Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Kim Jong-Il received A.P. Losyukov, a special envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and hosted a luncheon in honor of the guest.

North Korea called an extended plenary meeting of cabinet members and discussed ways to implement the tasks outlined in the "New Year Joint Editorial."  In the meeting, military affairs were recognized as the most important of all state affairs and the national defense industry was singled out as an area into which primary efforts need to be put.

Accompanied by the Korean People's Army generals Lee Myong-Su and Hyon Chol-Hae, Kim Jong-Il inspected Military Unit 230 on January 23 and Military Unit 301 on the following day and emphasized the need to utilize every possible means to strengthen these units' combat capabilities.

Korean Central News Agency claimed on January 20 that "the remarks made by U.S. President George Bush regarding having a dialogue with North Korea is a hypocritical and deceptive scheme and the only solution to the nuclear issue is the U.S. signing of a non-aggression pact which legally guarantees North Korea's security."  

The North Korean Central Broadcasting Station made the baseless claim that "the dispatch of the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk from the Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, to the waters off the Korean Peninsula is an intentional and malicious attempt by the belligerent forces in the U.S. to exacerbate the military situation on the Korean Peninsula to a point in which tensions run so high that a new war could easily be ignited."

A spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry stressed in a press conference that "while the U.S. has recently presented its position that the North Korea nuclear issue be discussed under a '5+5' multilateral framework, we will not under any circumstances participate in any form of multilateral talks."

North Korea participated in the following talks: the ninth inter-Korean ministerial talks, held from January 21 to 24 in Seoul; the third inter-Korean Red Cross working-level contact, held from January 20 to 22 at Mt. Kumkang Resort; and the second inter-Korean working-level meeting for cross-border road and railway connections held from January 22 to 25 in Pyongyang.

Pyongyang Broadcasting Station reported on January 24 that "in compliance with the request made by the South Korean government, Lim Dong-Won, the special national security advisor to the South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, will visit Pyongyang on January 27 as the special envoy of the South Korean president to North Korea."