North Korea Weekly (June 9-15, 2008)
ROK National Intelligence Service
【Inside North Korea】
o On June 8, the Chosun Sinbo, or the People’s Korea, the organ of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), reported, “A cutting-edge swimming facility for university employees and students is being built on the campus of Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang.” The newspaper also provided details: “The total area of the swimming facility is 30,000 m2. It is 50 meters long, 21 meters wide, and 1.8 to 2.1 meters deep, and has eight lanes so that it will be capable of hosting international swimming races. Worthy of special note is an oval-shaped recreational space with a 6.5-meter-tall slide and nine ultrasonic therapeutic tubs that is connected to the swimming pool. A far infrared ray steam sauna, shower booths, a massage room, a therapeutic room and a restaurant will also be part of the facility.”
o On June 8, the North Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) said, “In individual cities and counties of such provinces as South Pyongan, South Hamgyong and Gangwon, as farmers and volunteers have pressed ahead with a vigorous battle to plant rice seedlings, about 80% of rice planting has been completed nationwide.” The KCBS added, “Immersed in the enthusiastic desire to bring about an abundant autumn this year, which marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK, numerous farms have finished planting rice seedlings, including Chongsan Co-op Farm (Gangso County, South Pyongan), Migok Co-op Farm (Sariwon City, North Hwanghae), Sinam Co-op Farm (Ryongchon County, North Pyongan) and Samjigang Co-op Farm (Jaeryong County, South Hwanghae), while rice seedling planting efforts in rural areas of North Pyongan also are in their final stages.”
o On June 9, the North’s Pyongyang Broadcasting Service (PBS) said, “Chairman Kim Jeong-il’s noble patriotic philosophy and wise leadership has helped brilliantly restore and reveal the renewed Yongtong Temple, which was long forgotten and shrouded with weeds.” The PBS explained, “The campus of the restored temple is 60,000 m2 and has 26 buildings with a total floor area of 4,000 m2, including monks’ quarters and visitors’ rooms.”
o On June 9, the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, “Pyongyang Medical University is being lauded for its development of a method to comprehensively evaluate the health of infants from one month to three years of age in day nurseries,” adding, “The method enables the comprehensive analysis and evaluation of a child’s health, including their physical and intellectual development, motor skills and the presence of disease, based on such data as height and weight. The KCNA also emphasized, “Since the method employs commonly used IT tools, without requiring special equipment, nurseries and parents can embrace it with ease.”
o On June 11, the Pyongyang Broadcasting Service (PBS) reported, “Construction workers who have launched the second phase of construction of Orangchon power station are constantly achieving even greater construction accomplishments with daring and dogged ardor.” The media outlet trumpeted, “Despite the challenging situation where the roofs of gangways often collapse and water pours down, a battalion from the Kim Cheak Iron and Steel Complex, which is in charge of the construction of underground water passages, pressed ahead with a dogged and fierce offensive to complete the digging of a passageway hundreds of meters long, which is a very brilliant outcome.”
o On June 12, the KCNA said, “Chairman Kim Jeong-il inspected subunits of KPA Unit 756 (battalion level and below),” adding, “Chairman Kim Jeong-il ordered that efforts be made to provide exceptional living conditions for the soldiers and to positively develop ‘sideline economic activities’ to provide them with a richer diet.”
【Outside North Korea】
o On June 10, the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, “On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Chairman Kim Jeong-il’s first visit to China, Secretary Choe Thae-bok of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of [North] Korea, Vice-Department Directors Pak Kyong-son and Kim Thae-jong of the WPK Central Committee, Chinese Ambassador to the DPRK Liu Xiaoming and other officials had a friendly gathering.” The KCNA also reported, “Party Secretary Choe Thae-bok stressed at the gathering that [Kim’s first visit to China] initiated a dramatic turnaround in the development of Korea-China friendship, and in response, Chinese Ambassador Liu Xiaoming said that Chairman Kim Jeong-il’s historic meeting with Deng Xiaoping laid the foundation for the friendly, cooperative relationship between the two countries of the new century.”
o On June 12, the KCNA quoted a spokesperson for the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying regarding the US-North Korea talks held in Pyongyang on June 10-11, “Discussed were technical and operational methods to conclude the disablement of our [the North Korean] nuclear facilities and ways to realize corresponding political and economic compensation. The talks proceeded successfully.”
【Inter-Korean Issues】
o On June 6, North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun said, “Over the past eight years since the June 15 Joint Declaration, North and South Korean relations have seen unprecedented, unforeseen change in terms of the unification movement,” adding, “Joining forces uriminjokkiri (by our nation itself) is the way to self-reliance and unification, as well as to peace and prosperity.” The newspaper stated, “Through the process of marching with the banner of uriminjokkiri held aloft, we have all felt that the North and the South are one nation, and we have come to more firmly believe that if all Koreans in the North and the South were to join forces we could do anything, and we could surely realize the long-standing national dream of national unification.”
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