Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

In its editorial dated Sept. 28, Rodong Sinmun said, "what is most important in strengthening today's socialist education is to encourage all KPA soldiers and people to make it their creed and an integral part of their lives to devotedly defend the leadership of the revolution. Defending the revolution leadership at the cost of one's life is the supreme expression of collectivism."

The North Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported, "the Communication Administration Office of Northern Hwanghae Province has achieved a feat of constructing relay centers for mobile communication in nine cities and counties of the province to enable mobile communications service."

The Pyongyang Broadcasting Station reported, "in accordance with the Nature Readjustment Plan of Comrade Kim Jong Il, we have embarked on the Land Readjustment Projects for this autumn in Pyongyang city, Southern Pyongan Province, and Nampo city."

In a KCNA briefing on Sept. 29, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry stressed, "the DPRK has not promised anything on the next round of six-nation talks. Now that we take practical steps to strengthening nuclear deterrents as our self-defense measure, any demand that we dismantle our nuclear programs first will lead to a war."

A spokesperson for the foreign ministry issued a statement on Oct. 2, claiming, "we have successfully completed the reprocessing of some 8000 nuclear spent fuel rods and used plutonium from the reprocessed fuel rods in the direction of increasing its nuclear deterrent force, while putting the operation of the nuclear facility on a normal track.  Also, we will reprocess more spent fuel rods to be churned out from the 5 MW nuclear reactor in Nyongbyon without delay when we deem it necessary."

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of concluding the Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty, a foreign ministry spokesperson issued a statement dated Sept. 29, asserting, "There is one main reason that the U.S. is opposed to signing a non-aggression pact with the DPRK: if a non-aggression pact is concluded as suggested by the DPRK to resolve nuclear issue, the Korea-U.S. mutual defense treaty which casts the DPRK as the main enemy will become useless, and the U.S. will have to withdraw its forces stationed in South Korea."

In a statement released on Oct. 4, a spokesperson for the Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland denounced the South Korean authorities and right-wing extremists for their moves to dispatch combat troops to Iraq as an unpardonable act against the nation. The statement also urged South Korean people to step forward to protest the additional troop dispatch to Iraq.