North Korea Weekly (August 20-26, 2007)
ROK National Intelligence Service
Inside North Korea
o On August 20, North Korea’s Central Broadcasting Station said, "In order to normalize railway transportation, which has been disrupted due to the recent floods, [we] are fighting a desperate fight,” and reported, “Across the nation, 35,000 ㎡ of roadbeds in 70 zones have been washed away, while the total area affected by landslides in 63 zones has reached 30,000 ㎡. The hardest hit areas were Yangdok County in South Pyongan Province and Gangwon Province.”
o On August 21, the KCBS reported, "Nowadays, the performance of Arirang is successfully continuing amid great praise and applause from a large number of spectators at home and abroad.”
o On August 22, while airing an interview with a high official of the Pyongyang Railway Bureau, the North’s Pyongyang Broadcasting Service (PBS) said, “The Pyongyang Railway Bureau has launched an offensive to recover from damages from [recent] floods and is stepping up [restoration efforts] at the final stages.” PBS also reported, “In and around Yangdok Station, which was the most severely devastated area, many railway bridges and roadbeds collapsed and were washed away and have had to be newly constructed.”
o On August 23, the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on the opening of a national exhibition of consumer goods that day, saying, “On display are over 45,000 products, including daily necessities, foodstuffs and furniture in various categories of daily necessities produced by centrally-controlled light industry, local industry, ministries and national institutions and ‘August 3 mass consumption goods’ made by individual provinces.”
o On August 24, such North Korean media outlets as the Central Broadcasting Station and Central TV reported, “A national meeting was held at the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang to mark the 47th anniversary of the start of Kim Jeong-il’s Songun revolutionary leadership (Aug. 25, 1960), with senior officials of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), the Korean People’s Army (KPA) and the Cabinet present, including Chief of the KPA General Staff Kim Kyok-sik and Secretary of the WPK Central Committee Kim Ki-nam.”
o On August 26, the KCBS reported, “Vice Minister of Post and Telecommunications O Hui-dok stated, ‘Today, the post and telecommunications are making quantum leaps worldwide,’ and emphasized, ‘In keeping with the rapid pace of global growth, [we] will more persistently press ahead with our postal modernization project.’”
o On August 26, the North Korean website uriminzokkiri, or “by our nation itself,” featured an article titled “[Beautiful] Paintings Unfolded in Flood-Afflicted Areas” to massively propagandize the anecdote that the residents of Gangnam County in Pyongyang City, during the recent heavy rains, escaped with portraits of Kim Il-seong and Kim Jeong-il, not with their money or other precious belongings.”
Outside North Korea
o On August 22, the North Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) said, “On August 20, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun sent a consolatory personal letter to Comrade Kim Jeong-il regarding the flood damage to our regions.” The KCBS also reported, “In the letter, [President Roh] extended his deepest sympathy for the human and material toll taken by the unprecedented downpours in our regions and expressed his wishes for recovery from the damage.”
Inter-Korean Issues
o On August 21, a spokesperson for North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Q&A session with the North Korean Central News Agency, “Despite the international community’s concerns and our repeated warnings, the US ultimately executed a joint military exercise with the South Korean military,” and denounced, “The exercise is aimed at our republic [the DPRK] in every respect and is a product of [the US’s] anti-Korean policy.”
o On August 20, the North’s Rodong Sinmun contended, "Uriminzokkiri, or ‘by our nation itself,’ is a banner of certain victory and a powerful weapon in the successful pursuit of the three great tasks of valuing the nation, safeguarding peace and realizing unity, as well as a patriotic ideal we should realize throughout our battle to achieve [the three tasks].
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