Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

North Korean strongman Kim Jong-il was in Taehungdan County, Yanggang province, with party secretaries Kye Ung-tae and the First Deputy Secretary of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party Chang Sung-taek, to visit and inspect the county agricultural commune.

Kim Jong-il also convened the 37th plenary session of the League of Workers and Peasants (March 23 - 24) in Pyongyang, and urged increasing production, proper management of land, and strengthening ideological education among its membership.

North Korea's media reported that a North Korea-Japan Diplomatic Talks would be held in Pyongyang from April 4 to April 8, for discussions concerning normalization and also resolution for past colonial legacies. In addition, North Korea's foreign ministry issued a memorandum calling for American compensation and apologies for `one-million odd' people killed by the US troops during the Korean War, in addition to the dismantling of the United Nations Command.

In what appeared to be follow-up statements to its unilateral declaration (declared Sept. 1999) concerning the maritime demarcation line in the West (Yellow) Sea, the North Korean naval command announced that it will `establish a proper system for aerial and maritime navigation for the five west sea islands', and that it will `act without warning against all intrusions' into what their so-called `airspace and territorial waters'.