г. в США появилась директива Совета национальной безопасности СНБ-68, которая предписывала "сдерживать коммунизм" повсюду в мире. Это означало, что "периметр обороны" США автоматически раздвинулся, хотя Трумэн официально утвердил эту директиву лишь в сентябре 1950 г. Военные действия начались 25 июня в 4 часа 40 минут местного времени. Сила первоначального удара КНА для противника явилась полной неожиданностью. Так разразилась кровопролитная трехлетняя война, унесшая жизни нескольких миллионов людей.
Казалось бы, все ясно...
Но есть и другая точка зрения. В принципе Советскому Союзу не нужна была война на Корейском полуострове. Ведь стратегическое значение КНДР для СССР состояло в ее оборонительной задаче. Северная Корея должна была служить буфером, прикрывающим дальневосточные границы СССР. В то время, утверждают авторитетные исследователи, все шло к краху режима Ли Сын Мана - против него (равно как и против американцев) выступало большинство населения страны. В будущем это фактически создавало для США угрозу объединения Кореи под эгидой коммунистов.
И тогда, как считают некоторые историки, в узком кругу высшего американского руководства созрел план, нацеленный на то, чтобы заставить Сталина и Ким Ир Сена ударить первыми, после чего мобилизовать мировое общественное мнение на осуждение агрессора и обрушиться всей военной мощью (в первую очередь авиацией) на Северную Корею. В результате такой комбинации режим Ли
Сын Мана должен был автоматически укрепиться за счет действия законов военного времени и получить международную поддержку и признание. Одновременно укрепились бы позиции Вашингтона на Дальнем Востоке. Фактически так и произошло. Источник: Независимая Газета, 12 октября 2001, Александр Орлов, Виктор Гаврилов
(in Russian)
Chosun Ilbo, September 22, 2001. Whenever we look over books on the shelves of the libraries, public organizations, and schools we find some parts of them torn and effaced. Books in the private home are not an exception. These odd tracks denote regular inspection on publication targeting every organization, institution, and workplace. North Korean government launch censorship on publications stored not only in private home but also in the institution once or twice a year. The primary goal of this censorship is to sort out subversive publications, which later disappear in the society as inspection continuously goes on in the long period.
The censorship directly aims at expurgating and destroying ideas so mutinous that make room for agitating society against the policy North Korean People's Party is pushing ahead, and the remnants carved by officials ousted from political community, designated as 'betrayers of communism.' Among the victims are "Memories of partisan" , "For the freedom and liberation of people" , and "Among people" , as the people's party spur idolizing Kim Il-sung. If a co-author made a mistake and politically secluded, all his writings are deleted from the book.
In February 1997 when Hwang, Jang-yop, the most senior North Korean official ever to defect to the South, all his records remained behind were taken from every shelf of library and then were disposed. His name printed on the cover of books and his picture taken along with other officials also ended up to be erased. Seo, Kwan-hi, former secretary of general in department of agriculture, who later was relegated from the government due to the failure of agricultural policy in 1997, has been the victim that all his remarks was removed from records.
Censorship is managed by advertisement department of the central party where dispatch the list illustrating in detail the number of pages and paragraphs to be erased to provincial and municipal branch. Country party, after receiving the list from the central party, informs every labor group to initiate censorship on publications. Organizing inspection group with aggressive activists, they spontaneously launch inspection on every houses and workplaces. Subversive publications are deleted and phrases are painted black at this time. At this time, individuals make a list of publications they keep and inform censors in advance of those books in question in order to eschew mishap to come. People are not aware of why North Korean government initiated inspection and are not even allowed to be curious about what is questioned. Only they can assume what happened, just looking at the trace after a blow swept away.
The second censorship by municipal and provincial organization follows. Those who failed to previously inform the books in question would undergo hardships and even encounter judiciary action when discovered by censors dispatched from People's police. It usually takes 2 to 3 months for this round of inspection to be winded out and books are sealed
People Daily reported that recently leaders from the DPRK political parties and social communities made remarks requesting Japan to face its invasion crime and completely account for its invasion history. The DPRK Social Democratic Party leader reviewed the Japanese invasion to Korea and listed many horrible numbers, saying that Japan had invaded Korea for over 40 years, impressed over 6 million young laborers and killed more than 1 million Korean people. Other DPRK parties also expressed their anger and accusation to Japanese invasion. They said that Japan should apologize and compensate for the victim countries. (Xinhua News Agency, Zhang Jinfang, Li Zhengyu, "DPRK CALLED JAPAN TO ACCOUNT FOR ITS INVASION HISTORY," Pyongyang, 09/18/01, P3)
The Chosun Ilbo, September 10, 2001. "Let's all be united firmly around our beloved General Kim Jong Il, the great sun of the 21st century... and enhance the dignity and honor of the nation of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il." These are the closing remarks the North Korean Supreme People's Assembly standing committee chairman, Kim Yong Nam, made in an address he delivered at an August 14 ceremony dedicating the "Memorial Tower of Three Unification Principles," built at the entrance of Tongil (unification) Street, Pyongyang.
From the perspective of the traditional doctrine of Marxism, nations or nationalism ought to be fought against and overcome capitalist ideas. North Korea too used to adopt such a position. But a major shift began to take place in the North in the late 1980s and early 1990s when it began emphasizing "our nation" rather than the class.
The change sprouted when Kim Jong Il first used the term "our nation first policy" in his statement issued in July 1986, which took its shape as "the Korean nation first policy" in his statement of December 1989. He defined “our nation” or Korean nation first policy in these words: "Our pride lies in upholding the great supreme leader, being led by the great party, making juche (self-reliance) ideology the guiding ideology, and living in a superior social system." He went so far as to proclaim, "The greatest happiness of the nation consists in being led by the great supreme leader."
Position shifting involving nation and nationalism was revealed more clearly in remarks Kim Il Sung made in August 1990 to ranking North Korean headquarters officials of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland and the Pan-national Federation of Democratic Organizations. "The class can exist only when the nation exists, and class interests can be guaranteed only if national interests are guaranteed."
Kim Jong Il first used the term "Kim Il Sung nation" in October 1994 in a statement he made to leading central party officials, while observing a memorial service marking the l00th day of Kim Il Sung's death. "Though the founder of the nation is Tangun, the father of socialist Korea is the great supreme leader Comrade Kim Il Sung," he said, thereby elevating the Kim senior to the status of the legendary originator of the nation.
North Korea defines “our nation” even as the Kim Il Sung or Kim Il Sung-Kim Jong Il nation based on three achievements allegedly made by Kim Il Sung. They maintain that Kim Il Sung pioneered a new independent history of development for the nation, nourished “our” nation which used to be mistreated and insulted into a dignified and proud nation looked up to by the world, and established in the North a strong country based on the principles of independence, self-reliance and self-defense. The chief characteristic of the Kim Il Sung nation is the consciousness of loyalty to the great leader, which, in turn, is the supreme expression of the excellent national characteristic of the Kim Il Sung nation, they assert.
Pyongyang, September 10 (KCNA) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea marked its 53rd anniversary Sunday. President Kim Il Sung proclaimed the foundation of the DPRK 53 years back. The DPRK is the only legitimate state set up in accordance with the unanimous will of all the Korean people in the north and the south of Korea on the basis of the brilliant revolutionary tradition of power construction established by the president in the period of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle. The government of the DPRK is a true people's power which represents and defends the interests of the working people including workers and peasants and a fully independent socialist power. The foundation of the republic enabled the Korean people to emerge as a dignified people who hew out their destinies independently as the true masters of the state and society for the first time in history.
Having their genuine republic, the Korean people could emerge victorious in the three-year Fatherland Liberation War (June 1950-July 1953) fought to repel the U.S. imperialists' armed invasion and reliably defend the national sovereignty and gains of the revolution. They achieved signal achievements in the postwar rehabilitation and socialist revolution and construction. In those periods the DPRK rose as a socialist power independent, self-supporting and self-reliant in defence and the people's power grew stronger than ever before. The people's army and people of Korea, united closer around their leader, firmly defended socialist Korea in the 1990s when they were forced to carry out the "arduous march" and the forced march due to the imperialists' moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK.
Pyongyang, August 24 (KCNA) -- 30 years have passed since the premiere of the revolutionary opera "Sea of Blood" (Phibada) was given at the Pyongyang Grand Theatre in July Juche 60 (1971) in the presence of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il. In August of the same year Kim Jong Il said that the application of Pangchang to the revolutionary opera "Sea of Blood" was a great discovery as it broke with the outdated style of opera and developed Juche-based opera to meet the need of the era.
Noting that the opera is a masterpiece not because of its big scale but because of its rich and profound content, he highly praised actors and actresses for their truthful representation and successful singing.
The opera has so far been staged more than 1,500 times to evoke a lively response among audiences at home and abroad. The opera was adapted from Kim Il Sung's immortal classical masterpiece "Sea of Blood" created in the period of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle in reflection of realities in Korea at that time. The drama "Sea of Blood" was presented on makeshift stages in the 1930s. Deeply touched to see the performance, many Koreans turned out in the struggle against the Japanese imperialists.
It was Kim Jong Il who discovered the original work of "Sea of Blood" and developed it as a model revolutionary opera. He set it as the germ of the idea of the opera to turn the victims to the bloody repression into brave fighters and provided meticulous guidance to the creation of the opera. The revolutionary opera "Sea of Blood" was thus completed in a matter of months. Stanzaic songs, Pangchang, dances and successive three-dimensional stage decor were introduced to the opera quite different from the preceding operas. The revolutionary opera "Sea of Blood" opened a new history of creation of genuine operas. The subsequent period witnessed the creation and performance of a series of other "Sea of Blood" style operas in the DPRK.
Pyongyang, August 22 (KCNA) -- There is a history museum on Mt. Myohyang, a famous mountain of Korea, in Hyangsan county, North Phyongan Province. It shows Korea's cultural development in the middle ages. This museum is housed in Pohyon Temple, one of the famous temples in Korea. The temple is of great artistic value as it represents architecture in early 11th century. Many relics and remains including temples and towers are preserved in the area covering over 50,000 square meters. Pohyon temple was built in 1042. The existing main buildings were rebuilt in 1765. The octagonal 13-storied pagoda and the tetragonal nine-storied pagoda bear witness to stone architecture at that time. The bells which ring in the breeze are hanging from the edges of the roofs of each storey of the octagonal pagoda. There are 104 bells. The bells produce different tunes even in the breeze. Lower and upper sections of the platform of the tetragonal nine-storied pagoda are engraved with lotus flowers and tiers of the tower have delicate and ingenious designs. There are 80,000 blocks of complete collection of Buddhist scriptures, a national treasure, and wooden blocks of Buddhist scriptures in the periods of Koryo and Ri dynasties which show a high level of publication and printing technique of the ancestors. The museum standing on picturesque Mt. Myohyang draws many visitors.
Pyongyang, August 15 (KCNA) -- Wreaths were laid before the liberation tower and the tombs of fallen soldiers of the soviet army here today on the occasion of the 56th anniversary of Korea's liberation. Present at the ceremonies of laying wreaths were Yang Hyong Sop, vice-president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, Ri Kwang Gun, minister of foreign trade, officials concerned, generals and officers of the Korean People's Army and working people in the city. Oleg Davydov, Charge D'affaires and interim of the Russian embassy here, and embassy officials and foreign military attaches here were also present there. A wreaths was laid in the joint name of the central committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's assembly and the DPRK cabinet.
Also placed before them were wreaths in the name of the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Trade, in the joint name of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and the Kkorea-Rrussia Friendship Aassociation, in the joint name of the Pyongyang city committee of the EPK and the Pyongyang City People's Committee and in the joint name of the Sadong district, Pyongyang, committee of the WPK and the Sadong district, Pyongyang, People's Committee. Also laid before the liberation tower was a wreath in the name of the Russian embassy here.
Earlier, Russian consul-general Arkadi Lavrov and officials of the consulate general in Chongjin laid bunches of flowers before the liberation tower and the tomb of fallen soldiers of the soviet army in Chongjin. Wreaths were laid before liberation towers, monuments to the fallen soldiers of the soviet army, statues of the Soviet Army and tombs of fallen soldiers of the Soviet Army in Nampho, Wonsan, Chongjin, Haeju and other local areas, in the joint name of the provincial and city people's committees. Working people and Russian embassy officials here placed bouquets and flowers there.
pyongyang, August 13 (KCNA) -- August 15, 1945 was the day when the historic cause of national liberation was achieved. Since liberation the Korean people have enjoyed an independent and creative life free from domination and subjugation of the Japanese imperialists. That is the fruition of the wise guidance of President Kim Il Sung who led the 20-odd-year long anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle to victory.
The president embarked upon the road of revolution in his teens, bearing the destiny of the country and nation on his shoulders. In April Juche 21 (1932) he founded the Korean People's Revolutionary Army (KPRA) and declared a war against Japan. He dealt a telling political and military blow to the brigandish Japanese imperialists by applying original guerrilla tactics without the backing of the state and the regular army.
He instilled into the people the confidence in the victory of revolution and unshakable faith that when they fight against Japanese imperialism they are sure to win. He wisely led the work to mobilize the whole nation to a final decisive battle against the Japanese imperialists while fighting many battles and making marches.
An all-people resistance was thus fully prepared to positively greet a great event of national liberation.
On August 9, Juche 34 (1945) he ordered all units of the KPRA to launch a final offensive operation for national liberation. The operation for national liberation was participated in by units of the KPRA, people's armed groups, organizations of armed uprisers and broad sections of people across the country. The Japanese imperialists unconditionally surrendered in just a week after the start of the operation.
Pyongyang, August 14 (KCNA) -- The Arch of Triumph was erected on triumphal return square at the foot of Moran Hill in the capital city of Pyongyang. This is precisely the historic place where President Kim Il Sung, who had set out on the road of revolution while still a boy, driven by a passionate desire for national liberation, offered his first greeting to our people after leading the arduous anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle to victory and returning home in triumph.
The Korean people built the arch of triumph in April Juche 71 (1982) on the occasion of the 70th birth anniversary of the president to hand down his immortal revolutionary exploits and revolutionary history to posterity. A grand structure 60 metres high, 50.1 metres long and 36.2 metres wide, the Arch of Triumph is a four-storeyed edifice piled up with pieces of white granite. The archway 27 metres high and 18 metres wide is open in four directions. The archway is fringed with 70 azalea reliefs.
Carved in relief on the front and back of the Arch of Triumph is the immortal revolutionary hymn "Song of General Kim Il Sung" and on both sides a bronze relievo "a guerilla bugler." also carved on the right and left pillars are Mt. Paektu, the sacred mountain of revolution, and the dates "1925" and "1945," the year when the president set out on the struggle for national liberation and the year when he returned in triumph after winning it.
There are the relievos of the subsidiary six-figure groups below them. The sculptural groups represent anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters and people from all walks of life warmly welcoming the president upon his triumphal return and the excited faces of the working people out to build a new country in response to his speech on triumphal return. The arch of triumph has scores of rooms, balustrades, an observatory, lifts, etc.
Pyongyang, August 9 (KCNA) -- The Pyongyang National Circus in the DPRK is well known at home and abroad. The circus has given over 30,000 performances since it was established on June 10, 1952. These include more than 5,300 performances staged in over 540 cities of a total of 187 countries through its 120 odd foreign tours. At the time the circus was born it had no more than dozens of acrobats. But it has developed to be an organization for acrobatic creation and performance, staffed with hundreds of acrobats and creators. In this period it put on stage nearly 1,000 works including body and animal acrobatics, circus on ice and synchronized swimming, magic and interlude.
Many works were appreciated as excellent ones at over 30 international acrobatic and magic festivals.
Known worldwide are aerial stunts "flying girls", "three-stage trapezs flight" and other acrobatic pieces and magic works presented by Kim Thaek Song and Jong Ae Sim who earned fame as twice magic king and magic queen of the world respectively. The circus has produced dozens of holders of honorary titles including people's artists Pak So Un, Kim Jae Gun and people's actor Kim Thaek Song and his sons people's actors Kim Chol and Kim Kwang Chol, who are jugglers. The circus is headquartered in the magnificent Pyongyang Circus Theatre in Kwangbok Street, Pyongyang.
Pyongyang, August 8 (KCNA) -- There is a revolutionary martyrs cemetery on Mt. Taesong in the suburbs of Pyongyang, where the fallen anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters are entombed. They belonged to the first generation of the Korean revolution who devoted their all to the struggle for the liberation of the country and the freedom and happiness of the people from the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle (October 1926-August 1945). The cemetery is called the revolutionary martyrs cemetery on Mt. Taesong.
It was built in October Juche 64 (1975) and rebuilt and enlarged in October Juche 74 (1985) as a grand monumental edifice four times as big as the previous one. Most of the area of the cemetery is decorated with granite and there are monuments showing the fighting exploits of the martyrs. At the entrance to the cemetery there is the gate, and a little onward lie more than 400 large stairs along the slope before the memorial pillars. If you climb up passing through the pillars, you will reach the ground of sculptural groups. Standing on each side are sculptural groups which concentrically show the history of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle.
If you go up further, you will each the education ground and find a monument to President Kim Il Sung's handwriting, another monument inscribed with a paean, group sculptures and a wreath-laying stand with a medal of the DPRK hero carved in relief. Standing in the busts district are busts of more than 120 anti-Japanese revolutionary martyrs against the background of a red flag which is depicted grandiosely. If one climbs the cemetery, he can enjoy a bird's eye of view of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace where Kim Il Sung is preserved in state and a panoramic view of Pyongyang.
Joongang Ilbo reported that DPRK Chairman Kim Jong-il conducted an on-the-spot-guidance, or field inspection, of Ryongsong Revolutionary historical site and Ullim (Vibrating) Waterfall in Bobdong County of Kangwon Province on Sunday, according to the DPRK Central Television News on Monday. The Chairman's aides included deputy chief of General Political Bureau Ri Myong-su, Hyon Chol-hae and Pak Jae-gyong, Party Secretary Kim Kuk-thae and Kim Ki-nam, first deputy chiefs of the Party Central Committee Jang Song-thaek, Ju Kyu-chang, Kim Hi-thaek and many other members. After inspecting the site, Chairman Kim highly praised the efforts of museum people in charge of lecture and management of the facility and called on them to further boost their efforts to educate people. ("KIM JONG-IL MAKES FIELD INSPECTION TO RYONGPO HISTORICAL SITE," Seoul, 08/27/01)
Pyongyang, August 1 (KCNA) -- Minju Joson yesterday carried a signed article on President Kim Il Sung's irrefutable clarification that it is the U.S. imperialists who divided Korea. The division of Korea was not caused by the contradiction within the nation, the article said, and went on:
This is proved by the fact that delegates of the nation were absent at the international conference of the countries concerned which dealt with the Korean issue. Originally, Korea neither invaded other country nor was defeated. The Korean nation achieved the liberation of the country by itself. therefore, there was neither reason nor pretext for the allied powers to make the Korean issue an object of post-war settlement. The president made it clear that the U.S. imperialists have long pursued the policy of aggression on Korea and they framed up a crafty "proposal for dividing Korea with the 38th parallel as a demarcation line" after the second world war and illegally occupied South Korea.
The Korean People's Revolutionary Army and the former Soviet Army launched a general offensive on August 9, Juche 34 (1945) and advanced into Korea, breaking through the fortresses of the Japanese imperialists. But by that time the U.S. troops were in Okinawa and the Philippines. Accordingly, the U.S. imperialists had neither time nor ability to set foot in any part of Korea. That was why they imminently had a confab to occupy any region of Korea, ordered by U.S. President Truman. At the confab the U.S. troops were unilaterally entrusted to disarm the Japanese army in the area south of the 38th parallel of north latitude. And the written proposal was unilaterally communicated to other allied powers. On this basis the U.S imperialists landed in South Korea on September 8, nearly one month after the defeat of the Japanese imperialists.
The U.S. imperialists renamed the Korean government-general of the Japanese imperialists the "U.S. military government" and enforced a "military rule" in South Korea. Under the U.S. "military government" the people's committees organized on the initiative of the people were forcibly dissolved and transport and communications between the north and south were cut by the boundary of the 38th parallel. They illegally brought the Korean issue to the U.N. and forced a "separate election" upon South Korea to set up a pro-American "separate government" there under the signboard of the U.N. and divide Korea artificially.
Pyongyang, August 1 (KCNA) -- Recently Korean archeologists succeeded in discovering mural tomb in Thaesong-ri, Kangso district, Nampho. The tomb is believed to belong to the period of Koguryo. This is named "Tomb No.3 in Thaesong-ri". The tomb is a typical tomb built with stone and covered with earth belonging to the period of Koguryo (277 B.C.- 668 A.D.) The tomb is square at its bottom and round from it to its top. One side of its bottom is 32 m long. An entrance to the tomb is on its south side. The tomb divided into several rooms covers 38.68 square meters. Walls of a room where there is an entrance are made up of layers of plain rocks that are plastered several times while those of other rooms are made up of huge granite.
Murals are painted on the right and left walls of the first room, on its ceiling and on stone walls in other rooms. Foreign aggressors robbed the tomb of its valuables several times. Their walls and ceilings were severely destroyed in particular. As a result, only an image of a person and patterns on the mural painting on the western wall of the first room remain slightly recognizable. Unearthed in the tomb were gold ornaments, jewellery, bronze bracelet, glazed pottery and many pieces of pottery, coffin nails and other relics. According to archaeologists, structure, building materials and relics inside the tomb prove that it is a king-level tomb belonging to the period from early to the middle of the 4th century. The tomb is drawing a keen interest of historians.
Pyongyang, July 28 (KCNA) -- 48 years have passed since the Korean War ceased. The people and People's Army of Korea have celebrated the first day of victory in the Korean War in the new century. They always remember the scourge of war imposed by the U.S. imperialists, the chieftain of aggression, upon them. It was universally recognized that it was none other than the United States which started the Korean War. This is proven by historical facts.
After occupying South Korea at the end of the second world war the United States desperately worked to seize the whole of Korea, its century-old dream. It massively increased armed forces necessary for executing a war and trained the South Korean army in the American way. The director in charge of South Korea of the U.S. economic aid bureau testified at the budget committee of the house of representatives on May 19, 1950 that 100,000-strong South Korean army equipped with U.S. weapons and trained by U.S. military advisory group was already prepared for a war and ready to start an operation anytime.
Before the war the United States amassed all types of war materiel and weapons in the areas along the 38th parallel to attack the DPRK. Macarthur confessed this in his testimony made after his dismissal. The U.S. also worked out the "NSC-68" strategic plan on "special action" to be taken in case of the outbreak of the Korean War. According to the U.S. newspaper the New York Times, this was the Korean War scenario which was drafted and agreed upon at the joint meeting of the U.S. department of state and the joint chiefs of staff by the order of U.S. President Truman in January 1950 and approved at a meeting of the U.S. national security council on April 2. Even the U.S. media including the magazine life said it was the first time in the U.S. history that it was fully prepared for the war as for this Korean War. On May 9, 1950 U.S. Secretary of Defense Johnson reported to Truman that 100,000 officers and men of the South Korean army were ready to launch a war any moment.
Having wound up preparations for the war, the United States sent Dulles to finally examine the war scenario. The "four party talks held in Tokyo" fixed June 25, 1950 as the date to start the war. Meanwhile, secretary Acheson and officials of the U.S. department of state had even a draft "resolution" to be presented to the U.N. security council right after the outbreak of a war in Korea. The U.S. imperialists were crafty enough to dream up a lie that "North Korea launched an armed attack on the south" and force the security council to adopt at its meeting an illegal "resolution" branding the DPRK as an "aggressor." But nothing can cover up or erase historical truth.
The United States should not forget a serious lesson from its disgraceful defeat in the Korean War but stop running wild. The Bush administration is pursuing the same policy to isolate and stifle the DPRK in the new century as that went bankrupt in the 20th century. It is foolish of the United States to put pressure upon the DPRK with a hardline policy. This can never work on the DPRK. It is the DPRK's unchangeable stand to approach good faith with good faith and respond to hard line with super hard line.
N. Korea Leader Begins Russia Trip
By Anatoly Medetsky
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, July 26, 2001; 5:58 PM
KHABAROVSK, Russia –– After midnight the lights went out in the Khabarovsk railroad station, and Russian guards with rifles went on the ready. Then, just before 2 a.m. a Moscow-bound train pulled in, carrying a mysterious and reclusive passenger: Kim Jong Il, leader of North Korea. Historians believe Kim was born near Khabarovsk, but if the 20-minute stop had any sentimental meaning, he kept it to himself. Russian officials say Kim is eager to see places associated with his father and predecessor as leader, who died in 1994.
Kim Il Sung, an anti-Japanese guerrilla fighter in Manchuria in the 1930s, crossed into the Soviet Far East during World War II and joined the Red Army. He was assigned to an infantry officers' school in Khabarovsk, on the border with China. Many South Korean and foreign experts say his son was born near Khabarovsk in 1942. But official biographies say he was born at Paektu, the mountain where legend says Korea was founded.....
The Associated Press reported that US Defense Department officials said on July 22 that its investigators are beginning a search for the remains of hundreds of US servicemen killed in the Chosin Reservoir area of North Korea in 1950. The search, which began on July 21, is the first in the Chosin Reservoir area since the Korean War ended in 1953. The area was the scene of fierce battles in November-December 1950, when the 1st Marine Division was overwhelmed by a surprise PRC army assault and was forced to withdraw under fire. Larry Greer, a US Defense Department spokesman, said that a team from the US Army's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawai'i arrived in the DPRK on July 21. ("SEARCH BEGINS FOR REMAINS IN NORTH KOREA," Washington, 7/21/01)
by Hyung Il Pai
Reviewed by Roald H. Maliangkay. Leiden University [This review first appeared in _Acta Koreana_, 4 (2001): 170-73. Acta Koreana is published by Academia Koreana of Keimyung University.]
Nationalism has been a major force in the creation of the Korean state in the twentieth century. It was fuelled during the colonial period when it underpinned the struggle for independence. Korean intellectuals promoted
patriotism, and with it a sense of nationhood, yet the question of identity suddenly became an important issue when Japanese archaeologists began digging into Korea's past. Their activities and those of anthropologists,
paid for largely by the Japanese government, focused on the history and culture of Korean civilization. The Japanese military government planned to assimilate the Korean people and the outcome of the studies, so it hoped, would serve to facilitate the assimilation process. It also made efforts to prevent expressions of a distinct Korean identity. For that purpose it imposed strong censorship and ruled that, among other things, the Korean Confucian institution was to be broken down, Korean history books rewritten, and Japanese taught as the primary language at schools...
Pivotal periods on the Korean peninsula include the aftermath of World War II through to the war of 1950-53, the Sino-Soviet split, the democratization of Seoul's regime and the end of the Cold War. Mark B M Suh traces these events, and the great hope to overcome the division between North and South.
Pyongyang, July 19 (KCNA) -- It happened in a hot day of August Juche 40 (1951). President Kim Il Sung examined the trial products of military uniform for winter use and chose a pair of padded shoes. He had used the shoes for more than one week since the next morning to estimate their quality. One day he visited an engineering work site to hear soldiers' comment on the shoes. He told them not to simply say that the shoes were good but point to their defects to help produce better ones. He was pleased to hear their opinions and assured them that the shoes liked by them would be produced.
Early in July Juche 39 (1950) the president assigned officials in the field of education a task to recover the true records of the Ri dynasty - Yijo Sillok (government diary of the feudal state of the Ri dynasty that existed for 519 years). he instructed them to recover the precious national treasure at any cost. A course to recover the books was drawn on the operational map of the supreme headquarters and orders were issued to institutions concerned and units of the Korean people's army to carry out the operation. This was how the true records of the Ri dynasty were recovered amid the turbulences of the war.
There is another anecdote telling about the greatness of the president. One day in the Autumn of Juche 53 (1964) the president received an overseas Korean businessman. The businessman told the president that he was wrong when he intended to build a factory in South Korea, adding that he would like to build it in the North. But the president noted with smile that there was no need to do so and it would not be bad but good for the Korean people if even one more factory was built in South Korea. And he said that the construction of the factory in South Korea would be helpful to the future development of the country. Deeply moved by his noble compatriotism and broad-mindedness, the businessman lauded the president as a God of Korea who takes care of all the people.
Pyongyang, July 15 (KCNA) -- The Japanese authorities on July 9 adopted a decision turning down the strong demand of peoples at home and abroad for rewriting the junior middle school history textbooks, which distort Japan's history of aggression. They claim that the decision was made in "deep consideration" of Japan's stance toward the revision of the controversial textbooks. Commenting on it, Rodong Sinmun today says:
The Japanese government approved the controversial history textbooks at its examination, and has refused to meet the strong demand from people at home and abroad for their revision. This is intended to cover up Japan's past crimes and evade the apology and compensation for them and, furthermore, infuse the idea of aggression into the younger Japanese for overseas aggression and thus attain its wild design for "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" at any cost it failed to do in the past. After all, the "decision adopted in deep consideration" means that the Japanese authorities have taken everything into serious consideration to achieve their ambition for overseas aggression. The Japanese authorities should lend an ear to the voices of the Asian people who suffered immeasurable damage due to the Japanese imperialists in the past, and drop their shameless position not to redress and apologize for the past crimes while distorting them.
Pyongyang, July 6 (KCNA) -- Documentary and feature films dealing with the revolutionary history and immortal revolutionary exploits of President Kim Il Sung are on show at cinema houses and other halls in different parts of the country on the occasion of his 7th death anniversary. Among them are "Our People's Honour of Holding the Great Leader in High Esteem," "They were Always Together for the Sake of People", "The Great Life in 1994," "The Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung Is Immortal" and other documentary films showing the greatness of his ideology, leadership and traits. Feature films include "Star of Korea," "The Sun of the Nation" and "Forest Sway" representing the revolutionary history of the president.
Pyongyang, July 6 (KCNA) -- Today marks the 71st anniversary of the creation of the Korean revolutionary army by general Kim Il Sung. He created the Korean revolutionary army, the first armed contingent of Korean communists and a political and para-military organization for preparing an anti-Japanese armed struggle. At an inaugural ceremony he underscored the need to build the hardcore force for the armed struggle through positive political and military activities and secure weapons necessary for the armed struggle. He called for making thoroughgoing preparations for the organized anti-Japanese armed struggle by accumulating military experience and firmly uniting broad popular masses.
Under his wise leadership the KRA rapidly gained in scope and strength and core elements were built up to found standing revolutionary armed forces. activities were conducted in various places to obtain weapons in order to equip the KRA soldiers with them. After organizing the KRA he formed various armed groups to dispatch them to various regions. The armed groups conducted bold activities in different places. A mass foundation for the armed struggle expanded and rich experience was accumulated and a noble revolutionary spirit created to found revolutionary armed forces thanks to vigorous political and military activities of the KRA. On this basis he founded the anti-Japanese people's guerrilla army.
Pyongyang, July 5, 2001 (KCNA) -- Jo Ki Chon (1913-1951) was a passionate poet produced by Korea. Born in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, he was well known in surrounding areas for his outstanding poetic talent from his childhood. However, he was unable to bring his talent into bloom as he was forced to live abroad as part of a stateless nation. it was not until the liberation of the country (August 15, 1945) that he could realise his wish. Witnessing the people all out to build a new country and the stirring reality after his return home, he began writing poems in earnest.
He was immensely excited to know about the legendary and heroic history of general Kim Il Sung at home, though a great deal was told about him in alien towns. His profound reverence and intense loyalty to Kim Il Sung resulted in a long epic "Mt. Paektu," the first poem to deal with the leader in Korea. The poem eulogized him as the great commander who made the Japanese imperialist aggressors' blood run cold with his superb tactics, acting with preternatural swiftness, imbued with the majestic spirit of Mt. Paektu, the sacred mountain of revolution. Jo's deep veneration for him was fully reflected in the poem. The same can be said of his lyric poems "swinging" and "on a white rock" and a lyric epic "song of land" which dealt with historic reforms that took place in the latter half of the 1940s and the happiness of the people. "Korea fights," "in a street in flames," "My height" and other poems which he wrote following the army during the last Korean War encouraged all the soldiers of the Korean People's Army to win victory in the war. He also wrote serial poem "resistance in Ryosu" which depicted the anti-U.S. resistance for national salvation waged by South Koreans.
He was killed by the U.S. forces' air-raid in Juche 40 (1951). Leader Kim Jong Il repeatedly estimated his poem "Mt. Paektu," frequently retrospecting him. Thanks to Kim Jong Il's comradely love and noble sense of obligation Jo Ki Chon, a revolutionary poet, and his poems are still remembered by the Korean people though half a century passed after his death.
Pyongyang, July 5 (KCNA) -- The linguistic society of the DPRK on July 4 released an article disclosing the truth behind the Japanese imperialists' moves to obliterate the Korean language against the backdrop of the Japanese authorities' shameless campaign to whitewash and justify Japan's crime-woven history. Recalling that the Japanese imperialists' moves to obliterate the Korean language were a state-sponsored crime as they were perpetrated by the state ruling machinery and law, the article continued: The Japanese imperialists mobilized for that purpose even the military police to say nothing of such administrative institutions as the "government-general in Korea," provincial and county offices and Myon-offices and police force such as police stations and substations and police boxes.
In November 1912 the "government-general in Korea" established a system whereby magistrate-level officials in all the provinces were obliged to submit to the government-general a "report on teaching mother tongue (Japanese)." In March 1937 it forced all the government offices to work out all the official documents in Japanese. According to a decision made by the government-general to massively set up Japanese training schools from 1938, their number increased that year to reach over 3,660. The Japanese imperialists fabricated many evil laws to attain their goal. They enacted the "newspaper law" in 1907, stringently restricting the publication of many Korean newspapers. The "press law" was promulgated in 1909 and "press rules" came into force in 1910.
They were more desperate in the fabrication of laws on education. The "education law in Korea" was retrogressively revised four times. Due to the Japanese imperialists' harsh policy to destroy the Korean language 72 per cent of Korea's population was illiterate as of 1933 and more than 15.8 million Koreans could not read nor write as of 1934. Their steps to obliterate the Korean language involved all the fabrics of society. "Schools teaching Japanese" were set up in Seoul and Japanese schools appeared in major towns. as a result, their number reached 30 in the 1904-1905 period. Their moves became all the more pronounced after 1905 when Japan forced Korea to conclude the "Ulsa five-point treaty." Any Korean student uttering even a Korean word was subjected to national insult and humiliation and even beating and legal actions. The Japanese imperialists instructed that "Kukmin Munhak," the organ of the renamed "Korean national society of men of literature," should be issued in Japanese from 1942 and more than one act of each drama performed in Japanese from 1943.
In 1910 alone, they stopped the issue of publications of 255 varieties and fixed biweekly "mother tongue class" column in "Maeil Sinbo" and even published "Hwangmin Ilbo" specializing in teaching Japanese. They also checked the study and dissemination of Korean language and even enlisted government-patronized scholars in their moves to obliterate the Korean language. They even staged the "movement for the common use of Japanase" in family life. Such moves of the Japanese imperialists reached such an extent as depriving the Koreans of even their Korean names. They issued government-general's order no. 19 under the "revised Korean civil law" on November 10, 1939, thus forcing and threatening the Koreans to change their names into Japanese. Koreans disobedient to this were persecuted as "unpatriotic and disturbing persons" and they were the first to be mobilized for "compulsory labour" and the "patriotic service corps."
Such being hard historical facts, the Japanese authorities are craftily trying to use controversial junior middle school history textbooks in education. No distortion can ever change history. Linguists in the DPRK strongly urge the Japanese government to make an official apology for the Japanese imperialists' wrongs committed in Korea in the past and make compensation for them, the article concluded.