Weekly on North Korea
ROK Ministry of Unification
| Serial No. 692 (April 30 to May 06, 2004) |
Internal Affairs
o Chairman Kim Jong-il, accompanied by chief of general staff Kim Young-choon and generals Li myeong-su, Hyeon Cheol-hae and Pak Jae-gyeong and first vice director of the party's central committee Li Yong-cheol, visited military unit 4302, according to the Korean Central Broadcasting Station May 3.
- Chairman Kim's visit to the military unit marked his first public activity since his unofficial visit to China on April 19-21 and explosions at the Ryongcheon Railway Station on April 22.
o On the occasion of the 114th May Day, North Korea held a central report session at the Pyongyang Textile Manufacturing Factory and a May Day unification rally of workers from South and North Korea at Neung Rado Resort on May 1.
o North Korea claimed in late April that factories and businesses in the coal-mining sector, the Geomdeok United Mining Enterprise and the Silk Fabric Management Bureau, have accomplished "plans for People's Economy for April."
o On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of chairman Kim's announcement on "Concerning a Thorough Establishment of the Party's Leadership System," North Korea urged further efforts to realize the party's leadership, while extolling Kim's achievements in party leadership.
o North Korea unveiled the 19th Central Festival for Science and Technology at the Three Revolution Exhibition Hall on May 4, which was attended by party secretary Choe Tae-bok, vice premier Noh Du-cheol, education minister Kim Yong-jin and Byeon Young-rip, chief of the Academy of Sciences.
o North Korea recently developed an anti-hacking software program called "Neung ra Firewall" capable of protecting computer information resources. The program was developed by the Neung ra Information Communication Service belonging to the Neung ra Company, according to the May edition of monthly Fatherland, a publication of Jochong ryeon, the pro-Pyongyang Korean residents association based in Japan.
Relations with South Korea
o North Korea has denounced South Korean authorities for sentencing or demanding punishment of two senior members of the South's opposition Democratic Labor Party and Tong-il Yeondae (Unification Solidarity) charged with violating the National Security Law and called on the South to scrap the law. The denunciation and call came through a secretariat report of DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland and a statement by the North Korean spokesman of the National Alliance for the Country's Unification, according to North Korean broadcasting services on May 4-6.
o The 14th inter-Korean ministerial talks held in Pyongyang on May 4-7 reached an agreement on holding a bilateral military authorities' meeting and setting the date for the next meeting.
- The North Korean broadcasting services reported on the South Korean delegation's arrival in Pyongyang for the ministerial talks, the keynote address by the leader of the North Korean delegation and other matters relating to the meeting.
External Relations
o North Korea accused the United States for maintaining its hostile policy toward Pyongyang. It made the accusation in response to the U.S. State Department's re-designation of North Korea as a terrorism-sponsoring state by listing Pyongyang's kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the state department's annual report on international terrorism.
The North Korean reaction came May 2 in the form of an interview with its foreign ministry spokesman by a reporter of the Korean Central National Agency.
o Indonesia's foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda and his party visited North Korea May 1-4, during which he met with his North Korean counterpart Baek Nam-sun for talks on ways of promoting bilateral friendly ties and other matters of common concern.
o North Korea and Cuba concluded Plans for Cultural Exchange for 2004-2006 in Havana April 29.
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