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North Korea Weekly (May 19-25, 2008)

ROK National Intelligence Service

【Inside North Korea】

o On May 19, North Korea’s Pyongyang Broadcasting Service (PBS) said, “This spring, the DPRK Management Bureau for Cultural Property Conservation (MBCPC) has proceeded with massive repairs of over 1,400 cultural relics across the country on the occasion of the month of cultural relics.” It added, “Refurbished were, among others, preservation sites in the Raknang District, Pyongyang; the Bongsu area in Sukchon-gun; and tombs within Ryodong Castle in Sunchon-si, Pyongnam. In addition to these, construction of an eight-kilometer tourist road connecting Kaesong and Yongtong Temple and three stages of construction for sites traditionally famous for their scenic beauty on Mt. Jangsu, Hwangnam have been completed.”

o On May 20, the North’s Rodong Sinmun contended, “The only solution to the issue of sustenance, the issue of food, is to critically increase agricultural production by our own power.” The newspaper emphasized, “In order to resolve the [current] serious food shortage by farming well, all the people need to stand up [to the challenge] and provide powerful support to rural areas,” and demanded, “The supply of power and oil for water pumps, parts for farming machines, and everything required for farming should be guaranteed to be timely based on farming processes.”

o On May 21, the Chosun Sinbo, or the People's Korea, the organ of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), explained, “The mass gymnastics ‘Prosper the Motherland’ created to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK comprises five acts and 12 scenes [per act, with each scene] representing [each of] the past 60 years. The mass gymnastics will feature tens of thousands of people, including workers at factories and companies, as well as all levels of students, including kindergarten children.” The newspaper went on to say, “This piece is novel and unique, breaking free from conventional frameworks, and will thus make the grand mass gymnastics and artistic performance ‘Arirang’ unfold with a more sophisticated and splendid series of displays this year.”

【Outside North Korea】

o On May 19, the Chosun Sinbo, or the People's Korea, the organ of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), insisted that regarding Japan’s decision to refer to Dokdo, [a rocky South Korean island near South Korea’s Uleungdo] as part of its territory in its middle school textbooks, “President Lee Myung-bak provided the grounds [for this decision].” The newspaper contended, “Putting priority on pragmatism in foreign policy, he promised not to demand Japan’s apology for the historic scars it left and not to raise such issues as Dokdo, what to call the sea [between the two countries] and [Japan’s] history textbooks [that distort history], and that promise must have been the critical opportunity [for Japan to make such a decision].”

o On May 20, the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, “Vice Chair of National Defence Kim Yong-chun, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party Choe Thae-bok, Vice Premier of the Cabinet Ro Tu-chol, Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun and other members of the DPRK party and cabinet and senior officers of the army visited the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang to offer words of comfort and condolence regarding the numerous victims of the earthquake that devastated Sichuan Province, China.” The KCNA also reported, “Yesterday, our [North Korean] senior officials participated in events to mourn the earthquake victims, which took place in Tiananmen Square, Beijing and Wenchuan County in Sichuan Province.”

【Inter-Korean Issues】

o On May 21, North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun stated, “North and South Korea and all the ethnic Koreans overseas should set out as one nation to fight a fight of self-reliance and unification, and thereby fully fulfill their roles and responsibilities as entities for national unification.” The newspaper obstinately contended, “All the Koreans at home and abroad who pursue self-reliance and patriotism should join forces to fight and crush the maneuvers of intrusive foreign forces and anti-unification forces in South Korea that follow such foreign forces. This is the only path to self-reliance and unification.”