Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Kim Jong Il, accompanied by Kim Yong Chun, chief of the KPA General Staff, and KPA generals such as Ri Myong Su, Hyon Chol Hae, Pak Jae Gyong, and Ri Yong Chol, attended performances as part of the 7th arts competition of KPA officers' families (date unreported) and stressed the significant role of officers' families in building a strong and prosperous nation (May 15, Central Broadcasting Station).

The Central Broadcasting Station propagandized on May 13, "at the report that among a number of victims wounded in the explosion at Ryongchon Railway Station, six patients, including elementary school students, are in a critical state, showing no sign of recovery, General Kim Jong Il demonstrated deep compassion by allowing them to be transported on an emergency flight so they could receive treatment at the central hospital."

The Central Broadcasting Station reported on May 14, "Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit the DPRK in late May to implement the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration and restore relations of confidence between Pyongyang and Tokyo."

A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry denounced Washington with regards to the recently held working-level meeting for the six-party talks: "If the U.S. employs a foot-dragging strategy by persisting in their demands for institutional changes and the disarmament of the DPRK in the name of peace talks, we cannot help but continue to strengthen our nuclear deterrents." (May 16, Central Broadcasting Station)

On May 11, the Central Broadcasting Station criticized Shinzo Abe, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, saying "In an effort to impose an embargo on the DPRK, Shinzo Abe recently met with high-ranking officials of the Bush administration and requested the U.S. ' support in the Japanese Diet's passage of a 'bill banning the entry of specified foreign ships,' which speaks volumes on the spirit of servility among Japanese reactionaries."

The Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland and the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland released a joint appeal to the fellow countrymen in South Korea on May 13, propagandizing that "people in the South are all urged to join the struggle to end U.S. domination in the South with the withdrawal of the U.S. military presence by the year 2005, which marks the 60th year of the U.S.' forcible occupation of South Korea." (May 14, Central Broadcasting Station)

Rodong Sinmun commented in its editorial dated May 15, "The Mapo Police Office's May 11 arrest of the former chairman of the General Student Council of Seogang University who was a leading member of the Korean Federation of University Student Councils is yet another fascist anti-reunification act, which stands in the way of self-reliant unification of the peninsula." (May 15, Pyongyang Broadcasting Service)