NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 56 (May 28, 2009)

*** NEWS IN BRIEF (Part 1)

North Korea Says It Has Developed Mobile News Service

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea has developed a mobile version of a government Web
site to distribute news and other content over wireless phones following the
reported launch of a third-generation (3G) wireless communications network there,
a state-run Web site said on May 22.

Uriminzokkiri, an official Web site run by North Korea, said that "Ryomyong," a
separate site run by the National Reconciliation Council, has launched a "Web
page for mobile phones."
The mobile site carries major news from the North's Korean Central News Agency
(KCNA) and other content concerning major developments in the country, it said,
without disclosing the Web address or whether it was accessible domestically or
abroad. Details on how to access the Web site through wireless phones were also
not provided.
North Korea reportedly introduced a 3G mobile phone network in a joint effort
with Cairo-based Orascom Telecom in December. It marked the first time that North
Koreans were allowed to use mobile phones since a previous, short-lived mobile
service was shut down without explanation in 2004.
In light of the announcement, some experts in the South speculate that the Web
page in question may in fact be a recently opened Twitter account page found at
http://twitter.com/kcna_dprk.
The micro-blogging site, run by a U.S. venture start-up of the same name, is a
widely used platform by media outlets such as CNN to send out real-time news. It
can be accessed by smartphones such as Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry and
Apple Inc's iPhone.
"I think it is highly likely as it is very easy to open up a so-called 'Web
version' of any site rather than build up a separate one from scratch which often
costs money," an industry insider in Seoul said.
An official at the Unification Ministry confirmed that Web page links posted on
the Twitter account connected users to the corresponding story in the KCNA's Web
page. All North Korean-run Web sites are blocked in the South and can only be
accessed through special government authorization.

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N. Korean Leader Attended Musical on Day of Nuclear Test

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il attended an art performance put
on by female soldiers, Pyongyang's state media reported on May 25, as
international consultations were underway over how to punish Pyongyang's second
nuclear test.
Kim "said that it is another aspect of the pride of our army to have such a
dependable women's unit," the report said of his visit to the Kamnamu (persimmon
tree) company of the Korean People's Army (KPA).
The soldiers presented songs like "Our General Is the Best," "General and Our
Kamnamu Company" and "May Soldiers' Songs of Happiness Reverberate Far and Wide,"
it said.
The soldiers' songs praised "the profound loving care of Kim Jong-il and
strikingly demonstrated the might of the heroic KPA which has grown to be a
matchless army and the iron faith and will and militant spirit of the KPA," it
said.
Kim's entourage included KPA Generals Hyon Chol-hae and Ri Myong-su and Workers'
Party Secretary Kim Ki-nam, as well as the party's department directors, Jang
Song-thaek, Pak Nam-gi and Choe Ik-gyu, it said. Jang, who married to the
leader's only sister, Kim Kyong-hi, is also a member of the National Defense
Commission, the highest military decision-making body.
North Korea's second nuclear test, following its first in 2006, drew strong
condemnation by the international community. The U.N. Security Council swiftly
rebuked the test as a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution and said it will
introduce stronger measures against the North.

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N.K.'s Youth Urged to Learn from Member of Kim Il-sung's Old Guard

SEOUL (Yonhap) - North Korea called on the country's new generation on May 25 to
be loyal to their leader, taking as a role model a top military official who was
a key member of the late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung's fight against Japanese
troops in the 1930s.
The call was made in a Rodong Sinmun commentary on a new film featuring the life
of O Jin-u, a former People's Armed Forces minister.
A close confident to Kim Il-sung, O also served as head of the General Political
Bureau of the (North) Korean People's Army (KPA), chief of the KPA General Staff
and the first-vice chairman of the National Defense Commission. He died in 1995
at the age of 78.
"The movie tells what thorough and true loyalty to the leader of revolution is
like," said the newspaper of the Workers' Party.
"It is a very pressing issue of the time regarding the future of revolution to
make the new generation vigorously relay the baton handed over from our
forefathers and learn from the thoughts and spirits of the first generation of
the revolution," the daily said.
The film, titled "White Gem," is bringing a fresh fever of loyalty to the hearts
of tens of millions of soldiers and civilians participating in the all-out drive
to build a thriving nation, it added.

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North Korean Leader Emphasizes Party's Rule Over Military

SEOUL (Yonhap) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has repeatedly stressed the
Workers' Party is still above the military, as in other communist states, despite
his "military-first" politics, the North's official Web site, Uriminzokkiri, said
May 25.
Kim has pursued the policy of priotizing the country's 1.2 million-strong
military since he took power after his father, President Kim Il-sung, died in
1994.
Uriminzokkiri introduced Kim's earlier remarks that the People's Army, though it
may be a main force in the revolution, is under the leadership of the party.
"If the military is not ruled by the party, it ends up to be a tool of resisting
revolution," Kim was quoted as telling army commanders in January 2001.
Without support from the army, however, the communist party becomes worthless
even if it wins power, Kim said, asking officers not to forget lessons from
history.
Kim again stressed the importance of the party's leadership in January 2005, the
Web site said.
"The question of the party's leadership of the People's Army is about the
leadership of the supreme commander," he was quoted as saying. The most important
thing in strengthening the party's rule over the military is "preparing
commanding officers well as the essential framework of the revolutionary armed
forces," he said.

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Pyongyang Citizens Rally in Celebration of Nuclear Test

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Citizens of Pyongyang held a mass rally to celebrate the
country's second "successful" nuclear test, state media said, hailing the blast
as a self-defense measure against hostile U.S. policy.
The gathering was held on May 26, a day after the nuclear test was conducted in
the country's northeast. For the nation's first nuclear test in October 2006,
celebratory rallies were organized 11 days later.
North Korea routinely holds mass rallies in the capital and in smaller towns
after important events to maximize the effect of propaganda and solidify internal
unity. Such gatherings were also held after a long-range rocket launch on April
5.
Choe Thae-bok, secretary of the Workers' Party central committee, said military
threats and economic sanctions posed by the United States propelled the North to
conduct the nuclear test.
The nuclear test "was a grand undertaking to protect the supreme interests of the
DPRK (North Korea) and defend the dignity and sovereignty of the country and
nation in face of the U.S. imperialists' unabated threat to mount a preemptive
nuclear attack and sanctions and pressure upon it," Choe was quoted by the
North's Korean Central News Agency as saying.
"The situation of the country is growing tenser," he said, blaming the "vicious
hostile policy" pursued by the U.S., Japan and South Korea's conservative
government.
Watchers say North Korea's foremost goal with the nuclear test was to pressure
the Barack Obama administration into starting direct negotiations. Pyongyang
believes only bilateral talks can move Washington to normalize relations and lift
sanctions against it, they say.
There was no sign, however, of compromise from Washington. Obama strongly
condemned North Korea's nuclear test while the U.N. Security Council was working
to introduce harsher sanctions against the North.
Minju Joson, the newspaper of the North's Cabinet, rapped the U.S. for rushing to
further isolate and sanction Pyongyang, saying the notion was "ludicrous."
"Nothing is going to change" as long as the U.S. maintains its "hostile" policy
towards North Korea, the paper said. "It is a ludicrous idea for the U.S. to
think that it can defeat us by sanctions. We have been living under U.S.
sanctions for decades ... The U.S. hostile policy toward us is like beating a
rock with a rotten egg."
Choson Sinbo, a Tokyo-based newspaper that conveys North Korea's stance to
foreign readers, said on May 26 that North Korea will continue to raise the
stakes no matter how seriously it is punished by the international community,
unless Washington takes direct action.
At the rally, Choe also promoted an internal slogan called the "150-day
campaign," the North's latest effort to increase labor productivity. The campaign
was launched last month as part of the country's pledge to become a strong and
prosperous country by 2012, the centenary of founder Kim Il-sung's birth.
The KCNA report did not say how many had gathered at the rally at Pyongyang
Indoor Stadium.
(END)