NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 68 (August 20, 2009)

*** NEWS IN BRIEF

North Korean Leader Seen Frequently in Recent Days

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has been in the public eye
frequently in recent days, apparently to dispel renewed speculation about his
health.

Kim engaged in six public activities in the week starting Aug. 13, according to
North Korea's state-run media reports.
The deteriorating health of the 67-year-old leader again made international media
headlines following the state media's release of several images of the leader on
July 8 that showed him looking gaunt and frail. The images were followed by
newspaper reports that he has only one to five years to live due to diabetes and
the after-effects of a stroke that he reportedly suffered in August last year.
The (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Aug. 13 that Kim
visited the Songdowon Youth Open-air Theater in Wonsan, Kangwon Province, without
mentioning the date of the visit.
In a closely followed report, the KCNA said Kim enjoyed art performances given by
an art group comprised of servicemen's families and servicepersons of a company
under a sub-unit of the (North) Korean People's Army (KPA) Unit 974. The news
agency, however, did not give the location of the military unit.
During the visits, Kim "indicated important tasks which would serve as guidelines
in managing and operating" the renovated 3,000-seater theater, and stressed the
need to intensify "the mass art activities," according to the KCNA.
On Aug. 16, he met with Hyun Jeong-eun, chairwoman of South Korea's Hyundai
Group, at Mt. Myohyang, located a two-hour drive from the North Korean capital,
Pyongyang.
The meeting was held "in an atmosphere of compatriotic feelings," according to
the KCNA. The two agreed to resuscitate stalled tourism projects and reunions of
families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
The following day, the KCNA said Kim gave on-site guidance to the newly built
Pothonggang Shop, a grocery store that appears to be located in Pyongyang. In a
separate report released the same day, the news agency said Kim gave field
guidance to the Pukchang Thermal Power Complex and the February 8 Jikdong Youth
Coal Mine, both in South Pyongan Province.
He demanded efficient management of the facilities to maintain a stable supply of
the country's electricity, the media said.
On Aug. 18, the KCNA said the leader inspected the renovated Kujang Fish Farm in
Kujang, North Pyongan Province and called for a brisker nationwide campaign to
raise more fish.
The last three facilities Kim visited are not far from the mountain resort where
Kim met with Hyun Jeong-eun.

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N.K. Marks Liberation Day with Call to Build Kangsong Taeguk

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea praised its leader's military-first rule on
Liberation Day, Aug. 15, and called for the people's increased role in the
national campaign to build a Kangsong Taeguk.
"The DPRK (North Korea) led by Kim Jong-il is an invincible socialist power fully
demonstrating its dignity and might thanks to Songun," Rodong Sinmun, the
newspaper of the Workers' Party, said in an editorial dedicated to the 64th
anniversary of Korean liberation from Japanese colonial rule. Korea was a colony
of Japan from 1910-1945.
Songun, or military-first politics, is the North's ruling philosophy that has
been in place since leader Kim Jong-il gained power after his father and the
founder of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, died in 1994. North Korea is now gearing up
for a campaign to transform itself into a strong, prosperous and powerful nation,
called Kangsong Taeguk in Korean, by 2012, the centenary anniversary of Kim
Il-sung's birth and the year current leader Kim Jong-il will celebrate his 70th
birthday.
"The wishes of the President (Kim Il-sung) will be translated into a brilliant
reality thanks to the Songun leadership of Kim Jong-il, who is successfully
carrying forward the cause of building a rich and powerful country," said the
editorial carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The daily called for "dynamically accelerating the general march for opening the
gate to a great prosperous and powerful nation full of confidence and optimism
... and thus bringing about a great surge and great innovations unprecedented in
the history of the country," according to the KCNA.
Minju Joson, the organ of the Cabinet, also published a commemorative editorial,
claiming North Korea is sure to emerge victorious in the drive for building a
thriving nation "as long as there is the wise leadership of Kim Jong-il."
No national meeting was held in North Korea to mark the Korean liberation
anniversary this year.

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N. Korea on Alert for S. Korea-U.S. Military Drill

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- The North Korean army on Aug. 17 ordered its troops to be on
"special alert" as South Korea and the U.S. were preparing to start an annual
joint military drill.
Denouncing the drill a "grave threat" to peace, the North also vowed to retaliate
against any provocation with a "merciless and prompt annihilating strike at the
aggressors with all offensive and defense means including nuclear deterrent."
South Korea's military said, however, they found no sign of abnormality with the
KPA in spite of the reported alert.
The two allies staged the Ulji Freedom Guardian exercise beginning Aug. 17 for an
11-day run. North Korea has typically blasted such joint drills as a preparation
for war, while the allies say the exercises are purely defensive.
"The entire army, all the people and the whole country shall be put on a special
alert from Aug. 17," the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army said in a
report carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The North also ordered its army of 1.19 million regular troops, as well as all
reserve forces, to "make an immediate strong attack on perpetrators of any
hostile act of intruding the sky, land and seas of the country." All the people
should bring about a new advance in the 150-day campaign to expediate the
construction of a thriving nation "in tense and mobilized posture," the report
said.
Defining the exercise as a "blatant challenge and grave threat to the peace on
the Korean Peninsula and the rest of Asia," the North said it will use "nuclear
deterrent" as a means of defense should the U.S. and South Korea "commit even the
slightest military provocation" to violate the North's sovereignty.
North Korea's angry reaction to the joint military exercise between the South and
the U.S. is typical, but its call for more military production over the drill is
unusual. Analysts say this shows North Korea is utilizing the tension to get
firmer control on the people. The North is reportedly mobilizing even housewives
and university students in the campaign that is scheduled to finish in the middle
of next month.
The report followed a statement issued a day earlier by a spokesman for the
North's Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People's Army that criticized the joint
military drill as a "maneuver for a nuclear war."
"The maneuvers for a nuclear war projected by the U.S. imperialists and the Lee
Myung-bak group of traitors are by no means a demonstration of military muscle of
a defensive nature," the statement said.
"Through these nuclear war exercises the American master and his servant seek to
openly call for escalating their 'sanctions' and 'pressure' upon the DPRK," it
said. DPRK is the abbreviation of the official name of North Korea, the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which is currently under international
financial sanctions and a trade embargo for its second nuclear test in May.
"Should the U.S. imperialists and the Lee Myung-bak group threaten the DPRK with
nukes, it will retaliate against them with nukes," the spokesman warned. "If they
tighten 'sanctions' and push 'confrontation' to an extreme phase, the DPRK will
react with a merciless retaliation of its own style and an all-out war of
justice," he said.
The North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland repeated
the criticism the following day, calling the exercise "absolutely intolerable."
"They were prompted by a dangerous scenario to provide a military backing to
their persistent campaign for 'sanctions' on the DPRK," the committee said in a
statement covered by the KCNA.
This year's exercise involves about 56,000 South Korean soldiers and about 10,000
U.S. soldiers stationed in South Korea and overseas.
In a speech marking the 64th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean
Peninsula from Japanese colonial rule on Aug. 15, President Lee proposed talks
for arms reduction with North Korea. He also offered massive economic aid, but
tied it to North Korea's denuclearization, a condition already rejected by the
North.

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N. Korea to Send Party Secretary to Kim Dae-jung's Funeral

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea will send a secretary of its ruling Workers' Party
to Seoul on Aug. 21 to pay respects to the late former South Korean President Kim
Dae-jung, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Aug. 19.
"Upon authorization of Kim Jong-il, chairman of the DPRK (North Korea) National
Defence Commission, a special envoy group led by Kim Ki-nam, secretary of the
Central Committee of the Workers' Party of (North) Korea (WPK), will visit Seoul
from August 21 to 22 to mourn over the death of ex-President Kim Dae-jung," the
KCNA said in a one-sentence dispatch from Pyongyang.
Former President Kim died on Aug. 18 from multiple organ failure about a month
after he was hospitalized for pneumonia. He was 85. A state funeral will be held
on Aug. 23 at the National Assembly in central Seoul.
Kim Ki-nam, one of the closest aides to Kim Jong-il, handles propaganda and
history education, but has also accompanied the North Korean leader on his
outdoor activities.
The KCNA report did not release the names of other delegates to the funeral.
Earlier in the day, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il sent a message of condolence
on the death of the former South Korean president.
"Upon hearing the sad news that ex-President Kim Dae-jung passed away, I express
my deep condolences to Mrs. Lee Hee-ho and other bereaved family members," the
KCNA quoted Kim as saying in the message. Lee is the wife and former First Lady
to the late president.
"Though he passed away to our regret, the feats he performed to achieve national
reconciliation and realize the desire for reunification will remain long with the
nation," he said.
The two leaders held the historic first inter-Korean summit in 2000, which paved
the way for political reconciliation and cross-border economic and social
exchanges.

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N. Korean Eye Clinic Heals 'Thousands' with S. Korean Support

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Thousands of North Koreans have recently received treatment for
cataracts and other eye afflictions at a modern eye hospital set up with
financial support from a South Korean charity group, the North's media said on
Aug. 13
The Pyongyang Lions Eye Hospital opened in Pyongyang in 2005 with US$8 million
donated by the South Korean branch of the Lions Club International, a charity
organization, and other member clubs from around the world. It has since built a
nationwide program to train eye doctors and provide surgery.
The Rodong Sinmun, organ of the ruling Workers' Party, said "thousands of
workers" regained their vision between June and July after undergoing surgery at
the clinics. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il ordered the clinics to provide
preventive care against cataracts and glaucoma," it said.
"Ophthalmology workers in hospitals in Pyongyang and other provinces are briskly
providing intensive eye checkups and surgery under the coordinated baton of the
Health Ministry," the paper said in an article carried by the official Web site,
Uriminzokkiri.
The Pyongyang hospital is equipped with 76 beds on four floors, according to the
Lions Club.
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