Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-il visited and inspected the women's coastal battery under KPA Unit 440 and the newly-built Rainbow Tunnel.

The top brass from North Korea's ground, air, and naval forces assembled to pledge loyalty to Kim Jong-il, prior to junior Kim's birthday later this month. In related news, KPA notables Cho Myung-rok, Kim Young-choon, and Kim Il-chul were on hand for a awards ceremony for to hand out official honors to 1360 KPA soldiers for their exemplary performance in `battlefield political exercises', in an obvious effort to elicit loyalty from the armed forces.

On the diplomatic front, Russian foreign minister Ivanov made a rare visit to Pyongyang, and concluded the DPRK-Russia Treaty for Friendship and Cooperation. Relations with Japan became a little less friendlier as North Korea blasted Japanese legislation to grant suffrage to aliens residing permanently in Japan as `attempt to dissolve the ethnic Korean community', and repeated demands that the US lift its economic embargo against North Korea as precondition to opening channels of dialogue and genuine improvement of relations.

North Korea's League of Peasants and Workers and the Central Committee of the Democratic League of Korean Women dispatched a written message calling upon South Korea's National Coalition of Women's Organizations and the Confederation of Korean Farmer's Unions to participate in the organization of a `national investigative committee' for investigation into atrocities committed by the US military during the Korean War. In addition, the two organizations also sent a letter in support of participation by former North Korean agents, after their release from South Korean prisons, in the citizen's movement against parliamentarians considered unfit for re-election.