North Korea Weekly (December 10-16, 2007)
ROK National Intelligence Service
【Inside North Korea】
□ On December 7, North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun stressed, “As the ideas and feats of our revolutionary predecessors are invaluable assets to be capitalized on in achieving socialism, we should respect our predecessors.”
□ On December 10, the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, “The marine ecology environmental research group of Kim Il Sung University is making a great scientific and technological contribution to mariculture.”
□ On December 12, Good Friends, an NGO with a focus on North Korean human rights, stated in the recent issue of its newsletter, “While North Korea, which permits only those 50 years of age or older to engage in commerce, has recently strengthened its crackdown on younger merchants, the so-called ‘grasshopping merchants’ who surreptitiously sell goods in alleyways under the radar of security agents are rampant.”
□ On December 13, the KCNA reported, “A ceremony to mark World AIDS Day took place at the Grand People’s Study House in Pyongyang, attended by officials from national agencies, workers’ organizations and medical practitioners.”
【Outside North Korea】
□ On December 11, North Korea's cabinet organ Minju Joson contended, “Japan is focusing its missile defence system around Tokyo, including the construction of a mobile missile base on Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, in March 2007, under the pretext of responding to the North Korean missile threat, but this move is based on Japan’s covert intention to equip itself with the military capacity to nullify our [North Korea’s] defence capabilities and launch a preemptive attack against North Korea at any time.”
□ On December 11, the North’s Rodong Sinmun claimed, “Although now is the time for those engaged in dialogue to respect one another and build trust, US war mongers are introducing a nuclear-powered submarine and fighter planes in order to fuel the anti-DPRK nuclear furor.”
□ On December 13, Chosun Sinbo, or the People's Korea, the organ of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), said in an article providing an overview of North Korea-US relations in 2007 that since North Korea’s nuclear test last year North Korea-US relations have been becoming more amicable. The newspaper also anticipated that the relationship would depend on the building of trust based on the principle of simultaneous action.
□ On December 13, the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, “A signing ceremony for the conclusion of a protocol for DPRK-China cooperation in science and technology took place in Pyongyang. Among those present at the event were North Korean officials, including a vice president of the DPRK State Academy of Sciences and Chinese Vice Minister Cheng Jinpei of Science and Technology, who was visiting North Korea.”
□ On December 15, the KCNA reported, “The 2008 Beijing Olympic torch will pass through North Korea’s capital city,” adding, “An agreement for the inclusion of Pyongyang on the route of the 29th Olympic torch relay has been signed in Pyongyang.”
□ On December 15, the Voice of Russia said, “North Korea agreed to three-way talks among South Korea, North Korea and Russia regarding the linking of the Trans Korean Railway (TKR) and the Trans Siberian Railway (TSK).”
【Inter-Korean Issues】
□ On December 10, the North Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) said, “According to the South’s Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), a barge collided with a super oil tanker in the sea off Taean, South Chungcheong Province, South Korea, on December 7, causing the country’s worst-ever marine contamination.”
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