Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

North Korea held elections last week for members of the local assembly, and divided the Ministry of Urban Management and Environmental Protection into two separate ministries of Urban Management, and Environmental Protection, as they were before they were merged in Sept. 1998. Arbor Day was changed from April 6th to March 2nd, and local party cadres and residents were planting trees in hills around the country.

North Korea responded to comments by ROK's defense minister concerning the possibility of using tourist money from Mt. Kumgang for military purposes, by denouncing the comments as an 'illegitimate attempt to stop our tourist operations'.

The 1998 Human Rights Report published by the US Stare Department and its section on North Korea was lambasted by the North Korean media, which blasted the report by calling "attempts to change the institutions of other countries using one's own self-righteous standards an act of delusion". In addition, it decried US-Japanese plans to establish a theater missile defense as a "clear threat to the security of Northeast Asia".