ID :
36338
Thu, 12/18/2008 - 20:29
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/36338
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea Mounts Campaign to Prevent Bird Flu Outbreak
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea has mounted an all-out campaign to prevent a possible outbreak of avian flu during the winter season, a pro-Pyongyang daily based in Japan reported on Dec. 11.
The North's emergency state quarantine committee has been holding weekly meetings
in Pyongyang with senior officials from the ministries of public health and
commerce, according to Choson Sinbo, the newspaper of an association of
pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in Japan.
Pyongyang organized the committee in April to oversee the nation's bird flu
prevention efforts after South Korea culled a record 8.46 million birds in its
latest outbreak.
Poultry farms hold regular blood check-ups and quarantine surveillance for their
animals while the North's state media frequently broadcasts programming on the
risks and symptoms of bird flu, the newspaper said.
North Korea does not import processed poultry from foreign countries, it added.
"There is no outbreak of bird flu as of now in the DPRK (North Korea)," Wu
Song-rim, a chief quarantine official at the North Korean agricultural ministry,
was quoted by the daily as saying.
"But we remain tense because we cannot predict through what routes the disease
would break out," he added.
North Korea destroyed 210,000 chickens during its most recent bird flu outbreak
in 2005. It has since actively taken part in anti-epidemic programs offered by
the U.N. World Health Organization.
------------------------
U.S. Arms Buildup Cause of Financial Crisis: Rodong Sinmun
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- The U.S. government's excessive military spending was the
leading cause of the financial crisis that is currently gripping the country, a
North Korean newspaper said on Dec. 14.
"The unprecedented financial crisis that burst out to bring an economic tsunami
upon the United States is the result of the Bush administration's countless
increases in military spending and its war-mongering policies," Rodong Sinmun,
the mouthpiece of North Korea's Workers' Party, said in a commentary later
carried by Uriminzokkiri, the country's official Web site.
The U.S. has taken various measures -- such as increasing taxes, issuing
unwarranted bonds and reducing spending -- to cover its enormous war
expenditures, the newspaper said. But the measures have only aggravated the
financial situation, strangling the overall economy, it added.
Washington had spent over US$1 trillion on the war in Iraq as of the end of last
year, and some U.S. experts estimate the total cost will be $3 trillion, the
North said.
The newspaper warned that the U.S. economy would eventually face ruin unless the
country drops its ambitions for world domination.
------------------------
N. Korean Leader Visits Factory, Lab in Jagang Province
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited an electronics
laboratory, a library and a factory in Jagang Province near the Chinese border,
the socialist country's state-run media said on Dec. 16.
The (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) did not specify the date the tour
took place, but the report comes five days after the reclusive leader's last
public appearance on Dec. 11.
At that time, Kim visited several farms and a folk village in the city of Sariwon
in Hwanghae Province.
The KCNA reports come on the heels of South Korean and U.S. intelligence claims
that the 66-year-old Kim is recovering from a stroke, but North Korea has
vehemently denied those reports.
Apparently to show that Kim is active and remains in control of the state, North
Korean media have released photos and articles showing the leader inspecting
military units and factories, as well as attending a sporting event.
The report, meanwhile, said Kim was accompanied by high-ranking officials from
North Korea's ruling Workers' Party and army generals Hyun Chol-hae and Ri
Myong-su.
On Dec. 17, the KCNA says Kim Jong-il visited the February General Steel
Enterprise in Jagang Province.
------------------------
N. Korean Official Blames South in Rare Inspection of Kaesong Complex
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- A senior North Korean defense official said on Dec. 17 that
Pyongyang's sanctions on the joint industrial complex in Kaesong are "not
temporary," but did not warn of more actions as he made a rare inspection of the
inter-Korean zone, Seoul officials said.
Lt. Gen. Kim Yong-chol, head of the policy planning office of the North's
National Defense Commission, met with about 150 South Korean businesspeople
operating in Kaesong and inspected some two dozen of their plants, said
Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun.
The visit came amid speculation that Pyongyang may impose further sanctions after
expelling hundreds of South Koreans from the industrial complex and curtailing
border traffic as of Dec. 1. Pyongyang has indicated it may shut down the Kaesong
complex if Seoul continues its hard-line policy toward the North.
"He made no such remarks, as far as I've confirmed with (South Korean) officials
in Kaesong," the ministry spokesman said, when asked by reporters whether the
North Korean official hinted at additional sanctions.
But the spokesman said Seoul will have to wait until the North Korean official
completes his two-day inspection on Dec. 18 for further details.
Seoul officials were trying to learn whether Kim's visit would be a prelude to
further sanctions or a simple inspection. The official conducted a similar
on-site survey of Kaesong on Nov. 6, about a week before Pyongyang announced the
Dec. 1 measures.
Kim called the Kaesong complex "a good example" of reconciliation and accused
Seoul of being responsible for prompting the sanctions.
"Those measures are not temporary, emotional or symbolic," Kim was quoted by the
spokesman as telling the South Korean businesspeople.
"The South says in front that it wants dialogue, but behind, it says
differently," he said. "The Kaesong industrial complex is a good example set by
the Korean people. And around the world, there is no such case in which one
country opens its border region to another."
He will visit more than a dozen South Korean firms in the area to gather data on
how much the number of South Koreans and their cars has decreased following the
implementation of the Dec. 1 measures before returning to Pyongyang, the
spokesman said.
North Korea ordered that the number South Korean officials and managers allowed
at the Kaesong complex be reduced by half as part of retaliatory measures against
Seoul's policy. There are currently 88 South Korean companies employing around
36,000 North Koreans at the complex.
(END)
The North's emergency state quarantine committee has been holding weekly meetings
in Pyongyang with senior officials from the ministries of public health and
commerce, according to Choson Sinbo, the newspaper of an association of
pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in Japan.
Pyongyang organized the committee in April to oversee the nation's bird flu
prevention efforts after South Korea culled a record 8.46 million birds in its
latest outbreak.
Poultry farms hold regular blood check-ups and quarantine surveillance for their
animals while the North's state media frequently broadcasts programming on the
risks and symptoms of bird flu, the newspaper said.
North Korea does not import processed poultry from foreign countries, it added.
"There is no outbreak of bird flu as of now in the DPRK (North Korea)," Wu
Song-rim, a chief quarantine official at the North Korean agricultural ministry,
was quoted by the daily as saying.
"But we remain tense because we cannot predict through what routes the disease
would break out," he added.
North Korea destroyed 210,000 chickens during its most recent bird flu outbreak
in 2005. It has since actively taken part in anti-epidemic programs offered by
the U.N. World Health Organization.
------------------------
U.S. Arms Buildup Cause of Financial Crisis: Rodong Sinmun
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- The U.S. government's excessive military spending was the
leading cause of the financial crisis that is currently gripping the country, a
North Korean newspaper said on Dec. 14.
"The unprecedented financial crisis that burst out to bring an economic tsunami
upon the United States is the result of the Bush administration's countless
increases in military spending and its war-mongering policies," Rodong Sinmun,
the mouthpiece of North Korea's Workers' Party, said in a commentary later
carried by Uriminzokkiri, the country's official Web site.
The U.S. has taken various measures -- such as increasing taxes, issuing
unwarranted bonds and reducing spending -- to cover its enormous war
expenditures, the newspaper said. But the measures have only aggravated the
financial situation, strangling the overall economy, it added.
Washington had spent over US$1 trillion on the war in Iraq as of the end of last
year, and some U.S. experts estimate the total cost will be $3 trillion, the
North said.
The newspaper warned that the U.S. economy would eventually face ruin unless the
country drops its ambitions for world domination.
------------------------
N. Korean Leader Visits Factory, Lab in Jagang Province
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited an electronics
laboratory, a library and a factory in Jagang Province near the Chinese border,
the socialist country's state-run media said on Dec. 16.
The (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) did not specify the date the tour
took place, but the report comes five days after the reclusive leader's last
public appearance on Dec. 11.
At that time, Kim visited several farms and a folk village in the city of Sariwon
in Hwanghae Province.
The KCNA reports come on the heels of South Korean and U.S. intelligence claims
that the 66-year-old Kim is recovering from a stroke, but North Korea has
vehemently denied those reports.
Apparently to show that Kim is active and remains in control of the state, North
Korean media have released photos and articles showing the leader inspecting
military units and factories, as well as attending a sporting event.
The report, meanwhile, said Kim was accompanied by high-ranking officials from
North Korea's ruling Workers' Party and army generals Hyun Chol-hae and Ri
Myong-su.
On Dec. 17, the KCNA says Kim Jong-il visited the February General Steel
Enterprise in Jagang Province.
------------------------
N. Korean Official Blames South in Rare Inspection of Kaesong Complex
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- A senior North Korean defense official said on Dec. 17 that
Pyongyang's sanctions on the joint industrial complex in Kaesong are "not
temporary," but did not warn of more actions as he made a rare inspection of the
inter-Korean zone, Seoul officials said.
Lt. Gen. Kim Yong-chol, head of the policy planning office of the North's
National Defense Commission, met with about 150 South Korean businesspeople
operating in Kaesong and inspected some two dozen of their plants, said
Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun.
The visit came amid speculation that Pyongyang may impose further sanctions after
expelling hundreds of South Koreans from the industrial complex and curtailing
border traffic as of Dec. 1. Pyongyang has indicated it may shut down the Kaesong
complex if Seoul continues its hard-line policy toward the North.
"He made no such remarks, as far as I've confirmed with (South Korean) officials
in Kaesong," the ministry spokesman said, when asked by reporters whether the
North Korean official hinted at additional sanctions.
But the spokesman said Seoul will have to wait until the North Korean official
completes his two-day inspection on Dec. 18 for further details.
Seoul officials were trying to learn whether Kim's visit would be a prelude to
further sanctions or a simple inspection. The official conducted a similar
on-site survey of Kaesong on Nov. 6, about a week before Pyongyang announced the
Dec. 1 measures.
Kim called the Kaesong complex "a good example" of reconciliation and accused
Seoul of being responsible for prompting the sanctions.
"Those measures are not temporary, emotional or symbolic," Kim was quoted by the
spokesman as telling the South Korean businesspeople.
"The South says in front that it wants dialogue, but behind, it says
differently," he said. "The Kaesong industrial complex is a good example set by
the Korean people. And around the world, there is no such case in which one
country opens its border region to another."
He will visit more than a dozen South Korean firms in the area to gather data on
how much the number of South Koreans and their cars has decreased following the
implementation of the Dec. 1 measures before returning to Pyongyang, the
spokesman said.
North Korea ordered that the number South Korean officials and managers allowed
at the Kaesong complex be reduced by half as part of retaliatory measures against
Seoul's policy. There are currently 88 South Korean companies employing around
36,000 North Koreans at the complex.
(END)
