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North Korea Weekly (June 11-17, 2007)

ROK National Intelligence Service

o Inside North Korea

(June 14) The North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, “A national workshop on trademarks, industrial designs and appellations of origin took place at the People’s Palace of Culture on June 13 and 14, with officials from ministries and national institutions and a delegation from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) present.”

(June 15) The North Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) said, “[North and South] Hamgyong Province, which are northern regions of the nation, finished planting rice seedlings ahead of schedule, while other regions, including Pyongan Province, are in the final stages of rice transplanting.”

(June 17) North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun said in its political commentary issued to mark the 43rd anniversary of Kim Jeong-il’s commencement of work with the [Workers’] Party [of Korea] (June 19), “Imperialists declared an ideological war under the misleading banner of the spreading of freedom,” and emphasized, “[We] must protect our ideology before safeguarding our territory and our institutions.”

(June 17) The North’s KCNA reported, “Ri In-mo died at the age of 89 on June 16 (an obituary was jointly released by the party, the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly and the Cabinet), and [the North Korean government] decided to hold a People’s funeral for him and organized a 57-member funeral committee led by Kim Yong-nam.”

o Outside North Korea

(June 11) The North’s KCNA denounced, “Lefkowitz [US special envoy for human rights in North Korea] is trying to pick a quarrel over our [North Korea’s] human rights by saying, among other things, that the improvement of human rights in North Korea is a prerequisite for the improvement of North Korea-US relations.”

(June 15) North Korea’s KCBS contended, “The US-Israeli joint military exercise in a southern desert of Israel launched [June] 10 is [a move] to further aggravate the situation in the Middle East, and that is sparking strong protest and criticism among the people of the region and among the international community.”

(June 16) North Korean’s KCNA reported, “Ri Je-son, director of the General Department of Atomic Energy of the DPRK, sent a letter to the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on June 16 inviting an IAEA delegation regarding the issue of the suspension of the operation of the Yeongbyeon nuclear facility as per the February 13 Agreement.”

o Inter-Korean Issues

(June 14) North Korea’s Pyongyang Broadcasting Service (PBS) insisted, “The active construction and operations related to the Mt. Geumgang tourism and the Gaeseong Industrial Complex [projects] are valuable fruits of the June 15 Joint Declaration and a proud outcome of the idea of ‘by our nation itself.’”

(June 15) The North’s Rodong Sinmun contended in an editorial marking the 7th anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration, “Issues within the [Korean] nation should be discussed ‘within our nation itself’ and resolved in a way that satisfies the common demands and benefits of the nation.”