Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Kim Jong-il continued his tour of military units with Politburo chief Cho Myung-rok and JCS chief Kim Young-choon, personally inspecting the gardens and fields created by the KPA Fourth Infantry Division and Combined Unit 549 to supply their own food. The party organ Worker's Daily reiterated North Korea's perennial propaganda calls to strengthen its national defense stance, in order "not to fall victim to imperialist slavery."

North Korea made a public announcement of Speaker of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Young-nam's plans to visit the PRC. Particularly expeditious reporting was reserved for US envoy William Perry's visit to Pyongyang, and the media claimed North Korean negotiators placed special emphasis in their demands to the American side on "the recognition of North Korean self-determination" and "abolition of confrontational policy" aimed at the Stalinist country.

North Korean media made liberal use of their usual scathing language in criticizing president Kim Dae-jung's visit to Russia as a "beggarly diplomatic attempt to beseech foreign support for the traitorous sunshine policy in direct opposition to efforts at unification," and said the North considers all sales of submarines by "surrounding powers" for "South Korea's pennies" as an "act of hostility aimed at North Korea."