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North Korea Weekly (September 3-9, 2007)

ROK National Intelligence Service

Inside North Korea

o On September 3, the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the North Korean Cultural Preservation Agency (KCPA) under the Management Bureau for Cultural Property Conservation has been producing outcomes in its re-examination and evaluation of historical relics, which are performed to better preserve them.The KCNA said, “The KCPA has recently finished examining over 670 historical relics and amended data on hundreds of them. The agency has also assessed cultural assets, resulting in over 180 more items added to the list of national treasures and at least 1,680 new items on the list of relics worthy of preservation.”

o On September 4, the KCNA reported that the Presidium of the North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly, with the 59th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK around the corner, conferred National Reunification Awards on 14 individuals, including [the late] Jeong In-bo, whose honorary title is Widang, and Rim Tong-ok, who was the director of the United Front Department (UFD) and who died last year.

o On September 6, Pak Jong-sun, one of the deputy directors of the North Korean Ministry of Land and Environment Preservation, appeared on the North’s Central TV and said, “The ministry has repaired the Pyongyang-Wonsan tourism road, the Pyongyang-Kaesong Expressway, and the Pyongyang-Hyangsan tourism road, and is now ensuring normal traffic on them as a result of a bold and large-scale battle to recover from flood damage as soon as possible by mobilizing all possible means and resources.”

o On September 8, North Korea held a national meeting at the April 25 House of Culture to celebrate the 59th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK with senior officials from the party, cabinet and army, including President of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly Kim Yong-nam, Cabinet Premier Kim Yong-il and Vice Chair of the National Defence Commission Kim Yong-chun.A report, while underlining the importance of “thwarting imperialism’s maneuvers toward ideological and cultural invasion and recovering as early as possible from the flood damage the nation is currently facing,” claimed that “the US is stepping up its military pressure on and psychological warfare against the DPRK, and Japan is suppressing the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon).” It also menacingly said that North Korea will “firmly punish any attempt to infringe upon the sovereignty and interests” of the DPRK.

Outside North Korea

o On September 3, in response to a question posed by a reporter from the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) concerning the North Korea-US working level meeting for the normalization of relations between the two nations that was held in Geneva on September 1 and 2, a spokesperson for the North Korean Foreign Ministry mentioned that “a series of agreements had been reached in the meeting.”

o On September 5, the KCNA reported, “The National Security Service of the DPRK has arrested an agent of a foreign intelligence agency as well as spies who were controlled by the agent and agency,” adding, “The service held a press conference at the People’s Palace of Culture and unveiled a video that shows the spies committing crimes.”

o On September 5, a spokesperson for North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in responding to a question posed by a KCNA reporter, expressed gratitude by saying, “International organizations including the United Nations, as well as many nations around the world such as China, the US, the EU, Russia, Australia and Egypt, have been providing us with medicines and other types of urgent cooperation with sincerity.”

Inter-Korean Issues

o On September 4, the North Korean website uriminzokkiri, or "by our nation itself," insisted, “The times desperately call for South Korea to tidy up a range of agreements and treaties that are legacies of the era of confrontation, and this cannot be delayed any longer,” and urged South Korea to “abolish the Mutual Defence Treaty between the Republic of Korea and the United States of America.”

o On September 8, North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun, as regards the 62nd anniversary of the initial stationing of US troops in Korea (September 8, 1945), contended, “US troops, which have engaged in a military occupation of South Korea by force and established a system of colonial rule, viciously stand in the way of the Korean people’s battle for peace and the reunification of the nation.”