North Korea-weekly review-2

NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 37 (January 15, 2009)

*** NEWS IN BRIEF (Part 1)

N. Koreans Hold Rallies Vowing to Fulfill New Year's State Goals

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Mass rallies have been held in North Korea for the 10th day
running, spreading from Pyongyang to a remote northeastern province, to pledge to
their commitment to the New Year economic drive set up by leader Kim Jong-il.
North Korea customarily holds a series of mass rallies across the country after
rolling out New Year policies through a joint newspaper editorial.
This year's editorial, issued early this month, reaffirmed Pyongyang's commitment
to prioritize the military, rebuild the country's ailing industrial
infrastructure and denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
The rallies followed a 100,000-strong mass rally held on Jan. 5 in the North
Korean capital with ranking officials such as Premier Kim Yong-il, Choe Thae-bok,
chairman of the rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) and Yang Hyong-sop,
vice president of the SPA Presidium, attending.
Participants in the rallies pledged their loyalty to Kim's "military-first"
policy and to join an all-out campaign to increase production, according to the
North's media reports.
They, in particular, made the pledge also in response to a letter from employees
of the Chollima Steel Complex in the western port city of Nampho urging all
workers across the country to actively take part in what analysts here call a
second Chollima movement.
The Chollima movement, named after a mythical winged horse, was initiated by
North Korean founder Kim Il-sung in 1956 to mobilize North Korean citizens to
rebuild the country from the rubble of the Korean War.
Current leader Kim Jong-il reportedly asked workers of the steel plant to take a
leading role in reviving the post-war movement when he visited the facility on
Dec. 24.
The North aims to build a economically powerful nation by 2012 marking the
centennial of Kim Il-sung's birth.
According to the North's state media, rallies were held in Jagang, South
Hwanghae, Kangwon and Ryanggang provinces on Jan. 6; South and North Pyongan
provinces, North Hwanghae and South Hamgyong provinces on Jan. 7; and North
Hamgyong Province the following day.
Work-harder rallies are now spreading to smaller administrative units such as
cities and counties and firms, cooperative farms and social organizations.
The North's Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) said on Jan. 9 that mass
rallies held in such cities as Songrim, Kimchaek, Eunryul and Hoeryong "were full
of workers from all walks of life with a high passion for creating a great
innovation or leap that hasn't existed in the history through the Chollima grand
march."

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N.K. Vows to Reinforce Armed Forces to Reconstruct National Economy

SEOUL (Yonhap) - North Korea's state media said on Jan. 8 the military should
increase its role to lay the grounds this year for building an economically
powerful nation.
The North has launched an all-out campaign to "open the gate to a thriving
nation" by 2012, the centennial of its late founder Kim Il-sung's birth.
"We must firmly guarantee the construction of a socialist power in a military
manner by reinforcing the mighty force of military-first politics by all means
this year," the (North) Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) said in a
commentary.
It said a nation's military power is one of the most important factors of
measuring its greatness and guarantees its survival and development.
Stepping up one's military power is especially significant today when
"imperialists mercilessly infringe upon and crush other nation's sovereign
rights" for their gains, the radio added.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il began his public activities for the year at an
army unit, his first such move in more than a decade.
The North renewed its call to prioritize the military in a joint New Year's
editorial printed in the nation's three major newspapers early this month.

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N. Korea Celebrates Completion of Wonsan Youth Power Station

SEOUL (Yonhap) - North Korea has completed a large-scale hydroelectric power
station in the eastern port city of Wonsan after more than six years of
construction, state media reported on Jan. 10.
A ceremony was held at the site that day to celebrate the completion of Wonsan
Youth Power Station, the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)
said.
The plant is reportedly capable of generating 60,000 kW of electricity.
Indicating the importance of the completion, the ceremony was attended by
high-ranking officials. They included Premier Kim Yong-il, Pak Nam-gi, department
director of the Workers' Party and Kim Kwang-rin, chairman of the State Planning
Commission.
A letter of thanks from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was delivered during the
ceremony to those who constructed the plant, according to the KCNA.
"The completion of the power station helped lay a solid foundation for
successfully solving the problem of electricity and drinking water for the
citizens of Wonsan and rapidly developing the economy in the province and will
remarkably change the landscape of the country," Kim was quoted as saying in the
letter.
"It will instill great strength and courage into all the people of the country
now all out in the great advance to bring about a new great revolutionary surge
on all fronts of building a powerful nation," he said.
The news agency earlier reported Kim has inspected the plant in his third public
activities of the New Year, according to the news agency. It was not known when
he made the visit.

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N. Korean Athletes Broken 30 Local Records Last Year: Report

SEOUL (Yonhap) - North Korean athletes has established 30 new domestic records in
such events as weightlifting, field and track, shooting, archery and swimming
last year, a report said on Jan. 10.
Two records were broken in the men's 94-kilogram and in the women's 53-kilogram
weightlifting competitions of the Mangyongdae Prize sports meeting both in the
clean and jerk, according to a newspaper of a pro-Pyongyang association of Korean
residents in Japan.
Seven new local records were set up in men's and women's 60-meter hurdle events,
women's 60-meter, 100-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter dashes and women's triple jump
in a national field and track championship competition, Choson Sinbo said.
The 11th People's Sports Contest produced 18 new records in the fields of
shooting, archery, field and track, swimming and weightlifting, the report said.

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N. Korea Sets up Watchdog for Overdue Parliamentary Election

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea began preparing for its long-overdue parliamentary
elections next month by forming an election watchdog, Pyongyang's official news
agency said on Jan. 12.
The Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) set up an election committee
and named Yang Hyong-sop, vice president of the Supreme People's Assembly
Presidium, as the committee chair, the North's state-run Korean Central News
Agency said in a two-sentence statement.
North Korea typically establishes an election watchdog in the run-up to the vote
"as part of its election promotion propaganda," an official at Seoul's
Unification Ministry said on customary condition of anonymity.
"But its chief posts are filled by the assembly members and therefore the system
does not function in a democratic way," he said.
Citizens vote in the direct election, but the list of candidates are drawn up by
the Workers' Party which nominates one candidate in each electorate.
The current 687 representatives were elected in 2003, all with 100 percent
approval. Their five-year term de facto expired in August 2008.

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N. Korean Leader Tours Factories Following Nuke Message

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il inspected machinery plants as
part of his stepped-up economic drive, the North's media said on Jan. 13.
During his visit to the Kumsong Tractor Plant, Kim expressed his "belief that the
workers of the plant would invent and produce more modern farm machines
invariably under the uplifted banner of self-reliance and realize the
comprehensive mechanization of agriculture as early as possible," the North's
Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in its English language report.
Kim recalled the days when workers "produced with empty hands the first tractor
in the country in the postwar difficult period," the KCNA said.
Pyongyang recently restored the postwar Chollima Movement, initially launched by
the nation's founder Kim Il-sung in 1956 to mobilize citizens to rebuild the
country from the debris of the Korean War.
The North Korean leader also visited the Taean Heavy Machine Complex, the report
said on the same day.
Amid a global economic downturn and suspension of aid from South Korea, North
Korea recently has reinvigorated its slogan of "self-reliance" to rebuild the
nation's frail industrial infrastructure and resolve its chronic food shortages.
(END)