Earlier this year the Internet Archive was formally designated as a US Federal Depository Library. It preserves a massive archive of digitized US Government documents, amongst which is a large archive of 16,231 scanned Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) reports totaling more than 800,000 pages. (Read more about FBIS' history and mission). Like most government documents, these reports were produced over decades for human consumption and contain complex formatting, headers, footers, inconsistent structuring, varying column counts and myriad other challenges that make them difficult to format for modern search and analysis by scholars. Just recognizing the boundary of a story, following it across columns, reformatting it, removing errant headers and footers and parsing out the various source details from its citation line is extremely complex and error-prone. Can Gemini do all of this for us? Let's take a sample 1991 FBIS report scanned from microform and ask Gemini 3 Pro, Gemini 3 Flash, Gemini 2.5 Pro and Gemini 2.5 Flash Thinking and Non-Thinking to parse and reformat it into machine-readable JSON records with all of the key source metadata extracted and structured, ready for import directly into a search index or for data analysis by scholars.
Given just the scanned-image PDF, Gemini is able to OCR the scans and parse at a cost of just $0.01-0.02 a page. Using external OCR software (such as Cloud Vision API), the cost drops to as low as $0.003607 a page, meaning the entire archive could be processed for around $2,900 (not including OCR costs). Given the length of most FBIS reports, we do hit the thinking+output token limit of Gemini (65K tokens), meaning reports will have to be broken into chunks for production processing. The extraordinary results here suggest modern LLMs like Gemini have enormous potential to reimagine our ability to parse and richly digitize the vast archives of scanned government documents held by institutions like the Internet Archive.
For all our experiments below, we will use the following prompt and apply it to the 80-page FBIS Daily Report East Asia 1991-03-15 (Volume 91 / Issue 051).
Attached is a scanned FBIS report. OCR the entire report and reformat it into searchable text, grouping each story together and then output it as JSON records, where each story is a JSON record with the following fields (skip over the table of contents):
TITLE (like "APEC Agrees To Push for Trade Liberalization")
FULL CITATION (like "BK 1303052591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 13 Mar 91 p B10")
CITATION ID (like "BK 1303052591")
CITATION LOCATION (like "Bangkok")
CITATION OUTLET (like "the nation")
CITATION LANGUAGE (like "English")
CITATION DATE ("like March 13, 1991")
SOURCELINE (like "By Oranut Anasuksathian and Yindi Loetcharoenchok")
FULL TEXT
Let's start by using the scanned-images PDF (this has embedded OCR'd text, but we'll instruct Gemini to re-OCR it). The results for the first 50K characters from Gemini 3 Pro can be seen below. We hit the maximum output window of 65K (output + thinking tokens) so the results are truncated, but up until that point, the model does an exceptional job at parsing and reformatting the printed report into machine-readable JSON records. In all, Gemini 3 Pro made it through the first 41 pages at a total cost of $0.681410, or around $0.016619 per page.
[
{
"TITLE": "ASEAN To Accept USSR as Dialogue Partner",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403093591 Tokyo KYODO in English 0817 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403093591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Masanori Kikuta",
"FULL TEXT": "Kuala Lumpur, March 14 KYODO—The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed in principle to accept the Soviet Union as one of its “dialogue partners,” Malaysian Foreign Minister Omar Abu Hassan indicated Thursday.\n\n“The Soviet Union would like to be closer to us” and has offered to join Japan, the United States and other existing partners of dialogue with ASEAN, Abu Hassan told a press conference.\n\n“We will certainly look at the best possible means to get them (the Soviets) involved in one way or another,” he said. “There have been some discussions among officials.”\n\nASEAN is scheduled to hold an annual meeting of foreign ministers, followed by a meeting with their counterparts from six existing dialogue partners, plus South Korea, in Kuala Lumpur on July 19-24, Abu Hassan said.\n\nSouth Korea will be the seventh full dialogue partner, starting with the meeting, but it has not been decided yet if the Soviet Union will join such a ministerial meeting, he said.\n\n“We are still looking at the kind of format or relationship we want to establish with them,” he said.\n\nMalaysian Government officials said earlier that ASEAN is also considering beginning a dialogue with China.\n\nSouth Korea began a dialogue with ASEAN when particular issues such as trade and investment matters arose, before allowing it to become a full partner.\n\nASEAN will discuss “other ways of association” with the Soviet Union as well as Vietnam, Myanmar [Burma], and other potential dialogue partners because involving them as full participants in regular meetings will mean “very long and taxing” sessions, Abu Hassan said.\n\nSenior ASEAN officials “will think about how best to engage them into this kind of association,” he said.\n\nIn the meantime, he said, ASEAN's six member countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei—will try to establish “economic linkages with them bilaterally, not on an ASEAN basis,” he added.\n\nMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed told an international economic conference on the Indonesian resort island of Bali last week ASEAN is considering inviting Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar to the next foreign ministers’ meeting.\n\nBut Abu Hassan indicated it will be some time before the three Indochinese socialist countries become dialogue partners.\n\n“This will be discussed from time to time by senior officials” and “will definitely be on the agenda of the (next) summit” of ASEAN planned for Singapore late this year or early next year, he said.\n\nASEAN last held a summit in Manila in 1987, itself the first in a decade, and Mahathir proposed at the Bali conference that ASEAN leaders meet more frequently.\n\nSenior ASEAN officials met in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the increase in dialogue partners and other issues, said Abu Hassan, who will be appointed minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in a cabinet reshuffle Friday.\n\nAnother session devoted to economic issues is scheduled for Friday.\n\nAmong issues discussed so far have been a plan to set up an “ASEAN cooperation unit” of specialists with the help of the United Nations development program to provide technical services for the management of various projects undertaken jointly by the ASEAN countries, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "APEC Agrees To Push for Trade Liberalization",
"FULL CITATION": "BK1303052591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 13 Mar 91 p B10",
"CITATION ID": "BK1303052591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE NATION",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Oranut Anasuksathian and Yindi Loetcharoenchok",
"FULL TEXT": "Thai officials who attended a two-day meeting on the Asia-Pacific economic grouping last week, expressed satisfaction at the renewed attempts of the 12 member countries to push for regional trade liberalization and to adopt three new projects.\n\nBesides, progress was made to link up trade and investment data available in member countries with the Global Link centre in Singapore, said Laksanachanthon Laohaphan, director general of the Foreign Ministry’s ASEAN Affairs Department.\n\nShe led the Thai delegation to the discussions at the Honeymoon Island of Cheju in South Korea on March 5 and 6.\n\nThailand, she said, is preparing to subscribe to the information and the Commerce Ministry is updating and arranging its own database to facilitate the link-up.\n\nIn an interview with THE NATION, Laksanachanthon described the Cheju meeting as “full of cooperation, cordial and quite positive”. all member countries, she added, agreed on the urgency to speed up cooperation and resolve the existing barriers between each other.\n\nThe Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) comprises the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the six countries of ASEAN—Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.\n\nMeanwhile, three new projects were approved in addition to the existing seven working programmes previously adopted by the members. Two of the three new projects on transportation and tourism were proposed by the United States while New Zealand suggested a fishery project. Thailand has expressed a keen interest in the project.\n\nThe members also agreed with an Australian proposal to set up an ad hoc committee to study regional trade liberalization and with the Canadian suggestion to study the regional macroeconomic outlook and its implications.\n\nSo far, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Japan and Singapore have subscribed to the Australian initiative. Other members may join in the consultation process later, Laksanachanthon said.\n\nA summary paper of APEC’s senior officials’ meeting stated that the participants were of a general agreement that non-discriminatory trade liberalization in the region was an appropriate area for detailed study and consideration. There was also a general agreement among the members on the importance of the trade liberalization as a continuing policy focus for APEC.\n\nCanada which spearheaded the move to explore and study the regional economic policy and trends will soon call a meeting of the member countries, said an official at the meeting.\n\nAll the proposals will be submitted to the senior official representatives of the 12 members and later at the APEC ministerial-level meeting in Seoul in October.\n\nASEAN senior foreign officials were to meet in Kuala Lumpur today until March 15 to discuss the outcome of the APEC consultations. But the meeting was indefinitely postponed because of the coup in Thailand.\n\nIn a related development, ASEAN’s senior economic officials are to meet today in Bandung to study the proposals approved by APEC officials. The meeting ends on Friday.\n\nThe Cheju meeting also agreed on the financial aspects of the projects and timetables for implementing them. The expenses incurred from these projects will be shared by the members.\n\nBut the six ASEAN nations have asked the developed countries in the group to recognize their financial constraints and suggested that the developed economies contribute more in carrying out big projects, according to a commerce official.\n\nLaksanachanthon said that the agreement on the financial aspects and new projects is a major step forward for APEC, a cooperation of countries from extremely different economic and political backgrounds.\n\nWhile foreign officials were very optimistic about the progress made in the regional economic consultations, some Thai commerce officials who accompanied the delegation said the talk moved very little forward.\n\nThe three projects given approval at the official-level meeting were pending since the first official consultation in Singapore last year, they said. Moreover, ASEAN has repeated its intention for the cooperation process to go slow.\n\nAccording to Laksanachanthon, the exchange of opinions on trade and investment information and the development of human resources have progressed the most because they do not require the establishment of new mechanisms.\n\nOther projects, including energy cooperation, telecommunications and technology transfer are also moving forward due to consultations held between individual working groups, she added."
},
{
"TITLE": "Agency Ready To Dispatch Minesweepers to Gulf",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503082791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0754 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503082791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan could dispatch a small fleet of minesweepers in about a week if given orders to help clean-up efforts in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war, a Defense Agency source said Friday.\n\nThe Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel, and with port calls could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said.\n\nThe task of removing more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before the war would take about a year to complete, the source said.\n\nJapanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulf’s waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran-Iraq war.\n\nThe government received similar requests for minesweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait.\n\nThe Defense Agency will likely deploy four minesweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote-controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines.\n\nThe flagship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180.\n\nThe minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and that can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes.\n\nAccording to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task.\n\n“It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,” said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kaifu Undecided on Dispatch",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503112991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1106 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503112991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday implied he opposed a proposal to send Japanese minesweepers to help cleanup the effects of the Persian Gulf war.\n\nKaifu, speaking at the House of Representatives’ standing committee on foreign affairs, said the government is now collecting information to see if Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] ships are needed in the Gulf.\n\nKaifu said he is “addressing the matter carefully.”\n\n“I have never decided to send the minesweepers. It is irresponsible to do so without exact knowledge about the situation” in the Gulf area, Kaifu said.\n\nState Minister for Defense Yukihiko Ikeda told reporters Friday that Japan should handle the matter carefully, without any speculation. Speculation could lead Japan in the wrong direction, he said.\n\n“I am embarrassed that controversy over such an abrupt proposal has been spreading across the nation,” Ikeda said.\n\nEarlier this week, senior officials in Kaifu's ruling Liberal Democratic Party proposed deploying minesweepers to the Gulf.\n\nOn Thursday, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama told a parliamentary committee that Japan is obliged to try to protect Japanese sailors in the area. Nakayama also said the government will discuss sending minesweepers to the Gulf with the seafarers union.\n\nEarlier Friday, a Defense Agency source said Japan could deploy a small minesweeper fleet in about a week, if given orders.\n\nIf sent, the Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel. Allowing time for port calls, it could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said.\n\nIt will take about a year to remove more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before the war, the source said.\n\nJapanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulf’s waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran-Iraq war.\n\nThe government received similar requests for minesweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait.\n\nThe Defense Agency will likely deploy four minesweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote-controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines.\n\nThe flag ship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180.\n\nThe minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes.\n\nAccording to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task.\n\n“It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,” said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Official: SDF Aircraft Can Be Used for Evacuees",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403165191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1457 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403165191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan can fly Air Self-Defense Force [ASDF] aircraft to Kuwait to transport evacuees if an international body makes such a request, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Thursday.\n\nThe official, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited the government's special administrative ordinance made to send ASDF transport aircraft abroad to carry refugees earlier this year. The ordinance makes such flights possible if they are requested by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) or a related world body.\n\nThe official was commenting on a question relating to a possible Egyptian request to shuttle Egyptian workers being evacuated to Kuwait from Iraq, which is now gripped by internal conflict.\n\n“If the IOM makes such a request to Japan with Kuwaiti approval, then why not? The ordinance never specifically defines the flight routes,” the official said, adding he has no information that such a request has yet been made.\n\nPrime Minister Toshiki Kaifu’s government made the ordinance with the possibility of flying ASDF aircraft between Cairo and some Jordanian cities in mind, but actually no such request was made."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Minister Urges Kaifu To Visit U.S. Soon",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503033791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0258 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503033791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama said Friday.\n\nNakayama told reporters after a regular cabinet meeting that the prime minister himself wishes to make the trip “even if it is a brief one.”\n\nThe foreign minister said Kaifu should have no problem with Diet business, saying four days is enough for a return trip to Washington.\n\nNakayama said he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week.\n\nHe is set to leave Japan next Wednesday to meet with Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials.\n\nNakayama said Japan's upcoming “Golden Week” series of national holidays in late April and early May, usually used for politicians' visits abroad, should be the best time for Kaifu's swing to Southeast Asian nations, which was postponed in January amid the Persian Gulf crisis, and Kaifu's U.S. visit should come first.\n\nForeign Ministry officials have expressed strong hopes for an early Japan-U.S. summit to discuss bilateral cooperation after the Gulf war.\n\nPresident George Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed as a result of the Gulf war. Foreign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be “too late.”"
},
{
"TITLE": "More on Aims of Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503101091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0955 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503101091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu may visit the United States in early April to exchange views with U.S. President George Bush on peace prospects in the Middle East and the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks, government sources said Friday.\n\nForeign Minister Taro Nakayama told reporters earlier in the day that Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April.\n\nIn the talks with Bush, Kaifu is expected to express Japan's willingness to strengthen political and economic relations with Israel as part of a comprehensive Japanese Middle East policy in the wake of the Persian Gulf war.\n\nWashington has expressed hope the Japanese Government will extend economic assistance to Israel to facilitate postwar restoration work.\n\nJapan has never given economic aid to Israel and has maintained a generally pro-Arab Middle East policy.\n\nKaifu is also expected to express Japan's readiness to find a breakthrough in the stalled multinational trade talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the sources said.\n\nBut they did not give further details on what proposals Kaifu will make to bring about a successful conclusion of the trade talks.\n\nDuring the visit, Kaifu is likely to stay in Washington or a U.S. west coast city for three or four days.\n\nNakayama told reporters he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week. The foreign minister is set to leave Japan Wednesday to meet Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials.\n\nPresident Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed because of the Gulf war.\n\nForeign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be “too late.”\n\nA top Foreign Ministry official suggested that Kaifu would visit Washington in April.\n\n“There is little possibility (of Kaifu's U.S. trip) in March,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that the trip would take place before the holidays that begin in late April.\n\nHe also said that there might be a need to adjust ties between Japan and the U.S. before Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev visits Japan April 16-19."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Ministry Aide To Visit U.S. 17 Mar",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503110991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503110991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan will dispatch a senior Foreign Ministry official to Washington on Sunday to discuss post-Persian Gulf war policies, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.\n\nYukio Sato, director general of the ministry's information analysis, research and planning bureau, will visit Washington at the request of the U.S. Government, ministry officials said.\n\nThe trip will precede Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama's scheduled U.S. visit, beginning next Wednesday.\n\nState Department officials are expected to brief Sato on the results of Secretary of State James Baker's Middle East tour and President George Bush's series of talks with European leaders.\n\nSato last visited the U.S. between February 25 and March 6. On that trip, he presented Japanese ideas on international restrictions on arms shipments to the Middle East, and said Japan was ready to help repair environmental damage in the Gulf region, the officials said.\n\nHe is expected to discuss more specific aspects of postwar international cooperation during his upcoming trip, they said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Urges U.S. Rice Display's Removal",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503051791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503051791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister Motoji Kondo reiterated Friday that he will urge a U.S. rice industry group to withdraw samples of U.S. rice displayed at a food trade show now under way in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture.\n\nKondo said at a press conference after a regular cabinet meeting that he will request the U.S.A. Rice Council to remove the American rice samples by Saturday, when the food show at the Makuhari Exposition Center is scheduled to end.\n\nHe said such activities aimed at promoting rice sales violate Japan's Food Control Law.\n\nThe minister also said it is questionable whether the rice samples for the show have been quarantined or not.\n\nThe ministry will consult with its affiliated Food Agency about what to do if the U.S. council does not accept his demand, Kondo said.\n\nThe National Confederation of Farmers' Movements has announced it will take legal action against the U.S. group over the rice samples."
},
{
"TITLE": "Business Delegation To Meet U.S. Counterparts",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403132991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1305 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403132991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Business leaders from Japan and the United States will meet in Los Angeles on May 11-12 to “deepen mutual understanding,” the first such meeting since the end of the Persian Gulf war, business sources said Thursday.\n\nThe meeting will be in preparation for a session of the Japan-U.S. Businessmen's Conference to be held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in July.\n\nThe officials said the Japanese delegation will explain Japan's basic stance concerning the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks.\n\nThey said the Japanese side also is concerned about the hardening of U.S. sentiment toward Japan over Tokyo's alleged lukewarm support for the U.S.-led multinational forces fighting the Gulf war.\n\nThe Japanese delegation will include Eishiro Saito, honorary chairman of the powerful Federation of Economic Organizations; Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the federation; and Rokuro Ishikawa, president of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry."
},
{
"TITLE": "Establishes Ties With LDP",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403131591 Tokyo NHK General Television Network in Japanese 1000 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403131591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NHK General Television Network",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Japanese",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "The Liberal Democratic Party [LDP] established its Japan-USSR Parliamentarians League today. In a speech delivered prior to the plenary session, CPSU International Department Chief Falin indicated Soviet intentions to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev’s visit to Japan in April.\n\nWith President Gorbachev scheduled to visit Japan in April, the LDP's Japan-USSR Parliamentarians' League was established today for the purpose of promoting extensive exchanges between the two nations. Keijiro Murata, former chairman of the party's policy affairs research council, will serve as chairman of the League.\n\nCPSU International Department chief Falin, on his first visit to Japan to attend the league's inaugural session, delivered a speech prior to the plenary session. Commenting on President Gorbachev’s visit to Japan, Falin said that President Gorbachev would bring with him not the former image of the Soviet Union but a picture filled with a brighter future. He added that despite the fact that the domestic situation in the Soviet Union is not very favorable right now, it will not be long before the sun shines on Soviet-Japanese relations through the efforts of the two nations. Thus, he indicated the Soviet intention to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev’s visit to Japan.\n\nFurthermore, regarding President Gorbachev’s perestroyka policy, International Department chief Falin stated: Unless domestic disorder in the Soviet Union turns into civil war, there will be no going back on perestroyka or any shift in the chosen orientation."
},
{
"TITLE": "Reads Gorbachev Message",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403154991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1347 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403154991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said in a message read here Thursday that he would like a Japanese delegation to visit Moscow before he travels to Tokyo in April.\n\nThe two countries share a common desire to open a new stage of relations, Gorbachev said in his message read at the inauguration of a bilateral parliamentarians' group.\n\nThe parliamentarians’ league was formed by Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Soviet Union.\n\nThe Soviet Union and Japan are obligated to play an “objective role” in the region and internationally, Gorbachev said in the message read by Valentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party’s International Affairs Division.\n\n“I hope that, as two major members of the world community, our unique contribution to the process of global cooperation will become larger,” Gorbachev said in the message.\n\nHe said he wants to meet with a Japanese delegation before his scheduled April 16-19 visit to Japan, apparently referring to a possible visit by LDP Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa.\n\nFalin, in a separate address to the league, said he was upbeat about bilateral relations.\n\nHe warned, however, that Gorbachev’s historic visit comes at a time of domestic turmoil in the Soviet Union.\n\nEconomic reforms are falling victim to political power struggles, Falin told the audience of some 500 political and economic leaders.\n\nHe said Gorbachev will stay on the path of “perestroyka” economic reforms and democratization unless the country is swept up in chaos.\n\n“When President Gorbachev visits Japan, he will bring with him a bright picture of the future of the Soviet Union, not the old image,” said Falin, a top foreign policy aide to Gorbachev.\n\nFalin said financial credit and goods are important to his country, but what the Soviet Union needs most is a model that will help the public make the “correct decision” between a free market economic system and the present centrally planned economy.\n\nSpeeches by Japanese political leaders, meanwhile, lacked the usual references to the four-decade territorial dispute over four islands north of Hokkaido that has frozen relations in a bitter standoff.\n\nThe league, joined by 184 LDP parliamentarians, was established to help resolve problems in Japan-Soviet economic cooperation, and promote exchanges by the two countries’ ruling parties in advance of Gorbachev's visit.\n\nIt supplements an existing suprapartisan league."
},
{
"TITLE": "Laverov, Falin Meet Kaifu",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503041391 Tokyo KYODO in English 0342 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503041391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—A foreign policy adviser to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said to Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday the two countries should make “100 percent” use of the Kremlin leader's visit to Tokyo next month to achieve a breakthrough in ties.\n\nValentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party's International Affairs Division, said he spoke with Gorbachev immediately before arriving in Japan on Thursday, and that the President is “prepared to make a breakthrough in ties.”\n\n“When the President comes, discussions should not be only of the weather and the cherry blossoms, there should also be serious talks on bilateral and international issues,” Falin said.\n\n“Let’s make 100 percent use of this chance,” he said in a 15-minute courtesy call, also joined by Soviet Vice Premier Nikolay Laverov.\n\nThe two officials are here to attend separate political and science events to promote ties prior to Gorbachev’s visit.\n\nKaifu said he hopes for a resolution of the territorial dispute over four islands east of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, so that the two countries could sign a peace treaty.\n\nThe northern islands issue has been a stumbling block for improving relations ever since World War II, when the Soviet troops occupied the islands.\n\nKaifu said he hopes to see a “dynamic” expansion of relations in a wide variety of fields, including economics and technology.\n\nLaverov, here to attend the opening of a Soviet science fair, suggested that Soviet basic technology combined with Japanese know-how in application would deliver fruitful results."
},
{
"TITLE": "Gorbachev, Kaifu To Hold Three Rounds of Talks",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503141091 Tokyo KYODO in English 1343 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503141091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will hold three rounds of talks with Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu during his April 16 to 19 visit to Japan, with the two countries’ territorial dispute high on the agenda, government officials said Friday.\n\nGorbachev and Kaifu are expected to sign 11 pacts and documents on issues such as Japan's support for Gorbachev’s “perestroyka” restructuring efforts, and aid to victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.\n\nThe two leaders plan to issue a joint statement on the results and meaning of Gorbachev's visit, officials said.\n\nThe Soviet president is also scheduled to meet with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, make a speech at the Diet, give a lecture at a university and meet with the press during his four-day stay in Japan, they said.\n\nVisits to Osaka and Kyoto are also being arranged, officials said.\n\nThe schedule will be finalized when Soviet Foreign Minister Aleksander Bessmertnykh visits Japan from March 29-31.\n\nGorbachev's visit to Japan will be the first by a top Kremlin leader in the two nations’ history.\n\nIt will also be the first Japan-Soviet summit conference in six years, following the meeting between Gorbachev and then Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. At that time, Nakasone went to Moscow to attend the state funeral of Soviet Communist Party leader Konstantin Chernenko, who was succeeded by Gorbachev.\n\nThere have been only two other Japanese-Soviet summit meetings—between Ichiro Hatoyama and Nikolay Bulganin in October 1956, and between Kakuei Tanaka and Leonid Brezhnev in October 1973.\n\nWith Gorbachev's visit, Japan hopes to find a breakthrough in realizing the return of the four northern islands off Hokkaido that the Soviet Union occupied after World War II.\n\n“We hope to pave the path for solving the territorial dispute and the signing of a Japan-Soviet peace treaty in order to build a foundation for bilateral relations,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said. “And we would like to make it a turning point in dealing with postwar issues.”\n\nSome Foreign Ministry sources, however, say the territorial dispute cannot be solved in one or two top-level meetings.\n\nWith just one month before the visit, Tokyo hopes to feel out Moscow's positions in Bessmertnykh’s meetings with Kaifu and Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama later this month, officials said.\n\nLiberal Democractic Party [LDP] Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa is also planning to visit Moscow during March, LDP sources said.\n\nThe Soviet Union, however, is suffering severe economic difficulties, and political and ethnic turmoil at home and is hoping to secure Japan's financial aid while sounding out Japan's position on the territorial dispute.\n\nMeanwhile, a Soviet advance team will arrive in Tokyo on Monday for a weeklong visit, Soviet diplomatic sources said Friday."
},
{
"TITLE": "Envoy Says Gorbachev Hopes To Meet Businessmen",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403125991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1215 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403125991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev hopes to meet with Japanese business leaders during his visit to Tokyo in April, Soviet Ambassador to Japan Lyudvig Chizhov said Thursday.\n\nChizhov called on Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the influential Federation of Economic Organizations, known as the Keidanren, Thursday afternoon to convey Gorbachev's desire for a meeting with Hiraiwa and other business leaders, Keidanren officials said.\n\nHiraiwa welcomed the request and hoped that Gorbachev's trip to Japan will mark a dramatic step forward in relations between Japan and the Soviet Union, said Keidanren officials."
},
{
"TITLE": "USSR Foreign Minister To Discuss Middle East",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503104291 Tokyo KYODO in English 1006 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503104291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Foreign Ministers Aleksander Bessmertnykh and Taro Nakayama will discuss Middle East security in the post-Persian Gulf war period and other international issues during their talks in Tokyo later this month, Soviet diplomatic sources said Friday.\n\nThe March 29-31 meeting, aimed at finalizing details for President Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to Japan April 16-19, will be the second between the two foreign ministers this year, and the first following last month's end of hostilities in the Gulf.\n\nThe foreign ministers are also to discuss 11 agreements to be inked during Gorbachev's planned April visit, as well as a final statement to be issued at the end of the trip and a peace treaty, the sources said.\n\nBoth Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu and Gorbachev have expressed hopes that the visit will provide a breakthrough in relations, snagged over a dispute over ownership of four small islands occupied by the Soviet Union after World War II.\n\nHowever, there have been few hints yet how the two sides will approach the territorial dispute, which Japan says must be resolved before a peace treaty can be concluded.\n\nThe sources said the Soviet Union plans to hand over a list of some 40,000 deceased Japanese World War II prisoners of war prior to Gorbachev's visit.\n\nIt recently canceled a plan to hand over the register to a private association of former war detainees in Siberia following a demand by the Japanese Government that the list be delivered via official channels.\n\nAmong those accompanying Gorbachev on the historic visit will be his wife Raisa, Bessmertnykh, and presidential spokesman Vitaliy Ignatenko, the sources said.\n\nThe visit here is to be the first ever by a Kremlin leader.\n\nFour Japanese prime ministers have traveled to the Soviet Union while in office.\n\nIn 1956 Ichiro Hatoyama visited the Soviet Union to normalize diplomatic relations. Kakuei Tanaka traveled to Moscow in 1973, Zenko Suzuki in 1982, and Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1984.\n\nThe sources said they did not expect the Soviet referendum slated for Sunday on preservation of the country’s union structure to affect the visit."
},
{
"TITLE": "Ministry Official ‘Lukewarm’ on USSR Aid",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503081191 Tokyo KYODO in English 0602 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503081191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—A senior Finance Ministry official expressed a lukewarm view Friday regarding possible Japanese financial aid to the Soviet Union.\n\nThe official, who declined to be named, said the Soviet economy has worsened since the International Monetary Fund and other international organizations issued a negative report on the economic situation in the Soviet Union late last year.\n\nThe official also said the Soviet military crackdown on independence movements in the Baltic republics adversely affected the Western attitude toward Moscow.\n\nHe said Western aid to the Soviet Union will be discussed at the London summit of seven Western industrialized nations in July but their attitude will not be as enthusiastic as it was in the previous summit in Houston, Texas, last year."
},
{
"TITLE": "SDP To Review Stand on Kuril Islands",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403171691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1516 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403171691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—The Social Democratic Party (SDP) will review its basic policy calling for the return of all the Kuril Islands, including the four Soviet-held islands off Hokkaido, party officials said Thursday.\n\nThey said party members have been demanding more flexibility in policy toward the Soviet Union.\n\nThe SDP, Japan's largest opposition party, has argued since 1961 that Moscow must return two of the four islands—Shikotan Island and the Habomai Island group—before concluding a peace treaty with Tokyo, and said that the return of the other Kuril islands should be negotiated later.\n\nThe four islands were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.\n\nA Japanese-Soviet joint declaration in 1956 specified that the Soviet Union would return Shikotan and the Habomais after concluding a peace treaty between the two countries."
},
{
"TITLE": "Marubeni Postpones Vladivostok Office Plan",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503125591 Tokyo KYODO in English 1116 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503125591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Marubeni Corp. said Friday it has put off its plan to open a representative office in the Soviet far east city of Vladivostok because of an abrupt aboutface in Soviet policy.\n\nThe trading giant has apparently made the decision after learning of a change in Soviet policy, apparently stemming from the rise of conservatives in the leadership following the military crackdown in the Baltic republics, industry sources said.\n\nCompany officials said they had an impression that the Kremlin now does not want to open Vladivostok, a major Soviet naval port on the Sea of Japan, to foreigners for the time being.\n\nThe Soviet Union earlier promised to allow foreign companies to open offices in the city in March in order to promote economic reforms in the Far East.\n\nMarubeni and another Japanese trading firm, Mitsubishi Corp., then announced plans to open offices there.\n\nMitsubishi said it has not received information about Moscow's change of policy. The firm said it has not withdrawn its application filed to the state authorities of that country, because the Soviet situation remains fluid.\n\nVladivostok, with a population of about 650,000, is the home of the Soviet Far East naval fleet."
},
{
"TITLE": "Development Loan Pledged to PRC",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503110791 Tokyo KYODO in English 1041 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503110791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan has pledged to extend a low-interest, untied loan of up to 43.38 billion yen to China in the third disbursement of its aid package for fiscal 1990, the Foreign Ministry announced Friday.\n\nThe ministry said the fund will be used to help finance five development projects, including construction of highways, railways, and other facilities.\n\nThe loan, part of Japan's official development assistance (ODA), is repayable over a 30-year period, including a 10-year grace period, at an annual interest rate of 2.5 percent, the ministry said.\n\nNotes on the loan were exchanged in Beijing on Friday between Japanese Ambassador to China Hiroshi Hashimoto and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Qi Huaiyuan, the ministry said.\n\nThe projects to be financed by the loan include:\n—construction and consolidation of highway and telecommunications networks in Qingdao City at a cost of 12,834 million yen.\n—construction of railways in Baoji in northwestern China at a cost of 5,572 million yen.\n—construction of an airport in Wuhan at 6,279 million yen.\n—construction of coal transportation railways linking Hengshui and Shangqiu at a cost of 5,695 million.\n—construction of the Beijing Shisanling pumped-storage power station at 13 billion yen."
},
{
"TITLE": "Grants Extended to Latin America, Africa",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403125091 Tokyo KYODO in English 1027 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403125091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan will extend grant-in-aid to Peru, Honduras, Benin, Madagascar, and Botswana, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.\n\nPeru will receive 3.5 billion yen and Honduras 500 million yen in a nonproject grant to help pay for the Latin American nations’ necessary imports, the ministry said.\n\nBenin will get 900 million yen and Madagascar 3.5 billion yen for the same purpose.\n\nThe 104-million-yen grant for Botswana is for debt relief and will compensate for part of its debts in yen loans from Japan extended until March 1988, the ministry said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Finance Minister Remarks on Yen's Weakness",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503061991 Tokyo KYODO in English 0550 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503061991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said Friday the current weakness of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar in foreign exchange markets should not be sustained.\n\n“I do not think current exchange rates between the two currencies reflect Japanese economic fundamentals correctly,” Hashimoto told the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives.\n\nThe minister said he hopes currency rates will settle moderately, not sharply. The recent strength of the dollar is caused by U.S. investors’ euphoria at the end of the Persian Gulf war, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Sees Economic Expansion Without Inflation",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503020291 Tokyo KYODO in English 0119 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503020291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said on Friday the economy continues to expand without any fear of a rekindling of inflation.\n\nSpeaking at a press conference after a cabinet meeting, Hashimoto said brisk domestic demand is supporting the current economic expansion.\n\nMeanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Yasushi Mieno said personal consumption and private-sector capital spending are still the main pillars of Japan's 51-month economic expansion.\n\nMieno made his remarks before a Finance Committee meeting at the House of Representatives.\n\nThe central bank chief said there is no signs of a decline in the two pillars and that the pace of economic expansion remains steady.\n\n“A moderate slowdown in the growth rate would sustain the country’s economic expansion,” Mieno said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Administrative Vice Finance Minister Named",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403151191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1438 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403151191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has decided to name Hiroshi Yasuda, Budget Bureau Chief, as Administrative Vice Minister of Finance, ministry officials said Thursday night.\n\nYasuda, 58, will succeed Masami Kogayu, 59, who will retire from the post. Their personnel change is expected to be formalized in late June, the officials said.\n\nJiro Saito, 55, chief of the minister's secretariat, will succeed Yasuda as new Budget Bureau Chief.\n\nAt the same time, Tadao Chino, 57, International Finance Bureau chief, will be named to succeed Makoto Utsumi, 56, the retiring vice minister for international affairs, the ministry officials said.\n\nHashimoto's decision on the appointments followed the passage of the national budget bill for fiscal 1991 through the House of Representatives earlier in the evening.\n\nThe newly picked administrative vice minister, Yasuda previously served as head of the minister's secretariat before taking up the current post last June."
},
{
"TITLE": "Lower House Approves 1991 Fiscal Budget",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403142691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1359 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403142691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—The House of Representatives passed by a majority vote Thursday the government-proposed 1991 fiscal budget totaling 70,347.4 billion yen.\n\nThe budget incorporates 12,212.2 billion yen for social welfare, up 5.1 percent over the current year, 6,589.7 billion yen for public works projects, up 6.0 percent, and 883.1 billion for official development aid, up 8.0 percent.\n\nDefense spending was slashed to 4,386 billion yen in order to raise funds for Japan's 9 billion dollar contribution to the cost of the Persian Gulf war, though this was still an increase of 5.45 percent.\n\nThe bulk of the 9 billion dollars was generated in a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year.\n\nIn addition, Japan earlier offered 2 billion dollars to the U.S.-led multinational forces deployed in the Middle East and another 2 billion dollars in aid to countries affected by the conflict.\n\nThe legislation was immediately sent to the House of Councillors for further deliberation.\n\nAccording to the Constitution, the bill will be enacted automatically in 30 days even if the upper house fails to act on it.\n\nThe government is also expected to compile a provisional budget amounting to about 5 trillion yen to cover government expenditures for the first 12 days of fiscal 1991, beginning April 1."
},
{
"TITLE": "Commodity Funds Bill To Include Securities",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403131691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1056 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403131691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—A law to introduce commodity funds in Japan to be enacted soon will allow such funds to include securities for less than 50 percent of their assets, government officials said Thursday.\n\nThe Finance Ministry, Ministry of International Trade and Industry [MITI], and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Ministry have jointly drawn up a draft of a bill which is expected to be submitted to the current Diet session.\n\nThe bill will also provide for the punishment of violators, including imprisonment, a MITI official said.\n\nTrust banks will be the sole institutions that are allowed to establish commodity funds under the new law, the official said.\n\nOn the marketing side, commodity funds for general investors will be marketed by trust banks, while those for corporate and institutional investors will be handled by trading houses and lease companies, he said.\n\nSecurities to be included in the funds include government bonds, corporate debentures, and mortgages.\n\nBut resale of these funds will be prohibited to limit the distribution.\n\nCommodity funds are a type of trust fund in which the trustees invest money on behalf of investors in commodity futures markets, such as grain, precious metals, and crude oil futures."
},
{
"TITLE": "Household Spending Increases in 1990",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503121091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0805 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503121091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japanese households spent an average 311,174 yen per month in 1990, up 0.8 percent in real terms over the year before, the Management and Coordination Agency said in a report Friday.\n\nThis is the second year for growth to be below 1.0 percent, following the 0.5 percent rise in 1989, and shows that spending has been discouraged in part by a surge of consumer prices at a rate that has not been seen since 1981, the report said.\n\nHouseholds of salaried workers spent an average 331,595 yen per month or 1.6 percent more than in the previous year.\n\nThe average nonsalaried worker's households spent only 0.1 percent more at an average of 275,583 yen.\n\nAn increase in overseas holidays boosted spending in the leisure-related service sector, as more households spent more on airline tickets and group tours.\n\nSpending grew notably in cordless telephones and telephone services, eyeglasses, and medical goods.\n\nSteady consumption was seen in household durable goods such as air conditioners and refrigerators, helped in part by the hot summer weather, but purchases of television sets and videotape recorders fell for the first time in 12 years, the report said.\n\nSpending on alcohol, other beverages, and prepared foods went up, but that on fresh fruit and vegetables fell, due to their higher prices, it said.\n\nA steady growth was seen in the monthly income of salaried workers’ households, which went up 2.0 percent on average from the year before to 521,757 yen.\n\nAlthough the income earned by household heads rose a weak 1.0 percent, due to the spreading employment of older, lower-paid people, there were jumps of 4.8 percent in bonus payments to them and of 4.6 percent in the income earned by their spouses.\n\nSpending in the nonconsumption sector surged 9.1 percent due to higher social insurance rates.\n\nDouble-income households earned 556,633 yen monthly, or 16.8 percent more than single-income households, with the income of the spouse accounting for an average 107,928 yen, or 19.4 percent of the total.\n\nDouble-income households spent 11.8 percent more than single-income households, with spending on education notably higher, the report said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Plant Site Acquisitions Drop in 1990",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503120691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0821 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503120691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—The number of large sites acquired for industrial use during 1990 fell 9.0 percent from the previous year, the first annual decline in four years, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said Friday\n\nMITI's annual report on plant site purchases said those with an area of 1,000 square meters or more bought during the year for building facilities for manufacturing or production of electricity, gas, or heat amounted to 3,781, down from 4,157 in 1989.\n\nThe total area of newly purchased land came to 4,616 hectares, down 2.3 percent from the previous year.\n\nMITI said the figures are still at high levels and show no signs of a major slowdown.\n\nThe most popular reason given for companies selecting sites was securing their workforces.\n\nMetal product manufacturers accounted for the largest share—15.9 percent—of the total acquisitions, followed by general machinery makers (12.9 percent), food processing firms (11.2 percent), and electronics companies (10.9 percent).\n\nPurchases by chemical, oil, and coal companies fell sharply.\n\nThe number of purchases by foreign firms plunged to 18 from 31 in the previous year.\n\nSites bought for building research laboratories also slipped to 46 from 63."
},
{
"TITLE": "Firm Builds Intelsat Earth Station on Comoros",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403151391 Tokyo KYODO in English 1405 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403151391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—KDD Engineering and Consulting Inc. (KEC) has built an Intelsat satellite earth station in the Comoros Islands, off the East African coast, KDD, the company's parent firm, said Thursday.\n\nThe station will go into operation on Saturday. The completion of the station will ensure improved and stable international telecommunications to and from the island republic, KDD, Japan's international telecom giant, said.\n\nKEC has built the earth station under a contract with the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, and with aid from the Japanese Government. The station has won the approval of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat).\n\nThe republic has so far had only shortwave circuits, and communications to and from the republic had been disturbed by jamming and noises."
},
{
"TITLE": "Major Shipping Companies Plan Merger",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503080691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0559 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503080691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Nihon Yusen K.K. and Nippon Liner Systems Ltd. have agreed to merge their worldwide shipping operations to better compete in a severely competitive market, industry sources said Friday.\n\nBoth companies are expected to announce the merger at a Tokyo press conference late Friday afternoon, the sources said.\n\nAccording to the sources, Nippon Yusen will purchase all the stock of and absorb Nippon Liner Systems into its worldwide shipping operations.\n\nNippon Liner Systems, an affiliate company of Navix Line Ltd. and established in 1988, operates a fixed liner service between Japan and North America. The company has been suffering losses since its start-up, the sources said.\n\nNavix, established in June 1989 through a merger of Yamashita Shin Nihon Steamship Co. and Japan Lines Ltd., had been talking with Nihon Yusen about taking the company off its hands for some time, the sources said.\n\nNippon Liner suffered losses of 190 million yen in the third quarter of Fiscal 1990. Second quarter operating profits for July, August, and September of Fiscal 1990 are expected to amount to 1.6 percent of the revenues for the same period in the previous year, the sources said.\n\nAfter the merger, Nihon Yusen, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., and Navix Ltd. will be the only remaining Japanese shipping firms to continue fixed international shipping routes, the sources said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Correction to Kaifu Interview With NHK",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503083091",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503083091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "null",
"CITATION OUTLET": "null",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "The following correction pertains to the item headlined “NHK interview With Prime Minister Kaifu,” published in the 13 March East Asia DAILY REPORT, page 1:\n\nPage two, column two, fifth paragraph make read:\n[Yamamoto] Concerning aid programs, we have ODA [official development assistance]. Is that right? It seems that the government plans to review programs for aid to those nations that have large military budgets or that have been exporting arms. Is it not necessary for us to lay down a basic principle so that such aid will be provided for the purpose of stabilizing people's livelihood? [new graf]\n[Kaifu] Regarding the ODA, I think that... (supplying missing question by Yamamoto)"
},
{
"TITLE": "U.S. Denounced for ‘Marring’ DPRK Image",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1203052391 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0449 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203052391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Pyongyang March 12 (KCNA)—The U.S. delegate at a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission held in Geneva recently took issue with our country over the “human rights” problem.\n\nDenouncing this, a news analyst of NODONG SINMUN today says:\n\nThe “human rights” problem is not raised at all in our country, where all the people exercise equal and independent rights befitting the true master of the state and society and enjoy a genuine political, economic and cultural life.\n\nThe news analyst further says:\n\nIt is a malicious challenge to our Republic and an unpardonable insult to our people for the United States to charge our country with the “human rights” problem.\n\nThe United States seeks a sinister purpose of marring the image of our Republic ever rising in the international arena, undermining its prestige and influence and isolating our Republic internationally.\n\nWhen the United States raises a hue and cry over someone’s “human rights”, acting the “international judge of human rights”, it reminds us of a thief crying “stop thief!”\n\nThe United States is the very general headquarters and chieftain of human rights violation.\n\nIt is universally recognized that tens of millions of U.S. people are deprived of the most elementary rights of humanity such as democracy and vital rights and their freedom is totally trampled down. It is also the United States where racial inequality is most serious.\n\nWhile keeping utter silence about the wanton violation of human rights in South Korea, their colony, the U.S. ruling circles are speaking ill of our Republic. This fully reveals again their shameless and brigandish nature.\n\nThe United States had better mind its own business before taking issue with others over “human rights”."
},
{
"TITLE": "Team Spirit Exercise Said ‘Challenge’ to North",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1403151091 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0022 GMT 9 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1403151091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Pyongyang Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "NODONG SINMUN 9 March special article: “A Game of Playing With Fire That Leads the Situation to the Brink of War”",
"FULL TEXT": "Despite the unanimous protest and denouncement of all the Korean people and the world’s peace-loving people, the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean warmongers are leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war by conducting the adventurous “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise.\n\nNot only the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, and the puppet forces, but also massive aggressive arms from the U.S. mainland and the Pacific region will be mobilized in this war exercise. The war exercise will continue until late April, starting with mobile deployment in late January.\n\nOffensive operations for northward invasion, such as joint landing operations, mobile aerial strike operations, commando operations, and river-crossing operations, will be conducted during the war exercise.\n\nThe reckless nuclear war exercise is an unforgivable challenge to our Republic and the people who are earnestly making efforts for peace and peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula, and is an intolerable criminal act of leading the situation on the Korean peninsula into very dangerous phase once again.\n\nBecause of the “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise, today, a dark cloud of nuclear catastrophe is hovering over the heads of our people, and a state of emergency is being created in our country in which a new war may break out.\n\nTo cope with the grave situation in which nuclear war is developing as a real danger in our country because of the reckless, provocative military plot of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet clique, the supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] has issued an order to the Army, Navy, and Air Forces of the KPA, all the units of the Korean Security Forces, and all the members of the Worker-Peasant Militia and the Red Youth Guards, to assume a full combat mobilization posture with high revolutionary vigilance.\n\nThis is a just step to defend the sacred fatherland and the valuable revolutionary achievements. Now, the U.S. imperialists and the puppets, in order to rationalize their reckless war madness, are babbling about our self-defense combat mobilization posture while saying that it is an annual exercise and is not dangerous at all. They also said that we were reacting in a very sensitive manner. This, however, is only the poor excuse of the warmongers.\n\nIt is a well-known fact that the “Team Spirit” joint military exercise, which has been conducted since 1976, is a dangerous preliminary war and a test nuclear war aimed at carrying out a preemptive strike against our Republic. The exercise, which is being conducted this year for the sixteenth time, shows a very serious direction. Because of this, we cannot regard it as a simple exercise that has been annually conducted.\n\nThe great leader Comrade Kim Il-song has taught:\n\nToday, all events taking place in South Korea show that the new war-provoking maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and their stooges are in a very dangerous phase, and the situation of our country is on the brink of war.\n\nAs is known, the high-level talks between the North and the South were held from last year. Many issues, including the issue of removing political and military confrontation, were presented in the talks. In particular, the issue of adopting a nonaggression declaration was presented as an important item on the agenda.\n\nIn order to make this year a year of relaxation and peace, a year of reconciliation and unity, and a historical year that opens a new phase in national reunification, the government of our Republic, at the very beginning of the year, put forward epochal proposals, including the proposal for peaceful national reunification, and for guaranteeing peace on the Korean peninsula.\n\nWe have put forward a flexible proposal to the United States and the South Korean authorities, suggesting that a nonaggression declaration be adopted by the North and South, and that the “Team Spirit” joint military exercise be completely suspended or, at least, suspended for two or three years.\n\nHowever, ignoring our sincere efforts, the U.S. imperialists and the puppets openly undertook to conduct the criminal “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise and repeatedly held war conferences from late last year. Finally, they started a nuclear war exercise this year, thus openly challenging us.\n\nThis proves that the United States and the South Korean puppets, blocking forever the road toward peace and peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula, have attempted to destroy our Republic through force of arms by waging a nuclear war.\n\nThe “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise is also serious because it is being conducted in South Korea in the situation where preparations for an aggressive war against the northern half of the Republic have been completed.\n\nHaving conducted the “Team Spirit” joint military exercise in South Korea every year since 1976, the United States imperialists have now escalated it. Through this exercise, the U.S. imperialists have attempted to complete preparations for northward aggression. A large number of U.S. soldiers and their ultramodern equipment were brought from the U.S. mainland and throughout the Pacific to the Korean peninsula and, emphasizing nuclear attack, the forces of aggression from overseas, along with the U.S. forces occupying South Korea and the puppets, conducted massive sea, land, and aerial strike operations.\n\nMobilizing enough forces in the “Team Spirit” joint military exercise to wage a war, the U.S. imperialists have mastered and completed, in recent years, a three-dimensional war on land, sea, and in the air by repeatedly conducting actual fighting exercises.\n\nGiven the absurd remarks of the U.S. imperialist war servants that during the “Team Spirit” joint military exercise they may wage unexpected war, and given the remarks of foreign military commentators that if an order to wage war is issued, this military exercise will automatically turn into a war, it is not difficult to see that this game of playing with fire has reached a dangerous point.\n\nEven today when the preparations for an armed aggression against the northern half of the Republic have been completed, they are conducting this war exercise, even while propagandizing that it is an annual exercise. This can be done only by warmongers. The exercise is more dangerous this year because it has been conducted on the whole part of South Korea under the situation in which an unprecedented and sharp atmosphere of war was created.\n\nAlready late last year, under a plausible pretext of war against crimes, the South Korean puppets have already mobilized violent forces, such as a larger number of the puppet military forces, policemen, and reserve forces, and massively kicked up the suppression commotion against the patriotic forces for reunification. From the very beginning of this year, they have created a more terrible atmosphere of terror. We cannot help but say that this is a result of maneuvers designed to strengthen the military fascist system in preparation for wartime in accordance with the U.S. aggressive policy over Korea.\n\nFrom the very beginning of this year, a large number of the latest operational equipment and nuclear-equipped fighter bombers flew into South Korea from abroad, and aerial war exercises to strike us were staged almost every day. All kinds of military provocation and reconnaissance acts against the northern half of the Republic are frequently being conducted.\n\nUnder the pretext of the Gulf war, the United States and the South Koran puppets have declared an emergency wartime system in South Korea, and have ordered U.S. and the puppet soldiers to be ready for an emergency mobilization.\n\nWholly aiming their guns at the northern half of the Republic, the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, as well as the puppet forces, have been under an emergency wartime system. In addition, under the pretext of the “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise, the aggressive forces from abroad have crowded into the Korean peninsula with their nuclear weapons. This will never be overlooked.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets have perpetuated approximately 1,500 military provocations, including intensive gun fire against our side on the area of the Military Demarcation Line just 20 days after the announcement of the plan for the “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise.\n\nNevertheless, a war may be easily provoked by a trivial incident on the Korean peninsula where the massive arms of both sides confront each other over the MDL [Military Demarcation Line]. How can we regard playing with fire amid the atmosphere of war as destiny?\n\nSo far, the “Team Spirit” joint military exercise has been conducted approximately ten times in South Korea. However, the exercise has never been conducted in the whole of South Korea in such a grave, war-like atmosphere as this year.\n\nAll the facts show that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets, taking advantage of the destruction of the balance of power in international relations and the military imbalance created on the Korean peninsula by our reduction of 100,000 troops at our initiative, are surely going to set a conflagration for northward invasion on the Korean peninsula.\n\nThe propaganda that the “Team Spirit” joint military exercise is not dangerous because it has been conducted annually is merely transparent subterfuge by those who would dull our vigilance and perpetuate an aggressive war at any opportunity. With no sophistry can the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets conceal the fact that the “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise is dangerous.\n\nUpon receiving an order from the supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people are now fully prepared for combat mobilization to smash the war maneuvers of the enemy.\n\nOur people love peace and do not want confrontation and war. However, they will never forgive those who antagonize us without reason. If the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets take the road of adventurous and aggressive war at last by miscalculating our efforts for peace as an indication of weakness, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people will retaliate ten thousand fold."
},
{
"TITLE": "13 March Team Spirit Maneuvers Reported",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503045291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0430 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503045291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The U.S. imperialists staged another nuclear air strike exercise against the North on March 13 at a time when a horrible atmosphere of war has been created throughout South Korea by the adventurous “Team Spirit 91” joint manoeuvres, according to military sources.\n\nThey sent by stealth a formation of Guam-based nuclear-capable B-52 strategic bombers to the sky above Asan Bay for a nuclear air strike exercise for a surprise attack on main targets in the strategic depth of the northern half of Korea. Participating in it were formations of nuclear-capable F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers which have been mobilized in the “Team Spirit 91” from the Pacific bases.\n\nOn the same day, they held a large-scale joint ground strike exercise against the North in the air above Yongju of north Kyongsang Province with the mobilization of fighter-bombers and assault planes based in the U.S. mainland and the Pacific and formations of fighter-bombers, assault planes and observation planes belonging to the U.S. Airforce present in South Korea and the puppet airforce.\n\nMore than 150 warplanes including nuclear-capable F-16 were involved in it.\n\nOn March 12, the U.S. imperialists brought an E-3A early warning plane based in Kadena, Japan, to the sky above the Military Demarcation Line [MDL] area and let it command flying corps in aerial espionage and war exercises against the North. On March 12 and 13, they also let U-2 high-altitude strategic reconnaissance planes make shuttle flights for hours along the MDL for an aerial espionage on the objects in the depth of the North.\n\nThe warplanes mobilized in the “Team Spirit 91” manoeuvres on March 12 and 13 numbered more than 1,560.\n\nThis proves that the provocative “Team Spirit 91” started by the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean rulers has reached a very dangerous stage."
},
{
"TITLE": "DPRK MAC Member Sends Letter of Protest",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503051291 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0310 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503051291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Pyongyang Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "“Letter of protest” from Major General Choe Ui-ung...",
"FULL TEXT": "Our side sends this letter to your side in connection with the large-scale “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise which your side is adventurously waging in a full-scale stage, and with the situation on the Korean peninsula which your side strained to an extreme point.\n\nThe “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise is a preliminary war and test nuclear war which thoroughly takes the northern half of our Republic as the target of attack. It itself is a grave act of war.\n\nIt is a basic mission of the MAC to safeguard peace by preventing the recurrence of war on the Korean peninsula. Proceeding from this, our side strongly demanded during the 459th MAC meeting held on 13 February that your side suspend the “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise which creates the danger of nuclear war and hinders North-South dialogue. Our side even put forward a new proposal that if your side cannot suspend this exercise, we, in the name of both sides of the MAC, recommend to the relevant government authorities the issue of discontinuing the large-scale war exercise.\n\nThis was prompted by the earnest desire to ensure peace in Korea and North-South dialogue by preventing at any cost the situation from being strained due to the large-scale war exercise.\n\nHowever, your side staged the “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise instead of responding to our just demand put forward in accordance with the Armistice Agreement, and to the proposal for negotiations. Today your side expanded this exercise into a full-scale stage, thus leading the situation to a grave stage.\n\nDespite our repeated protest and warnings, your side is finally waging the “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise in a full-scale stage. This is a grave and dangerous war provocation commotion leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to an extreme point.\n\nYou dragged enormous armed personnel and nuclear operation equipment into South Korea from U.S. military bases on the U.S. mainland and in the Pacific region, including Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines. You are waging a large-scale war exercise together with the armed forces in South Korea by simulating an attack on us.\n\nIn the landing operation in Pohang on 12 March, which signaled the launch of a general offensive in the “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise, you mobilized the troops of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and commando units, which were brought in from the U.S. mainland and from the bases in the Pacific region, the U.S. forces in South Korea, and the South Korean forces, a total of some 1,000 military planes, such as the fighter-bombers, vertical takeoff and landing assault planes, pursuit-assault planes, electronic jamming planes, refueling planes, and antisubmarine planes, and patrol planes, and hundreds of warships, such as missile-carrying cruisers, missile-carrying destroyers, nuclear-powered submarines, and landing vessels, and waged an offensive operation simulating a landing on the coastal areas of the northern half of the Republic. You are also conducting aerial mobile strike operations, ground offensive operations, landing operations, and commando operations on a large scale.\n\nYou are committing grave military provocations one after another in the DMZ in which the armed forces of the two sides are directly confronting each other. On 4 March, your side shelled our side with artillery in the DMZ in the eastern front; and on 8 March, fired at our side many rounds of a large-caliber machine gun in the DMZ in the western front, committing some 4,100 military provocations as of 14 March from the time your side began the “Team Spirit-91” war rehearsal.\n\nBecause of these war rehearsal commotions and military provocations of your side, military confrontation between the two sides is now dashing toward the point of no return. Our side protests and denounces resolutely once again the aggressive “Team Spirit-91” joint military exercise conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities as a wanton violation of the Armistice Agreement, an open challenge to us and the supervisory organizations of the Armistice, and intentional maneuvers frustrating the security on the Korean peninsula and North-South dialogue.\n\nWe oppose war and desire peace, but never beg anyone for peace. Our revolutionary Armed Forces and all our people are closely watching the reckless war commotions conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities, and will respond to the provocation with a due measure for self-defense.\n\nYour side will be held totally responsible for creating on the Korean peninsula the situation comparable to that on the eve of war like today, for frustrating the North-South dialogue, and for straining the relations between the two sides extremely."
},
{
"TITLE": "KPA Holds Meetings To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503043891 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503043891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The officers and men of the unit of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] to which Comrade Kim Yong-cho belongs, the naval unit of the KPA to which Comrade An To-chik belongs and the airforce unit of the KPA to which Comrade Choe Sang-hyon belongs held meetings to denounce the “Team Spirit 91” joint military exercises and declared that if the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities unleash a war of aggression, they would revenge themselves on the aggressors a thousand fold.\n\nSpeakers at the meetings angrily denounced the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities who have entered into field exercises of the “Team Spirit 91,” noting that this was driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war.\n\nAll the KPA officers and men, upon receiving orders from the supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, keep themselves in full combat readiness to cope with the enemy’s new war provocation moves, they said, adding: There are no assurances that the reckless war game of the U.S. imperialists who were driven mad with the scheme to ignite another war and of their stooges will not turn into a war against the North.\n\nAs long as the one-beats-a-hundred soldiers who defeated the aggressors and displayed matchless heroic feats in the Fatherland Liberation War stand guard, the defences of our socialist motherland are impregnable, they declared, and stressed:\n\nNone of the aggressors who intrude our territory, seas and sky will be let to go home alive."
},
{
"TITLE": "More Meetings Held To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1403105591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0959 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1403105591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Pyongyang March 14 (KCNA)—Meetings were held at the Pyongyang thermal power complex, the Sinuiju textile mill and the Hwasong co-op farm in Yongsong district, Pyongyang, and other places to denounce the “Team Spirit 91” joint maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities.\n\nSpeeches were made there.\n\nThe speakers said that the “Team Spirit 91” joint maneuvers started by the U.S. imperialists and the No Tae-u ruling group in defiance of the unanimous protests and denunciation by the people at home and abroad are assuming ever more dangerous dimensions with each passing day. This is pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war, they noted.\n\nIt must not go unnoticed that the South Korean authorities unhesitatingly committed grave military provocations by firing bullets and shells at the northern portion of the demilitarized zone along the Military Demarcation Line, timing to coincide with the “Team Spirit 91”, they said, adding: Such military provocations were motivated by the sinister aim to deliberately aggravate the North-South relations and find an excuse to invade our Republic.\n\nThey stressed that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities must act with discretion, looking straight at the invincible strength of our people united with a single heart.\n\nIf the enemy dare ignite a war of aggression on the Korean peninsula, he will face his final doom before our revolutionary Armed Forces and people, they warned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Criticizes U.S. ‘Antisocialist Strategy’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503104091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1002 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503104091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—NODONG SINMUN today carries a by-lined article entitled “‘Team Spirit’ Exercises and Anti-Socialist Strategy”.\n\nIt says:\n\nIn its anti-socialist moves the United States is persistently following the policy of strength on the one hand and resorting to the “peaceful transition” strategy on the other.\n\nThe double-track anti-socialist offensive of the U.S. imperialists finds its concentrical manifestation in their Korea policy. In an attempt to contain our republic by means of strength, they have converted South Korea into the biggest nuclear forward base in the Far East, where more than 1,000 pieces of nuclear weapons are deployed, and are annually staging “Team Spirit” joint maneuvers, a test nuclear war against us.\n\nThe “Team Spirit” is a heinous challenge to and provocation against our republic and a sinister move to gratify their aggressive ambition by settling the Korean issue by strength, by means of war, not by peaceful means through dialogue.\n\nThe United States is also trying viciously and craftily to realize its anti-DPRK “peaceful transition” strategy, backed by strength. The U.S. imperialists and their stooges, the South Korean authorities, are trying by hook or by crook to instill the wind of “liberalization” in the northern half of Korea.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists are also foolishly attempting to realize their “peaceful transition” strategy at an early date by laying obstacles in the way of our socialist construction and making us use up our national strength through such large-scale military frenzy as “Team Spirit” maneuvers.\n\nThe “peaceful transition” strategy, a camouflaged, indirect method, is no less dangerous than the direct threat and blackmail of strength.\n\nThese two aggressive methods of the U.S. imperialists constitute an important characteristic of their policy toward Korea at present and it bespeaks that they attach great importance to the Korean peninsula in their anti-socialist offensive and are making desperate efforts to save their policies toward Korea and Asia from bankruptcy by directing the spearhead of aggression on our republic and weakening the socialist position.\n\nOur people are victoriously advancing, successfully smashing the double-track aggressive offensive of the U.S. imperialists.\n\nThe imperialists' strategies of strength and “peaceful transition” are powerless to check our people's onward movement and they are doomed to failure."
},
{
"TITLE": "No Tae-u Said Inciting ‘Fratricidal War’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503054291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0425 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503054291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—NODONG SINMUN and MINJU CHOSON today denounce No Tae-u for inciting a fratricidal war.\n\nNo Tae-u told a “graduation ceremony of the military academy” that peace on the Korean peninsula can be “preserved” only by military power strong enough to “deter someone’s provocation” and at the “Airforce Academy” he blared that reinforcing the armed forces is the “key to unification”. He also piffled that the puppet army should establish “strategy and tactics suited to the reality and effective commanding system”, drawing a lesson from the Gulf war.\n\nWhat No said at the puppet army military academies training tools of war is utterances encouraging them to light the fuse of a war to gratify his wild design to “unify the country by prevailing over communism,” the news analyst of NODONG SINMUN says, and continues:\n\nNo Tae-u is a traitor to the nation and a bellicose element who is not entitled to talk about “peace” and “unification”.\n\nThe South Korean authorities have turned down our proposal for the adoption of a nonaggression declaration and responded to our call for an end to the war exercises with the “Team Spirit” joint manoeuvres.\n\nThe bellicose acts of No Tae-u show that the war servant of the U.S. imperialists is trying to bring dark clouds of a nuclear war over the Korean peninsula at any cost.\n\nNo must act with discretion, deeply mindful how serious is the crime he is committing by staging the “Team Spirit” nuclear war exercises together with the U.S. imperialists.\n\nThe news analyst of MINJU CHOSON says:\n\nNo Tae-u is screwing up the tension and trying to start a war in an effort to stave off the serious crisis of his tottering regime. However, it is not a way out but a way to his doom."
},
{
"TITLE": "* Kim Proposes Coexistence Under Reunification",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0140A Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 18 Jan 91 p 5",
"CITATION ID": "912C0140A",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NODONG SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 18, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Article by reporter Yi Sun-hui: “The North and the South Can Coexist in a Reunified Country”",
"FULL TEXT": "The great leader Comrade Kim Il-song taught in his 1991 New Year's address as follows:\n\n“The two systems can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country if they are placed on the basis of the common national traits that have been carried on without a break historically.”\n\nIn the address, the great leader made it clear that the reunification of our country should be carried out under a confederal system formula of one nation, one country and two systems, two governments. He then elucidated that if we stand on the basis of what the Korean nation has in common historically unbroken, the North and the South—even if their systems differ with each other—can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country.\n\nThe proposed reunification based on the confederal system formula—envisaging reunification by means of leaving the two different systems of the North and the South as they are and establishing a reunited nation-state on them—is the most realistic and fairest way of reunification enabling the North and the South to reconcile and reunite with each other as one nation and to realize the reunification of the country peacefully at the earliest possible date.\n\nWe already proposed a long time ago the founding of a democratic confederal republic of Koryo as a way for the North and the South to confederate and establish a reunited nation-state while leaving their different ideologies and systems intact.\n\nThis proposal, for its realistic and rational quality, was met with positive support and approval by the people in the North and the South and the world over as soon as it was announced.\n\nThe South Korean authorities and some other people say that the North and the South took on “heterogeneity” and therefore must regain “homogeneity” before they are reunified.\n\nThis is a sophistry being used by those seeking a permanent national division to justify their criminal attempt.\n\nThe North and the South indeed have been separated for more than 40 years but there has been, and there is, no change in what they have in common as a nation. They remain homogeneous.\n\nWe share the same blood and language, the most fundamental characteristics of a nation. Our nation’s homeland is Korea on which our forefathers have built a long, long history and culture. In other words, as a nation, nothing has changed between the North and the South. If there is anything different between the North and the South at all, it is the heterogeneity associated with the two systems that have existed in the past 40-odd years and it is by no means a big thing in comparison with the national homogeneity that has developed and solidified over thousands of years. The difference between the two systems can by no means be a factor compelling our nation to live in separation nor an obstacle insurmountable in reunifying the North and the South.\n\nThe South Korean authorities, without seeing this fact, cling to their pretext of recovering “homogeneity,” maintaining that there is no alternative but continue the two-states separation until the systems are unified. They are thus calling for “unification of systems” based on a one-nation and one-system formula. What they are doing is tantamount to perpetuating the division endlessly, and to denying reunification after all.\n\nThe problem is not a North-South “heterogeneity” but the South Korean puppets persistently seeking such heterogeneity for the purpose of creating “two Koreas.”\n\nThe successive South Korean ruling circles, extolling the U.S. imperialists as “liberator” and “aider,” spread the worship-America and fear-America thoughts among the people, blunting their spirit of national independence. They brought in the American way of life and left it to gnaw at the traditional, laudable manners and customs of the Korean nation.\n\nIn the economic area, too, the puppets severed the North-South ties, subjugating the South Korean economy to the U.S. economy.\n\nThe South Korean ruling circles, engrossed in flunkeyism and acts of treason, even came up with the “racial reform doctrine” in an attempt to cut the bloodline of the nation.\n\nAlso, how knavish they were with their anticommunist stratagems and rackets to stir antagonism and jealousy between the North and the South!\n\nWhat the U.S. imperialists and South Korean ruling circles sought was to turn the North and the South into two different nations and thus split both the people and the country into two permanently.\n\nHowever, they were unable to carry out their criminal attempt after all.\n\nThe South Korean people are now strongly resisting the U.S. imperialists’ colonial enslavement policy and waging vigorous struggles under slogans demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops and nuclear weapons and opposing the U.S. economic aggression.\n\nThe policy of anticommunist confrontation pursued by the U.S. imperialists and South Korean reactionaries inevitably wound up bankrupt. And now the southern land is swept by a rising mood for reunification through coalition with communism and with the North.\n\nFrom the very beginning, the Korean people have been a homogeneous nation of one bloodline. As such, they have been a people of integrity and high pride who courageously repelled invasions by outside forces and glorified their history and culture.\n\nFor 36 years, the Japanese imperialist colonial rulers tried to liquidate the Korean nation under the pretext of “integration of mainland Japan and Korea” or of “the same ancestors and same roots” but our people not only resisted their attempt to the last and defended the racial traits but also waged glorious struggles to accomplish the historic cause of restoring the fatherland.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists and South Korean puppets are attempting to create “two Koreas” and keep the North and the South separated forever but the Korean people will not tolerate their scheme after all.\n\nLast year, compatriots of all strata in the North and the South met in one place and held the festival of dialogue and reunification. It was an impressive event demonstrating the fact that although separated under different systems, our brethren in the North and the South belong to the same nation, share the same aspiration for reunification, and that they can easily communicate with each other once they meet and can vigorously work out the way for reunification through reconciliation and solidarity.\n\nIt is extremely unrealistic and treasonable that the South Korean ruling circles are calling for “unification of systems” under the pretext of recovering the “homogeneity” while turning a blind eye to the common national traits which the Korean people have inherited historically generation after generation and to their fervent aspiration for reunification.\n\nUnder the stark reality that the different systems exist in the North and the South and that neither side is willing to make a concession, there is even no telling how long the “reunification of systems” will take. Especially, since “unification of systems” implies one side absorbing the other, the theory can lead to disasters involving conflicts and war.\n\nThe South Korean authorities should abandon the “reunification by prevailing over communism” delusions and respond favorably to our proposal for reunification by the confederal system formula of one nation and one country, two systems and two governments.\n\nTo realize the reunification of the fatherland by establishing a reunified nation-state upon—and leaving intact—the existing systems and governments in the North and the South is the best possible way to resolve the reunification issue with fairness and in consistency with the national interests under the present conditions of our country.\n\nIf the North and the South give prominence to the common national traits and work to resolve the reunification issue on that basis, it is fully possible for them to realize the confederal system reunification and coexist as one nation and in one reunified country.\n\nThe North and the South and our people overseas will without fail expedite the confederal system-based national reunification through their united struggles upholding the militant tasks set forth by the great leader in his New Year’s address."
},
{
"TITLE": "CPRF on ‘Suppression’ Before ROK Elections",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503044091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0415 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503044091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland [CPRF] in its Information No. 583 on March 14 denounced the South Korean authorities for intensifying suppression of the people in a bid to use the local assembly elections in securing a foothold for their long-term office.\n\nRecalling that the South Korean chief executive issued a repressive order on March 12 to deal with all acts of violation of the Election Law by “law” in such a manner as waging “the war against crimes,” the information said:\n\nA chain of repressive orders and utterances of the South Korean authorities reveal their ulterior intention to openly involve government power in the local assembly elections slated for March 26 on the specious cloak of “fair elections” and brutally suppress the election campaign of the pro-reunification democratic forces.\n\nThe South Korean authorities are now facing a serious crisis of their rule as the struggle of students and people for independence, democracy and reunification is gaining momentum in South Korea and the strife and rift within the “Democratic Liberal Party” (DLP) growing serious and, worse still, the Suso housing episode, an extra-large scandal in which No Tae-u himself and ruling party figures were directly involved, was brought to light.\n\nTheir threat to strictly deal with “any” “involvement in elections” of political parties and “illegal acts” of organizations during the local assembly elections is intended, as the “election law” faked up by them suggests, to check the election campaign of the opposition parties and dissident democratic organizations and rig the “election” of “DLP” men through election committee members appointed by them and government power. This is a heinous scheme to lay a foothold for long-term office of the “DLP.”"
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Analyzes U.S. Policy of ‘Cosmopolitism’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1403125391 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0018 GMT 6 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1403125391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Pyongyang Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 6, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "NODONG SINMUN 6 March special article: “Cosmopolitism Is a Reactionary Ideology Serving the U.S. Imperialists as a Tool for Their World Supremacy”",
"FULL TEXT": "The U.S. imperialists are viciously perpetrating intervention, outrage, aggression, and plunder the world over. What is important in penetrating into the present aggressive nature of the U.S. imperialists is clearly recognizing the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism advocated by the imperialists.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists are cunningly maneuvering to lord it over mankind as the monarch of the world with a worldwide leadership, veiling their ambition for world supremacy with the reactionary doctrine of cosmopolitism. Cosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological trend which embellishes the U.S. imperialists’ policy of arrogant interference and occupation, and serves the realization of their strategy toward global domination.\n\nDear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has noted as follows:\n\nToday the U.S. imperialists have combined the reactionary bourgeois racist theory and national chauvinism with the aggressive cosmopolitism to use it as an ideological tool to realize their ambition for world supremacy.\n\nComopolitism—which denies a nation state a self-reliant national economy and national culture, and which advocates a global state and a worldwide economy and culture without nationality—serves the aggression and domination of the imperialists and the exploitation of multinational enterprises.\n\nCosmopolitism holds an important place in the reactionary policy of the U.S. imperialists.\n\nHiding their aggressive nature with the sophism of bourgeois ideology is a hackneyed method of the imperialists. The U.S. imperialists have openly revealed their ambition for world supremacy by challenging the tenor of the present era, in which the trend of independence has been prevalent, and have made particular efforts to use such a reactionary idea as cosmopolitism under the present situation in which the idea cannot be realized.\n\nHistorically, the U.S. imperialists’ policies of intervention, tyranny, aggression, and plunder have been embellished with the sophism of cosmopolitism, and their blood-stained hands, which smell of gun powder, have been veiled under the cloak of cosmopolitism. Herein lies the crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists who maliciously attempt to confuse the reasoning of people, and to make them blind to their aggressive nature.\n\nThe basic intent of cosmopolitism is to disregard the independence of each and every country and nation, and to preach that the homeland of each and every person is the whole world and all people are world citizens.\n\nOn the basis of the theory that all people are equal, those who advocate cosmopolitism contend that all people should desert their fatherland and nation and become world citizens to build a welfare society for all people, and that they should conduct a campaign for world citizenship to form a so-called cosmopolitan government. Furthermore, they fabricate the white race as the most superior race in the world, place a western culture as the most superior culture of mankind, and then, rave that the world should be dominated and harmonized by the distinguished race and developed culture of the West.\n\nInasmuch as people take the root of their lives in their fatherland and nation, they cannot become members of the human race and world citizens before they are members of their nation.\n\nMoreover, it is obvious that a so-called cosmopolitan government, a worldwide economy, and a global culture are not feasible in this world where acute confrontation and struggle between socialism and imperialism and between progressive and reactionary ideologies are basic characteristics of the present era where the universal outlook of mankind is distorted by imperialism and the idea of domination.\n\nTo realize their wild ambition for world supremacy, the U.S. imperialists persistently advocate cosmopolitism. Arrogantly enough, the U.S. imperialists always consider this planet of all mankind as their own, and clamor that the global government preached by cosmopolitism should be the United States.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists are now further intensifying aggression, interference, occupation, and plunder worldwide, using reactionary cosmopolitism as an ideological instrument.\n\nTheir maneuvers under the plausible name of cosmopolitism are clearly manifested in their acting as the “world’s monarch” and as the “international gendarme,” claiming a leading role for the United States in the world.\n\nCosmopolitism is the reactionary ideological foundation of the U.S. imperialists’ theory of the leading role of the United States. Talking about the management and guidance of the world on the basis of the cosmopolitan theory, they preach that the United States has the mission to lead the world.\n\nWashington, the first President of the United States, said that under no circumstances should U.S. acts take into consideration the interests of other countries, and then declared it the basic course of U.S. foreign policy which future generations of the United States should respect.\n\nHis successors have run hard along the road of aggression and plunder, clamoring that the Americans have appeared in the stage of history only to determine whether they are fated to rule over the world or to be subjugated to the others.\n\nBush, the incumbent U.S. President, boasting that U.S. leadership over the world should be handed down from generation to generation, is bent on glorifying the dignity of the United States by power politics based on strength.\n\nTyranny, occupation, war, and plunder have always followed the U.S. imperialists, who have lorded it over mankind as the devastator of justice and the strangler of truth, whatever they may have touched with their interfering hands and wherever they may have set their aggressive foot.\n\nAggression toward the weak countries, the artificial engineering of international feuds, open interference in international issues and their self-proclaimed role as referee; their tyranny in international organizations, and their acting as the international gendarme worldwide—these combine to portray the true appearance of the U.S. imperialists who claim to be the leader of the world.\n\nThe world’s reasonable people find the expression of the brigandish nature of imperialism in the arrogance of the U.S. imperialists who see interference as the cosmopolitans' morality, tyranny as the expression of authority enjoyed by the world leader, and aggression as a resolute act undertaken for the management of the world.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists’ aggressive doctrine of cosmopolitism as such stands fully exposed in our country. Their occupation of South Korea and the continuing division of Korea are the reactionary results of their cosmopolitism.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists applied the tragic plan for partial occupation to our country, which was not even a vanquished country, and imposed the insulting system of occupation on South Korea, and then artificially divided Korea. In view of the principles of justice and the demands of international law, these were intolerable under any circumstances.\n\nWhat is more, those currently in power in the United States are persistently carrying out antireunification maneuvers, arguing that although a reunified Korea may be good for the Korean people, maintaining the other half of the Korean peninsula occupied by a friendly regime is much more favorable to the United States. Thus, the United States provokes indignation from all over the world.\n\nThe division of Korea and other facts reveal that the management of the world is done by the U.S. imperialists and that any claim fabricated and proclaimed by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but an attempt to infringe upon other countries’ sovereignty in the aggressive interest of the United States, and to change the structure of the world and its order.\n\nThe crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists’ aggressive maneuvers finds expression in their attempt to invent the concept of an Asian state of the United States and the concept of a European state of the United States based on the reactionary doctrine of cosmopolitism, and thus bring the continents of the world under their control.\n\nAlthough the United States is a country sitting on the American Continent, the U.S. imperialists claim their country to be an Asian country in front of the Asian countries, and then slyly remark that the United States is a European country, too, in front of the European countries.\n\nWhat the United States seeks to achieve behind such sly remarks is to disintegrate the unity and cooperation among the countries in Asia and Europe by identifying themselves with those countries, and then securing its sphere of influence in these areas.\n\nAsia is for the Asian peoples and Europe is for the European peoples. The United States has no justification to occupy somebody else's place in Asia or Europe, distant places oceans away.\n\nThis insidious trick by the U.S. imperialists is not accepted in these regions where the cause of converting the world into one governed by independence and anti-U.S. sentiment are on the rise. Rather, they are provoking strong objection and sense of vigilance from these regions.\n\nBy being able to see sharply through the aggressive nature of the U.S. claim that it is an Asian power, which smacks of the cosmopolitan poison, the Asian peoples should reject it resolutely and unite and cooperate with each other in order to build a peaceful and prosperous new Asia.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists see power politics as the first step on the road toward realizing their leading role over the world.\n\nBush, the U.S. imperialist warmonger, made an outrageous remark that the United States has stretched out its hands to virtually every corner of the world, and that the extended hands, once disturbed, will be turned into powerful fists.\n\nThat it is natural for the United States to stretch its hands of domination out to the world because it is in the position of the world’s monarch, and that its extended hands should be turned into iron fists because it is ordained to rule over the world, is the philosophy of rule by power worshipped by the U.S. imperialists who have been accustomed to the aggressive cosmopolitanism.\n\nProceeding from this logic of power, the U.S. imperialists say that it is the pride of America the Great to be able to have its troops stationed in tens of countries around the world, to wield tyranny in many international organizations, and to tempt many countries with baits of aid.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists disguise their power politics and their evil tentacles of world domination as something necessary for attaining global peace. Nevertheless, the defense of global peace babbled about by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but a shield to camouflage the domination of the world by the United States.\n\nThe scheme that the U.S. imperialists carry out under the plausible name of cosmopolitism reveals itself in the fact that they are trying hard to establish a world based on the American-style liberal democracy, describing American values as universal human values.\n\nAdvertising the superiority of their moral values, the U.S. imperialists are maneuvering to accelerate the process of unification and the commonness of the world as its basis.\n\nSuccessive U.S. presidents were fond of uttering such pleasantries as that the United States cannot be its genuine self unless it stands in a lofty moral position.\n\nThis means that the United States is the embodier of world morality, standing as it does above ethics and morality.\n\nHowever, the notion that imperialism can be reconciled with ethics and morality cannot convince anybody. If the U.S. imperialists have any kind of moral principles, they must be the reverse of ethics, seeing injustice as justice and evil as good.\n\nThe imperialist behavior stems from greed. The U.S. imperialists always assess and approach international issues with other countries based on their aggressive and plundering objectives and greedy interests.\n\nPreposterously branding countries that maintain independence, and defend the banner of revolution as closed-door countries or terrorist countries, the U.S. imperialists intensify their reactionary offensive against those countries, while beautifying their brazen-faced aggression against, and interference in, sovereign countries as acts of protecting human rights or defending democracy.\n\nNot satisfied with the occupation of the other half of Korea, the U.S. imperialists have been conducting the Team Spirit war exercise every year, thereby creating the threat of northward invasion, while clamoring about the threat of southward invasion or the defense of peace. They also claimed that they were defending the liberal democratic system after invading Grenada and Panama. After triggering a war as a result of their ill-suited interference in regional feuds, they said that they were trying to build a world governed by laws, not the law of the jungle. Such an assertion is nothing but an insult to the conscience of the world and to progressive mankind.\n\nMany people in the world still vividly remember U.S. President Bush's remarks that “the human spirit cannot be strangled or the national spirit obliterated with a wall alone” in his commentary on the breaking down of the wall between East and West Germany.\n\nEven so, the U.S. imperialists ignore the call for the wall of division in Korea to be broken down, while maneuvering to keep the wall in place.\n\nThe wall of division in Korea is contemporary evidence that manifests the criminal truth about American-style values, which are a mixture of contradictions and falsehood.\n\nFrom the contradictory attitude of the United States, the progressive people of the world keenly realized the false moral values of the United States and its antimankind and antipeace nature. The United States claimed that certain barriers should be removed and other barriers should be kept intact. Thus, the progressive people of the world express indignation over such an attitude.\n\nThe great moral principle, in which the famous U.S. politicians take pride, and which they claim enables the United States to exist as the United States, should be branded as the principle of injustice which mankind should curse.\n\nHanging out the signboards of cosmopolitism, the U.S. imperialists are attempting to establish a “free world” on the earth. The free world which they talk about means the world where the United States can act as the ruler.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists, attaching great significance to cosmopolitism, are running amok to spread it for the purpose of reducing the world to the so-called free world which they want.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists have the idea that if they implant the U.S.-style liberal democracy in all nations, the world will become by itself a possession of the United States. Thus, they are viciously advocating the theory of a free world.\n\nRaving that when mankind is allowed to have the right of choice, it chooses freedom, the U.S. imperialists said that the system which they want to implant in many world nations is the system realized on the basis of freedom, individual creative power, and market principles.\n\nFreedom, choice, and so forth advertized by the U.S. imperialists are, in essence, freedom and choice which make one participate in the beastly struggle for existence and for survival by victimizing and oppressing other people.\n\nIt is the original nature of independent mankind to aspire to genuine freedom and happiness by opposing various forms of domination and subjugation. It is an inevitable trend of human history that independent mankind chooses a genuine society which safeguards and realizes the independence of mankind, instead of a society similar to the beastly world where precious dignity and the value of mankind are reduced to the standard of animals.\n\nThe capitalist society causes various social evils and social tragedy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and advances without a sense of direction by writhing amid social disorder and pain. If one defines this society as the society where freedom and democracy are realized, such a definition would indeed be the complete reversing of black and white.\n\nThe maneuvers of cosmopolitism by the U.S. imperialists, who are attempting to establish a free world while advertizing the corrupt society lacking vitality or a future as the ideal of the people, are indeed preposterous, like a house of cards.\n\nThrough their experience, goals, and cool judgment amid the whirlpool that is the history of the complex and diversified present era, a great number of people of the world deny the liberal democratic system advocated by the U.S. imperialists with reason, and firmly believe that only the genuine man-centered socialism which embodies the dignity and value of mankind is the way to rescue mankind.\n\nCosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological poison which blocks the advance of the revolutionary cause of the working class and spoils the people's consciousness of the revolution.\n\nThe reactionary nature of the cosmopolitism advocated by the U.S. imperialists is that cosmopolitism has become an ideological poison which denies the independence of the national state and violates and infringes upon its independence.\n\nAs indicated by the chuche idea, independence of the national state is as precious as life for all people. To live in a national state is an immovable order of life for all the people, formed through the course of the long history of mankind.\n\nWhat gives the life and means of living to the people are the fatherland and the state, and linked to the destiny of each individual person are the fatherland and the state.\n\nIndeed, the fatherland and the people are the source of life and the mother’s bosom of all mankind. If a man thinks that he can live as an abstract public figure of the world, going away from the bosom of the fatherland and the people, he will be branded as a snob [songmul] who has lost his mind and forgotten the basis of his life, and as a nation-seller who has betrayed the nation where he was born.\n\nHowever, the advocates of cosmopolitism contend that such concepts as motherland, nation, state, class, and party are all meaningless in the internationalized world, and that panhuman phrases such as planet, humanity, human world, and civilization should be in vogue. This is a reactionary sophism that dulls the people's national consciousness of independence.\n\nThe nations and the people develop themselves together with the war history of mankind. At the same time, international relations are formulated and consolidated among the nations and the people in the course of such development. This is an inevitable phenomenon.\n\nWhat is at issue is on what basis, one views the history of mankind. The chuche idea defines the shape and characteristics of the world, and teaches that the main forces which lead the basic flow of human history are the people in each individual independent state.\n\nIf we recall human history, we come to know that the independent development of each individual nation and people served as the basis for the advance of global history and the development of mankind, and as the basic content of both.\n\nHistory clearly proved that by denying the independence of the nation and the people, one cannot talk, even a word, about the development of the world, the progress of mankind, and the destiny of planet.\n\nOur people achieved the independent development of the nation by maintaining the line of independence, self-reliance, and self-defense under the leadership of the party and the leader. Thus, we are greatly contributing to the common cause of mankind.\n\nHowever, the imperialist stooges, who advocate cosmopolitism, raved that claims of national sovereignty are “collective egoism,” and defiled the sacred struggle of the people in many world nations who are defending the national right for self-determination and building the national economy and culture. Thus, they advertised a preposterous global economy and culture of no nationality.\n\nThe purpose of the vicious denial of national independence with the ideological poison of cosmopolitism by the imperialists is to pave the way for their aggression. No one can conquer the people with a strong sense of independence. On the contrary, the people, who lost their sense of national independence and whose determination to defend and glorify themselves is weak, cannot precisely realize the reactionary doctrine of imperialism and domination that are concealed by the theory of the common destiny of mankind and the theory of the superiority of panhuman values.\n\nThis is why the imperialists are maneuvering to eradicate national consciousnesses of independence and persistently advertising cosmopolitism.\n\nThe people in all world nations who treasure independence should correctly realize the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism, and resolutely crush the doctrine of cosmopolitism with the independent strength of the nation.\n\nThe reactionary nature of cosmopolitism as pursued by the U.S. imperialists finds another expression in that it has been used as an ideological tool barring the tide toward world independence, and impeding the healthy development of international relations.\n\nThose who advocate cosmopolitism claim that it is the way of present international developments that national state, national economy, and national culture gradually wither away, and a global government, world economy, and world culture are formed, by which the world becomes homogeneous and common.\n\nThis is nothing but a sophism that misrepresents those who undertake the world movement and its motivating force and the essence of present international relations.\n\nThe main characteristics of the change and development of the world are that it is becoming independent. The motivating force that holds the control lever of the world movement, are those people advocating independence. Hence, the appearance of the world, its essential content, and the aspects of its development are decided by the progressive world people advocating independence.\n\nAdvocating independence by opposing domination, subjugation, exploitation, and oppression, is the original nature of mankind and the life of the nation. This constitutes the unique characteristics of progressive mankind.\n\nThus, more nations and more people are advancing to achieve freedom and independence by breaking the chains of imperialism and colonialism. This constitutes the essential content of the change and development of the world. The course of the world toward independence is an inevitable and positive course in the development of human history.\n\nThe independence of the world is achieved through the independent struggle of all nations and all people. Thus, it cannot be pushed and realized by so-called global management and guidance.\n\nHowever, the imperialists are lecturing on the benefits of international management and guidance of the world, while trying to make the global government stand in confrontation with the people's aspirations for independence. They are running amok to block by force the trend of the world toward independence.\n\nThe theory on global government advocated by the imperialists runs totally counter to the idea of world independence because world independence is a worldwide trend realized through the respect and the demonstrable independence of each nation and people. Global government will only work to oppress and infringe upon the independence of each nation and each people.\n\nThe theory on global government instigated by cosmopolitism is preposterous because as long as there are imperialists and dominationists, the attempt for global domination cannot be removed.\n\nThe basic nature of the imperialists is for aggression and plunder. This finally returns to ambition for conquering the world. In the present century when the fierce struggle of the imperialists and dominationists is being waged to expand the sphere of influence, the so-called global government lacks reality, and will only act to further instigate their ambition for world domination.\n\nToday the optimistic advocates of global government think that they can establish a global government in such a manner as to strengthen its authority, seeking a model in such international organizations as the United Nations. However, many events taking place in the international arena make one realize that such an idea is unrealistic and is a dream.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists abused the sacred name of the United Nations when they fabricated a puppet regime in South Korea, and when they dragged the armed forces of their 15 following nations into the Korean war. They are still abusing this name for keeping the U.S. troops in South Korea. This raises great worry and disappointment on the part of progressive mankind, who aspires to global peace and international justice.\n\nAs long as there are the imperialists and dominationists in the world, and as long as the U.S. imperialists’ self-righteousness and tyranny are allowed in the international arena, no one can think of forming and developing sound and fair international relations.\n\nThe development of the world is only possible when the whole world is made independent. Only when they join themselves in the great current toward the independence of the world under the banner of independence, can the people of all the progressive countries of the world properly shape the destiny of their countries on their own, and build an independent, new world free from domination and subjugation.\n\nThe imperialists' strategy for cosmopolitism, intended to benumb the people's revolutionary consciousness, and reverse the trend of history, is doomed to failure in the face of the struggle of the people who are advancing under the banner of independence.\n\nEven the high-ranking figures in U.S. political circles pointed out that the U.S. Congress reproves and criticizes other countries nearly every day, and admitted that the act of the United States to denounce the events of the world [segye il] all day long is foolish. They confessed that the crisis, with which the United States is faced as the result of having become an imperialist state which excessively stretched out its hands [chinachige sonul ppochida], makes even them shudder.\n\nJust as they have said, because of pernicious evils inherent in capitalism and the debt crisis facing the United States, and because of the fierce anti-imperialist and anti-U.S. struggle of the revolutionary people of the world, the hands which the U.S. imperialists have stretched out to the world will tremble with fear.\n\nThe aggressive doctrine of cosmopolitism does not go down well with people advocating independence. Today the great doctrine of independence has captivated the hearts of mankind and bourgeois reactionary ideologies, including cosmopolitism, are breaking into fragments in the face of the rush of the world to independence.\n\nIt is inevitable that cosmopolitism and all other reactionary thoughts will be bankrupt under the bright rays of the great chuche idea.\n\nImperialism is destined to destruction with the collapse of cosmopolitism."
},
{
"TITLE": "Government Delegation Returns From Japan",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503105291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1028 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503105291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The government delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea led by Chon In-chol, vice-minister of foreign affairs, returned home today after participating in the second intergovernmental full-dress talks for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Japan held in Tokyo.\n\nIt was met at the airport by Kim Chae-suk, vice-minister of foreign affairs, and Councillor of the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang Dong Buming."
},
{
"TITLE": "Soviet Envoy Holds News Conference in Pyongyang",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503044291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0420 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503044291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—A press conference was held at the Soviet Embassy here Thursday on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the conclusion of the agreement on economic and cultural cooperation between the USSR and the DPRK.\n\nAmbassador Alexandr Kapto touched on the development of cooperation and exchange between the two countries in the economic and cultural fields over the past 42 years since the signing of the agreement and elaborated on the need to strengthen relations in these fields in the future."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il Replies to Birthday Greetings",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503110291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1022 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503110291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—Dear Comrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to foreign party leaders in reply to their messages of greetings on his birthday.\n\nComrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to Dr. Vassos Lyssarides, chairman, and Takis Hadjidemetriou, secretary general, of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party of Cyprus; Takako Doi, chairwoman of the Central Executive Committee of the Japan Social-Democratic Party; Habimana Bonaventure, general secretary of the National Revolutionary Movement for Development of Rwanda; Herving Chung, chairman of the Caribbean National Movement; Sam Marcy, chairman of the Workers World Party of the United States; Guillermo Garcia Ponce, general secretary of “New Alternative” of Venezuela; Jose Francisco Aguilar Bulgarelli, general secretary of the popular force organized in Costa Rica; Jorge del Prado, general secretary, and Friddy Arana, international secretary, of the Central Committee of the Peruvian Communist Party; Rolando Brena Pantoja, president of the National Executive Committee of the Left Revolutionary Union of Peru; Genaro Ledesma Izquieta, chairman of the People’s Front of Workers, Peasants and Students of Peru; Rigoberto Padilla Ruz, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Honduras; and Eric Trevett, general secretary of the Central Committee of the New Communist Party of Great Britain.\n\nComrade Kim Chong-il in the messages expressed the belief that friendly relations forged between the Workers’ Party of Korea and the above-said parties will continue to develop favourably and wished the party leaders great success in their responsible work."
},
{
"TITLE": "Youth Mark Labor Exploits in Railway Projects",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503091691 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 2100 GMT 10 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503091691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Pyongyang Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 10, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "The railway construction to replace the narrow railroad between Haeju and Ongjin and between Singgangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad is being pushed ahead rapidly.\n\nThrough the persistent labor struggle of members of the youth railway construction shock brigade and supporters, railroad ties were laid and the railroad was extended over several scores of ri [1 ri is equivalent to 400 meters] in 20 days recently. Besides, the project of leveling the grade on mountain slopes and railroad repair work have been pushed for on a large scale. The work of leveling the ground and framework construction have been accelerated, and more gravel, stones, sand, and soil than planned have been made available to use for repairing the station compound.\n\nThus, a guarantee for completing the construction of two sections of the railroad ahead of schedule has been provided.\n\nMembers of the youth railway construction shock brigade, who were assigned the project of extending the railroad, waged a vigorous labor struggle with the same spirit and vigor they had when they completed the construction of the railroad between Haeju and Hasong in a short period of time. Thus, they laid railroad ties on, and broadened the railroad on, a 20 odd-ri section between Sohaeju Station and Pyoksong Station.\n\nUpon receiving the order of the respected supreme commander, members of the youth shock brigade accelerated the work by thoroughly preparing themselves to cope with the new war provocation maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet clique. They are constantly increasing the speed of the project of laying railroad ties and broadening the railroad between Pyoksong Station and Singangnyong Station.\n\nMembers of the youth shock brigade of Kangnyong county, who are charged with the project of replacing the narrow railroad between Singangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad, have accomplished the work of securing over 700 cubic meters of gravel, sand, and stones, which is said to require more than a month, ahead of schedule by highly demonstrating the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and arduous struggle and vigor for extermination of the enemy, and by overcoming various difficulties. Thus, they effected innovations.\n\nThrough such struggle, they opened a breakthrough to complete ahead of schedule a number of framework construction projects, including an iron bridge and drainage work.\n\nThe railroad construction between Haeju and Ongjin is also being carried out rapidly. The youth, who were assigned the difficult work of lowering the grade on mountain slopes to 10 meters, made several hundred holes with dynamite in only seven days with the Paektu revolutionary spirit, and pulled down 6,000-odd cubic meters of soil through successive blasting.\n\nMembers of the youth shock brigade in Pyoksong county transported several hundred cubic meters of soil and materials each day, and increased the speed of laying railroad ties, widening the railroad, and repairing the railroad by 1.5 to two times over that planned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kye Ung-tae, Officials Attend Railway Meeting",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503113591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503113591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—A national meeting of railway workers was held here on March 14 and 15.\n\nThe meeting summed up the successes and experience gained in railway transportation under the wise leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] and discussed tasks to effect a new turn in this domain in the same fighting spirit and mettle displayed in the postwar period of great Chollima upsurge.\n\nThe meeting was attended by Kye Ung-tae, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the C.C. [Central Committee], WPK, Choe Yong-nim, alternate member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., WPK and vice-premier of the Administration Council, and other officials concerned.\n\nKye Ung-tae read out a congratulatory message of the WPK Central Committee to the participants in the meeting.\n\nThe WPK Central Committee in the message pointed out that the railway transport of the country has turned into a modern one with the successful realization of electrification and the fast progress of the work for the introduction of heavy rails and automation, into an independent socialist railway transport with solid foundations for the self-supply of various means of carriage including 8-axle electric locomotives and 100-ton wagons.\n\nIt noted with high appreciation that the railway workers have made great contributions to the acceleration of socialist construction by displaying matchless heroism and self-sacrificing spirit in their endeavours to carry through the party’s policy of railway transport with intense loyalty to the socialist country and the people.\n\nUnderlining the tasks facing railway transportation, it stressed the need to make the maximum utilization of the existing material and technical foundations of railway transport, further accelerate the chuche-orientation, modernization and scientification of railway transport and press ahead with new railway projects and thus further supplement the railway networks of the country and expend big efforts on scientific researches and the training of technical personnel.\n\nYi Kil-song, chairman of the Transport Commission, delivered a report.\n\nIt is an event of great significance in the development of our country’s railway transport to hold a national meeting of railway workers on the meaningful day marking the lapse of 30 years since the great leader Comrade Kim Il-song gave highly important teachings at the meeting of active workers in the domain of transport on March 14, 1961, he said.\n\nHe noted that, deeply taking into consideration the position and role of railway transport in the development of the national economy, the great leader and our party defined railways as the artery of the country, as the pilot of the national economy, and have clearly indicated the road ahead of railway transport in each period and at each stage of the developing revolution.\n\nAccording to his report, under the plan of the great leader who defined the basic orientation of development of railway transport in keeping with the geographical conditions of the country which has most of its land covered with mountains and abounds in power resources, nearly all railway lines, not only trunk lines but even branch lines and railway lines branching into enterprises, have been switched over to electric traction, with the result that the freight turnover by electric haulage accounts for more than 90 percent of the total and the unitary traction by electric locomotives has reached the stage of completion.\n\nThe total extension of the nation's railways has markedly increased, a grand loopline of railway networks have taken shape and the railway transport capacity increased remarkably with the construction of linkages, round-about lines, partial double tracks and mixed lines in different places of the country.\n\nAs a result of the vigorous “Drive for extra-haulage on schedule without accident to implement the decisions of the 18th plenary meeting of the 5th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea” upwards of 13 million more tons of freight were carried than the rated traction last year alone. Many locomotive drivers have carried out their assignments for the Third Seven-Year Plan (1987-1993).\n\nSpeeches were made at the meeting.\n\nThe speakers called upon all the railway workers to carry through the party’s policy of railway transport in the same spirit and mettle displayed during the past war and the great Chollima upsurge, upholding the slogan “When our party is determined we can do anything!” and thus make greater contributions to increasing the potential of the independent national economy of the country.\n\nA letter of pledge was adopted at the meeting."
},
{
"TITLE": "Man’s ‘Independence’ in Socialism Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503122591 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0010 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503122591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Pyongyang Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "NODONG SINMUN 12 March special article: “Our Socialism Is a Superior Social System That Guarantees Independence to the People”",
"FULL TEXT": "Our country’s socialism is displaying a higher degree of superiority and vitality with the passage of time. The source of the unrivaled superiority and the invincible vitality of our socialism lies in the fact that it completely embodies the essential demands of man.\n\nOur socialism, which has its roots deep in this land, is a unique socialism that was built and is being developed and brought to perfection with the great chuche idea as its foundation. The chuche idea is the ideological foundation of our socialism and our socialism shines as a superior socialism which has thoroughly embodied the essential demands of men, as it is based on the chuche idea.\n\nFully explaining once again the superiority of our socialism in a series of documents released recently, the dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has shed light on the fact that socialism has, above all, wonderfully embodied the independent demands of men. This is a valuable ideological and theoretical guideline needed to deeply understand and glorify the superiority of our own style of socialism even further.\n\nThe dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has noted:\n\nLearning from the painful life they experienced in the past as colonial slaves, and from today’s new, free, and rewarding socialist life, our people have drawn a clear lesson that only socialism provides the people with independence, and are devoted to the struggle to endlessly value and defend our socialism that completely defends the popular masses’ independence.\n\nMan is a social being that assumes independence as its essential nature. Making the working masses achieve independence and their independent demands is a practical yardstick with which to rate the nature and superiority of a social system.\n\nGenerally, the superiority of a social system can be determined on the basis of how it embodies the essential demands of man. When it comes to the essential demands of man, it means the independent demands before anything else.\n\nA society can be called an advanced and superior social system only when it satisfactorily embodies the desire of man to be free from all manner of subordination and to live and develop an independent life.\n\nThe superiority of our social system which has embodied the independent desire of man lies in the fact that it completely guarantees our people with sociopolitical independence.\n\nIf independence can be likened to man’s life, it generally means sociopolitical life. Man has two kinds of lives—physical life and sociopolitical life. The essential characteristics of man lie in the fact that he has sociopolitical life.\n\nMan’s rights are, above all, sociopolitical rights and human dignity is to be guaranteed by sociopolitical independence. To realize sociopolitical independence is a precondition for realizing all manner of essential desires of man. Under the condition where the popular masses are subordinated socially and politically, man can benefit nothing from the remaking of society, nor can he free himself from the fetters of an old ideology and culture.\n\nTo defend and safeguard sociopolitical independence is for the popular masses a vital matter for realizing independence.\n\nWith the socialist revolution completed in our country, no social and economic conditions restricting the sociopolitical independence exist. In addition, the working masses are completely guaranteed sociopolitical independence.\n\nSocialist ownership of the government and production means is defended, strengthened, and developed without interruption. As a result, the popular masses are firmly guaranteed sociopolitical independence.\n\nThe independent right of the popular masses finds its expression mainly in the exercise of national sovereignty. It was because they were unable to have a say-so in the government and production means that the popular masses lost their sociopolitical independence and were forced to suffer a life of slavery for thousands of years.\n\nOnly when they become the masters of the socialist government and production means, can the popular masses defend and realize their independence. Sociopolitical independence is tied to genuine freedom and the right to sociopolitical life, which are expressed in the direct access the popular masses have to national sovereignty and their unrestricted participation in running state affairs.\n\nToday, the average working people are actively participating in running state affairs, as the masters of the state and society, and each and every one of them can exercise their right to elect and to be elected, regardless of their sex, occupation, wealth, degree of knowledge, political views, and religious differences.\n\nDeputies to the Supreme People’s Assembly and other people’s assemblies at all levels, including the workers, members of cooperative farms, and intellectuals—representatives of the working people—manage and run state affairs according to the independent demands and the will of the popular masses. Also, with the socialist ownership unilaterally dominating the production means, the economy is managed, run, and developed without interruption, according to plans in a way that suits the demands and interest of the popular masses.\n\nThe working masses’ independence can be defended and realized only when the position of the popular masses concerning national sovereignty is raised even further, and social ownership over production means is strengthened. This is a truth proven by practice.\n\nAlso, thanks to the profound consideration of the party and leader which provides and brightens the noble political life, each and every one of our people enjoys the most valuable and rewarding sociopolitical life.\n\nOur people are freely involved in sociopolitical activity when they are lined up behind certain political organizations, such as the party and working organizations, and are sufficiently guaranteed the freedom of the press, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, and freedom of demonstrations.\n\nThe mass media in our country, which are in the hands of the popular masses, serve the working masses in achieving the cause of independence. In our country there can be no such thing as infringement on the democratic freedom and the rights of the popular masses.\n\nThe realities of our country which guarantee the working masses substantive rights as the masters of the state and society and politics, and all the members of society, lead a sound and revolutionary organizational life in certain sociopolitical organizations, demonstrate that our socialism is a superior social system which defends and realizes the people’s independence.\n\nAnother superior element of our socialism embodying the independent demands of man is well expressed in the fact that it has freed them from the fetters of nature and old ideology and culture.\n\nSociopolitical independence is very important for man. Nevertheless, it is not the whole of independence. The popular masses’ sociopolitical independence can be realized when the socialist system is set up, it is not yet entirely free from the fetters of nature and the old ideology and culture.\n\nEven after the socialist system is set up, the legacy of the exploited society is to remain for a certain period of time, serving as a basic obstacle to completely realizing the independence of the popular masses. For this reason, only when the revolution is carried out without interruption, even after a socialist society is established, can the people, occuping their position as the masters of society and playing their role as the masters, consummate the popular masses’ cause of independence.\n\nTo continue the revolution is the most positive way of realizing independence for the popular masses.\n\nUnder the guidance of the party, our country is accelerating the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural—while firmly maintaining the independent stand.\n\nThe independent stand is the most correct stand to solidify and develop and glory our socialism by carrying out the revolution and construction on our own, and the lines of the three revolutions are the correct lines for socialist and communist construction.\n\nOur revolutionary practice has proved that when the independent stand is maintained and the lines of the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural—are implemented, socialism can be defended under any adverse circumstances and the socialist cause can be hastened victoriously along the most straightforward road.\n\nWith socialist construction vigorously carried out under the banner of the three revolutions in our country, the working masses enjoy a more independent and creative life, and the legacies of the old society are steadily disappearing in every field of social life.\n\nThe cause of completely realizing the independence of the popular masses which began as a struggle to smash the old exploitative system is being successfully achieved through the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural.\n\nThe healthy and civilized ideological and cultural life and affluent material life enjoyed today by our people is a vigorous manifestation of the superiority of our socialism.\n\nOur country's socialism not only realizes the independence of the popular masses, but also firmly guarantees it. Defending the independence of the popular masses based on the principle of self-defense in defense is a superiority of our socialism.\n\nAlthough the struggle to attain independence is arduous, no less arduous is the struggle to defend and safeguard the independence that has already been won.\n\nIn order to defend and safeguard the independence of the popular masses, it is imperative to stage a principled but positive struggle.\n\nThe imperialists and reactionaries are now viciously maneuvering to rob the people in socialist countries of independence and to fetter them again as colonial slaves.\n\nIn order to smash the maneuvers of the imperialists who are bent on robbing the people in socialist countries of independence, and to firmly defend independence, it is imperative to strengthen defense capability.\n\nWithout the self-defense capability to defend the independence and the sovereignty of the country and the people against the imperialist aggression, it is impossible to think of the independence of the popular masses.\n\nToday, the imperialists, while clamoring about detente and peace, are on the lookout for an opportunity to invade other countries, maintaining and strengthening military blocs and beefing up military forces.\n\nIt is imperative to resolutely struggle against the imperialists and strengthen national defense capabilities, not only for the independence of one's own country and people, but also for the cause of converting the whole world into one governed by independence.\n\nOur people have strengthened the capabilities of our self-defense by thoroughly implementing the party’s self-defense military lines, and are now capable of repelling any kind of aggressive maneuvers of the imperialists and of firmly defending the independence of the country and people.\n\nThis is an important element that guarantees the invincibility of our country's socialism and its bright future.\n\nOur people’s support for, and confidence in, our own type of socialism, which is built on the immortal chuche idea and which thoroughly defends and realizes the independence of the popular masses, remain firm and unwavering.\n\nOur people are firmly convinced that our socialism is the best, and have an endless attachment to the socialist cause of chuche.\n\nOur people should glorify our socialism even further by embodying the chuche idea under the guidance of the great leader and the great party, and should bring the revolutionary cause to perfection while advancing along the socialist road no matter what difficulties and ordeals they may encounter."
},
{
"TITLE": "* Agricultural Soil-Covering Campaigns Reported - * Specific Projects Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0133A Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 15 Jan 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "912C0133A",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NODONG SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Reports by special correspondent Yi Myong-chan...",
"FULL TEXT": "[Reports by special correspondent Yi Myong-chan entitled “At the Cooperative Farms in Nampo City” and by special correspondent Pak Yong-tok entitled “In Yanggang Province” published under the headline: “By Vigorously Launching the Soil-Covering Campaign, Let Us Resolutely Improve the Quality of the Land”]\n\n[Excerpt] At the Cooperative Farms in Nampo City\n\nThe great leader Comrade Kim Il-song taught as follows in this year's New Year's message:\n\n“In the agricultural sector this year we must decisively improve the soil fertility of the land under cultivation according to the requirements of the chuche agricultural method, scientifically and technologically conduct agriculture, and without fail attain the targets for grain production and develop the rural economy by diverse methods to suit the natural geographical conditions.”\n\nHighly supporting this year's New Year's message of the great leader, the agricultural workers, in addition to the clerical and other workers of Nampo City, who have rushed forward as one to the struggle to increase the soil fertility of land under cultivation, vigorously launched a soil-spreading battle from the beginning of the year, and are achieving the innovation of completing 2-3 percent of the total area of cornfields each day.\n\nFrom the time the cornfield soil-covering battle began until now we have achieved the result of carrying out soil-covering in over 50 percent of the cornfield area throughout the city.\n\nIn this way, following the example of the Chongsan Cooperative Farm in Kangso-kuyok, which victoriously finished the soil-covering battle at the end of last year, the city’s many farms, including the Kochang, Kangson, Toji, and Taedae cooperative farms, are in the final stages of the soil-covering battle.\n\nThe innovative result of smashing through the 50-percent mark of total cornfield area within a short time after the soil-covering battle began, is a manifestation of the burning loyalty of the agricultural workers and support personnel here who are thoroughly implementing unconditionally the intentions of the party.\n\nIn order to thoroughly carry out the soil-covering battle, the city rural economic committee and other agricultural guidance organs underscored the requirements of the chuche agricultural method among the party members and workers, and followed this up by intensifying technical guidance, and setting up the necessary economic organizational work.\n\nThe agricultural workers and support personnel of the Chollima, Hanggu, and Waudo districts, effectively utilizing mechanical means and various hauling methods, while firing up their spirits from the start of the first combat of the new year, are overfulfilling their daily soil-covering tasks. In this way, they achieved the result of qualitatively accomplishing 70 percent of the soil-covering of the entire area of cornfields in the districts here.\n\nOn the other hand, even Kangso-kuyok and Yonggang County, which have large areas of cornfields, rationally selected fresh soil sites, concentrated their labor and machinery, and are achieving innovative results every day.\n\nThe revolutionary fervor of the masses mobilized to the soil-covering battle was high, and the greater the work results shown, the more the city turned its due attention to having them thoroughly implement the demands of the chuche agricultural method.\n\nThe struggle to vigorously support the soil-covering combat is progressing even more briskly among the working class of the city’s factories and enterprises. The laborers and technicians of the Chollima Iron and Steel Complex, the Nampo Smelting Complex, and the Kumsong Tractor General Factory are in the forefront of the support work.\n\nIn Yanggang Province\n\nHighly upholding the New Year’s message of the great leader, the party members and workers in Yanggang Province have vigorously launched a soil-covering battle and are reaping great results.\n\nAccording to a wrap-up of various reporting, the province is overfulfilling its daily soil-covering plan by an average of 1.6-fold.\n\nIn order to thoroughly implement the instructions of the great leader to do a good job of soil-covering, the provincial party committee here set up concrete measures for implementation, and in order to have them carried out without fail, saw to it that above all the party and administrative functionaries demonstrate a high level of revolutionary spirit, party spirit, working-class spirit, and people-mindedness. They organized and began the project in a revolutionary manner.\n\nResponsible functionaries of the provincial party committee and the provincial administrative and economic guidance committee, continuing their duties at the site of the soil-covering battle, carefully explained and propagandized the teachings of the great leader and the intentions of the party, discussed the methods one by one, and set up the necessary measures in a timely fashion so that the soil-covering achievements could continue, even under winter conditions where the soil was frozen deep by the biting cold.\n\nThe functionaries of Kim Hyong-kwon County, utilizing various means of hauling, including cableways, not to mention mechanical means, meticulously laid the groundwork for the organization work in order to carry the soil in large quantities. Meanwhile, on the other hand, they are leading them, standing in the forefront of the masses as a real model of leadership by personal example.\n\nPochon County is motivating the masses, having them search in various places—including the edge of the Karimchon—for rich sources of soil and humus, and having them dig it up and move it in a timely manner.\n\nIn this way, various counties in the province, beginning with Kim Hyong-kwon and Pochon counties, are succeeding in overfulfilling the soil-covering plan over 80 percent.\n\nProvincial-level organs also are aggressively providing support to the soil-covering battle. [passage omitted]"
},
{
"TITLE": "* Kim Chong-il Encourages Activities",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0133B Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 15 Jan 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "912C0133B",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NODONG SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Article by staff reporter...",
"FULL TEXT": "[Article by staff reporter entitled “With a Self-Confident Fighting Spirit” published under the headline: “By Vigorously Launching the Soil-Covering Campaign, Let Us Resolutely Improve the Quality of Land”]\n\n[Text] The dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il pointed out as follows:\n\n“In order to increase agricultural production we must dynamically launch a struggle to increase the soil fertility of wet and dry fields.”\n\nWith burning resolve to carry out to the end, unconditionally, the task set forth by the great leader in this year's New Year's message, the party members and agricultural workers of the cooperative farms of various areas who have vigorously launched into the work, are even more vigorously carrying out a soil-covering battle to increase the land's fertility. Worker-farmer correspondents of various areas are sending in news of how, since the beginning of the year, they are greatly expanding their successes.\n\nWorker-farmer correspondent Comrade Son Chae-mo has sent us news that the Mupyong Cooperative Farm in Chonchon County is carrying out the soil-covering battle in a big way. Functionaries of this farm have been putting their shoulders to the difficult and arduous urgent task, and are positively arousing the enthusiasm of the masses by means of energetic political work. Thus, in every soil-covering battle site of all the workteams, new innovations are being created day after day.\n\nIn particular, the farm workers of the No. 2 and No. 3 workteams are setting up combat objectives, and overfulfilling the daily soil-covering plans.\n\nWorker-farmer correspondent Comrade Chon Song-hun has sent us news of the soil-covering battle of the Taechong Cooperative Farm in Unpa County. At this farm they have set up the objective of spreading soil on several hundred chongbos [one chongbo equals 2.451 acres] of cornfields and have been in high spirits as they carried out a general mobilization of all their forces. Comrade Cho Yun-sik, leader of the No.2 workteam, and other primary level functionaries correctly set up their daily combat objectives and are heightening their performance by means of correct operations and direction. In particular, they are making many means of conveyance to suit their own actual circumstances and ardently carrying out the soil-covering project.\n\nDuring the past few days, the Tokpo Cooperative Farm in Myongchon County has been achieving some two times greater successes in soil-covering in the cornfields than before. According to news sent in by worker-farmer correspondent Comrade Yi Chi-ho, farm functionaries such as Comrades Yi Chong-chu and Kim Mun-hyon are standing in the van of the struggle and are encouraging and inspiring the members of the League of Socialist Working Youth (LSWY) of the farm by personal example. The farm’s LSWY members volunteered to take charge of cumbersome tasks and, giving full play to the vigor and passion of youth, are markedly increasing soil-covering performance. As soon as news of their model behavior spread, all the farm members set up high objectives and are overfulfilling them each day.\n\nNews that the Pogu Subfarm of the Orchard General Farm in Kwail County is qualitatively carrying out soil-covering has been sent in by worker-farmer correspondent Comrade Kang Kyong-sam.\n\nWhether or not soil-covering is done according to the chuche agricultural method has an impact on the work of increasing the soil fertility of the land. The functionaries of the subfarm here, who are well aware of this fact, meticulously set up a soil-covering plan by field, by workteam, and by date, on the basis of a soil analysis chart. They led the masses, standing in the forefront. In this way, in all of the workteams there arose a vigorous struggle to haul soil according to the characteristics of the fields—stream-bottom soil where stream bottom soil is to be spread, and mud and coal ashes where mud and coal ashes are to be spread. Here the No. 3 and No. 10 workteams are doing a good job. They secured in advance a site for fresh soil to suit the characteristics of the fields, and increased their soil-spreading performance, trying hard to guarantee its quality. In this way this subfarm is achieving successes in qualitatively spreading soil on the cornfields.\n\nThe Chuuidong Cooperative Farm in Toksong County and the Taedok Cooperative Farm in Yiwon County are also doing soil-spreading qualitatively, and nowadays they are spreading over twice as much soil per day compared with when they first began soil-spreading. Worker-farmer correspondents Comrades Yi Hong-sop and Yo In-ho report that farms here are qualitatively carrying out soil-covering on all cornfields.\n\nIn particular, the No. 1 workteam of the Taedok Cooperative Farm set up measures so that their new soil sources would not freeze. They made various means of transport such as pushcarts and cableways by themselves, and they are carrying out soil-spreading on 1.5 times more area per day than called for in the plan. The No. 3 workteam of the Chuuidong Cooperative Farm made a cableway with the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and is achieving daily work results nearly twice those realized at the end of last year.\n\n—Let’s carry out even more vigorously the soil-spreading battle according to the intent of the party.\n\nNow agricultural workers in all areas are rushing to the soil-spreading battle with this kind of awareness and every day are creating new miracles and innovations."
},
{
"TITLE": "KCNA Review of 15 Mar Pyongyang Press",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503053791 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0436 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503053791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—Papers here today carry a photo-illustrated report that the great leader President Kim Il-song received the Indonesian parliamentary delegation.\n\nAppearing in papers is a report that the new Indonesian ambassador to Korea presented his credentials to President Kim Il-song of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.\n\nPresident Kim Il-song received solidarity letters from different countries denouncing the provocative “Team Spirit 91” joint military exercises of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities and supporting the Korean people in their struggle for the reunification of the country, says the press.\n\nAccording to the press, works of dear Comrade Kim Chong-il were carried by foreign newspapers.\n\nHighlighted in NODONG SINMUN is news that articles highly praising Comrade Kim Chong-il as the people's leader and the genius of creation and construction were reported abroad on the occasion of the February holiday and the daily gives an account of the closing of the first Korean film festival which was opened on this occasion.\n\nMINJU CHOSON says Comrade Kim Chong-il has built up the Hamhung Woolen Mill into a modernly equipped textile mill.\n\nPapers give an account of a national meeting of railway workers that opened and carry a congratulatory message sent by the C.C. [Central Committee], the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] to the participants in the meeting.\n\nCarried in NODONG SINMUN is a solidarity message to the WPK Central Committee from the National Committee of the Communist Party of the U.S.A. condemning the “Team Spirit 91” joint military exercises.\n\nEconews of the press includes reports on the fulfillment of the plans for the first quarter year by the Sariwon Mining Machine Factory and brisk farming preparations on co-op farms.\n\nIt is reported in papers that the permanent vice-minister of foreign affairs of Japan was interviewed by the reporters accompanying the DPRK Government delegation to the second intergovernmental full-dress talks for the normalisation of DPRK-Japan diplomatic relations and Korean players gave a good account of themselves at international weightlifting and table tennis tournaments.\n\nPfc. Kim Yu-chan of the Joint Security Corps of the “U.N. Forces Command” who came over to the northern half of Korea was interviewed by home and foreign reporters, says the press. Carried in the press is a declaration of conscience published by him before the reporters.\n\nConveyed in papers are home and foreign public voices lashing out at the “Team Spirit 91”.\n\nNODONG SINMUN comes out with an article headlined “‘Team Spirit’ exercises and anti-socialist strategy.”\n\nGiven in the press is an account of a press conference held at the Soviet Embassy here on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the signing of the agreement on economic and cultural cooperation between the Soviet Union and the DPRK.\n\nNODONG SINMUN conveys foreign press notes denouncing the South Korean authorities’ scheme for “unilateral U.N. membership” and the overseas Koreans' newspaper MINJOK SIBO published in Japan carried an editorial captioned “Let Us Intensify the Movement To Oust No Tae-u regime”.\n\nPapers run commentaries hitting out at No Tae-u for whipping up war hysterics against the North at the “graduation ceremonies” of the academies of the three services of the puppet army.\n\nPapers inform the readers that recommendations demanding an early normalisation of Japan-DPRK diplomatic relations were adopted at local assemblies of Japan, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a decision on the cooperation of the Soviet people’s deputies in the enforcement of national referendum and the first vice-president of Iran called for the unity of the Muslims the world over against domination forces.\n\nNODONG SINMUN reports about the efforts directed to the economic development for the building of a prosperous new Asia by Laos, Vietnam, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Iran."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul ‘Welcomes’ North’s Bid To Join ESCAP",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503030491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0239 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503030491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korea would welcome and would fully cooperate with a North Korean bid to join the Economic and Social Council of Asia-Pacific (ESCAP), Foreign Minister Yi Sang-ok said Friday.\n\nYi said a North Korean trade representative in Bangkok, Thailand, had recently called on ESCAP headquarters there and expressed deep interest in joining the group.\n\n“It is not clear, however, whether North Korea plans to formally submit a membership application to the ESCAP General Assembly in Seoul in April, or is simply showing interest,” he said. “The government believes Pyongyang’s entry is desirable and widely welcomes it.”\n\nThe 47th ESCAP meeting opens here April 1 and 48 member nations, including China, the Soviet Union, Vietnam and Laos, will send approximately 1,000 delegates.\n\nThe government plans to propose adoption of a “Seoul declaration,” outlining specific cooperation measures in the Asia-Pacific region for the 1990’s during the meeting, ministry officials say."
},
{
"TITLE": "Pak Chol-on Reportedly To Visit DPRK in May",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503121891 Seoul SEOUL SINMUN in Korean 15 Mar 91 p 1",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503121891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "SEOUL SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "It was learned that Minister of Sports and Youth Pak Chol-on will visit Pyongyang in May and meet with high-ranking North Korean officials. A broad range of discussions will be held on pending North-South Korean issues such as expansion in sports and economic cooperation.\n\nMinister Pak will visit the North for four nights and five days and, in the capacity of the minister of sports and youth, will participate in the Pyongyang tryouts to form a single team for the World Youth Soccer Championships. It seems that during his visit he will hold talks with North Korea's leading officials such as Kim Yu-sun, chairman of the Korean Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Committee, and Vice President Yi Chong-ok.\n\nAs the real power in taking the initiative toward the sports exchange and the policy toward the North, it was learned that Minister Pak will also discuss trade on a barter system, which is intended to carry out direct trade of goods needed by North and South Korea.\n\nPast proposals on our side include expanding sports exchanges. It seems that Minister Pak will wrap up lose ends on inviting North Korean youths to the August World Jamboree and the sports festival for all Koreans, including those abroad, and on the mutual exchange of sports leaders."
},
{
"TITLE": "Hong Kong Agency Arranges Travel to DPRK",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1203115291 Seoul CHUNGANG ILBO in Korean 9 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203115291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "CHUNGANG ILBO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Report by Hong Kong Correspondent Kim Taek-won",
"FULL TEXT": "Citibank International Travel (President Ronald Chong), a Hong Kong travel agency, started arranging North Korean tours on 6 March. Also, it receives applications if two people or more apply. This virtually means that individual North Korean tours are possible. Before, only group tours were accepted.\n\nAn official of this agency said that anyone who is not from the ROK, South Africa, and Israel can receive a visa in a week after applying for it, that tours by two people or more and group tours of students are possible, and that tourists can select sites in North Korea when they travel.\n\nThis official said: The company arranges a four-day tour in which tourists leave Hong Kong, stay a night in Beijing, arrive in Pyongyang by a North Korea Korean civilian airline flight that leaves Beijing every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, and visit Kaesong and Pyongyang. The company also arrange a five-day tour in which tourists will also visit Mt. Myohyang.\n\nThis official also said that this company’s tourism business is under the control of the Korea-Macao International Tourist Agency, a North Korean travel agency in Macao."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il’s Power Base Reportedly Fragile",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503134591 Seoul HANGUK ILBO in Korean 12 Mar 91 p 18",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503134591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "HANGUK ILBO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "In contrast with North Korea's intensive efforts to consummate the power transfer to Kim Chong-il, North Korean college students studying in Beijing are making skeptical and noteworthy observations about Kim Chong-il’s succession to power.\n\nAccording to “The North Korean Situation As Seen By the North Korean Students Studying in Beijing” in “The Flash Report on Reunification” distributed recently by the National Unification Board, North Korean residents hold a skeptical view of Kim Chong-il’s competence because of the economic setbacks of the last 17 years since the participation of Kim Chong-il in government affairs in 1973. Anti-Kim Chong-il forces are forming fairly extensively in the military and other circles.\n\nProfessor M of our country, who has recently been to China, met a professor who is a graduate of Kim Il-song University. He said: “Regardless of whether he will adhere to his father’s line or adopt a policy of openness, Kim Chong-il is doomed to be removed after all.” He said that Kim Chong-il will follow the same fate as that of Hua Guofeng after the death of Mao Zedong.\n\nThis analysis is similar to that by various figures who visited North Korea last year, thereby suggesting that the power transfer to Kim Chong-il after the death of Kim Il-song, which is taken for granted by many, might not be that simple.\n\nParty Secretary Kim Chong-il is reported to be charged with all state affairs—except diplomatic protocol—now that the 17-year preparation for his coming to power is completed.\n\nStudents studying in Beijing view the rapid emergence of Kim Chong-il as heir-apparent during the first half of the 1970’s as resulting from the counteraction to the conspicuous growth of the so-called “Ring of the Heterodox Twigs” of Kim Song-ae, second wife of Kim Il-song.\n\nAccording to the students, Kim Yong-chu, Kim Il-song’s brother and a prominent candidate for succession to power, was classified as a Kim Song-ae ally and removed from the scene together with Kim Song-kap, Kim Song-ae’s brother who was then chairman of the Pyongyang Municipal People's Committee.\n\nHowever, Kim Song-ae, chairman of the North Korea Women's Union, is appearing on official occasions for the first time in 18 years, and residents are also showing interest in Kim Pyong-il rather than Kim Chong-il.\n\nThe professor in Beijing, who graduated from Kim Il-song University, said that he got the impression when visiting Pyongyang last November that President Kim Il-song was withdrawing power which he had earlier given to Kim Chong-il. In other words, North Korea’s political power, which shifted from Kim Song-ae toward Kim Chong-il in the early 1970’s as a result of the will of public sentiment, is now moving toward Kim Pyong-il.\n\nTherefore, if Kim Il-song dies there will be great confusion. Although Kim Chong-il’s succession to power is quite probable, his power will not last more than six months.\n\nWhile having taken charge for the past 17 years, Kim Chong-il gave all power to the party. The State Administration Council, which is the administrative body, was allowed only to obey party orders. From time to time this resulted in friction between the party and the State Administration Council. During the North-South high-level talks last year, party cadres sarcastically talked about the delegation led by Premier Yon Hyong-muk, saying: “What kind of talks can those puppets carry out?” This shows that State Administration Council cadres are treated as low-class party members.\n\nIn addition, those running the regime centering on Kim Chong-il are gradually losing confidence. Despite his holding absolute power, Kim does not have confidence about his position. He does not like to meet people from the outside and makes all decisions with only a small number of party members. This shows the seriousness of the centralization of power. For example, the North Korean Embassy in China does not even have authority to issue visas to those desiring to visit the North. Therefore, all such business must be handled after asking Pyongyang.\n\nIt seems that even after President Kim Il-song’s death it will be impossible to completely remove the Kim family because, since President Kim is God-like in North Korea, there is no conception that the leader will die. Therefore, it seems that after President Kim’s death the people’s sense of emptiness will be serious.\n\nThus, even though Kim Chong-il might be overthrown right after he gains power, the Kim family will rule under the “constitutional monarchy system,” which is similar to the Japanese royal family. Also, its seems that practical politics will be carried out centering on the premier.\n\nJudging from this, Professor M forecasts that great changes will take place in North Korea in the next year or two, and even though there is no reunification, within a limited range, there will be great changes taking place in North-South relations.\n\nThe Board of National Unification also included the opinions of those who had visited the North last year and made a similar forecast. Due to the liberalization movement of the East European bloc, which started in 1989, as well as to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and the Soviet Union, North Korea felt a sense of danger, and thus strengthened its social control. As a counteraction to this, anti-Kim Chong-il forces are gradually being formed underground.\n\nCurrently there are 130 North Korean students studying in Beijing. Among them, 70-80 are attending universities of foreign language, and the rest are studying in science and engineering. Every Thursday these students receive political indoctrination at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing. Being aware of the surveillance from the embassy, senior students are considerably cautious about freshmen students. After returning to North Korea, the students cannot become hard core members of the North Korean regime but can work only as working-level officials."
},
{
"TITLE": "Nuclear Research Accord Signed With France",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1303014391 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 13 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION ID": "SK1303014391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE KOREA HERALD",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and France’s Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique (CEA) have signed an agreement on joint research in the safety of pressurized water reactors, a KAERI spokesman said yesterday.\n\n“Under the agreement, signed by KAERI President Han Pil-sun and French Amb. [Ambassador] Hubert de la Fortelle, on behalf of CEA Friday, we will directly participate in CEA’s large-scale research and test projects during 1991-1997 and get sophisticated technology related to safety of pressurized water reactors,” he said.\n\n“KAERI and two French institutes under the CEA umbrella will especially concentrate on joint tests on design basis accident and fission product release during accidents involving pressurized water reactors in 1991-97.”\n\nTwo KAERI researchers will be sent to France for the tests.\n\nKorean nuclear researchers have so far done safety tests on parts of nuclear power plants such as the reactor and containment in cooperation with U.S. experts."
},
{
"TITLE": "Civilians, Dissidents Form Antinuclear Body",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503035191 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 15 Mar 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503035191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE KOREA HERALD",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "An antinuclear civilian body was formed in Seoul Wednesday in a ceremony attended by about 300 people residing near nuclear power plants in Sosan and Yongkwang and in Tongduchon where U.S. military facilities are installed.\n\nThose attending the inaugural of the Coalition of Antinuclear Peace Movement include such dissident figures as Paek Ki-wan and Ke Hun-che."
},
{
"TITLE": "YONHAP, TASS Sign Accord on News Exchanges",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503003891 Seoul YONHAP in English 0022 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503003891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)—YONHAP news agency and TASS, the official Soviet news agency, Thursday signed an agreement for stable and long-term news and personnel exchanges.\n\nThe news cooperation agreement was signed by YONHAP President Cho Yong-chung and Lev Spiridonov, director general of TASS. It took effect on signing and will remain in effect until the end of 1993, replacing a memorandum exchanged in 1989.\n\nWith the agreement concluded, YONHAP can now exchange news and render cooperation with most of the world’s main news agencies except for XINHUA of China. Korea and China lack diplomatic ties."
},
{
"TITLE": "TASS Chief Departs After Week-Long Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503091991 Seoul YONHAP in English 0817 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503091991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)—Lev Spiridonov, director general of the official Soviet news agency TASS, left South Korea Friday afternoon on an Aeroflot flight to Moscow, finishing a week-long visit here.\n\nSpiridonov, 60, was in Seoul at the invitation of YONHAP News Agency to sign a news cooperation agreement and thereby open up chances for Koreans and Soviets to know more about each other. The full-dress agreement was signed with YONHAP President Cho Yong-chung Thursday, enabling YONHAP to complete its aim of news cooperation and exchange agreements with all major international news agencies.\n\nThe top TASS official attracted attention among political and economic leaders, who are highly curious about the Soviet Union, with which Korea normalized ties in September last year.\n\nHe paid a courtesy call on President No Tae-u, whose policy is to improve ties with socialist nations, and met with such ranking politicians and industrialists as Prime Minister No Chae-pong, National Assembly Speaker Pak Chun-kyu and Samsung Group Chairman Yi kun-hui.\n\nAccompanied by Sales and Marketing Manager Igor Derzhitskiy and Tokyo Bureau Chief Vladimir Koutchko, Spiridonov gave five press conferences and was on the state-run television news."
},
{
"TITLE": "KAL To Begin Flights Through Moscow to Rome",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1103131691 Seoul YONHAP in English 1026 GMT 11 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1103131691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 11, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Seoul, March 11 (YONHAP)—Korean Air (KAL) will begin weekly flights on the Seoul-Moscow-Amsterdam-Rome route June 27, the company said Monday.\n\nKAL will use a 410-seat B-747-300, departing Seoul Thursday morning and arriving in Rome Thursday night, it said. The service is in compliance with an agreement between KAL and Alitalia signed in January, and a government-level aviation pact between the two nations concluded last October, a KAL spokesman said.\n\nThe airline is to begin flights on the Seoul-Bombay-Cairo-Rome route by the end of the year, he said.\n\nKAL flies to eight cities in Europe, including Paris, London, Zurich, Amsterdam, Vienna, Frankfurt and Moscow, and serves 48 cities in 23 countries."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul To Send Medical Supplies to Soviets",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1203081391 Seoul YONHAP in English 0551 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203081391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Seoul, March 12 (YONHAP)—South Korea will ship 40 million U.S. dollars of medicine and medical equipment to the Soviet Union next month, the Health and Social Affairs Ministry said Tuesday.\n\nPayment will be made from a tied loan extended to the Soviet Union in January. The shipment accounts for nearly one-fifth of the country’s medical export of 220 million dollars for this year, ministry officials said.\n\nThe 11 medical products include analgesics, antipyretics, vitamins, anti-tuberculous agents, anesthetics, surgical gloves and condoms, they said.\n\nThe ministry plans, over the next two years, to export 30 million dollars of plant-extracted medicine, 15 million dollars of disposable syringes and needles, 60,000 dollars of surgical gloves and 60 million dollars of medical equipments to the Soviet Union, they said.\n\nHealth officials are collecting information on Soviet medical products and hope to encourage civilian exchanges as well."
},
{
"TITLE": "Further on Telecommunications Loan to Philippines",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1203040791 Seoul YONHAP in English 0220 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203040791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Seoul, March 12 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korea will provide the Philippines 3.79 billion won, an equivalent of 5.4 million U.S. dollars, in a concessionary loan to modernize and expand a provincial telecommunications network.\n\nHong Chae-hyong, chairman of the Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Rodolfo Dumaplas, Philippines charge d’affaires to Korea, signed a contract to extend the loan in Seoul Tuesday.\n\nThe government's Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) will put up the loan, which carries an interest rate of 3.5 percent per annum over 20 years, after a five-year grace period.\n\nThe Philippines will use the money to purchase and install a TDX-10 digital switching system with a capacity of 6,150 lines in Misamis Oriental Province."
},
{
"TITLE": "Elections ‘Dominated’ by Ruling Party Candidates",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503041991 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 15 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503041991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE KOREA HERALD",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "“News Analysis” by staff reporter Kim Chong-chan",
"FULL TEXT": "Registration of candidacy for the coming local assembly elections is dominated by ruling party candidates which may hamper the sound development of local self-government, the first in 30 years.\n\nMore than half of those running in the elections are reportedly members of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party [DLP] and pro-DLP figures.\n\nAccording to Chongwadae and ruling party sources, candidates who belong to the governing party account for 42.8 percent, or 4,339 of the total 10,120 candidates.\n\nThe figure compares with 14 percent for the main opposition Party for Peace and Democracy [PPD]; 1.8 percent for the minor Democratic Party and 0.2 percent for the progressive Minjung (People’s) Party of Korea.\n\nThe remaining 41.2 percent or 4,100 people are listed as “independents,” though at least one third are pro-DLP figures, the sources said.\n\nPolitical parties cannot field candidates for the March 26 small-area local elections in small- and medium-sized cities, “gun” (county) and “ku” (ward) in big cities. The large-unit local council elections are scheduled for June.\n\nThe domination by ruling party candidates in the elections may have stunned opposition leader Kim Tae-chung who still harbors presidential ambitions. PPD President Kim sees the implementation of grass-roots democracy as an occasion to expand his nationwide political base.\n\nPPD members running in Kim’s stronghold, Kwangju and Cholla provinces, total 838, compared with only 469 belonging to the giant ruling DLP.\n\nWhen it comes to Taegu and Kyongsang provinces, however, the situation is quite different. The number of ruling party members and pro-DLP figures running in those areas is over 20 times that of those from the opposition, DLP officials said.\n\nA moderate competition ratio of 2.35 to 1 in the local elections shows that the ballot has attracted little public interest. Local assembly elections were suspended in 1961 when the military took power.\n\nA tally compiled by the Central Election Management Committee (CEMC) showed that there is more competition in provincial areas than urban districts, particularly the six big cities.\n\nTaegu, the third largest city in Korea, had the lowest competition ratio of 1.58 to 1, while Kangwon-do and two other provinces shared the highest with 2.8 to 1.\n\nObservers attributed the low competition in Taegu, the birthplace of President No Tae-u, to the ruling party’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering to prevent “excessive competition” among ruling party members running in the city.\n\nA considerable number of ruling party members running there are said to have withdrawn their candidacy at the request of fellow party members. Surprisingly, the number of uncontested districts in Taegu totals 60 or 41.2 percent of the total 141 areas.\n\nCEMC has announced that the number of districts uncontested totals 441 or 12.3 percent of 3,562 electoral constituencies nationwide. A total of 547 or 12.7 percent of the fixed 4,304 council members have already won in those uncontested areas, including 83 in Seoul and 49 in the second largest city, Pusan.\n\nOne council member is to be picked from each of the small administrative units of “tong” in cities. But the number will go up to two or three according to population size.\n\nObservers said the lower than expected competition nationwide was attributable to public distrust of politicians mainly caused by the Suso housing scandal, a lack of public knowledge of local self-governing and the hasty arrangement of the elections.\n\nThe ruling camp had originally planned to hold the small-unit local elections in May. The opposition has accused the ruling party of advancing the voting in an attempt to divert public attention away from the Suso bribery case.\n\nPublic distrust of politicians may have climaxed as the destructive scandal came on the heels of a bribery case involving three lawmakers accused of taking bribes from a lobby group for their junket abroad.\n\nCandidacy registration shows that women still have little interest in politics. Women candidates accounted for merely 1.2 percent or 123 of the total 10,120.\n\nBy age, those who are between 51 and 55 topped the list with 23.2 percent, followed by those between 46 and 50 with 20.5 percent, between 41 and 45 with 15.9 percent and 56 and 60 with 15.5 percent.\n\nCandidates are also of diverse occupations. Those engaged in farming took the lion's share with 30.2 percent, followed by people engaged in commercial activities with 25.5 percent. In contrast, few professionals such as doctors and lawyers have filed their candidacy.\n\nThe fact that many self-employed persons like real estate brokers are running in the elections may cloud prospects for the healthy development of local autonomy. “They may spend more time peddling influence, in dogged pursuit of their own interests,” one observer said."
},
{
"TITLE": "No on Need for ‘Unflinching’ Defense Posture",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1203083491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0733 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203083491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Seoul, March 12 (YONHAP)—President No Tae-u said Tuesday an unflinching national defense posture was the key not only to deterring aggression but also to maintaining peace and getting North Korea to proceed with reunification.\n\n“Our air force should develop an efficient command system and air tactics and strategies suitable for our situation, together with modernization of military strength, expecting Koreanization of the national defense in the near future,” No told graduating cadets at the Air Force Academy.\n\nHe said it was necessary to secure superiority in the air, in intelligence and in telecommunications, the importance of which was demonstrated in the allied victory in the Gulf war.\n\n“We are defending the fatherland with advanced fighters, assembled and manufactured with our own technology, and we are pushing to buy highly sophisticated fighters,” he said.\n\nIn the Korean war, the South had only light trainers and was crushed by more than 200 North Korean jet fighters, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Civilians To Hold More Defense Ministry Posts",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503053091 Seoul YONHAP in English 0232 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503053091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Seoul, March 15 (YONHAP)—Civilians will be named to the posts of first and second assistant defense minister, until now held by generals, under a revision approved by the Cabinet Thursday. The change effect this month. [sentence as received]\n\nThe number of Defense Ministry directorates reserved for civil servants rises from three to five, and section chief posts from 31 to 35 under the revision.\n\nOf 103 posts above section chief, all but the minister, vice minister and assistant ministers will split between civil servants and generals. The civilian-military ratio of directors will be 5 to 15 and of section chiefs 35 to 44 under the revision.\n\n“The bill will enhance the development of a future-oriented defense policy, improve efficiency and proficiency, and increase civilian representation within the Ministry,” a senior Ministry official said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul To Recognize World Civil Rights Articles",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1403040691 Seoul YONHAP in English 0256 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1403040691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Seoul, March 14 (YONHAP)—South Korea will withdraw its reservations regarding articles in two international civil rights conventions, effective Friday, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.\n\nKorea could take the step as contradictions between Korean laws and the treaties were removed by revision Jan. 1 of the civil law regarding discrimination between man and woman, ministry spokesman Chong Ui-yong said.\n\nThe two relevant pacts are the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and the international covenant on civil and political rights.\n\nHe said Korea would now recognize Article 16-1 of the convention, which stipulates, “states parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women:\n\n“(c) the same rights and responsibilities during marriage and at its dissolution:\n\n“(d) the same rights and responsibilities as parents, irrespective of their marital status, in matters relating to their children: in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount:\n\n“(f) the same rights and responsibilities with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship and adoption of children, or similar institutions where these concepts exist in national legislation: in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount:”\n\nArticle 23-4 of the covenant says: “States parties to the present covenant shall take appropriate steps to ensure equality of rights and responsibilities of spouses as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. In the case of dissolution, provision shall be made for the necessary protection of any children.”\n\nKorea joined the convention on May 25, 1983, and signed the covenant on April 10, 1990."
},
{
"TITLE": "Customs Revenue Statistics for 1990 Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1403025291 Seoul YONHAP in English 0234 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1403025291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Seoul, March 14 (YONHAP)—Customs revenue was 5.57 percent of the value of all imports in 1990, up 0.46 percentage points because of higher duties on luxury goods, the Customs Administration said Thursday.\n\nImports were valued at 49.6 trillion won (68.4 billion U.S. dollars), up 19.8 percent from a year earlier, and customs revenue was 2.76 trillion won (3.7 billion dollars), up 30.6 percent.\n\nRevenue outpaced the value of imports as more luxury items were imported than raw materials and capital goods, a customs official said.\n\nCar imports increased 40.7 percent, commodities 42 percent, machinery 16.6 percent and electric and electronics 9.9 percent.\n\nThe exchange rate applied to customs duty was 710.65 won to the dollar, compared to 675.35 won in 1989."
},
{
"TITLE": "Textile Exports Decline in ’90; Imports Rise",
"FULL CITATION": "SK0703025891 Seoul YONHAP in English 0211 GMT 7 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK0703025891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 7, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Seoul, March 7 (YONHAP)—South Korea's textile exports were depressed last year by weak price competitiveness, but imports soared, the Korea Federation of Textile Industries (KFTI) said Thursday.\n\nExports slipped 3.1 percent to 14.67 billion U.S. dollars, only the third decline in 20 years and the first since 1985, while imports gained 4.4 percent to 3.55 billion dollars, the Federation said.\n\nSluggish exports were blamed on weak price competitiveness, import restrictions in industrialized nations and challenges from other developing countries. The United States upheld dumping charges of Korean-made sweaters and shipments to Japan were restricted because of the voluntary export regulation in force since 1989.\n\nExports of textile products fell 12.6 percent, but shipments of textile materials and silk rose 3.2 percent and 20 percent respectively, it said.\n\nIt attributed growing imports to higher incomes and fads among rich people. Imports of textile materials slid 3.8 percent, but those of textile products soared 52.6 percent.\n\nSince textiles became Korea’s major export item in the early 1970’s, the industry has suffered only two setbacks—in 1982, when exports dropped from 6.19 billion to 5.92 billion dollars, and in 1984, when they fell from 7.08 billion to 7 billion dollars."
},
{
"TITLE": "Ministry To Ease Regulations on 280 Imports",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1303033491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0238 GMT 13 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1303033491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Seoul, March 13 (YONHAP)—South Korea will ease regulations on some 280 agricultural and industrial imports from Thursday until the end of the year to better control inflation, the Trade and Industry Ministry said Wednesday.\n\nUnder the new rules, the economic planning minister can directly specify items and amounts for open import based on reviews and recommendations by economic ministers.\n\nSuch recommendations until now were made by an business organization or a minister in charge of a specific item, and there were cases when differences of opinion among organizations and government offices prevented timely importation, ministry officials said.\n\nThe government hopes to expedite the process by simplifying the decision-making, speeding up import procedures for items in demand and likely to spark price hikes, they said.\n\nInitial plans call for buying 283 products under the procedure, mostly agricultural and dairy items such as beef, poultry, powdered milk, and fruits. Industrial products include anthracite, the officials said.\n\nThe ministry is also temporarily widening the import market for reinforced steel in anticipation of a domestic shortage from a construction boom. The government will encourage steel imports from all seller countries, instead of recommending the United States and the European Community, the officials said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Companies Increase USSR, East Europe Imports",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503094591 Seoul CHOSON ILBO in Korean 15 Mar 91 p 7",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503094591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "CHOSON ILBO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Import of machines from the Soviet Union and East Europe has increased to reach $60 billion a year. Domestic general trade firms are importing machines from East Europe whose quality is somewhat inferior to that of products of advanced nations, including Japan, but which are not produced at home. In importing these machines compensation trade (barter), in which our electronic products are offered as the import payment, has also been actively pushed ahead. Accordingly, general trade firms are pushing for contracts with machine producers in this area for exclusive import of their products. Besides, these firms are organizing special teams to secure domestic customers and service centers.\n\nDaewoo Company, Inc., has already imported weaving machines produced from Czechoslovakia's Invest Company with the (Juberka) trademark. This year, Daewoo decided to import various machines amounting to $18.3 million, including $11 million worth of weaving machines, heavy-duty equipment, and machine tools manufactured in Czechoslovakia. Daewoo is also planning to import machine tools amounting to $900,000 from the Soviet Union, bartering our electronic products.\n\nThe Hyundai Trade Company, which has been bartering automobiles for grinding machines with Hungary’s (Techno) Company since 1989, imported machines amounting to $1 million last year. This year it decided to increase its import, reaching $2 million.\n\nIn particular, Hyundai concluded a contract with the Soviet Union’s (Ulyanovsk) for exclusive import of machine tools. It has already imported $400,000 worth of products, and is planning to import $1 million more.\n\nLucky Goldstar Company, which has been importing farming tractors from Czechoslovakia's Jetro Company since 1989, last year concluded a contract with Bulgaria’s (Balkanka) Company, the world’s largest forklift maker, for its exclusive import. It had sold about 50 forklifts last year, and is planning to sell about 200 sets at home this year.\n\nSsangyong Company last year alone imported $2 million worth of machine tools from China. It is planning to import the same amount of machines this year, too. It is negotiating with the Soviet Union and East Europe on importing machine tools and milling machines from these nations.\n\nSsangyong in particular decided to build a plant of instruments for supersonic wave diagnosis in the Soviet Union in collaboration with the Soviet Federal Procurement Agency (GOSNAP). This plant will produce approximately 1,000 sets annually, and supply them to the Soviet Union and East Europe."
},
{
"TITLE": "Electronics Exports to Europe Continue To Grow",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1203040091 Seoul YONHAP in English 0154 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203040091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Seoul, March 12 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korean electronic products are finding Europe more welcoming than North America, and the European market could soon be No. 1, industry experts said Tuesday.\n\nShipments to North America are on a downward slope, slipping from over 40 percent of total electronics exports in the mid-1980s to barely 30 percent last year. European buyers are picking up the slack, taking almost 30 percent of Korean electronics goods last year to match, and in some cases even outdo, the American buyers, they said.\n\nNew markets in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are overtaking the traditional American market, and industry leaders such as Daewoo Electronics Co. are already selling more to Europe than to America.\n\nSamsung Electronic Co. saw sales to Poland jump 580 percent last y
Repeating the same process with Gemini 3 Flash strangely failed after just page 9 at a cost of $0.033805. The model produced no errors so it is unclear why it aborted so early:
[
{
"TITLE": "ASEAN To Accept USSR as Dialogue Partner",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403093591 Tokyo KYODO in English 0817 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403093591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Masanori Kikuta",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Kuala Lumpur, March 14 KYODO—The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed in principle to accept the Soviet Union as one of its \"dialogue partners,\" Malaysian Foreign Minister Omar Abu Hassan indicated Thursday. \n\nThe Soviet Union \"would like to be closer to us\" and has offered to join Japan, the United States and other existing partners of dialogue with ASEAN, Abu Hassan told a press conference. \n\n\"We will certainly look at the best possible means to get them (the Soviets) involved in one way or another,\" he said. \"There have been some discussions among officials.\"\n\nASEAN is scheduled to hold an annual meeting of foreign ministers, followed by a meeting with their counterparts from six existing dialogue partners, plus South Korea, in Kuala Lumpur on July 19-24, Abu Hassan said. \n\nSouth Korea will be the seventh full dialogue partner, starting with the meeting, but it has not been decided yet if the Soviet Union will join such a ministerial meeting, he said. \n\n\"We are still looking at the kind of format or relationship we want to establish with them,\" he said. \n\nMalaysian Government officials said earlier that ASEAN is also considering beginning a dialogue with China. \n\nSouth Korea began a dialogue with ASEAN when particular issues such as trade and investment matters arose, before allowing it to become a full partner. \n\nASEAN will discuss \"other ways of association\" with the Soviet Union as well as Vietnam, Myanmar [Burma], and other potential dialogue partners because involving them as full participants in regular meetings will mean \"very long and taxing\" sessions, Abu Hassan said. \n\nSenior ASEAN officials \"will think about how best to engage them into this kind of association,\" he said. \n\nIn the meantime, he said, ASEAN's six member countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei—will try to establish \"economic linkages with them bilaterally, not on an ASEAN basis,\" he added. \n\nMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed told an international economic conference on the Indonesian resort island of Bali last week ASEAN is considering inviting Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar to the next foreign ministers' meeting. \n\nBut Abu Hassan indicated it will be some time before the three Indochinese socialist countries become dialogue partners. \n\n\"This will be discussed from time to time by senior officials\" and \"will definitely be on the agenda of the (next) summit\" of ASEAN planned for Singapore late this year or early next year, he said. \n\nASEAN last held a summit in Manila in 1987, itself the first in a decade, and Mahathir proposed at the Bali conference that ASEAN leaders meet more frequently. \n\nSenior ASEAN officials met in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the increase in dialogue partners and other issues, said Abu Hassan, who will be appointed minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in a cabinet reshuffle Friday. \n\nAnother session devoted to economic issues is scheduled for Friday. \n\nAmong issues discussed so far have been a plan to set up an \"ASEAN cooperation unit\" of specialists with the help of the United Nations development program to provide technical services for the management of various projects undertaken jointly by the ASEAN countries, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "APEC Agrees To Push for Trade Liberalization",
"FULL CITATION": "BK1303052591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 13 Mar 91 p B10",
"CITATION ID": "BK1303052591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE NATION",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Oranut Anasuksathian and Yindi Loetcharoenchok",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Thai officials who attended a two-day meeting on the Asia-Pacific economic grouping last week, expressed satisfaction at the renewed attempts of the 12 member countries to push for regional trade liberalization and to adopt three new projects. \n\nBesides, progress was made to link up trade and investment data available in member countries with the Global Link centre in Singapore, said Laksanachanthon Laohaphan, director general of the Foreign Ministry's ASEAN Affairs Department. \n\nShe led the Thai delegation to the discussions at the Honeymoon Island of Cheju in South Korea on March 5 and 6. \n\nThailand, she said, is preparing to subscribe to the information and the Commerce Ministry is updating and arranging its own database to facilitate the link-up. \n\nIn an interview with THE NATION, Laksanachanthon described the Cheju meeting as \"full of cooperation, cordial and quite positive.\" all member countries, she added, agreed on the urgency to speed up cooperation and resolve the existing barriers between each other. \n\nThe Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) comprises the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the six countries of ASEAN—Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. \n\nMeanwhile, three new projects were approved in addition to the existing seven working programmes previously adopted by the members. Two of the three new projects on transportation and tourism were proposed by the United States while New Zealand suggested a fishery project. Thailand has expressed a keen interest in the project. \n\nThe members also agreed with an Australian proposal to set up an ad hoc committee to study regional trade liberalization and with the Canadian suggestion to study the regional macroeconomic outlook and its implications. \n\nSo far, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Japan and Singapore have subscribed to the Australian initiative. Other members may join in the consultation process later, Laksanachanthon said. \n\nA summary paper of APEC's senior officials' meeting stated that the participants were of a general agreement that non-discriminatory trade liberalization in the region was an appropriate area for detailed study and consideration. There was also a general agreement among the members on the importance of the trade liberalization as a continuing policy focus for APEC. \n\nCanada which spearheaded the move to explore and study the regional economic policy and trends will soon call a meeting of the member countries, said an official at the meeting. \n\nAll the proposals will be submitted to the senior official representatives of the 12 members and later at the APEC ministerial- level meeting in Seoul in October. \n\nASEAN senior foreign officials were to meet in Kuala Lumpur today until March 15 to discuss the outcome of the APEC consultations. But the meeting was indefinitely postponed because of the coup in Thailand. \n\nIn a related development, ASEAN's senior economic officials are to meet today in Bandung to study the proposals approved by APEC officials. The meeting ends on Friday. \n\nThe Cheju meeting also agreed on the financial aspects of the projects and timetables for implementing them. The expenses incurred from these projects will be shared by the members. \n\nBut the six ASEAN nations have asked the developed countries in the group to recognize their financial constraints and suggested that the developed economies contribute more in carrying out big projects, according to a commerce official. \n\nLaksanachanthon said that the agreement on the financial aspects and new projects is a major step forward for APEC, a cooperation of countries from extremely different economic and political backgrounds. \n\nWhile foreign officials were very optimistic about the progress made in the regional economic consultations, some Thai commerce officials who accompanied the delegation said the talk moved very little forward. \n\nThe three projects given approval at the official-level meeting were pending since the first official consultation in Singapore last year, they said. Moreover, ASEAN has repeated its intention for the cooperation process to go slow. \n\nAccording to Laksanachanthon, the exchange of opinions on trade and investment information and the development of human resources have progressed the most because they do not require the establishment of new mechanisms. \n\nOther projects, including energy cooperation, telecommunications and technology transfer are also moving forward due to consultations held between individual working groups, she added."
},
{
"TITLE": "Agency Ready To Dispatch Minesweepers to Gulf",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503082791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0754 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503082791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan could dispatch a small fleet of minesweepers in about a week if given orders to help clean-up efforts in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war, a Defense Agency source said Friday. \n\nThe Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel, and with port calls could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said. \n\nThe task of removing more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before the war would take about a year to complete, the source said. \n\nJapanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulf's waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran-Iraq war. \n\nThe government received similar requests for minesweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait. \n\nThe Defense Agency will likely deploy four minesweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote-controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines. \n\nThe flagship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180. \n\nThe minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and that can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes. \n\nAccording to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task. \n\n\"It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,\" said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kaifu Undecided on Dispatch",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503112991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1106 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503112991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday implied he opposed a proposal to send Japanese minesweepers to help cleanup the effects of the Persian Gulf war. \n\nKaifu, speaking at the House of Representatives' standing committee on foreign affairs, said the government is now collecting information to see if Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] ships are needed in the Gulf. \n\nKaifu said he is addressing the matter carefully. \n\n\"I have never decided to send the minesweepers. It is irresponsible to do so without exact knowledge about the situation in the Gulf area,\" Kaifu said. \n\nState Minister for Defense Yukihiko Ikeda told reporters Friday that Japan should handle the matter carefully, without any speculation. Speculation could lead Japan in the wrong direction, he said. \n\n\"I am embarrassed that controversy over such an abrupt proposal has been spreading across the nation,\" Ikeda said. \n\nEarlier this week, senior officials in Kaifu's ruling Liberal Democratic Party proposed deploying minesweepers to the Gulf. \n\nOn Thursday, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama told a parliamentary committee that Japan is obliged to try to protect Japanese sailors in the area. Nakayama also said the government will discuss sending minesweepers to the Gulf with the seafarers union."
},
{
"TITLE": "Official: SDF Aircraft Can Be Used for Evacuees",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403165191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1457 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403165191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan can fly Air Self-Defense Force [ASDF] aircraft to Kuwait to transport evacuees if an international body makes such a request, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Thursday. \n\nThe official, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited the government's special administrative ordinance made to send ASDF transport aircraft abroad to carry refugees earlier this year. The ordinance makes such flights possible if they are requested by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) or a related world body. \n\nThe official was commenting on a question relating to a possible Egyptian request to shuttle Egyptian workers being evacuated to Kuwait from Iraq, which is now gripped by internal conflict. \n\n\"If the IOM makes such a request to Japan with Kuwaiti approval, then why not? The ordinance never specifically defines the flight routes,\" the official said, adding he has no information that such a request has yet been made. \n\nPrime Minister Toshiki Kaifu's government made the ordinance with the possibility of flying ASDF aircraft between Cairo and some Jordanian cities in mind, but actually no such request was made."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Minister Urges Kaifu To Visit U.S. Soon",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503033791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0258 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503033791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama said Friday. \n\nNakayama told reporters after a regular cabinet meeting that the prime minister himself wishes to make the trip even if it is a brief one. \n\nThe foreign minister said Kaifu should have no problem with Diet business, saying four days is enough for a return trip to Washington. \n\nNakayama said he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week. \n\nHe is set to leave Japan next Wednesday to meet with Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials. \n\nNakayama said Japan's upcoming \"Golden Week\" series of national holidays in late April and early May, usually used for politicians' visits abroad, should be the best time for Kaifu's swing to Southeast Asian nations, which was postponed in January amid the Persian Gulf crisis, and Kaifu's U.S. visit should come first. \n\nForeign Ministry officials have expressed strong hopes for an early Japan-U.S. summit to discuss bilateral cooperation after the Gulf war. \n\nPresident George Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed as a result of the Gulf war. Foreign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be too late."
}
]
Running Gemini 3 Flash a second time, we made it to page 11 this time at a cost of $0.041648. Again, the model reported no error and signaled a clean exit. Clearly 3 Flash is struggling to handle this task.
[
{
"TITLE": "ASEAN To Accept USSR as Dialogue Partner",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403093591 Tokyo KYODO in English 0817 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403093591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "14 Mar 91",
"SOURCELINE": "By Masanori Kikuta",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Kuala Lumpur, March 14 KYODO—The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed in principle to accept the Soviet Union as one of its \"dialogue partners,\" Malaysian Foreign Minister Omar Abu Hassan indicated Thursday. \n\nThe Soviet Union \"would like to be closer to us\" and has offered to join Japan, the United States and other existing partners of dialogue with ASEAN, Abu Hassan told a press conference. \n\n\"We will certainly look at the best possible means to get them (the Soviets) involved in one way or another,\" he said. \"There have been some discussions among officials.\"\n\nASEAN is scheduled to hold an annual meeting of foreign ministers, followed by a meeting with their counterparts from six existing dialogue partners, plus South Korea, in Kuala Lumpur on July 19-24, Abu Hassan said. \n\nSouth Korea will be the seventh full dialogue partner, starting with the meeting, but it has not been decided yet if the Soviet Union will join such a ministerial meeting, he said. \n\n\"We are still looking at the kind of format or relationship we want to establish with them,\" he said. \n\nMalaysian Government officials said earlier that ASEAN is also considering beginning a dialogue with China. \n\nSouth Korea began a dialogue with ASEAN when particular issues such as trade and investment matters arose, before allowing it to become a full partner. \n\nASEAN will discuss \"other ways of association\" with the Soviet Union as well as Vietnam, Myanmar [Burma], and other potential dialogue partners because involving them as full participants in regular meetings will mean \"very long and taxing\" sessions, Abu Hassan said. \n\nSenior ASEAN officials \"will think about how best to engage them into this kind of association,\" he said. \n\nIn the meantime, he said, ASEAN's six member countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei—will try to establish \"economic linkages with them bilaterally, not on an ASEAN basis,\" he added. \n\nMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed told an international economic conference on the Indonesian resort island of Bali last week ASEAN is considering inviting Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar to the next foreign ministers' meeting. \n\nBut Abu Hassan indicated it will be some time before the three Indochinese socialist countries become dialogue partners. \n\n\"This will be discussed from time to time by senior officials\" and \"will definitely be on the agenda of the (next) summit\" of ASEAN planned for Singapore late this year or early next year, he said. \n\nASEAN last held a summit in Manila in 1987, itself the first in a decade, and Mahathir proposed at the Bali conference that ASEAN leaders meet more frequently. \n\nSenior ASEAN officials met in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the increase in dialogue partners and other issues, said Abu Hassan, who will be appointed minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in a cabinet reshuffle Friday. \n\nAnother session devoted to economic issues is scheduled for Friday. \n\nAmong issues discussed so far have been a plan to set up an \"ASEAN cooperation unit\" of specialists with the help of the United Nations development program to provide technical services for the management of various projects undertaken jointly by the ASEAN countries, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "APEC Agrees To Push for Trade Liberalization",
"FULL CITATION": "BK1303052591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 13 Mar 91 p B10",
"CITATION ID": "BK1303052591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE NATION",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "13 Mar 91",
"SOURCELINE": "By Oranut Anasuksathian and Yindi Loetcharoenchok",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Thai officials who attended a two-day meeting on the Asia-Pacific economic grouping last week, expressed satisfaction at the renewed attempts of the 12 member countries to push for regional trade liberalization and to adopt three new projects. \n\nBesides, progress was made to link up trade and investment data available in member countries with the Global Link centre in Singapore, said Laksanachanthon Laohaphan, director general of the Foreign Ministry's ASEAN Affairs Department. \n\nShe led the Thai delegation to the discussions at the Honeymoon Island of Cheju in South Korea on March 5 and 6. \n\nThailand, she said, is preparing to subscribe to the information and the Commerce Ministry is updating and arranging its own database to facilitate the link-up. \n\nIn an interview with THE NATION, Laksanachanthon described the Cheju meeting as \"full of cooperation, cordial and quite positive.\" all member countries, she added, agreed on the urgency to speed up cooperation and resolve the existing barriers between each other. \n\nThe Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) comprises the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the six countries of ASEAN—Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. \n\nMeanwhile, three new projects were approved in addition to the existing seven working programmes previously adopted by the members. Two of the three new projects on transportation and tourism were proposed by the United States while New Zealand suggested a fishery project. Thailand has expressed a keen interest in the project. \n\nThe members also agreed with an Australian proposal to set up an ad hoc committee to study regional trade liberalization and with the Canadian suggestion to study the regional macroeconomic outlook and its implications. \n\nSo far, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Japan and Singapore have subscribed to the Australian initiative. Other members may join in the consultation process later, Laksanachanthon said. \n\nA summary paper of APEC's senior officials' meeting stated that the participants were of a general agreement that non-discriminatory trade liberalization in the region was an appropriate area for detailed study and consideration. There was also a general agreement among the members on the importance of the trade liberalization as a continuing policy focus for APEC. \n\nCanada which spearheaded the move to explore and study the regional economic policy and trends will soon call a meeting of the member countries, said an official at the meeting. \n\nAll the proposals will be submitted to the senior official representatives of the 12 members and later at the APEC ministerial- level meeting in Seoul in October. \n\nASEAN senior foreign officials were to meet in Kuala Lumpur today until March 15 to discuss the outcome of the APEC consultations. But the meeting was indefinitely postponed because of the coup in Thailand. \n\nIn a related development, ASEAN's senior economic officials are to meet today in Bandung to study the proposals approved by APEC officials. The meeting ends on Friday. \n\nThe Cheju meeting also agreed on the financial aspects of the projects and timetables for implementing them. The expenses incurred from these projects will be shared by the members. \n\nBut the six ASEAN nations have asked the developed countries in the group to recognize their financial constraints and suggested that the developed economies contribute more in carrying out big projects, according to a commerce official. \n\nLaksanachanthon said that the agreement on the financial aspects and new projects is a major step forward for APEC, a cooperation of countries from extremely different economic and political backgrounds. \n\nWhile foreign officials were very optimistic about the progress made in the regional economic consultations, some Thai commerce officials who accompanied the delegation said the talk moved very little forward. \n\nThe three projects given approval at the official-level meeting were pending since the first official consultation in Singapore last year, they said. Moreover, ASEAN has repeated its intention for the cooperation process to go slow. \n\nAccording to Laksanachanthon, the exchange of opinions on trade and investment information and the development of human resources have progressed the most because they do not require the establishment of new mechanisms. \n\nOther projects, including energy cooperation, telecommunications and technology transfer are also moving forward due to consultations held between individual working groups, she added."
},
{
"TITLE": "Agency Ready To Dispatch Minesweepers to Gulf",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503082791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0754 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503082791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "15 Mar 91",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan could dispatch a small fleet of minesweepers in about a week if given orders to help clean-up efforts in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war, a Defense Agency source said Friday. \n\nThe Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel, and with port calls could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said. \n\nThe task of removing more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before the war would take about a year to complete, the source said. \n\nJapanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulf's waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran-Iraq war. \n\nThe government received similar requests for minesweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait. \n\nThe Defense Agency will likely deploy four minesweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote-controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines. \n\nThe flagship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180. \n\nThe minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and that can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes. \n\nAccording to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task. \n\n\"It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,\" said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kaifu Undecided on Dispatch",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503112991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1106 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503112991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "15 Mar 91",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday implied he opposed a proposal to send Japanese minesweepers to help cleanup the effects of the Persian Gulf war. \n\nKaifu, speaking at the House of Representatives' standing committee on foreign affairs, said the government is now collecting information to see if Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] ships are needed in the Gulf. \n\nKaifu said he is addressing the matter carefully. \n\n\"I have never decided to send the minesweepers. It is irresponsible to do so without exact knowledge about the situation in the Gulf area,\" Kaifu said. \n\nState Minister for Defense Yukihiko Ikeda told reporters Friday that Japan should handle the matter carefully, without any speculation. Speculation could lead Japan in the wrong direction, he said. \n\n\"I am embarrassed that controversy over such an abrupt proposal has been spreading across the nation,\" Ikeda said. \n\nEarlier this week, senior officials in Kaifu's ruling Liberal Democratic Party proposed deploying minesweepers to the Gulf. \n\nOn Thursday, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama told a parliamentary committee that Japan is obliged to try to protect Japanese sailors in the area. Nakayama also said the government will discuss sending minesweepers to the Gulf with the seafarers union."
},
{
"TITLE": "Official: SDF Aircraft Can Be Used for Evacuees",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403165191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1457 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403165191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "14 Mar 91",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan can fly Air Self-Defense Force [ASDF] aircraft to Kuwait to transport evacuees if an international body makes such a request, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Thursday. \n\nThe official, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited the government's special administrative ordinance made to send ASDF transport aircraft abroad to carry refugees earlier this year. The ordinance makes such flights possible if they are requested by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) or a related world body. \n\nThe official was commenting on a question relating to a possible Egyptian request to shuttle Egyptian workers being evacuated to Kuwait from Iraq, which is now gripped by internal conflict. \n\n\"If the IOM makes such a request to Japan with Kuwaiti approval, then why not? The ordinance never specifically defines the flight routes,\" the official said, adding he has no information that such a request has yet been made. \n\nPrime Minister Toshiki Kaifu's government made the ordinance with the possibility of flying ASDF aircraft between Cairo and some Jordanian cities in mind, but actually no such request was made."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Minister Urges Kaifu To Visit U.S. Soon",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503033791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0258 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503033791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "15 Mar 91",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama said Friday. \n\nNakayama told reporters after a regular cabinet meeting that the prime minister himself wishes to make the trip even if it is a brief one. \n\nThe foreign minister said Kaifu should have no problem with Diet business, saying four days is enough for a return trip to Washington. \n\nNakayama said he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week. \n\nHe is set to leave Japan next Wednesday to meet with Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials. \n\nNakayama said Japan's upcoming \"Golden Week\" series of national holidays in late April and early May, usually used for politicians' visits abroad, should be the best time for Kaifu's swing to Southeast Asian nations, which was postponed in January amid the Persian Gulf crisis, and Kaifu's U.S. visit should come first. \n\nForeign Ministry officials have expressed strong hopes for an early Japan-U.S. summit to discuss bilateral cooperation after the Gulf war. \n\nPresident George Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed as a result of the Gulf war. Foreign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be too late."
},
{
"TITLE": "More on Aims of Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503101091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0955 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503101091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "15 Mar 91",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu may visit the United States in early April to exchange views with U.S. President George Bush on peace prospects in the Middle East and the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks, government sources said Friday. \n\nForeign Minister Taro Nakayama told reporters earlier in the day that Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April \n\nIn the talks with Bush, Kaifu is expected to express Japan's willingness to strengthen political and economic relations with Israel as part of a comprehensive Japanese Middle East policy in the wake of the Persian Gulf war. \n\nWashington has expressed hope the Japanese Government will extend economic assistance to Israel to facilitate postwar restoration work. \n\nJapan has never given economic aid to Israel and has maintained a generally pro-Arab Middle East policy. \n\nKaifu is also expected to express Japan's readiness to find a breakthrough in the stalled multinational trade talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the sources said. \n\nBut they did not give further details on what proposals Kaifu will make to bring about a successful conclusion of the trade talks. \n\nDuring the visit, Kaifu is likely to stay in Washington or a U.S. west coast city for three or four days. \n\nNakayama told reporters he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week. The foreign minister is set to leave Japan Wednesday to meet Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials. \n\nPresident Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed because of the Gulf war."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Ministry Aide To Visit U.S. 17 Mar",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503110991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503110991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "15 Mar 91",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan will dispatch a senior Foreign Ministry official to Washington on Sunday to discuss post- Persian Gulf war policies, the Foreign Ministry said Friday. \n\nYukio Sato, director general of the ministry's information analysis, research and planning bureau, will visit Washington at the request of the U.S. Government, ministry officials said. \n\nThe trip will precede Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama's scheduled U.S. visit, beginning next Wednesday. \n\nState Department officials are expected to brief Sato on the results of Secretary of State James Baker's Middle East tour and President George Bush's series of talks with European leaders. \n\nSato last visited the U.S. between February 25 and March 6. On that trip, he presented Japanese ideas on international restrictions on arms shipments to the Middle East, and said Japan was ready to help repair environmental damage in the Gulf region, the officials said. \n\nHe is expected to discuss more specific aspects of postwar international cooperation during his upcoming trip, they said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Urges U.S. Rice Display's Removal",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503051791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503051791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "15 Mar 91",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister Motoji Kondo reiterated Friday that he will urge a U.S. rice industry group to withdraw samples of U.S. rice displayed at a food trade show now under way in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture. \n\nKondo said at a press conference after a regular cabinet meeting that he will request the U.S.A. Rice Council to remove the American rice samples by Saturday, when the food show at the Makuhari Exposition Center is scheduled to end. \n\nHe said such activities aimed at promoting rice sales violate Japan's Food Control Law. \n\nThe minister also said it is questionable whether the rice samples for the show have been quarantined or not. \n\nThe ministry will consult with its affiliated Food Agency about what to do if the U.S. council does not accept his demand, Kondo said. \n\nThe National Confederation of Farmers' Movements has announced it will take legal action against the U.S. group over the rice samples."
},
{
"TITLE": "Business Delegation To Meet U.S. Counterparts",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403132991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1305 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403132991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "14 Mar 91",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Business leaders from Japan and the United States will meet in Los Angeles on May 11-12 to \"deepen mutual understanding,\" the first such meeting since the end of the Persian Gulf war, business sources said Thursday. \n\nThe meeting will be in preparation for a session of the Japan- U.S. Businessmen's Conference to be held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in July. \n\nThe officials said the Japanese delegation will explain Japan's basic stance concerning the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks. \n\nThey said the Japanese side also is concerned about the hardening of U.S. sentiment toward Japan over Tokyo's alleged lukewarm support for the U.S.-led multinational forces fighting the Gulf war. \n\nThe Japanese delegation will include Eishiro Saito, honorary chairman of the powerful Federation of Economic Organizations; Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the federation; and Rokuro Ishikawa, president of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry."
},
{
"TITLE": "Establishes Ties With LDP",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403131591 Tokyo NHK General Television Network in Japanese 1000 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403131591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NHK General Television Network",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Japanese",
"CITATION DATE": "14 Mar 91",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The Liberal Democratic Party [LDP] established its Japan-USSR Parliamentarians League today. In a speech delivered prior to the plenary session, CPSU International Department Chief Falin indicated Soviet intentions to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japan in April. \n\nWith President Gorbachev scheduled to visit Japan in April, the LDP's Japan-USSR Parliamentarians League was established today for the purpose of promoting extensive exchanges between the two nations. Keijiro Murata, former chairman of the party's policy affairs research council, will serve as chairman of the League. \n\nCPSU International Department chief Falin, on his first visit to Japan to attend the league's inaugural session, delivered a speech prior to the plenary session. Commenting on President Gorbachev's visit to Japan, Falin said that President Gorbachev would bring with him not the former image of the Soviet Union but a picture filled with a brighter future. He added that despite the fact that the domestic situation in the Soviet Union is not very favorable right now, it will not be long before the sun shines on Soviet-Japanese relations through the efforts of the two nations. Thus, he indicated the Soviet intention to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japan. \n\nFurthermore, regarding President Gorbachev's perestroyka policy, International Department chief Falin stated: Unless domestic disorder in the Soviet Union turns into civil war, there will be no going back on perestroyka or any shift in the chosen orientation."
}
]
Gemini 2.5 Pro made it to page 29 before hitting its combined thinking + output token limit at a cost of $0.369174:
[
{
"TITLE": "ASEAN To Accept USSR as Dialogue Partner",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403093591 Tokyo KYODO in English 0817 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403093591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Masanori Kikuta",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Kuala Lumpur, March 14 KYODO-The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed in principle to accept the Soviet Union as one of its \"dialogue partners,\" Malaysian Foreign Minister Omar Abu Hassan indicated Thursday.\nThe Soviet Union \"would like to be closer to us\" and has offered to join Japan, the United States and other existing partners of dialogue with ASEAN, Abu Hassan told a press conference.\n\"We will certainly look at the best possible means to get them (the Soviets) involved in one way or another,\" he said. \"There have been some discussions among officials.\"\nASEAN is scheduled to hold an annual meeting of foreign ministers, followed by a meeting with their counterparts from six existing dialogue partners, plus South Korea, in Kuala Lumpur on July 19-24, Abu Hassan said.\nSouth Korea will be the seventh full dialogue partner, starting with the meeting, but it has not been decided yet if the Soviet Union will join such a ministerial meeting, he said.\n\"We are still looking at the kind of format or relationship we want to establish with them,\" he said.\nMalaysian Government officials said earlier that ASEAN is also considering beginning a dialogue with China.\nSouth Korea began a dialogue with ASEAN when particular issues such as trade and investment matters arose, before allowing it to become a full partner.\nASEAN will discuss \"other ways of association\" with the Soviet Union as well as Vietnam, Myanmar (Burma), and other potential dialogue partners because involving them as full participants in regular meetings will mean \"very long and taxing\" sessions, Abu Hassan said.\nSenior ASEAN officials \"will think about how best to engage them into this kind of association,\" he said.\nIn the meantime, he said, ASEAN's six member countries-Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei-will try to establish \"economic linkages with them bilaterally, not on an ASEAN basis,\" he added.\nMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed told an international economic conference on the Indonesian resort island of Bali last week ASEAN is considering inviting Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar to the next foreign ministers' meeting.\nBut Abu Hassan indicated it will be some time before the three Indochinese socialist countries become dialogue partners.\n\"This will be discussed from time to time by senior officials\" and \"will definitely be on the agenda of the (next) summit\" of ASEAN planned for Singapore late this year or early next year, he said.\nASEAN last held a summit in Manila in 1987, itself the first in a decade, and Mahathir proposed at the Bali conference that ASEAN leaders meet more frequently.\nSenior ASEAN officials met in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the increase in dialogue partners and other issues, said Abu Hassan, who will be appointed minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in a cabinet reshuffle Friday.\nAnother session devoted to economic issues is scheduled for Friday.\nAmong issues discussed so far have been a plan to set up an \"ASEAN cooperation unit\" of specialists with the help of the United Nations development program to provide technical services for the management of various projects undertaken jointly by the ASEAN countries, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "APEC Agrees To Push for Trade Liberalization",
"FULL CITATION": "BK1303052591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 13 Mar 91 p B10",
"CITATION ID": "BK1303052591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "the nation",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Oranut Anasuksathian and Yindi Loetcharoenchok",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Thai officials who attended a two-day meeting on the Asia-Pacific economic grouping last week, expressed satisfaction at the renewed attempts of the 12 member countries to push for regional trade liberalization and to adopt three new projects.\nBesides, progress was made to link up trade and investment data available in member countries with the Global Link centre in Singapore, said Laksanachanthon Laohaphan, director general of the Foreign Ministry's ASEAN Affairs Department.\nShe led the Thai delegation to the discussions at the Honeymoon Island of Cheju in South Korea on March 5 and 6.\nThailand, she said, is preparing to subscribe to the information and the Commerce Ministry is updating and arranging its own database to facilitate the link-up.\nIn an interview with THE NATION, Laksanachanthon described the Cheju meeting as \"full of cooperation, cordial and quite positive\". all member countries, she added, agreed on the urgency to speed up cooperation and resolve the existing barriers between each other.\nThe Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) comprises the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the six countries of ASEAN-Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.\nMeanwhile, three new projects were approved in addition to the existing seven working programmes previously adopted by the members. Two of the three new projects on transportation and tourism were proposed by the United States while New Zealand suggested a fishery project. Thailand has expressed a keen interest in the project.\nThe members also agreed with an Australian proposal to set up an ad hoc committee to study regional trade liberalization and with the Canadian suggestion to study the regional macroeconomic outlook and its implications.\nSo far, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the United States. Japan and Singapore have subscribed to the Australian initiative. Other members may join in the consultation process later, Laksanachanthon said.\nA summary paper of APEC's senior officials' meeting stated that the participants were of a general agreement that non-discriminatory trade liberalization in the region was an appropriate area for detailed study and consideration. There was also a general agreement among the members on the importance of the trade liberalization as a continuing policy focus for APEC.\nCanada which spearheaded the move to explore and study the regional economic policy and trends will soon call a meeting of the member countries, said an official at the meeting.\nAll the proposals will be submitted to the senior official representatives of the 12 members and later at the APEC ministerial- level meeting in Seoul in October.\nASEAN senior foreign officials were to meet in Kuala Lumpur today until March 15 to discuss the outcome of the APEC consultations. But the meeting was indefinitely postponed because of the coup in Thailand.\nIn a related development, ASEAN's senior economic officials are to meet today in Bandung to study the proposals approved by APEC officials. The meeting ends on Friday.\nThe Cheju meeting also agreed on the financial aspects of the projects and timetables for implementing them. The expenses incurred from these projects will be shared by the members.\nBut the six ASEAN nations have asked the developed countries in the group to recognize their financial constraints and suggested that the developed economies contribute more in carrying out big projects, according to a commerce official.\nLaksanachanthon said that the agreement on the financial aspects and new projects is a major step forward for APEC, a cooperation of countries from extremely different economic and political backgrounds.\nWhile foreign officials were very optimistic about the progress made in the regional economic consultations, some Thai commerce officials who accompanied the delegation said the talk moved very little forward.\nThe three projects given approval at the official-level meeting were pending since the first official consultation in Singapore last year, they said. Moreover, ASEAN has repeated its intention for the cooperation process to go slow.\nAccording to Laksanachanthon, the exchange of opinions on trade and investment information and the development of human resources have progressed the most because they do not require the establishment of new mechanisms.\nOther projects, including energy cooperation, telecommunications and technology transfer are also moving forward due to consultations held between individual working groups, she added."
},
{
"TITLE": "Agency Ready To Dispatch Minesweepers to Gulf",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503082791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0754 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503082791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-Japan could dispatch a small fleet of minesweepers in about a week if given orders to help clean-up efforts in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war, a Defense Agency source said Friday.\nThe Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel, and with port calls could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said.\nThe task of removing more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before the war would take about a year to complete, the source said.\nJapanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulf's waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran- Iraq war.\nThe government received similar requests for mine- sweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait.\nThe Defense Agency will likely deploy four mine- sweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines.\nThe flagship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180.\nThe minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and that can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes.\nAccording to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task.\n\"It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,\" said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kaifu Undecided on Dispatch",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503112991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1106 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503112991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday implied he opposed a proposal to send Japanese minesweepers to help cleanup the effects of the Persian Gulf war.\nKaifu, speaking at the House of Representatives' standing committee on foreign affairs, said the government is now collecting information to see if Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] ships are needed in the Gulf. Kaifu said he \"is addressing the matter carefully.\"\n\"I have never decided to send the minesweepers. It is irresponsible to do so without exact knowledge about the situation\" in the Gulf area, Kaifu said.\nState Minister for Defense Yukihiko Ikeda told reporters Friday that Japan should handle the matter carefully, without any speculation. Speculation could lead Japan in the wrong direction, he said.\n\"I am embarrassed that controversy over such an abrupt proposal has been spreading across the nation,\" Ikeda said.\nEarlier this week, senior officials in Kaifu's ruling Liberal Democratic Party proposed deploying mine- sweepers to the Gulf.\nOn Thursday, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama told a parliamentary committee that Japan is obliged to try to protect Japanese sailors in the area. Nakayama also said the government will discuss sending minesweepers to the Gulf with the seafarers union.\nEarlier Friday, a Defense Agency source said Japan could deploy a small minesweeper fleet in about a week, if given orders.\nIf sent, the Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel. Allowing time for port calls, it could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said.\nIt will take about a year to remove more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before the war, the source said.\nJapanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulf's waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran- Iraq war.\nThe government received similar requests for mine- sweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait.\nThe Defense Agency will likely deploy four mine- sweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines.\nThe flag ship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180.\nThe minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes.\nAccording to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task.\n\"It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,\" said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Official: SDF Aircraft Can Be Used for Evacuees",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403165191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1457 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403165191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO-Japan can fly Air Self-Defense Force [ASDF] aircraft to Kuwait to transport evacuees if an international body makes such a request, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Thursday.\nThe official, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited the government's special administrative ordinance made to send ASDF transport aircraft abroad to carry refugees earlier this year. The ordinance makes such flights possible if they are requested by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) or a related world body.\nThe official was commenting on a question relating to a possible Egyptian request to shuttle Egyptian workers being evacuated to Kuwait from Iraq, which is now gripped by internal conflict.\n\"If the IOM makes such a request to Japan with Kuwaiti approval, then why not? The ordinance never specifically defines the flight routes,\" the official said, adding he has rc information that such a request has yet been made.\nPrime Minister Toshiki Kaifu's government made the ordinance with the possibility of flying ASDF aircraft between Cairo and some Jordanian cities in mind, but actually no such request was made."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Minister Urges Kaifu To Visit U.S. Soon",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503033791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0258 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503033791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama said Friday.\nNakayama told reporters after a regular cabinet meeting that the prime minister himself wishes to make the trip even if it is a brief one.\nThe foreign minister said Kaifu should have no problem with Diet business, saying four days is enough for a return trip to Washington.\nNakayama said he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week.\nHe is set to leave Japan next Wednesday to meet with Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials.\nNakayama said Japan's upcoming \"Golden Week\" series of national holidays in late April and early May, usually used for politicians' visits abroad, should be the best time for Kaifu's swing to Southeast Asian nations, which was postponed in January amid the Persian Gulf crisis, and Kaifu's U.S. visit should come first.\nForeign Ministry officials have expressed strong hopes for an early Japan-U.S. summit to discuss bilateral cooperation after the Gulf war.\nPresident George Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed as a result of the Gulf war. Foreign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be \"too late.\""
},
{
"TITLE": "More on Aims of Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503101091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0955 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503101091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu may visit the United States in early April to exchange views with U.S. President George Bush on peace prospects in the Middle East and the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade taiks, government sources said Friday.\nForeign Minister Taro Nakayama told reporters earlier in the day that Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April\nIn the talks with Bush, Kaifu is expected to express Japan's willingness to strengthen political and economic relations with Israel as part of a comprehensive Japanese Middle East policy in the wake of the Persian Gulf war.\nWashington has expressed hope the Japanese Government will extend economic assistance to Israel to facilitate postwar restoration work.\nJapan has never given economic aid to Israel and has maintained a generally pro-Arab Middle East policy.\nKaifu is also expected to express Japan's readiness to find a breakthrough in the stalled multinational trade talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the sources said.\nBut they did not give further details on what proposals Kaifu will make to bring about a successful conclusion of the trade talks.\nDuring the visit, Kaifu is likely to stay in Washington or a U.S. west coast city for three or four days.\nNakayama told reporters he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week. The foreign minister is set to leave Japan Wednesday to meet Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials.\nPresident Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed because of the Gulf war.\nForeign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be \"too late.\"\nA top Foreign Ministry official suggested that Kaifu would visit Washington in April.\n\"There is little possibilty (of Kaifu's U.S. trip) in March,\" the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that the trip would take place before the holidays that begin in late April.\nHe also said that there might be a need to adjust ties between Japan and the U.S. before Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev visits Japan April 16-19."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Ministry Aide To Visit U.S. 17 Mar",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503110991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503110991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-Japan will dispatch a senior Foreign Ministry official to Washington on Sunday to discuss post- Persian Gulf war policies, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.\nYukio Sato, director general of the ministry's information analysis, research and planning bureau, will visit Washington at the request of the U.S. Government, ministry officials said.\nThe trip will precede Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama's scheduled U.S. visit, beginning next Wednesday.\nState Department officials are expected to brief Sato on the results of Secretary of State James Baker's Middle East tour and President George Bush's series of talks with European leaders.\nSato last visited the U.S. between February 25 and March 6. On that trip, he presented Japanese ideas on international restrictions on arms shipments to the Middle East, and said Japan was ready to help repair environmental damage in the Gulf region, the officials said.\nHe is expected to discuss more specific aspects of postwar international cooperation during his upcoming trip, they said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Urges U.S. Rice Display's Removal",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503051791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503051791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister Motoji Kondo reiterated Friday that he will urge a U.S. rice industry group to withdraw samples of U.S. rice displayed at a food trade show now under way in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture.\nKondo said at a press conference after a regular cabinet meeting that he will request the U.S.A. Rice Council to remove the American rice samples by Saturday, when the food show at the Makuhari Exposition Center is scheduled to end.\nHe said such activities aimed at promoting rice sales violate Japan's Food Control Law.\nThe minister also said it is questionable whether the rice samples for the show have been quarantined or not.\nThe ministry will consult with its affiliated Food Agency about what to do if the U.S. council does not accept his demand, Kondo said.\nThe National Confederation of Farmers' Movements has announced it will take legal action against the U.S. group over the rice samples."
},
{
"TITLE": "Business Delegation To Meet U.S. Counterparts",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403132991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1305 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403132991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO-Business leaders from Japan and the United States will meet in Los Angeles on May 11-12 to \"deepen mutual understanding,\" the first such meeting since the end of the Persian Gulf war, business sources said Thursday.\nThe meeting will be in preparation for a session of the Japan- U.S. Businessmen's Conference to be held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in July.\nThe officials said the Japanese delegation will explain Japan's basic stance concerning the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks.\nThey said the Japanese side also is concerned about the hardening of U.S. sentiment toward Japan over Tokyo's alleged lukewarm support for the U.S.-led multinational forces fighting the Gulf war.\nThe Japanese delegation will include Eishiro Saito, honorary chairman of the powerful Federation of Economic Organizations; Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the federation; and Rokuro Ishikawa, president of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry."
},
{
"TITLE": "CPSU Department Chief Falin Continues Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "",
"CITATION ID": "",
"CITATION LOCATION": "",
"CITATION OUTLET": "",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "",
"CITATION DATE": "",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": ""
},
{
"TITLE": "Establishes Ties With LDP",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403131591 Tokyo NHK General Television Network in Japanese 1000 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403131591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "nhk general television network",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Japanese",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) established its Japan-USSR Parliamentarians League today. In a speech delivered prior to the plenary session, CPSU International Department Chief Falin indicated Soviet intentions to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japan in April.\nWith President Gorbachev scheduled to visit Japan in April, the LDP's Japan-USSR Parliamentarians' League was established today for the purpose of promoting extensive exchanges between the two nations. Keijiro Murata, former chairman of the party's policy affairs research council, will serve as chairman of the League.\nCPSU International Department chief Falin, on his first visit to Japan to attend the league's inaugural session, delivered a speech prior to the plenary session. Commenting on President Gorbachev's visit to Japan, Falin said that President Gorbachev would bring with him not the former image of the Soviet Union but a picture filled with a brighter future. He added that despite the fact that the domestic situation in the Soviet Union is not very favorable right now, it will not be long before the sun shines on Soviet-Japanese relations through the efforts of the two nations. Thus, he indicated the Soviet intention to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japar.\nFurthermore, regarding President Gorbachev's perestroyka policy, International Department chief Falin stated: Unless domestic disorder in the Soviet Union turns into civil war, there will be no going back on perestroyka or any shift in the chosen orientation."
},
{
"TITLE": "Reads Gorbachev Message",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403154991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1347 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403154991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said in a message read here Thursday that he would like a Japanese delegation to visit Moscow before he travels to Tokyo in April.\nThe two countries share a common desire to open a new stage of relations, Gorbachev said in his message read at the inauguration of a bilateral parliamentarians' group.\nThe parliamentarians' league was formed by Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Soviet Union.\nThe Soviet Union and Japan are obligated to play an \"objective role\" in the region and internationally, Gorbachev said in the message read by Valentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party's International Affairs Division.\n\"I hope that, as two major members of the world community, our unique contribution to the process of global cooperation will become larger,\" Gorbachev said in the message.\nHe said he wants to meet with a Japanese delegation before his scheduled April 16-19 visit to Japan, apparently referring to a possible visit by LDP Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa.\nFalin, in a separate address to the league, said he was upbeat about bilateral relations.\nHe warned, however, that Gorbachev's historic visit comes at a time of domestic turmoil in the Soviet Union.\nEconomic reforms are falling victim to political power struggles, Falin told the audience of some 500 political and economic leaders.\nHe said Gorbachev will stay on the path of \"perestroyka\" economic reforms and democratization unless the country is swept up in chaos.\n\"When President Gorbachev visits Japan, he will bring with him a bright picture of the future of the Soviet Union, not the old image,\" said Falin, a top foreign policy aide to Gorbachev.\nFalin said financial credit and goods are important to his country, but what the Soviet Union needs most is a model that will help the public make the \"correct decision\" between a free market economic system and the present centrally planned economy.\nSpeeches by Japanese political leaders, meanwhile, lacked the usual references to the four-decade territorial dispute over four islands north of Hokkaido that has frozen relations in a bitter standoff.\nThe league, joined by 184 LDP parliamentarians, was established to help resolve problems in Japan-Soviet economic cooperation, and promote exchanges by the two countries' ruling parties in advance of Gorbachev's visit.\nIt supplements an existing suprapartisan league."
},
{
"TITLE": "Laverov, Falin Meet Kaifu",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503041391 Tokyo KYODO in English 0342 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503041391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-A foreign policy adviser to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said to Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday the two countries should make \"100 percent\" use of the Kremlin leader's visit to Tokyo next month to achieve a breakthrough in ties.\nValentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party's International Affairs Division, said he spoke with Gorbachev immediately before arriving in Japan on Thursday, and that the President is \"prepared to make a breakthrough in ties.\"\n\"When the President comes, discussions should not be only of the weather and the cherry blossoms, there should also be serious talks on bilateral and international issues,\" Falin said.\n\"Let's make 100 percent use of this chance,\" he said in a 15- minute courtesy call, also joined by Soviet Vice Premier Nikolay Laverov.\nThe two officials are here to attend separate political and science events to promote ties prior to Gorbachev's visit.\nKaifu said he hopes for a resolution of the territorial dispute over four islands east of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, so that the two countries could sign a peace treaty.\nThe northern islands issue has been a stumbling block for improving relations ever since World War II, when the Soviet troops occupied the islands.\nKaifu said he hopes to see a \"dynamic\" expansion of relations in a wide variety of fields, including economics and technology.\nLaverov, here to attend the opening of a Soviet science fair, suggested that Soviet basic technology combined with Japanese know-how in application would deliver fruitful results."
},
{
"TITLE": "Gorbachev, Kaifu To Hold Three Rounds of Talks",
"FULL CITATION": "OW150314109: Tokyo KYODO in English 1343 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW150314109",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will hold three rounds of talks with Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu during his April 16 to 19 visit to Japan, with the two countries' territorial dispute high on the agenda, government officials said Friday.\nGorbachev and Kaifu are expected to sign 11 pacts and documents on issues such as Japan's support for Gorbachev's \"perestroyka\" restructuring efforts, and aid to victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.\nThe two leaders plan to issue a joint statement on the results and meaning of Gorbachev's visit, officials said.\nThe Soviet president is also scheduled to meet with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, make a speech at the Diet, give a lecture at a university and meet with the press during his four-day stay in Japan, they said.\nVisits to Osaka and Kyoto are also being arranged, officials said.\nThe schedule will be finalized when Soviet Foreign Minister Aleksander Bessmertnykh visits Japan from March 29-31.\nGorbachev's visit to Japan will be the first by a top Kremlin leader in the two nations' history.\nIt will also be the first Japan-Soviet summit conference in six years, following the meeting between Gorbachev and then Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. At that time, Nakasone went to Moscow to attend the state funeral of Soviet Communist Party leader Konstantin Chernenko, who was succeeded by Gorbachev.\nThere have been only two other Japanese-Soviet summit meetings-between Ichiro Hatoyama and Nikolay Bulganin in October 1956, and between Kakuei Tanaka and Leonid Brezhnev in October 1973.\nWith Gorbachev's visit, Japan hopes to find a breakthrough in realizing the return of the four northern islands off Hokkaido that the Soviet Union occupied after World War II.\n\"We hope to pave the path for solving the territorial dispute and the signing of a Japan-Soviet peace treaty in order to build a foundation for bilateral relations,\" a senior Foreign Ministry official said. \"And we would like to make it a turning point in dealing with postwar issues.\"\nSome Foreign Ministry sources, however, say the territorial dispute cannot be solved in one or two top-level meetings.\nWith just one month before the visit, Tokyo hopes to feel out Moscow's positions in Bessmertnykh's meetings with Kaifu and Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama later this month, officials said.\nLiberal Democractic Party (LDP) Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa is also planning to visit Moscow during March, LDP sources said.\nThe Soviet Union, however, is suffering severe economic difficulties, and political and ethnic turmoil at home and is hoping to secure Japan's financial aid while sounding out Japan's position on the territorial dispute.\nMeanwhile, a Soviet advance team will arrive in Tokyo on Monday for a weeklong visit, Soviet ciplomatic sources said Friday."
},
{
"TITLE": "Envoy Says Gorbachev Hopes To Meet Businessmen",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403125991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1215 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403125991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev hopes to meet with Japanese business leaders during his visit to Tokyo in April, Soviet Ambassador to Japan Lyudvig Chizhov said Thursday.\nChizhov called on Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the influential Federation of Economic Organizations, known as the Keidanren, Thursday afternoon to convey Gorbachev's desire for a meeting with Hiraiwa and other business leaders, Keidanren officials said.\nHiraiwa welcomed the request and hoped that Gorbachev's trip to Japan will mark a dramatic step forward in relations between Japan and the Soviet Union, said Keidanren officials."
},
{
"TITLE": "USSR Foreign Minister To Discuss Middle East",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503104291 Tokyo KYODO in English 1006 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503104291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-Foreign Ministers Aleksander Bessmertnykh and Taro Nakayama will discuss Middle East security in the post-Persian Gulf war period and other international issues during their talks in Tokyo later this month, Soviet diplomatic sources said Friday.\nThe March 29-31 meeting, aimed at finalizing details for President Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to Japan April 16-19, will be the second between the two foreign ministers this year, and the first following last month's end of hostilities in the Gulf.\nThe foreign ministers are also to discuss 11 agreements to be inked during Gorbachev's planned April visit, as weli as a final statement to be issued at the end of the trip and a peace treaty, the sources said.\nBoth Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu and Gorbachev have expressed hopes that the visit will provide a breakthrough in relations, snagged over a dispute over ownership of four small islands occupied by the Soviet Union after World War II.\nHowever, there have been few hin's yet how the two sides will approach the territorial dispute, which Japan says must be resolved before a peace treaty can be concluded.\nThe sources said the Soviet Union plans to hand over a list of some 40,000 deceased Japanese World War II prisoners of war prior to Gorbachev's visit.\nIt recently canceled a plan to hand over the register to a private association of former war detainees in Siberia following a demand by the Japanese Government that the list be delivered via official channels.\nAmong those accompanying Gorbachev on the historic visit will be his wife Raisa, Bessmertnykh, and presidential spokesman Vitaliy Ignatenko, the sources said.\nThe visit here is to be the first ever by a Kremlin leader.\nFour Japanese prime ministers have traveled to the Soviet Union while in office.\nIn 1956 Ichiro Hatoyama visited the Soviet Union to normalize diplomatic relations. Kakuei Tanaka traveled to Moscow in 1973, Zenko Suzuki in 1982, and Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1984.\nThe sources said they did not expect the Soviet referendum slated for Sunday on preservation of the country's union structure to affect the visit."
},
{
"TITLE": "Ministry Official 'Lukewarm' on USSR Aid",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503081191 Tokyo KYODO in English 0602 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503081191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-A senior Finance Ministry official expressed a lukewarm view Friday regarding possible Japanese financial aid to the Soviet Union.\nThe official, who declined to be named, said the Soviet economy has worsened since the International Monetary Fund and other international organizations issued a negative report on the economic situation in the Soviet Union late last year.\nThe official also said the Soviet military crackdown on independence movements in the Baltic republics adversely affected the Western attitude toward Moscow.\nHe said Western aid to the Soviet Union will be discussed at the London summit of seven Western industrialized nations in July but their attitude will not be as enthusiastic as it was in the previous summit in Houston, Texas, last year."
},
{
"TITLE": "SDP To Review Stand on Kuril Islands",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403171691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1516 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403171691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO-The Social Democratic Party (SDP) will review its basic policy calling for the return of all the Kuril Islands, including the four Soviet-held islands off Hokkaido, party officials said Thursday.\nThey said party members have been demanding more flexibility in policy toward the Soviet Union.\nThe SDP, Japan's largest opposition party, has argued since 1961 that Moscow must return two of the four islands-Shikotan Island and the Habomai Island group-before concluding a peace treaty with Tokyo, and said that the return of the other Kuril islands should be negotiated later.\nThe four islands were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.\nA Japanese-Soviet joint declaration in 1956 specified that the Soviet Union would return Shikotan and the Habomais after concluding a peace treaty between the two countries."
},
{
"TITLE": "Marubeni Postpones Vladivostok Office Plan",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503125591 Tokyo KYODO in English 1116 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503125591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-Marubeni Corp. said Friday it has put off its plan to open a representative office in the Soviet far east city of Vladivostok because of an abrupt aboutface in Soviet policy.\nThe trading giant has apparently made the decision after learning of a change in Soviet policy, apparently stemming from the rise of conservatives in the leadership following the military crackdown in the Baltic republics. industry sources said.\nCompany officials said they had an impression that the Kremlin now does not want to open Vladivostok, a major Soviet naval port on the Sea of Japan, to foreigners for the time being.\nThe Soviet Union earlier promised to allow foreign companies to open offices in the city in March in order to promote economic reforms in the Far East.\nMarubeni and another Japanese trading firm, Mitsubishi Corp., then announced plans to open offices there.\nMitsubishi said it has not received information about Moscow's change of policy. The firm said it has not withdrawn its application filed to the state authorities of that country, because the Soviet situation remains fluid.\nVladivostok, with a population of about 650,000, is the home of the Soviet Far East naval fleet."
},
{
"TITLE": "Development Loan Pleadged to PRC",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503110791 Tokyo KYODO in English 1041 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503110791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-Japan has pledged to extend a low-interest, untied loan of up to 43.38 billion yen to China in the third disbursement of its aid package for fiscal 1990, the Foreign Ministry announced Friday.\nThe ministry said the fund will be used to help finance five development projects, including construction o highways, railways, and other facilities.\nThe loan, part of Japan's official development assistance (ODA), is repayable over a 30-year period, including a 10-year grace period, at an annual interest rate of 2.5 percent, the ministry said.\nNotes on the loan were exchanged in Beijing on Friday between Japanese Ambassador to China Hiroshi Hashimoto and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Qi Huaiyuan, the ministry said.\nThe projects to be financed by the loan include:\n-construction and consolidation of highway and telecommunications networks in Qingdao City at a cost of 12,834 million yen.\n-construction of railways in Baoji in northwestern China at a cost of 5,572 million yen.\n-construction of an airport in Wuhan at 6,279 million yen.\n-construction of coal transportation railways linking Hengshui and Shangqiu at a cost of 5,695 million.\n-construction of the Beijing Shisanling pumped-storage power station at 13 billion yen."
},
{
"TITLE": "Grants Extended to Latin America, Africa",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403125091 Tokyo KYODO in English 1027 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403125091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO-Japan will extend grant-in-aid to Peru, Honduras, Benin, Madagascar, and Botswana, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.\nPeru will receive 3.5 billion yen and Honduras 500 million yen in a nonproject grant to help pay for the Latin American nations' necessary imports, the ministry said.\nBenin will get 900 million yen and Madagascar 3.5 billion yen for the same purpose.\nThe 104-million-yen grant for Botswana is for debt relief and will compensate for part of its debts in yen loans from Japan extended until March 1988, the ministry said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Finance Minister Remarks on Yen's Weakness",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503061991 Tokyo KYODO in English 0550 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503061991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said Friday the current weakness of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar in foreign exchange markets should not be sustained.\n\"I do not think current exchange rates between the two currencies reflect Japanese economic fundamentals correctly,\" Hashimoto told the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives.\nThe minister said he hopes currency rates will settle moderately, not sharply. The recent strength of the dollar is caused by U.S. investors' euphoria at the end of the Persian Gulf war, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Sees Economic Expansion Without Inflation",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503020291 Tokyo KYODO in English 0119 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503020291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said on Friday the economy continues to expand without any fear of a rekindling of inflation.\nSpeaking at a press conference after a cabinet meeting, Hashimoto said brisk domestic demand is supporting the current economic expansion.\nMeanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Yasushi Mieno said personal consumption and private-sector capital spending are still the main pillars of Japan's 51-month economic expansion.\nMieno made his remarks before a Finance Committee meeting at the House of Representatives.\nThe central bank chief said there is no signs of a decline in the two pillars and that the pace of economic expansion remains steady.\n\"A moderate slowdown in the growth rate would sustain the country's economic expansion,\" Mieno said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Administrative Vice Finance Minister Named",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403151191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1438 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403151191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO-Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has decided to name Hiroshi Yasuda, Budget Bureau Chief, as Administrative Vice Minister of Finance, ministry officials said Thursday night.\nYasuda, 58, will succeed Masami Kogayu, 59, who will retire from the post. Their personnel change is expected to be formalized in late June, the officials said.\nJiro Saito, 55, chief of the minister's secretariat, will succeed Yasuda as new Budget Bureau Chief.\nAt the same time, Tadao Chino, 57, International Finance Bureau chief, will be named to succeed Makoto Utsumi, 56, the retiring vice minister for international affairs, the ministry officials said.\nHashimoto's decision on the appointments followed the passage of the national budget bill for fiscal 1991 through the House of Representatives earlier in the evening.\nThe newly picked administrative vice minister, Yasuda previously served as head of the minister's secretariat before taking up the current post last June."
},
{
"TITLE": "Lower House Approves 1991 Fiscal Budget",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403142691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1359 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403142691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO-The House of Representatives passed by a majority vote Thursday the government-proposed 1991 fiscal budget totaling 70,347.4 billion yen.\nThe budget incorporates 12,212.2 billion yen for social welfare, up 5.1 percent over the current year, 6,589.7 billion yen for public works projects, up 6.0 percent, and 883.1 billion for official development aid, up 8.0 percent.\nDefense spending was slashed to 4,386 billion yen in order to raise funds for Japan's 9 billion dollar contribution to the cost of the Persian Gulf war, though this was still an increase of 5.45 percent.\nThe bulk of the 9 billion dollars was generated in a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year.\nIn addition, Japan earlier offered 2 billion dollars to the U.S.- led multinational forces deployed in the Middle East and another 2 billion dollars in aid to countries affected by the conflict.\nThe legislation was immediately sent to the House of Councillors for further deliberation.\nAccording to the Constitution, the bill will be enacted automatically in 30 days even if the upper house fails to act on it.\nThe government is also expected to compile a provisional budget amounting to about 5 trillion yen to cover government expenditures for the first 12 days of fiscal 1991, beginning April 1."
},
{
"TITLE": "Commodity Funds Bill To Include Securities",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403131691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1056 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403131691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO-A law to introduce commodity funds in Japan to be enacted soon will allow such funds to include securities for less than 50 percent of their assets, government officials said Thursday.\nThe Finance Ministry, Ministry of International Trade and Industry [MITI], and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Ministry have jointly drawn up a draft of a bill which is expected to be submitted to the current Diet session.\nThe bill will also provide for the punishment of violators, including imprisonment, a MITI official said.\nTrust banks will be the sole institutions that are allowed to establish commodity funds under the new law, the official said.\nOn the marketing side, commodity funds for general investors will be marketed by trust banks, while those for corporate and institutional investors will be handled by trading houses and lease companies, he said.\nSecurities to be included in the funds include government bonds, corporate debentures, and mortgages.\nBut resale of these funds will be prohibited to limit the distribution.\nCommodity funds are a type of trust fund in which the trustees invest money on behalf of investors in commodity futures markets, such as grain, precious metals, and crude oil futures."
},
{
"TITLE": "Household Spending Increases in 1990",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503121091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0805 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503121091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO- Japanese households spent an average 311,174 yen per month in 1990, up 0.8 percent in real terms over the year before, the Management and Coordination Agency said in a report Friday.\nThis is the second year for growth to be below 1.0 percent, following the 0.5 percent rise in 1989, and shows that spending has been discouraged in part by a surge of consumer prices at a rate that has not been seen since 1981, the report said.\nHouseholds of salaried workers spent an average 331,595 yen per month or 1.6 percent more than in the previous year.\nThe average nonsalaried worker's households spent only 0.1 percent more at an average of 275,583 yen.\nAn increase in overseas holidays boosted spending in the leisure- related service sector, as more households spent more on airline tickets and group tours.\nSpending grew notably in cordless telephones and telephone services, eyeglasses, and medical goods.\nSteady consumption was seen in household durable goods such as air conditioners and refrigerators, helped in part by the hot summer weather, but purchases of television sets and videotape recorders fell for the first time in 12 years, the report said.\nSpending on alcohol, other beverages, and prepared foods went up, but that on fresh fruit and vegetables fell, due to their higher prices, it said.\nA steady growth was seen in the monthly income of salaried workers' households, which went up 2.0 percent on average from the year before to 521,757 yen.\nAlthough the income earned by household heads rose a weak 1.0 percent, due to the spreading employment of older, lower-paid people, there were jumps of 4.8 percent in bonus payments to them and of 4.6 percent in the income earned by their spouses.\nSpending in the nonconsumption sector surged 9.1 percent due to higher social insurance rates.\nDouble-income households earned 556,633 yen monthly, or 16.8 percent more than single-income households, with the income of the spouse accounting for an average 107,928 yen, or 19.4 percent of the total.\nDouble-income households spent 11.8 percent more than single- income households, with spending on education notably higher, the report said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Plant Site Acquisitions Drop in 1990",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503120691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0821 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503120691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-The number of large sites acquired for industrial use during 1990 fell 9.0 percent from the previous year, the first annual decline in four years, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said Friday\nMITI's annual report on plant site purchases said those with an area of 1,000 square meters or more bought during the year for building facilities for manufacturing or production of electricity, gas, or heat amounted to 3,781, down from 4,157 in 1989.\nThe total area of newly purchased land came to 4,616 hectares, down 2.3 percent from the previous year.\nMITI said the figures are still at high levels and show no signs of a major slowdown.\nThe most popular reason given for companies selecting sites was securing their workiorces.\nMetal product manufacturers accounted for the largest share-15.9 percent of the total acquisitions, followed by general machinery makers (12.9 percent), food processing firms (11.2 percent), and electronics companies (10.9 percent).\nPurchases by chemical, oil, and coal companies fell sharply.\nThe number of purchases by foreign firms plunged to 18 from 31 in the previous year.\nSites bought for building research laboratories also slipped to 46 from 63."
},
{
"TITLE": "Firm Builds Intelsat Earth Station on Comoros",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1403151391 Tokyo KYODO in English 1405 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403151391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO-KDD Engineering and Consulting Inc. (KEC) has built an Intelsat satellite earth station in the Comoros Islands, off the East African coast, KDD, the company's parent firm, said Thursday.\nThe station will go into operation on Saturday. The completion of the station will ensure improved and stable international telecommunications to and from the island republic, KDD, Japan's international telecom giant, said.\nKEC has built the earth station under a contract with the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, and with aid from the Japanese Government. The station has won the approval of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat).\nThe republic has so far had only shortwave circuits, and communications to and from the republic had been disturbed by jamming and noises."
},
{
"TITLE": "Major Shipping Companies Plan Merger",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503080691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0559 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503080691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO-Nihon Yusen K.K. and Nippon Liner Systems Ltd. have agreed to merge their worldwide shipping operations to better compete in a severely competitive market, industry sources said Friday.\nBoth companies are expected to announce the merger at a Tokyo press conference late Friday afternoon, the sources said.\nAccording to the sources, Nippon Yusen will purchase all the stock of and absorb Nippon Liner Systems into its worldwide shipping operations.\nNippon Liner Systems, an affiliate company of Navix Line Ltd. and established in 1988, operates a fixed liner service between Japan and North America. The company has been suffering losses since its start-up, the sources said.\nNavix, established in June 1989 through a merger of Yamashita Shin Nihon Steamship Co. and Japan Lines Ltd., had been talking with Nihon Yusen about taking the company off its hands for some time, the sources said.\nNippon Liner suffered losses of 190 million yen in the third quarter of Fiscal 1990. Second quarter operating profits for July, August, and September of Fiscal 1990 are expected to amount to 1.6 percent of the revenues for the same period in the previous year, the sources said.\nAfter the merger, Nihon Yusen, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., and Navix Ltd. will be the only remaining Japanese shipping firms to continue fixed international shipping routes, the sources said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Correction to Kaifu Interview With NHK",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503083091",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503083091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "",
"CITATION OUTLET": "",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "",
"CITATION DATE": "",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "The following correction pertains to the item headlined \"NHK interview With Prime Minister Kaifu,\" published in the 13 March East Asia DAILY REPORT, page 1:\nPage two, column two, fifth paragraph make read: [Yamamoto] Concerning aid programs, we have ODA [official development assistance]. Is that right? It seems that the government plans to review programs for aid to those nations that have large military budgets or that have been exporting arms. Is it not necessary for us to lay down a basic principle so that such aid will be provided for the purpose of stabilizing people's livelihood? [new graf]\n[Kaifu] Regarding the ODA, I think that.... (supplying missing question by Yamamoto)"
},
{
"TITLE": "U.S. Denounced for 'Marring' DPRK Image",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1203052391 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0449 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203052391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 12 (KCNA)-The U.S. delegate at a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission held in Geneva recently took issue with our country over the \"human rights\" problem.\nDenouncing this, a news analyst of NODONG SINMUN today says:\nThe \"human rights\" problem is not raised at all in our country, where all the people exercise equal and independent rights befitting the true master of the state and society and enjoy a genuine political, economic and cultural life.\nThe news analyst further says:\nIt is a malicious challenge to our Republic and an unpardonable insult to our people for the United States to charge our country with the \"human rights\" problem.\nThe United States seeks a sinister purpose of marring the image of our Republic ever rising in the international arena, undermining its prestige and influence and isolating our Republic internationally.\nWhen the United States raises a hue and cry over someone's \"human rights\", acting the \"international judge of human rights\", it reminds us of a thief crying \"stop thief!\"\nThe United States is the very general headquarters and chieftain of human rights violation.\nIt is universally recognized that tens of millions of U.S. people are deprived of the most elementary rights of humanity such as democracy and vital rights and their freedom is totally trampled down. It is also the United States where racial inequality is most serious.\nWhile keeping utter silence about the wanton violation of human rights in South Korea, their colony, the U.S. ruling circles are speaking ill of our Republic. This fully reveals again their shameless and brigandish nature.\nThe United States had better mind its own business before taking issue with others over \"human rights\"."
},
{
"TITLE": "Team Spirit Exercise Said 'Challenge' to North",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1403151091 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0022 GMT 9 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1403151091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[NODONG SINMUN 9 March special article: \"A Game of Playing With Fire That Leads the Situation to the Brink of War]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Despite the unanimous protest and denouncement of all the Korean people and the world's peace-loving people, the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean warmongers are leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war by conducting the adventurous Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise.\nNot only the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, and the puppet forces, but also massive aggressive arms from the U.S. mainland and the Pacific region will be mobilized in this war exercise. The war exercise will continue until late April, starting with mobile deployment in late January.\nOffensive operations for northward invasion, such as joint landing operations, mobile aerial strike operations, commando operations, and river-crossing operations, will be conducted during the war exercise.\nThe reckless nuclear war exercise is an unforgivable challenge to our Republic and the people who are earnestly making efforts for peace and peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula, and is an intolerable criminal act of leading the situation on the Korean peninsula into very dangerous phase once again.\nPecause of the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, today, a dark cloud of nuclear catastrophe is hovering over the heads of our people, and a state of emergency is being created in our country in which a new war may break out.\nTo cope with the grave situation in which nuclear war is developing as a real danger in our country because of the reckless, provocative military plot of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet clique, the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army [KPA] has issued an order to the Army, Navy, and Air Forces of the KPA, all the units of the Korean Security Forces, and all the members of the Worker-Peasant Militia and the Red Youth Guards, to assume a full combat mobilization posture with high revolutionary vigilance.\nThis is a just step to defend the sacred fatherland and the valuable revolutionary achievements. Now, the U.S. imperialists and the puppets, in order to rationalize their reckless war madness, are babbling about our self- defense combat mobilization posture while saying that it is an annual exercise and is not dangerous at all. They also said that we were reacting in a very sensitive manner. This, however, is only the poor excuse of the warmongers.\nIt is a well-known fact that the Team Spirit joint military exercise, which has been conducted since 1976, is a dangerous preliminary war and a test nuclear war aimed at carrying out a preemtive strike against our Republic. The exercise, which is being conducted this year for the sixteenth time, shows a very serious direction. Because of this, we cannot regard it as a simple exercise that has been annually conducted.\nThe great leader Comrade Kim Il-song has taught: Today, all events taking place in South Korea show that the new war-provoking maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and their stooges are in a very dangerous phase, and the situation of our country is on the brink of war.\nAs is known, the high-level talks between the North and the South were held from last year. Many issues, including the issue of removing political and military confrontation, were presented in the talks. In particular, the issue of adopting a nonaggression declaration was presented as an important item on the agenda.\nIn order to make this year a year of relaxtion and peace, a year of reconciliation and unity, and a historical year that opens a new phase in national reunification, the government of our Republic, at the very beginning of the year, put forward epocal proposals, including the proposal for peaceful national reunification, and for guranteeing peace on the Korean peninsula.\nWe have put forward a flexible proposal to the United States and the South Korean authorities, suggesting that a nonaggression declaration be adopted by the North and South, and that the Team Spirit joint military exercise be completely suspended or, at least, suspended for two or three years.\nHowever, ignoring our sincere efforts, the U.S. imperialists and the puppets openly undertook to conduct the criminal Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise and repeatedly held war conferences from late last year. Finally, they started a nuclear war exercise this year, thus openly challenging us.\nThis proves that the United States and the South Korean puppets, blocking forever the road toward peace and peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula, have attempted to destroy our Republic through force of arms by waging a nuclear war.\nThe Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is also serious because it is being conducted in South Korea in the situation where preparations for an aggressive war against the northern half of the Republic have been completed.\nHaving conducted the Team Spirit joint military exercise in South Korea every year since 1976, the United States imperialists have now escalated it. Through this exercise, the U.S. imperialists have attempted to complete preparations for northward aggression. A large number of U.S. soldiers and their ultramodern equipment were brought from the U.S. mainland and throughout the Pacific to the Korean peninsula and, emphasizing nuclear attack, the forces of aggression from overseas, along with the U.S. forces occupying South Korea and the puppets, conducted massive sea, land, and aerial strike operations.\nMobilizing enough forces in the Team Spirit joint military exercise to wage a war, the U.S. imperialists have mastered and completed, in recent years, a three-dimensional war on land, sea, and in the air by repeatedly conducting actual fighting exercises.\nGiven the absurd remarks of the U.S. imperialist war servants that during the Team Spirit joint military exercise they may wage unexpected war, and given the remarks of foreign military commentators that if an order to wage war is issued, this military exercise will automatically turn into a war, it is not difficult to see that this game of playing with fire has reached a dangerous point.\nEven today when the preparations for an armed aggression against the northern half of the Republic have been completed, they are conducting this war exercise, even while propagandizing that it is an annual exercise. This can be done only by warmongers. The exercise is more dangerous this year because it has been conducted on the whole part of South Korea under the situation in which an unprecedented and sharp atmosphere of war was created.\nAlready late last year, under a plausible pretext of war against crimes, the South Korean puppets have already mobilized violent forces, such as a larger number of the puppet military forces, policemen, and reserve forces, and massively kicked up the suppression commotion against the patriotic forces for reunification. From the very beginning of this year, they have created a more terrible atmosphere of terror. We cannot help but say that this is a result of maneuvers designed to strengthen the military fascist system in preparation for wartime in accordance with the U.S. aggressive policy over Korea.\nFrom the very beginning of this year, a large number of the latest operational equipment and nuclear-equipped fighter bombers flew into South Korea from abroad, and aerial war exercises to strike us were staged almost every day. All kinds of military provocation and reconnaissance acts against the northern half of the Republic are frequently being conducted.\nUnder the pretext of the Gulf war, the United States and the South Koran puppets have declared an emergency wartime system in South Korea, and have ordered U.S. and the puppet soldiers to be ready for an emergency mobilization.\nWholly aiming their guns at the northern half of the Republic, the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, as well as the puppet forces, have been under an emergency wartime system. In addition, ur.der the pretext of the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, the aggressive forces from abroad have crowded into the Korean peninsula with their nuclear weapons. This will never be overlooked.\nThe U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets have perpetuated approximately 1,500 military provocations, including intensive gun fire against our side on the area of the Military Demarcation Line just 20 days after the announcement of the plan for the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise.\nNevertheless, a war may be easily provoked by a trivial incident on the Korean peninsula where the massive arms of both sides confront each other over the MDL [Military Demarcation Line]. How can we regard playing with fire amid the atmosphere of war as destiny?\nSo far, the Team Spirit joint military exercise has been conducted approximately ten times in South Korea. However, the exercise has never been conducted in the whole of South Korea in such a grave, war-like atmosphere as this year.\nAll the facts show that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets, taking advantage of the destruction of the balance of power in international relations and the military imbalance created on the Korean peninsula by our reduction of 100,000 troops at our initiative, are surely going to set a conflagration for northward invasion on the Korean peninsula.\nThe propaganda that the Team Spirit joint military exercise is not dangerous because it has been conducted annually is merely transparent subterfuge by those who would dull our vigilance and perpetuate an aggressive war at any opportunity. With no sophistry can the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets conceal the fact that the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is dangerous.\nUpon receiving an order from the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people are now fully prepared for combat mobilization to smash the war maneuvers of the enemy.\nOur people love peace and do not want confrontation and war. However, they will never forgive those who antagonize us without reason. If the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets take the road of adventurous and aggressive war at last by miscalculating our efforts for peace as an indication of weakness, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people will retaliate ten thousand fold."
},
{
"TITLE": "13 March Team Spirit Maneuvers Reported",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503045291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0430 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503045291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)-The U.S. imperialists staged another nuclear air strike exercise against the North on March 13 at a time when a horrible atmosphere of war has been created throughout South Korea by the adventurous \"Team Spirit 91\" joint manouevres, according to military sources.\nThey sent by stealth a formation of Guam-based nuclear-capable B-52 strategic bombers to the sky above Asan Bay for a nuclear air strike exercise for a surprise attack on main targets in the strategic depth of the northern half of Korea. Participating in it were formations of nuclear-capable F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers which have been mobilized in the \"Team Spirit 91\" from the Pacific bases.\nOn the same day, they held a large-scale joint ground strike exercise against the North in the air above Yongju of north Kyongsang Province with the mobilization of fighter-bombers and assault planes based in the U.S. mainland and the Pacific and formations of fighter-bombers, assault planes and observation planes belonging to the U.S. Airforce present in South Korea and the puppet airforce.\nMore than 150 warplanes including nuclear-capable F-16 were involved in it.\nOn March 12, the U.S. imperialists brought an E-3A early warning plane based in Kadena, Japan, to the sky above the Military Demarcation Line [MDL] area and let it command flying corps in aerial espionage and war exercises against the North. On March 12 and 13, they also let U-2 high-altitude strategic reconnaissance planes make shuttle flights for hours along the MDL for an aerial espionage on the objects in the depth of the North.\nThe warplanes mobilized in the \"Team Spirit 91\" manoeuvres on March 12 and 13 numbered more than 1,560.\nThis proves that the provocative \"Team Spirit 91\" started by the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean rulers has reached a very dangerous stage."
},
{
"TITLE": "DPRK MAC Member Sends Letter of Protest",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503051291 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0310 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503051291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[\"Letter of protest\" from Major General Choe Ui-ung, senior member of the DPRK side to the Military Armistice Commission (MAC), to the senior member of the U.S. side on 15 March-read by announcer]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Our side sends this letter to your side in connection with the large-scale Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise which your side is adventurously waging in a full-scale stage, and with the situation on the Korean peninsula which your side strained to an extreme point.\nThe Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is a preliminary war and test nuclear war which thoroughly takes the northern half of our Republic as the target of attack. It itself is a grave act of war.\nIt is a basic mission of the MAC to safeguard peace by preventing the recurrence of war on the Korean peninsula. Proceeding from this, our side strongly demanded during the 459th MAC meeting held on 13 February that your side suspend the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise which creates the danger of nuclear war and hinders North-South dialogue. Our side even put forward a new proposal that if your side cannot suspend this exercise, we, in the name of both sides of the MAC, recommend to the relevant government authorities the issue of discontinuing the large-scale war exercise.\nThis was prompted by the earnest desire to ensure peace in Korea and North-South dialogue by preventing at any cost the situation from being strained due to the large-scale war exercise.\nHowever, your side staged the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise instead of responding to our just demand put forward in accordance with the Armistice Agreement, and to the proposal for negotiations. Today your side expanded this exercise into a full-scale stage, thus leading the situation to a grave stage.\nDespite our repeated protest and warnings, your side is finally waging the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise in a full-scale stage. This is a grave and dangerous war provocation commotion leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to an extreme point.\nYou dragged enormous armed personnel and nuclear operation equipment into South Korea from U.S. military bases on the U.S. mainland and in the Pacific region, including Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines. You are waging a large-scale war exercise together with the armed forces in South Korea by simulating an attack on us.\nIn the landing operation in Pohang on 12 March, which signaled the launch of a general offensive in the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, you mobilized the troops of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and commando units, which were brought in from the U.S. mainland and from the bases in the Pacific region, the U.S. forces in South Korea, and the South Korean forces, a total of some 1,000 military planes, such as the fighter-bombers, vertical takeoff and landing assault planes, pursuit-assault planes, electronic jamming planes, refueling planes, and antisubmarine planes, and patrol planes, and hundreds of warships, such as missile-carrying cruisers, missile-carrying destroyers, nuclear-powered submarines, and landing vessels, and waged an offensive operation simulating a landing on the coastal areas of the northern half of the Republic. You are also conducting aerial mobile strike operations, ground offensive operations, landing operations, and commando operations on a large scale.\nYou are committing grave military provocations one after another in the DMZ in which the armed forces of the two sides are directly confronting each other. On 4 March, your side shelled our side with artillery in the DMZ in the eastern front; and on 8 March, fired at our side many rounds of a large-caliber machine gun in the DMZ in the western front, committing some 4,100 military provocations as of 14 March from the time your side began the Team Spirit-91 war rehearsal.\nBecause of these war rehearsal commotions and military provocations of your side, military confrontation between the two sides is now dashing toward the point of no return. Our side protests and denounces resolutely once again the aggressive Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities as a wanton violation of the Armistice Agreement, an open challenge to us and the supervisory organizations of the Armistice, and intentional maneuvers frustrating the security on the Korean peninsula and North-South dialogue.\nWe oppose war and desire peace, but never beg anyone for peace. Our revolutionary Armed Forces and all our people are closely watching the reckless war commotions conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities, and will respond to the provocation with a due measure for self-defense.\nYour side will be held totally responsible for creating on the Korean peninsula the situation comparable to that on the eve of war like today, for frustrating the North-South dialogue, and for straining the relations between the two sides extremely."
},
{
"TITLE": "KPA Holds Meetings To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503043891 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503043891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)-The officers and men of the unit of the Korean People's Army [KPA] to which Comrade Kim Yong-cho belongs, the naval unit of the KPA to which Comrade An To-chik belongs and the airforce unit of the KPA to which Comrade Choe Sang-hyon belongs held meetings to denounce the \"Team Spirit 91\" joint military exercises and declared that if the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities unleash a war of aggression, they would revenge themselves on the aggressors a thousand fold.\nSpeakers at the meetings angrily denounced the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities who have entered into field exercises of the \"Team Spirit 91,\" noting that this was driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war.\nAll the KPA officers and men, upon receiving orders from the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, keep themselves in full combat readiness to cope with the enemy's new war provocation moves, they said, adding: There are no assurances that the reckless war game of the U.S. imperialists who were driven mad with the scheme to ignite another war and of their stooges will not turn into a war against the North.\nAs long as the one-beats-a-hundred soldiers who defeated the aggressors and displayed matchless heroic feats in the Fatherland Liberation War stand guard, the defences of our socialist motherland are impregnable. they declared, and stressed:\nNone of the aggressors who intrude our territory, seas and sky will be let to go home alive."
},
{
"TITLE": "More Meetings Held To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1403105591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0959 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1403105591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[\"U.S. Imperialists and South Korean Authorities Must Act With Discretion\"-KCNA headline]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 14 (KCNA)-Meetings were held at the Pyongyang thermal power complex, the Sinuiju textile mill and the Hwasong co-op farm in Yongsong district, Pyongyang, and other places to denounce the \"Team Spirit 91\" joint maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities.\nSpeeches were made there.\nThe speakers said that the \"Team Spirit 91\" joint maneuvers started by the U.S. imperialists and the No Tae-u ruling group in defiance of the unanimous protests and denunciation by the people at home and abroad are assuming ever more dangerous dimensions with each passing day. This is pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war, they noted.\nIt must not go unnoticed that the South Korean authorities unhesitatingly committed grave military provocations by firing bullets and shells at the northern portion of the demilitarized zone along the Military Demarcation Line, timing to coincide with the \"Team Spirit 91\", they said, adding: Such military provocations were motivated by the sinister aim to deliberately aggravate the North-South relations and find an excuse to invade our Republic.\nThey stressed that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities must act with discretion, looking straight at the invincible strength of our people united with a single heart.\nIf the enemy dare ignite a war of aggression on the Korean peninsula, he will face his final doom before our revolutionary Armed Forces and people, they warned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Criticizes U.S. 'Antisocialist Strategy'",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503104091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1002 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503104091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[\"Team Spirit' Exercises and Anti-Socialist Strategy\"-KCNA headline]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCBA)-NODONG SINMUN today carries a by-lined article entitled \"Team Spirit' Exercises and Anti-Socialist Strategy\".\nIt says:\nIn its anti-socialist moves the United States is persistently following the policy of strength on the one hand and resorting to the \"peaceful transition\" strategy on the other.\nThe double-track anti-socialist offensive of the U.S. imperialists finds its concentrical manifestation in their Korea policy. In an attempt to contain our republic by means of strength, they have converted South Korea into the biggest nuclear forward base in the Far East, where more than 1,000 pieces of nuclear weapons are deployed, and are annually staging \"Team Spirit\" joint maneuvers, a test nuclear war against us.\nThe \"Team Spirit\" is a heinous challenge to and provocation against our republic and a sinister move to gratify their aggressive ambition by settling the Korean issue by strength, by means of war, not by peaceful means through dialogue.\nThe United States is also trying viciously and craftily to realize its anti-DPRK \"peaceful transition\" strategy, backed by strength. The U.S. imperialists and their stooges, the South Korean authorities, are trying by hook or by crook to instill the wind of \"liberalization\" in the northern half of Korea.\nThe U.S. imperialists are also foolishly attempting to realize their \"peaceful transition\" strategy at an early date by laying obstacles in the way of our socialist construction and making us use up our national strength through such large-scale military frenzy as \"Team Spirit\" maneuvers.\nThe \"peaceful transition\" strategy, a camouflaged, indirect method, is no less dangerous than the direct threat and blackmail of strength.\nThese two aggressive methods of the U.S. imperialists constitute an important characteristic of their policy toward Korea at present and it bespeaks that they attach great importance to the Korean peninsula in their anti-socialist offensive and are making desperate efforts to save their policies toward Korea and Asia from bankruptcy by directing the spearhead of aggression on our republic and weakening the socialist position.\nOur people are victoriously advancing, successfully smashing the double-track aggressive offensive of the U.S. imperialists.\nThe imperialists' strategies of strength and \"peaceful transition\" are powerless to check our people's onward movement and they are doomed to failure."
},
{
"TITLE": "No Tae-u Said Inciting 'Fratricidal War'",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503054291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0425 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503054291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)-NODONG SINMUN and MINJU CHOSON today denounce No Tae-u for inciting a fratricidal war.\nNo Tae-u told a \"graduation ceremony of the military academy\" that peace on the Korean peninsula can be \"preserved\" only by military power strong enough to \"deter someone's provocation\" and at the \"Airforce Academy\" he blared that reinforcing the armed forces is the \"key to unification\". He also piffled that the puppet army should establish \"strategy and tactics suited to the reality and effective commanding system\", drawing a lesson from the Gulf war.\nWhat No said at the puppet army military academies training tools of war is utterances encouraging them to light the fuse of a war to gratify his wild design to \"unify the country by prevailing over communism,\" the news analyst of NODONG SINMUN says, and continues:\nNo Tae-u is a traitor to the nation and a bellicose element who is not entitled to talk about \"peace\" and \"unification\".\nThe South Korean authorities have turned down our proposal for the adoption of a nonaggression declaration and responded to our call for an end to the war exercises with the \"Team Spirit\" joint manoeuvres.\nThe bellicose acts of No Tae-u show that the war servant of the U.S. imperialists is trying to bring dark clouds of a nuclear war over the Korean peninsula at any cost.\nNo must act with discretion, deeply mindful how serious is the crime he is committing by staging the \"Team Spirit\" nuclear war exercises together with the U.S. imperialists.\nThe news analyst of MINJU CHOSON says:\nNo Tae-u is screwing up the tension and trying to start a war in an effort to stave off the serious crisis of his tottering regime. However, it is not a way out but a way to his doom."
},
{
"TITLE": "* Kim Proposes Coexistence Under Reunification",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0140A Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 18 Jan 91 p 5",
"CITATION ID": "912C0140A",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "nodong sinmun",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 18, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Article by reporter Yi Sun-hui: \"The North and the South Can Coexist in a Reunified Country\"",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The great leader Comrade Kim Il-song taught in his 1991 New Year's address as follows:\n\"The two systems can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country if they are placed on the basis of the common national traits that have been carried on without a break historically.\"\nIn the address, the great leader made it clear that the reunification of our country should be carried out under a confederal system formula of one nation, one country and two systems, two governments. He then elucidated that if we stand on the basis of what the Korean nation has in common historically unbroken, the North and the South-even if their systems differ with each other-can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country.\nThe proposed reunification based on the confederal system formula-envisaging reunification by means of leaving the two different systems of the North and the South as they are and establishing a reunited nation-state on them is the most realistic and fairest way of reunification enabling the North and the South to reconcile and reunite with each other as one nation and to realize the reunification of the country peacefully at the earliest possible date.\nWe already proposed a long time ago the founding of a democratic confederal republic of Koryo as a way for the North and the South to confederate and establish a reunited nation-state while leaving their different ideologies and systems intact.\nThis proposal, for its realistic and rational quality, was met with positive support and approval by the people in the North and the South and the world over as soon as it was announced.\nThe South Korean authorities and some other people say that the North and the South took on \"heterogeneity\" and therefore must regain \"homogeneity\" before they are reunified.\nThis is a sophistry being used by those seeking a permanent national division to justify their criminal attempt.\nThe North and the South indeed have been separated for more than 40 years but there has been, and there is, no change in what they have in common as a nation. They remain homogeneous.\nWe share the same blood and language, the most fundamental characteristics of a nation. Our nation's homeland is Korea on which our forefathers have built a long. long history and culture. In other words, as a nation, nothing has changed between the North and the South. If there is anything different between the North and the South at all, it is the heterogeneity associated with the two systems that have existed in the past 40-odd years and it is by no means a big thing in comparison with the national homogeneity that has developed and solidified over thousands of years. The difference between the two systems can by no means be a factor compelling our nation to live in separation nor an obstacle insurmountable in reunifying the North and the South.\nThe South Korean authorities, without seeing this fact, cling to their pretext of recovering \"homogeneity,\" maintaining that there is no alternative but continue the two-states separation until the systems are unified. They are thus calling for \"unification of systems\" based on a one-nation and one-system formula. What they are doing is tantamount to perpetuating the division endlessly, and to denying reunification after all.\nThe problem is not a North-South \"heterogeneity\" but the South Korean puppets persistently seeking such heterogeneity for the purpose of creating \"two Koreas.\"\nThe successive South Korean ruling circles, extolling the U.S. imperialists as \"liberator\" and \"aider,\" spread the worship-America and fear-America thoughts among the people, blunting their spirit of national independence. They brought in the American way of life and left it to gnaw at the traditional, laudable manners and customs of the Korean nation.\nIn the economic area, too, the puppets severed the North-South tics, subjugating the South Korean economy to the U.S. economy.\nThe South Korean ruling circles, engrossed in flunkeyism and acts of treason, even came up with the \"racial reform doctrine\" in an attempt to cut the bloodline of the nation.\nAlso, how knavish they were with their anticommunist stratagems and rackets to stir antagonism and jealousy between the North and the South!\nWhat the U.S. imperialists and South Korean ruling circles sought was to turn the North and the South into two different nations and thus split both the people and the country into two permanently.\nHowever, they were unable to carry out their criminal attempt after all.\nThe South Korean people are now strongly resisting the U.S. imperialists' colonial enslavement policy and waging vigorous struggles under slogans demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops and nuclear weapons and opposing the U.S. economic aggression.\nThe policy of anticommunist confrontation pursued by the U.S. imperialists and South Korean reactionaries inevitably wound up bankrupt. And now the southern land is swept by a rising mood for reunification through coalition with communism and with the North.\nFrom the very beginning, the Korean people have been a homogeneous nation of one bloodline. As such, they have been a people of integrity and high pride who courageously repelled invasions by outside forces and glorified their history and culture.\nFor 36 years, the Japanese imperialist colonial rulers tried to liquidate the Korean nation under the pretext of \"integration of mainland Japan and Korea\" or of \"the same ancestors and same roots\" but our people not only resisted their attempt to the last and defended the racial traits but also waged glorious struggles to accomplish the historic cause of restoring the fatherland.\nThe U.S. imperialists and South Korean puppets are attempting to create \"two Koreas\" and keep the North and the South separated forever but the Korean people will not tolerate their scheme after all.\nLast year, compatriots of all strata in the North and the South met in one place and held the festival of dialogue and reunification. It was an impressive event demonstrating the fact that although separated under different systems, our brethren in the North and the South belong to the same nation, share the same aspiration for reunification, and that they can easily communicate with each other once they meet and can vigorously work out the way for reunification through reconciliation and solidarity.\nIt is extremely unrealistic and treasonable that the South Korean ruling circles are calling for \"unification of systems\" under the pretext of recovering the \"homogeneity\" while turning a blind eye to the common national traits which the Korean people have inherited historically generation after generation and to their fervent aspiration for reunification.\nUnder the stark reality that the different systems exist in the North and the South and that neither side is willing to make a concession, there is even no telling how long the \"reunification of systems\" will take. Especially, since \"unification of systems\" implies one side absorbing the other, the theory can lead to disasters involving conflicts and war.\nThe South Korean authorities should abandon the \"reunification by prevailing over communism\" delusions and respond favorably to our proposal for reunification by the confederal system formula of one nation and one country, two systems and two governments.\nTo realize the reunification of the fatherland by establishing a reunified nation-state upon-and leaving intact-the existing systems and governments in the North and the South is the best possible way to resolve the reunification issue with fairness and in consistency with the national interests under the present conditions of our country.\nIf the North and the South give prominence to the common national traits and work to resolve the reunification issue on that basis, it is fully possible for them to realize the confederal system reunification and coexist as one nation and in one reunified country.\nThe North and the South and our people overseas will without fail expedite the confederal system-based national reunification through their united struggles upholding the militant tasks set forth by the great leader in his New Year's address."
},
{
"TITLE": "CPRF on 'Suppression' Before ROK Elections",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503044091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0415 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503044091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text) Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)-The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland [CPRF) in its Information No. 583 on March 14 denounced the South Korean authorities for intensifying suppression of the people in a bid to use the local assembly elections in securing a foothold for their long-term office.\nRecalling that the South Korean chief executive issued a repressive order on March 12 to deal with all acts of violation of the \"Election Law\" by \"law\" in such a manner as waging \"the war against crimes,\" the information said:\nA chain of repressive orders and utterances of the South Korean authorities reveal their ulterior intention to openly involve government power in the local assembly elections slated for March 26 on the specious cloak of \"fair elections\" and brutally suppress the election campaign of the pro-reunification democratic forces.\nThe South Korean authorities are now facing a serious crisis of their rule as the struggle of students and people for independence, democracy and reunification is gaining momentum in South Korea and the strife and rift within the \"Democratic Liberal Party\" (DLP) growing serious and, worse still, the Suso housing episode, an extra-large scandal in which No Tae-u himself and ruling party figures were directly involved, was brought to light.\nTheir threat to strictly deal with\" any \"involvement in elections\" of political parties and \"illegal acts\" of organizations during the local assembly elections is intended, as the \"election law\" faked up by them suggests, to check the election campaign of the opposition parties and dissident democratic organizations and rig the \"election\" of \"DLP\" men through election committee members appointed by them and government power. This is a heinous scheme to lay a foothold for long-term office of the \"DLP.\""
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Analyzes U.S. Policy of 'Cosmopolitism'",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1403125391 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0018 GMT 6 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1403125391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 6, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[NODONG SINMUN 6 March special article: \"Cosmopolitism Is a Reactionary Ideology Serving the U.S. Imperialists as a Tool for Their World Supremacy\"]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The U.S. imperialists are viciously perpetrating intervention, outrage, aggression, and plunder the world over. What is important in penetrating into the present aggressive nature of the U.S. imperialists is clearly recognizing the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism advocated by the imperialists.\nThe U.S. imperialists are cunningly maneuvering to lord it over mankind as the monarch of the world with a worldwide leadership, veiling their ambition for world supremacy with the reactionary doctrine of cosmopolitism. Cosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological trend which embellishes the U.S. imperialists' policy of arrogant interference and occupation, and serves the realization of their strategy toward global domination.\nDear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has noted as follows: Today the U.S. imperialists have combined the reactionary bourgeois racist theory and national chauvinism with the aggressive cosmopolitism to use it as an ideological tool to realize their ambition for world supremacy.\nComopolitism-which denies a nation state a self-reliant national economy and national culture, and which advocates a global state and a worldwide economy and culture without nationality-serves the aggression and domination of the imperialists and the exploitation of multinational enterprises.\nCosmopclitism holds an important place in the reactionary policy of the U.S. imperialists.\nHiding their aggressive nature with the sophism of bourgeois ideology is a hackneyed method of the imperialists. The U.S. imperialists have openly revealed their ambition for world supremacy by challenging the tenor of the present era, in which the trend of independence has been prevalent, and have made particular efforts to use such a reactionary idea as cosmopolitism under the present situation in which the idea cannot be realized.\nHistorically, the U.S. imperialists' policies of intervention, tyranny, aggression, and plunder have been embellished with the sophism of cosmopolitism, and their blood-stained hands, which smell of gun powder, have been veiled under the cloak of cosmopolitism. Herein lies the crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists who maliciously attempt to confuse the reasoning of people, and to make them blind to their aggressive nature.\nThe basic intent of cosmopolitism is to disregard the independence of each and every country and nation, and to preach that the homeland of each and every person is the whole world and all people are world citizens.\nOn the basis of the theory that all people are equal, those who advocate cosmopolitism contend that all people should desert their fatherland and nation and become world citizens to build a welfare society for all people, and that they should conduct a campaign for world citizenship to form a so-called cosmopolitan government. Furthermore, they fabricate the white race as the most superior race in the world, place a western culture as the most superior culture of mankind, and then, rave that the world should be dominated and harmonized by the distinguished race and developed culture of the West.\nInasmuch as people take the root of their lives in their fatherland and nation, they cannot become members of the human race and world citizens before they are members of their nation.\nMoreover, it is obvious that a so-called cosmopolitan government, a worldwide economy, and a global culture are not feasible in this world where acute confrontation and struggle between socialism and imperialism and between progressive and reactionary ideologies are basic characteristics of the present era where the universal outlook of mankind is distorted by imperialism and the idea of domination.\nTo realize their wild ambition for world supremacy, the U.S. imperialists persistently advocate cosmopolitism. Arrogantly enough, the U.S. imperialists always consider this planet of all mankind as their own, and clamor that the global government preached by cosmopolitism should be the United States.\nThe U.S. imperialists are now further intensifying aggression, interference, occupation, and plunder worldwide, using reactionary cosmopolitism as an ideological instrument.\nTheir maneuvers under the plausible name of cosmopolitism are clearly manifested in their acting as the \"world's monarch\" and as the \"international gendarme,\" claiming a leading role for the United States in the world.\nCosmopolitism is the reactionary ideological foundation of the U.S. imperialists' theory of the leading role of the United States. Talking about the management and guidance of the world on the basis of the cosmopolitan theory, they preach that the United States has the mission to lead the world.\nWashington, the first President of the United States, said that under no circumstances should U.S. acts take into consideration the interests of other countries, and then declared it the basic course of U.S. foreign policy which future generations of the United States should respect.\nHis successors have run hard along the road of aggression and plunder, clamoring that the Americans have appeared in the stage of history only to determine whether they are fated to rule over the world or to be subjugated to the others.\nBush, the incumbent U.S. President, boasting that U.S. leadership over the world should be handed down from generation to generation, is bent on glorifying the dignity of the United States by power politics based on strength.\nTyranny, occupation, war, and plunder have always followed the U.S. imperialists, who have lorded it over mankind as the devastator of justice and the strangler of truth, whatever they may have touched with their interfering hands and wherever they may have set their aggressive foot.\nAggression toward the weak countries, the artificial engineering of international feuds, open interference in international issues and their self-proclaimed role as referee; their tyranny in international organizations, and their acting as the international gendarme worldwide-these combine to portray the true appearance of the U.S. imperialists who claim to be the leader of the world.\nThe world's reasonable people find the expression of the brigandish nature of imperialism in the arrogance of the U.S. imperialists who see interference as the cosmopolitans' morality, tyranny as the expression of authority enjoyed by the world leader, and aggression as a resolute act undertaken for the management of the world.\nThe U.S. imperialists' aggressive doctrine of cosmopolitism as such stands fully exposed in our country. Their occupation of South Korea and the continuing division of Korea are the reactionary results of their cosmopolitism.\nThe U.S. imperialists applied the tragic plan for partial occupation to our country, which was not even a vanquished country, and imposed the insulting system of occupation on South Korea, and then artificially divided Korea. In view of the principles of justice and the demands of international law, these were intolerable under any circumstances.\nWhat is more, those currently in power in the United States are persistently carrying out antireunification maneuvers, arguing that although a reunified Korea may be good for the Korean people, maintaining the other half of the Korean peninsula occupied by a friendly regime is much more favorable to the United States. Thus, the United States provokes indignation from all over the world.\nThe division of Korea and other facts reveal that the management of the world is done by the U.S. imperialists and that any claim fabricated and proclaimed by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but an attempt to infringe upon other countries' sovereignty in the aggressive interest of the United States, and to change the structure of the world and its order.\nThe crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists' aggressive maneuvers finds expression in their attempt to invent the concept of an Asian state of the United States and the concept of a European state of the United States based on the reactionary doctrine of cosmopolitism, and thus bring the continents of the world under their control.\nAlthough the United States is a country sitting on the American Continent, the U.S. imperialists claim their country to be an Asian country in front of the Asian countries, and then slyly remark that the United States is a European country, too, in front of the European countries.\nWhat the United States seeks to achieve behind such sly remarks is to disintegrate the unity and cooperation among the countries in Asia and Europe by identifying themselves with those countries, and then securing its sphere of influence in these areas.\nAsia is for the Asian peoples and Europe is for the European peoples. The United States has no justification to occupy somebody else's place in Asia or Europe, distant places oceans away.\nThis insidious trick by the U.S. imperialists is not accepted in these regions where the cause of converting the world into one governed by independence and anti-U.S. sentiment are on the rise. Rather, they are provoking strong objection and sense of vigilance from these regions.\nBy being able to see sharply through the aggressive nature of the U.S. claim that it is an Asian power, which smacks of the cosmopolitan poison, the Asian peoples should reject it resolutely and unite and cooperate with each other in order to build a peaceful and prosperous new Asia.\nThe U.S. imperialists see power politics as the first step on the road toward realizing their leading role over the world.\nBush, the U.S. imperialist warmonger, made an outrageous remark that the United States has stretched out its hands to virtually every corner of the world, and that the extended hands, once disturbed, will be turned into powerful fists.\nThat it is natural for the United States to stretch its hands of domination out to the world because it is in the position of the world's monarch, and that its extended hands should be turned into iron fists because it is ordained to rule over the world, is the philosophy of rule by power worshipped by the U.S. imperialists who have been accustomed to the aggressive cosmopolitanism.\nProceeding from this logic of power, the U.S. imperialists say that it is the pride of America the Great to be able to have its troops stationed in tens of countries around the world, to wield tyranny in many international organizations, and to tempt many countries with baits of aid.\nThe U.S. imperialists disguise their power politics and their evil tentacles of world domination as something necessary for attaining global peace. Nevertheless, the defense of global peace babbled about by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but a shield to camouflage the domination of the world by the United States.\nThe scheme that the U.S. imperialists carry out under the plausible name of cosmopolitism reveals itself in the fact that they are trying hard to establish a world based on the American-style liberal democracy, describing American values as universal human values.\nAdvertising the superiority of their moral values, the U.S. imperialists are nianeuvering to accelerate the process of unification and the commonness of the world as its basis.\nSuccessive U.S. presidents were fond of uttering such pleasantries as that the United States cannot be its genuine self unless it stands in a lofty moral position.\nThis means that the United States is the embodier of world morality, standing as it does above ethics and morality.\nHowever, the notion that imperialism can be reconciled with ethics and morality cannot convince anybody. If the U.S. imperialists have any kind of moral principles, they must be the reverse of ethics, seeing injustice as justice and evil as good.\nThe imperialist behavior stems from greed. The U.S. imperialists always assess and approach international issues with other countries based on their aggressive and plundering objectives and greedy interests.\nPreposterously branding countries that maintain independence, and defend the banner of revolution as closed-door countries or terrorist countries, the U.S. imperialists intensify their reactionary offensive against those countries, while beautifying their brazen-faced aggression against, and interference in, sovereign countries as acts of protecting human rights or defending democracy.\nNot satisfied with the occupation of the other half of Korea, the U.S. imperialists have been conducting the Team Spirit war exercise every year, thereby creating the threat of northward invasion, while clamoring about the threat of southward invasion or the defense of peace. They also claimed that they were defending the liberal democratic system after invading Grenada and Panama. After triggering a war as a result of their ill-suited interference in regional feuds, they said that they were trying to build a world governed by laws, not the law of the jungle. Such an assertion is nothing but an insult to the conscience of the world and to progressive mankind.\nMany people in the world still vividly remember U.S. President Bush's remarks that \"the human spirit cannot be strangled or the national spirit obliterated with a wall alone\" in his commentary on the breaking down of the wall between East and West Germany.\nEven so, the U.S. imperialists ignore the call for the wall of division in Korea to be broken down, while maneuvering to keep the wall in place.\nThe wall of division in Korea is contemporary evidence that manifests the criminal truth about American-style values, which are a mixture of contradictions and falsehood.\nFrom the contradictory attitude of the United States, the progressive people of the world keenly realized the false moral values of the United States and its antimankind and antipeace nature. The United States claimed that certain barriers should be removed and other barriers should be kept intact. Thus, the progressive people of the world express indignation over such an attitude.\nThe great moral principle, in which the famous U.S. politicians take pride, and which they claim enables the United States to exist as the United States, should be branded as the principle of injustice which mankind should curse.\nHanging out the signboards of cosmopolitism, the U.S. imperialists are attempting to establish a free world on the earth. The free world which they talk about means the world where the United States can act as the ruler.\nThe U.S. imperialists, attaching great significance to cosmopolitism, are running amok to spread it for the purpose of reducing the world to the so-called free world which they want.\nThe U.S. imperialists have the idea that if they implant the U.S.-style liberal democracy in all nations, the world will become by itself a possession of the United States. Thus, they are viciously advocating the theory of a free world.\nRaving that when mankind is allowed to have the right of choice, it chooses freedom, the U.S. imperialists said that the system which they want to implant in many world nations is the system realized on the basis of freedom, individual creative power, and market principles.\nFreedom, choice, and so forth advertized by the U.S. imperialists are, in essence, freedom and choice which make one participate in the beastly struggle for existence and for survival by victimizing and oppressing other people.\nIt is the original nature of independent mankind to aspire to genuine freedom and happiness by opposing various forms of domination and subjugation. It is an inevitable trend of human history that independent mankind chooses a genuine society which safeguards and realizes the independence of mankind, instead of a society similar to the beastly world where precious dignity and the value of mankind are reduced to the standard of animals.\nThe capitalist society causes various social evils and social tragedy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and advances without a sense of direction by writhing amid social disorder and pain. If one defines this society as the society where freedom and democracy are realized, such a definition would indeed be the complete reversing of black and white.\nThe maneuvers of cosmopolitism by the U.S. imperialists, who are attempting to establish a free world while advertizing the corrupt society lacking vitality or a future as the ideal of the people, are indeed preposterous, like a house of cards.\nThrough their experience, goals, and cool judgment amid the whirlpool that is the history of the complex and diversified present era, a great number of people of the world deny the liberal democratic system advocated by the U.S. imperialists with reason, and firmly believe that only the genuine man-centered socialism which embodies the dignity and value of mankind is the way to rescue mankind.\nCosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological poison which blocks the advance of the revolutionary cause of the working class and spoils the people's consciousness of the revolution.\nThe reactionary nature of the cosmopolitism advocated by the U.S. imperialists is that cosmopolitism has become an ideological poison which denies the independence of the national state and violates and infringes upon its independence.\nAs indicated by the chuche idea, independence of the national state is as precious as life for all people. To live in a national state is an immovable order of life for all the people, formed through the course of the long history of mankind.\nWhat gives the life and means of living to the people are the fatherland and the state, and linked to the destiny of each individual person are the fatherland and the state.\nIndeed, the fatherland and the people are the source of life and the mother's bosom of all mankind. If a man thinks that he can live as an abstract public figure of the world, going away from the bosom of the fatherland and the people, he will be branded as a snob [songmul] who has lost his mind and forgotten the basis of his life, and as a nation-seller who has betrayed the nation where he was born.\nHowever, the advocates of cosmopolitism contend that such concepts as motherland, nation, state, class, and party are all meaningless in the internationalized world, and that panhuman phrases such as planet, humanity, human world, and civilization should be in vogue. This is a reactionary sophism that dulls the people's national consciousness of independence.\nThe nations and the people develop themselves together with the war history of mankind. At the same time, international relations are formulated and consolidated among the nations and the people in the course of such development. This is an inevitable phenomenon.\nWhat is at issue is on what basis, one views the history of mankind. The chuche idea defines the shape and characteristics of the world, and teaches that the main forces which lead the basic flow of human history are the people in each individual independent state.\nIf we recall human history, we come to know that the independent development of each individual nation and people served as the basis for the advance of global history and the development of mankind, and as the basic content of both.\nHistory clearly proved that by denying the independence of the nation and the people, one cannot talk, even a word, about the development of the world, the progress of mankind, and the destiny of planet.\nOur people achieved the independent development of the nation. by maintaining the line of independence, self-reliance, and self-defense under the leadership of the party and the leader. Thus, we are greatly contributing to the common cause of mankind.\nHowever, the imperialist stooges, who advocate cosmopolitism, raved that claims of national sovereignty are collective egoism, and defiled the sacred struggle of the people in many world nations who are defending the national right for self-determination and building the national economy and culture. Thus, they advertised a preposterous global economy and culture of no nationality.\nThe purpose of the vicious denial of national independence with the ideological poison of cosmopolitism by the imperialists is to pave the way for their aggression. No one can conquer the people with a strong sense of independence. On the contrary, the people, who lost their sense of national independence and whose determination to defend and glorify themselves is weak, cannot precisely realize the reactionary doctrine of imperialism and domination that are concealed by the theory of the common destiny of mankind and the theory of the superiority of panhuman values.\nThis is why the imperialists are maneuvering to eradicate national consciousnesses of independence and persistently advertising cosmopolitism.\nThe people in all world nations who treasure independence should correctly realize the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism, and resolutely crush the doctrine of cosmopolitism with the independent strength of the nation.\nThe reactionary nature of cosmopolitism as pursued by the U.S imperialists finds another expression in that it has been used as an ideological tool barring the tide toward world independence, and impeding the healthy development of international relations.\nThose who advocate cosmopolitism claim that it is the way of present international developments that national state, national economy, and national culture gradually wither away, and a global government, world economy, and world culture are formed, by which the world becomes homogeneous and common.\nThis is nothing but a sophism that misrepresents those who undertake the world movement and its motivating force and the essence of present international relations.\nThe main characteristics of the change and development of the world are that it is becoming independent. The motivating force that holds the control lever of the world movement, are those people advocating independence. Hence, the appearance of the world, its essential content, and the aspects of its development are decided by the progressive world people advocating independence.\nAdvocating independence by opposing domination, subjugation, exploitation, and oppression, is the original nature of mankind and the life of the nation. This constitutes the unique characteristics of progressive mankind.\nThus, more nations and more people are advancing to achieve freedom and independence by breaking the chains of imperialism and colonialism. This constitutes the essential content of the change and development of the world. The course of the world toward independence is an inevitable and positive course in the development of human history.\nThe independence of the world is achieved through the independent struggle of all nations and all people. Thus, it cannot be pushed and realized by so-called global management and guidance.\nHowever, the imperialists are lecturing on the benefits of international management and guidance of the world, while trying to make the global government stand in confrontation with the people's aspirations for independence. They are running amok to block by force the trend of the world toward independence.\nThe theory on global government advocated by the imperialists runs totally counter to the idea of world independence because world independence is a worldwide trend realized through the respect and the demonstrable independence of each nation and people. Global government will only work to oppress and infringe upon the independence of each nation and each people.\nThe theory on global government instigated by cosmopolitism is preposterous because as long as there are imperialists and dominationists, the attempt for global domination cannot be removed.\nThe basic nature of the imperialists is for aggression and plunder. This finally returns to ambition for conquering the world. In the present century when the fierce struggle of the imperialists and dominationists is being waged to expand the sphere of influence, the so-called global government lacks reality, and will only act to further instigate their ambition for world domination.\nToday the optimistic advocates of global government think that they can establish a global government in such a manner as to strengthen its authority, seeking a model in such international organizations as the United Nations. However, many events taking place in the international arena make one realize that such an idea is unrealistic and is a dream.\nThe U.S. imperialists abused the sacred name of the United Nations when they fabricated a puppet regime in South Korea, and when they dragged the armed forces of their 15 following nations into the Korean war. They are still abusing this name for keeping the U.S. troops in South Korea. This raises great worry and disappointment on the part of progressive mankind, who aspires to global peace and international justice.\nAs long as there are the imperialists and dominationists in the world, and as long as the U.S. imperialists' self-righteousness and tyranny are allowed in the international arena, no one can think of forming and developing sound and fair international relations.\nThe development of the world is only possible when the whole world is made independent. Only when they join themselves in the great current toward the independence of the world under the banner of independence, can the people of all the progressive countries of the world properly shape the destiny of their countries on their own, and build an independent, new world free from domination and subjugation.\nThe imperialists' strategy for cosmopolitism, intended to benumb the people's revolutionary consciousness, and reverse the trend of history, is doomed to failure in the face of the struggle of the people who are advancing under the banner of independence.\nEven the high-ranking figures in U.S. political circles pointed out that the U.S. Congress reproves and criticizes other countries nearly every day, and admitted that the act of the United States to denounce the events of the world [segye il) all day long is foolish. They confessed that the crisis, with which the United States is faced as the result of having become an imperialist state which excessively stretched out its hands [chinachige sonul ppochida], makes even them shudder.\nJust as they have said, because of pernicious evils inherent in capitalism and the debt crisis facing the United States, and because of the fierce anti-imperialist and anti-U.S. struggle of the revolutionary people of the world, tine hands which the U.S. imperialists have stretched out to the world will tremble with fear.\nThe aggressive doctrine of cosmopolitism does not go down well with people advocating independence. Today the great doctrine of independence has captivated the hearts of mankind and bourgeois reactionary ideologies, including cosmopolitism, are breaking into fragments in the face of the rush of the world to independence.\nIt is inevitable that cosmopolitism and all other reactionary thoughts will be bankrupt under the bright rays of the great chuche idea.\nImperialism is destined to destruction with the collapse of cosmopolitism."
},
{
"TITLE": "Government Delegation Returns From Japan",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503105291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1028 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503105291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)-The government delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea led by Chon In-chol, vice-minister of foreign affairs, returned home today after participating in the second intergovernmental full-dress talks for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Japan held in Tokyo.\nIt was met at the airport by Kim Chae-suk, vice-minister of foreign affairs, and Councillor of the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang Dong Buming."
},
{
"TITLE": "Soviet Envoy Holds News Conference in Pyongyang",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503044291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0420 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503044291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)-A press conference was held at the Soviet Embassy here Thursday on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the conclusion of the agreement on economic and cultural cooperation between the USSR and the DPRK.\nAmbassador Alexandr Kapto touched on the development of cooperation and exchange between the two countries in the economic and cultural fields over the past 42 years since the signing of the agreement and elaborated on the need to strengthen relations in these fields in the future."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il Replies to Birthday Greetings",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503110291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1022 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503110291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)-Dear Comrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to foreign party leaders in reply to their messages of greetings on his birthday.\nComrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to Dr. Vassos Lyssarides, chairman, and Takis Hadjidemetriou, secretary general, of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party of Cyprus; Takako Doi, chairwoman of the Central Executive Committee of the Japan Social-Democratic Party: Habimana Bonaventure, general secretary of the National Revolutionary Movement for Development of Rwanda; Herving Chung, chairman of the Caribbean National Movement; Sam Marcy, chairman of the Workers World Party of the United States; Guillermo Garcia Ponce, general secretary of \"New Alternative\" of Venezuela; Jose Francisco Aguilar Bulgarelli, general secretary of the popular force organized in Costa Rica; Jorge del Prado, general secretary, and Friddy Arana, international secretary, of the Central Committee of the Peruvian Communist Party: Rolando Brena Pantoja, president of the National Executive Committee of the Left Revolutionary Union of Peru: Genaro Ledesma Izquieta, chairman of the People's Front of Workers, Peasants and Students of Peru: Rigoberto Padilla Ruz, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Honduras; and Eric Trevett, general secretary of the Central Committee of the New Communist Party of Great Britain.\nComrade Kim Chong-il in the messages expressed the belief that friendly relations forged between the Workers' Party of Korea and the above-said parties will continue to develop favourably and wished the party leaders great success in their responsible work."
},
{
"TITLE": "Youth Mark Labor Exploits in Railway Projects",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503091691 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 2100 GMT 10 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503091691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 10, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The railway construction to replace the narrow railroad between Haeju and Ongjin and between Singgangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad is being pushed ahead rapidly.\nThrough the persistent labor struggle of members of the youth railway construction shock brigade and supporters, railroad ties were laid and the railroad was extended over several scores of ri [1 ri is equivalent to 400 meters] in 20 days recently. Besides, the project of leveling the grade on mountain slopes and railroad repair work have been pushed for on a large scale. The work of leveling the ground and framework construction have been accelerated, and more gravel, stones, sand, and soil than planned have been made made available to use for repairing the station compound.\nThus, a guarantee for completing the construction of two sections of the railroad ahead of schedule has been provided.\nMembers of the youth railway construction shock brigade, who were assigned the project of extending the railroad, waged a vigorous labor struggle with the same spirit and vigor they had when they completed the construction of the railroad between Haeju and Hasong in a short period of time. Thus, they laid railroad ties on, and broadened the railroad on, a 20 odd-ri section between Sohaeju Station and Pyoksong Station.\nUpon receiving the order of the respected supreme commander, members of the youth shock brigade accelerated the work by thoroughly preparing themselves to cope with the new war provocation maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet clique. They are constantly increasing the speed of the project of laying railroad ties and broadening the railroad between Pyoksong Station and Singangnyong Station.\nMembers of the youth shock brigade of Kangnyong county, who are charged with the project of replacing the narrow railroad between Singangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad, have accomplished the work of securing over 700 cubic meters of gravel, sand, and stones, which is said to require more than a month, ahead of schedule by highly demonstrating the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and arduous struggle and vigor for extermination of the enemy, and by overcoming various difficulties. Thus, they effected innovations.\nThrough such struggle, they opened a breakthrough to complete ahead of schedule a number of framework construction prots, including an iron bridge and drainage work.\nThe railroad construction between Haeju and Ongjin is also being carried out rapidly. The youth, who were assigned the difficult work of lowering the grade on mountain slopes to 10 meters, made several hundred holes with dynamite in only seven days with the Paektu revolutionary spirit, and pulled down 6,000-odd cubic meters of soil through successive blasting.\nMembers of the youth shock brigade in Pyoksong county transported several hundred cubic meters of soil and materials each day, and increased the speed of laying railroad ties, widening the railroad, and repairing the railroad by 1.5 to two times over that planned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kye Ung-tae, Officials Attend Railway Meeting",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503113591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503113591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)-A national meeting of railway workers was held here on March 14 and 15.\nThe meeting summed up the successes and experience gained in railway transportation under the wise leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea [WPK] and discussed tasks to effect a new turn in this domain in the same fighting spirit and mettle displayed in the postwar period of great Chollima upsurge.\nThe meeting was attended by Kye Ung-tae, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the C.C. [Central Committee], WPK, Choe Yong-nim, alternate member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., WPK and vice-premier of the Administration Council, and other officials concerned.\nKye Ung-tae read out a congratulatory message of the WPK Central Committee to the participants in the meeting.\nThe WPK Central Committee in the message pointed out that the railway transport of the country has turned into a modern one with the successful realization of electrification and the fast progress of the work for the introduction of heavy rails and automation, into an independent socialist railway transport with solid foundations for the self-supply of various means of carriage including 8-axle electric locomotives and 100-ton wagons.\nIt noted with high appreciation that the railway workers have made great contributions to the acceleration of socialist construction by displaying matchless heroism and self-sacrificing spirit in their endeavours to carry through the party's policy of railway transport with intense loyalty to the socialist country and the people.\nUnderlining the tasks facing railway transportation, it stressed the need to make the maximum utilization of the existing material and technical foundations of railway transport, further accelerate the chuche-orientation, modernization and scientification of railway transport and press ahead with new railway projects and thus further supplement the railway networks of the country and expend big efforts on scientific researches and the training of technical personnel.\nYi Kil-song, chairman of the Transport Commission, delivered a report.\nIt is an event of great significance in the development of our country's railway transport to hold a national meeting of railway workers on the meaningful day marking the lapse of 30 years since the great leader Comrade Kim Il-song gave highly important teachings at the meeting of active workers in the domain of transport on March 14, 1961, he said.\nHe noted that, deeply taking into consideration the position and role of railway transport in the development of the national economy, the great leader and our party defined railways as the artery of the country, as the pilot of the national economy, and have clearly indicated the road ahead of railway transport in each period and at each stage of the developing revolution.\nAccording to his report, under the plan of the great leader who defined the basic orientation of development of railway transport in keeping with the geographical conditions of the country which has most of its land covered with mountains and abounds in power resources, nearly all railway lines, not only trunk lines but even branch lines and railway lines branching into enterprises, have been switched over to electric traction, with the result that the freight turnover by electric haulage accounts for more than 90 percent of the total and the unitary traction by electric locomotives has reached the stage of completion.\nThe total extension of the nation's railways has markedly increased, a grand loopline of railway networks have taken shape and the railway transport capacity increased remarkably with the construction of linkages, round-about lines, partial double tracks and mixed lines in different places of the country.\nAs a result of the vigorous \"Drive for extra-haulage on schedule without accident to implement the decisions of the 18th plenary meeting of the 5th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea\" upwards of 13 million more tons of freight were carried than the rated traction last year alone. Many locomotive drivers have carried out their assignments for the Third Seven-Year Plan (1987-1993).\nSpeeches were made at the meeting.\nThe speakers called upon all the railway workers to carry through the party's policy of railway transport in the same spirit and mettle displayed during the past war and the great Chollima upsurge, upholding the slogan \"When our party is determined we can do anything!\" and thus make greater contributions to increasing the potential of the independent national economy of the country.\nA letter of pledge was adopted at the meeting."
}
]
Obviously asking Gemini to OCR from a 28.6MB PDF is not a good use of Gemini's resources, especially given that GCP Cloud Vision offers SOTA OCR. Let's return to Gemini 3 Pro and hand it the Archive's OCR'd ASCII text file (this was OCR'd using a conventional OCR package, but in a production workflow we would use Cloud Vision). This time we made it almost to the end of page 51 at a cost of $0.938924 ($0.018410 a page).
[
{
"TITLE": "ASEAN To Accept USSR as Dialogue Partner",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403093591 Tokyo KYODO in English 0817 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403093591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Masanori Kikuta",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Kuala Lumpur, March 14 KYODO—The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed in principle to accept the Soviet Union as one of its dialogue partners.“ Malaysian Foreign Minister Omar Abu Hassan indicated Thursday.\n\nThe Soviet Union “would like to be closer to us and has offered to join Japan, the United States and other existing partners of dialogue with ASEAN, Abu Hassan told a press conference.\n\n“We will certainly look at the best possible means to get them (the Soviets) involved in one way or another,” he said. “There have been some discussions among officials.“\n\nASEAN is scheduled to hold an annual meeting of foreign ministers, followed by a meeting with their counterparts from six existing dialogue partners, plus South Korea, in Kuala Lumpur on July 19-24, Abu Hassan said.\n\nSouth Korea will be the seventh full dialogue partner, starting with the meeting, but it has not been decided yet if the Soviet Union will join such a ministerial meeting, he said.\n\n“We are still looking at the kind of format or relationship we want to establish with them,” he said.\n\nMalaysian Government officials said earlier that ASEAN is also considering beginning a dialogue with China.\n\nSouth Korea began a dialogue with ASEAN when particular issues such as trade and investment matters arose, before allowing it to become a full partner.\n\nASEAN will discuss “other ways of association” with the Soviet Union as well as Vietnam, Myanmar [Burma], and other potential dialogue partners because involving them as full participants in regular meetings will mean “very long and taxing” sessions, Abu Hassan said.\n\nSenior ASEAN officials “will think about how best to engage them into this kind of association,” he said.\n\nIn the meantime, he said, ASEAN's six member countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei—will try to establish “economic linkages with them bilaterally, not on an ASEAN basis,” he added.\n\nMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed told an international economic conference on the Indonesian resort island of Bali last week ASEAN is considering inviting Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar to the next foreign ministers’ meeting.\n\nBut Abu Hassan indicated it will be some time before the three Indochinese socialist countries become dialogue partners.\n\n“This will be discussed from time to time by senior officials” and “will definitely be on the agenda of the (next) summit“ of ASEAN planned for Singapore late this year or early next year, he said.\n\nASEAN last held a summit in Manila in 1987, itself the first in a decade, and Mahathir proposed at the Bali conference that ASEAN leaders meet more frequently.\n\nSenior ASEAN officials met in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the increase in dialogue partners and other issues, said Abu Hassan, who will be appointed minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in a cabinet reshuffle Friday.\n\nAnother session devoted to economic issues is scheduled for Friday.\n\nAmong issues discussed so far have been a plan to set up an “ASEAN cooperation unit“ of specialists with the help of the United Nations development program to provide technical services for the management of various projects undertaken jointly by the ASEAN countries, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "APEC Agrees To Push for Trade Liberalization",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1303052591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 13 Mar 91 p B10",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1303052591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE NATION",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Oranut Anasuksathian and Yindi Loetcharoenchok",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Thai officials who attended a two-day meeting on the Asia-Pacific economic grouping last week, expressed satisfaction at the renewed attempts of the 12 member countries to push for regional trade liberalization and to adopt three new projects.\n\nBesides, progress was made to link up trade and investment data available in member countries with the Global Link centre in Singapore, said Laksanachanthon Laohaphan, director general of the Foreign Ministry's ASEAN Affairs Department.\n\nShe led the Thai delegation to the discussions at the Honeymoon Island of Cheju in South Korea on March 5 and 6.\n\nThailand, she said, is preparing to subscribe to the information and the Commerce Ministry is updating and arranging its own database to facilitate the link-up.\n\nIn an interview with THE NATION, Laksanachanthon described the Cheju meeting as “full of cooperation, cordial and quite positive”. all member countries, she added, agreed on the urgency to speed up cooperation and resolve the existing barriers between each other.\n\nThe Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) comprises the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the six countries of ASEAN—Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.\n\nMeanwhile, three new projects were approved in addition to the existing seven working programmes previously adopted by the members. Two of the three new projects on transportation and tourism were proposed by the United States while New Z aland suggested a fishery project. Thailand has expressed a keen interest in the project.\n\nThe members also agreed with an Australian proposal to set up an ad hoc committee to study regional trade liberalization and with the Canadian suggestion to study the regional macroeconomic outlook and its implications.\n\nSo far, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Japan and Singapore have subscribed to the Australian initiative. Other members may join in the consultation process later, Laksanachanthon said.\n\nA summary paper of APEC’s senior officials’ meeting stated that the participants were of a general agreement that non-discriminatory trade liberalization in the region was an appropriate area for detailed study and consideration. There was also a general agreement among the members on the importance of the trade liberalization as a continuing policy focus for APEC.\n\nCanada which spearheaded the move to explore and study the regional economic policy and trends will soon call a meeting of the member countries, said an official at the meeting.\n\nAll the proposals will be submitted to the senior official representatives of the 12 members and later at the APEC ministerial- level meeting in Seoul in October.\n\nASEAN senior foreign officials were to meet in Kuala Lumpur today until March 15 to discuss the outcome of the APEC consultations. But the meeting was indefinitely postponed because of the coup in Thailand.\n\nIn a related development, ASEAN’s senior economic officials are to meet today in Bandung to study the proposals approved by APEC officiais. The meeting ends on Friday.\n\nThe Cheju meeting also agreed on the financial aspects of the projects and timetables for implementing them. The expenses incurred from these projects will be shared by the members.\n\nBut the six ASEAN nations have asked the developed countries in the group to recognize their financial constraints and suggested that the developed economies contribute more in carrying out big projects, according to a commerce official.\n\nLaksanachanthon said that the agreement on the financial aspects and new projects is a major step forward for APEC, a cooperation of countries from extremely different economic and political backgrounds.\n\nWhile foreign officials were very optimistic about the progress made in the regional economic consultations, some Thai commerce officials who accompanied the delegation said the talk moved very little forward.\n\nThe three projects given approval at the official-level meeting were pending since the first official consultation in Singapore last year, they said. Moreover, ASEAN has repeated its intention for the cooperation process to go slow.\n\nAccording to Laksanachanthon, the exchange of opinions on trade and investment information and the development of human resources have progressed the most because they do not require the establishment of new mechanisms.\n\nOther projects, including energy cooperation, telecommunications and technology transfer are also moving forward due to consultations held between individual working groups, she added."
},
{
"TITLE": "Agency Ready To Dispatch Minesweepers to Gulf",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503082791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0754 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503082791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan could dispatch a small fleet of minesweepers in about a week if given orders to help clean- up efforts in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war, a Defense Agency source said Friday.\n\nThe Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel, and with port calls could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said.\n\nThe task of removing more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before the war would take about a year to complete, the source said.\n\nJapanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulſ's waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran-Iraq war.\n\nThe government received similar requests for minesweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait.\n\nThe Defense Agency will likely deploy four minesweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote- controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines.\n\nThe flagship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180.\n\nThe minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and that can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes.\n\nAccording to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task.\n\n“It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,” said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kaifu Undecided on Dispatch",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503112991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1106 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503112991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday implied he opposed a proposal to send Japanese minesweepers to help cleanup the effects of the Persian Gulf war.\n\nKaifu, speaking at the House of Representatives’ standing committee on foreign affairs, said the government is now collecting information to see if Maritime Self-Defense Force {MSDF] ships are needed in the Gulf. Kaifu said he “is addressing the matter carefully.”\n\n“I have never decided to send the minesweepers. It is irresponsible to do so without exact knowledge about the situation” in the Gulf area, Kaifu said.\n\nState Minister for Defense Vukihiko Ikeda told reporters Friday that Japan should handle the matter carefully, without any speculation. Speculation could lead Japan in the wrong direction, he said.\n\n“I am embarrassed that controversy over such an abrupt proposal has been spreading across the nation,” Ikeda said.\n\nEarlier this week, senior officials in Kaifu's ruling Liberal Democratic Party proposed deploying minesweepers to the Gulf.\n\nOn Thursday, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama told a parliamentary committee that Japan is obliged to try to protect Japanese sailors in the area. Nakayama also said the government will discuss sending minesweepers to the Gulf with the seafarers union.\n\nEarlier Friday, a Defense Agency source said Japan could deploy a small minesweeper fleet in about a week, if given orders.\n\nIf sent, the Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel. Allowing time for port calls, it could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said.\n\nIt will take about a year to remove more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before ti 2 war, the source said.\n\nJapanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulf’s waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran-Iraq war.\n\nThe government received similar requests for minesweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait.\n\nThe Defense Agency will likely deploy four minesweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote- controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines.\n\nThe flag ship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180.\n\nThe minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes.\n\nAccording to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task.\n\n“It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,” said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Official: SDF Aircraft Can Be Used for Evacuees",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1403165191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1457 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW'1403165191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan can fly Air Self-Defense Force [ASDF] aircraft to Kuwait to transport evacuees if an international body makes such a request, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Thursday.\n\nThe official, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited the government's special administrative ordinance made to send ASDF transport aircraft abroad to carry refugees earlier this year. The ordinance makes such flights possible if they are requested by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) or a related world body.\n\nThe official was commenting on a question relating to a possible Egyptian request to shuttle Egyptian workers being evacuated to Kuwait from Iraq, which is now gripped by internal conflict.\n\n“If the IOM makes such a request to Japan with Kuwaiti approval, then why not? The ordinance never specifically defines the flight routes,” the official said, adding he has rc information that such a request has yet been made.\n\nPrime Minister Toshiki Kaifu's government made the ordinance with the possibility of flying ASDF aircraft between Cairo and some Jordanian cities in mind, but actually no such request was made."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Minister Urges Kaifu To Visit U.S. Soon",
"FULL CITATION": "OW’'1503033791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0258 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW’'1503033791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama said Friday.\n\nNakayama told reporters after a regular cabinet meeting that the prime minister himself wishes to make the trip even if it is a brief one.\n\nThe foreign minister said Kaifu should have no problem with Diet business, saying four days is enough for a return trip to Washington.\n\nNakayama said he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week.\n\nHe is set to leave Japan next Wednesday to meet with Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials.\n\nNakayama said Japan's upcoming Golden Week” series of national holidays in late April and early May, usually used for politicians’ visits abroad, should be the best time for Kaiſu's swing to Southeast Asian nations, which was postponed in January amid the Persian Gulf crisis, and Kaifu's U.S. visit should come first.\n\nForeign Ministry officials have expressed strong hopes for an early Japan-U.S. summit to discuss bilateral cooperation after the Gulf war.\n\nPresident George Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed as a result of the Gulf war. Foreign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be “too late.”"
},
{
"TITLE": "More on Aims of Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1503101091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0955 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW'1503101091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu may visit the United States in early April to exchange views with U.S. President George Bush on peace prospects in the Middle East and the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks, government sources said Friday.\n\nForeign Minister Taro Nakayama told reporters earlier in the day that Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April\n\nIn the talks with Bush, Kaifu is expected to express Japan's willingness to strengthen political and economic relations with Israel as part of a comprehensive Japanese Middle East policy in the wake of the Persian Gulf war.\n\nWashington has expressed hope the Japanese Government will extend economic assistance to Israel to facilitate postwar restoration work.\n\nJapan has never given economic aid to Israel and has maintained a generally pro-Arab Middle East policy.\n\nKaifu is also expected to express Japan's readiness to find a breakthrough in the stalled multinational trade talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the sources said.\n\nBut they did not give further details on what proposals Kaifu will make to bring about a successful conclusion of the trade talks.\n\nDuring the visit, Kai‘u is likely to stay in Washington or a U.S. west coast city for three or four days.\n\nNakayama told reporters he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week. The foreign minister is set to leave Japan Wednesday to meet Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials.\n\nPresident Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed because of the Gulf war.\n\nForeign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be too late.”\n\nA top Foreign Ministry official suggested that Kaifu would visit Washington in April.\n\n“There is little possibilty (of Kaifu's U.S. trip) in March,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that the trip would take place before the holidays that begin in late April.\n\nHe also said that there might be a need to adjust ties between Japan and the U.S. before Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev visits Japan Apri! 16-19."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Ministry Aide To Visit U.S. 17 Mar",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503110991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503110991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan will dispatch a senior Foreign Ministry official to Washington on Sunday to discuss post- Persian Gulf war policies, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.\n\nYukio Sato, director general of the ministry's information analysis, research and planning bureau, will visit Washington at the request of the U.S. Government, ministry officials said.\n\nThe trip will precede Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama’s scheduled U.S. visit, beginning next Wednesday.\n\nState Department officials are expected to brief Sato on the results of Secretary of State James Baker's Middle East tour and President George Bush's series of talks with European leaders.\n\nSato last visited the U.S. between February 25 and March 6. On that trip, he presented Japanese ideas on international restrictions on arms shipments to the Middle East, and said Japan was ready to help repair environmental damage in the Gulf region, the officials said.\n\nHe is expected to discuss more specific aspects of postwar international cooperation during his upcoming trip, they said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Urges U.S. Rice Display’s Removal",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503051791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503051791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister Motoji Kondo reiterated Friday that he will urge a U.S. rice industry group to withdraw samples of U.S. rice displayed at a food trade show now under way in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture.\n\nKondo said at a press conference after a regular cabinet meeting that he will request the U.S.A. Rice Council to remove the American rice samples by Saturday, when the food show at the Makuhari Exposition Center is scheduled to end.\n\nHe said such activities aimed at promoting rice sales violate Japan's Food Control Law.\n\nThe minister also said it is questionable whether the rice samples for the show have been quarantined or not.\n\nThe ministry will consult with its affiliated Food Agency about what to do if the U.S. council does not accept his demand, Kondo said.\n\nThe National Confederation of Farmers’ Movements has announced it will take legal action against the U.S. group over the rice samples."
},
{
"TITLE": "Business Delegation To Meet U.S. Counterparts",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403132991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1305 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403132991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Business leaders from Japan and the United States will meet in Los Angeles on May 11-12 to “deepen mutual understanding,” the first such meeting since the end of the Persian Gulf war, business sources said Thursday.\n\nThe meeting will be in preparation for a session of the Japan- U.S. Businessmen's Conference to be held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in July.\n\nThe officials said the Japanese delegation will explain Japan's basic stance concerning the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks.\n\nThey said the Japanese side also is concerned about the hardening of U.S. sentiment toward Japan over Tokyo's alleged lukewarm support for the U.S.-led multinational forces fighting the Gulf war.\n\nThe Japanese delegation will include Eishiro Saito, honorary chairman of the powerful Federation of Economic Organizations; Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the federation; and Rokuro Ishikawa, president of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry."
},
{
"TITLE": "Establishes Ties With LDP",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403131591 Tokyo NHK General Television Network in Japanese 1000 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403131591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NHK General Television Network",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Japanese",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The Liberal Democratic Party [LDP] established its Jepan-USSR Parliamentarians League today. In a speech delivered prior to the plenary session, CPSU International Department Chief Falin indicated Soviet intentions to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japan in April.\n\nWith President Gorbachev scheduled to visit Japan in April, the LDP’s Japan-USSR Parliamentarians’ League was established today for the purpose of promoting extensive exchanges between the two nations. Keijiro Murata, former chairman of the party's policy affairs research council, will serve as chairman of the League.\n\nCPSU International Department chief Falin, on his first visit to Japan to attend the league's inaugural session, delivered a speech prior to the plenary session. Commenting on President Gorbachev's visit to Japan, Falin said that President Gorbachev would bring with him not the former image of the Soviet Union but a picture filled with a brighter future. He added that despite the fact that the domestic situation in the Soviet Union is not very favorable right now, it will not be long before the sun shines on Soviet-Japanese relations through the efforts of the two nations. Thus, he indicated the Soviet intention to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japar.\n\nFurthermore, regarding President Gorbachev's perestroyka policy, International Department chief Falin stated: Unless domestic disorder in the Soviet Union turns into civil war, there will be no going back on perestroyka or any shift in the chosen orientation."
},
{
"TITLE": "Reads Gorbachev Message",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403154991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1347 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403154991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said in a message read here Thursday that he would like a Japanese delegation to visit Moscow before he travels to Tokyo in April.\n\nThe two countries share a common desire to open a new stage of relations, Gorbachev said in his message read at the inauguration of a bilateral parliamentarians’ group.\n\nThe parliamentarians’ league was formed by Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Soviet Union.\n\nThe Soviet Union and Japan are obligated to play an “objective role” in the region and internationally, Gorbachev said in the message read by Valentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party's International Affairs Division.\n\n“I hope that, as two major members of the world community, our unique contribution to the process of global cooperation will become larger. Gorbachev said in the message.\n\nHe said he wants to meet with a Japanese delegation before his scheduled April 16-19 visit to Japan, apparently referring to a possible visit by LDP Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa.\n\nFalin, in a separate address to the league, said he was upbeat about bilateral relations.\n\nHe warned, however, that Gorbachev's historic visit comes at a time of domestic turmoil in the Soviet Union.\n\nEconomic reforms are falling victim to political power struggles, Falin told the audience of some 500 political and economic leaders.\n\nHe said Gorbachev will stay on the path of “perestroyka” economic reforms and democratization unless the country is swept up in chaos.\n\n“When President Gorbachev visits Japan, he will bring with him a bright picture of the future of the Soviet Union, not the old image,” said Falin, a top foreign policy aide to Gorbachev.\n\nFalin said financial credit and goods are important to his country, but what the Soviet Union needs most is a model that will help the public make the “correct decision” between a free market economic system and the present centrally planned economy.\n\nSpeeches by Japanese political leaders, meanwhile, lacked the usual references to the four-decade territorial dispute over four islands north of Hokkaido that has frozen relations in a bitter standoff.\n\nThe league, joined by 184 LDP parliamentarians, was established to help resolve problems in Japan-Soviet economic cooperation, and promote exchanges by the two countries’ ruling parties in advance of Gorbachev's visit.\n\nIt supplements an existing suprapertisan league."
},
{
"TITLE": "Laverov, Falin Meet Kaifu",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503041391 Tokyo KYODO in English 0342 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503041391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—A foreign policy adviser to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said to Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday the two countries should make “100 percent“ use of the Kremlin leader's visit to Tokyo next month to achieve a breakthrough in ties.\n\nValentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party's International Affairs Division, said he spoke with Gorbachev immediately before arriving in Japan on Thursday, and that the President is “prepared to make a breakthrough in ties.”\n\n“When the President comes, discussions should not be only of the weather and the cherry blossoms, there should also be serious talks on bilateral and international issues. Falin said.\n\nLet's make 100 percent use of this chance,” he said in a 15- minute courtesy call, also joined by Soviet Vice Premier Nikolay Laverov.\n\nThe two officials are here to attend separate political and science events to promote ties prior to Gorbachev's visit.\n\nKaifu said he hopes for a resolution of the territorial dispute over four islands east of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, so that the two countries could sign a peace treaty.\n\nThe northern islands issue has been a stumbling block for improving relations ever since World War II, when the Soviet troops occupied the islands.\n\nKaifu said he hopes to see a “dynamic” expansion of relations in a wide variety of fields, including economics and technology.\n\nLaverov, here to attend the opening of a Soviet science fair, suggested that Soviet basic technology combined with Japanese know- how in application would deliver fruitful results."
},
{
"TITLE": "Gorbachev, Kaifu To Hold Three Rounds of Talks",
"FULL CITATION": "OW’150314109! Tokyo KYODC in English 1343 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW’150314109!",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODC",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will hold three rounds of talks with Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu during his April 16 to 19 visit to Japan, with the two countries’ territorial dispute high on the agenda, government officials said Friday.\n\nGorbachev and Kaifu are expected to sign 11 pacts and documents on issues such as Japan's support for Gorbachev's “perestroyka™ restructuring efforts, and aid to victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.\n\nThe two leaders plan to issue a joint statement on the results and meaning of Gorbachev's visit, officials said.\n\nThe Soviet president is also scheduled to meet with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, make a speech at the Diet, give a lecture at a university and meet with the press during his four-day stay in Japan, they said.\n\nVisits to Osaka and Kyoto are also being arranged, officials said.\n\nThe schedule will be finalized when Soviet Foreign Minister Aleksander Bessmertnykh visits Japan from March 29-31.\n\nGorbachev's visit to Japan will be the first by a top Kremlin leader in the two nations’ history.\n\nIt will also be the first Japan-Soviet summit conference in six years, following the meeting between Gorbachev and then Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. At that time, Nakasone went to Moscow to attend the state funeral of Soviet Communist Party leader Konstantin Chernenko, who was succeeded by Gorbachev.\n\nThere have been only two other Japanese-Soviet summit meetings—between Ichiro Hatoyama and Nikolay Bulganin in October 1956, and between Kakuei Tanaka and Leonid Brezhnev in October 1973.\n\nWith Gorbachev's visit, Japan hopes to find a breakthrough in realizing the return of the four northern islands off Hokkaido that the Soviet Union occupied after World War II.\n\n“We hope to pave the path for solving the territorial dispute and the signing of a Japan-Soviet peace treaty in order to build a foundation for bilateral relations,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said. “And we would like to make it a turning point in dealing with postwar issues.”\n\nSome Foreign Ministry sources, however, say the territorial dispute cannot be solved in one or two top-level meetings.\n\nWith just one month before the visit, Tokyo hopes to feel out Moscow's positions in Bessmerinykh's meetings with Kaifu and Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama later this month, officials said.\n\nLiberal Democractic Party [LDP] Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa is also planning to visit Moscow during March, LDP sources said.\n\nThe Soviet Union, however, is suffering severe economic difficulties, and political and ethnic turmoil at home and is hoping to secure Japan's financial aid while sounding out Japan's position on the territorial dispute.\n\nMeanwhile, a Soviet advance team will arrive in Tokyo on Monday for a weeklong visit, Soviet ( iplomatic sources said Friday."
},
{
"TITLE": "Envoy Says Gorbachev Hopes To Meet Businessmen",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403125991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1215 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403125991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev hopes to meet with Japanese business leaders during his visit to Tokyo in April, Soviet Ambassador to Japan Lyudvig Chizhov said Thursday.\n\nChizhov called on Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the influential Federation of Economic Organizations, known as the Keidanren, Thursday afternoon to convey Gorbachev's desire for a meeting with Hiiaiwa and other business leaders, Keidanren officials said.\n\nHiraiwa welcomed the request and hoped that Gorbachev's trip to Japan will mark a dramatic step forward in relations between Japan and the Soviet Union, said Keidanren officials."
},
{
"TITLE": "USSR Foreign Minister To Discuss Middle East",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503104291 Tokyo KYODO in English 1006 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503104291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Foreign Ministers Aleksander Bessmertnykh and Taro Nakayama will discuss Middle East security in the post-Persian Gulf war period and other international issues during their talks in Tokyo later this month, Soviet diplomatic sources said Friday.\n\nThe March 29-31 meeting, aimed at finalizing details for President Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to Japan April 16-19, will be the second between the two foreign ministers this year, and the first followirg last month's end of hostilities in the Gulf.\n\nThe foreign ministers are also to discuss 11 agreements to be inked during Gorbachev's planned April visit, as well as a final statement to be issued at the end of the trip and a peace treaty, the sources said.\n\nBoth Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu and Gorbachev have expressed hopes that the visit will provide a breakthrough in relations, snagged over a dispute over ownership of four small islands occupied by the Soviet Union after World War II.\n\nHowever, there have been few hints yet how the two sides will approach the territorial dispute, which Japan says must be resolved before a peace treaty can be concluded.\n\nThe sources said the Soviet Union plans to hand over a list of some 40,000 deceased Japanese World War II prisoners of war prior to Gorbachev's visit.\n\nIt recently canceled a plan to hand over the register to a private association of former war detainees in Siberia following a demand by the Japanese Government that the list be delivered via official channels.\n\nAmong those accompanying Gorbachev on the historic visit will be his wife Raisa, Bessmertnykh, and presidential spokesman Vitaliy Ignatenko, the sources said.\n\nThe visit here is to be the first ever by a Kremlin leader.\n\nFour Japanese prime ministers have traveled to the Soviet Union while in office.\n\nIn 1956 Ichiro Hatoyama visited the Soviet Union to normalize diplomatic relations. Kakuei Tanaka traveled to Moscow in 1973, Zenko Suzuki in 1982, and Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1984.\n\nThe sources said they did not expect the Soviet referendum slated for Sunday on preservation of the country’s union structure to affect the visit."
},
{
"TITLE": "Ministry Official ‘Lukewarm’ on USSR Aid",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1S03081191 Tokvo KYODO in English 0602 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW'1S03081191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—A senior Finance Ministry official expressed a lukewarm view Friday regarding possible Japanese financial aid to the Soviet Union.\n\nThe official, who declined to be named, said the Soviet economy has worsened since the International Monetary Fund and other international organizations issued a negative report on the economic situation in the Soviet Union late last year.\n\nThe official also said the Soviet military crackdown on independence movements in the Baltic republics adversely affected the Western attitude toward Moscow.\n\nHe said Western aid to the Soviet Union will be discussed at the London summit of seven Western industrialized nations in July but their attitude will not be as enthusiastic as it was in the previous summit in Houston, Texas, last year."
},
{
"TITLE": "SDP To Review Stand on Kuril Islands",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1403171691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1516 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW'1403171691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—The Social Democratic Party (SDP) will review its basic policy calling for the return of all the Kuril Islands, including the four Soviet-held islands off Hokkaido, party officials said Thursday.\n\nThey said party members have been deinanding more flexibility in policy toward the Soviet Union.\n\nThe SDP, Japan's largest opposition party, has argued since 1961 that Moscow must return two of the four islands—Shikotan Island and the Habomai Island group—before concluding a peace treaty with Tokyo, and said that the return of the other Kuril islands should be negotiated later.\n\nThe four islands were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.\n\nA Japanese-Soviet joint declaration in 1956 specified that the Soviet Union would return Shikotan and the Habomais after concluding a peace treaty between the two countries."
},
{
"TITLE": "Marubeni Postpones Vladivostok Office Plan",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1503125591 Tokyo KYODO in English 1116 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW'1503125591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Marubeni Corp. said Friday it has put off its plan to open a representative office in the Soviet far east city of Viadivostok because of an abrupt aboutface in Soviet policy.\n\nThe trading giant has apparently made the decision after learning of a change in Soviet policy, apparently stemming from the rise of conservatives in the leadership following the military crackdown in the Baltic republics, industry sources said.\n\nCompany officials said they had an impression that the Kremlin now does not want to open Vladivostok, a major Soviet naval port on the Sea of Japan, to foreigners for the time being.\n\nThe Soviet Union earlier promised to allow foreign companies to open offices in the city in March in order to promote economic reforms in the Far East.\n\nMarubeni and another Japanese trading firm, Mitsubishi Corp., then announced plans to open offices there.\n\nMitsubishi said it has not received information about Moscow's change of policy. The firm said it has not withdrawn its application filed to the state authorities of that country, because the Soviet situation remains fluid.\n\nVladivostok, with a population of about 650,000, is the home of the Soviet Far East naval fleet."
},
{
"TITLE": "Development Loan Pleadged to PRC",
"FULL CITATION": "QW 1503110791 Tokyo KYODO in English 1041 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "QW 1503110791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan has pledged to extend a low-interest, untied loan of up to 43.38 billion yen to China in the third disbursement of its aid package for fiscal 1990, the Foreign Ministry announced Friday.\n\nThe ministry said the fund will be used to help finance five development projects, including construction . highways, railways, and other facilities.\n\nThe loan, part of Japan's official development assistance (ODA), is repayable over a 30-year period, including a 10-year grace period, at an annual interest rate ol 7.5 percent, the ministry said.\n\nNotes on the loan were exchanged in Beijing on Friday between Japanese Ambassador to China Hiroshi Hashimoto and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Qi Huaiyuan, the ministry said.\n\nThe projects to be financed by the loan include:\n\n—construction and consolidation of highway and telecommunications networks in Qingdao City at a cost of 12,834 million yen.\n\n—construction of railways in Baoji in northwestern China at a cost of 5,572 million yen.\n\n—construction of an airport in Wuhan at 6,279 million yen.\n\n—construction of coal transportation railways linking Hengshui and Shangqiu at a cost of 5,695 million.\n\n—construction of the Beijing Shisanling pumped-storage power station at 13 billion yen."
},
{
"TITLE": "Grants Extended to Latin America, Africa",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403125091 Tokyo KYODO in English 1027 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403125091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan will extend grant-in-aid to Peru, Honduras, Benin, Madagascar, and Botswana, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.\n\nPeru will receive 3.5 billion yen and Honduras 500 million yen in a nonproject grant to help pay for the Latin American nations’ necessary imports, the ministry said.\n\nBenin will get 900 million yen and Madagascar 3.5 billion yen for the same purpose.\n\nThe 104-million-yen grant for Botswana is for debt relief and will compensate for part of its debts in yen loans from Japan extended until March 1988, the ministry said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Finance Minister Remarks on Yen’s Weakness",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503061991 Tokyo KYODO in English 0550 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503061991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said Friday the current weakness of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar in foreign exchange markets should not be sustained.\n\n“I do not think current exchange rates between the two currencies reflect Japanese economic fundamentals correctly,” Hashimoto told the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives.\n\nThe minister said he hopes currency rates will settle moderately, not sharply. The recent strength of the dollar is caused by U.S. investors’ euphoria at the end of the Persian Gulf war, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Sees Economic Expansion Without Inflation",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503020291 Tokyo KYODO in English 0119 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503020291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said on Friday the economy continues to expand without any fear of a rekindling of inflation.\n\nSpeaking at a press conference after a cabinet meeting, Hashimoto said brisk domestic demand is supporting the current economic expansion.\n\nMeanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Yasushi Mieno said personal consumption and private-sector capital spending are still the main pillars of Japan's 51-month economic expansion.\n\nMieno made his remarks before a Finance Committee meeting at the House of Representatives.\n\nThe central bank chief said there is no signs of a decline in the two pillars and that the pace of economic expansion remains steady.\n\n“A moderate slowdown in the growth rate would sustain the country's economic expansion,” Mieno said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Administrative Vice Finance Minister Named",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1403151191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1438 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW'1403151191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has decided to name Hiroshi Yasuda, Budget Bureau Chief, as Administrative Vice Minister of Finance, ministry officials said Thursday night.\n\nYasuda, 58, will succeed Masami Kogayu, 59, who will retire from the post. Their personnel change is expected to be formalized in late June, the officials said.\n\nJiro Saito, 55, chief of the minister's secretariat, will succeed Yasuda as new Budget Bureau Chief.\n\nAt the same time, Tadao Chino, 57, International Finance Bureau chief, will be named to succeed Makoto Utsumi, 56, the retiring vice minister for international affairs, the ministry officials said.\n\nHashimoto's decision on the appointments followed the passage of the national budget bill for fiscal 1991 through the House of Representatives earlier in the evening.\n\nThe newly picked administrative vice minister, Yasuda previously served as head of the minister's secretariat before taking up the current post last June."
},
{
"TITLE": "Lower House Approves 1991 Fiscal Budget",
"FULL CITATION": "OH 1403142691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1359 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OH 1403142691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—The House of Representatives passed by a majority vote Thursday the government-proposed 1991 fiscal budget totaling 70,347.4 billion yen.\n\nThe budget incorporates 12,212.2 billion yen for social welfare, up 5.1 percent over the current year, 6,589.7 billion yen for public works projects, up 6.0 percent, and 883.1 billion for official development aid, up 8.0 percent.\n\nDefense spending was slashed to 4,386 billion yen in order to raise funds for Japan's 9 billion dollar contribution to the cost of the Persian Gulf war, though this was still an increase of 5.45 percent.\n\nThe bulk of the 9 billion dollars was generated in a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year.\n\nIn addition, Japan earlier offered 2 billion dollars to the U.S.- led multinational forces deployed in the Middle East and another 2 billion dollars in aid to countries affected by the conflict.\n\nThe legislation was immediately sent to the House of Councillors for further deliberation.\n\nAccording to the Constitution, the bill will be enacted automatically in 30 days even if the upper house fails to act on it.\n\nThe government is also expected to compile a provisional budget amounting to about 5 trillion yen to cover government expenditures for the first 12 days of fiscal 1991, beginning April 1."
},
{
"TITLE": "Commodity Funds Bill To Include Securities",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403131691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1056 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403131691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—A law to introduce commodity funds in Japan to be enacted soon will allow such funds to include securities for less than 50 percent of their assets, government officials said Thursday.\n\nThe Finance Ministry, Ministry of International Trade and Industry [MITI], and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Ministry have jointly drawn up a draft of a bill which is expected to be submitted to the current Diet session.\n\nThe bill will also provide for the punishment of violators, including imprisonment, a MITI official said.\n\nTrust banks will be the sole institutions that are allowed to establish commodity funds under the new law, the official said.\n\nOn the marketing side, commodity funds for general investors will be marketed by trust banks, while those for corporate and institutional investors will be handled by trading houses and iease companies, he said.\n\nSecurities to be included in the funds include government bonds, corporate debentures, and mortgages.\n\nBut resale of these funds will be prohibited to limit the distribution.\n\nCommodity funds are a type of trust fund in which the trustees invest money on behalf of investors in commodity futures markets, such as grain, precious metals, and crude oil futures."
},
{
"TITLE": "Household Spending Increases in 1990",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503121091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0805 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503121091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO— Japanese households spent an average 311,174 yen per month in 1990, up 0.8 percent in real terms over the year before, the Management and Coordination Agency said in a report Friday.\n\nThis is the second year for growth to be below 1.0 percent, following the 0.5 percent rise in 1989, and shows that spending has been discouraged in part by a surge of consumer prices ai a rate that has not been seen since 1981, the report said.\n\nHouseholds of salaried workers spent an average 331,595 yen per month or 1.6 percent more than in the previous year.\n\nThe average nonsalaried worker's households spent only 0.1 percent more at an average of 275,583 yen.\n\nAn increase in overseas holidays boosted spending in the leisure- related service sector, as more households spent more on airline tickets and group tours.\n\nSpending grew notably in cordless telephones and telephone services, eyeglasses, and medical goods.\n\nSteady consumption was seen in household durable goods such as air conditioners and refrigerators, helped in part by the hot summer weather, but purchases of television sets and videotape recorders fell for the first time in 12 years, the report said.\n\nSpending on alcohol, other beverages, and prepared foods went up, but that on fresh fruit and vegetables fell, due to their higher prices, it said.\n\nA steady growth was seen in the monthly income of salaried workers’ households, which went up 2.0 percent on average from the year before to 521,757 yen.\n\nAlthough the income earned by household heads rose a weak 1.0 percent, due to the spreading employment of older, lower-paid people, there were jumps of 4.8 percent in bonus payments to them and of 4.6 percent in the income earned by their spouses.\n\nSpending in the nonconsumption sector surged 9.1 percent due to higher social insurance rates.\n\nDouble-income households earned 556,633 yen monthly, or 16.8 percent more than single-income households, with the income of the spouse accounting for an average 107,928 yen, or 19.4 percent of the total.\n\nDouble-income households spent 11.8 percent more than single- income households, with spending on education notably higher, the report said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Plant Site Acquisitions Drop in 1990",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503120691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0821 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503120691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—The number of large sites acquired for industrial use during 1990 fell 9.0 percent from the previous year, the first annual decline in four years, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said Friday\n\nMITI’s annual report on plant site purchases said those with an area of 1,000 square meters or more bought during the year for building facilities for manufacturing or production of electricity, gas, or eat amounted to 3,781, down from 4,157 in 1989.\n\nThe total area of newly purchased land came to 4,616 hectares, down 2.3 percent from the previous year.\n\nMITI said the figures are still at high levels and show no signs of a major slowdown.\n\nThe most popular reason gien for companies selecting sites was securing their workiurces.\n\nMetal product manufacturers accounted for the largest share—15.9 percent—of the total acquisitions, followed by general machinery makers (12.9 percent), food processing firms (11.2 percent), and electronics companies (10.9 percent).\n\nPurchases by chemical, oil, and coal companies fell sharply.\n\nThe number of purchases by foreign firms plunged to 18 from 31 in the previous year.\n\nSites bought for building research laboratories also slipped to 46 from 63."
},
{
"TITLE": "Firm Builds Intelsat Earth Station on Comoros",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403151391 Tokyo KYODO in English 1405 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403151391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—KDD Engineering and Consulting Inc. (KEC) has built an Intelsat satellite earth station in the Comoros Islands, off the East African coast, KDD, the company’s parent firm, said Thursday.\n\nThe station will go into operation on Saturday. The completion of the station will ensure improved and stable international telecommunications to and from the island republic. KDD, Japan's international telecom giant, said.\n\nKEC has built the earth station under a contract with the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, and with aid from the Japanese Government. The station has won the approval of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat).\n\nThe republic has so far had only shortwave circuits, and communications to and from the republic had been disturbed by jamming and noises."
},
{
"TITLE": "Major Shipping Companies Plan Merger",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503080691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0559 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503080691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Nihon Yusen K.K. and Nippon Liner Systems Ltd. have agreed to merge their worldwide shipping operations to better compete in a severely competitive market, industry sources said Friday.\n\nBoth companies are expected to announce the merger at a Tokyo press conference late Friday afternoon, the sources said.\n\nAccording to the sources, Nippon Yusen will purchase all the stock of and absorb Nippon Liner Systems into its worldwide shipping operations.\n\nNippon Liner Systems, an affiliate company of Navix Line Ltd. and established in 1988, operates a fixed liner service between Japan and North America. The company has been suffering losses since its start-up, the sources said.\n\nNavix, established in June 1989 through a merger of Yamashita Shin Nihon Steamship Co. and Japan Lines Ltd., had been talking with Nihon Yusen about taking the company off its hands for some time, the sources said.\n\nNippon Liner suffered losses of 190 million yen in the third quarter of Fiscal 1990. Second quarter operating profits for July, August, and September of Fiscal 1990 are expected to amount to 1.6 percent of the revenues for the same period in the previous year, the sources said.\n\nAfter the merger, Nihon Yusen, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., and Navix Ltd. will be the only remaining Japanese shipping firms to continue fixed international shipping routes, the sources said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Correction to Kaifu Interview With NHK",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503083091",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503083091",
"CITATION LOCATION": null,
"CITATION OUTLET": null,
"CITATION LANGUAGE": null,
"CITATION DATE": null,
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "The following correction pertains to the item headlined “NHK interview With Prime Minister Kaifu,” published in the 13 March East Asia DAILY REPORT, page 1:\n\nPage two, column two, fifth paragraph make read:\n[Yamamoto] Concerning aid programs, we have ODA [official development assistance]. Is that right? It seems that the government plans to review programs for aid to those nations that have large military budgets or that have been exporting arms. Is it not necessary for us to lay down a basic principle so that such aid will be provided for the purpose of stabilizing people's livelihood? [new graf]\n\n[Kaifu] Regarding the ODA, I think that. . (supplying missing question by Yamamoto)"
},
{
"TITLE": "U.S. Denounced for ‘Marring’ DPRK Image",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203052391 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0449 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1203052391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 12 (KCNA)}—The U.S. delegate at a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission held in Geneva recently took issue with our country over the “human rights” problem.\n\nDenouncing this, a news analyst of NODONG SINMUN today says:\n\nThe “human rights” problem is not raised at all in our country, where all the people exercise equal and independent rights befitting the true master of the state and society and enjoy a genuine political, economic and cultural life.\n\nThe news analyst further says:\n\nIt is a malicious challenge to our Republic and an unpardonable insult to our people for the United States to charge our country with the “human rights” problem.\n\nThe United States seeks a sinister purpose of marring the image of our Republic ever rising in the international arena, undermining its prestige and influence and isolating our Republic internationally.\n\nWhen the United States raises a hue and cry over someone's “human rights”, acting the “international judge of human rights”, it reminds us of a thief crying “stop thief”\n\nThe United States is the very general headquarters and chieftain of human rights violation.\n\nIt is universally recognized that tens of millions of U.S. people are deprived of the most elementary rights of humanity such as democracy and vital rights and their freedom is totally trampled down. It is also the United States where racial inequality is most serious.\n\nWhile keeping utter silence about the wanton violation of human rights in South Korea, their colony, the U.S. ruling circles are speaking ill of our Republic. This fully reveals again their shameless and brigandish nature.\n\nThe United States had better mind its own business before taking issue with others over “human rights“"
},
{
"TITLE": "Team Spirit Exercise Said ‘Challenge’ to North",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403151091 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0022 GMT 9 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1403151091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Pyongyang Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[NODONG SINMUN 9 March special article: A Game of Playing With Fire That Leads the Situation to the Brink of War]\n\n[Text] Despite the unanimous protest and denouncement of all the Korean people and the world's peace-loving people, the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean warmongers are leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war by conducting the adventurous Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise.\n\nNot only the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, and the puppet forces, but also massive aggressive arms from the U.S. mainland and the Pacific region will be mobilized in this war exercise. The war exercise will continue until late April, starting with mobile deployment in late January.\n\nOffensive operations for northward invasion, such as joint landing operations, mobile aerial strike operations, commando operations, and river-crossing operations, will be conducted during the war exercise.\n\nThe reckless nuclear war exercise is an unforgivable challenge to our Republic and the people who are earnestly making efforts for peace and peacefu! reunification on the Korean peninsula, and is an intolerable criminal act of leading the situation on the Korean peninsula into very dangerous phase once again.\n\nPecause of the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, today, a dark cloud of nuclear catastrophe is hovering over the heads of our people, and a state of emergency is being created in our country in which a new war may break out.\n\nTo cope with the grave situation in which nuclear war is developing as a real danger in our country because of the reckless, provocative military plot of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet clique, the supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] has issued an order to the Army, Navy, and Air Forces of the KPA, all the units of the Korean Security Forces, and all the members of the Worker-Peasant Militia and the Red Youth Guards, to assume a full combat mobilization posture with high revolutionary vigilance.\n\nT ais is a just step to defend the sacred fatherland and the valuable revolutionary achievements. Now, the U.S. imperialists and the puppets, in order to rationalize their reckless war madness, are babbling about our self-defense combat mobilization posture while saying that it is an annual exercise and is not dangerous at all. They also said hat we were reacting in a very sensitive manner. This, however, is only the poor excuse of the warmongers.\n\nIt is a well-known fact that the Team Spirit joint military exercise, which has been conducted since 1976, is a dangerous preliminary war and a test nuclear war aimed at carrying out a preemtive strike against our Republic. The exercise, which is being conducted this year for the sixteenth time, shows a very serious direction. Because of this, we cannot regard it as a simple exercise that has been annually conducted.\n\nThe great leader Comrade Kim II-song has taught: Today, all events taking place in South Korea show that the new war-provoking maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and their stooges are in a very dangerous phase, and the situation of our country is on the brink of war.\n\nAs is known, the high-level talks between the North and the South were held from last year. Many issues, including the issue of removing political and military confrontation, were presented in the talks. In particular, the issue of adopting a nonaggression declaration was presented as an important item on the agenda.\n\nIn order to make this year a year of relaxtion and peace, a year of reconciliation and unity, and a historical year that opens a new phase in national reunification, the government of our Republic, at the very beginning of the year, put forward epocal proposals, including the proposal for peaceful national reunification, and for guranteeing peace on the Korean peninsula.\n\nWe have put forward a flexible proposal to the United States and the South Korean authorities, suggesting that a nonaggression declaration be adopted by the North and South, and that the Team Spirit joint military exercise be completely suspended or, at least, suspended for two or three years.\n\nHowever, ignoring our sincere efforts, the U.S. imperialists and the puppets openly undertook to conduct the criminal Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise and repeatedly held war conferences from late last year. Finally, they started a nuclear war exercise this year, thus openly challenging us.\n\nThis proves that the United States and the South Korean puppets, blocking forever the road toward peace and peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula, have attempted to destroy our Republic through force of arms by waging a nuclear war.\n\nThe Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is also serious because it is being conducted in South Korea in the situation where preparations for an aggressive war against the northern half of the Republic have been completed.\n\nHaving conducted the Team Spirit joint military exercise in South Korea every year since 1976, the United States imperialists have now escalated it. Through this exercise, the U.S. imperialists have attempted to complete preparations for northward aggression. A large number of U.S. soldiers and their ultramodern equipment were brought from the U.S. mainland and throughout the Pacific to the Korean peninsula and, emphasizing nuclear attack, the forces of aggression from overseas, along with the U.S. forces occupying South Korea and the puppets, conducted massive sea, land, and aerial strike operations.\n\nMobilizing enough forces in the Team Spirit joint military exercise to wage a war, the U.S. imperialists have mastered and completed, in recent years, a three-dimensional war on land, sea, and in the air by repeatedly conducting actual fighting exercises.\n\nGiven the absurd remarks of the U.S. imperialist war servants that during the Team Spirit joint military exercise they may wage unexpected war, and given the remarks of foreign military commentators that if an order to wage war is issued, this military exercise will automatically turn into a war, it is not difficult to see that this game of playing with fire has reached a dangerous\npoint.\n\nEven today when the preparations for an armed aggression against the northern half of the Republic have been completed, they are conducting this war exercise, even while propagandizing that it is an annual exercise. This can be done only by warmongers. The exercise is more dangerous this year because it has been conducted on the whole part of South Korea under the situation in which an unprecedented and sharp atmosphere of war was created.\n\nAlready late last year, under a plausible pretext of war against crimes, the South Korean puppets have already mobilized violent forces, such as a larger number of the puppet military forces, policemen, and reserve forces, and massively kicked up the suppression commotion against the patriotic forces for reunification. From the very beginning of this year, they have created a more terrible atmosphere of terror. We cannot help but say that this is a result of maneuvers designed to strengthen the military fascist system in preparation for wartime in accordance with the U.S. aggressive policy over Korea.\n\nFrom the very beginning of this year, a large number of the latest operational equipment and nuclear-equipped fighter bombers flew into South Korea from abroad, and aerial war exercises to strike us were staged almost every day. All kinds of military provocation and reconnaissance acts against the northern half of the Republic are frequently being conducted.\n\nUnder the pretext of the Gulf war, the United States and the South Koran puppets have declared an emergency wartime system in South Korea, and have ordered U.S. and the puppet soldiers to be ready for an emergency mobilization.\n\nWholly aiming their guns at the northern half of the Republic, the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, as well as the puppet forces, have been under an emergency wartime system. In addition, under the pretext of the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, the aggressive forces from abroad have crowded into the Korean peninsula with their nuclear weapons. This will never be overlooked.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets have perpetuated approximately 1,500 military provocations, including intensive gun fire against our side on the area of the Military Demarcation Line just 20 days after the announcement of the plan for the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise.\n\nNevertheless, a war may be easily provoked by a trivial incident on the Korean peninsula where the massive arms of both sides confront each other over the MDL {Military Demarcation Line]. How can we regard playing with fire amid the atmosphere of war as destiny?\n\nSo far, the Team Spirit joint military exercise has been conducted approximately ten times in South Korea. However, the exercise has never been conducted in the whole of South Korea in such a grave, war-like atmosphere as this year.\n\nAll the facts show that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets, taking advantage of the destruction of the balance of power in international relations and the military imbalance created on the Korean peninsula by our reduction of 100,000 troops at our initiative, are surely going to set a conflagration for northward invasion on the Korean peninsula.\n\nThe propaganda that the Team Spirit joint military exercise 1s not dangerous because it has been conducted annually is merely transparent subterfuge by those who would dull our vigilance and perpetuate an aggressive war at any opportunity. With no sophistry can the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets conceal the fact that the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is dangerous.\n\nUpon receiving an order from the supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people are now fully prepared for combat mobilization to smash the war maneuvers of the enemy.\n\nOur people love peace and do not want confrontation and war. However, they will never forgive those who antagonize us without reason. If the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets take the road of adventurous and aggressive war at last by miscalculating our efforts for peace as an indication of weakness, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people will retaliate ten thousand fold."
},
{
"TITLE": "13 March Team Spirit Maneuvers Reported",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503045291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0430 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503045291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The U.S. imperialists staged another nuclear air strike exercise against the North on March 13 at a time when a horrible atmosphere of war has been created throughout South Korea by the adventurous “Team Spirit 91“ joint manoueuvres, according to military sources.\n\nThey sent by stealth a formation of Guam-based nuclear- capable B-52 strategic bombers to the sky above Asan Bay for a nuclear air strike exercise for a surprise attack on main targets in the strategic depth of the northern half of Korea. Participating in it were formations of nuclear- capable F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers which have been mobilized in the “Team Spirit 91“ from the Pacific bases.\n\nOn the same day, they held a large-scale joint ground strike exercise against the North in the air above Yongju of north Kyongsang Province with the mobilization of fighter-bombers and assault planes based in the U.S. mainland and the Pacific and formations of fighter- bombers, assault planes and observation planes belonging to the U.S. Airforce present in South Korea and the puppet airforce.\n\nMore than 150 warplanes including nuclear-capable F- 16 were involved in it.\n\nOn March 12, the U.S. imperialists brought an E-3A early warning plane based in Kadena, Japan, to the sky above the Military Demarcation Line [MDL] area and let it command flying corps in aerial espionage and war exercises against the North. On March 12 and 13, they also let U-2 high-altitude strategic reconnaissance planes make shuttle flights for hours along the MDL for an aerial espionage on the objects in the depth of the North.\n\nThe warplanes mobilized in the “Team Spirit 91\" manoeuvres on March 12 and 13 numbered more than 1,560.\n\nThis proves that the provocative “Team Spirit 91” started by the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean rulers has reached a very dangerous stage."
},
{
"TITLE": "DPRK MAC Member Sends Letter of Protest",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503051291 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0310 GMT Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503051291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Pyongyang Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Letter of protest“ from Major General Choe Ui-ung, senior member of the DPRK side to the Military Armistice Commission (MAC), to the senior member of the U.S. side on 15 March—read by announcer]\n\n[Text] Our side sends this letter to your side in connection with the large-scale Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise which your side is adventurously waging in a full-scale stage, and with the situation on the Korean peninsula which your side strained to an extreme point.\n\nThe Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is a preliminary war and test nuclear war which thoroughly takes the northern half of our Republic as the target of attack. It itself is a grave act of war.\n\nIt is a basic mission of the MAC to safeguard peace by preventing the recurrence of war on the Korean peninsula. Proceeding from this, our side strongly demanded during the 459th MAC meeting held on 13 February that your side suspend the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise which creates the danger of nuclear war and hinders North-South dialogue. Our side even put forward a new proposal that if your side cannot suspend this exercise, we, in the name of both sides of the MAC, recommend to the relevant government authorities the issue of discontinuing the large-scale war exercise.\n\nThis was prompted by the earnest desire to ensure peace in Korea and North-South dialogue by preventing at any cost the situation from being strained due to the large-scale war exercise.\n\nHowever, your side staged the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise instead of responding to our just demand put forward in accordance with the Armistice Agreement, and to the proposal for negotiations. Today your side expanded this exercise into a full-scale stage, thus leading the situation to a grave stage.\n\nDespite our repeated protest and warnings, your side is finally waging the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise in a full-scale stage. This is a grave and dangerous war provocation commotion leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to an extreme point.\n\nYou dragged enormous armed personnel and nuclear Operation equipment into South Korea from U.S. military bases on the U.S. mainland and in the Pacific region, including Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines. You are waging a large-scale war exercise together with the armed forces in South Korea by simulating an attack on us.\n\nIn the landing operation in Pohang on 12 March, which signaled the launch of a general offensive in the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, you mobilized the troops of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and commando units, which were brought in from the U.S. mainland and from the bases in the Pacific region, the U.S. forces in South Korea, and the South Korean forces, a total of some 1,000 military planes, such as the fighter-bombers, vertical takeoff and landing assault planes, pursuit-assault planes, electronic jamming planes, refueling planes, and antisubmarine planes, and patrol planes, and hundreds of warships, such as missile-carrying cruisers, missile-carrying destroyers, nuclear-powered submarines, and landing vessels, and waged an offensive operation simulating a landing on the coastal areas of the northern half of the Republic. You are also conducting aerial mobile strike operations, ground offensive operations, landing operations, and commando operations on a large scale.\n\nYou are committing grave military provocations one after another in the DMZ in which the armed forces of the two sides are directly confronting each other. On 4 March, your side shelled our side with artillery in the DMZ in the eastern front; and on 8 March, fired at our side many rounds of a large-caliber machine gun in the DMZ in the western front, committing some 4,100 military provocations as of 14 March from the time your side began the Team Spirit-91 war rehearsal.\n\nBecause of these war rehearsal commotions and military provocations of your side, military confrontation between the two sides is now dashing toward the point of no return. Our side protests and denounces resolutely once again the aggressive Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities as a wanton violation of the Armistice Agreement, an open challenge to us and the supervisory organizations of the Armistice, and intentional maneuvers frustrating the security on the Korean peninsula and North-South dialogue.\n\nWe oppose war and desire peace, but never beg anyone for peace. Our revolutionary Armed Forces and all our people are closely watching the reckless war commotions conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities, and will respond to the provocation with a due measure for self-defense.\n\nYour side will be held totally responsible for creating on the Korean peninsula the situation comparable to that on the eve of war like today, for frustrating the North-South dialogue, and for straining the relations between the two sides extremely."
},
{
"TITLE": "KPA Holds Meetings To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503043891 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503043891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The officers and men of the unit of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] to which Comrade Kim Yong-cho belongs, the naval unit of the KPA to which Comrade An To-chik belongs and the airforce unit of the KPA to which Comrade Choe Sang-hyon belongs held meetings to denounce the “Team Spirit 91” joint military exercises and declared that if the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities unleash a war of aggression, they would revenge themselves on the aggressors a thousand fold.\n\nSpeakers at the meetings angrily denounced the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities who have entered into field exercises of the “Team Spirit 91,” noting that this was driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war.\n\nAll the KPA officers and men, upon receiving orders from the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, keep themselves in ful! combat readiness to cope with the enemy's new war provocation moves, they said, adding: There are no assurances that the reckless war game of the U.S. imperialists who were driven mad with the scheme to ignite another war and of their stooges will not turn into a war against the North.\n\nAs long as the one-beats-a-hundred soldiers who defeated the aggressors and displayed matchless heroic feats in the Fatherland Liberation War stand guard, the defences of our socialist motherland are impregnable, they declared, and stressed:\n\nNone of the aggressors who intrude our territory, seas and sky will be let to go home alive."
},
{
"TITLE": "More Meetings Held To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403105591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0959 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1403105591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "U.S. Imperialists and South Korean Authorities Must Act With Discretion\" —KCNA headline]\n\n[Text] Pyongyang March 14 (KCNA)}—Meetings were held at the Pyongyang thermal power complex, the Sinuiju textile mill and the Hwasong co-op farm in Yongsong district, Pyongyang, and other places to denounce the “Team Spirit 91“ joint maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities.\n\nSpeeches were made there.\n\nThe speakers said that the “Team Spirit 91“ joint maneuvers started by the U.S. imperialists and the No Tae-u ruling group in defiance of the unanimous protests and denunciation by the people at home and abroad are assuming ever more dangerous dimensions with each passing day. This is pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war, they noted.\n\nIt must not go unnoticed that the South Korean authorities unhesitatingly committed grave military provocations by firing bullets and shells at the northern portion of the demilitarized zone along the Military Demarcation Line, timing to coincide with the “Team Spirit 91”, they said, adding: Such military provocations were motivated by the sinister aim to deliberately aggravate the North-South relations and find an excuse to invade our Republic.\n\nThey stressed that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities must act with discretion, looking straight at the invincible strength of our people united with a single heart.\n\nIf the enemy dare ignite a war of aggression on the Korean peninsula, he will face his final doom before our revolutionary Armed Forces and people, they warned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Criticizes U.S. ‘Antisocialist Strategy’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503104091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1002 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503104091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Team Spirit’ Exercises and Anti-Socialist Strategy” — KCNA headline}\n\n[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCBA)—NODONG SINMUN today carries a by-lined article entitled “*Team Spirit’ Exercises and Anti-Socialist Strategy”.\n\nIt says:\n\nIn its anti-socialist moves the United States is persistently following the policy of strength on the one hand and resorting to the “peaceful transition” strategy on the other.\n\nThe double-track anti-socialist offensive of the U.S. imperialists finds its concentrical manifestation in their Korea policy. In an attempt to contain our republic by means of strength, they have converted South Korea into the biggest nuclear forward base in the Far East, where more than 1,000 pieces of nuclear weapons are deployed. and are annually staging Team Spirit“ joint maneuvers, a test nuclear war against us.\n\nThe “Team Spirit” is a heinous challenge to and provocation against our republic and a sinister move to gratify their aggressive ambition by settling the Korean issue by strength, by means of war, not by peaceful means through dialogue.\n\nThe United States is also trying viciously and craftily to realize its anti-DPRK “peaceful transition“ strategy, backed by strength. The U.S. imperialists and their stooges, the South Korean authorities, are trying by hook or by crook to instill the wind of “liberalization” in the northern half of Korea.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists are also foolishly attempting to realize their “peaceful transition” strategy at an early date by laying obstacles in the way of our socialist construction and making us use up our national strength through such large-scale military frenzy as “Team Spirit” maneuvers.\n\nThe “peaceful transition” strategy, a camouflaged, indirect method, is no less dangerous than the direct threat and blackmail of strength.\n\nThese two aggressive methods of the U.S. imperialists constitute an important characteristic of their policy toward Korea at present and it bespeaks that they attach great importance to the Korean peninsula in their anti-socialist offensive and are making desperate efforts to save their policies toward Korea and Asia from bankruptcy by directing the spearhead of aggression on our republic and weakening the socialist position.\n\nOur people are victoriously advancing, successfully smashing the double-track aggressive offensive of the U.S. imperialists.\n\nThe imperialists’ strategies of strength and “peaceful transition“ are powerless to check our people's onward movement and they are doomed to failure."
},
{
"TITLE": "No Tae-u Said Inciting ‘Fratricidal War’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503054291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0425 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503054291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March IS (KCNA)—NODONG SINMUN and MINJU CHOSON today denounce No Tae-u for inciting a fratricidal war.\n\nNo Tae-u told a “graduation ceremony of the military academy that peace on the Korean peninsula can be “preserved” only by military power strong enough to “deter someone's provocation and at the “Airforce Academy” he blared that reinforcing the armed forces is the “key to unification”. He also piffled that the puppet army should establish “strategy and tactics suited to the reality and effective commanding system“, drawing a lesson from the Gulf war.\n\nWhat No said at the puppet army military academ es training tools of war is utterances encouraging them to light the fuse of a war to gratify his wild design to “unify the country by prevailing over communism,” the news analyst of NODONG SINMUN says, and continues:\n\nNo Tae-u is a traitor to the nation and a bellicose element who is not entitled to talk about peace and “unification”.\n\nThe South Korean authorities have turned down our proposal for the adoption of a nonaggression declaration and responded to our call for an end to the war exercises with the “Team Spirit“ joint manoeuvres.\n\nThe bellicose acts of No Tae-u show that the war servant of the U.S. imperialists is trying to bring dark clouds of a nuclear war over the Korean peninsula at any cost.\n\nNo must act with discretion, deeply mindful how serious is the crime he is committing by staging the “Team Spirit“ nuclear war exercises together with the U.S. imperialists.\n\nThe news analyst of MINJU CHOSON says:\n\nNo Tae-u is screwing up the tension and trying to start a war in an effort to stave off the serious crisis of his tottering regime. However, it is not a way out but a way to his doom."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Proposes Coexistence Under Reunification",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0140A Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 18 Jan Y",
"CITATION ID": "912C0140A",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NODONG SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 18, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By reporter Yi Sun-hui",
"FULL TEXT": "[Article by reporter Yi Sun-hui: The North and the South Can Coexist in a Reunified Country“\n\n[Text] The great leader Comrade Kim Il-song taught in his 1991 New Year's address as follows:\n\n“The two systems can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country if they are placed on the basis of the common national traits that have been carried on without a break historically.”\n\nIn the address, the great leader made it clear that the reunification of our country should be carried out under a confederal system formula of one nation, one country and two systems, two governments. He then elucidated that if we stand on the basis of what the Korean nation has in common historically unbroken, the North and the South—even if their systems differ with each other—can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country.\n\nThe proposed reunification based on the confederal system formula—envisaging reunification by means of leaving the two different systems of the North and the South as they are and establishing a reunited nation-state on them—is the most realistic and fairest way of reunification enabling the North and the South to reconcile and reunite with each other as one nation and to realize the reunification of the country peacefully at the earliest possible date.\n\nWe already proposed a long time ago the founding of a democratic confederal republic of Koryo as a way for the North and the South to confederate and establish a reunited nation-state while leaving their different ideologies and systems intact.\n\nThis proposal, for its realistic and rational quality, was met with positive support and approval by the people in the North and the South and the world over as soon as it was announced.\n\nThe South Korean authorities and some other people say that the North and the South took on “heterogeneity” and therefore must regain “homogeneity” before they are reunified.\n\nThis is a sophistry being used by those seeking a permanent national division to justify their criminal attempt.\n\nThe North and the South indeed have been separated for more than 40 years but there has been, and there is, no change in what they have in common as a nation. They remain homogeneous.\n\nWe share the same blood and language, the most fundamental characteristics of a nation. Our nation’s homeland is Korea on which our forefathers have built a long, long history and culture. In other words, as a nation, nothing has changed between the North and the South. If there is anything different between the North and the South at all, it is the heterogeneity associated with the two systems that have existed in the past 40-odd years and it is by no means a big thing in comparison with the national homogeneity that has developed and solidified over thousands of years. The difference between the two systems can by no means be a factor compelling our nation to live in separation nor an obstacle insurmountable in reunifying the North and the South.\n\nThe South Korean authorities, without seeing this fact, cling to their pretext of recovering “homogeneity,” maintaining that there is no alternative but continue the two-states separation until the systems are unified. They are thus calling for “unification of systems” based on a one-nation and one-system formula. What they are doing is tantamount to perpetuating the division endlessly, and to denying reunification after all.\n\nThe problem is not a North-South “heterogeneity” but the South Korean puppets persistently seeking such heterogeneity for the purpose of creating “two Koreas.”\n\nThe successive South Korean ruling circles, extolling the U.S. imperialists as “liberator” and “aider,” spread the worship-America and fear-America thoughts among the people, blunting their spirit of national independence. They brought in the American way of life and left it to gnaw at the traditional, laudable manners aad customs of the Korean nation.\n\nIn the economic area, too, the puppets severed the North-South tics, subjugating the South Korean economy to the U.S. economy.\n\nThe South Korean ruling circles, engrossed in flunkeyism and acts of treason, even came up with the “racial reform doctrine” in an attempt to cut the bloodline of the nation.\n\nAlso, how knavish they were with their anticommunist stratagems and rackets to stir antagonism and jealousy between the North and the South!\n\nWhat the U.S. imperialists and South Korean ruling circles sought was to turn the North and the South into two different nations and thus split both the people and the country into two permanently.\n\nHowever, they were unable to carry out their criminal attempt after all.\n\nThe South Korean people are now strongly resisting the U.S. imperialists’ colonial enslavement policy and waging vigorous struggles under slogans demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops and nuclear weapons and opposing the U.S. economic aggression.\n\nThe policy of anticommunist confrontation pursued by the U.S. imperialists and South Korean reactionaries inevitably wound up bankrupt. And now the southern land is swept by a rising mood for reunification through coalition with communism and with the North.\n\nFrom the very beginning, the Korean people have been a homogeneous nation of one bloodline. As such, they have been a people of integrity and high pride who courageously repelled invasions by outside forces and glorified their history and culture.\n\nFor 36 years, the Japanese imperialist colonial rulers tried to liquidate the Korean nation under the pretext of “integration of mainland Japan and Korea“ or of “the same ancestors and same roots“ but our people not only resisted their attempt to the last and defended the racial traits but also waged glorious struggles to accomplish the historic cause of restoring the fatherland.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists and South Korean puppets are attempting to create “two Koreas” and keep the North and the South separated forever but the Korean people will not tolerate their scheme after all.\n\nLast year, compatriots of all strata in the North and the South met in one place and held the festival of dialogue and reunification. It was an impressive event demonstrating the fact that although separated under different systems, our brethren in the North and the South belong to the same nation, share the same aspiration for reunification, and that they can easily communicate with each other once they meet and can vigorously work out the way for reunification through reconciliation and solidarity.\n\nIt is extremely unrealistic and treasonable that the South Korean ruling circles are calling for “unification of systems“ under the pretext of recovering the “homogeneity” while turning a blind eye to the common national traits which the Korean people have inherited historically generation after generation and to their fervent aspiration for reunification.\n\nUnder the stark reality that the different systems exist in the North and the South and that neither side is willing to make a concession, there is even no telling how long the “reunification of systems” will take. Especially, since “unification of systems” implies one side absorbing the other, the theory can lead to disasters involving conflicts and war.\n\nThe South Korean authorities should abandon the “reunification by prevailing over communism” delusions and respond favorably to our proposal for reunification by the confederal system formula of one nation and one country, two systems and two governments.\n\nTo realize the reunification of the fatherland by establishing a reunified nation-state upon—and leaving intact—the existing systems and governments in the North and the South is the best possible way to resolve the reunification issue with fairness and in consistency with the national interests under the present conditions of our country.\n\nIf the North and the South give prominence to the common national traits and work to resolve the reunification issue on that basis, it is fully possible for them to realize the confederal system reunification and coexist as one nation and in one reunified country.\n\nThe North and the South and our people overseas will without fail expedite the confederal system-based national reunification through their united struggles upholding the militant tasks set forth by the great leader in his New Year's address."
},
{
"TITLE": "CPRF on ‘Suppression’ Before ROK Elections",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503044091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0415 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503044091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text) Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA) —The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland [(CPRF] in its Information No. 583 on March 14 denounced the South Korean authorities for intensifying suppression of the people in a bid to use the local assembly elections in securing a foothold for their long-term office.\n\nRecalling that the South Korean chief exccutive issued a repressive order on March 12 to deal with all acts of violation of the “Election Law” by “law” in such a manner as waging “the war against crimes,” the information said:\n\nA chain of repressive orders and utterances of the South Korean authorities reveal their ulterior intention to openly involve government power in the local assembly elections slated for March 26 on the specious cloak of “fair elections” and brutally suppress the election campaign of the pro-reunification democratic forces.\n\nThe South Korean authorities are now facing a serious crisis of their rule as the struggle of students and people for independence, democracy and reunification is gaining momentum in South Korea and the strife and rift within the “Democratic Liberal Party” (DLP) growing serious and, worse still, the Suso housing episode, an extra-large scandal in which No Tae-u himself and ruling party figures were directly involved, was brought to light.\n\nTheir threat to strictly deal with“ any involvement in elections“ of political parties and illegal acts of organizations during the local assembly elections is intended, as the election law” faked up by them suggests, to check the election campaign of the opposition parties and dissident democratic organizations and rig the “election“ of DLV men through election committee members appointed by them and government power. This is a heinous scheme to lay a foothold for long-term office of the DLP.“"
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Analyzes U.S. Policy of ‘Cosmopolitism’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403125391 Pyongvang Domestic Service in Korean 0018 GMT 6 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1403125391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Pyongyang Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 6, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[NODONG SINMUN 6 March special article: Cosmopolitism Is a Reactionary Ideology Serving the U.S. Imperialists as a Tool for Their World Supremacy”)\n\n[Text] The U.S. imperialists are viciously perpetrating intervention, outrage, aggression, and plunder the world over. What is important in penetrating into the present aggressive nature of the U.S. imperialists is clearly recognizing the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism advocated by the imperialists.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists are cunningly maneuvering to lord it over mankind as the monarch of the world with a worldwide leadership, veiling their ambition for world supremacy with the reactionary doctrine of cosmopolitism. Cosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological trend which embellishes the U.S. imperialists’ policy of arrogant interference and occupation, and serves the realization of their strategy toward global domination.\n\nDear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has noted as follows: Today the U.S. imperialists have combined the reactionary bourgeois racist theory and national chauvinism with the aggressive cosmopolitism to use it as an ideological tool to realize their ambition for world supremacy.\n\nComopolitism—which denies a nation state a self-reliant national economy and national culture, and which advocates a global state and a worldwide economy and culture without nationality—serves the aggression and domination of the imperialists and the exploitation of multinational enterprises.\n\nCosmopclitism holds an important place in the reactionary policy of the U.S. imperialists.\n\nHiding their aggressive nature with the sophism of bourgeois ideology is a hackneyed method of the imperialists. The U.S. imperialists have openly revealed their ambition for world supremacy by challenging the tenor of the present era, in which the trend of independence has been prevalent, and have made particular efforts to use such a reactionary idea as cosmopolitism under the present situation in which the idea cannot be realized.\n\nHistorically, the U.S. imperialists’ policies of intervention, tyranny, aggression, and plunder have been embellished with the sophism of cosmopolitism, and their blood-stained hands, which smell of gun powder, have been veiled under the cloak of cosmopolitism. Herein lies the crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists who maliciously attempt to confuse the reasoning of people, and to make them blind to their aggressive nature.\n\nThe basic intent of cosmopolitism is to disregard the independence of each and every country and nation, and to preach that the homeland of each and every person is the whole world and all people are world citizens.\n\nOn the basis of the theory that all people are equal, those who advocate cosmopolitism contend that all people should desert their fatherland and nation and become world citizens to build a welfare society for all people, and that they should conduct a campaign for world citizenship to form a so-called cosmopolitan government. Furthermore, they fabricate the white race as the most superior race in the world, place a western culture as the most superior culture of mankind, and then, rave that the world should be dominated and harmonized by the distinguished race and developed culture of the West.\n\nInasmuch as people take the root of their lives in their fatherland and nation, they cannot become members of the human race and world citizens before they are members of their nation.\n\nMoreover, it is obvious that a so-called cosmopolitan government, a worldwide economy, and a global culture are not feasible in this world where acute confrontation and struggle between socialism and imperialism and between progressive and reactionary ideologies are basic characteristics of the present era where the universal outlook of mankind is distorted by imperialism and the idea of domination.\n\nTo realize their wild ambition for world supremacy, the U.S. imperialists persistently advocate cosmopolitism. Arrogantly enough, the U.S. imperialists always consider this planet of all mankind as their own, and clamor that the global government preached by cosmopolitism should be the United States.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists are now further intensifying aggression, interference, occupation, and plunder worldwide, using reactionary cosmopolitism as an ideological instrument.\n\nTheir maneuvers under the plausible name of cosmopolitism are clearly manifested in their acting as the “world’s monarch” and as the “international gendarme,” claiming a leading role for the United States in the world.\n\nCosmopolitism is the reactionary ideological foundation of the U.S. imperialists’ theory of the leading role of the United States. Talking about the management and guidance of the world on the basis of the cosmopolitan theory, they preach that the United States has the mission to lead the world.\n\nWashington, the first President of the United States, said that under no circumstances should U.S. acts take into consideration the interests of other countries, and then declared it the basic course of U.S. foreign policy which future generations of the United States should respect.\n\nHis successors have run hard along the road of aggression and plunder, clamoring that the Americans have appeared in the stage of history only to determine whether they are fated to rule over the world or to be subjugated to the others.\n\nBush, the incumbent U.S. President, boasting that U.S. leadership over the world should be handed down from generation to generation, is bent on glorifying the dignity of the United States by power politics based on strength.\n\nTyranny, occupation, war, and plunder have always followed the U.S. imperialists, who have lorded it over mankind as the devastator of justice and the strangler of truth, whatever they may have touched with their interfering hands and wherever they may have set their aggressive foot.\n\nAggression toward the weak countries, the artificial engineering of international feuds, open interference in international issues and their self-proclaimed role as referee; their tyranny in international organizations, and their acting as the international gendarme worldwide— these combine to portray the true appearance of the U.S. imperialists who claim to be the leader of the world.\n\nThe world’s reasonable peopie find the expression of the brigandish nature of imperialism in the arrogance of the U.S. imperialists who see interference as the cosmopolitans’ morality, tyranny as the expression of authority enjoyed by the world leader, and aggression as a resolute act undertaken for the management of the world.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists’ aggressive doctrine of cosmopolitism as such stands fully exposed in our country. Their occupation of South Korea and the continuing division of Korea are the reactionary results of their cosmopolitism.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists applied the tragic plan for partial occupation to our country, which was not even a vanquished country, and imposed the insulting system of occupation on South Korea, and then artificially divided Korea. In view of the principles of justice and the demands of international law, these were intolerable under any circumstances.\n\nWhat is more, those currently in power in the United States are persistently carrying out antireunification maneuvers, arguing that although a reunified Korea may be good for the Korean people, maintaining the other half of the Korean peninsula occupied by a friendly regime is much more favorable to the United States. Thus, the United States provokes indignation from all over the world.\n\nThe division of Korea and other facts reveal that the management of the world is done by the U.S. imperialists and that any claim fabricated and proclaimed by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but an attempt to infringe upon other countries’ sovereignty in the aggressive interest of the United States, and to change the structure of the world and its order.\n\nThe crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists’ aggressive maneuvers finds expression in their attempt to invent the concept of an Asian state of the United States and the concept of a European state of the United States based on the reactionary doctrine of cosmopolitism, and thus bring the continents of the world under their control.\n\nAlthough the United States is a country sitting on the American Continent, the U.S. imperialists claim their country to be an Asian country in front of the Asian countries, and then slyly remark that the United States is a European country, too, in front of the European countries.\n\nWhat the United States seeks to achieve behind such sly remarks is to disintegrate the unity and cooperation among the countries in Asia and Europe by identifying themselves with those countries, and then securing its sphere of influence in these areas.\n\nAsia is for the Asian peoples and Europe is for the European peoples. The United States has no justification to occupy somebody else’s place in Asia or Europe, distant places oceans away.\n\nThis insidious trick by the U.S. imperialists is not accepted in these regions where the cause of converting the world into one governed by independence and anti-U.S. sentiment are on the rise. Rather, they are provoking strong objection and sense of vigilance from these regions.\n\nBy being able to see sharply through the aggressive nature of the U.S. claim that it is an Asian power, which smacks of the cosmopolitan poison, the Asian peoples should reject it resolutely and unite and cooperate with each other in order to build a peaceful and prosperous new Asia.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists see power politics as the first step on the road toward realizing their leading role over the world.\n\nBush, the U.S. imperialist warmonger, made an outrageous remark that the United States has stretched out its hands to virtually every corner of the world, and that the extended hands, once disturbed, will be turned into powerful fists.\n\nThat it is natural for the United States to stretch its hands of domination out to the world because it is in the position of the world’s monarch, and that its extended hands should be turned into iron fists because it is ordained to rule over the world, is the philosophy of rule by power worshipped by the U.S. imperialists who have been accustomed to the aggressive cosmopolitanism.\n\nProceeding from this logic of power, the U.S. imperialists say that it is the pride of America the Great to be able to have its troops stationed in tens of countries around the world, to wield tyranny in many international organizations, and to tempt many countries with baits of aid.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists disguise their power politics and their evil tentacles of world domination as something necessary for attaining global peace. Nevertheless, the defense of global peace babbled about by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but a shield to camouflage the domination of the world by the United States.\n\nThe scheme that the U.S. imperialists carry out under the plausible name of cosmopolitism reveals itself in the fact that they are trying hard to establish a world based on the American-style liberal democracy, describing American values as universal human values.\n\nAdvertising the superiority of their moral values, the U.S. imperialists are maneuvering to accelerate the process of unification and the commonness of the world as its basis.\n\nSuccessive U.S. presidents were fond of uttering such pleasantries as that the United States cannot be its genuine self unless it stands in a lofty moral position.\n\nThis means that the United States is the embodier of world morality, standing as it does above ethics and morality.\n\nHowever, the notion that imperialism can be reconciled with ethics and morality cannot convince anybody. If the U.S. imperialists have any kind of moral principles, they must be the reverse of ethics, seeing injustice as justice and evil as good.\n\nThe imperialist behavior stems from greed. The U.S. imperialists always assess and approach international issues with other countries based on their aggressive and plundering objectives and greedy interests.\n\nPreposterously branding countries that maintain independence, and defend the banner of revolution as closed- door countries or terrorist countries, the U.S. imperialists intensify their reactionary offensive against those countries, while beautifying their brazen-faced aggression against, and interference in, sovereign countries as acts of protecting human rights or defending democracy.\n\nNot satisfied with the occupation of the other half of Korea, the U.S. imperialists have been conducting the Team Spirit war exercise every year, thereby creating the threat of northward invasion, while clamoring about the threat of southward invasion or the defense of peace. They also claimed that they were defending the liberal democratic system after invading Grenada and Panama. After triggering a war as a result of their ill-suited interference in regional feuds, they said that they were trying to build a world governed by laws, not the law of the jungle. Such an assertion is nothing but an insult to the conscience of the world and to progressive mankind.\n\nMany people in the world still vividly remember U.S. President Bush's remarks that the human spirit cannot be strangled or the national spirit obliterated with a wall alone in his commentary on the breaking down of the wall between East and West Germany.\n\nEven so, the U.S. imperialists ignore the call for the wall of division in Korea to be broken down, while maneuvering to keep the wall in place.\n\nThe wall of division in Korea is contemporary evidence that manifests the criminal truth about American-style values, which are a mixture of contradictions and falsehood.\n\nFrom the contradictory attitude of the United States, the progressive people of the world keenly realized the false moral values of the United States and its antimankind and antipeace nature. The United States claimed that certain barriers should be removed and other barriers should be kept intact. Thus, the progressive people of the world express indignation over such an attitude.\n\nThe great moral principle, in which the famous U.S. politicians take pride, and which they claim enables the United States to exist as the United States, should be branded as the principle of injustice which mankind should curse.\n\nHanging out the signboards of cosmopolitism, the U.S. imperialists are attempting to establish a free world on the earth. The free world which they talk about means the world where the United States can act as the ruler.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists, attaching great significance to cosmopolitism, are running amok to spread it for the purpose of reducing the world to the so-called free world which they want.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists have the idea that if they implant the U.S.-style liberal democracy in all nations, the world will become by itself a possession of the United States. Thus, they are viciously advocating the theory of a free world.\n\nRaving that when mankind is allowed to have the right of choice, it chooses freedom, the U.S. imperialists said that the system which they want to implant in many world nations is the system realized on the basis of freedom, individual creative power, and market principles.\n\nFreedom, choice, and so forth advertized by the U.S. imperialists are, in essence, freedom and choice which make one participate in the beastly struggle for existence and for survival by victimizing and oppressing other people.\n\nIt is the original nature of independent mankind to aspire to genuine freedom and happiness by opposing various forms of domination and subjugation. It is an inevitable trend of human history that independent mankind chooses a genuine society which safeguards and realizes the independence of mankind, instead of a society similar to the beastly world where precious dignity and the value of mankind are reduced to the standard of animals.\n\nThe capitalist society causes various social evils and social tragedy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and advances without a sense of direction by writhing amid social disorder and pain. If one defines this society as the society where freedom and democracy are realized, such a definition would indeed be the complete reversing of black and white.\n\nThe maneuvers of cosmopolitism by the U.S. imperialists, who are attempting to establish a free world while advertizing the corrupt society lacking vitality or a future as the ideal of the people, are indeed preposterous, like a house of cards.\n\nThrough their experience, goals, and cool judgment amid the whirlpool that is the history of the complex and diversified present era, a great number of people of the world deny the liberal democratic system advocated by the U.S. imperialists with reason, and firmly believe that only the genuine man-centered socialism which embodies the dignity and value of mankind is the way to rescue mankind.\n\nCosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological poison which blocks the advance of the revolutionary cause of the working class and spoils the people's consciousness of the revolution.\n\nThe reactionary nature of the cosmopolitism advocated by the U.S. imperialists is that cosmopolitism has become an ideological poison which denies the independence of the national state and violates and infringes upon its independence.\n\nAs indicated by the chuche idea, independence of the national state is as precious as life for all people. To live in a national state is an immovable order of life for all the people, formed through the course of the long history of mankind.\n\nWhat gives the life and means of living to the people are the fatherland and the state, and linked to the destiny of each individual person are the fatherland and the state.\n\nIndeed, the fatherland and the people are the source of life and the mother’s bosom of all mankind. If a man thinks that he can live as an abstract public figure of the world, going away from the bosom of the fatherland and the people, he will be branded as a snob [songmul] who has lost his mind and forgotten the basis of his life, and as a nation-seller who has betrayed the nation where he was born.\n\nHowever, the advocates of cosmopolitism contend that such concepts as motherland, nation, state, class, and party are all meaningless in the internationalized world, and that panhuman phrases such as planet, humanity, human world, and civilization should be in vogue. This is a reactionary sophism that dulls the people's national consciousness of independence.\n\nThe nations and the people develop themselves together with the war history of mankind. At the same time, international relations are formulated and consolidated among the nations and the people in the course of such development. This is an inevitable phenomenon.\n\nWhat is at issue is on what basis, one views the history of mankind. The chuche idea defines the shape and characteristics of the world, and teaches that the main forces which lead the basic flow of human history are the people in each individual independent state.\n\nIf we recall human history, we come to know that the independent development of each individual nation and people served as the basis for the advance of global history and the development of mankind, and as the basic content of both.\n\nHistory clearly proved that by denying the independence of the nation and the people, one cannot talk, even a word, about the development of the world, the progress of mankind, and the destiny of planet.\n\nOur people achieved the independent development of the nation by maintaining the line of independence, self-reliance, and self-defense under the leadership of the party and the leader. Thus, we are greatly contributing to the common cause of mankind.\n\nHowever, the imperialist stooges, who advocate cosmopolitism, raved that claims of national sovereignty are collective egoism, and defiled the sacred struggle of the people in many world nations who are defending the national right for self-determination and building the national economy and culture. Thus, they advertised a preposterous global economy and culture of no nationality.\n\nThe purpose of the vicious denial of national independence with the ideological poison of cosmopolitism by the imperialists is to pave the way for their aggression. No one can conquer the people with a strong sense of independence. On the contrary, the people, who lost their sense of national independence and whose determination to defend and glorify themselves is weak, cannot precisely realize the reactionary doctrine of imperialism and domination that are concealed by the theory of the common destiny of mankind and the theory of the superiority of panhuman values.\n\nThis is why the imperialists are maneuvering to eradicate national consciousnesses of independence and persistently advertising cosmopolitism.\n\nThe people in all world nations who treasure independence should correctly realize the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism, and resolutely crush the doctrine of cosmopolitism with the independent strength of the nation.\n\nThe reactionary nature of cosmopolitism as pursued by the U.S imperialists finds another expression in that it has been used as an ideological tool barring the tide toward world independence, and impeding the healthy development of international relations.\n\nThose who advocate cosmopolitism claim that it is the way of present international developments that national state, national economy, and national culture gradually wither away, and a global government, world economy, and world culture are formed, by which the world becomes homogeneous and common.\n\nThis is nothing but a sophism that misrepresents those who undertake the world movement and its motivating force and the essence of present international relations.\n\nThe main characteristics of the change and development of the world are that it is becoming independent. The motivating force that holds the control lever of the world movement, are those people advocating independence. Hence, the appearance of the world, its essential content, and the aspects of its development are decided by the progressive world people advocating independence.\n\nAdvocating independence by opposing domination, subjugation, exploitation, and oppression, is the original nature of mankind and the life of the nation. This constitutes the unique characteristics of progressive mankind.\n\nThus. more nations and more people are advancing to achieve freedom and independence by breaking the chains of imperialism and colonialism. This constitutes the essential content of the change and development of the world. The course of the world toward independence is an inevitable and positive course in the development of human history.\n\nThe independence of the world is achieved through the independent struggle of all nations and all people. Thus, it cannot be pushed and realized by so-called global management and guidance.\n\nHowever, the imperialists are lecturing on the benefits of international management and guidance of the world. while trying to make the global government stand in confrontation with the people's aspirations for independence. They are running amok to block by force the trend of the world toward independence.\n\nThe theory on global government advocated by the imperialists runs totally counter to the idea of world independence because world independence is a worldwide trend realized through the respect and the demonstrable independence of each nation and people. Global government will only work to oppress and infringe upon the independence of each nation and each people.\n\nThe theory on global government instigated by cosmopolitism is preposterous because as long as there are imperialists and dominationists, the attempt for global domination cannot be removed.\n\nThe basic nature of the imperialists is for aggression and plunder. This finally returns to ambition for conquering the world. In the present century when the fierce struggle of the imperialists and dominationists is being waged to expand the sphere of influence, the so-called global government lacks reality, and will only act to further instigate their ambition for world domination.\n\nToday the optimistic advocates of global government think that they can establish a global government in such a manner as to strengthen its authority, seeking a model in such international organizations as the United Nations. However, many events taking place in the international arena make one realize that such an idea is unrealistic and is a dream.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists abused the sacred name of the United Nations when they fabricated a puppet regime in South Korea, and when they dragged the armed forces of their 15 following nations into the Korean war. They are still abusing this name for keeping the U.S. troops in South Korea. This raises great worry and disappointment on the part of progressive mankind, who aspires to global peace and international justice.\n\nAs long as there are the imperialists and dominationists in the world, and as long as the U.S. imperialists’ self-righteousness and tyranny are allowed in the international arena, no one can think of forming and developing sound and fair international relations.\n\nThe development of the world is only possible when the whole world is made independent. Only when they join themselves in the great current toward the independence of the world under the banner of independence, can the people of all the progressive countries of the world properly shape the destiny of their countries on their own, and build an independent, new world free from domination and subjugation.\n\nThe imperialists’ strategy for cosmopolitism, intended to benumb the people's revolutionary consciousness, and reverse the trend of history, is doomed to failure in the face of the struggle of the people who are advancing under the banner of independence.\n\nEven the high-ranking figures in U.S. political circles pointed out that the U.S. Congress reproves and criticizes other countries nearly every day, and admitted that the act of the United States to denounce the events of the world [segye il] all day long is foolish. They confessed that the crisis, with which the United States is faced as the result of having become an imperialist state which excessively stretched out its hands [chinachige sonul ppochida], makes even them shudder.\n\nJust as they have said, because of pernicious evils inherent in capitalism and the debt crisis facing the United States, and because of the fierce anti-imperialist and anti-U.S. struggle of the revolutionary people of the world, tue hands which the U.S. imperialists have stretched out to the world will tremble with fear.\n\nThe aggressive doctrine of cosmopolitism does not go down well with people advocating independence. Today the great doctrine of independence has captivated the hearts of mankind and bcurgeois reactionary ideologies, including cosmopolitism, are breaking into fragments in the face of the rush of the world to independence.\n\nIt is inevitable that cosmopolitism and all other reactionary thoughts will be bankrupt under the bright rays of the great chuche idea.\n\nImperialism is destined to destruction with the collapse of cosmopolitism."
},
{
"TITLE": "Government Delegation Returns From Japan",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503105291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1028 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503105291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The government delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea led by Chon In-chol, vice-minister of foreign affairs, returned home today after participating in the second intergovernmental full-dress talks for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Japan held in Tokyo.\n\nIt was met at the airport by Kim Chae-suk, vice-minister of foreign affairs, and Councillor of the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang Dong Buming."
},
{
"TITLE": "Soviet Envoy Holds News Conference in Pyongyang",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503044291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0420 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503044291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—A press conference was held at the Soviet Embassy here Thursday on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the conclusion of the agreement on economic and cultural cooperation between the USSR and the DPRK.\n\nAmbassador Alexandr Kapto touched on the development of cooperation and exchange between the two countries in the economic and cultural fields over the past 42 years since the signing of the agreement and elaborated on the need to strengthen relations in these fields in the future."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il Replies to Birthday Greetings",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503110291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1022 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503110291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA}—Dear Comrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to foreign party leaders in reply to their messages of greetings on his birthday.\n\nComrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to Dr. Vassos Lyssarides, chairman, and Takis Hadjidemetriou, secretary general, of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party of Cyprus; Takako Doi, chairwoman of the Central Executive Committee of the Japan Social-Democratic Party: Habimana Bonaventure, general secretary of the National Revolutionary Movement for Development of Rwanda; Herving Chung, chairman of the Caribbean National Movement: Sam Marcy, chairman of the Workers World Party of the United States; Guillermo Garcia Ponce, general secretary of “New Alternative“ of Venezuela; Jose Francisco Aguilar Bulgarelli, general secretary of the popular force organized in Costa Rica; Jorge del Prado, general secretary, and Friddy Arana, international secretary, of the Central Committee of the Peruvian Communist Party: Rolando Brena Pantoja, president of the National Executive Committee of the Left Revolutionary Union of Peru; Genaro Ledesma Izquieta, chairman of the People’s Front of Workers, Peasants and Students of Peru: Rigoberto Padilla Ruz, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Honduras; and Eric Trevett, general secretary of the Central Committee of the New Communist Party of Great Britain.\n\nComrade Kim Chong-il in the messages expressed the belief that friendly relations forged between the Workers’ Party of Korea and the above-said parties will continue to develop favourably and wished the party leaders great success in their responsible work."
},
{
"TITLE": "Youth Mark Labor Exploits in Railway Projects",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503091691 Pyongvang Domestic Service in Korean 2100 GMT 10 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503091691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Pyongyang Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 10, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The railway construction to replace the narrow railroad between Haeju and Ongjin and between Singgangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad is being pushed ahead rapidly.\n\nThrough the persistent labor struggle of members of the youth railway construction shock brigade and supporters, railroad ties were laid and the railroad was extended over several scores of ri [1 ri is equivalent to 400 meters] in 20 days recently. Besides, the project of leveling the grade on mountain slopes and railroad repair work have been pushed for on a large scale. The work of leveling the ground and framework construction have been accelerated, and more gravel, stones, sand, and soil than planned have been made made available to use for repairing the station compound.\n\nThus, a guarantee for completing the construction of two sections of the railroad ahead of schedule has been provided.\n\nMembers of the youth railway construction shock brigade, who were assigned the project of extending the railroad, waged a vigorous labor struggle with the same spirit and vigor they had when they completed the construction of the railroad between Haeju and Hasong in a short period of time. Thus, they laid railroad ties on, and broadened the railroad on, a 20 odd-ri section between Sohaeju Station and Pyoksong Station.\n\nUpon receiving the order of the respected supreme commander, members of the youth shock brigade accelerated the work by thoroughly preparing themselves to cope with the new war provocation maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet clique. They are constantly increasing the speed of the project of laying railroad ties and broadening the railroad between Pyoksong Station and Singangnyong Station.\n\nMembers of the youth shock brigade of Kangnyong county, who are charged with the project of replacing the narrow railroad between Singangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad, have accomplished the work of securing over 700 cubic meters of gravel, sand, and stones, which is said to require more than a month, ahead of schedule by highly demonstrating the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and arduous struggle and vigor for extermination of the enemy, and by overcoming various difficulties. Thus, they effected innovations.\n\nThrough such struggle, they opened a breakthrough to complete ahead of schedule a number of framework construction pro ts. including an iron bridge and drainage work.\n\nThe railroad construction between Haeju and Ongjin is also being carried out rapidly. The youth, who were assigned the difficult work of lowering the grade on mountain slopes to 10 meters, made several hundred holes with dynamite in only seven days with the Paektu revolutionary spirit, and pulled down 6,000-odd cubic meters of soil through successive blasting.\n\nMembers of the youth shock brigade in Pyoksong county transported several hundred cubic meters of soil and materials each day, and increased the speed of laying railroad ties, widening the railroad, and repairing the railroad by 1.5 to two times over that planned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kye Ung-tae, Officials Attend Railway Meeting",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503113591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503113591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—A national meeting of railway workers was held here on March 14 and 15.\n\nThe meeting summed up the successes and experience gained in railway transportation under the wise leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] and discussed tasks to effect a new turn in this domain in the same fighting spirit and mettle displayed in the postwar period of great Chollima upsurge.\n\nThe meeting was attended by Kye Ung-tae, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the C.C. [Central Committee], WPK, Choe Yong-nim, alternate member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., WPK and vice-premier of the Administration Council, and other officials concerned.\n\nKye Ung-tae read out a congratulatory message of the WPK Central Committee to the participants in the meeting.\n\nThe WPK Central Committee in the message pointed out that the railway transport of the country has turned into a modern one with the successful realization of electrification and the fast progress of the work for the introduction of heavy rails and automation, into an independent socialist railway transport with solid foundations for the self-supply of various means of carriage including 8-axle electric locomotives and 100-ton wagons.\n\nIt noted with high appreciation that the railway workers have made great contributions to the acceleration of socialist construction by displaying matchless heroism and self-sacrificing spirit in their endeavours to carry through the party's policy of railway transport with intense loyalty to the socialist country and the people.\n\nUnderlining the tasks facing railway transportation, it stressed the need to make the maximum utilization of the existing material and technical foundations of railway transport, further accelerate the chuche- orientation, modernization and scientification of railway transport and press ahead with new railway projects and thus further supplement the railway networks of the country and expend big efforts on scientific researches and the training of technical personnel.\n\nYi Kil-song, chairman of the Transport Commission, delivered a report.\n\nIt is an event of great significance in the development of our country’s railway transport to hold a national meeting of railway workers on the meaningful day marking the lapse of 30 years since the great leader Comrade Kim Il-song gave highly important teachings at the meeting of active workers in the domain of transport on March 14, 1961, he said.\n\nHe noted that, deeply taking into consideration the position and role of railway transport in the development of the national economy, the great leader and our party defined railways as the artery of the country, as the pilot of the national economy, and have clearly indicated the road ahead of raiiway transport in each period and at each stage of the developing revolution.\n\nAccording to his report, under the plan of the great leader who defined the basic orientation of development of railway transport in keeping with the geographical conditions of the country which has most of its land covered with mountains and abounds in power resources, nearly all railway lines, not only trunk lines but even branch lines and railway lines branching into enterprises, have been switched over to electric traction, with the result that the freight turnover by electric haulage accounts for more than 90 percent of the total and the unitary traction by electric locomotives has reached the stage of completion.\n\nThe total extension of the nation’s railways has markedly increased, a grand loopline of railway networks have taken shape and the railway transport capacity increased remarkably with the construction of linkages, round-about lines, partial double tracks and mixed lines in different places of the country.\n\nAs a result of the vigorous “Drive for extra-haulage on schedule without accident to implement the decisions of the 18th plenary meeting of the Sth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea” upwards of 13 million more tons of freight were carried than the rated traction last year alone. Many locomotive drivers have carried out their assignments for the Third Seven-Year Plan (1987-1993).\n\nSpeeches were made at the meeting.\n\nThe speakers called upon all the railway workers to carry through the party's policy of railway transport in the same spirit and mettle displayed during the past war and the great Chollima upsurge, upholding the slogan “When our party is determined we can do anything!” and thus make greater contributions to increasing the potential of the independent national economy of the country.\n\nA letter of pledge was adopted at the meeting."
},
{
"TITLE": "Man's ‘Independence’ in Socialism Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503122591 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0010 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503122591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Pyongyang Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[NODONG SINMUN 12 March special article: “Our Socialism Is a Superior Social System That Guarantees Independence to the People“\n\n[Text] Our country’s socialism is displaying a higher degree of superiority and vitality with the passage of time. The source of the unrivaled superiority and the invincible vitality of our socialism lies in the fact that it completely embodies the essential demands of man.\n\nOur socialism, which has its roots deep in this land, is a unique socialism that was built and is being developed and brought to perfection with the great chuche idea as its foundation. The chuche idea is the ideological foundation of our socialism and our socialism shines as a superior socialism which has thoroughly embodied the essential demands of men, as it is based on the chuche idea.\n\nFully explaining once again the superiority of our socialism in a series of documents released recently, the dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has shed light on the fact that socialism has, above all, wonderfully embodied the independent demands of men. This is a valuable ideological and theoretical guideline needed to deeply understand and glorify the superiority of our own style of socialism even further.\n\nThe dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has noted: Learning from the painful life they experienced in the past as colonial slaves, and from today’s new, free, and rewarding socialist life, our people have drawn a clear lesson that only socialism provides the people with independence, and are devoted to the struggle to endlessly value and defend our socialism that completely defends the popular masses’ independence.\n\nMan is a social being that assumes independence as its essential nature. Making the working masses achieve independence and their independent demands is a practical yardstick with which to rate the nature and superiority of a social system.\n\nGenerally, the superiority of a social system can be determined on the basis of how it embodies the essential demands of man. When it comes to the essential demands of man, it means the independent demands before anything else.\n\nA society can be called an advanced and superior social system only when it satisfactorily embodies the desire of man to be free from all manner of subordination and to live and develop an independent life.\n\nThe superiority of our social system which has embodied the independent desire of man lies in the fact that it completely guarantees our people with sociopolitical independence.\n\nIf independence can be likened to man’s life, it generally means sociopolitical life. Man has two kinds of lives— physical life and sociopolitical life. The essential charac— of man lie in the fact that he has sociopolitical life.\n\nMan's rights are, above all, sociopolitical rights and human dignity is to be guaranteed by sociopolitical independence. To realize sociopolitical independence is a precondition for realizing all manner of essential desires of man. Under the condition where the popular masses are subordinated socially and politically, man can benefit nothing from the remaking of society, nor can he free himself from the fetters of an old ideology and culture.\n\nTo defend and safeguard sociopolitical independence is for the popular masses a vital matter for realizing independence.\n\nWith the socialist revolution completed in our country, no social and economic conditions restricting the sociopolitical independence exist. In addition, the working masses are completely guaranteed sociopolitical independence.\n\nSocialist ownership of the government and production means is defended, strengthened, and developed without interruption. As a result, the popular masses are firmly guaranteed sociopolitical independence.\n\nThe independent right of the popular masses finds its expression mainly in the exercise of national sovereignty. It was because they were unable to have a say-so in the government and production means that the popular masses lost their sociopolitical independence and were forced to suffer a life of slavery for thousands of years.\n\nOnly when they become the masters of the socialist government and production means, can the popular masses defend and realize their independence. Sociopolitical independence is tied to genuine freedom and the right to sociopolitical life, which are expressed in the direct access the popular masses have to national sovereignty and their unrestricted participation in running state affairs.\n\nToday, the average working people are actively participating in running state affairs, as the masters of the state and society, and each and every one of them can exercise their right to elect and to be elected, regardless of their sex, occupation, wealth, degree of knowledge, political views, and religious differences.\n\nDeputies to the Supreme People's Assembly and other people's assemblies at all levels, including the workers, members of cooperative farms, and intellectuals— representatives of the working people—manage and run state affairs according to the independent demands and the will of the popular masses. Also, with the socialist ownership unilaterally dominating the production means, the economy is managed, run, and developed without interruption, according to plans in a way that suits the demands and interest of the popular masses.\n\nThe w king masses’ independence can be defended and realiz J only when the position of the popular masses concerning national sovereignty is raised even further, and social ownership over production means is strengthened. This is a truth proven by practice.\n\nAlso, thanks to the profound consideration of the party and leader which provides and brightens the noble political life, each and every one of our people enjoys the most valuable and rewarding sociopolitical life.\n\nOur people are ‘reely involved in sociopolitical activity when they are lined up behind certain political organizations, such as the party and working organizations, and are sufficiently guaranteed the freedom of the press, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, and freedom of demonstrations.\n\nThe mass media in our country, which are in the hands of the popular masses, serve the working masses in achieving the cause of independence. In our country there can be no such thing as infringement on the democratic freedom and the rights of the popular masses.\n\nThe realities of our country which guarantee the working masses substantive rights as the masters of the state and society and politics, and all the members of society, lead a sound and revolutionary organizational life in certain sociopolitical organizations, demonstrate that our socialism is a superior social system which defends and realizes the people's independence.\n\nAnother superior element of our socialism embodying the independent demands of man is well expressed in the fact that it has freed them from the fetters of nature and old ideology and culture.\n\nSociopolitical independence is very important for man. Nevertheless, it is not the whole of independence. The popular masses’ sociopolitical independence can be realized when the socialist system is set up, it is not yet entirely free from the fetters of nature and the old ideology and culture.\n\nEven after the socialist system is set up, the legacy of the exploited society is to remain for a certain period of time, serving as a basic obstacle to completely realizing the independence of the popular masses. For this reason, only when the revolution is carried out without interruption, even after a socialist society is established, can the people, occuping their position as the masters of society and playing their role as the masters, consummate the popular masses’ cause of independence.\n\nTo continue the revolution is the most positive way of realizing independence for the popular masses.\n\nUnder the guidance of the party, our country is accelerating the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural—while firmly maintaining the independent stand.\n\nThe independent stand is the most correct stand to solidify and develop and glory our socialism by carrying out the revolution and construction on our own, and the lines of the three revolutions are the correct lines for socialist and communist construction.\n\nOur revolutionary practice has proved that when the independent stand is maintained and the lines of the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural— are implemented, socialism can be defended under any adverse circumstances and the socialist cause can be hastened victoriously along the most straightforward road.\n\nWith socialist construction vigorously carried out under the banner of the three revolutions in our country, the working masses enjoy a more independent and creative life, and the legacies of the old society are steadily disappearing in every field of social life.\n\nThe cause of completely realizing the independence of the popular masses which began as a struggle to smash the old exploitative system is being successfully achieved through the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural.\n\nThe healthy and civilized ideological and cultural life and affluent material life enjoyed today by our people is a vigorous manifestation of the superiority of our socialism.\n\nOur country's socialism not only realizes the independence of the popular masses, but also firmly guarantees it. Defending the independence of the popular masses based on the principle of self-defense in .iense is a superiority of our socialism.\n\nAlthough the struggle to attain independence is arduous, no less arduous is the struggle to defend and safeguard the independence that has already been won.\n\nIn order to defend and safeguard the independence of the popular masses, it is imperative to stage a principled but positive struggle.\n\nThe imperialists and reactionaries are now viciously maneuvering to rob the people in socialist countries of independence and to fetter them again as colonial slaves.\n\nIn order to smash the maneuvers of the imperialists who are bent on robbing the people in socialist countries of independence, and to firmly defend independence, it is imperative to strengthen defense capability.\n\nWithout the self-defense capability to defend the independence and the sovereignty of the country and the people against the imperialist aggression, it is impossible to think of the independence of the popular masses.\n\nToday, the imperialists, while clamoring about detente and peace, are on the lookout for an opportunity to invade other countries, maintaining and strengthening military blocs and beefing up military forces.\n\nIt is imperative to resolutely struggle against the imper.- alists and strengthen national defense capabilities, not only for the independence of one’s own country and people, but also for the cause of converting the whole world into one governed by independence.\n\nOur people have strengthened the capabilities of our self-defense by thoroughly implementing the party's self- defense military lines, and are now capable of repelling any kind of aggressive maneuvers of the imperialists and of firmly defending the independence of the country and people.\n\nThis is an important element that guarantees the invincibility of our country's socialism and its bright future.\n\nOur people's support for, and confidence in, our own type of socialism, which is built on the immortal chuche idea and which thoroughly defends and realizes the independence of the popular masses, remain firm and unwavering.\n\nOur people are firmly convinced that our socialism is the best, and have an endless attachment to the socialist cause of chuche.\n\nOur people should glorify our socialism even further by embodying the chuche idea under the guidance of the great leader and the great party, and should bring the revolutionary cause to perfection while advancing along the socialist road no matter what difficulties and ordeals they may encounter."
},
{
"TITLE": "Specific Projects Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0133A Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 15 Jan 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "912C0133A",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NODONG SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Reports by special correspondent Yi Myong-chan entitled “At the Cooperative Farms in Nampo City” and by special correspondent Pak Yong-tok entitled “In Yang-gang Province“",
"FULL TEXT": "[Reports by special correspondent Yi Myong-chan entitled “At the Cooperative Farms in Nampo City” and by special correspondent Pak Yong-tok entitled “In Yang-gang Province“ published under the headline: “By Vigorously Launching the Soil-Covering Campaign, Let Us Resolutely Improve the Quality of the Land“]\n\n[Excerpt] At the Cooperative Farms in Nampo City\n\nThe great leader Comrade Kim II-song taught as follows in this year's New Year's message:\n\n“In the agricultural sector this year we must decisively improve the soil fertility of the land under cultivation according to the requirements of the chuche agricultural method, scientifically and technologically conduct agriculture, and without fail attain the targets for grain production and develop the rural economy by diverse methods to suit the natural geographical conditions.”\n\nHighly supporting this year's New Year's message of the great leader, the agricultural workers, in addition to the clerical and other workers of Nampo City, who have rushed forward as one to the struggle to increase the soil fertility of land under cultivation, vigorously launched a soil-spreading battle from the beginning of the year, and are achieving the innovation of completing 2-3 percent of the total area of cornfields each day.\n\nFrom the time the cornfield soil-covering battle began until now we have achieved the result of carrying out soil-covering in over 50 percent of the cornfield area throughout the city.\n\nIn this way, following the example of the Chongsan Cooperative Farm in Kangso-kuyok, which victoriously finished the soil-covering battle at the end of last year, the city’s many farms, including the Kochang, Kangson, Toji, and Taedae cooperative farms, are in the final stages of the soil-covering battle.\n\nThe innovative result of smashing through the 50- percent mark of total cornfield area within a short time after the soil-covering battle began, is a manifestation of the burning loyalty of the agricultural workers and support personnel here who are thoroughly implementing unconditionally the intentions of the party.\n\nIn order to thoroughly carry out the soil-covering battle, the city rural economic committee and other agricultural guidance organs underscored the requirements of the chuche agricultural method among the party members and workers, and followed this up by intensifying technical guidance, and setting up the necessary economic organizational work.\n\nThe agricultural workers and support personnel of the Chollima, Hanggu, and Waudo districts, effectively utilizing mechanical means and various hauling methods, while firing up their spirits from the start of the first combat of the new year, are overfulfilling their daily soil-covering tasks. In this way, they achieved the result of qualitatively accomplishing 70 percent of the soil- covering of the entire area of cornfields in the districts here.\n\nOn the other hand, even Kangso-kuyok and Yonggang County, which have large areas of cornfields, rationally selected fresh soil sites, concentrated their labor and machinery, and are achieving innovative results every day.\n\nThe revolutionary fervor of the masses mobilized to the soil-covering battle was high, and the greater the work results shown, the more the city turned its due attention to having them thoroughly implement the demands of the chuche agricultural method.\n\nThe struggle to vigorously support the soil-covering combat is progressing even more briskly among the working class of the city’s factories and enterprises. The laborers and technicians of the Chollima Iron and Steel Complex, the Nampo Smelting Complex, and the Kumsong Tractor General Factory are in the forefront of the support work.\n\nIn Yanggang Province\n\nHighly upholding the New Year's message of the great leader, the party members and workers in Yanggang Province have vigorously launched a soil-covering battle and are reaping great results.\n\nAccording to a wrap-up of various reporting, the province is overfulfilling its daily soil-covering plan by an average of l. G- fold.\n\nIn order to thoroughly implement the instructions of the great leader to do a good job of soil-covering, the provincial party committee here set up concrete measures for implementation, and in order to have them carried out without fail, saw to it that above all the party and administrative functionaries demonstrate a high level of revolutionary spirit, party spirit, working-class spirit, and people-mindedness. They organized and began the project in a revolutionary manner.\n\nResponsible functionaries of the provincial party committee and the provincial administrative and economic guidance committee, continuing their duties at the site of the soil-covering battle, carefully explained and propagandized the teachings of the great leader and the intentions of the party, discussed the methods one by one, and set up the necessary measures in a timely fashion so that the soil-covering achievements could continue, even under winter conditions where the soil was frozen deep by the biting cold.\n\nThe functionaries of Kim Hyong-kwon County, utilizing various means of hauling, including cableways, not to mention mechanical means, meticulously laid the groundwork for the organization work in order to carry the soil in large quantities. Meanwhile, on the other hand, they are leading them, standing in the forefront of the masses as a real model of leadership by personal example.\n\nPochon County is motivating the masses, having them search in various places—including the edge of the Karimchon—for rich sources of soil and humus, and having them dig it up and move it in a timely manner.\n\nIn this way, various counties in the province, beginning with Kim Hyong-kwon and Pochon counties, are succeeding in overfulfilling the soil-covering plan over 80 percent.\n\nProvincial-level organs also are aggressively providing support to the soil-covering battle. [passage omitted]"
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il Encourages Activities",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0133B Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 15 Jan 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "912C0133B",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NODONG SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Article by staff reporter",
"FULL TEXT": "[Article by staff reporter entitled “With a Self-Confident Fighting Spirit” published under the headline: “By Vigorously Launching the Soil-Covering Campaign, Let Us Resolutely Improve the Quality of Land“]\n\n[Text] The dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il pointed out as follows:\n\n“In order to increase agricultural production we must dynamically launch a struggle to increase the soil fertility of wet and dry fields.”\n\nWith burning resolve to carry out to the end, unconditionally, the task set forth by the great leader in this year’s New Year's message, the party members and agricultural workers of the cooperative farms of various areas who have vigorously launched into the work, are even more vigorously carrying out a soil-covering battle to increase the land's fertility. Worker-farmer correspondents of various areas are sending in news of how, since the beginning of the year, they are greatly expanding their successes.\n\nWorker-farmer correspondent Comrade Son Chae-mo has sent us news that the Mupyong Cooperative Farm in Chonchon County is carrying out the soil-covering battle in a big way. Functionaries of this farm have been putting their shoulders to the difficult and arduous urgent task, and are positively arousing the enthusiasm of the masses by means of energetic political work. Thus, in every soil-covering battle site of all the workteams, new innovations are being created day after day.\n\nIn particular, the farm workers of the No. 2 and No. 3 workteams are setting up combat objectives, and overfulfilling the daily soil-covering plans.\n\nWorker-farmer correspondent Comrade Chon Song-hun has sent us news of the soil-covering battle of the Taechong Cooperative Farm in Unpa County. At this farm they have set up the objective of spreading soil on several hundred chongbos [one chongbo equals 2.451 acres] of cornfields and have been in high spirits as they carried out a general mobilization of all their forces. Comrade Cho Yun-sik, leader of the No.2 workteam, and other primary level functionaries correctly set up their daily combat objectives and are heightening their performance by means of correct operations and direction. In particular, they are making many means of conveyance to suit their own actual circumstances and ardently carrying out the soil-covering project.\n\nDuring the past few days, the Tokpo Cooperative Farm in Myongchon County has been achieving some two times greater successes in soil-covering in the cornfields than before. According to news sent in by worker-farmer correspondent Comrade Yi Chi-ho, farm functionaries such as Comrades Yi Chong-chu and Kim Mun-hyon are standing in the van of the struggle and are encouraging and inspiring the members of the League of Socialist Working Youth (LSWY) of the farm by personal example. The farm's LSWY members volunteered to take charge of cumbersome tasks and, giving full play to the vigor and passion of youth, are markedly increasing soil-covering performance. As soon as news of their model behavior spread, all the farm members set up high objectives and are overfulfilling them each day.\n\nNews that the Pogu Subfarm of the Orchard General Farm in Kwail County is qualitatively carrying out soil-covering has been sent in by worker-farmer correspondent Comrade Kang Kyong-sam.\n\nWhether or not soil-covering is done according to the chuche agricultural method has an impact on the work of increasing the soil fertility of the land. The functionaries of the subfarm here, who are well aware of this fact, meticulously set up a soil-covering plan by field, by workteam, and by date, on the basis of a soil analysis chart. They led the masses, standing in the forefront. In this way, in all of the workteams there arose a vigorous struggle to haul soil according to the characteristics of the fields—stream-bottom soil where stream bottom soil is to be spread, and mud and coal ashes where mud and coal ashes are to be spread. Here the No. 3 and No. 10 workteams are doing a good job. They secured in advance a site for fresh soil to suit the characteristics of the fields, and increased their soil-spreading performance, trying hard to guarantee its quality. In this way this subfarm is achieving successes in qualitatively spreading soil on the cornfields.\n\nThe Chuuidong Cooperative Farm in Toksong County and the Taedok Cooperative Farm in Yiwon County are also doing soil-spreading qualitatively, and nowadays they are spreading over twice as much soil per day compared with when they first began soil-spreading. Worker-farmer correspondents Comrades Yi Hong-sop and Yo In-ho report that farms here are qualitatively carrying out soil-covering on all cornfields.\n\nIn particular, the No. | workteam of the Taedok Cooperative Farm set up measures so that their new soil sources would not freeze. They made various means of transport such as pushcarts and cableways by themselves, and they are carrying out soil-spreading on 1.5 times more area per day than called for in the plan. The No. 3 workteam of the Chuuidong Cooperative Farm made a cableway with the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and is achieving daily work results nearly twice those realized at the end of last year.\n\n—Let’s carry out even more vigorously the soil- spreading battle according to the intent of the party.\n\nNow agricultural workers in all areas are rushing to the soil-spreading battle with this kind of awareness and every day are creating new miracles and innovations."
},
{
"TITLE": "KCNA Review of 15 Mar Pyongyang Press",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503053791 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0436 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503053791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Press review]\n\n[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA}—Papers here today carry a photo-illustrated report that the great leader President Kim Il-song received the Indonesian parliamentary delegation.\n\nAppearing in papers is a report that the new Indonesian ambassador to Korea presented his credentials to President Kim Il-song of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.\n\nPresident Kim Il-song received solidarity letters from different countries denouncing the provocative “Team Spirit 91\" joint military exercises of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities and supporting the Korean people in their struggle for the reunification of the country, says the press.\n\nAccording to the press, works of dear Comrade Kim Chong-il were carried by foreign newspapers.\n\nHighlighted in NODONG SINMUN is news that articles highly praising Comrade Kim Chong-il as the people's leader and the genius of creation and construction were reported abroad on the occasion of the February holiday and the daily gives an account of the closing of the first Korean film festival which was opened on this occasion.\n\nMINJU CHOSON says Comrade Kim Chong-il has built up the Hamhung Woolen Mill into a modernly equipped textile mill.\n\nPapers give an account of a national meeting of railv ay workers that opened and carry a congratulatory message sent by the C.C. [Central Committee], the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] to the participants in the meeting.\n\nCarried in NODONG SINMUN is a solidarity message to the WPK Central Committee from the National Committee of the Communist Party of the U.S.A. condemning the “Team Spirit 91“ joint military exercises.\n\nEconews of the press includes reports on the fulfillment of the plans for the first quarter year by the Sariwon Mining Machine Factory and brisk farming preparations on co-op farms.\n\nIt is reported in papers that the permanent vice-minister of foreign effairs of Japan was interviewed by the reporters accompanying the DPRK Government delegation to the second intergovernmental full-dress talks for the normalisation of DPRK-Japan diplomatic relations and Korean players gave a good account of themselves at international weightlifting and table tennis tournaments.\n\nPfc. Kim Yu-chan of the Joint Security Corps of the “U.N. Forces Command” who came over to the northern half of Korea was interviewed by home and foreign reporters, says the press. Carried in the press is a declaration of conscience published by him before the reporters.\n\nConveyed in papers are home and foreign public voices lashing out at the Team Spirit 91“.\n\nNODONG SINMUN comes out with an article headlined ““Team Spirit’ exercises and anti-socialist strategy.”\n\nGiven in the press is an account of a press conference held at the Soviet Embassy here on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the signing of the agreement on economic and culiural cooperation between the Soviet Union and the DPRK.\n\nNODONG SINMUN conveys foreign press notes denouncing the South Korean authorities’ scheme for “unilateral U.N. membership“ and the overseas Koreans’ newspaper MINJOK SIBO published in Japan carried an editorial captioned “Let Us Intensify the Movement To Oust No Tae-u regime\n\nPapers run commentaries hitting out at No Tae-u for whipping up war hysterics against the North at the “graduation ceremonies” of the academies of the three services of the puppet army.\n\nPapers inform the readers that recommendations demanding an early normalisation of Japan-DPRK diplomatic relations were adopted at local assemblies of sapan, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a decision on the cooperation of the Soviet people's deputies in the enforcement of national referendum and the first vice-president of Iran called for the unity of the Muslims the world over against domination forces.\n\nNODONG SINMUN reports about the efforts directed to the economic development for the building of a prosperous new Asia by Laos, Vietnam, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Iran."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul ‘Welcomes’ North’s Bid To Join ESCAP",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503030491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0239 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503030491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korea would welcome and would fully cooperate with a North Korean bid to join the Economic and Social Council of Asia-Pacific (ESCAP), Foreign Minister Yi Sang-ok said Friday.\n\nYi said a North Korean trade representative in Bangkok, Thailand, had recently called on ESCAP headquarters there and expressed deep interest in joining the group.\n\n“It is not clear, however, whether North Korea plans to formally submit a membership application to the ESCAP General Assembly in Seoul in April, or is simply showing interest,” he said. “The government believes Pyongyang’s entry is desirable and widely welcomes it.“\n\nThe 47th ESCAP meeting opens here April | and 48 member nations, including China, the Soviet Union, Vietnam and Laos, will send approximately 1,000 delegates.\n\nThe government plans to propose adoption of a Seoul declaration,” outlining specific cooperation measures in the Asia-Pacific region for the 1990 s during the meeting. ministry officials say."
},
{
"TITLE": "Pak Chol-on Reportedly To Visit DPRK in May",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503121891 Seoul SEOUL SINMUN in Korean 15 Mar 9I p 1",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503121891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "SEOUL SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] It was learned that Minister of Sports and Youth Pak Chol-on will visit Pyongyang in May and meet with high-ranking North Korean officials. A broad range of discussions will be held on pending North-South Korean issues such as expansion in sports and economic cooperation.\n\nMinister Pak will visit the North for four nights and five days and, in the capacity of the minister of sports and youth, will participate in the Pyongyang tryouts to form a single team for the World Youth Soccer Championships. It seems that during his visit he will hold talks with North Korea's leading officials such as Kim Yu-sun, chairman of the Korean Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Committee, and Vice President Yi Chong-ok.\n\nAs the real power in taking the initiative toward the sports exchange and the policy toward the North, it was learned that Minister Pak will also discuss trade on a barter system, which is intended to carry out direct trade of goods needed by North and South Korea.\n\nPast proposals on our side include expanding sports exchanges. It seems that Minister Pak will wrap up lose ends on inviting North Korean youths to the August World Jamboree and the sports festival for all Koreans, including those abroad, and on the mutual exchange of sports leaders."
},
{
"TITLE": "Hong Kong Agency Arranges Travel to DPRK",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1203115291 Seoul CHUNGANG ILBO in Korean 9 Mar 91 p2",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203115291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "CHUNGANG ILBO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Report by Hong Kong Correspondent Kim Taek-won",
"FULL TEXT": "[Report by Hong Kong Correspondent Kim Taek-won]\n\n[Text] Citibank International Travel (President Ronald Chong), a Hong Kong travel agency, started arranging North Korean tours on 6 March. Also, it receives applications if two people or more apply. This virtually means that individual North Korean tours are possible. Before, only group tours were accepted.\n\nAn official of this agency said that anyone who is not from the ROK, South Africa, and Israel can receive a visa in a week after applying for it, that tours by two people or more and group tours of students are possible, and that tourists can select sites in North Korea when they travel.\n\nThis official said: The company arranges a four-day tour in which tourists leave Hong Kong, stay a night in Beijing, arrive in Pyongyang by a North Korea Korean civilian airline flight that leaves Beijing every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, and visit Kaesong and Pyongyang. The company also arrange a five-day tour in which tourists will also visit Mt. Myohyang.\n\nThis official also said that this company's tourism business is under the control of the Korea-Macao International Tourist Agency, a North Korean travel agency in Macao."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il’s Power Base Reportedly Fragile",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503134591 Seoul HANGUK ILBO in Korean 12 Mar 91 p 18",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503134591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "HANGUK ILBO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] In contrast with North Korea’s intensive efforts to consummate the power transfer to Kim Chong-il, North Korean college students studying in Beijing are making skeptical and noteworthy observations about Kim Chong-il’s succession to power.\n\nAccording to “The North Korean Situation As Seen By the North Korean Students Studying in Beijing” in The Flash Report on Reunification” distributed recently by the National Unification Board, North Korean residents hold a skeptical view of Kim Chong-il’s competence because of the economic setbacks of the last 17 years since the participation of Kim Chong-il in government affairs in 1973. Anti-Kim Chong-il forces are forming fairly extensively in the military and other circles.\n\nProfessor M of our country, who has recently been to China, met a professor who is a graduate of Kim Il-song University. He said: “Regardless of whether he will adhere to his father’s line or adopt a policy of openness, Kim Chong-il is doomed to be removed after all.“ He said that Kim Chong-il will follow the same fate as that of Hua Guofeng after the death of Mao Zedong.\n\nThis analysis is similar to that by various figures who visited North Korea last year, thereby suggesting that the power transfer to Kim Chong-il after the death of Kim Il-song, which is taken for granted by many, might not be that simple.\n\nParty Secretary Kim Chong-il is reported to be charged with all state affairs—except dipiomatic protocol—now that the 17-year preparation for his coming to power is completed.\n\nStudents studying in Beijing view the rapid emergence of Kim Chong-il as heir-apparent during the first half of the 1970's as resulting from the counteraction to the conspicuous growth of the so-called “Ring of the Heterodox Twigs” of Kim Song-ae, second wife of Kim Il-song.\n\nAccording to the students, Kim Yong-chu, Kim Il-song’s brother and a prominent candidate for succession to power, was classified as a Kim Song-ae ally and removed from the scene together with Kim Song-kap, Kim Song-ae’s brother who was then chairman of the Pyongyang Municipal People’s Committee.\n\nHowever, Kim Song-ae, chairman of the North Korea Women's Union, is appearing on official occasions for the first time in 18 years, and residents are also showing interest in Kim Pyong-il rather than Kim Chong-il.\n\nThe professor in Beijing, who graduated from Kim Il-song University, said that he got the impression when visiting Pyongyang last November that President Kim Il-song was withdrawing power which he had earlier given to Kim Chong-il. In other words, North Korea's political power, which shifted from Kim Song-ae toward Kim Chong-il in the early 1970's as a result of the will of public sentiment, is now moving toward Kim Pyong-il.\n\nTherefore, if Kim Il-song dies there will be great confusion. Although Kim Chong-il’s succession to power is quite probable, his power will not last more than six months.\n\nWhile having taken charge for the past 17 years, Kim Chong-il gave all power to the party. The State Administration Council, which is the administrative body, was allowed only to obey party orders. From time to time this resulted in friction between the party and the State Administration Council. During the North-South high-level talks last year, party cadres sarcastically talked about the delegation led by Premier Yon Hyong-muk. saying: What kind of talks can those puppets carry out?” This shows that State Administration Council cadres are treated as low-class party members.\n\nIn addition, those running the regime centering on Kim Chong-il are gradually losing confidence. Despite his holding absolute power, Kim does not have confidence about his position. He does not like to meet people from the outside and makes all decisions with only a small number of party members. This shows the seriousness of the centralization of power. For example, the North Korean Embassy in China does not even have authority to issue visas to those desiring to visit the North. Therefore, all such business must be handled after asking\n\nPyongyang.\n\nIt seems that even after President Kim II|-song’s death it will be impossible to completely remove the Kim family because, since President Kim is God-like in North Korea, there is no conception that “the leader will die.” Therefore, it seems that after President Kim's death the people's sense of emptiness will be serious.\n\nThus, even though Kim Chong-il might be overchroun right after he gains power, the Kim family will rule under the “constitutional monarchy system.“ which is similar to the Japanese royal family. Also, its seems that practical politics will be carried out centering on the premier.\n\nJudging from this, Professor M forecasts that great changes will take place in North Korea in the next year or two, and even though there is no reunification, within a limited range, there will be great changes taking place in North-South relations.\n\nThe Board of National Unification also included the opinions of those who had visited the North last year and made a similar forecast. Due to the liberalization movement of the East European bloc, which started in 1989, as well as to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and the Soviet Union, North Korea felt a sense of danger, and thus strengthened its social control. As a counteraction to this, anti-Kim Chong-il forces are gradually being formed underground.\n\nCurrently there are 130 North Korean students studying in Beijing. Among them, 70-80 are attending universities of foreign language, and the rest are studying in science and engineering. Every Thursday these students receive political indoctrination at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing. Being aware of the surveillance from the embassy, senior students are considerably cautious about freshmen students. After returning to North Korea, the students cannot become hard core members of the North Korean regime but can work only as working-level officials."
},
{
"TITLE": "Nuclear Research Accord Signed With France",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1303014391 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 13 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION ID": "SK1303014391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE KOREA HERALD",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and France's Commissariat a Energie Atomique (CEA) have signed an agreement on joint research in the safety of pressurized water reactors, a KAERI spokesman said yesterday.\n\n“Under the agreement, signed by KAERI President Han Pil-sun and French Amb. [Ambassador] Hubert de la Fortelle, on behalf of CEA Friday, we will directly participate in CEA’s large-scale research and test projects during 1991-1997 and get sophisticated technology related to safety of pressurized water reactors,” he said.\n\n“KAERI and two French institutes under the CEA umbrella will especially concentrate on joint tests on design basis accident and fission product release during accidents involving pressurized water reactors in 1991- 97.\"\n\nTwo KAERI researchers will be sent to France for the tests.\n\nKorean nuclear researchers have so far done safety tests on parts of nuclear power plants such as the reactor and containment in cooperation with U.S. experts."
},
{
"TITLE": "Civilians, Dissidents Form Antinuclear Body",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503035191 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 15 Mar 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503035191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE KOREA HERALD",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] An antinuclear civilian body was formed in Seoul Wednesday in a ceremony attended by about 300 people residing near nuclear power plants in Sosan and Yongk- wang and in Tongduchon where U.S. military facilities are installed.\n\nThose attending the inaugural of the Coalition of Antinuclear Peace Movement include such dissident figures as Paek Ki-wan and Ke Hun-che."
},
{
"TITLE": "YONHAP, TASS Sign Accord on News Exchanges",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503003891 Seoul YONHAP in English 0022 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503003891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)}—YONPBAP news agency and TASS, the official Soviet news agency, Thursday signed an agreement for stable and long-term news and personnel exchanges.\n\nThe news cooperation agreement was signed by YONHAP President Cho Yong-chung and Lev Spiridonov, director general of TASS. It took effect on signing and will remain in effect until the end of 1993, replacing a memorandum exchanged in 1989.\n\nWith the agreement concluded, YONHAP can now exchange news and render cooperation with most of the world’s main news agencies except for XINHUA of China. Korea and China lack diplomatic ties."
},
{
"TITLE": "TASS Chief Departs After Week-Long Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503091991 Seoul YONHAP in English 0817 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503091991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP}—Lev Spiridonov, director general of the official Soviet news agency TASS, left South Korea Friday afternoon on an Aeroflot flight to Moscow, finishing a week-long visit here.\n\nSpiridonov, 60, was in Seoul at the invitation of YONHAP News Agency to sign a news cooperation agreement and thereby open up chances for Koreans and Soviets to know more about each other. The full-dress agreement was signed with YONHAP President Cho Yong-chung Thursday, enabling YONHAP to complete its aim of news cooperation and exchange agreements with all major international news agencies.\n\nThe top TASS official attracted attention among political and economic leaders, who are high.y curious about the Soviet Union, with which Korea normalized ties in September last year.\n\nHe paid a courtesy call on President No Tae-u, whose policy is to improve ties with socialist nations, and met with such ranking politicians and industrialists as Prime Minister No Chae-pong, National Assembly Speaker Pak Chun-kyu and Samsung Group Chairman Yi kun-hui.\n\nAccompanied by Sales and Marketing Manager Igor Derzhitskiy and Tokyo Bureau Chief Vladimir Koutchko, Spiridonov gave five press conferences and was on the state-run television news."
},
{
"TITLE": "KAL To Begin Flights Through Moscow to Rome",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1103131691 Seoul YONHAP in English 1026 GMT 11 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1103131691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 11, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 11 (YONHAP)—Korean Air (KAL) will begin weekly flights on the Seoul-Moscow- Amsterdam-Rome route June 27, the company said Monday.\n\nKAL will use a 410-seat B-747-300, departing Seoul Thursday morning and arriving in Rome Thursday night, it said. The service is in compliance with an agreement between KAL and Alitalia signed in January, and a government-level aviation pact between the two nations concluded last October, a KAL spokesman said.\n\nThe airline is to begin flights on the Seoul- Bombay-Cairo-Rome route by the end of the year, he said.\n\nKAL flies to eight cities in Europe, including Paris, London, Zurich, Amsterdam, Vienna, Frankfurt and Moscow, and serves 48 cities in 23 countries."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul To Send Medical Supplies to Soviets",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203081391 Seoul YONHAP in English 0551 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1203081391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (YONHAP)—South Korea will ship 40 million U.S. dollars of medicine and medical equipment to the Soviet Union next month, the Health and Social Affairs Ministry said Tuesday.\n\nPayment will be made from a tied loan extended to the Soviet Union in January. The shipment accounts for nearly one-fifth of the country’s medical export of 220 million dollars for this year, ministry officials said.\n\nThe 11 medical products include analgesics, antipyretics, Vitamins, anti-tuberculous agents, anesthetics, surgical gloves and condoms, they said.\n\nThe ministry plans, over the next two years, to export 30 million dollars of plant-extracted medicine, 15 million dollars of disposable syringes and needles, 60,000 dollars of surgical gloves and 60 million dollars of medical equipments to the Soviet Union, they said.\n\nHealth officials are collecting information on Soviet medical products and hope to encourage civilian exchanges as well."
},
{
"TITLE": "Further on Telecommunications Loan to Philippines",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203040791 Seoul YONHAP in English 0220 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1203040791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korea will provide the Philippines 3.79 billion won, an equivalent of 5.4 million U.S. dollars, in a concessionary loan to modernize and expand a provincial telecommunications network.\n\nHong Chae-hyong, chairman of the Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Rodolfo Dumaplas, Philippines charge d'affaires to Korea, signed a contract to extend the loan in Seoul Tuesday.\n\nThe government's Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) will put up the loan, which carries an interest rate of 3.5 percent per annum over 20 years, after a five-year grace period.\n\nThe Philippines will use the money to purchase and install a TDX-10 digital switching system with a capacity of 6,150 lines in Misamis Oriental Province."
},
{
"TITLE": "Elections ‘Dominated’ by Ruling Party Candidates",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503041991 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 15 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503041991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE KOREA HERALD",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Nes Analysis“ by staff reporter Kim Chong-chan",
"FULL TEXT": "Nes Analysis“ by staff reporter Kim Chong-chan]\n\n[Text] Registration of candidacy for the coming local assembly elections is dominated by ruling party candidates which may hamper the sound development of local self-government, the first in 30 years.\n\nMore than half of those running in the elections are reportedly members of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party [DLP] and pro-DLP figures.\n\nAccording to Chongwadae and ruling party sources, candidates who belong to the governing party account for 42.8 percent, or 4,339 of the total 10,120 candidates.\n\nThe figure compares with 14 percent for the main opposition Party for Peace and Democracy [PPD]; 1.8 percent for the minor Democratic Party and 0.2 percent for the progressive Minjung (People’s) Party of Korea.\n\nThe remaining 41.2 percent or 4,100 people are listed as “independents,” though at least one third are pro-DLP figures, the sources said.\n\nPolitical parties cannot field candidates for the March 26 small-area local elections in small- and medium-sized cities, “gun” (county) and “ku” (ward) in big cities. The large-unit local council elections are scheduled for June.\n\nThe domination by ruling party candidates in the elections may have stunned opposition leader Kim Tae- chung who still harbors presidential ambitions. PPD President Kim sees the implementation of “grass-roots democracy” as an occasion to expand his nationwide political base.\n\nPPD members running in Kim's stronghold, Kwangju and Cholla provinces, total 838, compared with only 469 belonging to the giant ruling DLP.\n\nWhen it comes to Taegu and Kyongsang provinces, however, the situation is quite different. The number of ruling party members and pro-DLP figures running in those areas is over 20 times that of those from the opposition, DLP officials said.\n\nA moderate competition ratio of 2.35 to 1 in the local elections shows that the ballot has attracted little public interest. Local assembly elections were suspended in 1961 when the military took power.\n\nA tally compiled by the Central Election Management Committee (CEMC) showed that there is more competition in provincial areas than urban districts, particularly the six big cities.\n\nTaegu, the third largest city in Korea, had the lowest competition ratio of 1.58 to 1, while Kangwon-do and two other provinces shared the highest with 2.8 to 1.\n\nObservers attributed the low competition in Taegu, the birthplace of President No Tae-u, to the ruling party's behind-the-scenes maneuvering to prevent “excessive competition” among ruling party members running in the city.\n\nA considerable number of ruling party members running there are said to have withdrawn their candidacy at the request of fellow party members. Surprisingly, the number of uncontested districts in Taegu totals 60 or 41.2 percent of the total 141 areas.\n\nCEMC has announced that the number of districts uncontested totals 441 or 12.3 percent of 3,562 electoral constituencies nation wide. A total of 547 or 12.7 percent of the fixed 4,304 council members have already won in those uncontested areas, including 83 in Seoul and 49 in the second largest city, Pusan.\n\nOne council member is to be picked from each of the small administrative units of “tong” in cities. But the number will go up to two or three according to population size.\n\nObservers said the lower than expected competition nationwide was attributable to public distrust of politicians mainly caused by the Suso housing scandal, a lack of public knowledge of local self-governing and the hasty arrangement of the elections.\n\nThe ruling camp had originally planned to hold the small-unit local elections in May. The opposition has accused the ruling party of advancing the voting in an attempt to divert public attention away from the Suso bribery case.\n\nPublic distrust of politicians may have climaxed as the destructive scandal came on the heels of a bribery case involving three lawmakers accused of taking bribes from a lobby group for their junket abroad.\n\nCandidacy registration shows that women still have little interest in politics. Women candidates accounted for merely 1.2 percent or 123 of the total 10,120.\n\nBy age, those who are between 51 and 55 topped the list with 23.2 percent, followed by those between 46 and 50 with 20.5 percent, between 41 and 45 with 15.9 percent and 56 and 60 with 15.5 percent.\n\nCandidates are also of diverse occupations. Those engaged in farming took the lion's share with 30.2 percent, followed by people engaged in commercial activities with 25.5 percent. In contrast, few professionals such as doctors and lawyers have filed their candidacy.\n\nThe fact that many self-employed persons like real estate brokers are running in the elections may cloud prospects for the healthy development of local autonomy. “They may spend more time peddling influence, in dogged pursuit of their own interests,” one observer said."
},
{
"TITLE": "No on Need for ‘Unflinching’ Defense Posture",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203083491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0733 GMT 2 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1203083491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 2, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (YONHAP)—President No Tae- u said Tuesday an unflinching national defense posture was the key not only to deterring aggression but also to maintaining peace and getting North Korea to proceed with reunification.\n\n“Our air force should develop an efficient command system and air tactics and strategies suitable for our Situation, together with modernization of military strength, expecting Koreanization of the national defense in the near futuie,” No told graduating cadets at the Air Force Academy.\n\nHe said it was necessary to secure superiority in the air, in intelligence and in telecommunications, the importance of which was demonstrated in the allied victory in the Gulf war.\n\n“We are defending the fatherland with advanced fighters, assembled and manufactured with our own technology, and we are pushing to buy highly sophisticated fighters,” he said.\n\nIn the Korean war, the South had only light trainers and was crushed by more than 200 North Korean jet fighters, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Civilians To Hold More Defense Ministry Posts",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503053091 Seoul YONHAP in English 0232 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503053091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (YONHAP)—Civilians will be named to the posts of first and second assistant defense minister, until now held by generals, under a revision approved by the Cabinet Thursday. The change effect this month. [sentence as received]\n\nThe number of Defense Ministry directorates reserved for civil servants rises from three to five, and section chief posts from 31 to 35 under the revision.\n\nOf 103 posts above section chief, all but the minister, vice minister and assistant ministers will split between civil servants and generals. The civilian-military ratio of directors will be 5 to 15 and of section chiefs 35 to 44 under the revision.\n\n“The bill will enhance the development of a future- oriented defense policy, improve efficiency and proficiency, and increase civilian representation within the Ministry,” a senior Ministry official said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul To Recognize World Civil Rights Articles",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403040691 Seoul YONHAP in English 0256 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1403040691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March i4 (YONHAP)—South Korea will withdraw its reservations regarding articles in two international civil rights conventions, effective Friday, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.\n\nKorea could take the step as contradictions between Korean laws and the treaties were removed by revision Jan. | of the civil law regarding discrimination between man and woman, ministry spokesman Chong Ui-yong said.\n\nThe two relevant pacts are the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and the international covenant on civil and political rights.\n\nHe said Korea would now recognize Article 16-1 of the convention, which stipulates, states parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women:\n\n(c) the same rights and responsibilities during marriage and at its dissolution:\n\nd) the same rights and responsibilities as parents, irrespective of their marital status, in matters relating to their children: in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount:\n\n“(f) the same rights and responsibilities with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship and adoption of children, or similar institutions where these concepts exist in national legislation: in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount:”\n\nArticle 23-4 of the covenant says: “States parties to the present covenant shall take appropriate steps to ensure equality of rights and responsibilities of spouses as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. In the case of dissolution, provision shall be made for the necessary protection of any children.”\n\nKorea joined the convention on May 25, 1983, and signed the covenant on April 10, 1990."
},
{
"TITLE": "Customs Revenue Statistics for 1990 Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403025291 Seoul YONHAP in English 0234 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1403025291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 14 (YONHAP)}—Customs revenue was 5.57 percent of the value of all imports in 1990, up 0.46 percentage points because of higher duties on luxury goods, the Customs Administration said Thursday.\n\nImports were valued at 49.6 trillion won (68.4 billion U.S. dollars), up 19.8 percent from a year earlier, and customs revenue was 2.76 trillion won (3.7 billion dollars), up 30.6 percent.\n\nRevenue outpaced the value of imports as more luxury items were imported than raw materials and capital goods, a customs official said.\n\nCar imports increased 40.7 percent, commodities 42 percent, machinery 16.6 percent and electric and electronics 9.9 percent.\n\nThe exchange rate applied to customs duty was 710.65 won to the dollar, compared to 675.35 won in 1989."
},
{
"TITLE": "Textile Exports Decline in ‘90; Imports Rise",
"FULL CITATION": "SK0703025891 Seoul YONHAP in English 0211 GMT Mar 7 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK0703025891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 7, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 7 (VONHAPY— South Korea's textile exports were depressed last year by weak price competitiveness, but imports soared, the Korea Federation of Textile Industries (KFTI) said Thursday.\n\nExports slipped 3.1 percent to 14.67 billion U.S. dollars, only the third decline in 20 years and the first since 1985, while imports gained 4.4 percent to 3.55 billion dollars, the Federation said.\n\nSluggish exports were blamed on weak price competitiveness, import restrictions in industrialized nations and challenges from other developing countries. The United States upheld dumping charges of Korean-made sweaters and shipments to Japan were restricted because of the voluntary export regulation in force since 1989.\n\nExports of textile products fell 12.6 percent, but shipments of textile materials and silk rose 3.2 percent and 20 percent respectively, it said.\n\nIt attributed growing imports to higher incomes and fads among rich people. Imports of textile materials slid 3.8 percent, but those of textile products soared 52.6 percent.\n\nSince textiles became Korea's major export item in the early 1970's, the industry has suffered only two setbacks—in 1982, when exports dropped from 6.19 billion to 5.92 billion dollars, and in 1984, when they fell from 7.08 billion to 7 billion dollars."
},
{
"TITLE": "Ministry To Ease Regulations on 280 Imports",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1303033491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0238 GMT 13 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1303033491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 13 (YONHAP)—South Korea will ease regulations on some 280 agricultural and industrial imports from Thursday until the end of the year to better control inflation, the Trade and Industry Ministry said Wednesday.\n\nUnder the new rules, the economic planning minister can directly specify items and amounts for open import based on reviews and recommendations by economic ministers.\n\nSuch recommendations until now were made by an business organization or a minister in charge of a specific item, and there were cases when differences of opinion among organizations and government offices prevented timely importation, ministry officials said.\n\nThe government hopes to expedite the process by simplifying the decision-making, speeding up import procedures for items in demand and likely to spark price hikes, they said.\n\nInitial plans call for buying 283 products under the procedure, mostly agricultural and dairy items such as beef, poultry, powdered milk, and fruits. Industrial products include anthracite, the officials said.\n\nThe ministry is also temporarily widening the import market for reinforced steel in anticipation of a domestic shortage from a construction boom. The government will encourage steel imports from all seller countries, instead of recommending the United States and the European Community, the officials said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Companies Increase USSR, East Europe Imports",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503094591 Seoul CHOSON ILBO in Korean 15 Mar 91 p 7",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503094591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "CHOSON ILBO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Import of machines from the Soviet Union and East Europe has increased to reach $60 billion a year. Domestic general trade firms are importing machines from East Europe whose quality is somewhat inferior to that of products of advanced nations, including Japan, but which are not produced at home. In importing these machines compensation trade (barter), in which our electronic products are offered as the import payment, has also been actively pushed ahead. Accordingly, general trade firms are pushing for contracts with machine producers in this area for exclusive import of their products. Besides, these firms are organizing special teams to secure domestic customers and service centers.\n\nDaewoo Company, Inc., has already imported weaving machines produced from Czechoslovakia's Invest Company with the (Juberka) trademark. This year, Daewoo decided to import various machines amounting to $18.3 million, including $11 million worth of weaving machines, heavy-duty equipment, and machine tools manufactured in Czechoslovakia. Daewoo is also planning to import machine tools amounting to $900,000 from the Soviet Union, bartering our electronic products.\n\nThe Hyundai Trade Company, which has been bartering automobiles for grinding machines with Hungary's (Techno) Company since 1989, imported machines amounting to $1 million last year. This year it decided to increase its import, reaching $2 million.\n\nIn particular, Hyundai concluded a contract with the Soviet Union's (Ulyanovsk) for exclusive import of machine tools. It has already imported $400,000 worth of products, and is planning to import 81 million more.\n\nLucky Goldstar Company, which has been importing farming tractors from Czechoslovakia's Jetro Company since 1989, last year concluded a contract with Bulgaria's (Balkanka) Company, the world’s largest forklift maker, for its exclusive import. It had sold about 50 forklifts last year, and is planning to sell about 200 sets at home this year.\n\nSsangyong Company last year alone imported $2 million worth of machine tools fiom China. It is planning to import the same amount of machines this year, too. It is negotiating with the Soviet Union and East Europe on importing machine tools and milling machines from these nations.\n\nSsangyong in particular decided to build a plant of instruments for supersonic wave diagnosis in the Soviet Union in collaboration with the Soviet Federal Procurement Agency (GOSNAP). This plant will produce approximately 1.000 sets annually, and supply them to the Soviet Union and East Europe."
},
{
"TITLE": "Electronics Exports to Europe Continue To Grow",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1203040091 Seoul YONHAP in English 0154 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203040091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korean electronic products are finding Europe more welcoming than North America, and the European market could soon be No. I. industry experts said Tuesday.\n\nShipments to North America are on a downward slope, slipping from over 40 percent of total electronics exports in the mid-1980s to barely 30 percent last year. European buyers are picking up the slack, taking almost 30 percent of Korean electronics goods last year to match, and in some cases even outdo, the American buyers, they said.\n\nNew markets in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are overtaking the traditional American market, and industry leaders such as Daewoo Electronics Co. are already selling more to Europe than to America.\n\nSamsung Electronic Co. saw sales to Poland jump 580 percent last year compared to the year before. Samsung, which mainly exports household appliances, had just 30.2 percent of its sales in the United States last year, down from 39.5 percent in 1989, a company spokesman said. Europe, East and West, bought 29.6 percent of the company’s exports, compared to 20 percent in 1989.\n\nSales of color televisions, VTR's [videotape recorders] and other consumer electronics to Poland alone registered 65.7 million U.S. dollars last year, an impressive leap from 11.26 million dollars in 1989, the spokesman said.\n\nGoldstar Co. marked a disappointing 28.5 percent of total sales in North America last year, compared to 44.8 perceni in 1988 and 41.8 percent in 1989.\n\nThe European market came to the rescue, growing year by year from 20.3 percent in 1988, 22 percent in 1989, and 28 percent in 1990.\n\nAmerican sales are visibly waning for Daewoo Electronics, whose 35-percent level in the mid-1980s dropped to 25 percent in 1989 and 17 percent last year.\n\nThe company received good news from Europe, whose buying spree accounted for 40 percent of Daewoo exports last year, up from 20 percent to 30 percent in the mid-1 980s."
},
{
"TITLE": "‘Crisis’ in ROK Manufacturing Industry Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0145 Seoul HANGUK KYONGJE SINMUN in Korean 14 Jan 91 p 7",
"CITATION ID": "912C0145",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "HANGUK KYONGJE SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Article by reporter Pak Yong-pae",
"FULL TEXT": "[Article by reporter Pak Yong-pae: “Crisis in ROK Manufacturing Industry: Manpower Shortage, Deteriorating Workers’ Attitudes“\n\n[Text] The thirty staff members of the labor section of the Kukche Corporation's Pusan factory are extremely busy these days. It is because they are trying to recruit as many of the new graduates in February as they can for the company’s production-related jobs.\n\nThey are running 25 hours a day with a firm determination not to repeat last year’s nightmare of shutting off some of their production lines due to a lac« of factory technicians. Their immediate objective is to run the production line, whereas the cost and profit margin are pushed away as a lower priority.\n\nThe company’s labor section staff members are trying every possible means in order to secure the manpower necessary for their production lines. Special recruiting forces were set up which will be in charge of almost every city and province, and are going around the whole nation. They are also sending out letters to as many schools as possible asking them to send the graduates to their company.\n\nMeanwhile, they are trying very hard to keep the employees from leaving the company. Despite all these efforts, about 1,400 out of 10,000 technicians left the company last year. It is expected that about 1,200 technicians are expected to leave the company this year. Keeping the employees is more difficult than recruiting new ones.\n\nThe annual turnover rate of women technicians is about 90 percent. Statistically, the highest turnover occurs in January and February.\n\nDuring the months of January and February, every company in the nation is engaged in competitive recruiting. Companies lure the potential candidates by proposing better salaries and benefits. Those who recruit many get hefty incentive bonuses. Because of this, they frequently see the whole section of about ten workers change their jobs.\n\nA more serious problem is that technicians change their jobs in areas totally different from their skills. Some of Kukche’s labor staff said that about 30 percent who left their company changed jobs in the area of services and office works. Since many technicians change their jobs, and since recruiting new ones is difficult, the hole in the employment is getting bigger.\n\nEvery year around this time, the shoe manufacturing companies, which are heavily concentrated in Pusan, are going through a terrible time recruiting production technicians. The fighting among companies that are engaged in the tug-of-war of recruiting and keeping employees, peaks around this time of every year.\n\nIt is not new that employees who bring in new members are paid special bonuses. Companies give loads of gifts and company advertising brochures to employees who visit their hometown during the new year and Chusok [Korean Thanksgiving] holiday vacations. They are encouraged to bring back any available relatives with them when they return to their companies after the holidays.\n\nRecently, companies are employing a more aggressive recruiting strategy. Companies are realizing that there is a limit in keeping technicians with a better salary being the only incentive. Therefore, shoe manufacturing companies these days are expanding benefit facilities and educational opportunities.\n\nThe building of cultural centers is booming in these companies, and extended college education in the companies is expanding. Kukche Sangsa and Hwaseung, two major shoe-manufacturing companies in Pusan, are even considering establishing junior colleges for their employees.\n\nManpower shortage is felt far more seriously in textile companies. The Sou, a jacket- and coat-production company located in Pupyong near Seoul, now has only 100 women technicians left from the 200 they had at the same time last year. Because of this only two production lines out of four are in normal operation.\n\nLast year’s average monthly turnover rate was about 10 percent. A temporary means of sending employees to their hometown to recruit their relatives was not effective. The tactic of providing education expenses for those who enrolled in night schools was not effective either. As graduation approaches, only 10 out of the original 30 employees remain enrolled in their night schools.\n\nThe Sou's factory manager, Pak Chong- chi. complained: “Because of such frequent turnovers in people, it is difficult to order what to do, let alone to think about technology accumulation.”\n\nPak showed a serious concern by saying: “The profit margin is rapidly deteriorating since the subcontract rate has been increased to 35 percent from 10 percent a year ago due to manpower shortage. The amount of defective products reaches about 7 to 8 percent due to a lack of adequate skills of the technicians.”\n\nThe number of employees at Sokwang, a textile company in the Kuro industrial complex, also decreased to 200 from 350 about a year ago. Because of this only two production lines out of four are in normal operation.\n\nThe company manages to survive from its exports. The company has difficulty meeting deadlines due to a lack of adequate manpower.\n\nOne company official expressed his worries by saying, “It is very difficult to find subcontractors to share foreign buyers’ orders. Furthermore, production costs are steadily increasing. Therefore, we may have to reduce the amount of export.”\n\nIt is not an exception in the electronics industry, which is known for its relatively good working environment.\n\nGold Star's Changwon factory is in need of 200 technicians, but the company cannot do much to fill this gap.\n\nIt is because the respondents to the recruiting advertisement will be mostly from other Gold Star subsidiary companies or from subcontractors. Therefore, it will cause manpower crises in subsidiary companies and subcontractors, which in turn will cause problems in supplying components on time.\n\nThe company’s personnel department head, Yi Sang- hyong said: “Due to frequent shortages in component supply from our subcontractors, it is difficult to make an adequate production plan. Therefore, we gave up recruiting technicians from them.” It is an agony that many assemblying companies, such as Gold Star, which depend on components manufactured and supplied by their subcontractors, are going through these days.\n\nManpower shortage in the major industrial complexes is over the limit. In the case of the Kuro industrial complex, the number of technicians who left the complex since the second half of 1990 is about 1,000, and consequently, the current operation rate of the facility is about 84 percent.\n\nThe average facility operation rate is 75 percent in the lumber industry, 80 percent in the petrochemical industry, 79 percent in metallurgy, and 83 percent in the textile industry. The reduction in the facility operation rate naturally resulted in sales reduction. The 1990's total amount of export from the Kuro industrial complex was $5.4 billion, $1.2 billion short of the $6.6 billion goal.\n\nThe manpower crisis in industrial complexes near Seoul is as serious as in other areas. The normal facility operation is not possible due to a manpower shortage in the industrial complexes near the capital city such as Anyang, where various manufacturing companies are concentrated, Kunpo, Uiwang with 1.200 companies, and Panwol with 1,000 companies.\n\nThe labor-intensive sewing and electronics companies are suffering from the extensive labor crisis. In addition to the difficulties of recruiting new workers, employees leaving the companies added much more hardship to companies, according to officials related to these industrial complexes.\n\nManpower Import Prohibited\n\nThe fast turnover of manufacturing industry technicians is not a problem that was created overnight, but has been gradually progressing since late 1989.\n\nAccording to “Studies on the Status of Technology in Small Businesses in 1990\", a research conducted by the Korean Federation of Small Businesses during July 1989 and June 1990 on 2,296 small manufacturing companies having employees between 5 and 300, about 412,800 workers, which is 29.6 percent of the total 1,393,300 workers in the manufacturing area, changed jobs.\n\nAccording to studies on the trend of industrial activities conducted by the Economic Planning Board, as of November 1990, workers in the mining and manufacturing industries are 5,033,000; and those in indirect capital and services are 10,032,000. Compared to the numbers a year ago, the number of workers in the mining and manufacturing industries decreased by about 30,000 and that in services increased by 560,000.\n\nThe results of the study also indicated that wages in services are substantially higher than in mining and manufacturing industries.\n\nBecause of rapid increase in manpower shortage, textile and shoe industries are strongly hoping to import foreign labor. They are in fact sending opinion letters to various government organizations responsible for labor import.\n\nSome labor specialists in the academic and research communities, however, consider the industries’ idea of importing work forces to be very dangerous, and show a strong opposition.\n\nDr. Son Han-seung of the Korea Labor Research Institute is Opposing the labor import idea based on the examples of Germany.\n\nThe German policy of Gast Arbeiter [labor import from third countries] during the 1960 s failed and the new Aus Siedler [German labor force import] policy that was in effect since 1987 is also known to have failed.\n\nThe 200,000 to 300,000 workers, imported from Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries under the Gast Arbeiter policy, continued to stay in Germany even after their working visas expired. The German Government is now trying to encourage them to return to their home countries by even providing financial assistance.\n\nThe Aus Siedler policy, that collected German labor forces scattered in Poland, Hungary, and the Soviet Union, is also concluded to be unsuccessful.\n\nEven if the imported workers are of German origin, they are second and third generations whose emotions are different, and who needed language education. The large number of the imported German labor force caused a serious housing problem in Germany. The abundant labor force as a result of the reunification of the two Germanys added a burden of employing these imported workers. It is the labor specialists’ analysis that importing workers from Southeastern nations and Korean-Chinese workers from Yonpyon, China, may\n\nprovide a temporary relief to the current manpower shortage in domestic industries, but it will eventually cause serious political and social problems, similar to the German's.\n\nIn addition to the shortage of production workers, the shortage of high-quality research manpower is another urgent problem to be solved.\n\nThe large electronics companies such as Samsung and Gold Star have difficulties in hiring the required research manpower, especially those with masters and doctoral degrees.\n\nThe Korea Electronics Promotion Corporation predicted that if the current trend continues, the research manpower shortfall in the year 2000 will be about 7,200 with undergraduate degrees, and 3.100 with graduate degrees.\n\nSocial Atmosphere Is a Big Problem\n\nThe cause of the manpower crisis in Korean industries should be found in the social structure.\n\nFirst of all, the workers lost their desire to work hard. The prevailing extravagant habit of the rich upper class led the workers to feel despondent. The social atmosphere of get-rich-quick from speculative real estate investment destroys the workers’ dreams. Most of the workers believe that savings cannot make their dream come true.\n\nSecondly, there is a trend that people are trying to avoid hard labor. A typical example is that women workers in production facilities are leaving for service areas. It is frequently seen around industrial complexes that women workers are leaving their companies for employment in pleasure-seeking business.\n\nThirdly, workers do not have job satisfaction. During the 1960's and 70's, workers’ esteem was very high because the government praised them as heroes of export and industry. Nowadays, the trend of looking down on those who are working in the manufacturing companies discourages them from wanting to work.\n\nAnalysts in labor and manufacturing industries say that Korea does not have a shortage of workers. We simply do not have a plan to properly utilize them. The imbalance of supply and demand in labor manpower is a problem to be resolved by combined efforts among the government, industries, and society."
},
{
"TITLE": "Wa, Shan Rebels Set To Renew Battles",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503024591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 15 Mar 91 p AS",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503024591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE NATION",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Dome Suwawan",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Chiang Mai—Thai security officers in this northern province predicted a new outbreak of battles next month between the private armies of two Burmese ethnic groups which have been waging war since late 1989 to control a strategic area along the Thai-Burmese border.\n\nThe United Wa State Army (UWSA) and opium kingping Khun Sa's Muang Tai Army (MTA), over the past month have reinforced their troop strength as well as their strongholds in preparation for the new round of fighting, as both sides had earlier suffered high casualties and severe depletion of ammunition in their military engagements, said the officers, who requested not to be named.\n\nIn a related move, Khun Sa's forces on Monday destroyed a Wa artillery position located opposite Thailand's Ban Hua Mae Kham in Mae Chan District of Chiang Rai.\n\nAs a precaution against spillovers or intrusions by the two forces, Thai authorities have fortified the border frontier.\n\nAccording to the officers, the Wa and its rival force were confronting each other in the mountainous areas opposite Thailand’s Ban Sob Lang in Mae Ai District, and Ban Huay Yot of Chiang Rai's Mae Chan district. The area covers part of the undefined Thai-Burmese border area of Doilang, a long range of mountains dividing the two countries.\n\nThe United Wa State Army, which includes the main core of the defunct Burma Communist Party (BCP), together with other ethnic fighters, such as Kokang and Kachim, revolted against the BCP hardliners in early 1989 and have since declared their abandonment of communist ideology.\n\nAbout half of the estimated 20,000 Wa forces later moved down from the northeastern part of Shan State bordering China to the Thai-Burmese border aiming to set up a new stronghold in southern Shan State.\n\nThai officers said the UWSA and the MTA have been fighting to control the long strip of the northern Thai-Burmese border, which is the main trafficking route for narcotic drugs, gems and other smuggled goods between the two countries.\n\nThe Burmese Army, said the officers, has reportedly not made any move so far to intervene in the clashes between the two ethnic parties. “I think they (the Burmese) are waiting for a final outcome, when both sides are exhausted, and then will move in to wipe out the two,” said one senior Thai officer."
},
{
"TITLE": "Students, Opposition Observe Human Rights Day",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503033791 Bangkok BANGKOK POST in English 15 Mar 91 p 5",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503033791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "BANGKOK POST",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Mae Sot—About 500 siudents and Burmese opposing the Rangoon Junta on Wednesday took part in Human Rights Day celebrations at Manerplaw camp in Burma, opposite this border town district.\n\nMoe Thee Zon, chairman of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, said the celebrations were also in memory of two student leaders of the Rangoon Institute of Technology who were killed in the 1988 uprising.\n\nHe said his group would join the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) in support of the alternative National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma to fight for democracy and freedom.\n\nChairman of the DAB, Bo Mya, accused strongman Ne Win and junta leader Gen Saw Maung of refusing the demands of the Burmese people, thus prolonging a civil war which had lasted 42 years.\n\nHe said countries should stop giving aid to the Rangoon government because their assistance could be regarded as giving support to human rights abuses in Burma.\n\nU Hla Pe, Information Minister of the alternative government based in Manerplaw, called on the United Nations to recognise his government and also urged the world community to stop providing economic assistance to the Burmese junta."
},
{
"TITLE": "New Foreign Minister Assumes Post 15 Mar",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503090091 Kuala Lumpur International Service in English 0800 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503090091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Kuala Lumpur",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Kuala Lumpur International Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has returned to the Malaysian cabinet after almost four years. Prime Minister Datuk Sri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed had last month named him foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle effective today.\n\nDatuk Abdullah had previously held the education and defense portfolios. Commenting on his latest appointment, the foreign minister said it was a pleasant surprise."
},
{
"TITLE": "Economic Growth in 1990 3rd Quarter Reported",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1403150091 Kuala Lumpur NEW STRAITS TIMES in English 13 Mar 91 p 16",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1403150091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Kuala Lumpur",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NEW STRAITS TIMES",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Charles Raj; al! figures in Malaysian dollars",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The Malaysian economy grew by a robust 10.6 percent in the third quarter of last year, bringing the overall growth rate for the first nine months of last year to 10.4 percent.\n\nThis growth in real Gross Domestic Product is compared with 1989's third quarter growth rate of 9.1 percent and 8.8 percent for the whole of that year.\n\nIn the first quarter of last year, the economy grew by 11.7 percent and nine percent in the second quarter.\n\nIn a general survey of the economy contained in its latest quarterly bulletin released yesterday, Bank Negara [Central Bank] said the Gulf crisis and the ensuing oil price hike had no immediate dampening impact, as the economy was underpinned by the robust performance of all sectors except agriculture.\n\nIt said manufacturing activity in particular, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production, increased significantly by 19.3 percent during the period (13.6 percent in the preceding 1989 quarter) reflecting the buoyancy of both the export and domestic market-oriented industries.\n\nExport growth was led by the electronics and electrical and off-estate processed product industries, while the domestic industries were led by the double-digit growths of the fabricated metal and transport equipment industries.\n\nGrowth in private sector demand continued to remain robust, spurred by the better performances of corporations, improved labour market and higher income levels.\n\nPrivate investment sentiments during the third quarter also remained strong as reflected by the 289 applications for manufacturing projects involving proposed capital outlays of $11 billion.\n\nPublic demand during the quarter moderated as budgetary operations of the Government slowed down with total expenditure declining by 3.4 percent to $7.1 billion.\n\nThe Federal Government's current account recorded a large surplus of $1.1 billion for the period and this led to a smaller deficit in the overall account to $282 million compared with $1.4 billion previously.\n\nBank Negara said total public debt rose by 2.2 percent to $92.7 billion at the end of September, reflecting a marginal increase in both the domestic and external debt.\n\nThe country’s trade account deteriorated to record a deficit of $560 million compared with a surplus of $716 million in the first quarter and $27 million in the second quarter due largely to the sharp increases in gross imports.\n\nThe ringgit continued to depreciate against most currencies in the third quarter of last year due io the strengthening of these currencies against the U.S. dollar.\n\nThe Central Bank said movements in domestic prices remained moderate during the period with prices of consumer goods recording slower increases. The prices of producer products increased moderately."
},
{
"TITLE": "Optimism on Economy, Caution on Rapid Growth",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1303121591 Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES in English 13 Mar 91 p 1",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1303121591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Singapore",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE STRAITS TIMES",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Finance Minister Richard Hu yesterday said he was optimistic that economic growth this year would be on target, but warned against the economy growing too rapidly.\n\n“The ending of the Gulf war will restore business confidence and this wil have a positive effect on our economy,” he said.\n\nTherefore, he predicted, Singapore should have no difficulty achieving the upper end of the 3 to 6 per cent target for growth.\n\nBut he also stressed that the high average growth of more than 9 per cent over the last four years was no longer sustainable as the economy was getting overheated because of the tight labour market.\n\nIf wage costs exceeded productivity gains, and if this coincided with a world recession, Singapore will lose its competitive edge and see a replay of the 1985 recession, he warned.\n\nFor this year though, the expected growth of 5 to 6 per cent “should take the pressure off the labour market, remove speculative frenzy and allow the economy to consolidate,” he said.\n\nDr Hu began his round-up speech by broadly outlining the Government's thinking on the economy. He prescribed a path for the economy to grow fast, but without costs rising too much.\n\nUrging businesses not to look to the Government to restore high growth rates, he said they should take the initiative of relocating or investing overseas.\n\nIndustries, he suggested, should move their labour- intensive activities into the other two points of the Singapore-Johor-Riau Growth Triangle, or move their surplus capital further offshore into the industrial markets. As for those in the services industry, they should upgrade their workers’ skills and diversify into high value-added areas.\n\nThe Finance Minister gave this advice to businessmen in his reply to MPs [members of parliament] at the end of the two-day debate that saw 27 MPs commenting on this year's Budget, which was unveiled on March 1.\n\nAddressing their concern over rising business costs, he said most of them were “inevitable” because of rapid economic growth.\n\nIndeed, he argued that it was important to allow for such increases to send the right signals that scarce resources must be used well.\n\nOn the pro-business MPs’ calls to defer the | percentage point increase in employers’ CPF [Central Provident Fund] contributions, he stressed that the Government was committed to the restoration of cuts made in the 1985 recession. The economy had done well, and “there is therefore no good reason to postpone a further cautious adjustment to CPF contribution rates.”\n\nBut he added that this incease should be taken into account during this year’s wage negotiations, emphasising that wage increses should be moderate.\n\nThe call to delay the | percentage point increase was earlier protested against vigorously by no fewer than five labour MPs who came on one after another to rap those who had made the call.\n\nReminding the House of how workers had willingly borne the brunt of the 15 percentage point cut in CPF contributions in 1985, they warned employers not to quibble over the increase. This would only make workers doubt their word in future and make them more militant” in their demands, they said.\n\nThe high costs, they argued, were due more to the fat salaries of executives, not workers. Rather than try to lower wages, employers should try to increase productivity by sending workers for training, they said.\n\nThe pro-labour MPs also denounced the call to liberalise the foreign workers policy to ease business costs, saying this would depress local workers’ wages.\n\nIn his reply, Dr Hu said these issues would be addressed in the committee of supply debate later.\n\nResponding then to complaints of rising costs of services and utlities for the man in the street, the minister said these could not be avoided, but assured the House that the Government would monitor charges and make only gradual increases when necessary.\n\nOn calls for more personal and other reliefs, he made plain that the Government did not want to create a “crutch economy”.\n\nHe stressed: “Government's policy is that as many citizens as possible should pay some tax, however small, so that all share in paying for the cost of public services and facilities.”\n\nAt the same time, ıt was committed to providing a high level” of basic necessities such as housing, education and leisure.\n\n“Beyond that, everyone must work and contribute towards improving the quality of life. There is no free lunch and we cannot afford it,” he said.\n\nDr Hu also replied to specific queries by MPs over the last two days, including calls to cut the corporate tax rate, grant tax concessions on foreign income and on the higher water rates.\n\nConcluding, he said that Singapore was now entering a new phase in its development, and businessmen here must go beyond the national boundaries.\n\n“This Budget will help them widen their international linkages and create more economic space. It also focuses on our continued investment in our people to enable them to move onto higher value-added and better-paid jobs,” he said, to applause from MPs.\n\nDebate continues today, when the House will examine the spending of each ministry."
},
{
"TITLE": "New UN Permanent Representative Appointed",
"FULL CITATION": "BK1503113291 Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES in English 13 Mar 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503113291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Singapore",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE STRAITS TIMES",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] A career diplomat Mr Chew Tai Soo, has been appointed Singapore's next Permanent Representative to the United Nations.\n\nMr Chew, 50, succeeds Professor Chan Heng Chee who came home last month after two years on the job.\n\nMr Chew served in the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur from 1972 to 1974 and worked for a year in Tokyo in 1974. From 1975 to 1977 he was Singapore's Consul General in Osaka.\n\nHe was appointed Permanent Representative to the Singapore permanent mission at the United Nations in Geneva from 1982 to 1986.\n\nMr Chew was also the chairman of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Committee on Trade and Development in 1984 and presided as chairman on three GATT Dispute Settlement Panels.\n\nProf Chan, 48, told THE STRAITS TIMES that it was she who had requested to return before completing here three- year term, but preferred not to make public her reasons.\n\nWhile she could not discuss her immediate plans, it is understood that she is being tapped for a new, important\n\npost.\n\nProf Chan headed the National University of Singapore’s Political Science Department and later became the first director of the Institute of Policy Studies before going to the UN.\n\nShe is now on leave and could not be contacted for comment."
},
{
"TITLE": "Opposition Crimes Against Religion Assailed",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503094591 Phnom Penh Domestic Service in Cambodian 1300 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503094591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Phnom Penh",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Phnom Penh Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Station commentary",
"FULL TEXT": "[Station commentary: “Is This What the Other Cambodian Side Means by Respect for the Will of the Citizens?“\n\n[Text] Lately, in their intensifying civil war activities in Cambodia, the Polpotists and their genocidal alliance have stepped up the destruction of the people's property and lives as well as their national heritage and popular shrines. In fact, the Polpotists and their allies recently fired artillery barrages at some areas in Battambang Province. They damaged Banan Temple and shattered Phnum Sampeou Monastery, killing a Buddhist monk, a nun, and a child. Also in Banan District, Battambang Province, they senselessly pounded Tuol Andet Monastery, causing heavy damage to one of shrines most venerated by our people. Recently, on 4 March, the Polpotists joined by the Sihanoukists and Sonsannians fired artillery shells into a monastery in Ron Ta Ek Commune, Banteay Srei District, Siem Reap-Oddar Meanchey Province, causing injuries to two resident monks and a monastery caretaker.\n\nThe Cambodian people, like members of the international public who have closely followed the situation in Cambodia, clearly understand that this is not the first, nor will it be the last, attempt made by the Polpotists and their allies to destroy the national heritage and popular shrines. For the past more than 12 years while our Cambodian people who are mostly Buddhist have been making concerted efforts to restore and revive various fields, including religion, the tripartite coalition has been seeking by all means to burn down and blow up temples or ambush and set ablaze road convoys. In order to cover up their crimes, the Pol Pot gang and its allies the Sihanoukists and Sonsannians have used the Vietnamese label as an excuse, vociferously shouting that they were firing at Vietnamese trucks, blowing up Vietnamese trains, shelling Vietnamese positions, and so on. We would like to ask them: Did the monasteries that they shelled or burned down belong to the Vietnamese? Were the slain or wounded Buddhist monks, nuns, wise men, and children in those monasteries Vietnamese. too?\n\nMoreover, it is public knowledge that Buddhism, which is over 2,500 years old, is a religion that preaches peace, nonviolence, and nonaggression and that it has never forced anyone to believe or venerate it. Buddhism came to the land of Angkor more than a thousand years ago and has been espoused and practiced by more than 90 percent of our people. In 1969 there were 3,370 monasteries and more than 66,000 Buddhist monks in Cambodia. Under the Pol Pot regime, all beliefs, mores, and traditions of the people, including Buddhism, were prohibited. For three years, eight months, and 20 days, the Polpotists de-robed or murdered 25,000 monks and razed 1,970 monasteries. The remaining pagodas were turned into prisons, stables, or manure depots.\n\nSince liberation on 7 January 1979, the Government of the State of Cambodia has restored to the people their right to worship and to observe their mores and traditions, As a result, Buddhism has been revived and has becorne the state religion. Moreover, other religions revered by the minority peoples have also been restored.\n\nThe Government of the State of Cambodia has collected after a long search the Lord Buddha's bones and the Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures] which constitute two of the five sacred objects for Buddhists and which had been badly damaged by the Polpotists. These jewels have now been enshrined for worship by the faithful. The government also asked the Indian Government to supply us with the venerated pipal trees that have now been planted in a number of provinces to create favorable conditions for the Buddhist faithful to engage in worship. This is what we see as our sincere respect for the will of the citizens.\n\nOn the contrary, not only have the other Cambodian factions—especially Sihanouk's and Son Sann’s—which have been boasting that they respect the will of the citizens failed to promote Buddhism ravaged by the Pol Pot barbarians, but they have even cooperated with the latter in attacking and destroying monasteries and temples painstakingly restored by our people. For this reason, can our people believe that they would respect the will of the citizens through the free and fair elections that could be held soon?\n\nOur people clearly see that if even monasteries, Buddhist monks, and nuns have not been spared by the genocidal alliance, how then can this alliance bring peace to the people who for the past 12 years have been engaged in self-defense against its maneuvers? Moreover, at a time when our people are unanimously calling for peace, a cease-fire, and a cessation of military aid to all Cambodian factions, the genocidal alliance instead is resoundingly stepping up the war and receiving more arms from a foreign country.\n\nOur people clearly hold that only by intensifying solidarity and unity around the party and the front can they preserve the gains of national society and that only the Government of the State of Cambodia really respects and serves the will of the citizens."
},
{
"TITLE": "Chea Sim Inaugurates Mosque in Kandal Province",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503060091 Phnom Penh SPK in English 0410 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503060091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Phnom Penh",
"CITATION OUTLET": "SPK",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Phnom Penh SPK March 15—A mosque was inaugurated on March 11 in Kompong Luong Commune, Ponhea Loe District, Kandal Province.\n\nChea Sim, member of the Political Bureau of the People's Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea Central Committee [CC] and chairman of both the National Assembly and the National Council of the United Front for Construction and Defence of the Kampuchean Fatherland, was present at the inaugural ceremony.\n\nThis first building of Islamic culture has been restored since May 1988 on the site of a former mosque completely destroyed by the genocidal regime of Pol Pot. The other two mosques in the commune of 359 Islamic families are now being reconstructed.\n\nSpeaking at the opening of the mosque, Chairman Chea Sim recalled the rapid revival of the Cambodian people following the downfall of the genocidal Pol Pot clique particularly in the religious domain. He also informed the 10,000-odd audience of the combat capacity of the People’s Armed Forces of Cambodia, which are now fully able to defend the country against the return of the genocidal Polpotists.\n\nThe Cambodian leader spoke of the recent extraordinary session of the National Assembly and reaffirmed the Cambodian people's ardent aspiration for peace and the goodwill position of the party and government of the State of Cambodia in the search for a political solution to the Cambodian conflict in order to put an immediate end to the war waged by the three Khmer opposition factions.\n\nChairman Chea Sim called upon the Islamic nationals and the entire Cambodian people in general to unite closely around the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea [PRPK] in the national construction and to contribute to the build-up and development of the armed forces and the prevention of the Polpotists's return.\n\nAccompanied by Mat Ly, Politburo member of the PRPK CC and vice-chairman of the National Assembly, Chea Sim also called on wounded cadres and combatants and presented gifts to 50 families of wounded combatants."
},
{
"TITLE": "Heng Samrin, Hun Sen Greet Hungarian Leaders",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503073291 Phnom Penh SPK in French 1124 GMT 14 March 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503073291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Phnom Penh",
"CITATION OUTLET": "SPK",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "French",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Phnom Penh 14 March (SPK)}—Heng Samrin, head of state, and Hun Sen, chairman of the Council of Ministers of the State of Cambodia, addressed warm congratulations to Hungarian leaders on the 143th anniversary of the Republic of Hungary's national day.\n\nIn their messages, addressed to Arpad Goncz, president of the republic, and Antall Jozsef, prime minister of Hungary, the Cambodian leaders expresed their firm conviction that the relations of friendship and multiform cooperation between the two countries will further deepen and develop.\n\nOn the same occasion, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong also sent his warm congratulations to his Hungarian counterpart, Geza Jeszensky."
},
{
"TITLE": "Japanese Initiative on UN Solution Discussed",
"FULL CITATION": "BK1503065491 Hong Kong AFP in English 0621 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503065491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Hong Kong",
"CITATION OUTLET": "AFP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Bangkok, March 15 (AFP)}—Japan has called for an election ban on any Cambodian faction which resumes fighting after a pre-election demobilisation of troops is agreed upon, well-informed sources said here Friday.\n\nThe proposal, aimed at breathing life back into Cambodia's stalled peace process, was broached in separate meetings last month between senior Japanese diplomats and leaders of the warring factions, said the sources.\n\nPhnom Penh's Vietnam-installed government has demanded that a U.N.-brokered peace plan be modified to include strong measures to prevent the Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge, the mainstay of an anti-government guerrilla coalition, from returning to power.\n\nThe Khmer Rouge, a radical Marxist group, was driven from power in Cambodia in January 1979 following an invasion of the country by Vietnam. It now dominates the guerrilla coalition, which also includes two smaller U.S.-aided groups loyal to former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk and ex-Prime Minister Son Sann.\n\nThe Japanese proposal is aimed at removing objections to the U.N. blueprint by Phnom Penh, which has rejected the plan's calls for dismantling the current administration and its armed forces. The Khmer Rouge and its partners have insisted that the U.N. plan be implemented without alteration.\n\nThe Cambodian Government appears to have reacted coolly to Japan's initiative judging by reiterations of its objections to the U.N. plan since the Japanese proposal was outlined to leaders in Phnom Penh during a visit last month by senior Bangkok-based Japanese diplomat Yukio Imagawa.\n\nThe proposal was presented to Prince Sihanouk when another Bangkok-based Japanese envoy, Tadashi Ikeda, travelled to Beijing last month to meet the prince who is currently staying in the Chinese capital, the sources said.\n\nUnder the Japanese proposal, a U.N. Transitional Authority for Cambodia (UNTAC) would verify the successive stages of the military components of the plan: ceasefire, cantonment of forces, uncovering of arms caches, disarmament of troops and demobilization, the sources said.\n\nJapan, in a parallel bid to meet Phnom Penh's concerns over the Khmer Rouge, has also proposed that a special committee be set up to invesiigate the human rights record of the Khmer Rouge during their 1975-79 rule in which hundreds of thousands were executed or died of mistreatment in Cambodia's killing fields.\n\nPhnom Penh constantly accuses the Khmer Rouge of genocide although most of its top leadership, which is also communist although less extreme, is formed of Khmer Rouge defectors.\n\nJapan has suggested that the special committee be made up of representatives of the rival Cambodian factions, UNTAC and the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Commission, the sources said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Leaders Briefed on Japanese Peace Plan",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403133391 Tokyo KYODO in English 1320 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403133391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Beijing, March 14 KYODO—A Japanese envoy briefed Cambodian resistance leaders here on Thursday about Tokyo's plan to end the | 2-year war in Cambodia, Japanese Embassy officials said.\n\nThe officials declined to reveal Japan's peace plan but said it is aimed at reinforcing a United Nations peace proposal which calls for a ceasefire and disarming of al. four parties.\n\nTadashi Ikeda, minister at the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok, met with leaders of three anti-Vietnamese factions—Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan, and former Prime Minister Son Sann, officials said.\n\nThe five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council drafted a peace plan to end the civil war last August, but there have been differences among the warring parties on ways to implement a ceasefire.\n\nThe Security Council plan calls on the Vietnamese- backed Phnom Penh government to give up control of key ministries to U.N. administrators during a transitional period prior to free elections.\n\nThere is also Cambodian disagreement on how to deal with the mass killings that took place when the Khmer Rouge ruled the country from 1975-79.\n\nJapan's peace plan is designed to resolve the differences, the officials said."
},
{
"TITLE": "‘Note’ on Leaders 13 March Meeting in Beijing",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503033291 (Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodian 2315 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503033291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "(Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea",
"CITATION OUTLET": "(Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Note on the meeting of leaders of the Cambodian national government and the Cambodian national resistance forces ‘ssued by the Cambodian Embassy in Beijing”)",
"FULL TEXT": "Note on the meeting of leaders of the Cambodian national government and the Cambodian national resistance forces ‘ssued by the Cambodian Embassy in Beijing”)\n\n[Text] Note: On 13 March 1991, leaders of the Cambodian National Government [CNG] and the Cambodian National Resistance Forces [CNRF] held an important meeting in Beijing on solving and ending Vietnam's war of aggression in Cambodia politically and comprehensively. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Samdech Norodom Sihanouk, president of Cambodia and leader of the CNRF; His Excellency Son Sann, prime minister of the CNG; His Excellency Khieu Samphan, vice president of Cambodia in charge of foreign affairs; and Prince Ranariddh, personal representative of Samdech Norodom Sihanouk in Cambodia and Asia and general secretary of FUNCINPEC [National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia].\n\nLeaders of the CNG and the CNRF unanimously agreed on the following:\n\n— To reaffirm their full support for the 28 August 1990 framework document of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council [UNSC], the 10 September 1990 Jakarta joint statement, the 668/90 resolution of the UNSC dated 20 September 1990, the 26 November 1990 draft agreement, and the 23 December 1990 Paris joint statement.\n\n— To call on all parties to accept all the above documents, particularly in order to implement the 668/90 resolution of the UNSC, to promote a comprehensive political solution to the Cambodian conflict in accordance with the profound aspirations of the Cambodian people who want peace and national independence most quickly.\n\n— Leaders of the CNG and the CNRF would like to express once again their profound gratitude to all friendly countries, particularly the ASEAN countries, for their precious support to the Cambodian people's just cause to restore national independence and sovereignty with territorial integrity.\n\n— Leaders of the CNG and the CNRF would also like to take this fine opportunity to express profound gratitude to the PRC and its government for always providing support and assistance and generous accommodation.\n\n[Dated] Beijing, 13 March 1991"
},
{
"TITLE": "VONADK Reaffirms Nature of War in Cambodia",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503043491 (Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodian 2315 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503043491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "(Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea",
"CITATION OUTLET": "(Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "“Communique of the Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea on the war in Cambodia: This is Vietnam's war of Aggression Against Cambodia and Not a Civil War“",
"FULL TEXT": "“Communique of the Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea on the war in Cambodia: This is Vietnam's war of Aggression Against Cambodia and Not a Civil War“\n\n[Text] I. The Hanoi Vietnamese aggressors committed aggression against and invaded Cambodia with hundreds of thousands of troops at the end of 1978 and have been occupying Cambodia ever since in accordance with Vietnam's Indochinese federation strategy. Everyone in the world knows about this. The United Nations and the UN General Asembly in particular have for the past 12 years confirmed this fact.\n\nThe documents of the United Nations Security Council [UNSC] permanent members and the entire UNSC clearly state that ine United Nations should supervise and control foreign aggressor forces in Cambodia—that is Vietnamese aggressor forces. Vietnamese aggressor forces are still occupying Cambodia. And to this day, the world knows about this fact and has been constantly talking about it.\n\nII. The Vietnamese enemy aggressors and a small number of their allies, however, with a strategic and dirty political goal in mind, have instead said that the current war in Cambodia is a civil war. Furthermore, the Vietnamese enemy and a small number of its allies have:\n\n1. Opposed the UN documents on the Cambodian problem and instead dissolved the UN documents on solving the Cambodian problem comprehensively;\n\n2. Called on Cambodia's Supreme National Council to discuss and solve matters among itself and completely eliminated the international aspect of the UN documents—the international aspect which clearly mentions foreign forces, namely Vietnamese aggressor forces, which are committing aggression against Cambodia:\n\n3. Proposed a new plan, different from the UN documents, aimed at maintaining Vietnam's puppet regime in Phnom Penh, and through this, maintaining Vietnamese aggressor forces in Cambodia. This would also maintain Vietnamese aggressor troops through Vietnam's puppet regime and elections would be organized at will aimed at discarding the Cambodian national resistance forces, and through this allowing Vietnam, the aggressor, to continue occupying Cambodia forever and legitimately.\n\nIII. The entire Cambodian people in and outside the country, the entire Cambodian national resistance forces, the world, and the United Nations will absolutely not be taken in by the Vietnamese enemy and its allies. People will continue to stand firmly by the UN documents on the plan to search for peace and to end Vietnam's war of aggression comprehensively and the documents related to this UN document. The Cambodian people, the world, and the United Nations all have clearly realized that it is the Hanoi Vietnamese enemy aggressors and puppets Hun Sen, Heng Samrin, and Chea Sim who oppose the UN documents on settling Vietnam's war of aggression in Cambodia comprehensively. People will continue to pressure Vietnam and its puppets and lackeys to accept, abide by, and implement these UN documents in order to end Vietnam's war of aggression in Cambodia comprehensively. This way Cambodia and Southeast Asia would have peace and security. People absolutely do not need any other plans apart from the UN plan because those plans would be just deceitful ones which can neither solve and end Vietnam's war of aggression and restore peace in Cambodia nor restore peace and security in Southeast Asia."
},
{
"TITLE": "Government Regiments Routed in Battambang",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503023891 (Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodian 2315 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503023891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "(Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea",
"CITATION OUTLET": "(Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] On 4 and 5 March, the Vietnamese enemy aggressors and race exterminators and their puppets and lackeys gathered four regiments of their troops, backed by four tanks, and started out from Kralanh and Srei Snam Districts [Siem Reap Province] in an attempt to take our liberated villages in Phnum Srok District. They were ambushed and routed by our national resistance forces.\n\nWe killed 25 enemy soldiers and wounded 42 others; destroyed | 1 AK’s, two B-40’s, a 12.7-mm machine gun; and seized a quantity of assorted ammunition and war materiel."
},
{
"TITLE": "Correction—Hun Sen on Assembly Session",
"FULL CITATION": "BK0903073191",
"CITATION ID": "BK0903073191",
"CITATION LOCATION": null,
"CITATION OUTLET": null,
"CITATION LANGUAGE": null,
"CITATION DATE": null,
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "The following correction pertains to the item headlined “Hun Sen on Extraordinary Assembly Session,” published in the 11 March East Asia DAILY REPORT, page 25:\n\nPage 27, column one, paragraph two, sentence one make read:...but there will be monitoring [ka truot pinit].\n\nPage 27, column one, paragraph four, sentences four make read:...we will accept monitoring [ka truot pinit] to a.... (changing word “control” to monitoring“)"
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister: No Sociopolitical Party Owns Newspapers",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503073091 Jakarta ANTARA in English 0623 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503073091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Jakarta",
"CITATION OUTLET": "ANTARA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Jakarta, Mar 15 (OANA-ANTARA)}—No newspaper is owned by a socio-political organization in Indonesia, Information Minister Harmoko has said.\n\nIf we justify the possesion of newspaper by socio- political organization it will be a setback and like during the 60s when every political party had newspaper, he said at the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the SUARA KARYA daily here on Thursday.\n\nThe press is exclusively owned by legal bodies, managed by the professionals and stands for the national interests, he stated.\n\nThe development of the press in Indonesia has been marked by the entry of business and industrial elements, which is unavoidable.\n\nThe minister said the presence of these elements would only be meaningful if the integrity and idealism of the press was maintained.\n\nMinister Harmoko on the occasion urged the press companies to speed up the transfer of some of their shares to their employees, which has already been commonly agreed upon.\n\nThe general chairman of the Functional Group (Golkar), Wahono, meanwhile said that in the future the need for information would be felt very strongly because precise information could be very useful as a source of decision making.\n\nTo meet such demands he said all information networks and facilities needed to be modernized including the print media.\n\nThe commemoration of the anniversary of SUARA KARYA daily was opened by Manpower Minister Kosmas Batubara, the supervisor of the newspaper, and attended by the cabinet ministers.\
How about Gemini 3 Flash on the OCR'd text? This time instead of failing early, it made it to page 39 at a cost of just $0.180551 ($0.004629 a page):
[
{
"TITLE": "ASEAN To Accept USSR as Dialogue Partner",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403093591 Tokyo KYODO in English 0817 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403093591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Masanori Kikuta",
"FULL TEXT": "[ASEAN To Accept Soviet Union as Dialogue Partner\" (By Masanori Kikuta)] [Text] Kuala Lumpur, March 14 KYODO—The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed in principle to accept the Soviet Union as one of its dialogue partners.\" Malaysian Foreign Minister Omar Abu Hassan indicated Thursday. The Soviet Union \"would like to be closer to us and has offered to join Japan, the United States and other existing partners of dialogue with ASEAN, Abu Hassan told a press conference. \"We will certainly look at the best possible means to get them (the Soviets) involved in one way or another,\" he said. \"There have been some discussions among officials.\" ASEAN is scheduled to hold an annual meeting of foreign ministers, followed by a meeting with their counterparts from six existing dialogue partners, plus South Korea, in Kuala Lumpur on July 19-24, Abu Hassan said. South Korea will be the seventh full dialogue partner, starting with the meeting, but it has not been decided yet if the Soviet Union will join such a ministerial meeting, he said. \"We are still looking at the kind of format or relationship we want to establish with them,\" he said. Malaysian Government officials said earlier that ASEAN is also considering beginning a dialogue with China. South Korea began a dialogue with ASEAN when particular issues such as trade and investment matters arose, before allowing it to become a full partner. ASEAN will discuss \"other ways of association\" with the Soviet Union as well as Vietnam, Myanmar [Burma], and other potential dialogue partners because involving them as full participants in regular meetings will mean \"very long and taxing\" sessions, Abu Hassan said. Senior ASEAN officials \"will think about how best to engage them into this kind of association,\" he said. In the meantime, he said, ASEAN's six member countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei—will try to establish \"economic linkages with them bilaterally, not on an ASEAN basis,\" he added. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed told an international economic conference on the Indonesian resort island of Bali last week ASEAN is considering inviting Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar to the next foreign ministers’ meeting. But Abu Hassan indicated it will be some time before the three Indochinese socialist countries become dialogue partners. \"This will be discussed from time to time by senior officials\" and \"will definitely be on the agenda of the (next) summit\" of ASEAN planned for Singapore late this year or early next year, he said. ASEAN last held a summit in Manila in 1987, itself the first in a decade, and Mahathir proposed at the Bali conference that ASEAN leaders meet more frequently. Senior ASEAN officials met in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the increase in dialogue partners and other issues, said Abu Hassan, who will be appointed minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in a cabinet reshuffle Friday. Another session devoted to economic issues is scheduled for Friday. Among issues discussed so far have been a plan to set up an \"ASEAN cooperation unit\" of specialists with the help of the United Nations development program to provide technical services for the management of various projects undertaken jointly by the ASEAN countries, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "APEC Agrees To Push for Trade Liberalization",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1303052591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 13 Mar 91 p B10",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1303052591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "the nation",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Oranut Anasuksathian and Yindi Loetcharoenchok",
"FULL TEXT": "[By Oranut Anasuksathian and Yindi Loetcharoenchok] [Text] Thai officials who attended a two-day meeting on the Asia-Pacific economic grouping last week, expressed satisfaction at the renewed attempts of the 12 member countries to push for regional trade liberalization and to adopt three new projects. Besides, progress was made to link up trade and investment data available in member countries with the Global Link centre in Singapore, said Laksanachanthon Laohaphan, director general of the Foreign Ministry's ASEAN Affairs Department. She led the Thai delegation to the discussions at the Honeymoon Island of Cheju in South Korea on March 5 and 6. Thailand, she said, is preparing to subscribe to the information and the Commerce Ministry is updating and arranging its own database to facilitate the link-up. In an interview with THE NATION, Laksanachanthon described the Cheju meeting as \"full of cooperation, cordial and quite positive\". all member countries, she added, agreed on the urgency to speed up cooperation and resolve the existing barriers between each other. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) comprises the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the six countries of ASEAN—Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Meanwhile, three new projects were approved in addition to the existing seven working programmes previously adopted by the members. Two of the three new projects on transportation and tourism were proposed by the United States while New Zealand suggested a fishery project. Thailand has expressed a keen interest in the project. The members also agreed with an Australian proposal to set up an ad hoc committee to study regional trade liberalization and with the Canadian suggestion to study the regional macroeconomic outlook and its implications. So far, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Japan and Singapore have subscribed to the Australian initiative. Other members may join in the consultation process later, Laksanachanthon said. A summary paper of APEC’s senior officials’ meeting stated that the participants were of a general agreement that non-discriminatory trade liberalization in the region was an appropriate area for detailed study and consideration. There was also a general agreement among the members on the importance of the trade liberalization as a continuing policy focus for APEC. Canada which spearheaded the move to explore and study the regional economic policy and trends will soon call a meeting of the member countries, said an official at the meeting. All the proposals will be submitted to the senior official representatives of the 12 members and later at the APEC ministerial- level meeting in Seoul in October. ASEAN senior foreign officials were to meet in Kuala Lumpur today until March 15 to discuss the outcome of the APEC consultations. But the meeting was indefinitely postponed because of the coup in Thailand. In a related development, ASEAN’s senior economic officials are to meet today in Bandung to study the proposals approved by APEC officiais. The meeting ends on Friday. The Cheju meeting also agreed on the financial aspects of the projects and timetables for implementing them. The expenses incurred from these projects will be shared by the members. But the six ASEAN nations have asked the developed countries in the group to recognize their financial constraints and suggested that the developed economies contribute more in carrying out big projects, according to a commerce official. Laksanachanthon said that the agreement on the financial aspects and new projects is a major step forward for APEC, a cooperation of countries from extremely different economic and political backgrounds. While foreign officials were very optimistic about the progress made in the regional economic consultations, some Thai commerce officials who accompanied the delegation said the talk moved very little forward. The three projects given approval at the official-level meeting were pending since the first official consultation in Singapore last year, they said. Moreover, ASEAN has repeated its intention for the cooperation process to go slow. According to Laksanachanthon, the exchange of opinions on trade and investment information and the development of human resources have progressed the most because they do not require the establishment of new mechanisms. Other projects, including energy cooperation, telecommunications and technology transfer are also moving forward due to consultations held between individual working groups, she added."
},
{
"TITLE": "Agency Ready To Dispatch Minesweepers to Gulf",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503082791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0754 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503082791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan could dispatch a small fleet of minesweepers in about a week if given orders to help clean- up efforts in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war, a Defense Agency source said Friday. The Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel, and with port calls could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said. The task of removing more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before the war would take about a year to complete, the source said. Japanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulf's waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran- Iraq war. The government received similar requests for minesweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait. The Defense Agency will likely deploy four minesweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote- controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines. The flagship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180. The minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and that can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes. According to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task. \"It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,\" said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kaifu Undecided on Dispatch",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503112991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1106 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503112991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday implied he opposed a proposal to send Japanese minesweepers to help cleanup the effects of the Persian Gulf war. Kaifu, speaking at the House of Representatives’ standing committee on foreign affairs, said the government is now collecting information to see if Maritime Self-Defense Force {MSDF] ships are needed in the Gulf. Kaifu said he \"is addressing the matter carefully.\" \"I have never decided to send the minesweepers. It is irresponsible to do so without exact knowledge about the situation\" in the Gulf area, Kaifu said. State Minister for Defense Vukihiko Ikeda told reporters Friday that Japan should handle the matter carefully, without any speculation. Speculation could lead Japan in the wrong direction, he said. \"I am embarrassed that controversy over such an abrupt proposal has been spreading across the nation,\" Ikeda said. Earlier this week, senior officials in Kaifu's ruling Liberal Democratic Party proposed deploying minesweepers to the Gulf. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama told a parliamentary committee that Japan is obliged to try to protect Japanese sailors in the area. Nakayama also said the government will discuss sending minesweepers to the Gulf with the seafarers union. Earlier Friday, a Defense Agency source said Japan could deploy a small minesweeper fleet in about a week, if given orders. If sent, the Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel. Allowing time for port calls, it could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said. It will take about a year to remove more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before the war, the source said. Japanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulf’s waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran- Iraq war. The government received similar requests for minesweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait. The Defense Agency will likely deploy four minesweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote- controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines. The flag ship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180. The minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes. According to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task. \"It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,\" said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Official: SDF Aircraft Can Be Used for Evacuees",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403165191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1457 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403165191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan can fly Air Self-Defense Force [ASDF] aircraft to Kuwait to transport evacuees if an international body makes such a request, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Thursday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited the government's special administrative ordinance made to send ASDF transport aircraft abroad to carry refugees earlier this year. The ordinance makes such flights possible if they are requested by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) or a related world body. The official was commenting on a question relating to a possible Egyptian request to shuttle Egyptian workers being evacuated to Kuwait from Iraq, which is now gripped by internal conflict. \"If the IOM makes such a request to Japan with Kuwaiti approval, then why not? The ordinance never specifically defines the flight routes,\" the official said, adding he has rc information that such a request has yet been made. Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu's government made the ordinance with the possibility of flying ASDF aircraft between Cairo and some Jordanian cities in mind, but actually no such request was made."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Minister Urges Kaifu To Visit U.S. Soon",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503033791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0258 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503033791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama said Friday. Nakayama told reporters after a regular cabinet meeting that the prime minister himself wishes to make the trip even if it is a brief one. The foreign minister said Kaifu should have no problem with Diet business, saying four days is enough for a return trip to Washington. Nakayama said he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week. He is set to leave Japan next Wednesday to meet with Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials. Nakayama said Japan's upcoming Golden Week” series of national holidays in late April and early May, usually used for politicians’ visits abroad, should be the best time for Kaiſu's swing to Southeast Asian nations, which was postponed in January amid the Persian Gulf crisis, and Kaifu's U.S. visit should come first. Foreign Ministry officials have expressed strong hopes for an early Japan-U.S. summit to discuss bilateral cooperation after the Gulf war. President George Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed as a result of the Gulf war. Foreign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be “too late.”"
},
{
"TITLE": "More on Aims of Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503101091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0955 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503101091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu may visit the United States in early April to exchange views with U.S. President George Bush on peace prospects in the Middle East and the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks, government sources said Friday. Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama told reporters earlier in the day that Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April. In the talks with Bush, Kaifu is expected to express Japan's willingness to strengthen political and economic relations with Israel as part of a comprehensive Japanese Middle East policy in the wake of the Persian Gulf war. Washington has expressed hope the Japanese Government will extend economic assistance to Israel to facilitate postwar restoration work. Japan has never given economic aid to Israel and has maintained a generally pro-Arab Middle East policy. Kaifu is also expected to express Japan's readiness to find a breakthrough in the stalled multinational trade talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the sources said. But they did not give further details on what proposals Kaifu will make to bring about a successful conclusion of the trade talks. During the visit, Kai‘u is likely to stay in Washington or a U.S. west coast city for three or four days. Nakayama told reporters he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week. The foreign minister is set to leave Japan Wednesday to meet Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials. President Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed because of the Gulf war. Foreign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be too late.” A top Foreign Ministry official suggested that Kaifu would visit Washington in April. “There is little possibilty (of Kaifu's U.S. trip) in March,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that the trip would take place before the holidays that begin in late April. He also said that there might be a need to adjust ties between Japan and the U.S. before Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev visits Japan Apri! 16-19."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Ministry Aide To Visit U.S. 17 Mar",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503110991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503110991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan will dispatch a senior Foreign Ministry official to Washington on Sunday to discuss post- Persian Gulf war policies, the Foreign Ministry said Friday. Yukio Sato, director general of the ministry's information analysis, research and planning bureau, will visit Washington at the request of the U.S. Government, ministry officials said. The trip will precede Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama’s scheduled U.S. visit, beginning next Wednesday. State Department officials are expected to brief Sato on the results of Secretary of State James Baker's Middle East tour and President George Bush's series of talks with European leaders. Sato last visited the U.S. between February 25 and March 6. On that trip, he presented Japanese ideas on international restrictions on arms shipments to the Middle East, and said Japan was ready to help repair environmental damage in the Gulf region, the officials said. He is expected to discuss more specific aspects of postwar international cooperation during his upcoming trip, they said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Urges U.S. Rice Display’s Removal",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503051791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503051791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister Motoji Kondo reiterated Friday that he will urge a U.S. rice industry group to withdraw samples of U.S. rice displayed at a food trade show now under way in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture. Kondo said at a press conference after a regular cabinet meeting that he will request the U.S.A. Rice Council to remove the American rice samples by Saturday, when the food show at the Makuhari Exposition Center is scheduled to end. He said such activities aimed at promoting rice sales violate Japan's Food Control Law. The minister also said it is questionable whether the rice samples for the show have been quarantined or not. The ministry will consult with its affiliated Food Agency about what to do if the U.S. council does not accept his demand, Kondo said. The National Confederation of Farmers’ Movements has announced it will take legal action against the U.S. group over the rice samples."
},
{
"TITLE": "Business Delegation To Meet U.S. Counterparts",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403132991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1305 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403132991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Business leaders from Japan and the United States will meet in Los Angeles on May 11-12 to “deepen mutual understanding,” the first such meeting since the end of the Persian Gulf war, business sources said Thursday. The meeting will be in preparation for a session of the Japan- U.S. Businessmen's Conference to be held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in July. The officials said the Japanese delegation will explain Japan's basic stance concerning the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks. They said the Japanese side also is concerned about the hardening of U.S. sentiment toward Japan over Tokyo's alleged lukewarm support for the U.S.-led multinational forces fighting the Gulf war. The Japanese delegation will include Eishiro Saito, honorary chairman of the powerful Federation of Economic Organizations; Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the federation; and Rokuro Ishikawa, president of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry."
},
{
"TITLE": "Establishes Ties With LDP",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403131591 Tokyo NHK General Television Network in Japanese 1000 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403131591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NHK General Television Network",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Japanese",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The Liberal Democratic Party [LDP] established its Japan-USSR Parliamentarians League today. In a speech delivered prior to the plenary session, CPSU International Department Chief Falin indicated Soviet intentions to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japan in April. With President Gorbachev scheduled to visit Japan in April, the LDP’s Japan-USSR Parliamentarians’ League was established today for the purpose of promoting extensive exchanges between the two nations. Keijiro Murata, former chairman of the party's policy affairs research council, will serve as chairman of the League. CPSU International Department chief Falin, on his first visit to Japan to attend the league's inaugural session, delivered a speech prior to the plenary session. Commenting on President Gorbachev's visit to Japan, Falin said that President Gorbachev would bring with him not the former image of the Soviet Union but a picture filled with a brighter future. He added that despite the fact that the domestic situation in the Soviet Union is not very favorable right now, it will not be long before the sun shines on Soviet-Japanese relations through the efforts of the two nations. Thus, he indicated the Soviet intention to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japar. Furthermore, regarding President Gorbachev's perestroika policy, International Department chief Falin stated: Unless domestic disorder in the Soviet Union turns into civil war, there will be no going back on perestroyka or any shift in the chosen orientation."
},
{
"TITLE": "Reads Gorbachev Message",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403154991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1347 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403154991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said in a message read here Thursday that he would like a Japanese delegation to visit Moscow before he travels to Tokyo in April. The two countries share a common desire to open a new stage of relations, Gorbachev said in his message read at the inauguration of a bilateral parliamentarians’ group. The parliamentarians’ league was formed by Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union and Japan are obligated to play an “objective role” in the region and internationally, Gorbachev said in the message read by Valentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party's International Affairs Division. “I hope that, as two major members of the world community, our unique contribution to the process of global cooperation will become larger. Gorbachev said in the message. He said he wants to meet with a Japanese delegation before his scheduled April 16-19 visit to Japan, apparently referring to a possible visit by LDP Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa. Falin, in a separate address to the league, said he was upbeat about bilateral relations. He warned, however, that Gorbachev's historic visit comes at a time of domestic turmoil in the Soviet Union. Economic reforms are falling victim to political power struggles, Falin told the audience of some 500 political and economic leaders. He said Gorbachev will stay on the path of “perestroyka” economic reforms and democratization unless the country is swept up in chaos. “When President Gorbachev visits Japan, he will bring with him a bright picture of the future of the Soviet Union, not the old image,” said Falin, a top foreign policy aide to Gorbachev. Falin said financial credit and goods are important to his country, but what the Soviet Union needs most is a model that will help the public make the “correct decision” between a free market economic system and the present centrally planned economy. Speeches by Japanese political leaders, meanwhile, lacked the usual references to the four-decade territorial dispute over four islands north of Hokkaido that has frozen relations in a bitter standoff. The league, joined by 184 LDP parliamentarians, was established to help resolve problems in Japan-Soviet economic cooperation, and promote exchanges by the two countries’ ruling parties in advance of Gorbachev's visit. It supplements an existing suprapertisan league."
},
{
"TITLE": "Laverov, Falin Meet Kaifu",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503041391 Tokyo KYODO in English 0342 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503041391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—A foreign policy adviser to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said to Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday the two countries should make “100 percent“ use of the Kremlin leader's visit to Tokyo next month to achieve a breakthrough in ties. Valentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party's International Affairs Division, said he spoke with Gorbachev immediately before arriving in Japan on Thursday, and that the President is “prepared to make a breakthrough in ties.” “When the President comes, discussions should not be only of the weather and the cherry blossoms, there should also be serious talks on bilateral and international issues. Falin said. Let's make 100 percent use of this chance,” he said in a 15- minute courtesy call, also joined by Soviet Vice Premier Nikolay Laverov. The two officials are here to attend separate political and science events to promote ties prior to Gorbachev's visit. Kaifu said he hopes for a resolution of the territorial dispute over four islands east of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, so that the two countries could sign a peace treaty. The northern islands issue has been a stumbling block for improving relations ever since World War II, when the Soviet troops occupied the islands. Kaifu said he hopes to see a “dynamic” expansion of relations in a wide variety of fields, including economics and technology. Laverov, here to attend the opening of a Soviet science fair, suggested that Soviet basic technology combined with Japanese know- how in application would deliver fruitful results."
},
{
"TITLE": "Gorbachev, Kaifu To Hold Three Rounds of Talks",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503141091 Tokyo KYODO in English 1343 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503141091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will hold three rounds of talks with Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu during his April 16 to 19 visit to Japan, with the two countries’ territorial dispute high on the agenda, government officials said Friday. Gorbachev and Kaifu are expected to sign 11 pacts and documents on issues such as Japan's support for Gorbachev's “perestroyka™ restructuring efforts, and aid to victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The two leaders plan to issue a joint statement on the results and meaning of Gorbachev's visit, officials said. The Soviet president is also scheduled to meet with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, make a speech at the Diet, give a lecture at a university and meet with the press during his four-day stay in Japan, they said. Visits to Osaka and Kyoto are also being arranged, officials said. The schedule will be finalized when Soviet Foreign Minister Aleksander Bessmertnykh visits Japan from March 29-31. Gorbachev's visit to Japan will be the first by a top Kremlin leader in the two nations’ history. It will also be the first Japan-Soviet summit conference in six years, following the meeting between Gorbachev and then Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. At that time, Nakasone went to Moscow to attend the state funeral of Soviet Communist Party leader Konstantin Chernenko, who was succeeded by Gorbachev. There have been only two other Japanese-Soviet summit meetings—between Ichiro Hatoyama and Nikolay Bulganin in October 1956, and between Kakuei Tanaka and Leonid Brezhnev in October 1973. With Gorbachev's visit, Japan hopes to find a breakthrough in realizing the return of the four northern islands off Hokkaido that the Soviet Union occupied after World War II. “We hope to pave the path for solving the territorial dispute and the signing of a Japan-Soviet peace treaty in order to build a foundation for bilateral relations,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said. “And we would like to make it a turning point in dealing with postwar issues.” Some Foreign Ministry sources, however, say the territorial dispute cannot be solved in one or two top-level meetings. With just one month before the visit, Tokyo hopes to feel out Moscow's positions in Bessmerinykh's meetings with Kaifu and Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama later this month, officials said. Liberal Democractic Party [LDP] Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa is also planning to visit Moscow during March, LDP sources said. The Soviet Union, however, is suffering severe economic difficulties, and political and ethnic turmoil at home and is hoping to secure Japan's financial aid while sounding out Japan's position on the territorial dispute. Meanwhile, a Soviet advance team will arrive in Tokyo on Monday for a weeklong visit, Soviet diplomatic sources said Friday."
},
{
"TITLE": "Envoy Says Gorbachev Hopes To Meet Businessmen",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403125991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1215 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403125991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev hopes to meet with Japanese business leaders during his visit to Tokyo in April, Soviet Ambassador to Japan Lyudvig Chizhov said Thursday. Chizhov called on Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the influential Federation of Economic Organizations, known as the Keidanren, Thursday afternoon to convey Gorbachev's desire for a meeting with Hiiaiwa and other business leaders, Keidanren officials said. Hiraiwa welcomed the request and hoped that Gorbachev's trip to Japan will mark a dramatic step forward in relations between Japan and the Soviet Union, said Keidanren officials."
},
{
"TITLE": "USSR Foreign Minister To Discuss Middle East",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503104291 Tokyo KYODO in English 1006 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503104291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Foreign Ministers Aleksander Bessmertnykh and Taro Nakayama will discuss Middle East security in the post-Persian Gulf war period and other international issues during their talks in Tokyo later this month, Soviet diplomatic sources said Friday. The March 29-31 meeting, aimed at finalizing details for President Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to Japan April 16-19, will be the second between the two foreign ministers this year, and the first following last month's end of hostilities in the Gulf. The foreign ministers are also to discuss 11 agreements to be inked during Gorbachev's planned April visit, as well as a final statement to be issued at the end of the trip and a peace treaty, the sources said. Both Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu and Gorbachev have expressed hopes that the visit will provide a breakthrough in relations, snagged over a dispute over ownership of four small islands occupied by the Soviet Union after World War II. However, there have been few hints yet how the two sides will approach the territorial dispute, which Japan says must be resolved before a peace treaty can be concluded. The sources said the Soviet Union plans to hand over a list of some 40,000 deceased Japanese World War II prisoners of war prior to Gorbachev's visit. It recently canceled a plan to hand over the register to a private association of former war detainees in Siberia following a demand by the Japanese Government that the list be delivered via official channels. Among those accompanying Gorbachev on the historic visit will be his wife Raisa, Bessmertnykh, and presidential spokesman Vitaliy Ignatenko, the sources said. The visit here is to be the first ever by a Kremlin leader. Four Japanese prime ministers have traveled to the Soviet Union while in office. In 1956 Ichiro Hatoyama visited the Soviet Union to normalize diplomatic relations. Kakuei Tanaka traveled to Moscow in 1973, Zenko Suzuki in 1982, and Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1984. The sources said they did not expect the Soviet referendum slated for Sunday on preservation of the country’s union structure to affect the visit."
},
{
"TITLE": "Ministry Official ‘Lukewarm’ on USSR Aid",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503081191 Tokyo KYODO in English 0602 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503081191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—A senior Finance Ministry official expressed a lukewarm view Friday regarding possible Japanese financial aid to the Soviet Union. The official, who declined to be named, said the Soviet economy has worsened since the International Monetary Fund and other international organizations issued a negative report on the economic situation in the Soviet Union late last year. The official also said the Soviet military crackdown on independence movements in the Baltic republics adversely affected the Western attitude toward Moscow. He said Western aid to the Soviet Union will be discussed at the London summit of seven Western industrialized nations in July but their attitude will not be as enthusiastic as it was in the previous summit in Houston, Texas, last year."
},
{
"TITLE": "SDP To Review Stand on Kuril Islands",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403171691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1516 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403171691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—The Social Democratic Party (SDP) will review its basic policy calling for the return of all the Kuril Islands, including the four Soviet-held islands off Hokkaido, party officials said Thursday. They said party members have been demanding more flexibility in policy toward the Soviet Union. The SDP, Japan's largest opposition party, has argued since 1961 that Moscow must return two of the four islands—Shikotan Island and the Habomai Island group—before concluding a peace treaty with Tokyo, and said that the return of the other Kuril islands should be negotiated later. The four islands were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. A Japanese-Soviet joint declaration in 1956 specified that the Soviet Union would return Shikotan and the Habomais after concluding a peace treaty between the two countries."
},
{
"TITLE": "Marubeni Postpones Vladivostok Office Plan",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503125591 Tokyo KYODO in English 1116 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503125591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Marubeni Corp. said Friday it has put off its plan to open a representative office in the Soviet far east city of Viadivostok because of an abrupt aboutface in Soviet policy. The trading giant has apparently made the decision after learning of a change in Soviet policy, apparently stemming from the rise of conservatives in the leadership following the military crackdown in the Baltic republics, industry sources said. Company officials said they had an impression that the Kremlin now does not want to open Vladivostok, a major Soviet naval port on the Sea of Japan, to foreigners for the time being. The Soviet Union earlier promised to allow foreign companies to open offices in the city in March in order to promote economic reforms in the Far East. Marubeni and another Japanese trading firm, Mitsubishi Corp., then announced plans to open offices there. Mitsubishi said it has not received information about Moscow's change of policy. The firm said it has not withdrawn its application filed to the state authorities of that country, because the Soviet situation remains fluid. Vladivostok, with a population of about 650,000, is the home of the Soviet Far East naval fleet."
},
{
"TITLE": "Development Loan Pleadged to PRC",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503110791 Tokyo KYODO in English 1041 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503110791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan has pledged to extend a low-interest, untied loan of up to 43.38 billion yen to China in the third disbursement of its aid package for fiscal 1990, the Foreign Ministry announced Friday. The ministry said the fund will be used to help finance five development projects, including construction . highways, railways, and other facilities. The loan, part of Japan's official development assistance (ODA), is repayable over a 30-year period, including a 10-year grace period, at an annual interest rate ol 7.5 percent, the ministry said. Notes on the loan were exchanged in Beijing on Friday between Japanese Ambassador to China Hiroshi Hashimoto and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Qi Huaiyuan, the ministry said. The projects to be financed by the loan include: —construction and consolidation of highway and telecommunications networks in Qingdao City at a cost of 12,834 million yen. —construction of railways in Baoji in northwestern China at a cost of 5,572 million yen. —construction of an airport in Wuhan at 6,279 million yen. —construction of coal transportation railways linking Hengshui and Shangqiu at a cost of 5,695 million. —construction of the Beijing Shisanling pumped-storage power station at 13 billion yen."
},
{
"TITLE": "Grants Extended to Latin America, Africa",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403125091 Tokyo KYODO in English 1027 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403125091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan will extend grant-in-aid to Peru, Honduras, Benin, Madagascar, and Botswana, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday. Peru will receive 3.5 billion yen and Honduras 500 million yen in a nonproject grant to help pay for the Latin American nations’ necessary imports, the ministry said. Benin will get 900 million yen and Madagascar 3.5 billion yen for the same purpose. The 104-million-yen grant for Botswana is for debt relief and will compensate for part of its debts in yen loans from Japan extended until March 1988, the ministry said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Finance Minister Remarks on Yen’s Weakness",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503061991 Tokyo KYODO in English 0550 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503061991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said Friday the current weakness of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar in foreign exchange markets should not be sustained. “I do not think current exchange rates between the two currencies reflect Japanese economic fundamentals correctly,” Hashimoto told the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives. The minister said he hopes currency rates will settle moderately, not sharply. The recent strength of the dollar is caused by U.S. investors’ euphoria at the end of the Persian Gulf war, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Sees Economic Expansion Without Inflation",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503020291 Tokyo KYODO in English 0119 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503020291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said on Friday the economy continues to expand without any fear of a rekindling of inflation. Speaking at a press conference after a cabinet meeting, Hashimoto said brisk domestic demand is supporting the current economic expansion. Meanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Yasushi Mieno said personal consumption and private-sector capital spending are still the main pillars of Japan's 51-month economic expansion. Mieno made his remarks before a Finance Committee meeting at the House of Representatives. The central bank chief said there is no signs of a decline in the two pillars and that the pace of economic expansion remains steady. “A moderate slowdown in the growth rate would sustain the country's economic expansion,” Mieno said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Administrative Vice Finance Minister Named",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403151191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1438 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403151191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has decided to name Hiroshi Yasuda, Budget Bureau Chief, as Administrative Vice Minister of Finance, ministry officials said Thursday night. Yasuda, 58, will succeed Masami Kogayu, 59, who will retire from the post. Their personnel change is expected to be formalized in late June, the officials said. Jiro Saito, 55, chief of the minister's secretariat, will succeed Yasuda as new Budget Bureau Chief. At the same time, Tadao Chino, 57, International Finance Bureau chief, will be named to succeed Makoto Utsumi, 56, the retiring vice minister for international affairs, the ministry officials said. Hashimoto's decision on the appointments followed the passage of the national budget bill for fiscal 1991 through the House of Representatives earlier in the evening. The newly picked administrative vice minister, Yasuda previously served as head of the minister's secretariat before taking up the current post last June."
},
{
"TITLE": "Lower House Approves 1991 Fiscal Budget",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403142691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1359 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403142691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—The House of Representatives passed by a majority vote Thursday the government-proposed 1991 fiscal budget totaling 70,347.4 billion yen. The budget incorporates 12,212.2 billion yen for social welfare, up 5.1 percent over the current year, 6,589.7 billion yen for public works projects, up 6.0 percent, and 883.1 billion for official development aid, up 8.0 percent. Defense spending was slashed to 4,386 billion yen in order to raise funds for Japan's 9 billion dollar contribution to the cost of the Persian Gulf war, though this was still an increase of 5.45 percent. The bulk of the 9 billion dollars was generated in a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year. In addition, Japan earlier offered 2 billion dollars to the U.S.- led multinational forces deployed in the Middle East and another 2 billion dollars in aid to countries affected by the conflict. The legislation was immediately sent to the House of Councillors for further deliberation. According to the Constitution, the bill will be enacted automatically in 30 days even if the upper house fails to act on it. The government is also expected to compile a provisional budget amounting to about 5 trillion yen to cover government expenditures for the first 12 days of fiscal 1991, beginning April 1."
},
{
"TITLE": "Commodity Funds Bill To Include Securities",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403131691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1056 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403131691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—A law to introduce commodity funds in Japan to be enacted soon will allow such funds to include securities for less than 50 percent of their assets, government officials said Thursday. The Finance Ministry, Ministry of International Trade and Industry [MITI], and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Ministry have jointly drawn up a draft of a bill which is expected to be submitted to the current Diet session. The bill will also provide for the punishment of violators, including imprisonment, a MITI official said. Trust banks will be the sole institutions that are allowed to establish commodity funds under the new law, the official said. On the marketing side, commodity funds for general investors will be marketed by trust banks, while those for corporate and institutional investors will be handled by trading houses and iease companies, he said. Securities to be included in the funds include government bonds, corporate debentures, and mortgages. But resale of these funds will be prohibited to limit the distribution. Commodity funds are a type of trust fund in which the trustees invest money on behalf of investors in commodity futures markets, such as grain, precious metals, and crude oil futures."
},
{
"TITLE": "Household Spending Increases in 1990",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503121091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0805 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503121091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO— Japanese households spent an average 311,174 yen per month in 1990, up 0.8 percent in real terms over the year before, the Management and Coordination Agency said in a report Friday. This is the second year for growth to be below 1.0 percent, following the 0.5 percent rise in 1989, and shows that spending has been discouraged in part by a surge of consumer prices ai a rate that has not been seen since 1981, the report said. Households of salaried workers spent an average 331,595 yen per month or 1.6 percent more than in the previous year. The average nonsalaried worker's households spent only 0.1 percent more at an average of 275,583 yen. An increase in overseas holidays boosted spending in the leisure- related service sector, as more households spent more on airline tickets and group tours. Spending grew notably in cordless telephones and telephone services, eyeglasses, and medical goods. Steady consumption was seen in household durable goods such as air conditioners and refrigerators, helped in part by the hot summer weather, but purchases of television sets and videotape recorders fell for the first time in 12 years, the report said. Spending on alcohol, other beverages, and prepared foods went up, but that on fresh fruit and vegetables fell, due to their higher prices, it said. A steady growth was seen in the monthly income of salaried workers’ households, which went up 2.0 percent on average from the year before to 521,757 yen. Although the income earned by household heads rose a weak 1.0 percent, due to the spreading employment of older, lower-paid people, there were jumps of 4.8 percent in bonus payments to them and of 4.6 percent in the income earned by their spouses. Spending in the nonconsumption sector surged 9.1 percent due to higher social insurance rates. Double-income households earned 556,633 yen monthly, or 16.8 percent more than single-income households, with the income of the spouse accounting for an average 107,928 yen, or 19.4 percent of the total. Double-income households spent 11.8 percent more than single- income households, with spending on education notably higher, the report said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Plant Site Acquisitions Drop in 1990",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503120691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0821 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503120691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—The number of large sites acquired for industrial use during 1990 fell 9.0 percent from the previous year, the first annual decline in four years, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said Friday MITI’s annual report on plant site purchases said those with an area of 1,000 square meters or more bought during the year for building facilities for manufacturing or production of electricity, gas, or eat amounted to 3,781, down from 4,157 in 1989. The total area of newly purchased land came to 4,616 hectares, down 2.3 percent from the previous year. MITI said the figures are still at high levels and show no signs of a major slowdown. The most popular reason gien for companies selecting sites was securing their workiurces. Metal product manufacturers accounted for the largest share—15.9 percent—of the total acquisitions, followed by general machinery makers (12.9 percent), food processing firms (11.2 percent), and electronics companies (10.9 percent). Purchases by chemical, oil, and coal companies fell sharply. The number of purchases by foreign firms plunged to 18 from 31 in the previous year. Sites bought for building research laboratories also slipped to 46 from 63."
},
{
"TITLE": "Firm Builds Intelsat Earth Station on Comoros",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403151391 Tokyo KYODO in English 1405 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403151391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—KDD Engineering and Consulting Inc. (KEC) has built an Intelsat satellite earth station in the Comoros Islands, off the East African coast, KDD, the company’s parent firm, said Thursday. The station will go into operation on Saturday. The completion of the station will ensure improved and stable international telecommunications to and from the island republic. KDD, Japan's international telecom giant, said. KEC has built the earth station under a contract with the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, and with aid from the Japanese Government. The station has won the approval of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat). The republic has so far had only shortwave circuits, and communications to and from the republic had been disturbed by jamming and noises."
},
{
"TITLE": "Major Shipping Companies Plan Merger",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503080691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0559 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503080691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Nihon Yusen K.K. and Nippon Liner Systems Ltd. have agreed to merge their worldwide shipping operations to better compete in a severely competitive market, industry sources said Friday. Both companies are expected to announce the merger at a Tokyo press conference late Friday afternoon, the sources said. According to the sources, Nippon Yusen will purchase all the stock of and absorb Nippon Liner Systems into its worldwide shipping operations. Nippon Liner Systems, an affiliate company of Navix Line Ltd. and established in 1988, operates a fixed liner service between Japan and North America. The company has been suffering losses since its start-up, the sources said. Navix, established in June 1989 through a merger of Yamashita Shin Nihon Steamship Co. and Japan Lines Ltd., had been talking with Nihon Yusen about taking the company off its hands for some time, the sources said. Nippon Liner suffered losses of 190 million yen in the third quarter of Fiscal 1990. Second quarter operating profits for July, August, and September of Fiscal 1990 are expected to amount to 1.6 percent of the revenues for the same period in the previous year, the sources said. After the merger, Nihon Yusen, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., and Navix Ltd. will be the only remaining Japanese shipping firms to continue fixed international shipping routes, the sources said."
},
{
"TITLE": "U.S. Denounced for ‘Marring’ DPRK Image",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203052391 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0449 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1203052391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 12 (KCNA)—The U.S. delegate at a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission held in Geneva recently took issue with our country over the “human rights” problem. Denouncing this, a news analyst of NODONG SINMUN today says: The “human rights” problem is not raised at all in our country, where all the people exercise equal and independent rights befitting the true master of the state and society and enjoy a genuine political, economic and cultural life. The news analyst further says: It is a malicious challenge to our Republic and an unpardonable insult to our people for the United States to charge our country with the “human rights” problem. The United States seeks a sinister purpose of marring the image of our Republic ever rising in the international arena, undermining its prestige and influence and isolating our Republic internationally. When the United States raises a hue and cry over someone's “human rights”, acting the “international judge of human rights”, it reminds us of a thief crying “stop thief” The United States is the very general headquarters and chieftain of human rights violation. It is universally recognized that tens of millions of U.S. people are deprived of the most elementary rights of humanity such as democracy and vital rights and their freedom is totally trampled down. It is also the United States where racial inequality is most serious. While keeping utter silence about the wanton violation of human rights in South Korea, their colony, the U.S. ruling circles are speaking ill of our Republic. This fully reveals again their shameless and brigandish nature. The United States had better mind its own business before taking issue with others over “human rights“"
},
{
"TITLE": "Team Spirit Exercise Said Challenge to North",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403151091 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0022 GMT 9 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1403151091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[NODONG SINMUN 9 March special article: A Game of Playing With Fire That Leads the Situation to the Brink of War] [Text] Despite the unanimous protest and denouncement of all the Korean people and the world's peace-loving people, the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean warmongers are leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war by conducting the adventurous Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise. Not only the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, and the puppet forces, but also massive aggressive arms from the U.S. mainland and the Pacific region will be mobilized in this war exercise. The war exercise will continue until late April, starting with mobile deployment in late January. Offensive operations for northward invasion, such as joint landing operations, mobile aerial strike operations, commando operations, and river-crossing operations, will be conducted during the war exercise. The reckless nuclear war exercise is an unforgivable challenge to our Republic and the people who are earnestly making efforts for peace and peacefu! reunification on the Korean peninsula, and is an intolerable criminal act of leading the situation on the Korean peninsula into very dangerous phase once again. Pecause of the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, today, a dark cloud of nuclear catastrophe is hovering over the heads of our people, and a state of emergency is being created in our country in which a new war may break out. To cope with the grave situation in which nuclear war is developing as a real danger in our country because of the reckless, provocative military plot of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet clique, the supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] has issued an order to the Army, Navy, and Air Forces of the KPA, all the units of the Korean Security Forces, and all the members of the Worker-Peasant Militia and the Red Youth Guards, to assume a full combat mobilization posture with high revolutionary vigilance. T ais is a just step to defend the sacred fatherland and the valuable revolutionary achievements. Now, the U.S. imperialists and the puppets, in order to rationalize their reckless war madness, are babbling about our self-defense combat mobilization posture while saying that it is an annual exercise and is not dangerous at all. They also said hat we were reacting in a very sensitive manner. This, however, is only the poor excuse of the warmongers. It is a well-known fact that the Team Spirit joint military exercise, which has been conducted since 1976, is a dangerous preliminary war and a test nuclear war aimed at carrying out a preemtive strike against our Republic. The exercise, which is being conducted this year for the sixteenth time, shows a very serious direction. Because of this, we cannot regard it as a simple exercise that has been annually conducted. The great leader Comrade Kim II-song has taught: Today, all events taking place in South Korea show that the new war-provoking maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and their stooges are in a very dangerous phase, and the situation of our country is on the brink of war. As is known, the high-level talks between the North and the South were held from last year. Many issues, including the issue of removing political and military confrontation, were presented in the talks. In particular, the issue of adopting a nonaggression declaration was presented as an important item on the agenda. In order to make this year a year of relaxtion and peace, a year of reconciliation and unity, and a historical year that opens a new phase in national reunification, the government of our Republic, at the very beginning of the year, put forward epocal proposals, including the proposal for peaceful national reunification, and for guran- teeing peace on the Korean peninsula. We have put forward a flexible proposal to the United States and the South Korean authorities, suggesting that a nonaggression declaration be adopted by the North and South, and that the Team Spirit joint military exercise be completely suspended or, at least, suspended for two or three years. However, ignoring our sincere efforts, the U.S. imperialists and the puppets openly undertook to conduct the criminal Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise and repeatedly held war conferences from late last year. Finally, they started a nuclear war exercise this year, thus openly challenging us. This proves that the United States and the South Korean puppets, blocking forever the road toward peace and peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula, have attempted to destroy our Republic through force of arms by waging a nuclear war. The Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is also serious because it is being conducted in South Korea in the situation where preparations for an aggressive war against the northern half of the Republic have been completed. Having conducted the Team Spirit joint military exercise in South Korea every year since 1976, the United States imperialists have now escalated it. Through this exercise, the U.S. imperialists have attempted to complete preparations for northward aggression. A large number of U.S. soldiers and their ultramodern equipment were brought from the U.S. mainland and throughout the Pacific to the Korean peninsula and, emphasizing nuclear attack, the forces of aggression from overseas, along with the U.S. forces occupying South Korea and the puppets, conducted massive sea, land, and aerial strike operations. Mobilizing enough forces in the Team Spirit joint military exercise to wage a war, the U.S. imperialists have mastered and completed, in recent years, a three-dimensional war on land, sea, and in the air by repeatedly conducting actual fighting exercises. Given the absurd remarks of the U.S. imperialist war servants that during the Team Spirit joint military exercise they may wage unexpected war, and given the remarks of foreign military commentators that if an order to wage war is issued, this military exercise will automatically turn into a war, it is not difficult to see that this game of playing with fire has reached a dangerous point. Even today when the preparations for an armed aggression against the northern half of the Republic have been completed, they are conducting this war exercise, even while propagandizing that it is an annual exercise. This can be done only by warmongers. The exercise is more dangerous this year because it has been conducted on the whole part of South Korea under the situation in which an unprecedented and sharp atmosphere of war was created. Already late last year, under a plausible pretext of war against crimes, the South Korean puppets have already mobilized violent forces, such as a larger number of the puppet military forces, policemen, and reserve forces, and massively kicked up the suppression commotion against the patriotic forces for reunification. From the very beginning of this year, they have created a more terrible atmosphere of terror. We cannot help but say that this is a result of maneuvers designed to strengthen the military fascist system in preparation for wartime in accordance with the U.S. aggressive policy over Korea. From the very beginning of this year, a large number of the latest operational equipment and nuclear-equipped fighter bombers flew into South Korea from abroad, and aerial war exercises to strike us were staged almost every day. All kinds of military provocation and reconnaissance acts against the northern half of the Republic are frequently being conducted. Under the pretext of the Gulf war, the United States and the South Koran puppets have declared an emergency wartime system in South Korea, and have ordered U.S. and the puppet soldiers to be ready for an emergency mobilization. Wholly aiming their guns at the northern half of the Republic, the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, as well as the puppet forces, have been under an emergency wartime system. In addition, under the pretext of the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, the aggressive forces from abroad have crowded into the Korean peninsula with their nuclear weapons. This will never be overlooked. The U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets have perpetuated approximately 1,500 military provocations, including intensive gun fire against our side on the area of the Military Demarcation Line just 20 days after the announcement of the plan for the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise. Nevertheless, a war may be easily provoked by a trivial incident on the Korean peninsula where the massive arms of both sides confront each other over the MDL {Military Demarcation Line]. How can we regard playing with fire amid the atmosphere of war as destiny? So far, the Team Spirit joint military exercise has been conducted approximately ten times in South Korea. However, the exercise has never been conducted in the whole of South Korea in such a grave, war-like atmosphere as this year. All the facts show that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets, taking advantage of the destruction of the balance of power in international relations and the military imbalance created on the Korean peninsula by our reduction of 100,000 troops at our initiative, are surely going to set a conflagration for northward invasion on the Korean peninsula. The propaganda that the Team Spirit joint military exercise is not dangerous because it has been conducted annually is merely transparent subterfuge by those who would dull our vigilance and perpetuate an aggressive war at any opportunity. With no sophistry can the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets conceal the fact that the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is dangerous. Upon receiving an order from the supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people are now fully prepared for combat mobilization to smash the war maneuvers of the enemy. Our people love peace and do not want confrontation and war. However, they will never forgive those who antagonize us without reason. If the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets take the road of adventurous and aggressive war at last by miscalculating our efforts for peace as an indication of weakness, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people will retaliate ten thousand fold."
},
{
"TITLE": "13 March Team Spirit Maneuvers Reported",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503045291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0430 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503045291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The U.S. imperialists staged another nuclear air strike exercise against the North on March 13 at a time when a horrible atmosphere of war has been created throughout South Korea by the adventurous “Team Spirit 91“ joint manoeuvres, according to military sources. They sent by stealth a formation of Guam-based nuclear- capable B-52 strategic bombers to the sky above Asan Bay for a nuclear air strike exercise for a surprise attack on main targets in the strategic depth of the northern half of Korea. Participating in it were formations of nuclear- capable F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers which have been mobilized in the “Team Spirit 91“ from the Pacific bases. On the same day, they held a large-scale joint ground strike exercise against the North in the air above Yongju of north Kyongsang Province with the mobilization of fighter-bombers and assault planes based in the U.S. mainland and the Pacific and formations of fighter- bombers, assault planes and observation planes belonging to the U.S. Airforce present in South Korea and the puppet airforce. More than 150 warplanes including nuclear-capable F- 16 were involved in it. On March 12, the U.S. imperialists brought an E-3A early warning plane based in Kadena, Japan, to the sky above the Military Demarcation Line [MDL] area and let it command flying corps in aerial espionage and war exercises against the North. On March 12 and 13, they also let U-2 high-altitude strategic reconnaissance planes make shuttle flights for hours along the MDL for an aerial espionage on the objects in the depth of the North. The warplanes mobilized in the “Team Spirit 91\" manoeuvres on March 12 and 13 numbered more than 1,560. This proves that the provocative “Team Spirit 91” started by the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean rulers has reached a very dangerous stage."
},
{
"TITLE": "DPRK MAC Member Sends Letter of Protest",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503051291 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0310 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503051291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[“Letter of protest” from Major General Choe Ui-ung, senior member of the DPRK side to the Military Armistice Commission (MAC), to the senior member of the U.S. side on 15 March—read by announcer] [Text] Our side sends this letter to your side in connection with the large-scale Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise which your side is adventurously waging in a full-scale stage, and with the situation on the Korean peninsula which your side strained to an extreme point. The Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is a preliminary war and test nuclear war which thoroughly takes the northern half of our Republic as the target of attack. It itself is a grave act of war. It is a basic mission of the MAC to safeguard peace by preventing the recurrence of war on the Korean peninsula. Proceeding from this, our side strongly demanded during the 459th MAC meeting held on 13 February that your side suspend the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise which creates the danger of nuclear war and hinders North-South dialogue. Our side even put forward a new proposal that if your side cannot suspend this exercise, we, in the name of both sides of the MAC, recommend to the relevant government authorities the issue of discontinuing the large-scale war exercise. This was prompted by the earnest desire to ensure peace in Korea and North-South dialogue by preventing at any cost the situation from being strained due to the large-scale war exercise. However, your side staged the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise instead of responding to our just demand put forward in accordance with the Armistice Agreement, and to the proposal for negotiations. Today your side expanded this exercise into a full-scale stage, thus leading the situation to a grave stage. Despite our repeated protest and warnings, your side is finally waging the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise in a full-scale stage. This is a grave and dangerous war provocation commotion leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to an extreme point. You dragged enormous armed personnel and nuclear operation equipment into South Korea from U.S. military bases on the U.S. mainland and in the Pacific region, including Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines. You are waging a large-scale war exercise together with the armed forces in South Korea by simulating an attack on us. In the landing operation in Pohang on 12 March, which signaled the launch of a general offensive in the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, you mobilized the troops of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and commando units, which were brought in from the U.S. mainland and from the bases in the Pacific region, the U.S. forces in South Korea, and the South Korean forces, a total of some 1,000 military planes, such as the fighter-bombers, vertical takeoff and landing assault planes, pursuit-assault planes, electronic jamming planes, refueling planes, and antisubmarine planes, and patrol planes, and hundreds of warships, such as missile- carrying cruisers, missile-carrying destroyers, nuclear- powered submarines, and landing vessels, and waged an offensive operation simulating a landing on the coastal areas of the northern half of the Republic. You are also conducting aerial mobile strike operations, ground offensive operations, landing operations, and commando operations on a large scale. You are committing grave military provocations one after another in the DMZ in which the armed forces of the two sides are directly confronting each other. On 4 March, your side shelled our side with artillery in the DMZ in the eastern front; and on 8 March, fired at our side many rounds of a large-caliber machine gun in the DMZ in the western front, committing some 4,100 military provocations as of 14 March from the time your side began the Team Spirit-91 war rehearsal. Because of these war rehearsal commotions and military provocations of your side, military confrontation between the two sides is now dashing toward the point of no return. Our side protests and denounces resolutely once again the aggressive Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities as a wanton violation of the Armistice Agreement, an open challenge to us and the supervisory organizations of the Armistice, and intentional maneuvers frustrating the security on the Korean peninsula and North-South dialogue. We oppose war and desire peace, but never beg anyone for peace. Our revolutionary Armed Forces and all our people are closely watching the reckless war commotions conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities, and will respond to the provocation with a due measure for self-defense. Your side will be held totally responsible for creating on the Korean peninsula the situation comparable to that on the eve of war like today, for frustrating the North- South dialogue, and for straining the relations between the two sides extremely."
},
{
"TITLE": "KPA Holds Meetings To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503043891 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503043891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The officers and men of the unit of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] to which Comrade Kim Yong-cho belongs, the naval unit of the KPA to which Comrade An To-chik belongs and the airforce unit of the KPA to which Comrade Choe Sang- hyon belongs held meetings to denounce the “Team Spirit 91” joint military exercises and declared that if the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities unleash a war of aggression, they would revenge themselves on the aggressors a thousand fold. Speakers at the meetings angrily denounced the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities who have entered into field exercises of the “Team Spirit 91,” noting that this was driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war. All the KPA officers and men, upon receiving orders from the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, keep themselves in ful! combat readiness to cope with the enemy's new war provocation moves, they said, adding: There are no assurances that the reckless war game of the U.S. imperialists who were driven mad with the scheme to ignite another war and of their stooges will not turn into a war against the North. As long as the one-beats-a-hundred soldiers who defeated the aggressors and displayed matchless heroic feats in the Fatherland Liberation War stand guard, the defences of our socialist motherland are impregnable, they declared, and stressed: None of the aggressors who intrude our territory, seas and sky will be let to go home alive."
},
{
"TITLE": "More Meetings Held To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403105591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0959 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1403105591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[\"U.S. Imperialists and South Korean Authorities Must Act With Discretion\" —KCNA headline] [Text] Pyongyang March 14 (KCNA)}—Meetings were held at the Pyongyang thermal power complex, the Sinuiju textile mill and the Hwasong co-op farm in Yongsong district, Pyongyang, and other places to denounce the “Team Spirit 91“ joint maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities. Speeches were made there. The speakers said that the “Team Spirit 91“ joint maneuvers started by the U.S. imperialists and the No Tae-u ruling group in defiance of the unanimous protests and denunciation by the people at home and abroad are assuming ever more dangerous dimensions with each passing day. This is pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war, they noted. It must not go unnoticed that the South Korean authorities unhesitatingly committed grave military provocations by firing bullets and shells at the northern portion of the demilitarized zone along the Military Demarcation Line, timing to coincide with the “Team Spirit 91”, they said, adding: Such military provocations were motivated by the sinister aim to deliberately aggravate the North-South relations and find an excuse to invade our Republic. They stressed that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities must act with discretion, looking straight at the invincible strength of our people united with a single heart. If the enemy dare ignite a war of aggression on the Korean peninsula, he will face his final doom before our revolutionary Armed Forces and people, they warned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Criticizes U.S. ‘Antisocialist Strategy’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503104091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1002 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503104091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[“‘Team Spirit’ Exercises and Anti-Socialist Strategy” — KCNA headline] [Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCBA)—NODONG SINMUN today carries a by-lined article entitled “‘Team Spirit’ Exercises and Anti-Socialist Strategy”. It says: In its anti-socialist moves the United States is persistently following the policy of strength on the one hand and resorting to the “peaceful transition” strategy on the other. The double-track anti-socialist offensive of the U.S. imperialists finds its concentrical manifestation in their Korea policy. In an attempt to contain our republic by means of strength, they have converted South Korea into the biggest nuclear forward base in the Far East, where more than 1,000 pieces of nuclear weapons are deployed. and are annually staging Team Spirit“ joint maneuvers, a test nuclear war against us. The “Team Spirit” is a heinous challenge to and provocation against our republic and a sinister move to gratify their aggressive ambition by settling the Korean issue by strength, by means of war, not by peaceful means through dialogue. The United States is also trying viciously and craftily to realize its anti-DPRK “peaceful transition“ strategy, backed by strength. The U.S. imperialists and their stooges, the South Korean authorities, are trying by hook or by crook to instill the wind of “liberalization” in the northern half of Korea. The U.S. imperialists are also foolishly attempting to realize their “peaceful transition” strategy at an early date by laying obstacles in the way of our socialist construction and making us use up our national strength through such large-scale military frenzy as “Team Spirit” maneuvers. The “peaceful transition” strategy, a camouflaged, indirect method, is no less dangerous than the direct threat and blackmail of strength. These two aggressive methods of the U.S. imperialists constitute an important characteristic of their policy toward Korea at present and it bespeaks that they attach great importance to the Korean peninsula in their anti- socialist offensive and are making desperate efforts to save their policies toward Korea and Asia from bankruptcy by directing the spearhead of aggression on our republic and weakening the socialist position. Our people are victoriously advancing, successfully smashing the double-track aggressive offensive of the U.S. imperialists. The imperialists’ strategies of strength and “peaceful transition“ are powerless to check our people's onward movement and they are doomed to failure."
},
{
"TITLE": "No Tae-u Said Inciting Fratricidal War’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503054291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0425 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503054291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March IS (KCNA)—NODONG SINMUN and MINJU CHOSON today denounce No Tae-u for inciting a fratricidal war. No Tae-u told a “graduation ceremony of the military academy that peace on the Korean peninsula can be “preserved” only by military power strong enough to “deter someone's provocation and at the “Airforce Academy” he blared that reinforcing the armed forces is the “key to unification”. He also piffled that the puppet army should establish “strategy and tactics suited to the reality and effective commanding system“, drawing a lesson from the Gulf war. What No said at the puppet army military academ es training tools of war is utterances encouraging them to light the fuse of a war to gratify his wild design to “unify the country by prevailing over communism,” the news analyst of NODONG SINMUN says, and continues: No Tae-u is a traitor to the nation and a bellicose element who is not entitled to talk about peace and “unification”. The South Korean authorities have turned down our proposal for the adoption of a nonaggression declaration and responded to our call for an end to the war exercises with the “Team Spirit“ joint manoeuvres. The bellicose acts of No Tae-u show that the war servant of the U.S. imperialists is trying to bring dark clouds of a nuclear war over the Korean peninsula at any cost. No must act with discretion, deeply mindful how serious is the crime he is committing by staging the “Team Spirit“ nuclear war exercises together with the U.S. imperialists. The news analyst of MINJU CHOSON says: No Tae-u is screwing up the tension and trying to start a war in an effort to stave off the serious crisis of his tottering regime. However, it is not a way out but a way to his doom."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Proposes Coexistence Under Reunification",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0140A Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 18 Jan 91",
"CITATION ID": "912C0140A",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NODONG SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 18, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By reporter Yi Sun-hui",
"FULL TEXT": "[Article by reporter Yi Sun-hui: “The North and the South Can Coexist in a Reunified Country“] [Text] The great leader Comrade Kim Il-song taught in his 1991 New Year's address as follows: “The two systems can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country if they are placed on the basis of the common national traits that have been carried on without a break historically.” In the address, the great leader made it clear that the reunification of our country should be carried out under a confederal system formula of one nation, one country and two systems, two governments. He then elucidated that if we stand on the basis of what the Korean nation has in common historically unbroken, the North and the South—even if their systems differ with each other—can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country. The proposed reunification based on the confederal system formula—envisaging reunification by means of leaving the two different systems of the North and the South as they are and establishing a reunited nation-state on them—is the most realistic and fairest way of reunification enabling the North and the South to reconcile and reunite with each other as one nation and to realize the reunification of the country peacefully at the earliest possible date. We already proposed a long time ago the founding of a democratic confederal republic of Koryo as a way for the North and the South to confederate and establish a reunited nation-state while leaving their different ideologies and systems intact. This proposal, for its realistic and rational quality, was met with positive support and approval by the people in the North and the South and the world over as soon as it was announced. The South Korean authorities and some other people say that the North and the South took on “heterogeneity” and therefore must regain “homogeneity” before they are reunified. This is a sophistry being used by those seeking a permanent national division to justify their criminal attempt. The North and the South indeed have been separated for more than 40 years but there has been, and there is, no change in what they have in common as a nation. They remain homogeneous. We share the same blood and language, the most fundamental characteristics of a nation. Our nation’s homeland is Korea on which our forefathers have built a long, long history and culture. In other words, as a nation, nothing has changed between the North and the South. If there is anything different between the North and the South at all, it is the heterogeneity associated with the two systems that have existed in the past 40-odd years and it is by no means a big thing in comparison with the national homogeneity that has developed and solidified over thousands of years. The difference between the two systems can by no means be a factor compelling our nation to live in separation nor an obstacle insurmountable in reunifying the North and the South. The South Korean authorities, without seeing this fact, cling to their pretext of recovering “homogeneity,” maintaining that there is no alternative but continue the two-states separation until the systems are unified. They are thus calling for “unification of systems” based on a one-nation and one-system formula. What they are doing is tantamount to perpetuating the division endlessly, and to denying reunification after all. The problem is not a North-South “heterogeneity” but the South Korean puppets persistently seeking such heterogeneity for the purpose of creating “two Koreas.” The successive South Korean ruling circles, extolling the U.S. imperialists as “liberator” and “aider,” spread the worship-America and fear-America thoughts among the people, blunting their spirit of national independence. They brought in the American way of life and left it to gnaw at the traditional, laudable manners aad customs of the Korean nation. In the economic area, too, the puppets severed the North-South tics, subjugating the South Korean economy to the U.S. economy. The South Korean ruling circles, engrossed in flunkeyism and acts of treason, even came up with the “racial reform doctrine” in an attempt to cut the bloodline of the nation. Also, how knavish they were with their anticommunist stratagems and rackets to stir antagonism and jealousy between the North and the South! What the U.S. imperialists and South Korean ruling circles sought was to turn the North and the South into two different nations and thus split both the people and the country into two permanently. However, they were unable to carry out their criminal attempt after all. The South Korean people are now strongly resisting the U.S. imperialists’ colonial enslavement policy and waging vigorous struggles under slogans demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops and nuclear weapons and opposing the U.S. economic aggression. The policy of anticommunist confrontation pursued by the U.S. imperialists and South Korean reactionaries inevitably wound up bankrupt. And now the southern land is swept by a rising mood for reunification through coalition with communism and with the North. From the very beginning, the Korean people have been a homogeneous nation of one bloodline. As such, they have been a people of integrity and high pride who courageously repelled invasions by outside forces and glorified their history and culture. For 36 years, the Japanese imperialist colonial rulers tried to liquidate the Korean nation under the pretext of “integration of mainland Japan and Korea“ or of “the same ancestors and same roots“ but our people not only resisted their attempt to the last and defended the racial traits but also waged glorious struggles to accomplish the historic cause of restoring the fatherland. The U.S. imperialists and South Korean puppets are attempting to create “two Koreas” and keep the North and the South separated forever but the Korean people will not tolerate their scheme after all. Last year, compatriots of all strata in the North and the South met in one place and held the festival of dialogue and reunification. It was an impressive event demonstrating the fact that although separated under different systems, our brethren in the North and the South belong to the same nation, share the same aspiration for reunification, and that they can easily communicate with each other once they meet and can vigorously work out the way for reunification through reconciliation and solidarity. It is extremely unrealistic and treasonable that the South Korean ruling circles are calling for “unification of systems“ under the pretext of recovering the “homogeneity” while turning a blind eye to the common national traits which the Korean people have inherited historically generation after generation and to their fervent aspiration for reunification. Under the stark reality that the different systems exist in the North and the South and that neither side is willing to make a concession, there is even no telling how long the “reunification of systems” will take. Especially, since “unification of systems” implies one side absorbing the other, the theory can lead to disasters involving conflicts and war. The South Korean authorities should abandon the “reunification by prevailing over communism” delusions and respond favorably to our proposal for reunification by the confederal system formula of one nation and one country, two systems and two governments. To realize the reunification of the fatherland by establishing a reunified nation-state upon—and leaving intact—the existing systems and governments in the North and the South is the best possible way to resolve the reunification issue with fairness and in consistency with the national interests under the present conditions of our country. If the North and the South give prominence to the common national traits and work to resolve the reunification issue on that basis, it is fully possible for them to realize the confederal system reunification and coexist as one nation and in one reunified country. The North and the South and our people overseas will without fail expedite the confederal system-based national reunification through their united struggles upholding the militant tasks set forth by the great leader in his New Year's address."
},
{
"TITLE": "CPRF on ‘Suppression’ Before ROK Elections",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503044091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0415 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503044091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA) —The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland [(CPRF] in its Information No. 583 on March 14 denounced the South Korean authorities for intensifying suppression of the people in a bid to use the local assembly elections in securing a foothold for their long- term office. Recalling that the South Korean chief executive issued a repressive order on March 12 to deal with all acts of violation of the “Election Law” by “law” in such a manner as waging “the war against crimes,” the information said: A chain of repressive orders and utterances of the South Korean authorities reveal their ulterior intention to openly involve government power in the local assembly elections slated for March 26 on the specious cloak of “fair elections” and brutally suppress the election campaign of the pro-reunification democratic forces. The South Korean authorities are now facing a serious crisis of their rule as the struggle of students and people for independence, democracy and reunification is gaining momentum in South Korea and the strife and rift within the “Democratic Liberal Party” (DLP) growing serious and, worse still, the Suso housing episode, an extra-large scandal in which No Tae-u himself and ruling party figures were directly involved, was brought to light. Their threat to strictly deal with“ any involvement in elections“ of political parties and illegal acts of organizations during the local assembly elections is intended, as the election law” faked up by them suggests, to check the election campaign of the opposition parties and dissident democratic organizations and rig the “election“ of DLV men through election committee members appointed by them and government power. This is a heinous scheme to lay a foothold for long-term office of the DLP.“"
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Analyzes U.S. Policy of ‘Cosmopolitism’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403125391 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0018 GMT 6 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1403125391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 6, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[NODONG SINMUN 6 March special article: Cosmopolitism Is a Reactionary Ideology Serving the U.S. Imperialists as a Tool for Their World Supremacy”] [Text] The U.S. imperialists are viciously perpetrating intervention, outrage, aggression, and plunder the world over. What is important in penetrating into the present aggressive nature of the U.S. imperialists is clearly recognizing the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism advocated by the imperialists. The U.S. imperialists are cunningly maneuvering to lord it over mankind as the monarch of the world with a worldwide leadership, veiling their ambition for world supremacy with the reactionary doctrine of cosmopolitism. Cosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological trend which embellishes the U.S. imperialists’ policy of arrogant interference and occupation, and serves the realization of their strategy toward global domination. Dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has noted as follows: Today the U.S. imperialists have combined the reactionary bourgeois racist theory and national chauvinism with the aggressive cosmopolitism to use it as an ideological tool to realize their ambition for world supremacy. Comopolitism—which denies a nation state a self-reliant national economy and national culture, and which advocates a global state and a worldwide economy and culture without nationality—serves the aggression and domination of the imperialists and the exploitation of multinational enterprises. Cosmopclitism holds an important place in the reactionary policy of the U.S. imperialists. Hiding their aggressive nature with the sophism of bourgeois ideology is a hackneyed method of the imperialists. The U.S. imperialists have openly revealed their ambition for world supremacy by challenging the tenor of the present era, in which the trend of independence has been prevalent, and have made particular efforts to use such a reactionary idea as cosmopolitism under the present situation in which the idea cannot be realized. Historically, the U.S. imperialists’ policies of intervention, tyranny, aggression, and plunder have been embellished with the sophism of cosmopolitism, and their blood-stained hands, which smell of gun powder, have been veiled under the cloak of cosmopolitism. Herein lies the crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists who maliciously attempt to confuse the reasoning of people, and to make them blind to their aggressive nature. The basic intent of cosmopolitism is to disregard the independence of each and every country and nation, and to preach that the homeland of each and every person is the whole world and all people are world citizens. On the basis of the theory that all people are equal, those who advocate cosmopolitism contend that all people should desert their fatherland and nation and become world citizens to build a welfare society for all people, and that they should conduct a campaign for world citizenship to form a so-called cosmopolitan government. Furthermore, they fabricate the white race as the most superior race in the world, place a western culture as the most superior culture of mankind, and then, rave that the world should be dominated and harmonized by the distinguished race and developed culture of the West. Inasmuch as people take the root of their lives in their fatherland and nation, they cannot become members of the human race and world citizens before they are members of their nation. Moreover, it is obvious that a so-called cosmopolitan government, a worldwide economy, and a global culture are not feasible in this world where acute confrontation and struggle between socialism and imperialism and between progressive and reactionary ideologies are basic characteristics of the present era where the universal outlook of mankind is distorted by imperialism and the idea of domination. To realize their wild ambition for world supremacy, the U.S. imperialists persistently advocate cosmopolitism. Arrogantly enough, the U.S. imperialists always consider this planet of all mankind as their own, and clamor that the global government preached by cosmopolitism should be the United States. The U.S. imperialists are now further intensifying aggression, interference, occupation, and plunder worldwide, using reactionary cosmopolitism as an ideological instrument. Their maneuvers under the plausible name of cosmopolitism are clearly manifested in their acting as the “world’s monarch” and as the “international gendarme,” claiming a leading role for the United States in the world. Cosmopolitism is the reactionary ideological foundation of the U.S. imperialists’ theory of the leading role of the United States. Talking about the management and guidance of the world on the basis of the cosmopolitan theory, they preach that the United States has the mission to lead the world. Washington, the first President of the United States, said that under no circumstances should U.S. acts take into consideration the interests of other countries, and then declared it the basic course of U.S. foreign policy which future generations of the United States should respect. His successors have run hard along the road of aggression and plunder, clamoring that the Americans have appeared in the stage of history only to determine whether they are fated to rule over the world or to be subjugated to the others. Bush, the incumbent U.S. President, boasting that U.S. leadership over the world should be handed down from generation to generation, is bent on glorifying the dignity of the United States by power politics based on strength. Tyranny, occupation, war, and plunder have always followed the U.S. imperialists, who have lorded it over mankind as the devastator of justice and the strangler of truth, whatever they may have touched with their interfering hands and wherever they may have set their aggressive foot. Aggression toward the weak countries, the artificial engineering of international feuds, open interference in international issues and their self-proclaimed role as referee; their tyranny in international organizations, and their acting as the international gendarme worldwide— these combine to portray the true appearance of the U.S. imperialists who claim to be the leader of the world. The world’s reasonable people find the expression of the brigandish nature of imperialism in the arrogance of the U.S. imperialists who see interference as the cosmopolitans’ morality, tyranny as the expression of authority enjoyed by the world leader, and aggression as a resolute act undertaken for the management of the world. The U.S. imperialists’ aggressive doctrine of cosmopolitism as such stands fully exposed in our country. Their occupation of South Korea and the continuing division of Korea are the reactionary results of their cosmopolitism. The U.S. imperialists applied the tragic plan for partial occupation to our country, which was not even a vanquished country, and imposed the insulting system of occupation on South Korea, and then artificially divided Korea. In view of the principles of justice and the demands of international law, these were intolerable under any circumstances. What is more, those currently in power in the United States are persistently carrying out antireunification maneuvers, arguing that although a reunified Korea may be good for the Korean people, maintaining the other half of the Korean peninsula occupied by a friendly regime is much more favorable to the United States. Thus, the United States provokes indignation from all over the world. The division of Korea and other facts reveal that the management of the world is done by the U.S. imperialists and that any claim fabricated and proclaimed by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but an attempt to infringe upon other countries’ sovereignty in the aggressive interest of the United States, and to change the structure of the world and its order. The crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists’ aggressive maneuvers finds expression in their attempt to invent the concept of an Asian state of the United States and the concept of a European state of the United States based on the reactionary doctrine of cosmopolitism, and thus bring the continents of the world under their control. Although the United States is a country sitting on the American Continent, the U.S. imperialists claim their country to be an Asian country in front of the Asian countries, and then slyly remark that the United States is a European country, too, in front of the European countries. What the United States seeks to achieve behind such sly remarks is to disintegrate the unity and cooperation among the countries in Asia and Europe by identifying themselves with those countries, and then securing its sphere of influence in these areas. Asia is for the Asian peoples and Europe is for the European peoples. The United States has no justification to occupy somebody else’s place in Asia or Europe, distant places oceans away. This insidious trick by the U.S. imperialists is not accepted in these regions where the cause of converting the world into one governed by independence and anti-U.S. sentiment are on the rise. Rather, they are provoking strong objection and sense of vigilance from these regions. By being able to see sharply through the aggressive nature of the U.S. claim that it is an Asian power, which smacks of the cosmopolitan poison, the Asian peoples should reject it resolutely and unite and cooperate with each other in order to build a peaceful and prosperous new Asia. The U.S. imperialists see power politics as the first step on the road toward realizing their leading role over the world. Bush, the U.S. imperialist warmonger, made an outrageous remark that the United States has stretched out its hands to virtually every corner of the world, and that the extended hands, once disturbed, will be turned into powerful fists. That it is natural for the United States to stretch its hands of domination out to the world because it is in the position of the world’s monarch, and that its extended hands should be turned into iron fists because it is ordained to rule over the world, is the philosophy of rule by power worshipped by the U.S. imperialists who have been accustomed to the aggressive cosmopolitanism. Proceeding from this logic of power, the U.S. imperialists say that it is the pride of America the Great to be able to have its troops stationed in tens of countries around the world, to wield tyranny in many international organizations, and to tempt many countries with baits of aid. The U.S. imperialists disguise their power politics and their evil tentacles of world domination as something necessary for attaining global peace. Nevertheless, the defense of global peace babbled about by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but a shield to camouflage the domination of the world by the United States. The scheme that the U.S. imperialists carry out under the plausible name of cosmopolitism reveals itself in the fact that they are trying hard to establish a world based on the American-style liberal democracy, describing American values as universal human values. Advertising the superiority of their moral values, the U.S. imperialists are maneuvering to accelerate the process of unification and the commonness of the world as its basis. Successive U.S. presidents were fond of uttering such pleasantries as that the United States cannot be its genuine self unless it stands in a lofty moral position. This means that the United States is the embodier of world morality, standing as it does above ethics and morality. However, the notion that imperialism can be reconciled with ethics and morality cannot convince anybody. If the U.S. imperialists have any kind of moral principles, they must be the reverse of ethics, seeing injustice as justice and evil as good. The imperialist behavior stems from greed. The U.S. imperialists always assess and approach international issues with other countries based on their aggressive and plundering objectives and greedy interests. Preposterously branding countries that maintain independence, and defend the banner of revolution as closed-door countries or terrorist countries, the U.S. imperialists intensify their reactionary offensive against those countries, while beautifying their brazen-faced aggression against, and interference in, sovereign countries as acts of protecting human rights or defending democracy. Not satisfied with the occupation of the other half of Korea, the U.S. imperialists have been conducting the Team Spirit war exercise every year, thereby creating the threat of northward invasion, while clamoring about the threat of southward invasion or the defense of peace. They also claimed that they were defending the liberal democratic system after invading Grenada and Panama. After triggering a war as a result of their ill-suited interference in regional feuds, they said that they were trying to build a world governed by laws, not the law of the jungle. Such an assertion is nothing but an insult to the conscience of the world and to progressive mankind. Many people in the world still vividly remember U.S. President Bush's remarks that the human spirit cannot be strangled or the national spirit obliterated with a wall alone in his commentary on the breaking down of the wall between East and West Germany. Even so, the U.S. imperialists ignore the call for the wall of division in Korea to be broken down, while maneuvering to keep the wall in place. The wall of division in Korea is contemporary evidence that manifests the criminal truth about American-style values, which are a mixture of contradictions and falsehood. From the contradictory attitude of the United States, the progressive people of the world keenly realized the false moral values of the United States and its antimankind and antipeace nature. The United States claimed that certain barriers should be removed and other barriers should be kept intact. Thus, the progressive people of the world express indignation over such an attitude. The great moral principle, in which the famous U.S. politicians take pride, and which they claim enables the United States to exist as the United States, should be branded as the principle of injustice which mankind should curse. Hanging out the signboards of cosmopolitism, the U.S. imperialists are attempting to establish a free world on the earth. The free world which they talk about means the world where the United States can act as the ruler. The U.S. imperialists, attaching great significance to cosmopolitism, are running amok to spread it for the purpose of reducing the world to the so-called free world which they want. The U.S. imperialists have the idea that if they implant the U.S.-style liberal democracy in all nations, the world will become by itself a possession of the United States. Thus, they are viciously advocating the theory of a free world. Raving that when mankind is allowed to have the right of choice, it chooses freedom, the U.S. imperialists said that the system which they want to implant in many world nations is the system realized on the basis of freedom, individual creative power, and market principles. Freedom, choice, and so forth advertized by the U.S. imperialists are, in essence, freedom and choice which make one participate in the beastly struggle for existence and for survival by victimizing and oppressing other people. It is the original nature of independent mankind to aspire to genuine freedom and happiness by opposing various forms of domination and subjugation. It is an inevitable trend of human history that independent mankind chooses a genuine society which safeguards and realizes the independence of mankind, instead of a society similar to the beastly world where precious dignity and the value of mankind are reduced to the standard of animals. The capitalist society causes various social evils and social tragedy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and advances without a sense of direction by writhing amid social disorder and pain. If one defines this society as the society where freedom and democracy are realized, such a definition would indeed be the complete reversing of black and white. The maneuvers of cosmopolitism by the U.S. imperialists, who are attempting to establish a free world while advertizing the corrupt society lacking vitality or a future as the ideal of the people, are indeed preposterous, like a house of cards. Through their experience, goals, and cool judgment amid the whirlpool that is the history of the complex and diversified present era, a great number of people of the world deny the liberal democratic system advocated by the U.S. imperialists with reason, and firmly believe that only the genuine man-centered socialism which embodies the dignity and value of mankind is the way to rescue mankind. Cosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological poison which blocks the advance of the revolutionary cause of the working class and spoils the people's consciousness of the revolution. The reactionary nature of the cosmopolitism advocated by the U.S. imperialists is that cosmopolitism has become an ideological poison which denies the independence of the national state and violates and infringes upon its independence. As indicated by the chuche idea, independence of the national state is as precious as life for all people. To live in a national state is an immovable order of life for all the people, formed through the course of the long history of mankind. What gives the life and means of living to the people are the fatherland and the state, and linked to the destiny of each individual person are the fatherland and the state. Indeed, the fatherland and the people are the source of life and the mother’s bosom of all mankind. If a man thinks that he can live as an abstract public figure of the world, going away from the bosom of the fatherland and the people, he will be branded as a snob [songmul] who has lost his mind and forgotten the basis of his life, and as a nation-seller who has betrayed the nation where he was born. However, the advocates of cosmopolitism contend that such concepts as motherland, nation, state, class, and party are all meaningless in the internationalized world, and that panhuman phrases such as planet, humanity, human world, and civilization should be in vogue. This is a reactionary sophism that dulls the people's national consciousness of independence. The nations and the people develop themselves together with the war history of mankind. At the same time, international relations are formulated and consolidated among the nations and the people in the course of such development. This is an inevitable phenomenon. What is at issue is on what basis, one views the history of mankind. The chuche idea defines the shape and characteristics of the world, and teaches that the main forces which lead the basic flow of human history are the people in each individual independent state. If we recall human history, we come to know that the independent development of each individual nation and people served as the basis for the advance of global history and the development of mankind, and as the basic content of both. History clearly proved that by denying the independence of the nation and the people, one cannot talk, even a word, about the development of the world, the progress of mankind, and the destiny of planet. Our people achieved the independent development of the nation by maintaining the line of independence, self-reliance, and self-defense under the leadership of the party and the leader. Thus, we are greatly contributing to the common cause of mankind. However, the imperialist stooges, who advocate cosmopolitism, raved that claims of national sovereignty are collective egoism, and defiled the sacred struggle of the people in many world nations who are defending the national right for self-determination and building the national economy and culture. Thus, they advertised a preposterous global economy and culture of no nationality. The purpose of the vicious denial of national independence with the ideological poison of cosmopolitism by the imperialists is to pave the way for their aggression. No one can conquer the people with a strong sense of independence. On the contrary, the people, who lost their sense of national independence and whose determination to defend and glorify themselves is weak, cannot precisely realize the reactionary doctrine of imperialism and domination that are concealed by the theory of the common destiny of mankind and the theory of the superiority of panhuman values. This is why the imperialists are maneuvering to eradicate national consciousnesses of independence and persistently advertising cosmopolitism. The people in all world nations who treasure independence should correctly realize the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism, and resolutely crush the doctrine of cosmopolitism with the independent strength of the nation. The reactionary nature of cosmopolitism as pursued by the U.S imperialists finds another expression in that it has been used as an ideological tool barring the tide toward world independence, and impeding the healthy development of international relations. Those who advocate cosmopolitism claim that it is the way of present international developments that national state, national economy, and national culture gradually wither away, and a global government, world economy, and world culture are formed, by which the world becomes homogeneous and common. This is nothing but a sophism that misrepresents those who undertake the world movement and its motivating force and the essence of present international relations. The main characteristics of the change and development of the world are that it is becoming independent. The motivating force that holds the control lever of the world movement, are those people advocating independence. Hence, the appearance of the world, its essential content, and the aspects of its development are decided by the progressive world people advocating independence. Advocating independence by opposing domination, subjugation, exploitation, and oppression, is the original nature of mankind and the life of the nation. This constitutes the unique characteristics of progressive mankind. Thus. more nations and more people are advancing to achieve freedom and independence by breaking the chains of imperialism and colonialism. This constitutes the essential content of the change and development of the world. The course of the world toward independence is an inevitable and positive course in the development of human history. The independence of the world is achieved through the independent struggle of all nations and all people. Thus, it cannot be pushed and realized by so-called global management and guidance. However, the imperialists are lecturing on the benefits of international management and guidance of the world. while trying to make the global government stand in confrontation with the people's aspirations for independence. They are running amok to block by force the trend of the world toward independence. The theory on global government advocated by the imperialists runs totally counter to the idea of world independence because world independence is a worldwide trend realized through the respect and the demonstrable independence of each nation and people. Global government will only work to oppress and infringe upon the independence of each nation and each people. The theory on global government instigated by cosmopolitism is preposterous because as long as there are imperialists and dominationists, the attempt for global domination cannot be removed. The basic nature of the imperialists is for aggression and plunder. This finally returns to ambition for conquering the world. In the present century when the fierce struggle of the imperialists and dominationists is being waged to expand the sphere of influence, the so-called global government lacks reality, and will only act to further instigate their ambition for world domination. Today the optimistic advocates of global government think that they can establish a global government in such a manner as to strengthen its authority, seeking a model in such international organizations as the United Nations. However, many events taking place in the international arena make one realize that such an idea is unrealistic and is a dream. The U.S. imperialists abused the sacred name of the United Nations when they fabricated a puppet regime in South Korea, and when they dragged the armed forces of their 15 following nations into the Korean war. They are still abusing this name for keeping the U.S. troops in South Korea. This raises great worry and disappointment on the part of progressive mankind, who aspires to global peace and international justice. As long as there are the imperialists and dominationists in the world, and as long as the U.S. imperialists’ self-righteousness and tyranny are allowed in the international arena, no one can think of forming and developing sound and fair international relations. The development of the world is only possible when the whole world is made independent. Only when they join themselves in the great current toward the independence of the world under the banner of independence, can the people of all the progressive countries of the world properly shape the destiny of their countries on their own, and build an independent, new world free from domination and subjugation. The imperialists’ strategy for cosmopolitism, intended to benumb the people's revolutionary consciousness, and reverse the trend of history, is doomed to failure in the face of the struggle of the people who are advancing under the banner of independence. Even the high-ranking figures in U.S. political circles pointed out that the U.S. Congress reproves and criticizes other countries nearly every day, and admitted that the act of the United States to denounce the events of the world [segye il] all day long is foolish. They confessed that the crisis, with which the United States is faced as the result of having become an imperialist state which excessively stretched out its hands [chinachige sonul ppochida], makes even them shudder. Just as they have said, because of pernicious evils inherent in capitalism and the debt crisis facing the United States, and because of the fierce anti-imperialist and anti-U.S. struggle of the revolutionary people of the world, the hands which the U.S. imperialists have stretched out to the world will tremble with fear. The aggressive doctrine of cosmopolitism does not go down well with people advocating independence. Today the great doctrine of independence has captivated the hearts of mankind and bourgeois reactionary ideologies, including cosmopolitism, are breaking into fragments in the face of the rush of the world to independence. It is inevitable that cosmopolitism and all other reactionary thoughts will be bankrupt under the bright rays of the great chuche idea. Imperialism is destined to destruction with the collapse of cosmopolitism."
},
{
"TITLE": "Government Delegation Returns From Japan",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503105291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1028 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503105291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The government delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea led by Chon In-chol, vice-minister of foreign affairs, returned home today after participating in the second intergovernmental full-dress talks for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Japan held in Tokyo. It was met at the airport by Kim Chae-suk, vice-minister of foreign affairs, and Councillor of the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang Dong Buming."
},
{
"TITLE": "Soviet Envcy Holds News Conference in Pyongyang",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503044291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0420 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503044291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—A press conference was held at the Soviet Embassy here Thursday on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the conclusion of the agreement on economic and cultural cooperation between the USSR and the DPRK. Ambassador Alexandr Kapto touched on the development of cooperation and exchange between the two countries in the economic and cultural fields over the past 42 years since the signing of the agreement and elaborated on the need to strengthen relations in these fields in the future."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il Replies to Birthday Greetings",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503110291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1022 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503110291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—Dear Comrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to foreign party leaders in reply to their messages of greetings on his birthday. Comrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to Dr. Vassos Lyssarides, chairman, and Takis Hadjidemetriou, secretary general, of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party of Cyprus; Takako Doi, chairwoman of the Central Executive Committee of the Japan Social-Democratic Party: Habimana Bonaventure, general secretary of the National Revolutionary Movement for Development of Rwanda; Herving Chung, chairman of the Caribbean National Movement: Sam Marcy, chairman of the Workers World Party of the United States; Guillermo Garcia Ponce, general secretary of “New Alternative“ of Venezuela; Jose Francisco Aguilar Bulgarelli, general secretary of the popular force organized in Costa Rica; Jorge del Prado, general secretary, and Friddy Arana, international secretary, of the Central Committee of the Peruvian Communist Party: Rolando Brena Pantoja, president of the National Executive Committee of the Left Revolutionary Union of Peru; Genaro Ledesma Izquieta, chairman of the People’s Front of Workers, Peasants and Students of Peru: Rigoberto Padilla Ruz, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Honduras; and Eric Trevett, general secretary of the Central Committee of the New Communist Party of Great Britain. Comrade Kim Chong-il in the messages expressed the belief that friendly relations forged between the Workers’ Party of Korea and the above-said parties will continue to develop favourably and wished the party leaders great success in their responsible work."
},
{
"TITLE": "Youth Mark Labor Exploits in Railway Projects",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503091691 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 2100 GMT 10 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503091691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 10, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The railway construction to replace the narrow railroad between Haeju and Ongjin and between Sing-gangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad is being pushed ahead rapidly. Through the persistent labor struggle of members of the youth railway construction shock brigade and supporters, railroad ties were laid and the railroad was extended over several scores of ri [1 ri is equivalent to 400 meters] in 20 days recently. Besides, the project of leveling the grade on mountain slopes and railroad repair work have been pushed for on a large scale. The work of leveling the ground and framework construction have been accelerated, and more gravel, stones, sand, and soil than planned have been made made available to use for repairing the station compound. Thus, a guarantee for completing the construction of two sections of the railroad ahead of schedule has been provided. Members of the youth railway construction shock brigade, who were assigned the project of extending the railroad, waged a vigorous labor struggle with the same spirit and vigor they had when they completed the construction of the railroad between Haeju and Hasong in a short period of time. Thus, they laid railroad ties on, and broadened the railroad on, a 20 odd-ri section between Sohaeju Station and Pyoksong Station. Upon receiving the order of the respected supreme commander, members of the youth shock brigade accelerated the work by thoroughly preparing themselves to cope with the new war provocation maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet clique. They are constantly increasing the speed of the project of laying railroad ties and broadening the railroad between Pyoksong Station and Singangnyong Station. Members of the youth shock brigade of Kangnyong county, who are charged with the project of replacing the narrow railroad between Singangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad, have accomplished the work of securing over 700 cubic meters of gravel, sand, and stones, which is said to require more than a month, ahead of schedule by highly demonstrating the revolutionary spirit of self- reliance and arduous struggle and vigor for extermina- tion of the enemy, and by overcoming various difficul- ties. Thus, they effected innovations. Through such struggle, they opened a breakthrough to complete ahead of schedule a number of framework construction pro ts. including an iron bridge and drainage work. The railroad construction between Haeju and Ongjin is also being carried out rapidly. The youth, who were assigned the difficult work of lowering the grade on mountain slopes to 10 meters, made several hundred holes with dynamite in only seven days with the Paektu revolutionary spirit, and pulled down 6,000-odd cubic meters of soil through successive blasting. Members of the youth shock brigade in Pyoksong county transported several hundred cubic meters of soil and materials each day, and increased the speed of laying railroad ties, widening the railroad, and repairing the railroad by 1.5 to two times over that planned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kye Ung-tae, Officials Attend Railway Meeting",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503113591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503113591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—A national meeting of railway workers was held here on March 14 and 15. The meeting summed up the successes and experience gained in railway transportation under the wise leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] and discussed tasks to effect a new turn in this domain in the same fighting spirit and mettle displayed in the postwar period of great Chollima upsurge. The meeting was attended by Kye Ung-tae, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the C.C. [Central Committee], WPK, Choe Yong-nim, alternate member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., WPK and vice- premier of the Administration Council, and other officials concerned. Kye Ung-tae read out a congratulatory message of the WPK Central Committee to the participants in the meeting. The WPK Central Committee in the message pointed out that the railway transport of the country has turned into a modern one with the successful realization of electrification and the fast progress of the work for the introduction of heavy rails and automation, into an independent socialist railway transport with solid foundations for the self-supply of various means of carriage including 8-axle electric locomotives and 100-ton wagons. It noted with high appreciation that the railway workers have made great contributions to the acceleration of socialist construction by displaying matchless heroism and self-sacrificing spirit in their endeavours to carry through the party's policy of railway transport with intense loyalty to the socialist country and the people. Underlining the tasks facing railway transportation, it stressed the need to make the maximum utilization of the existing material and technical foundations of railway transport, further accelerate the chuche- orientation, modernization and scientification of railway transport and press ahead with new railway projects and thus further supplement the railway networks of the country and expend big efforts on scientific researches and the training of technical personnel. Yi Kil-song, chairman of the Transport Commission, delivered a report. It is an event of great significance in the development of our country’s railway transport to hold a national meeting of railway workers on the meaningful day marking the lapse of 30 years since the great leader Comrade Kim Il-song gave highly important teachings at the meeting of active workers in the domain of transport on March 14, 1961, he said. He noted that, deeply taking into consideration the position and role of railway transport in the develop- ment of the national economy, the great leader and our party defined railways as the artery of the country, as the pilot of the national economy, and have clearly indicated the road ahead of raiiway transport in each period and at each stage of the developing revolution. According to his report, under the plan of the great leader who defined the basic orientation of development of railway transport in keeping with the geographical conditions of the country which has most of its land covered with mountains and abounds in power resources, nearly all railway lines, not only trunk lines but even branch lines and railway lines branching into enterprises, have been switched over to electric traction, with the result that the freight turnover by electric haulage accounts for more than 90 percent of the total and the unitary traction by electric locomotives has reached the stage of completion. The total extension of the nation’s railways has markedly increased, a grand loopline of railway networks have taken shape and the railway transport capacity increased remarkably with the construction of linkages, round- about lines, partial double tracks and mixed lines in different places of the country. As a result of the vigorous “Drive for extra-haulage on schedule without accident to implement the decisions of the 18th plenary meeting of the Sth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea” upwards of 13 million more tons of freight were carried than the rated traction last year alone. Many locomotive drivers have carried out their assignments for the Third Seven-Year Plan (1987-1993). Speeches were made at the meeting. The speakers called upon all the railway workers to carry through the party's policy of railway transport in the same spirit and mettle displayed during the past war and the great Chollima upsurge, upholding the slogan “When our party is determined we can do anything!” and thus make greater contributions to increasing the potential of the independent national economy of the country. A letter of pledge was adopted at the meeting."
},
{
"TITLE": "Man's ‘Independence’ in Socialism Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503122591 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0010 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503122591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[NODONG SINMUN 12 March special article: “Our Socialism Is a Superior Social System That Guarantees Independence to the People“ [Text] Our country’s socialism is displaying a higher degree of superiority and vitality with the passage of time. The source of the unrivaled superiority and the invincible vitality of our socialism lies in the fact that it completely embodies the essential demands of man. Our socialism, which has its roots deep in this land, is a unique socialism that was built and is being developed and brought to perfection with the great chuche idea as its foundation. The chuche idea is the ideological foundation of our socialism and our socialism shines as a superior socialism which has thoroughly embodied the essential demands of men, as it is based on the chuche idea. Fully explaining once again the superiority of our socialism in a series of documents released recently, the dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has shed light on the fact that socialism has, above all, wonderfully embodied the independent demands of men. This is a valuable ideological and theoretical guideline needed to deeply understand and glorify the superiority of our own style of socialism even further. The dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has noted: Learning from the painful life they experienced in the past as colonial slaves, and from today’s new, free, and rewarding socialist life, our people have drawn a clear lesson that only socialism provides the people with independence, and are devoted to the struggle to end- lessly value and defend our socialism that completely defends the popular masses’ independence. Man is a social being that assumes independence as its essential nature. Making the working masses achieve independence and their independent demands is a practical yardstick with which to rate the nature and superiority of a social system. Generally, the superiority of a social system can be determined on the basis of how it embodies the essential demands of man. When it comes to the essential demands of man, it means the independent demands before anything else. A society can be called an advanced and superior social system only when it satisfactorily embodies the desire of man to be free from all manner of subordination and to live and develop an independent life. The superiority of our social system which has embodied the independent desire of man lies in the fact that it completely guarantees our people with sociopolitical independence. If independence can be likened to man’s life, it generally means sociopolitical life. Man has two kinds of lives— physical life and sociopolitical life. The essential charac- — of man lie in the fact that he has sociopolitical life. Man's rights are, above all, sociopolitical rights and human dignity is to be guaranteed by sociopolitical independence. To realize sociopolitical independence is a precondition for realizing all manner of essential desires of man. Under the condition where the popular masses are subordinated socially and politically, man can benefit nothing from the remaking of society, nor can he free himself from the fetters of an old ideology and culture. To defend and safeguard sociopolitical independence is for the popular masses a vital matter for realizing inde- pendence. With the socialist revolution completed in our country, no social and economic conditions restricting the sociopolitical independence exist. In addition, the working masses are completely guaranteed sociopolitical inde- pendence. Socialist ownership of the government and production means is defended, strengthened, and developed without interruption. As a result, the popular masses are firmly guaranteed sociopolitical independence. The independent right of the popular masses finds its expression mainly in the exercise of national sover- eignty. It was because they were unable to have a say-so in the government and production means that the pop- ular masses lost their sociopolitical independence and were forced to suffer a life of slavery for thousands of years. Only when they become the masters of the socialist government and production means, can the popular masses defend and realize their independence. Sociopolitical independence is tied to genuine freedom and the right to sociopolitical life, which are expressed in the direct access the popular masses have to national sover- eignty and their unrestricted participation in running state affairs. Today, the average working people are actively participating in running state affairs, as the masters of the state and society, and each and every one of them can exercise their right to elect and to be elected, regardless of their sex, occupation, wealth, degree of knowledge, political views, and religious differences. Deputies to the Supreme People's Assembly and other people's assemblies at all levels, including the workers, members of cooperative farms, and intellectuals— representatives of the working people—manage and run state affairs according to the independent demands and the will of the popular masses. Also, with the socialist ownership unilaterally dominating the production means, the economy is managed, run, and developed without interruption, according to plans in a way that suits the demands and interest of the popular masses. The w king masses’ independence can be defended and realiz J only when the position of the popular masses concerning national sovereignty is raised even further, and social ownership over production means is strength- ened. This is a truth proven by practice. Also, thanks to the profound consideration of the party and leader which provides and brightens the noble political life, each and every one of our people enjoys the most valuable and rewarding sociopolitical life. Our people are ‘reely involved in sociopolitical activity when they are lined up behind certain political organi- zations, such as the party and working organizations, and are sufficiently guaranteed the freedom of the press, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, and freedom of demonstrations. The mass media in our country, which are in the hands of the popular masses, serve the working masses in achieving the cause of independence. In our country there can be no such thing as infringement on the democratic freedom and the rights of the popular masses. The realities of our country which guarantee the working masses substantive rights as the masters of the state and society and politics, and all the members of society, lead a sound and revolutionary organizational life in certain sociopolitical organizations, demonstrate that our socialism is a superior social system which defends and realizes the people's independence. Another superior element of our socialism embodying the independent demands of man is well expressed in the fact that it has freed them from the fetters of nature and old ideology and culture. Sociopolitical independence is very important for man. Nevertheless, it is not the whole of independence. The popular masses’ sociopolitical independence can be realized when the socialist system is set up, it is not yet entirely free from the fetters of nature and the old ideology and culture. Even after the socialist system is set up, the legacy of the exploited society is to remain for a certain period of time, serving as a basic obstacle to completely realizing the independence of the popular masses. For this reason, only when the revolution is carried out without interrup- tion, even after a socialist society is established, can the people, occuping their position as the masters of society and playing their role as the masters, consummate the popular masses’ cause of independence. To continue the revolution is the most positive way of realizing independence for the popular masses. Under the guidance of the party, our country is acceler- ating the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural—while firmly maintaining the independent stand. The independent stand is the most correct stand to solidify and develop and glory our socialism by carrying out the revolution and construction on our own, and the lines of the three revolutions are the correct lines for socialist and communist construction. Our revolutionary practice has proved that when the independent stand is maintained and the lines of the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural— are implemented, socialism can be defended under any adverse circumstances and the socialist cause can be hastened victoriously along the most straightforward road. With socialist construction vigorously carried out under the banner of the three revolutions in our country, the working masses enjoy a more independent and creative life, and the legacies of the old society are steadily disappearing in every field of social life. The cause of completely realizing the independence of the popular masses which began as a struggle to smash the old exploitative system is being successfully achieved through the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural. The healthy and civilized ideological and cultural life and affluent material life enjoyed today by our people is a vigorous manifestation of the superiority of our socialism. Our country's socialism not only realizes the indepen- dence of the popular masses, but also firmly guarantees it. Defending the independence of the popular masses based on the principle of self-defense in .iense is a superiority of our socialism. Although the struggle to attain independence is arduous, no less arduous is the struggle to defend and safeguard the independence that has already been won. In order to defend and safeguard the independence of the popular masses, it is imperative to stage a principled but positive struggle. The imperialists and reactionaries are now viciously maneuvering to rob the people in socialist countries of independence and to fetter them again as colonial slaves. In order to smash the maneuvers of the imperialists who are bent on robbing the people in socialist countries of independence, and to firmly defend independence, it is imperative to strengthen defense capability. Without the self-defense capability to defend the inde- pendence and the sovereignty of the country and the people against the imperialist aggression, it is impossible to think of the independence of the popular masses. Today, the imperialists, while clamoring about detente and peace, are on the lookout for an opportunity to invade other countries, maintaining and strengthening military blocs and beefing up military forces. It is imperative to resolutely struggle against the imper.- alists and strengthen national defense capabilities, not only for the independence of one’s own country and people, but also for the cause of converting the whole world into one governed by independence. Our people have strengthened the capabilities of our self-defense by thoroughly implementing the party's self- defense military lines, and are now capable of repelling any kind of aggressive maneuvers of the imperialists and of firmly defending the independence of the country and people. This is an important element that guarantees the invin- cibility of our country's socialism and its bright future. Our people's support for, and confidence in, our own type of socialism, which is built on the immortal chuche idea and which thoroughly defends and realizes the independence of the popular masses, remain firm and unwavering. Our people are firmly convinced that our socialism is the best, and have an endless attachment to the socialist cause of chuche. Our people should glorify our socialism even further by embodying the chuche idea under the guidance of the great leader and the great party, and should bring the revolutionary cause to perfection while advancing along the socialist road no matter what difficulties and ordeals they may encounter."
},
{
"TITLE": "Agricultural Soil-Covering Campaigns Reported - Specific Projects Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0133A Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 15 Jan 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "912C0133A",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NODONG SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By special correspondents Yi Myong-chan and Pak Yong-tok",
"FULL TEXT": "[Reports by special correspondent Yi Myong-chan entitled “At the Cooperative Farms in Nampo City” and by special correspondent Pak Yong-tok entitled “In Yang- gang Province“ published under the headline: “By Vig- orously Launching the Soil-Covering Campaign, Let Us Resolutely Improve the Quality of the Land“] [Excerpt] At the Cooperative Farms in Nampo City The great leader Comrade Kim II-song taught as follows in this year's New Year's message: “In the agricultural sector this year we must decisively improve the soil fertility of the land under cultivation according to the requirements of the chuche agricultural method, scientifically and technologically conduct agri- culture, and without fail attain the targets for grain production and develop the rural economy by diverse methods to suit the natural geographical conditions.” Highly supporting this year's New Year's message of the great leader, the agricultural workers, in addition to the clerical and other workers of Nampo City, who have rushed forward as one to the struggle to increase the soil fertility of land under cultivation, vigorously launched a soil-spreading battle from the beginning of the year, and are achieving the innovation of completing 2-3 percent of the total area of cornfields each day. From the time the cornfield soil-covering battle began until now we have achieved the result of carrying out soil-covering in over 50 percent of the cornfield area throughout the city. In this way, following the example of the Chongsan Cooperative Farm in Kangso-kuyok, which victoriously finished the soil-covering battle at the end of last year, the city’s many farms, including the Kochang, Kangson, Toji, and Taedae cooperative farms, are in the final stages of the soil-covering battle. The innovative result of smashing through the 50- percent mark of total cornfield area within a short time after the soil-covering battle began, is a manifestation of the burning loyalty of the agricultural workers and sup- port personnel here who are thoroughly implementing unconditionally the intentions of the party. In order to thoroughly carry out the soil-covering battle, the city rural economic committee and other agricultural guidance organs underscored the requirements of the chuche agricultural method among the party members and workers, and followed this up by intensifying tech- nical guidance, and setting up the necessary economic organizational work. The agricultural workers and support personnel of the Chollima, Hanggu, and Waudo districts, effectively uti- lizing mechanical means and various hauling methods, while firing up their spirits from the start of the first combat of the new year, are overfulfilling their daily soil-covering tasks. In this way, they achieved the result of qualitatively accomplishing 70 percent of the soil- covering of the entire area of cornfields in the districts here. On the other hand, even Kangso-kuyok and Yonggang County, which have large areas of cornfields, rationally selected fresh soil sites, concentrated their labor and machinery, and are achieving innovative results every day. The revolutionary fervor of the masses mobilized to the soil-covering battle was high, and the greater the work results shown, the more the city turned its due attention to having them thoroughly implement the demands of the chuche agricultural method. The struggle to vigorously support the soil-covering combat is progressing even more briskly among the working class of the city’s factories and enterprises. The laborers and technicians of the Chollima Iron and Steel Complex, the Nampo Smelting Complex, and the Kum- song Tractor General Factory are in the forefront of the support work. In Yanggang Province Highly upholding the New Year's message of the great leader, the party members and workers in Yanggang Province have vigorously launched a soil-covering battle and are reaping great results. According to a wrap-up of various reporting, the prov- ince is overfulfilling its daily soil-covering plan by an average of l. G- fold. In order to thoroughly implement the instructions of the great leader to do a good job of soil-covering, the provincial party committee here set up concrete mea- sures for implementation, and in order to have them carried out without fail, saw to it that above all the party and administrative functionaries demonstrate a high level of revolutionary spirit, party spirit, working-class spirit, and people-mindedness. They organized and began the project in a revolutionary manner. Responsible functionaries of the provincial party com- mittee and the provincial administrative and economic guidance committee, continuing their duties at the site of the soil-covering battle, carefully explained and propa- gandized the teachings of the great leader and the inten- tions of the party, discussed the methods one by one, and set up the necessary measures in a timely fashion so that the soil-covering achievements could continue, even under winter conditions where the soil was frozen deep by the biting cold. The functionaries of Kim Hyong-kwon County, utilizing various means of hauling, including cableways, not to mention mechanical means, meticulously laid the groundwork for the organization work in order to carry the soil in large quantities. Meanwhile, on the other hand, they are leading them, standing in the forefront of the masses as a real model of leadership by personal example. Pochon County is motivating the masses, having them search in various places—including the edge of the Karimchon—for rich sources of soil and humus, and having them dig it up and move it in a timely manner. In this way, various counties in the province, beginning with Kim Hyong-kwon and Pochon counties, are suc- ceeding in overfulfilling the soil-covering plan over 80 percent. Provincial-level organs also are aggressively providing support to the soil-covering battle. [passage omitted]"
},
{
"TITLE": "Agricultural Soil-Covering Campaigns Reported - Kim Chong-il Encourages Activities",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0133B Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 15 Jan 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "912C0133B",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NODONG SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By staff reporter",
"FULL TEXT": "[Article by staff reporter entitled “With a Self-Confident Fighting Spirit” published under the headline: “By Vig- orously Launching the Soil-Covering Campaign, Let Us Resolutely Improve the Quality of Land“] [Text] The dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il pointed out as follows: “In order to increase agricultural production we must dynamically launch a struggle to increase the soil fertility of wet and dry fields.” With burning resolve to carry out to the end, uncondi- tionally, the task set forth by the great leader in this year’s New Year's message, the party members and agricultural workers of the cooperative farms of various areas who have vigorously launched into the work, are even more vigorously carrying out a soil-covering battle to increase the land's fertility. Worker-farmer correspon- dents of various areas are sending in news of how, since the beginning of the year, they are greatly expanding their successes. Worker-farmer correspondent Comrade Son Chae-mo has sent us news that the Mupyong Cooperative Farm in Chonchon County is carrying out the soil-covering battle in a big way. Functionaries of this farm have been putting their shoulders to the difficult and arduous urgent task, and are positively arousing the enthusiasm of the masses by means of energetic political work. Thus, in every soil-covering battle site of all the workteams, new innovations are being created day after day. In particular, the farm workers of the No. 2 and No. 3 workteams are setting up combat objectives, and over- fulfilling the daily soil-covering plans. Worker-farmer correspondent Comrade Chon Song-hun has sent us news of the soil-covering battle of the Taechong Cooperative Farm in Unpa County. At this farm they have set up the objective of spreading soil on several hundred chongbos [one chongbo equals 2.451 acres] of cornfields and have been in high spirits as they carried out a general mobilization of all their forces. Comrade Cho Yun-sik, leader of the No.2 workteam, and other primary level functionaries correctly set up their daily combat objectives and are heightening their performance by means of correct operations and direc- tion. In particular, they are making many means of conveyance to suit their own actual circumstances and ardently carrying out the soil-covering project. During the past few days, the Tokpo Cooperative Farm in Myongchon County has been achieving some two times greater successes in soil-covering in the cornfields than before. According to news sent in by worker-farmer correspondent Comrade Yi Chi-ho, farm functionaries such as Comrades Yi Chong-chu and Kim Mun-hyon are standing in the van of the struggle and are encouraging and inspiring the members of the League of Socialist Working Youth (LSWY) of the farm by personal example. The farm's LSWY members volunteered to take charge of cumbersome tasks and, giving full play to the vigor and passion of youth, are markedly increasing soil-covering performance. As soon as news of their model behavior spread, all the farm members set up high objectives and are overfulfilling them each day. News that the Pogu Subfarm of the Orchard General Farm in Kwail County is qualitatively carrying out soil-covering has been sent in by worker-farmer corre- spondent Comrade Kang Kyong-sam. Whether or not soil-covering is done according to the chuche agricultural method has an impact on the work of increasing the soil fertility of the land. The functionaries of the subfarm here, who are well aware of this fact, meticulously set up a soil-covering plan by field, by workteam, and by date, on the basis of a soil analysis chart. They led the masses, standing in the forefront. In this way, in all of the workteams there arose a vigorous struggle to haul soil according to the characteristics of the fields—stream-bottom soil where stream bottom soil is to be spread, and mud and coal ashes where mud and coal ashes are to be spread. Here the No. 3 and No. 10 workteams are doing a good job. They secured in advance a site for fresh soil to suit the characteristics of the fields, and increased their soil-spreading perfor- mance, trying hard to guarantee its quality. In this way this subfarm is achieving successes in qualitatively spreading soil on the cornfields. The Chuuidong Cooperative Farm in Toksong County and the Taedok Cooperative Farm in Yiwon County are also doing soil-spreading qualitatively, and nowadays they are spreading over twice as much soil per day compared with when they first began soil-spreading. Worker-farmer correspondents Comrades Yi Hong-sop and Yo In-ho report that farms here are qualitatively carrying out soil-covering on all cornfields. In particular, the No. | workteam of the Taedok Coop- erative Farm set up measures so that their new soil sources would not freeze. They made various means of transport such as pushcarts and cableways by them- selves, and they are carrying out soil-spreading on 1.5 times more area per day than called for in the plan. The No. 3 workteam of the Chuuidong Cooperative Farm made a cableway with the revolutionary spirit of self- reliance and is achieving daily work results nearly twice those realized at the end of last year. —Let’s carry out even more vigorously the soil- spreading battle according to the intent of the party. Now agricultural workers in all areas are rushing to the soil-spreading battle with this kind of awareness and every day are creating new miracles and innovations."
},
{
"TITLE": "KCNA Review of 15 Mar Pyongyang Press",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503053791 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0436 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503053791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Press review] [Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—Papers here today carry a photo-illustrated report that the great leader President Kim Il-song received the Indonesian parliamentary delegation. Appearing in papers is a report that the new Indonesian ambassador to Korea presented his credentials to Presi- dent Kim Il-song of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. President Kim Il-song received solidarity letters from different countries denouncing the provocative “Team Spirit 91\" joint military exercises of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities and supporting the Korean people in their struggle for the reunification of the country, says the press. According to the press, works of dear Comrade Kim Chong-il were carried by foreign newspapers. Highlighted in NODONG SINMUN is news that articles highly praising Comrade Kim Chong-il as the people's leader and the genius of creation and construction were reported abroad on the occasion of the February holiday and the daily gives an account of the closing of the first Korean film festival which was opened on this occasion. MINJU CHOSON says Comrade Kim Chong-il has built up the Hamhung Woolen Mill into a modernly equipped textile mill. Papers give an account of a national meeting of railv ay workers that opened and carry a congratulatory message sent by the C.C. [Central Committee], the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] to the participants in the meeting. Carried in NODONG SINMUN is a solidarity message to the WPK Central Committee from the National Committee of the Communist Party of the U.S.A. con- demning the “Team Spirit 91“ joint military exercises. Econews of the press includes reports on the fulfillment of the plans for the first quarter year by the Sariwon Mining Machine Factory and brisk farming preparations on co-op farms. It is reported in papers that the permanent vice-minister of foreign effairs of Japan was interviewed by the reporters accompanying the DPRK Government delega- tion to the second intergovernmental full-dress talks for the normalisation of DPRK-Japan diplomatic relations and Korean players gave a good account of themselves at international weightlifting and table tennis tournaments. Pfc. Kim Yu-chan of the Joint Security Corps of the “U.N. Forces Command” who came over to the northern half of Korea was interviewed by home and foreign reporters, says the press. Carried in the press is a declaration of conscience published by him before the reporters. Conveyed in papers are home and foreign public voices lashing out at the Team Spirit 91“. NODONG SINMUN comes out with an article headlined ““Team Spirit’ exercises and anti-socialist strategy.” Given in the press is an account of a press conference held at the Soviet Embassy here on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the signing of the agreement on economic and culiural cooperation between the Soviet Union and the DPRK. NODONG SINMUN conveys foreign press notes denouncing the South Korean authorities’ scheme for “unilateral U.N. membership“ and the overseas Koreans’ newspaper MINJOK SIBO published in Japan carried an editorial captioned “Let Us Intensify the Movement To Oust No Tae-u regime Papers run commentaries hitting out at No Tae-u for whipping up war hysterics against the North at the “graduation ceremonies” of the academies of the three services of the puppet army. Papers inform the readers that recommendations demanding an early normalisation of Japan-DPRK dip- lomatic relations were adopted at local assemblies of sapan, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a decision on the cooperation of the Soviet people's dep- uties in the enforcement of national referendum and the first vice-president of Iran called for the unity of the Muslims the world over against domination forces. NODONG SINMUN reports about the efforts directed to the economic development for the building of a prosperous new Asia by Laos, Vietnam, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Iran."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul Welcomes North's Bid To Join ESCAP",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503030491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0239 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503030491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korea would welcome and would fully cooperate with a North Korean bid to join the Economic and Social Council of Asia-Pacific (ESCAP), Foreign Minister Yi Sang-ok said Friday. Yi said a North Korean trade representative in Bangkok, Thailand, had recently called on ESCAP headquarters there and expressed deep interest in joining the group. “It is not clear, however, whether North Korea plans to formally submit a membership application to the ESCAP General Assembly in Seoul in April, or is simply showing interest,” he said. “The government believes Pyongyang’s entry is desirable and widely welcomes it.“ The 47th ESCAP meeting opens here April | and 48 member nations, including China, the Soviet Union, Vietnam and Laos, will send approximately 1,000 dele- gates. The government plans to propose adoption of a Seoul declaration,” outlining specific cooperation measures in the Asia-Pacific region for the 1990 s during the meeting. ministry officials say."
},
{
"TITLE": "Pak Chol-on Reportedly To Visit DPRK in May",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503121891 Seoul SEOUL SINMUN in Korean 15 Mar 91 p 1",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503121891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "SEOUL SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] It was learned that Minister of Sports and Youth Pak Chol-on will visit Pyongyang in May and meet with high-ranking North Korean officials. A broad range of discussions will be held on pending North-South Korean issues such as expansion in sports and economic coop- eration. Minister Pak will visit the North for four nights and five days and, in the capacity of the minister of sports and youth, will participate in the Pyongyang tryouts to form a single team for the World Youth Soccer Champion- ships. It seems that during his visit he will hold talks with North Korea's leading officials such as Kim Yu-sun, chairman of the Korean Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Committee, and Vice President Yi Chong-ok. As the real power in taking the initiative toward the sports exchange and the policy toward the North, it was learned that Minister Pak will also discuss trade on a barter system, which is intended to carry out direct trade of goods needed by North and South Korea. Past proposals on our side include expanding sports exchanges. It seems that Minister Pak will wrap up lose ends on inviting North Korean youths to the August World Jamboree and the sports festival for all Koreans, including those abroad, and on the mutual exchange of sports leaders."
},
{
"TITLE": "Hong Kong Agency Arranges Travel to DPRK",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203115291 Seoul CHUNGANG ILBO in Korean 9 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1203115291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "CHUNGANG ILBO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Hong Kong Correspondent Kim Taek-won",
"FULL TEXT": "[Report by Hong Kong Correspondent Kim Taek-won] [Text] Citibank International Travel (President Ronald Chong), a Hong Kong travel agency, started arranging North Korean tours on 6 March. Also, it receives appli- cations if two people or more apply. This virtually means that individual North Korean tours are possible. Before, only group tours were accepted. An official of this agency said that anyone who is not from the ROK, South Africa, and Israel can receive a visa in a week after applying for it, that tours by two people or more and group tours of students are possible, and that tourists can select sites in North Korea when they travel. This official said: The company arranges a four-day tour in which tourists leave Hong Kong, stay a night in Beijing, arrive in Pyongyang by a North Korea Korean civilian airline flight that leaves Beijing every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, and visit Kaesong and Pyongyang. The company also arrange a five-day tour in which tourists will also visit Mt. Myohyang. This official also said that this company's tourism busi- ness is under the control of the Korea-Macao Interna- tional Tourist Agency, a North Korean travel agency in Macao."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il’s Power Base Reportedly Fragile",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503134591 Seoul HANGUK ILBO in Korean 12 Mar 91 p 18",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503134591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "HANGUK ILBO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] In contrast with North Korea’s intensive efforts to consummate the power transfer to Kim Chong-il, North Korean college students studying in Beijing are making skeptical and noteworthy observations about Kim Chong-il’s succession to power. According to “The North Korean Situation As Seen By the North Korean Students Studying in Beijing” in The Flash Report on Reunification” distributed recently by the National Unification Board, North Korean residents hold a skeptical view of Kim Chong-il’s competence because of the economic setbacks of the last 17 years since the participation of Kim Chong-il in government affairs in 1973. Anti-Kim Chong-il forces are forming fairly extensively in the military and other circles. Professor M of our country, who has recently been to China, met a professor who is a graduate of Kim Il-song University. He said: “Regardless of whether he will adhere to his father’s line or adopt a policy of openness, Kim Chong-il is doomed to be removed after all.“ He said that Kim Chong-il will follow the same fate as that of Hua Guofeng after the death of Mao Zedong. This analysis is similar to that by various figures who visited North Korea last year, thereby suggesting that the power transfer to Kim Chong-il after the death of Kim Il-song, which is taken for granted by many, might not be that simple. Party Secretary Kim Chong-il is reported to be charged with all state affairs—except diplomatic protocol—now that the 17-year preparation for his coming to power is completed. Students studying in Beijing view the rapid emergence of Kim Chong-il as heir-apparent during the first half of the 1970's as resulting from the counteraction to the con- spicuous growth of the so-called “Ring of the Heterodox Twigs” of Kim Song-ae, second wife of Kim Il-song. According to the students, Kim Yong-chu, Kim Il-song’s brother and a prominent candidate for succession to power, was classified as a Kim Song-ae ally and removed from the scene together with Kim Song-kap, Kim Song- ae’s brother who was then chairman of the Pyongyang Municipal People’s Committee. However, Kim Song-ae, chairman of the North Korea Women's Union, is appearing on official occasions for the first time in 18 years, and residents are also showing interest in Kim Pyong-il rather than Kim Chong-il. The professor in Beijing, who graduated from Kim Il-song University, said that he got the impression when visiting Pyongyang last November that President Kim Il-song was withdrawing power which he had earlier given to Kim Chong-il. In other words, North Korea's political power, which shifted from Kim Song-ae toward Kim Chong-il in the early 1970's as a result of the will of public sentiment, is now moving toward Kim Pyong-il. Therefore, if Kim Il-song dies there will be great confu- sion. Although Kim Chong-il’s succession to power is quite probable, his power will not last more than six months. While having taken charge for the past 17 years, Kim Chong-il gave all power to the party. The State Admin- istration Council, which is the administrative body, was allowed only to obey party orders. From time to time this resulted in friction between the party and the State Administration Council. During the North-South high- level talks last year, party cadres sarcastically talked about the delegation led by Premier Yon Hyong-muk. saying: What kind of talks can those puppets carry out?” This shows that State Administration Council cadres are treated as low-class party members. In addition, those running the regime centering on Kim Chong-il are gradually losing confidence. Despite his holding absolute power, Kim does not have confidence about his position. He does not like to meet people from the outside and makes all decisions with only a small number of party members. This shows the seriousness of the centralization of power. For example, the North Korean Embassy in China does not even have authority to issue visas to those desiring to visit the North. Therefore, all such business must be handled after asking Pyongyang. It seems that even after President Kim II|-song’s death it will be impossible to completely remove the Kim family because, since President Kim is God-like in North Korea, there is no conception that “the leader will die.” Therefore, it seems that after President Kim's death the people's sense of emptiness will be serious. Thus, even though Kim Chong-il might be overchroun right after he gains power, the Kim family will rule under the “constitutional monarchy system.“ which is similar to the Japanese royal family. Also, its seems that prac- tical politics will be carried out centering on the premier. Judging from this, Professor M forecasts that great changes will take place in North Korea in the next year or two, and even though there is no reunification, within a limited range, there will be great changes taking place in North-South relations. The Board of National Unification also included the opinions of those who had visited the North last year and made a similar forecast. Due to the liberalization move- ment of the East European bloc, which started in 1989, as well as to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and the Soviet Union, North Korea felt a sense of danger, and thus strengthened its social control. As a counteraction to this, anti-Kim Chong-il forces are gradually being formed underground. Currently there are 130 North Korean students studying in Beijing. Among them, 70-80 are attending universities of foreign language, and the rest are studying in science and engineering. Every Thursday these students receive political indoctrination at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing. Being aware of the surveillance from the embassy, senior students are considerably cautious about freshmen students. After returning to North Korea, the students cannot become hard core members of the North Korean regime but can work only as working-level officials."
},
{
"TITLE": "Nuclear Research Accord Signed With France",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1303014391 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 13 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1303014391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE KOREA HERALD",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and France's Commissariat a Energie Atom- ique (CEA) have signed an agreement on joint research in the safety of pressurized water reactors, a KAERI spokesman said yesterday. “Under the agreement, signed by KAERI President Han Pil-sun and French Amb. [Ambassador] Hubert de la Fortelle, on behalf of CEA Friday, we will directly participate in CEA’s large-scale research and test projects during 1991-1997 and get sophisticated tech- nology related to safety of pressurized water reactors,” he said. “KAERI and two French institutes under the CEA umbrella will especially concentrate on joint tests on design basis accident and fission product release during accidents involving pressurized water reactors in 1991- 97.\" Two KAERI researchers will be sent to France for the tests. Korean nuclear researchers have so far done safety tests on parts of nuclear power plants such as the reactor and containment in cooperation with U.S. experts."
},
{
"TITLE": "Civilians, Dissidents Form Antinuclear Body",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503035191 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 15 Mar 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503035191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE KOREA HERALD",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] An antinuclear civilian body was formed in Seoul Wednesday in a ceremony attended by about 300 people residing near nuclear power plants in Sosan and Yongk- wang and in Tongduchon where U.S. military facilities are installed. Those attending the inaugural of the Coalition of Anti- nuclear Peace Movement include such dissident figures as Paek Ki-wan and Ke Hun-che."
},
{
"TITLE": "YONHAP, TASS Sign Accord on News Exchanges",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503003891 Seoul YONHAP in English 0022 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503003891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)—YONPBAP news agency and TASS, the official Soviet news agency, Thursday signed an agreement for stable and long-term news and personnel exchanges. The news cooperation agreement was signed by YONHAP President Cho Yong-chung and Lev Spiri- donov, director general of TASS. It took effect on signing and will remain in effect until the end of 1993, replacing a memorandum exchanged in 1989. With the agreement concluded, YONHAP can now exchange news and render cooperation with most of the world’s main news agencies except for XINHUA of China. Korea and China lack diplomatic ties."
},
{
"TITLE": "TASS Chief Departs After Week-Long Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503091991 Seoul YONHAP in English 0817 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503091991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)—Lev Spiri- donov, director general of the official Soviet news agency TASS, left South Korea Friday afternoon on an Aeroflot flight to Moscow, finishing a week-long visit here. Spiridonov, 60, was in Seoul at the invitation of YONHAP News Agency to sign a news cooperation agreement and thereby open up chances for Koreans and Soviets to know more about each other. The full-dress agreement was signed with YONHAP President Cho Yong-chung Thursday, enabling YONHAP to complete its aim of news cooperation and exchange agreements with all major international news agencies. The top TASS official attracted attention among polit- ical and economic leaders, who are high.y curious about the Soviet Union, with which Korea normalized ties in September last year. He paid a courtesy call on President No Tae-u, whose policy is to improve ties with socialist nations, and met with such ranking politicians and industrialists as Prime Minister No Chae-pong, National Assembly Speaker Pak Chun-kyu and Samsung Group Chairman Yi kun-hui. Accompanied by Sales and Marketing Manager Igor Derzhitskiy and Tokyo Bureau Chief Vladimir Koutchko, Spiridonov gave five press conferences and was on the state-run television news."
},
{
"TITLE": "KAL To Begin Flights Through Moscow to Rome",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1103131691 Seoul YONHAP in English 1026 GMT 11 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1103131691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 11, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 11 (YONHAP)—Korean Air (KAL) will begin weekly flights on the Seoul-Moscow- Amsterdam-Rome route June 27, the company said Monday. KAL will use a 410-seat B-747-300, departing Seoul Thursday morning and arriving in Rome Thursday night, it said. The service is in compliance with an agreement between KAL and Alitalia signed in January, and a government-level aviation pact between the two nations concluded last October, a KAL spokesman said. The airline is to begin flights on the Seoul- Bombay-Cairo-Rome route by the end of the year, he said. KAL flies to eight cities in Europe, including Paris, London, Zurich, Amsterdam, Vienna, Frankfurt and Moscow, and serves 48 cities in 23 countries."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul To Send Medical Supplies to Soviets",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203081391 Seoul YONHAP in English 0551 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1203081391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (YONHAP)—South Korea will ship 40 million U.S. dollars of medicine and medical equipment to the Soviet Union next month, the Health and Social Affairs Ministry said Tuesday. Payment will be made from a tied loan extended to the Soviet Union in January. The shipment accounts for nearly one-fifth of the country’s medical export of 220 million dollars for this year, ministry officials said. The 11 medical products include analgesics, antipyret- ics, Vitamins, anti-tuberculous agents, anesthetics, sur- gical gloves and condoms, they said. The ministry plans, over the next two years, to export 30 million dollars of plant-extracted medicine, 15 million dollars of disposable syringes and needles, 60,000 dollars of surgical gloves and 60 million dollars of medical equipments to the Soviet Union, they said. Health officials are collecting information on Soviet medical products and hope to encourage civilian exchanges as well."
},
{
"TITLE": "Further on Telecommunications Loan to Philippines",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203040791 Seoul YONHAP in English 0220 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1203040791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korea will provide the Philippines 3.79 billion won, an equivalent of 5.4 million U.S. dollars, in a concessionary loan to modernize and expand a provincial telecommu- nications network. Hong Chae-hyong, chairman of the Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Rodolfo Dumaplas, Philippines charge d'affaires to Korea, signed a contract to extend the loan in Seoul Tuesday. The government's Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) will put up the loan, which carries an interest rate of 3.5 percent per annum over 20 years, after a five-year grace period. The Philippines will use the money to purchase and install a TDX-10 digital switching system with a capacity of 6,150 lines in Misamis Oriental Province."
},
{
"TITLE": "Elections ‘Dominated’ by Ruling Party Candidates",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503041991 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 15 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503041991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE KOREA HERALD",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By staff reporter Kim Chong-chan",
"FULL TEXT": "[“News Analysis” by staff reporter Kim Chong-chan] [Text] Registration of candidacy for the coming local assembly elections is dominated by ruling party candi- dates which may hamper the sound development of local self-government, the first in 30 years. More than half of those running in the elections are reportedly members of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party [DLP] and pro-DLP figures. According to Chongwadae and ruling party sources, candidates who belong to the governing party account for 42.8 percent, or 4,339 of the total 10,120 candidates. The figure compares with 14 percent for the main opposition Party for Peace and Democracy [PPD]; 1.8 percent for the minor Democratic Party and 0.2 percent for the progressive Minjung (People’s) Party of Korea. The remaining 41.2 percent or 4,100 people are listed as “independents,” though at least one third are pro-DLP figures, the sources said. Political parties cannot field candidates for the March 26 small-area local elections in small- and medium-sized cities, “gun” (county) and “ku” (ward) in big cities. The large-unit local council elections are scheduled for June. The domination by ruling party candidates in the elec- tions may have stunned opposition leader Kim Tae- chung who still harbors presidential ambitions. PPD President Kim sees the implementation of “grass-roots democracy” as an occasion to expand his nationwide political base. PPD members running in Kim's stronghold, Kwangju and Cholla provinces, total 838, compared with only 469 belonging to the giant ruling DLP. When it comes to Taegu and Kyongsang provinces, however, the situation is quite different. The number of ruling party members and pro-DLP figures running in those areas is over 20 times that of those from the opposition, DLP officials said. A moderate competition ratio of 2.35 to 1 in the local elections shows that the ballot has attracted little public interest. Local assembly elections were suspended in 1961 when the military took power. A tally compiled by the Central Election Management Committee (CEMC) showed that there is more compe- tition in provincial areas than urban districts, particu- larly the six big cities. Taegu, the third largest city in Korea, had the lowest competition ratio of 1.58 to 1, while Kangwon-do and two other provinces shared the highest with 2.8 to 1. Observers attributed the low competition in Taegu, the birthplace of President No Tae-u, to the ruling party's behind-the-scenes maneuvering to prevent “excessive competition” among ruling party members running in the city. A considerable number of ruling party members running there are said to have withdrawn their candidacy at the request of fellow party members. Surprisingly, the number of uncontested districts in Taegu totals 60 or 41.2 percent of the total 141 areas. CEMC has announced that the number of districts uncontested totals 441 or 12.3 percent of 3,562 electoral constituencies nation wide. A total of 547 or 12.7 percent of the fixed 4,304 council members have already won in those uncontested areas, including 83 in Seoul and 49 in the second largest city, Pusan. One council member is to be picked from each of the small administrative units of “tong” in cities. But the number will go up to two or three according to popula- tion size. Observers said the lower than expected competition nationwide was attributable to public distrust of politi- cians mainly caused by the Suso housing scandal, a lack of public knowledge of local self-governing and the hasty arrangement of the elections. The ruling camp had originally planned to hold the small-unit local elections in May. The opposition has accused the ruling party of advancing the voting in an attempt to divert public attention away from the Suso bribery case. Public distrust of politicians may have climaxed as the destructive scandal came on the heels of a bribery case involving three lawmakers accused of taking bribes from a lobby group for their junket abroad. Candidacy registration shows that women still have little interest in politics. Women candidates accounted for merely 1.2 percent or 123 of the total 10,120. By age, those who are between 51 and 55 topped the list with 23.2 percent, followed by those between 46 and 50 with 20.5 percent, between 41 and 45 with 15.9 percent and 56 and 60 with 15.5 percent. Candidates are also of diverse occupations. Those engaged in farming took the lion's share with 30.2 percent, followed by people engaged in commercial activities with 25.5 percent. In
And Gemini 2.5 Pro on the OCR'd text? It made it to page 51 at a cost of $0.784470 ($0.015381 a page):
[
{
"TITLE": "ASEAN To Accept USSR as Dialogue Partner",
"FULL CITATION": "Ou 1403093591 Tokyo KYODO in English 0817 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OU1403093591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[By Masanori Kikuta]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Kuala Lumpur, March 14 KYODO—The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed in principle to accept the Soviet Union as one of its dialogue partners.“ Malaysian Foreign Minister Omar Abu Hassan indicated Thursday.\nThe Soviet Union “would like to be closer to us and has offered to join Japan, the United States and other existing partners of dialogue with ASEAN, Abu Hassan told a press conference.\n“We will certainly look at the best possible means to get them (the Soviets) involved in one way or another,” he said. “There have been some discussions among officials.“\nASEAN is scheduled to hold an annual meeting of foreign ministers, followed by a meeting with their counterparts from six existing dialogue partners, plus South Korea, in Kuala Lumpur on July 19-24, Abu Hassan said.\nSouth Korea will be the seventh full dialogue partner, starting with the meeting, but it has not been decided yet if the Soviet Union will join such a ministerial meeting, he said.\n“We are still looking at the kind of format or relationship we want to establish with them,” he said.\nMalaysian Government officials said earlier that ASEAN is also considering beginning a dialogue with China.\nSouth Korea began a dialogue with ASEAN when particular issues such as trade and investment matters arose, before allowing it to become a full partner.\nASEAN will discuss “other ways of association” with the Soviet Union as well as Vietnam, Myanmar [Burma], and other potential dialogue partners because involving them as full participants in regular meetings will mean “very long and taxing” sessions, Abu Hassan said.\nSenior ASEAN officials “will think about how best to engage them into this kind of association,” he said.\nIn the meantime, he said, ASEAN's six member countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei—will try to establish “economic linkages with them bilaterally, not on an ASEAN basis,” he added.\nMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed told an international economic conference on the Indonesian resort island of Bali last week ASEAN is considering inviting Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar to the next foreign ministers’ meeting.\nBut Abu Hassan indicated it will be some time before the three Indochinese socialist countries become dialogue partners.\n“This will be discussed from time to time by senior officials” and “will definitely be on the agenda of the (next) summit“ of ASEAN planned for Singapore late this year or early next year, he said.\nASEAN last held a summit in Manila in 1987, itself the first in a decade, and Mahathir proposed at the Bali conference that ASEAN leaders meet more frequently.\nSenior ASEAN officials met in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the increase in dialogue partners and other issues, said Abu Hassan, who will be appointed minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in a cabinet reshuffle Friday.\nAnother session devoted to economic issues is scheduled for Friday.\nAmong issues discussed so far have been a plan to set up an “ASEAN cooperation unit“ of specialists with the help of the United Nations development program to provide technical services for the management of various projects undertaken jointly by the ASEAN countries, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "APEC Agrees To Push for Trade Liberalization",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1303052591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 13 Mar 91 p B10",
"CITATION ID": "BK1303052591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE NATION",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[By Oranut Anasuksathian and Yindi Loetcharoenchok]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Thai officials who attended a two-day meeting on the Asia-Pacific economic grouping last week, expressed satisfaction at the renewed attempts of the 12 member countries to push for regional trade liberalization and to adopt three new projects.\nBesides, progress was made to link up trade and investment data available in member countries with the Global Link centre in Singapore, said Laksanachanthon Laohaphan, director general of the Foreign Ministry's ASEAN Affairs Department.\nShe led the Thai delegation to the discussions at the Honeymoon Island of Cheju in South Korea on March 5 and 6.\nThailand, she said, is preparing to subscribe to the information and the Commerce Ministry is updating and arranging its own database to facilitate the link-up.\nIn an interview with THE NATION, Laksanachanthon described the Cheju meeting as “full of cooperation, cordial and quite positive”. all member countries, she added, agreed on the urgency to speed up cooperation and resolve the existing barriers between each other.\nThe Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) comprises the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the six countries of ASEAN—Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.\nMeanwhile, three new projects were approved in addition to the existing seven working programmes previously adopted by the members. Two of the three new projects on transportation and tourism were proposed by the United States while New Zealand suggested a fishery project. Thailand has expressed a keen interest in the project.\nThe members also agreed with an Australian proposal to set up an ad hoc committee to study regional trade liberalization and with the Canadian suggestion to study the regional macroeconomic outlook and its implications.\nSo far, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Japan and Singapore have subscribed to the Australian initiative. Other members may join in the consultation process later, Laksanachanthon said.\nA summary paper of APEC’s senior officials’ meeting stated that the participants were of a general agreement that non-discriminatory trade liberalization in the region was an appropriate area for detailed study and consideration. There was also a general agreement among the members on the importance of the trade liberalization as a continuing policy focus for APEC.\nCanada which spearheaded the move to explore and study the regional economic policy and trends will soon call a meeting of the member countries, said an official at the meeting.\nAll the proposals will be submitted to the senior official representatives of the 12 members and later at the APEC ministerial- level meeting in Seoul in October.\nASEAN senior foreign officials were to meet in Kuala Lumpur today until March 15 to discuss the outcome of the APEC consultations. But the meeting was indefinitely postponed because of the coup in Thailand.\nIn a related development, ASEAN’s senior economic officials are to meet today in Bandung to study the proposals approved by APEC officiais. The meeting ends on Friday.\nThe Cheju meeting also agreed on the financial aspects of the projects and timetables for implementing them. The expenses incurred from these projects will be shared by the members.\nBut the six ASEAN nations have asked the developed countries in the group to recognize their financial constraints and suggested that the developed economies contribute more in carrying out big projects, according to a commerce official.\nLaksanachanthon said that the agreement on the financial aspects and new projects is a major step forward for APEC, a cooperation of countries from extremely different economic and political backgrounds.\nWhile foreign officials were very optimistic about the progress made in the regional economic consultations, some Thai commerce officials who accompanied the delegation said the talk moved very little forward.\nThe three projects given approval at the official-level meeting were pending since the first official consultation in Singapore last year, they said. Moreover, ASEAN has repeated its intention for the cooperation process to go slow.\nAccording to Laksanachanthon, the exchange of opinions on trade and investment information and the development of human resources have progressed the most because they do not require the establishment of new mechanisms.\nOther projects, including energy cooperation, telecommunications and technology transfer are also moving forward due to consultations held between individual working groups, she added."
},
{
"TITLE": "Agency Ready To Dispatch Minesweepers to Gulf",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503082791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0754 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503082791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan could dispatch a small fleet of minesweepers in about a week if given orders to help clean- up efforts in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war, a Defense Agency source said Friday.\nThe Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel, and with port calls could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said.\nThe task of removing more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before the war would take about a year to complete, the source said.\nJapanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulſ's waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran-Iraq war.\nThe government received similar requests for minesweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait.\nThe Defense Agency will likely deploy four minesweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote- controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines.\nThe flagship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180.\nThe minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and that can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes.\nAccording to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task.\n“It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,” said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kaifu Undecided on Dispatch",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503112991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1106 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503112991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday implied he opposed a proposal to send Japanese minesweepers to help cleanup the effects of the Persian Gulf war.\nKaifu, speaking at the House of Representatives’ standing committee on foreign affairs, said the government is now collecting information to see if Maritime Self-Defense Force {MSDF] ships are needed in the Gulf. Kaifu said he “is addressing the matter carefully.”\n“I have never decided to send the minesweepers. It is irresponsible to do so without exact knowledge about the situation” in the Gulf area, Kaifu said.\nState Minister for Defense Vukihiko Ikeda told reporters Friday that Japan should handle the matter carefully, without any speculation. Speculation could lead Japan in the wrong direction, he said.\n“I am embarrassed that controversy over such an abrupt proposal has been spreading across the nation,” Ikeda said.\nEarlier this week, senior officials in Kaifu's ruling Liberal Democratic Party proposed deploying minesweepers to the Gulf.\nOn Thursday, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama told a parliamentary committee that Japan is obliged to try to protect Japanese sailors in the area. Nakayama also said the government will discuss sending minesweepers to the Gulf with the seafarers union.\nEarlier Friday, a Defense Agency source said Japan could deploy a small minesweeper fleet in about a week, if given orders.\nIf sent, the Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel. Allowing time for port calls, it could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said.\nIt will take about a year to remove more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before ti 2 war, the source said.\nJapanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulf’s waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran-Iraq war.\nThe government received similar requests for minesweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait.\nThe Defense Agency will likely deploy four minesweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote- controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines.\nThe flag ship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180.\nThe minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes.\nAccording to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task.\n“It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,” said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Official: SDF Aircraft Can Be Used for Evacuees",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1403165191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1457 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403165191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan can fly Air Self-Defense Force [ASDF] aircraft to Kuwait to transport evacuees if an international body makes such a request, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Thursday.\nThe official, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited the government's special administrative ordinance made to send ASDF transport aircraft abroad to carry refugees earlier this year. The ordinance makes such flights possible if they are requested by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) or a related world body.\nThe official was commenting on a question relating to a possible Egyptian request to shuttle Egyptian workers being evacuated to Kuwait from Iraq, which is now gripped by internal conflict.\n“If the IOM makes such a request to Japan with Kuwaiti approval, then why not? The ordinance never speciſically defines the flight routes,” the official said, adding he has rc information that such a request has yet been made.\nPrime Minister Toshiki Kaifu's government made the ordinance with the possibility of flying ASDF aircraft between Cairo and some Jordanian cities in mind, but actually no such request was made."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Minister Urges Kaifu To Visit U.S. Soon",
"FULL CITATION": "OW’'1503033791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0258 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503033791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama said Friday.\nNakayama told reporters after a regular cabinet meeting that the prime minister himself wishes to make the trip even if it is a brief one.\nThe foreign minister said Kaifu should have no problem with Diet business, saying four days is enough for a return trip to Washington.\nNakayama said he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week.\nHe is set to leave Japan next Wednesday to meet with Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials.\nNakayama said Japan's upcoming Golden Week” series of national holidays in late April and early May, usually used for politicians’ visits abroad, should be the best time for Kaiſu's swing to Southeast Asian nations, which was postponed in January amid the Persian Gulf crisis, and Kaifu's U.S. visit should come first.\nForeign Ministry officials have expressed strong hopes for an early Japan-U.S. summit to discuss bilateral cooperation after the Gulf war.\nPresident George Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed as a result of the Gulf war. Foreign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be “too late.”"
},
{
"TITLE": "More on Aims of Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1503101091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0955 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503101091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu may visit the United States in early April to exchange views with U.S. President George Bush on peace prospects in the Middle East and the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks, government sources said Friday.\nForeign Minister Taro Nakayama told reporters earlier in the day that Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April\nIn the talks with Bush, Kaifu is expected to express Japan's willingness to strengthen political and economic relations with Israel as part of a comprehensive Japanese Middle East policy in the wake of the Persian Gulf war.\nWashington has expressed hope the Japanese Government will extend economic assistance to Israel to facilitate postwar restoration work.\nJapan has never given economic aid to Israel and has maintained a generally pro-Arab Middle East policy.\nKaifu is also expected to express Japan's readiness to find a breakthrough in the stalled multinational trade talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the sources said.\nBut they did not give further details on what proposals Kaifu will make to bring about a successful conclusion of the trade talks.\nDuring the visit, Kai‘u is likely to stay in Washington or a U.S. west coast city for three or four days.\nNakayama told reporters he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week. The foreign minister is set to leave Japan Wednesday to meet Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials.\nPresident Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed because of the Gulf war.\nForeign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be too late.”\nA top Foreign Ministry official suggested that Kaifu would visit Washington in April.\n“There is little possibilty (of Kaifu's U.S. trip) in March,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that the trip would take place before the holidays that begin in late April.\nHe also said that there might be a need to adjust ties between Japan and the U.S. before Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev visits Japan Apri! 16-19."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Ministry Aide To Visit U.S. 17 Mar",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503110991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503110991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan will dispatch a senior Foreign Ministry official to Washington on Sunday to discuss post- Persian Gulf war policies, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.\nYukio Sato, director general of the ministry's information analysis, research and planning bureau, will visit Washington at the request of the U.S. Government, ministry officials said.\nThe trip will precede Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama’s scheduled U.S. visit, beginning next Wednesday.\nState Department officials are expected to brief Sato on the results of Secretary of State James Baker's Middle East tour and President George Bush's series of talks with European leaders.\nSato last visited the U.S. between February 25 and March 6. On that trip, he presented Japanese ideas on international restrictions on arms shipments to the Middle East, and said Japan was ready to help repair environmental damage in the Gulf region, the officials said.\nHe is expected to discuss more specific aspects of postwar international cooperation during his upcoming trip, they said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Urges U.S. Rice Display’s Removal",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503051791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503051791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister Motoji Kondo reiterated Friday that he will urge a U.S. rice industry group to withdraw samples of U.S. rice displayed at a food trade show now under way in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture.\nKondo said at a press conference after a regular cabinet meeting that he will request the U.S.A. Rice Council to remove the American rice samples by Saturday, when the food show at the Makuhari Exposition Center is scheduled to end.\nHe said such activities aimed at promoting rice sales violate Japan's Food Control Law.\nThe minister also said it is questionable whether the rice samples for the show have been quarantined or not.\nThe ministry will consult with its affiliated Food Agency about what to do if the U.S. council does not accept his demand, Kondo said.\nThe National Confederation of Farmers’ Movements has announced it will take legal action against the U.S. group over the rice samples."
},
{
"TITLE": "Business Delegation To Meet U.S. Counterparts",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403132991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1305 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403132991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Business leaders from Japan and the United States will meet in Los Angeles on May 11-12 to “deepen mutual understanding,” the first such meeting since the end of the Persian Gulf war, business sources said Thursday.\nThe meeting will be in preparation for a session of the Japan- U.S. Businessmen's Conference to be held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in July.\nThe officials said the Japanese delegation will explain Japan's basic stance concerning the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks.\nThey said the Japanese side also is concerned about the hardening of U.S. sentiment toward Japan over Tokyo's alleged lukewarm support for the U.S.-led multinational forces fighting the Gulf war.\nThe Japanese delegation will include Eishiro Saito, honorary chairman of the powerful Federation of Economic Organizations; Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the federation; and Rokuro Ishikawa, president of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry."
},
{
"TITLE": "CPSU Department Chief Falin Continues Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403131591 Tokyo NHK General Television Network in Japanese 1000 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403131591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NHK General Television Network",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Japanese",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Establishes Ties With LDP\n[Text] The Liberal Democratic Party [LDP] established its Jepan-USSR Parliamentarians League today. In a speech delivered prior to the plenary session, CPSU International Department Chief Falin indicated Soviet intentions to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japan in April.\nWith President Gorbachev scheduled to visit Japan in April, the LDP’s Japan-USSR Parliamentarians’ League was established today for the purpose of promoting extensive exchanges between the two nations. Keijiro Murata, former chairman of the party's policy affairs research council, will serve as chairman of the League.\nCPSU International Department chief Falin, on his first visit to Japan to attend the league's inaugural session, delivered a speech prior to the plenary session. Commenting on President Gorbachev's visit to Japan, Falin said that President Gorbachev would bring with him not the former image of the Soviet Union but a picture filled with a brighter future. He added that despite the fact that the domestic situation in the Soviet Union is not very favorable right now, it will not be long before the sun shines on Soviet-Japanese relations through the efforts of the two nations. Thus, he indicated the Soviet intention to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japar.\nFurthermore, regarding President Gorbachev's perestroyka policy, International Department chief Falin stated: Unless domestic disorder in the Soviet Union turns into civil war, there will be no going back on perestroyka or any shift in the chosen orientation."
},
{
"TITLE": "Reads Gorbachev Message",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403154991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1347 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403154991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said in a message read here Thursday that he would like a Japanese delegation to visit Moscow before he travels to Tokyo in April.\nThe two countries share a common desire to open a new stage of relations, Gorbachev said in his message read at the inauguration of a bilateral parliamentarians’ group.\nThe parliamentarians’ league was formed by Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Soviet Union.\nThe Soviet Union and Japan are obligated to play an “objective role” in the region and internationally, Gorbachev said in the message read by Valentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party's International Affairs Division.\n“I hope that, as two major members of the world community, our unique contribution to the process of global cooperation will become larger. Gorbachev said in the message.\nHe said he wants to meet with a Japanese delegation before his scheduled April 16-19 visit to Japan, apparently referring to a possible visit by LDP Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa.\nFalin, in a separate address to the league, said he was upbeat about bilateral relations.\nHe warned, however, that Gorbachev's historic visit comes at a time of domestic turmoil in the Soviet Union.\nEconomic reforms are falling victim to political power struggles, Falin told the audience of some 500 political and economic leaders.\nHe said Gorbachev will stay on the path of “perestroyka” economic reforms and democratization unless the country is swept up in chaos.\n“When President Gorbachev visits Japan, he will bring with him a bright picture of the future of the Soviet Union, not the old image,” said Falin, a top foreign policy aide to Gorbachev.\nFalin said financial credit and goods are important to his country, but what the Soviet Union needs most is a model that will help the public make the “correct decision” between a free market economic system and the present centrally planned economy.\nSpeeches by Japanese political leaders, meanwhile, lacked the usual references to the four-decade territorial dispute over four islands north of Hokkaido that has frozen relations in a bitter standoff.\nThe league, joined by 184 LDP parliamentarians, was established to help resolve problems in Japan-Soviet economic cooperation, and promote exchanges by the two countries’ ruling parties in advance of Gorbachev's visit.\nIt supplements an existing suprapertisan league."
},
{
"TITLE": "Laverov, Falin Meet Kaifu",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503041391 Tokyo KYODO in English 0342 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503041391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—A foreign policy adviser to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said to Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday the two countries should make “100 percent“ use of the Kremlin leader's visit to Tokyo next month to achieve a breakthrough in ties.\nValentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party's International Affairs Division, said he spoke with Gorbachev immediately before arriving in Japan on Thursday, and that the President is “prepared to make a breakthrough in ties.”\n“When the President comes, discussions should not be only of the weather and the cherry blossoms, there should also be serious talks on bilateral and international issues. Falin said.\nLet's make 100 percent use of this chance,” he said in a 15- minute courtesy call, also joined by Soviet Vice Premier Nikolay Laverov.\nThe two officials are here to attend separate political and science events to promote ties prior to Gorbachev's visit.\nKaifu said he hopes for a resolution of the territorial dispute over four islands east of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, so that the two countries could sign a peace treaty.\nThe northern islands issue has been a stumbling block for improving relations ever since World War II, when the Soviet troops occupied the islands.\nKaifu said he hopes to see a “dynamic” expansion of relations in a wide variety of fields, including economics and technology.\nLaverov, here to attend the opening of a Soviet science fair, suggested that Soviet basic technology combined with Japanese know- how in application would deliver fruitful results."
},
{
"TITLE": "Gorbachev, Kaifu To Hold Three Rounds of Talks",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'150314109! Tokyo KYODC in English 1343 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503141091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODC",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will hold three rounds of talks with Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu during his April 16 to 19 visit to Japan, with the two countries’ territorial dispute high on the agenda, government officials said Friday.\nGorbachev and Kaifu are expected to sign 11 pacts and documents on issues such as Japan's support for Gorbachev's “perestroyka™ restructuring efforts, and aid to victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.\nThe two leaders plan to issue a joint statement on the results and meaning of Gorbachev's visit, officials said.\nThe Soviet president is also scheduled to meet with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, make a speech at the Diet, give a lecture at a university and meet with the press during his four-day stay in Japan, they said.\nVisits to Osaka and Kyoto are also being arranged, officials said.\nThe schedule will be finalized when Soviet Foreign Minister Aleksander Bessmertnykh visits Japan from March 29-31.\nGorbachev's visit to Japan will be the first by a top Kremlin leader in the two nations’ history.\nIt will also be the first Japan-Soviet summit conference in six years, following the meeting between Gorbachev and then Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. At that time, Nakasone went to Moscow to attend the state funeral of Soviet Communist Party leader Konstantin Chernenko, who was succeeded by Gorbachev.\nThere have been only two other Japanese-Soviet summit meetings—between Ichiro Hatoyama and Nikolay Bulganin in October 1956, and between Kakuei Tanaka and Leonid Brezhnev in October 1973.\nWith Gorbachev's visit, Japan hopes to find a breakthrough in realizing the return of the four northern islands off Hokkaido that the Soviet Union occupied after World War II.\n“We hope to pave the path for solving the territorial dispute and the signing of a Japan-Soviet peace treaty in order to build a foundation for bilateral relations,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said. “And we would like to make it a turning point in dealing with postwar issues.”\nSome Foreign Ministry sources, however, say the territorial dispute cannot be solved in one or two top-level meetings.\nWith just one month before the visit, Tokyo hopes to feel out Moscow's positions in Bessmerinykh's meetings with Kaifu and Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama later this month, officials said.\nLiberal Democractic Party [LDP] Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa is also planning to visit Moscow during March, LDP sources said.\nThe Soviet Union, however, is suffering severe economic difficulties, and political and ethnic turmoil at home and is hoping to secure Japan's financial aid while sounding out Japan's position on the territorial dispute.\nMeanwhile, a Soviet advance team will arrive in Tokyo on Monday for a weeklong visit, Soviet ( iplomatic sources said Friday."
},
{
"TITLE": "Envoy Says Gorbachev Hopes To Meet Businessmen",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403125991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1215 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403125991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev hopes to meet with Japanese business leaders during his visit to Tokyo in April, Soviet Ambassador to Japan Lyudvig Chizhov said Thursday.\nChizhov called on Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the influential Federation of Economic Organizations, known as the Keidanren, Thursday afternoon to convey Gorbachev's desire for a meeting with Hiiaiwa and other business leaders, Keidanren officials said.\nHiraiwa welcomed the request and hoped that Gorbachev's trip to Japan will mark a dramatic step forward in relations between Japan and the Soviet Union, said Keidanren officials."
},
{
"TITLE": "USSR Foreign Minister To Discuss Middle East",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503104291 Tokyo KYODO in English 1006 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503104291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Foreign Ministers Aleksander Bessmertnykh and Taro Nakayama will discuss Middle East security in the post-Persian Gulf war period and other international issues during their talks in Tokyo later this month, Soviet diplomatic sources said Friday.\nThe March 29-31 meeting, aimed at finalizing details for President Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to Japan April 16-19, will be the second between the two foreign ministers this year, and the first followirg last month's end of hostilities in the Gulf.\nThe foreign ministers are also to discuss 11 agreements to be inked during Gorbachev's planned April visit, as well as a final statement to be issued at the end of the trip and a peace treaty, the sources said.\nBoth Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu and Gorbachev have expressed hopes that the visit will provide a breakthrough in relations, snagged over a dispute over ownership of four small islands occupied by the Soviet Union after World War II.\nHowever, there have been few hints yet how the two sides will approach the territorial dispute, which Japan says must be resolved before a peace treaty can be concluded.\nThe sources said the Soviet Union plans to hand over a list of some 40,000 deceased Japanese World War II prisoners of war prior to Gorbachev's visit.\nIt recently canceled a plan to hand over the register to a private association of former war detainees in Siberia following a demand by the Japanese Government that the list be delivered via official channels.\nAmong those accompanying Gorbachev on the historic visit will be his wife Raisa, Bessmertnykh, and presidential spokesman Vitaliy Ignatenko, the sources said.\nThe visit here is to be the first ever by a Kremlin leader.\nFour Japanese prime ministers have traveled to the Soviet Union while in office.\nIn 1956 Ichiro Hatoyama visited the Soviet Union to normalize diplomatic relations. Kakuei Tanaka traveled to Moscow in 1973, Zenko Suzuki in 1982, and Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1984.\nThe sources said they did not expect the Soviet referendum slated for Sunday on preservation of the country’s union structure to affect the visit."
},
{
"TITLE": "Ministry Official ‘Lukewarm’ on USSR Aid",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1S03081191 Tokvo KYODO in English 0602 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1S03081191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokvo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—A senior Finance Ministry official expressed a lukewarm view Friday regarding possible Japanese financial aid to the Soviet Union.\nThe official, who declined to be named, said the Soviet economy has worsened since the International Monetary Fund and other international organizations issued a negative report on the economic situation in the Soviet Union late last year.\nThe official also said the Soviet military crackdown on independence movements in the Baltic republics adversely affected the Western attitude toward Moscow.\nHe said Western aid to the Soviet Union will be discussed at the London summit of seven Western industrialized nations in July but their attitude will not be as enthusiastic as it was in the previous summit in Houston, Texas, last year."
},
{
"TITLE": "SDP To Review Stand on Kuril Islands",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1403171691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1516 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403171691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—The Social Democratic Party (SDP) will review its basic policy calling for the return of all the Kuril Islands, including the four Soviet-held islands off Hokkaido, party officials said Thursday.\nThey said party members have been deinanding more flexibility in policy toward the Soviet Union.\nThe SDP, Japan's largest opposition party, has argued since 1961 that Moscow must return two of the four islands—Shikotan Island and the Habomai Island group—before concluding a peace treaty with Tokyo, and said that the return of the other Kuril islands should be negotiated later.\nThe four islands were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.\nA Japanese-Soviet joint declaration in 1956 specified that the Soviet Union would return Shikotan and the Habomais after concluding a peace treaty between the two countries."
},
{
"TITLE": "Marubeni Postpones Vladivostok Office Plan",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1503125591 Tokyo KYODO in English 1116 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503125591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Marubeni Corp. said Friday it has put off its plan to open a representative office in the Soviet far east city of Viadivostok because of an abrupt aboutface in Soviet policy.\nThe trading giant has apparently made the decision after learning of a change in Soviet policy, apparently stemming from the rise of conservatives in the leadership following the military crackdown in the Baltic republics, industry sources said.\nCompany officials said they had an impression that the Kremlin now does not want to open Vladivostok, a major Soviet naval port on the Sea of Japan, to foreigners for the time being.\nThe Soviet Union earlier promised to allow foreign companies to open offices in the city in March in order to promote economic reforms in the Far East.\nMarubeni and another Japanese trading firm, Mitsubishi Corp., then announced plans to open offices there.\nMitsubishi said it has not received information about Moscow's change of policy. The firm said it has not withdrawn its application filed to the state authorities of that country, because the Soviet situation remains fluid.\nVladivostok, with a population of about 650,000, is the home of the Soviet Far East naval fleet."
},
{
"TITLE": "Development Loan Pleadged to PRC",
"FULL CITATION": "QW 1503110791 Tokyo KYODO in English 1041 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "QW1503110791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan has pledged to extend a low-interest, untied loan of up to 43.38 billion yen to China in the third disbursement of its aid package for fiscal 1990, the Foreign Ministry announced Friday.\nThe ministry said the fund will be used to help finance five development projects, including construction . of highways, railways, and other facilities.\nThe loan, part of Japan's official development assistance (ODA), is repayable over a 30-year period, including a 10-year grace period, at an annual interest rate ol 7.5 percent, the ministry said.\nNotes on the loan were exchanged in Beijing on Friday between Japanese Ambassador to China Hiroshi Hashimoto and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Qi Huaiyuan, the ministry said.\nThe projects to be financed by the loan include:\n—construction and consolidation of highway and telecommunications networks in Qingdao City at a cost of 12,834 million yen.\n—construction of railways in Baoji in northwestern China at a cost of 5,572 million yen.\n—construction of an airport in Wuhan at 6,279 million yen.\n—construction of coal transportation railways linking Hengshui and Shangqiu at a cost of 5,695 million.\n—construction of the Beijing Shisanling pumped-storage power station at 13 billion yen."
},
{
"TITLE": "Grants Extended to Latin America, Africa",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403125091 Tokyo KYODO in English 1027 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403125091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan will extend grant-in-aid to Peru, Honduras, Benin, Madagascar, and Botswana, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.\nPeru will receive 3.5 billion yen and Honduras 500 million yen in a nonproject grant to help pay for the Latin American nations’ necessary imports, the ministry said.\nBenin will get 900 million yen and Madagascar 3.5 billion yen for the same purpose.\nThe 104-million-yen grant for Botswana is for debt relief and will compensate for part of its debts in yen loans from Japan extended until March 1988, the ministry said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Finance Minister Remarks on Yen's Weakness",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503061991 Tokyo KYODO in English 0550 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503061991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said Friday the current weakness of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar in foreign exchange markets should not be sustained.\n“I do not think current exchange rates between the two currencies reflect Japanese economic fundamentals correctly,” Hashimoto told the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives.\nThe minister said he hopes currency rates will settle moderately, not sharply. The recent strength of the dollar is caused by U.S. investors’ euphoria at the end of the Persian Gulf war, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Sees Economic Expansion Without Inflation",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503020291 Tokyo KYODO in English 0119 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503020291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said on Friday the economy continues to expand without any fear of a rekindling of inflation.\nSpeaking at a press conference after a cabinet meeting, Hashimoto said brisk domestic demand is supporting the current economic expansion.\nMeanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Yasushi Mieno said personal consumption and private-sector capital spending are still the main pillars of Japan's 51-month economic expansion.\nMieno made his remarks before a Finance Committee meeting at the House of Representatives.\nThe central bank chief said there is no signs of a decline in the two pillars and that the pace of economic expansion remains steady.\n“A moderate slowdown in the growth rate would sustain the country's economic expansion,” Mieno said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Administrative Vice Finance Minister Named",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1403151191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1438 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403151191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has decided to name Hiroshi Yasuda, Budget Bureau Chief, as Administrative Vice Minister of Finance, ministry officials said Thursday night.\nYasuda, 58, will succeed Masami Kogayu, 59, who will retire from the post. Their personnel change is expected to be formalized in late June, the officials said.\nJiro Saito, 55, chief of the minister's secretariat, will succeed Yasuda as new Budget Bureau Chief.\nAt the same time, Tadao Chino, 57, International Finance Bureau chief, will be named to succeed Makoto Utsumi, 56, the retiring vice minister for international affairs, the ministry officials said.\nHashimoto's decision on the appointments followed the passage of the national budget bill for fiscal 1991 through the House of Representatives earlier in the evening.\nThe newly picked administrative vice minister, Yasuda previously served as head of the minister's secretariat before taking up the current post last June."
},
{
"TITLE": "Lower House Approves 1991 Fiscal Budget",
"FULL CITATION": "OH 1403142691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1359 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OH1403142691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—The House of Representatives passed by a majority vote Thursday the government-proposed 1991 fiscal budget totaling 70,347.4 billion yen.\nThe budget incorporates 12,212.2 billion yen for social welfare, up 5.1 percent over the current year, 6,589.7 billion yen for public works projects, up 6.0 percent, and 883.1 billion for official development aid, up 8.0 percent.\nDefense spending was slashed to 4,386 billion yen in order to raise funds for Japan's 9 billion dollar contribution to the cost of the Persian Gulf war, though this was still an increase of 5.45 percent.\nThe bulk of the 9 billion dollars was generated in a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year.\nIn addition, Japan earlier offered 2 billion dollars to the U.S.- led multinational forces deployed in the Middle East and another 2 billion dollars in aid to countries affected by the conflict.\nThe legislation was immediately sent to the House of Councillors for further deliberation.\nAccording to the Constitution, the bill will be enacted automatically in 30 days even if the upper house fails to act on it.\nThe government is also expected to compile a provisional budget amounting to about 5 trillion yen to cover government expenditures for the first 12 days of fiscal 1991, beginning April 1."
},
{
"TITLE": "Commodity Funds Bill To Include Securities",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403131691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1056 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403131691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—A law to introduce commodity funds in Japan to be enacted soon will allow such funds to include securities for less than 50 percent of their assets, government officials said Thursday.\nThe Finance Ministry, Ministry of International Trade and Industry [MITI], and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Ministry have jointly drawn up a draft of a bill which is expected to be submitted to the current Diet session.\nThe bill will also provide for the punishment of violators, including imprisonment, a MITI official said.\nTrust banks will be the sole institutions that are allowed to establish commodity funds under the new law, the official said.\nOn the marketing side, commodity funds for general investors will be marketed by trust banks, while those for corporate and institutional investors will be handled by trading houses and iease companies, he said.\nSecurities to be included in the funds include government bonds, corporate debentures, and mortgages.\nBut resale of these funds will be prohibited to limit the distribution.\nCommodity funds are a type of trust fund in which the trustees invest money on behalf of investors in commodity futures markets, such as grain, precious metals, and crude oil futures."
},
{
"TITLE": "Household Spending Increases in 1990",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503121091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0805 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503121091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO— Japanese households spent an average 311,174 yen per month in 1990, up 0.8 percent in real terms over the year before, the Management and Coordination Agency said in a report Friday.\nThis is the second year for growth to be below 1.0 percent, following the 0.5 percent rise in 1989, and shows that spending has been discouraged in part by a surge of consumer prices ai a rate that has not been seen since 1981, the report said.\nHouseholds of salaried workers spent an average 331,595 yen per month or 1.6 percent more than in the previous year.\nThe average nonsalaried worker's households spent only 0.1 percent more at an average of 275,583 yen.\nAn increase in overseas holidays boosted spending in the leisure- related service sector, as more households spent more on airline tickets and group tours.\nSpending grew notably in cordless telephones and telephone services, eyeglasses, and medical goods.\nSteady consumption was seen in household durable goods such as air conditioners and refrigerators, helped in part by the hot summer weather, but purchases of television sets and videotape recorders fell for the first time in 12 years, the report said.\nSpending on alcohol, other beverages, and prepared foods went up, but that on fresh fruit and vegetables fell, due to their higher prices, it said.\nA steady growth was seen in the monthly income of salaried workers’ households, which went up 2.0 percent on average from the year before to 521,757 yen.\nAlthough the income earned by household heads rose a weak 1.0 percent, due to the spreading employment of older, lower-paid people, there were jumps of 4.8 percent in bonus payments to them and of 4.6 percent in the income earned by their spouses.\nSpending in the nonconsumption sector surged 9.1 percent due to higher social insurance rates.\nDouble-income households earned 556,633 yen monthly, or 16.8 percent more than single-income households, with the income of the spouse accounting for an average 107,928 yen, or 19.4 percent of the total.\nDouble-income households spent 11.8 percent more than single- income households, with spending on education notably higher, the report said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Plant Site Acquisitions Drop in 1990",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503120691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0821 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503120691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—The number of large sites acquired for industrial use during 1990 fell 9.0 percent from the previous year, the first annual decline in four years, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said Friday\nMITI’s annual report on plant site purchases said those with an area of 1,000 square meters or more bought during the year for building facilities for manufacturing or production of electricity, gas, or eat amounted to 3,781, down from 4,157 in 1989.\nThe total area of newly purchased land came to 4,616 hectares, down 2.3 percent from the previous year.\nMITI said the figures are still at high levels and show no signs of a major slowdown.\nThe most popular reason gien for companies selecting sites was securing their workiurces.\nMetal product manufacturers accounted for the largest share—15.9 percent—of the total acquisitions, followed by general machinery makers (12.9 percent), food processing firms (11.2 percent), and electronics companies (10.9 percent).\nPurchases by chemical, oil, and coal companies fell sharply.\nThe number of purchases by foreign firms plunged to 18 from 31 in the previous year.\nSites bought for building research laboratories also slipped to 46 from 63."
},
{
"TITLE": "Firm Builds Intelsat Earth Station on Comoros",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403151391 Tokyo KYODO in English 1405 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403151391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—KDD Engineering and Consulting Inc. (KEC) has built an Intelsat satellite earth station in the Comoros Islands, off the East African coast, KDD, the company’s parent firm, said Thursday.\nThe station will go into operation on Saturday. The completion of the station will ensure improved and stable international telecommunications to and from the island republic. KDD, Japan's international telecom giant, said.\nKEC has built the earth station under a contract with the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, and with aid from the Japanese Government. The station has won the approval of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat).\nThe republic has so far had only shortwave circuits, and communications to and from the republic had been disturbed by jamming and noises."
},
{
"TITLE": "Major Shipping Companies Plan Merger",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503080691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0559 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503080691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Nihon Yusen K.K. and Nippon Liner Systems Ltd. have agreed to merge their worldwide shipping operations to better compete in a severely competitive market, industry sources said Friday.\nBoth companies are expected to announce the merger at a Tokyo press conference late Friday afternoon, the sources said.\nAccording to the sources, Nippon Yusen will purchase all the stock of and absorb Nippon Liner Systems into its worldwide shipping operations.\nNippon Liner Systems, an affiliate company of Navix Line Ltd. and established in 1988, operates a fixed liner service between Japan and North America. The company has been suffering losses since its start-up, the sources said.\nNavix, established in June 1989 through a merger of Yamashita Shin Nihon Steamship Co. and Japan Lines Ltd., had been talking with Nihon Yusen about taking the company off its hands for some time, the sources said.\nNippon Liner suffered losses of 190 million yen in the third quarter of Fiscal 1990. Second quarter operating profits for July, August, and September of Fiscal 1990 are expected to amount to 1.6 percent of the revenues for the same period in the previous year, the sources said.\nAfter the merger, Nihon Yusen, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., and Navix Ltd. will be the only remaining Japanese shipping firms to continue fixed international shipping routes, the sources said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Correction to Kaifu Interview With NHK",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503083091",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503083091",
"CITATION LOCATION": null,
"CITATION OUTLET": null,
"CITATION LANGUAGE": null,
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "The following correction pertains to the item headlined “NHK interview With Prime Minister Kaifu,” published in the 13 March East Asia DAILY REPORT, page 1:\nPage two, column two, fifth paragraph make read: [Yamamoto] Concerning aid programs, we have ODA [official development assistance]. Is that right? It seems that the government plans to review programs for aid to those nations that have large military budgets or that have been exporting arms. Is it not necessary for us to lay down a basic principle so that such aid will be provided for the purpose of stabilizing people's livelihood? [new graf]\n[Kaifu] Regarding the ODA, I think that. . (supplying missing question by Yamamoto)"
},
{
"TITLE": "U.S. Denounced for ‘Marring’ DPRK Image",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203052391 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0449 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203052391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 12 (KCNA)}—The U.S. delegate at a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission held in Geneva recently took issue with our country over the “human rights” problem.\nDenouncing this, a news analyst of NODONG SINMUN today says:\nThe “human rights” problem is not raised at all in our country, where all the people exercise equal and independent rights befitting the true master of the state and society and enjoy a genuine political, economic and cultural life.\nThe news analyst further says:\nIt is a malicious challenge to our Republic and an unpardonable insult to our people for the United States to charge our country with the “human rights” problem.\nThe United States seeks a sinister purpose of marring the image of our Republic ever rising in the international arena, undermining its prestige and influence and isolating our Republic internationally.\nWhen the United States raises a hue and cry over someone's “human rights”, acting the “international judge of human rights”, it reminds us of a thief crying “stop thief”\nThe United States is the very general headquarters and chieftain of human rights violation.\nIt is universally recognized that tens of millions of U.S. people are deprived of the most elementary rights of humanity such as democracy and vital rights and their freedom is totally trampled down. It is also the United States where racial inequality is most serious.\nWhile keeping utter silence about the wanton violation of human rights in South Korea, their colony, the U.S. ruling circles are speaking ill of our Republic. This fully reveals again their shameless and brigandish nature.\nThe United States had better mind its own business before taking issue with others over “human rights“"
},
{
"TITLE": "Team Spirit Exercise Said ‘Challenge’ to North",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403151091 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0022 GMT 9 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1403151091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[NODONG SINMUN 9 March special article: A Game of Playing With Fire That Leads the Situation to the Brink of War]\n[Text] Despite the unanimous protest and denouncement of all the Korean people and the world's peace-loving people, the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean warmongers are leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war by conducting the adventurous Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise.\nNot only the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, and the puppet forces, but also massive aggressive arms from the U.S. mainland and the Pacific region will be mobilized in this war exercise. The war exercise will continue until late April, starting with mobile deployment in late January.\nOffensive operations for northward invasion, such as joint landing operations, mobile aerial strike operations, commando operations, and river-crossing operations, will be conducted during the war exercise.\nThe reckless nuclear war exercise is an unforgivable challenge to our Republic and the people who are earnestly making efforts for peace and peacefu! reunification on the Korean peninsula, and is an intolerable criminal act of leading the situation on the Korean peninsula into very dangerous phase once again.\nPecause of the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, today, a dark cloud of nuclear catastrophe is hovering over the heads of our people, and a state of emergency is being created in our country in which a new war may break out.\nTo cope with the grave situation in which nuclear war is developing as a real danger in our country because of the reckless, provocative military plot of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet clique, the supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] has issued an order to the Army, Navy, and Air Forces of the KPA, all the units of the Korean Security Forces, and all the members of the Worker-Peasant Militia and the Red Youth Guards, to assume a full combat mobilization posture with high revolutionary vigilance.\nT ais is a just step to defend the sacred fatherland and the valuable revolutionary achievements. Now, the U.S. imperialists and the puppets, in order to rationalize their reckless war madness, are babbling about our self-defense combat mobilization posture while saying that it is an annual exercise and is not dangerous at all. They also said hat we were reacting in a very sensitive manner. This, however, is only the poor excuse of the warmongers.\nIt is a well-known fact that the Team Spirit joint military exercise, which has been conducted since 1976, is a dangerous preliminary war and a test nuclear war aimed at carrying out a preemtive strike against our Republic. The exercise, which is being conducted this year for the sixteenth time, shows a very serious direction. Because of this, we cannot regard it as a simple exercise that has been annually conducted.\nThe great leader Comrade Kim II-song has taught: Today, all events taking place in South Korea show that the new war-provoking maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and their stooges are in a very dangerous phase, and the situation of our country is on the brink of war.\nAs is known, the high-level talks between the North and the South were held from last year. Many issues, including the issue of removing political and military confrontation, were presented in the talks. In particular, the issue of adopting a nonaggression declaration was presented as an important item on the agenda.\nIn order to make this year a year of relaxtion and peace, a year of reconciliation and unity, and a historical year that opens a new phase in national reunification, the government of our Republic, at the very beginning of the year, put forward epocal proposals, including the proposal for peaceful national reunification, and for guran-teeing peace on the Korean peninsula.\nWe have put forward a flexible proposal to the United States and the South Korean authorities, suggesting that a nonaggression declaration be adopted by the North and South, and that the Team Spirit joint military exercise be completely suspended or, at least, suspended for two or three years.\nHowever, ignoring our sincere efforts, the U.S. imperialists and the puppets openly undertook to conduct the criminal Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise and repeatedly held war conferences from late last year. Finally, they started a nuclear war exercise this year, thus openly challenging us.\nThis proves that the United States and the South Korean puppets, blocking forever the road toward peace and peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula, have attempted to destroy our Republic through force of arms by waging a nuclear war.\nThe Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is also serious because it is being conducted in South Korea in the situation where preparations for an aggressive war against the northern half of the Republic have been completed.\nHaving conducted the Team Spirit joint military exercise in South Korea every year since 1976, the United States imperialists have now escalated it. Through this exercise, the U.S. imperialists have attempted to complete preparations for northward aggression. A large number of U.S. soldiers and their ultramodern equipment were brought from the U.S. mainland and throughout the Pacific to the Korean peninsula and, emphasizing nuclear attack, the forces of aggression from overseas, along with the U.S. forces occupying South Korea and the puppets, conducted massive sea, land, and aerial strike operations.\nMobilizing enough forces in the Team Spirit joint military exercise to wage a war, the U.S. imperialists have mastered and completed, in recent years, a three-dimensional war on land, sea, and in the air by repeatedly conducting actual fighting exercises.\nGiven the absurd remarks of the U.S. imperialist war servants that during the Team Spirit joint military exercise they may wage unexpected war, and given the remarks of foreign military commentators that if an order to wage war is issued, this military exercise will automatically turn into a war, it is not difficult to see that this game of playing with fire has reached a dangerous point.\nEven today when the preparations for an armed aggression against the northern half of the Republic have been completed, they are conducting this war exercise, even while propagandizing that it is an annual exercise. This can be done only by warmongers. The exercise is more dangerous this year because it has been conducted on the whole part of South Korea under the situation in which an unprecedented and sharp atmosphere of war was created.\nAlready late last year, under a plausible pretext of war against crimes, the South Korean puppets have already mobilized violent forces, such as a larger number of the puppet military forces, policemen, and reserve forces, and massively kicked up the suppression commotion against the patriotic forces for reunification. From the very beginning of this year, they have created a more terrible atmosphere of terror. We cannot help but say that this is a result of maneuvers designed to strengthen the military fascist system in preparation for wartime in accordance with the U.S. aggressive policy over Korea.\nFrom the very beginning of this year, a large number of the latest operational equipment and nuclear-equipped fighter bombers flew into South Korea from abroad, and aerial war exercises to strike us were staged almost every day. All kinds of military provocation and reconnaissance acts against the northern half of the Republic are frequently being conducted.\nUnder the pretext of the Gulf war, the United States and the South Koran puppets have declared an emergency wartime system in South Korea, and have ordered U.S. and the puppet soldiers to be ready for an emergency mobilization.\nWholly aiming their guns at the northern half of the Republic, the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, as well as the puppet forces, have been under an emergency wartime system. In addition, under the pretext of the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, the aggressive forces from abroad have crowded into the Korean peninsula with their nuclear weapons. This will never be overlooked.\nThe U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets have perpetuated approximately 1,500 military provocations, including intensive gun fire against our side on the area of the Military Demarcation Line just 20 days after the announcement of the plan for the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise.\nNevertheless, a war may be easily provoked by a trivial incident on the Korean peninsula where the massive arms of both sides confront each other over the MDL [Military Demarcation Line]. How can we regard playing with fire amid the atmosphere of war as destiny?\nSo far, the Team Spirit joint military exercise has been conducted approximately ten times in South Korea. However, the exercise has never been conducted in the whole of South Korea in such a grave, war-like atmosphere as this year.\nAll the facts show that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets, taking advantage of the destruction of the balance of power in international relations and the military imbalance created on the Korean peninsula by our reduction of 100,000 troops at our initiative, are surely going to set a conflagration for northward invasion on the Korean peninsula.\nThe propaganda that the Team Spirit joint military exercise 1s not dangerous because it has been conducted annually is merely transparent subterfuge by those who would dull our vigilance and perpetuate an aggressive war at any opportunity. With no sophistry can the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets conceal the fact that the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is dangerous.\nUpon receiving an order from the supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people are now fully prepared for combat mobilization to smash the war maneuvers of the enemy.\nOur people love peace and do not want confrontation and war. However, they will never forgive those who antagonize us without reason. If the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets take the road of adventurous and aggressive war at last by miscalculating our efforts for peace as an indication of weakness, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people will retaliate ten thousand fold."
},
{
"TITLE": "13 March Team Spirit Maneuvers Reported",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503045291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0430 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503045291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The U.S. imperialists staged another nuclear air strike exercise against the North on March 13 at a time when a horrible atmosphere of war has been created throughout South Korea by the adventurous “Team Spirit 91“ joint manoueuvres, according to military sources.\nThey sent by stealth a formation of Guam-based nuclear-capable B-52 strategic bombers to the sky above Asan Bay for a nuclear air strike exercise for a surprise attack on main targets in the strategic depth of the northern half of Korea. Participating in it were formations of nuclear-capable F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers which have been mobilized in the “Team Spirit 91“ from the Pacific bases.\nOn the same day, they held a large-scale joint ground strike exercise against the North in the air above Yongju of north Kyongsang Province with the mobilization of fighter-bombers and assault planes based in the U.S. mainland and the Pacific and formations of fighter-bombers, assault planes and observation planes belonging to the U.S. Airforce present in South Korea and the puppet airforce.\nMore than 150 warplanes including nuclear-capable F-16 were involved in it.\nOn March 12, the U.S. imperialists brought an E-3A early warning plane based in Kadena, Japan, to the sky above the Military Demarcation Line [MDL] area and let it command flying corps in aerial espionage and war exercises against the North. On March 12 and 13, they also let U-2 high-altitude strategic reconnaissance planes make shuttle flights for hours along the MDL for an aerial espionage on the objects in the depth of the North.\nThe warplanes mobilized in the “Team Spirit 91\" manoeuvres on March 12 and 13 numbered more than 1,560.\nThis proves that the provocative “Team Spirit 91” started by the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean rulers has reached a very dangerous stage."
},
{
"TITLE": "DPRK MAC Member Sends Letter of Protest",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503051291 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0310 GMT Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503051291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Letter of protest“ from Major General Choe Ui-ung, senior member of the DPRK side to the Military Armistice Commission (MAC), to the senior member of the U.S. side on 15 March—read by announcer]\n[Text] Our side sends this letter to your side in connection with the large-scale Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise which your side is adventurously waging in a full-scale stage, and with the situation on the Korean peninsula which your side strained to an extreme point.\nThe Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is a preliminary war and test nuclear war which thoroughly takes the northern half of our Republic as the target of attack. It itself is a grave act of war.\nIt is a basic mission of the MAC to safeguard peace by preventing the recurrence of war on the Korean peninsula. Proceeding from this, our side strongly demanded during the 459th MAC meeting held on 13 February that your side suspend the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise which creates the danger of nuclear war and hinders North-South dialogue. Our side even put forward a new proposal that if your side cannot suspend this exercise, we, in the name of both sides of the MAC, recommend to the relevant government authorities the issue of discontinuing the large-scale war exercise.\nThis was prompted by the earnest desire to ensure peace in Korea and North-South dialogue by preventing at any cost the situation from being strained due to the large-scale war exercise.\nHowever, your side staged the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise instead of responding to our just demand put forward in accordance with the Armistice Agreement, and to the proposal for negotiations. Today your side expanded this exercise into a full-scale stage, thus leading the situation to a grave stage.\nDespite our repeated protest and warnings, your side is finally waging the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise in a full-scale stage. This is a grave and dangerous war provocation commotion leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to an extreme point.\nYou dragged enormous armed personnel and nuclear Operation equipment into South Korea from U.S. military bases on the U.S. mainland and in the Pacific region, including Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines. You are waging a large-scale war exercise together with the armed forces in South Korea by simulating an attack on us.\nIn the landing operation in Pohang on 12 March, which signaled the launch of a general offensive in the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, you mobilized the troops of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and commando units, which were brought in from the U.S. mainland and from the bases in the Pacific region, the U.S. forces in South Korea, and the South Korean forces, a total of some 1,000 military planes, such as the fighter-bombers, vertical takeoff and landing assault planes, pursuit-assault planes, electronic jamming planes, refueling planes, and antisubmarine planes, and patrol planes, and hundreds of warships, such as missile-carrying cruisers, missile-carrying destroyers, nuclear-powered submarines, and landing vessels, and waged an offensive operation simulating a landing on the coastal areas of the northern half of the Republic. You are also conducting aerial mobile strike operations, ground offensive operations, landing operations, and commando operations on a large scale.\nYou are committing grave military provocations one after another in the DMZ in which the armed forces of the two sides are directly confronting each other. On 4 March, your side shelled our side with artillery in the DMZ in the eastern front; and on 8 March, fired at our side many rounds of a large-caliber machine gun in the DMZ in the western front, committing some 4,100 military provocations as of 14 March from the time your side began the Team Spirit-91 war rehearsal.\nBecause of these war rehearsal commotions and military provocations of your side, military confrontation between the two sides is now dashing toward the point of no return. Our side protests and denounces resolutely once again the aggressive Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities as a wanton violation of the Armistice Agreement, an open challenge to us and the supervisory organizations of the Armistice, and intentional maneuvers frustrating the security on the Korean peninsula and North-South dialogue.\nWe oppose war and desire peace, but never beg anyone for peace. Our revolutionary Armed Forces and all our people are closely watching the reckless war commotions conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities, and will respond to the provocation with a due measure for self-defense.\nYour side will be held totally responsible for creating on the Korean peninsula the situation comparable to that on the eve of war like today, for frustrating the North-South dialogue, and for straining the relations between the two sides extremely."
},
{
"TITLE": "KPA Holds Meetings To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503043891 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503043891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The officers and men of the unit of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] to which Comrade Kim Yong-cho belongs, the naval unit of the KPA to which Comrade An To-chik belongs and the airforce unit of the KPA to which Comrade Choe Sang-hyon belongs held meetings to denounce the “Team Spirit 91” joint military exercises and declared that if the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities unleash a war of aggression, they would revenge themselves on the aggressors a thousand fold.\nSpeakers at the meetings angrily denounced the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities who have entered into field exercises of the “Team Spirit 91,” noting that this was driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war.\nAll the KPA officers and men, upon receiving orders from the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, keep themselves in ful! combat readiness to cope with the enemy's new war provocation moves, they said, adding: There are no assurances that the reckless war game of the U.S. imperialists who were driven mad with the scheme to ignite another war and of their stooges will not turn into a war against the North.\nAs long as the one-beats-a-hundred soldiers who defeated the aggressors and displayed matchless heroic feats in the Fatherland Liberation War stand guard, the defences of our socialist motherland are impregnable, they declared, and stressed:\nNone of the aggressors who intrude our territory, seas and sky will be let to go home alive."
},
{
"TITLE": "More Meetings Held To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403105591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0959 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1403105591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "U.S. Imperialists and South Korean Authorities Must Act With Discretion\" —KCNA headline]\n[Text] Pyongyang March 14 (KCNA)}—Meetings were held at the Pyongyang thermal power complex, the Sinuiju textile mill and the Hwasong co-op farm in Yongsong district, Pyongyang, and other places to denounce the “Team Spirit 91“ joint maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities.\nSpeeches were made there.\nThe speakers said that the “Team Spirit 91“ joint maneuvers started by the U.S. imperialists and the No Tae-u ruling group in defiance of the unanimous protests and denunciation by the people at home and abroad are assuming ever more dangerous dimensions with each passing day. This is pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war, they noted.\nIt must not go unnoticed that the South Korean authorities unhesitatingly committed grave military provocations by firing bullets and shells at the northern portion of the demilitarized zone along the Military Demarcation Line, timing to coincide with the “Team Spirit 91”, they said, adding: Such military provocations were motivated by the sinister aim to deliberately aggravate the North-South relations and find an excuse to invade our Republic.\nThey stressed that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities must act with discretion, looking straight at the invincible strength of our people united with a single heart.\nIf the enemy dare ignite a war of aggression on the Korean peninsula, he will face his final doom before our revolutionary Armed Forces and people, they warned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Criticizes U.S. ‘Antisocialist Strategy’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503104091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1002 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503104091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Team Spirit’ Exercises and Anti-Socialist Strategy” — KCNA headline}\n[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCBA)—NODONG SINMUN today carries a by-lined article entitled “*Team Spirit’ Exercises and Anti-Socialist Strategy”.\nIt says:\nIn its anti-socialist moves the United States is persistently following the policy of strength on the one hand and resorting to the “peaceful transition” strategy on the other.\nThe double-track anti-socialist offensive of the U.S. imperialists finds its concentrical manifestation in their Korea policy. In an attempt to contain our republic by means of strength, they have converted South Korea into the biggest nuclear forward base in the Far East, where more than 1,000 pieces of nuclear weapons are deployed. and are annually staging Team Spirit“ joint maneuvers, a test nuclear war against us.\nThe “Team Spirit” is a heinous challenge to and provocation against our republic and a sinister move to gratify their aggressive ambition by settling the Korean issue by strength, by means of war, not by peaceful means through dialogue.\nThe United States is also trying viciously and craftily to realize its anti-DPRK “peaceful transition“ strategy, backed by strength. The U.S. imperialists and their stooges, the South Korean authorities, are trying by hook or by crook to instill the wind of “liberalization” in the northern half of Korea.\nThe U.S. imperialists are also foolishly attempting to realize their “peaceful transition” strategy at an early date by laying obstacles in the way of our socialist construction and making us use up our national strength through such large-scale military frenzy as “Team Spirit” maneuvers.\nThe “peaceful transition” strategy, a camouflaged, indirect method, is no less dangerous than the direct threat and blackmail of strength.\nThese two aggressive methods of the U.S. imperialists constitute an important characteristic of their policy toward Korea at present and it bespeaks that they attach great importance to the Korean peninsula in their anti-socialist offensive and are making desperate efforts to save their policies toward Korea and Asia from bankruptcy by directing the spearhead of aggression on our republic and weakening the socialist position.\nOur people are victoriously advancing, successfully smashing the double-track aggressive offensive of the U.S. imperialists.\nThe imperialists’ strategies of strength and “peaceful transition“ are powerless to check our people's onward movement and they are doomed to failure."
},
{
"TITLE": "No Tae-u Said Inciting Fratricidal War’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503054291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0425 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503054291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March IS (KCNA)—NODONG SINMUN and MINJU CHOSON today denounce No Tae-u for inciting a fratricidal war.\nNo Tae-u told a “graduation ceremony of the military academy that peace on the Korean peninsula can be “preserved” only by military power strong enough to “deter someone's provocation and at the “Airforce Academy” he blared that reinforcing the armed forces is the “key to unification”. He also piffled that the puppet army should establish “strategy and tactics suited to the reality and effective commanding system“, drawing a lesson from the Gulf war.\nWhat No said at the puppet army military academ es training tools of war is utterances encouraging them to light the fuse of a war to gratify his wild design to “unify the country by prevailing over communism,” the news analyst of NODONG SINMUN says, and continues:\nNo Tae-u is a traitor to the nation and a bellicose element who is not entitled to talk about peace and “unification”.\nThe South Korean authorities have turned down our proposal for the adoption of a nonaggression declaration and responded to our call for an end to the war exercises with the “Team Spirit“ joint manoeuvres.\nThe bellicose acts of No Tae-u show that the war servant of the U.S. imperialists is trying to bring dark clouds of a nuclear war over the Korean peninsula at any cost.\nNo must act with discretion, deeply mindful how serious is the crime he is committing by staging the “Team Spirit“ nuclear war exercises together with the U.S. imperialists.\nThe news analyst of MINJU CHOSON says:\nNo Tae-u is screwing up the tension and trying to start a war in an effort to stave off the serious crisis of his tottering regime. However, it is not a way out but a way to his doom."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Proposes Coexistence Under Reunification",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0140A Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 18 Jan Y",
"CITATION ID": "912C0140A",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NODONG SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 18, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[Article by reporter Yi Sun-hui: The North and the South Can Coexist in a Reunified Country”",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The great leader Comrade Kim Il-song taught in his 1991 New Year's address as follows:\n“The two systems can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country if they are placed on the basis of the common national traits that have been carried on without a break historically.”\nIn the address, the great leader made it clear that the reunification of our country should be carried out under a confederal system formula of one nation, one country and two systems, two governments. He then elucidated that if we stand on the basis of what the Korean nation has in common historically unbroken, the North and the South—even if their systems differ with each other—can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country.\nThe proposed reunification based on the confederal system formula—envisaging reunification by means of leaving the two different systems of the North and the South as they are and establishing a reunited nation-state on them—is the most realistic and fairest way of reunification enabling the North and the South to reconcile and reunite with each other as one nation and to realize the reunification of the country peacefully at the earliest possible date.\nWe already proposed a long time ago the founding of a democratic confederal republic of Koryo as a way for the North and the South to confederate and establish a reunited nation-state while leaving their different ideologies and systems intact.\nThis proposal, for its realistic and rational quality, was met with positive support and approval by the people in the North and the South and the world over as soon as it was announced.\nThe South Korean authorities and some other people say that the North and the South took on “heterogeneity” and therefore must regain “homogeneity” before they are reunified.\nThis is a sophistry being used by those seeking a permanent national division to justify their criminal attempt.\nThe North and the South indeed have been separated for more than 40 years but there has been, and there is, no change in what they have in common as a nation. They remain homogeneous.\nWe share the same blood and language, the most fundamental characteristics of a nation. Our nation’s homeland is Korea on which our forefathers have built a long, long history and culture. In other words, as a nation, nothing has changed between the North and the South. If there is anything different between the North and the South at all, it is the heterogeneity associated with the two systems that have existed in the past 40-odd years and it is by no means a big thing in comparison with the national homogeneity that has developed and solidified over thousands of years. The difference between the two systems can by no means be a factor compelling our nation to live in separation nor an obstacle insurmountable in reunifying the North and the South.\nThe South Korean authorities, without seeing this fact, cling to their pretext of recovering “homogeneity,” maintaining that there is no alternative but continue the two-states separation until the systems are unified. They are thus calling for “unification of systems” based on a one-nation and one-system formula. What they are doing is tantamount to perpetuating the division endlessly, and to denying reunification after all.\nThe problem is not a North-South “heterogeneity” but the South Korean puppets persistently seeking such heterogeneity for the purpose of creating “two Koreas.”\nThe successive South Korean ruling circles, extolling the U.S. imperialists as “liberator” and “aider,” spread the worship-America and fear-America thoughts among the people, blunting their spirit of national independence. They brought in the American way of life and left it to gnaw at the traditional, laudable manners aad customs of the Korean nation.\nIn the economic area, too, the puppets severed the North-South tics, subjugating the South Korean economy to the U.S. economy.\nThe South Korean ruling circles, engrossed in flunkeyism and acts of treason, even came up with the “racial reform doctrine” in an attempt to cut the bloodline of the nation.\nAlso, how knavish they were with their anticommunist stratagems and rackets to stir antagonism and jealousy between the North and the South!\nWhat the U.S. imperialists and South Korean ruling circles sought was to turn the North and the South into two different nations and thus split both the people and the country into two permanently.\nHowever, they were unable to carry out their criminal attempt after all.\nThe South Korean people are now strongly resisting the U.S. imperialists’ colonial enslavement policy and waging vigorous struggles under slogans demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops and nuclear weapons and opposing the U.S. economic aggression.\nThe policy of anticommunist confrontation pursued by the U.S. imperialists and South Korean reactionaries inevitably wound up bankrupt. And now the southern land is swept by a rising mood for reunification through coalition with communism and with the North.\nFrom the very beginning, the Korean people have been a homogeneous nation of one bloodline. As such, they have been a people of integrity and high pride who courageously repelled invasions by outside forces and glorified their history and culture.\nFor 36 years, the Japanese imperialist colonial rulers tried to liquidate the Korean nation under the pretext of “integration of mainland Japan and Korea“ or of “the same ancestors and same roots“ but our people not only resisted their attempt to the last and defended the racial traits but also waged glorious struggles to accomplish the historic cause of restoring the fatherland.\nThe U.S. imperialists and South Korean puppets are attempting to create “two Koreas” and keep the North and the South separated forever but the Korean people will not tolerate their scheme after all.\nLast year, compatriots of all strata in the North and the South met in one place and held the festival of dialogue and reunification. It was an impressive event demonstrating the fact that although separated under different systems, our brethren in the North and the South belong to the same nation, share the same aspiration for reunification, and that they can easily communicate with each other once they meet and can vigorously work out the way for reunification through reconciliation and solidarity.\nIt is extremely unrealistic and treasonable that the South Korean ruling circles are calling for “unification of systems“ under the pretext of recovering the “homogeneity” while turning a blind eye to the common national traits which the Korean people have inherited historically generation after generation and to their fervent aspiration for reunification.\nUnder the stark reality that the different systems exist in the North and the South and that neither side is willing to make a concession, there is even no telling how long the “reunification of systems” will take. Especially, since “unification of systems” implies one side absorbing the other, the theory can lead to disasters involving conflicts and war.\nThe South Korean authorities should abandon the “reunification by prevailing over communism” delusions and respond favorably to our proposal for reunification by the confederal system formula of one nation and one country, two systems and two governments.\nTo realize the reunification of the fatherland by establishing a reunified nation-state upon—and leaving intact—the existing systems and governments in the North and the South is the best possible way to resolve the reunification issue with fairness and in consistency with the national interests under the present conditions of our country.\nIf the North and the South give prominence to the common national traits and work to resolve the reunification issue on that basis, it is fully possible for them to realize the confederal system reunification and coexist as one nation and in one reunified country.\nThe North and the South and our people overseas will without fail expedite the confederal system-based national reunification through their united struggles upholding the militant tasks set forth by the great leader in his New Year's address."
},
{
"TITLE": "CPRF on ‘Suppression’ Before ROK Elections",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503044091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0415 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503044091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text) Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA) —The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland [(CPRF] in its Information No. 583 on March 14 denounced the South Korean authorities for intensifying suppression of the people in a bid to use the local assembly elections in securing a foothold for their long-term office.\nRecalling that the South Korean chief exccutive issued a repressive order on March 12 to deal with all acts of violation of the “Election Law” by “law” in such a manner as waging “the war against crimes,” the information said:\nA chain of repressive orders and utterances of the South Korean authorities reveal their ulterior intention to openly involve government power in the local assembly elections slated for March 26 on the specious cloak of “fair elections” and brutally suppress the election campaign of the pro-reunification democratic forces.\nThe South Korean authorities are now facing a serious crisis of their rule as the struggle of students and people for independence, democracy and reunification is gaining momentum in South Korea and the strife and rift within the “Democratic Liberal Party” (DLP) growing serious and, worse still, the Suso housing episode, an extra-large scandal in which No Tae-u himself and ruling party figures were directly involved, was brought to light.\nTheir threat to strictly deal with“ any involvement in elections“ of political parties and illegal acts of organizations during the local assembly elections is intended, as the election law” faked up by them suggests, to check the election campaign of the opposition parties and dissident democratic organizations and rig the “election“ of DLV men through election committee members appointed by them and government power. This is a heinous scheme to lay a foothold for long-term office of the DLP.“"
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Analyzes U.S. Policy of ‘Cosmopolitism’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403125391 Pyongvang Domestic Service in Korean 0018 GMT 6 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1403125391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongvang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 6, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[NODONG SINMUN 6 March special article: Cosmopolitism Is a Reactionary Ideology Serving the U.S. Imperialists as a Tool for Their World Supremacy”)\n[Text] The U.S. imperialists are viciously perpetrating intervention, outrage, aggression, and plunder the world over. What is important in penetrating into the present aggressive nature of the U.S. imperialists is clearly recognizing the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism advocated by the imperialists.\nThe U.S. imperialists are cunningly maneuvering to lord it over mankind as the monarch of the world with a worldwide leadership, veiling their ambition for world supremacy with the reactionary doctrine of cosmopolitism. Cosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological trend which embellishes the U.S. imperialists’ policy of arrogant interference and occupation, and serves the realization of their strategy toward global domination.\nDear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has noted as follows: Today the U.S. imperialists have combined the reactionary bourgeois racist theory and national chauvinism with the aggressive cosmopolitism to use it as an ideological tool to realize their ambition for world supremacy.\nComopolitism—which denies a nation state a self-reliant national economy and national culture, and which advocates a global state and a worldwide economy and culture without nationality—serves the aggression and domination of the imperialists and the exploitation of multinational enterprises.\nCosmopclitism holds an important place in the reactionary policy of the U.S. imperialists.\nHiding their aggressive nature with the sophism of bourgeois ideology is a hackneyed method of the imperialists. The U.S. imperialists have openly revealed their ambition for world supremacy by challenging the tenor of the present era, in which the trend of independence has been prevalent, and have made particular efforts to use such a reactionary idea as cosmopolitism under the present situation in which the idea cannot be realized.\nHistorically, the U.S. imperialists’ policies of intervention, tyranny, aggression, and plunder have been embellished with the sophism of cosmopolitism, and their blood-stained hands, which smell of gun powder, have been veiled under the cloak of cosmopolitism. Herein lies the crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists who maliciously attempt to confuse the reasoning of people, and to make them blind to their aggressive nature.\nThe basic intent of cosmopolitism is to disregard the independence of each and every country and nation, and to preach that the homeland of each and every person is the whole world and all people are world citizens.\nOn the basis of the theory that all people are equal, those who advocate cosmopolitism contend that all people should desert their fatherland and nation and become world citizens to build a welfare society for all people, and that they should conduct a campaign for world citizenship to form a so-called cosmopolitan government. Furthermore, they fabricate the white race as the most superior race in the world, place a western culture as the most superior culture of mankind, and then, rave that the world should be dominated and harmonized by the distinguished race and developed culture of the West.\nInasmuch as people take the root of their lives in their fatherland and nation, they cannot become members of the human race and world citizens before they are members of their nation.\nMoreover, it is obvious that a so-called cosmopolitan government, a worldwide economy, and a global culture are not feasible in this world where acute confrontation and struggle between socialism and imperialism and between progressive and reactionary ideologies are basic characteristics of the present era where the universal outlook of mankind is distorted by imperialism and the idea of domination.\nTo realize their wild ambition for world supremacy, the U.S. imperialists persistently advocate cosmopolitism. Arrogantly enough, the U.S. imperialists always consider this planet of all mankind as their own, and clamor that the global government preached by cosmopolitism should be the United States.\nThe U.S. imperialists are now further intensifying aggression, interference, occupation, and plunder worldwide, using reactionary cosmopolitism as an ideological instrument.\nTheir maneuvers under the plausible name of cosmopolitism are clearly manifested in their acting as the “world’s monarch” and as the “international gendarme,” claiming a leading role for the United States in the world.\nCosmopolitism is the reactionary ideological foundation of the U.S. imperialists’ theory of the leading role of the United States. Talking about the management and guidance of the world on the basis of the cosmopolitan theory, they preach that the United States has the mission to lead the world.\nWashington, the first President of the United States, said that under no circumstances should U.S. acts take into consideration the interests of other countries, and then declared it the basic course of U.S. foreign policy which future generations of the United States should respect.\nHis successors have run hard along the road of aggression and plunder, clamoring that the Americans have appeared in the stage of history only to determine whether they are fated to rule over the world or to be subjugated to the others.\nBush, the incumbent U.S. President, boasting that U.S. leadership over the world should be handed down from generation to generation, is bent on glorifying the dignity of the United States by power politics based on strength.\nTyranny, occupation, war, and plunder have always followed the U.S. imperialists, who have lorded it over mankind as the devastator of justice and the strangler of truth, whatever they may have touched with their interfering hands and wherever they may have set their aggressive foot.\nAggression toward the weak countries, the artificial engineering of international feuds, open interference in international issues and their self-proclaimed role as referee; their tyranny in international organizations, and their acting as the international gendarme worldwide— these combine to portray the true appearance of the U.S. imperialists who claim to be the leader of the world.\nThe world’s reasonable peopie find the expression of the brigandish nature of imperialism in the arrogance of the U.S. imperialists who see interference as the cosmopolitans’ morality, tyranny as the expression of authority enjoyed by the world leader, and aggression as a resolute act undertaken for the management of the world.\nThe U.S. imperialists’ aggressive doctrine of cosmopolitism as such stands fully exposed in our country. Their occupation of South Korea and the continuing division of Korea are the reactionary results of their cosmopolitism.\nThe U.S. imperialists applied the tragic plan for partial occupation to our country, which was not even a vanquished country, and imposed the insulting system of occupation on South Korea, and then artificially divided Korea. In view of the principles of justice and the demands of international law, these were intolerable under any circumstances.\nWhat is more, those currently in power in the United States are persistently carrying out antireunification maneuvers, arguing that although a reunified Korea may be good for the Korean people, maintaining the other half of the Korean peninsula occupied by a friendly regime is much more favorable to the United States. Thus, the United States provokes indignation from all over the world.\nThe division of Korea and other facts reveal that the management of the world is done by the U.S. imperialists and that any claim fabricated and proclaimed by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but an attempt to infringe upon other countries’ sovereignty in the aggressive interest of the United States, and to change the structure of the world and its order.\nThe crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists’ aggressive maneuvers finds expression in their attempt to invent the concept of an Asian state of the United States and the concept of a European state of the United States based on the reactionary doctrine of cosmopolitism, and thus bring the continents of the world under their control.\nAlthough the United States is a country sitting on the American Continent, the U.S. imperialists claim their country to be an Asian country in front of the Asian countries, and then slyly remark that the United States is a European country, too, in front of the European countries.\nWhat the United States seeks to achieve behind such sly remarks is to disintegrate the unity and cooperation among the countries in Asia and Europe by identifying themselves with those countries, and then securing its sphere of influence in these areas.\nAsia is for the Asian peoples and Europe is for the European peoples. The United States has no justification to occupy somebody else’s place in Asia or Europe, distant places oceans away.\nThis insidious trick by the U.S. imperialists is not accepted in these regions where the cause of converting the world into one governed by independence and anti-U.S. sentiment are on the rise. Rather, they are provoking strong objection and sense of vigilance from these regions.\nBy being able to see sharply through the aggressive nature of the U.S. claim that it is an Asian power, which smacks of the cosmopolitan poison, the Asian peoples should reject it resolutely and unite and cooperate with each other in order to build a peaceful and prosperous new Asia.\nThe U.S. imperialists see power politics as the first step on the road toward realizing their leading role over the world.\nBush, the U.S. imperialist warmonger, made an outrageous remark that the United States has stretched out its hands to virtually every corner of the world, and that the extended hands, once disturbed, will be turned into powerful fists.\nThat it is natural for the United States to stretch its hands of domination out to the world because it is in the position of the world’s monarch, and that its extended hands should be turned into iron fists because it is ordained to rule over the world, is the philosophy of rule by power worshipped by the U.S. imperialists who have been accustomed to the aggressive cosmopolitanism.\nProceeding from this logic of power, the U.S. imperialists say that it is the pride of America the Great to be able to have its troops stationed in tens of countries around the world, to wield tyranny in many international organizations, and to tempt many countries with baits of aid.\nThe U.S. imperialists disguise their power politics and their evil tentacles of world domination as something necessary for attaining global peace. Nevertheless, the defense of global peace babbled about by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but a shield to camouflage the domination of the world by the United States.\nThe scheme that the U.S. imperialists carry out under the plausible name of cosmopolitism reveals itself in the fact that they are trying hard to establish a world based on the American-style liberal democracy, describing American values as universal human values.\nAdvertising the superiority of their moral values, the U.S. imperialists are maneuvering to accelerate the process of unification and the commonness of the world as its basis.\nSuccessive U.S. presidents were fond of uttering such pleasantries as that the United States cannot be its genuine self unless it stands in a lofty moral position.\nThis means that the United States is the embodier of world morality, standing as it does above ethics and morality.\nHowever, the notion that imperialism can be reconciled with ethics and morality cannot convince anybody. If the U.S. imperialists have any kind of moral principles, they must be the reverse of ethics, seeing injustice as justice and evil as good.\nThe imperialist behavior stems from greed. The U.S. imperialists always assess and approach international issues with other countries based on their aggressive and plundering objectives and greedy interests.\nPreposterously branding countries that maintain independence, and defend the banner of revolution as closed-door countries or terrorist countries, the U.S. imperialists intensify their reactionary offensive against those countries, while beautifying their brazen-faced aggression against, and interference in, sovereign countries as acts of protecting human rights or defending democracy.\nNot satisfied with the occupation of the other half of Korea, the U.S. imperialists have been conducting the Team Spirit war exercise every year, thereby creating the threat of northward invasion, while clamoring about the threat of southward invasion or the defense of peace. They also claimed that they were defending the liberal democratic system after invading Grenada and Panama. After triggering a war as a result of their ill-suited interference in regional feuds, they said that they were trying to build a world governed by laws, not the law of the jungle. Such an assertion is nothing but an insult to the conscience of the world and to progressive mankind.\nMany people in the world still vividly remember U.S. President Bush's remarks that the human spirit cannot be strangled or the national spirit obliterated with a wall alone in his commentary on the breaking down of the wall between East and West Germany.\nEven so, the U.S. imperialists ignore the call for the wall of division in Korea to be broken down, while maneuvering to keep the wall in place.\nThe wall of division in Korea is contemporary evidence that manifests the criminal truth about American-style values, which are a mixture of contradictions and falsehood.\nFrom the contradictory attitude of the United States, the progressive people of the world keenly realized the false moral values of the United States and its antimankind and antipeace nature. The United States claimed that certain barriers should be removed and other barriers should be kept intact. Thus, the progressive people of the world express indignation over such an attitude.\nThe great moral principle, in which the famous U.S. politicians take pride, and which they claim enables the United States to exist as the United States, should be branded as the principle of injustice which mankind should curse.\nHanging out the signboards of cosmopolitism, the U.S. imperialists are attempting to establish a free world on the earth. The free world which they talk about means the world where the United States can act as the ruler.\nThe U.S. imperialists, attaching great significance to cosmopolitism, are running amok to spread it for the purpose of reducing the world to the so-called free world which they want.\nThe U.S. imperialists have the idea that if they implant the U.S.-style liberal democracy in all nations, the world will become by itself a possession of the United States. Thus, they are viciously advocating the theory of a free world.\nRaving that when mankind is allowed to have the right of choice, it chooses freedom, the U.S. imperialists said that the system which they want to implant in many world nations is the system realized on the basis of freedom, individual creative power, and market principles.\nFreedom, choice, and so forth advertized by the U.S. imperialists are, in essence, freedom and choice which make one participate in the beastly struggle for existence and for survival by victimizing and oppressing other people.\nIt is the original nature of independent mankind to aspire to genuine freedom and happiness by opposing various forms of domination and subjugation. It is an inevitable trend of human history that independent mankind chooses a genuine society which safeguards and realizes the independence of mankind, instead of a society similar to the beastly world where precious dignity and the value of mankind are reduced to the standard of animals.\nThe capitalist society causes various social evils and social tragedy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and advances without a sense of direction by writhing amid social disorder and pain. If one defines this society as the society where freedom and democracy are realized, such a definition would indeed be the complete reversing of black and white.\nThe maneuvers of cosmopolitism by the U.S. imperialists, who are attempting to establish a free world while advertizing the corrupt society lacking vitality or a future as the ideal of the people, are indeed preposterous, like a house of cards.\nThrough their experience, goals, and cool judgment amid the whirlpool that is the history of the complex and diversified present era, a great number of people of the world deny the liberal democratic system advocated by the U.S. imperialists with reason, and firmly believe that only the genuine man-centered socialism which embodies the dignity and value of mankind is the way to rescue mankind.\nCosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological poison which blocks the advance of the revolutionary cause of the working class and spoils the people's consciousness of the revolution.\nThe reactionary nature of the cosmopolitism advocated by the U.S. imperialists is that cosmopolitism has become an ideological poison which denies the independence of the national state and violates and infringes upon its independence.\nAs indicated by the chuche idea, independence of the national state is as precious as life for all people. To live in a national state is an immovable order of life for all the people, formed through the course of the long history of mankind.\nWhat gives the life and means of living to the people are the fatherland and the state, and linked to the destiny of each individual person are the fatherland and the state.\nIndeed, the fatherland and the people are the source of life and the mother’s bosom of all mankind. If a man thinks that he can live as an abstract public figure of the world, going away from the bosom of the fatherland and the people, he will be branded as a snob [songmul] who has lost his mind and forgotten the basis of his life, and as a nation-seller who has betrayed the nation where he was born.\nHowever, the advocates of cosmopolitism contend that such concepts as motherland, nation, state, class, and party are all meaningless in the internationalized world, and that panhuman phrases such as planet, humanity, human world, and civilization should be in vogue. This is a reactionary sophism that dulls the people's national consciousness of independence.\nThe nations and the people develop themselves together with the war history of mankind. At the same time, international relations are formulated and consolidated among the nations and the people in the course of such development. This is an inevitable phenomenon.\nWhat is at issue is on what basis, one views the history of mankind. The chuche idea defines the shape and characteristics of the world, and teaches that the main forces which lead the basic flow of human history are the people in each individual independent state.\nIf we recall human history, we come to know that the independent development of each individual nation and people served as the basis for the advance of global history and the development of mankind, and as the basic content of both.\nHistory clearly proved that by denying the independence of the nation and the people, one cannot talk, even a word, about the development of the world, the progress of mankind, and the destiny of planet.\nOur people achieved the independent development of the nation by maintaining the line of independence, self-reliance, and self-defense under the leadership of the party and the leader. Thus, we are greatly contributing to the common cause of mankind.\nHowever, the imperialist stooges, who advocate cosmopolitism, raved that claims of national sovereignty are collective egoism, and defiled the sacred struggle of the people in many world nations who are defending the national right for self-determination and building the national economy and culture. Thus, they advertised a preposterous global economy and culture of no nationality.\nThe purpose of the vicious denial of national independence with the ideological poison of cosmopolitism by the imperialists is to pave the way for their aggression. No one can conquer the people with a strong sense of independence. On the contrary, the people, who lost their sense of national independence and whose determination to defend and glorify themselves is weak, cannot precisely realize the reactionary doctrine of imperialism and domination that are concealed by the theory of the common destiny of mankind and the theory of the superiority of panhuman values.\nThis is why the imperialists are maneuvering to eradicate national consciousnesses of independence and persistently advertising cosmopolitism.\nThe people in all world nations who treasure independence should correctly realize the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism, and resolutely crush the doctrine of cosmopolitism with the independent strength of the nation.\nThe reactionary nature of cosmopolitism as pursued by the U.S imperialists finds another expression in that it has been used as an ideological tool barring the tide toward world independence, and impeding the healthy development of international relations.\nThose who advocate cosmopolitism claim that it is the way of present international developments that national state, national economy, and national culture gradually wither away, and a global government, world economy, and world culture are formed, by which the world becomes homogeneous and common.\nThis is nothing but a sophism that misrepresents those who undertake the world movement and its motivating force and the essence of present international relations.\nThe main characteristics of the change and development of the world are that it is becoming independent. The motivating force that holds the control lever of the world movement, are those people advocating independence. Hence, the appearance of the world, its essential content, and the aspects of its development are decided by the progressive world people advocating independence.\nAdvocating independence by opposing domination, subjugation, exploitation, and oppression, is the original nature of mankind and the life of the nation. This constitutes the unique characteristics of progressive mankind.\nThus. more nations and more people are advancing to achieve freedom and independence by breaking the chains of imperialism and colonialism. This constitutes the essential content of the change and development of the world. The course of the world toward independence is an inevitable and positive course in the development of human history.\nThe independence of the world is achieved through the independent struggle of all nations and all people. Thus, it cannot be pushed and realized by so-called global management and guidance.\nHowever, the imperialists are lecturing on the benefits of international management and guidance of the world. while trying to make the global government stand in confrontation with the people's aspirations for independence. They are running amok to block by force the trend of the world toward independence.\nThe theory on global government advocated by the imperialists runs totally counter to the idea of world independence because world independence is a worldwide trend realized through the respect and the demonstrable independence of each nation and people. Global government will only work to oppress and infringe upon the independence of each nation and each people.\nThe theory on global government instigated by cosmopolitism is preposterous because as long as there are imperialists and dominationists, the attempt for global domination cannot be removed.\nThe basic nature of the imperialists is for aggression and plunder. This finally returns to ambition for conquering the world. In the present century when the fierce struggle of the imperialists and dominationists is being waged to expand the sphere of influence, the so-called global government lacks reality, and will only act to further instigate their ambition for world domination.\nToday the optimistic advocates of global government think that they can establish a global government in such a manner as to strengthen its authority, seeking a model in such international organizations as the United Nations. However, many events taking place in the international arena make one realize that such an idea is unrealistic and is a dream.\nThe U.S. imperialists abused the sacred name of the United Nations when they fabricated a puppet regime in South Korea, and when they dragged the armed forces of their 15 following nations into the Korean war. They are still abusing this name for keeping the U.S. troops in South Korea. This raises great worry and disappointment on the part of progressive mankind, who aspires to global peace and international justice.\nAs long as there are the imperialists and dominationists in the world, and as long as the U.S. imperialists’ self-righteousness and tyranny are allowed in the international arena, no one can think of forming and developing sound and fair international relations.\nThe development of the world is only possible when the whole world is made independent. Only when they join themselves in the great current toward the independence of the world under the banner of independence, can the people of all the progressive countries of the world properly shape the destiny of their countries on their own, and build an independent, new world free from domination and subjugation.\nThe imperialists’ strategy for cosmopolitism, intended to benumb the people's revolutionary consciousness, and reverse the trend of history, is doomed to failure in the face of the struggle of the people who are advancing under the banner of independence.\nEven the high-ranking figures in U.S. political circles pointed out that the U.S. Congress reproves and criticizes other countries nearly every day, and admitted that the act of the United States to denounce the events of the world [segye il] all day long is foolish. They confessed that the crisis, with which the United States is faced as the result of having become an imperialist state which excessively stretched out its hands [chinachige sonul ppochida], makes even them shudder.\nJust as they have said, because of pernicious evils inherent in capitalism and the debt crisis facing the United States, and because of the fierce anti-imperialist and anti-U.S. struggle of the revolutionary people of the world, tue hands which the U.S. imperialists have stretched out to the world will tremble with fear.\nThe aggressive doctrine of cosmopolitism does not go down well with people advocating independence. Today the great doctrine of independence has captivated the hearts of mankind and bcurgeois reactionary ideologies, including cosmopolitism, are breaking into fragments in the face of the rush of the world to independence.\nIt is inevitable that cosmopolitism and all other reactionary thoughts will be bankrupt under the bright rays of the great chuche idea.\nImperialism is destined to destruction with the collapse of cosmopolitism."
},
{
"TITLE": "Government Delegation Returns From Japan",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503105291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1028 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503105291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The government delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea led by Chon In-chol, vice-minister of foreign affairs, returned home today after participating in the second intergovernmental full-dress talks for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Japan held in Tokyo.\nIt was met at the airport by Kim Chae-suk, vice-minister of foreign affairs, and Councillor of the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang Dong Buming."
},
{
"TITLE": "Soviet Envoy Holds News Conference in Pyongyang",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503044291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0420 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503044291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—A press conference was held at the Soviet Embassy here Thursday on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the conclusion of the agreement on economic and cultural cooperation between the USSR and the DPRK.\nAmbassador Alexandr Kapto touched on the development of cooperation and exchange between the two countries in the economic and cultural fields over the past 42 years since the signing of the agreement and elaborated on the need to strengthen relations in these fields in the future."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il Replies to Birthday Greetings",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503110291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1022 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503110291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA}—Dear Comrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to foreign party leaders in reply to their messages of greetings on his birthday.\nComrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to Dr. Vassos Lyssarides, chairman, and Takis Hadjidemetriou, secretary general, of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party of Cyprus; Takako Doi, chairwoman of the Central Executive Committee of the Japan Social-Democratic Party: Habimana Bonaventure, general secretary of the National Revolutionary Movement for Development of Rwanda; Herving Chung, chairman of the Caribbean National Movement: Sam Marcy, chairman of the Workers World Party of the United States; Guillermo Garcia Ponce, general secretary of “New Alternative“ of Venezuela; Jose Francisco Aguilar Bulgarelli, general secretary of the popular force organized in Costa Rica; Jorge del Prado, general secretary, and Friddy Arana, international secretary, of the Central Committee of the Peruvian Communist Party: Rolando Brena Pantoja, president of the National Executive Committee of the Left Revolutionary Union of Peru; Genaro Ledesma Izquieta, chairman of the People’s Front of Workers, Peasants and Students of Peru: Rigoberto Padilla Ruz, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Honduras; and Eric Trevett, general secretary of the Central Committee of the New Communist Party of Great Britain.\nComrade Kim Chong-il in the messages expressed the belief that friendly relations forged between the Workers’ Party of Korea and the above-said parties will continue to develop favourably and wished the party leaders great success in their responsible work."
},
{
"TITLE": "Youth Mark Labor Exploits in Railway Projects",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503091691 Pyongvang Domestic Service in Korean 2100 GMT 10 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503091691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongvang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 10, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The railway construction to replace the narrow railroad between Haeju and Ongjin and between Singgangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad is being pushed ahead rapidly.\nThrough the persistent labor struggle of members of the youth railway construction shock brigade and supporters, railroad ties were laid and the railroad was extended over several scores of ri [1 ri is equivalent to 400 meters] in 20 days recently. Besides, the project of leveling the grade on mountain slopes and railroad repair work have been pushed for on a large scale. The work of leveling the ground and framework construction have been accelerated, and more gravel, stones, sand, and soil than planned have been made made available to use for repairing the station compound.\nThus, a guarantee for completing the construction of two sections of the railroad ahead of schedule has been provided.\nMembers of the youth railway construction shock brigade, who were assigned the project of extending the railroad, waged a vigorous labor struggle with the same spirit and vigor they had when they completed the construction of the railroad between Haeju and Hasong in a short period of time. Thus, they laid railroad ties on, and broadened the railroad on, a 20 odd-ri section between Sohaeju Station and Pyoksong Station.\nUpon receiving the order of the respected supreme commander, members of the youth shock brigade accelerated the work by thoroughly preparing themselves to cope with the new war provocation maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet clique. They are constantly increasing the speed of the project of laying railroad ties and broadening the railroad between Pyoksong Station and Singangnyong Station.\nMembers of the youth shock brigade of Kangnyong county, who are charged with the project of replacing the narrow railroad between Singangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad, have accomplished the work of securing over 700 cubic meters of gravel, sand, and stones, which is said to require more than a month, ahead of schedule by highly demonstrating the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and arduous struggle and vigor for extermination of the enemy, and by overcoming various difficulties. Thus, they effected innovations.\nThrough such struggle, they opened a breakthrough to complete ahead of schedule a number of framework construction pro ts. including an iron bridge and drainage work.\nThe railroad construction between Haeju and Ongjin is also being carried out rapidly. The youth, who were assigned the difficult work of lowering the grade on mountain slopes to 10 meters, made several hundred holes with dynamite in only seven days with the Paektu revolutionary spirit, and pulled down 6,000-odd cubic meters of soil through successive blasting.\nMembers of the youth shock brigade in Pyoksong county transported several hundred cubic meters of soil and materials each day, and increased the speed of laying railroad ties, widening the railroad, and repairing the railroad by 1.5 to two times over that planned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kye Ung-tae, Officials Attend Railway Meeting",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503113591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503113591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—A national meeting of railway workers was held here on March 14 and 15.\nThe meeting summed up the successes and experience gained in railway transportation under the wise leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] and discussed tasks to effect a new turn in this domain in the same fighting spirit and mettle displayed in the postwar period of great Chollima upsurge.\nThe meeting was attended by Kye Ung-tae, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the C.C. [Central Committee], WPK, Choe Yong-nim, alternate member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., WPK and vice-premier of the Administration Council, and other officials concerned.\nKye Ung-tae read out a congratulatory message of the WPK Central Committee to the participants in the meeting.\nThe WPK Central Committee in the message pointed out that the railway transport of the country has turned into a modern one with the successful realization of electrification and the fast progress of the work for the introduction of heavy rails and automation, into an independent socialist railway transport with solid foundations for the self-supply of various means of carriage including 8-axle electric locomotives and 100-ton wagons.\nIt noted with high appreciation that the railway workers have made great contributions to the acceleration of socialist construction by displaying matchless heroism and self-sacrificing spirit in their endeavours to carry through the party's policy of railway transport with intense loyalty to the socialist country and the people.\nUnderlining the tasks facing railway transportation, it stressed the need to make the maximum utilization of the existing material and technical foundations of railway transport, further accelerate the chuche-orientation, modernization and scientification of railway transport and press ahead with new railway projects and thus further supplement the railway networks of the country and expend big efforts on scientific researches and the training of technical personnel.\nYi Kil-song, chairman of the Transport Commission, delivered a report.\nIt is an event of great significance in the development of our country’s railway transport to hold a national meeting of railway workers on the meaningful day marking the lapse of 30 years since the great leader Comrade Kim Il-song gave highly important teachings at the meeting of active workers in the domain of transport on March 14, 1961, he said.\nHe noted that, deeply taking into consideration the position and role of railway transport in the development of the national economy, the great leader and our party defined railways as the artery of the country, as the pilot of the national economy, and have clearly indicated the road ahead of raiiway transport in each period and at each stage of the developing revolution.\nAccording to his report, under the plan of the great leader who defined the basic orientation of development of railway transport in keeping with the geographical conditions of the country which has most of its land covered with mountains and abounds in power resources, nearly all railway lines, not only trunk lines but even branch lines and railway lines branching into enterprises, have been switched over to electric traction, with the result that the freight turnover by electric haulage accounts for more than 90 percent of the total and the unitary traction by electric locomotives has reached the stage of completion.\nThe total extension of the nation’s railways has markedly increased, a grand loopline of railway networks have taken shape and the railway transport capacity increased remarkably with the construction of linkages, roundabout lines, partial double tracks and mixed lines in different places of the country.\nAs a result of the vigorous “Drive for extra-haulage on schedule without accident to implement the decisions of the 18th plenary meeting of the Sth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea” upwards of 13 million more tons of freight were carried than the rated traction last year alone. Many locomotive drivers have carried out their assignments for the Third Seven-Year Plan (1987-1993).\nSpeeches were made at the meeting.\nThe speakers called upon all the railway workers to carry through the party's policy of railway transport in the same spirit and mettle displayed during the past war and the great Chollima upsurge, upholding the slogan “When our party is determined we can do anything!” and thus make greater contributions to increasing the potential of the independent national economy of the country.\nA letter of pledge was adopted at the meeting."
},
{
"TITLE": "Man's ‘Independence’ in Socialism Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503122591 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0010 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503122591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[NODONG SINMUN 12 March special article: “Our Socialism Is a Superior Social System That Guarantees Independence to the People“\n[Text] Our country’s socialism is displaying a higher degree of superiority and vitality with the passage of time. The source of the unrivaled superiority and the invincible vitality of our socialism lies in the fact that it completely embodies the essential demands of man.\nOur socialism, which has its roots deep in this land, is a unique socialism that was built and is being developed and brought to perfection with the great chuche idea as its foundation. The chuche idea is the ideological foundation of our socialism and our socialism shines as a superior socialism which has thoroughly embodied the essential demands of men, as it is based on the chuche idea.\nFully explaining once again the superiority of our socialism in a series of documents released recently, the dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has shed light on the fact that socialism has, above all, wonderfully embodied the independent demands of men. This is a valuable ideological and theoretical guideline needed to deeply understand and glorify the superiority of our own style of socialism even further.\nThe dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has noted: Learning from the painful life they experienced in the past as colonial slaves, and from today’s new, free, and rewarding socialist life, our people have drawn a clear lesson that only socialism provides the people with independence, and are devoted to the struggle to endlessly value and defend our socialism that completely defends the popular masses’ independence.\nMan is a social being that assumes independence as its essential nature. Making the working masses achieve independence and their independent demands is a practical yardstick with which to rate the nature and superiority of a social system.\nGenerally, the superiority of a social system can be determined on the basis of how it embodies the essential demands of man. When it comes to the essential demands of man, it means the independent demands before anything else.\nA society can be called an advanced and superior social system only when it satisfactorily embodies the desire of man to be free from all manner of subordination and to live and develop an independent life.\nThe superiority of our social system which has embodied the independent desire of man lies in the fact that it completely guarantees our people with sociopolitical independence.\nIf independence can be likened to man’s life, it generally means sociopolitical life. Man has two kinds of lives— physical life and sociopolitical life. The essential charac- — of man lie in the fact that he has sociopolitical life.\nMan's rights are, above all, sociopolitical rights and human dignity is to be guaranteed by sociopolitical independence. To realize sociopolitical independence is a precondition for realizing all manner of essential desires of man. Under the condition where the popular masses are subordinated socially and politically, man can benefit nothing from the remaking of society, nor can he free himself from the fetters of an old ideology and culture.\nTo defend and safeguard sociopolitical independence is for the popular masses a vital matter for realizing independence.\nWith the socialist revolution completed in our country, no social and economic conditions restricting the sociopolitical independence exist. In addition, the working masses are completely guaranteed sociopolitical independence.\nSocialist ownership of the government and production means is defended, strengthened, and developed without interruption. As a result, the popular masses are firmly guaranteed sociopolitical independence.\nThe independent right of the popular masses finds its expression mainly in the exercise of national sovereignty. It was because they were unable to have a say-so in the government and production means that the popular masses lost their sociopolitical independence and were forced to suffer a life of slavery for thousands of years.\nOnly when they become the masters of the socialist government and production means, can the popular masses defend and realize their independence. Sociopolitical independence is tied to genuine freedom and the right to sociopolitical life, which are expressed in the direct access the popular masses have to national sovereignty and their unrestricted participation in running state affairs.\nToday, the average working people are actively participating in running state affairs, as the masters of the state and society, and each and every one of them can exercise their right to elect and to be elected, regardless of their sex, occupation, wealth, degree of knowledge, political views, and religious differences.\nDeputies to the Supreme People's Assembly and other people's assemblies at all levels, including the workers, members of cooperative farms, and intellectuals— representatives of the working people—manage and run state affairs according to the independent demands and the will of the popular masses. Also, with the socialist ownership unilaterally dominating the production means, the economy is managed, run, and developed without interruption, according to plans in a way that suits the demands and interest of the popular masses.\nThe w king masses’ independence can be defended and realiz J only when the position of the popular masses concerning national sovereignty is raised even further, and social ownership over production means is strengthened. This is a truth proven by practice.\nAlso, thanks to the profound consideration of the party and leader which provides and brightens the noble political life, each and every one of our people enjoys the most valuable and rewarding sociopolitical life.\nOur people are ‘reely involved in sociopolitical activity when they are lined up behind certain political organizations, such as the party and working organizations, and are sufficiently guaranteed the freedom of the press, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, and freedom of demonstrations.\nThe mass media in our country, which are in the hands of the popular masses, serve the working masses in achieving the cause of independence. In our country there can be no such thing as infringement on the democratic freedom and the rights of the popular masses.\nThe realities of our country which guarantee the working masses substantive rights as the masters of the state and society and politics, and all the members of society, lead a sound and revolutionary organizational life in certain sociopolitical organizations, demonstrate that our socialism is a superior social system which defends and realizes the people's independence.\nAnother superior element of our socialism embodying the independent demands of man is well expressed in the fact that it has freed them from the fetters of nature and old ideology and culture.\nSociopolitical independence is very important for man. Nevertheless, it is not the whole of independence. The popular masses’ sociopolitical independence can be realized when the socialist system is set up, it is not yet entirely free from the fetters of nature and the old ideology and culture.\nEven after the socialist system is set up, the legacy of the exploited society is to remain for a certain period of time, serving as a basic obstacle to completely realizing the independence of the popular masses. For this reason, only when the revolution is carried out without interruption, even after a socialist society is established, can the people, occuping their position as the masters of society and playing their role as the masters, consummate the popular masses’ cause of independence.\nTo continue the revolution is the most positive way of realizing independence for the popular masses.\nUnder the guidance of the party, our country is accelerating the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural—while firmly maintaining the independent stand.\nThe independent stand is the most correct stand to solidify and develop and glory our socialism by carrying out the revolution and construction on our own, and the lines of the three revolutions are the correct lines for socialist and communist construction.\nOur revolutionary practice has proved that when the independent stand is maintained and the lines of the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural— are implemented, socialism can be defended under any adverse circumstances and the socialist cause can be hastened victoriously along the most straightforward road.\nWith socialist construction vigorously carried out under the banner of the three revolutions in our country, the working masses enjoy a more independent and creative life, and the legacies of the old society are steadily disappearing in every field of social life.\nThe cause of completely realizing the independence of the popular masses which began as a struggle to smash the old exploitative system is being successfully achieved through the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural.\nThe healthy and civilized ideological and cultural life and affluent material life enjoyed today by our people is a vigorous manifestation of the superiority of our socialism.\nOur country's socialism not only realizes the independence of the popular masses, but also firmly guarantees it. Defending the independence of the popular masses based on the principle of self-defense in .iense is a superiority of our socialism.\nAlthough the struggle to attain independence is arduous, no less arduous is the struggle to defend and safeguard the independence that has already been won.\nIn order to defend and safeguard the independence of the popular masses, it is imperative to stage a principled but positive struggle.\nThe imperialists and reactionaries are now viciously maneuvering to rob the people in socialist countries of independence and to fetter them again as colonial slaves.\nIn order to smash the maneuvers of the imperialists who are bent on robbing the people in socialist countries of independence, and to firmly defend independence, it is imperative to strengthen defense capability.\nWithout the self-defense capability to defend the independence and the sovereignty of the country and the people against the imperialist aggression, it is impossible to think of the independence of the popular masses.\nToday, the imperialists, while clamoring about detente and peace, are on the lookout for an opportunity to invade other countries, maintaining and strengthening military blocs and beefing up military forces.\nIt is imperative to resolutely struggle against the imper.- alists and strengthen national defense capabilities, not only for the independence of one’s own country and people, but also for the cause of converting the whole world into one governed by independence.\nOur people have strengthened the capabilities of our self-defense by thoroughly implementing the party's self-defense military lines, and are now capable of repelling any kind of aggressive maneuvers of the imperialists and of firmly defending the independence of the country and people.\nThis is an important element that guarantees the invincibility of our country's socialism and its bright future.\nOur people's support for, and confidence in, our own type of socialism, which is built on the immortal chuche idea and which thoroughly defends and realizes the independence of the popular masses, remain firm and unwavering.\nOur people are firmly convinced that our socialism is the best, and have an endless attachment to the socialist cause of chuche.\nOur people should glorify our socialism even further by embodying the chuche idea under the guidance of the great leader and the great party, and should bring the revolutionary cause to perfection while advancing along the socialist road no matter what difficulties and ordeals they may encounter."
},
{
"TITLE": "Specific Projects Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0133A Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 15 Jan 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "912C0133A",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NODONG SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[Reports by special correspondent Yi Myong-chan entitled “At the Cooperative Farms in Nampo City” and by special correspondent Pak Yong-tok entitled “In Yanggang Province“ published under the headline: “By Vigorously Launching the Soil-Covering Campaign, Let Us Resolutely Improve the Quality of the Land“]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Excerpt] At the Cooperative Farms in Nampo City\nThe great leader Comrade Kim II-song taught as follows in this year's New Year's message:\n“In the agricultural sector this year we must decisively improve the soil fertility of the land under cultivation according to the requirements of the chuche agricultural method, scientifically and technologically conduct agriculture, and without fail attain the targets for grain production and develop the rural economy by diverse methods to suit the natural geographical conditions.”\nHighly supporting this year's New Year's message of the great leader, the agricultural workers, in addition to the clerical and other workers of Nampo City, who have rushed forward as one to the struggle to increase the soil fertility of land under cultivation, vigorously launched a soil-spreading battle from the beginning of the year, and are achieving the innovation of completing 2-3 percent of the total area of cornfields each day.\nFrom the time the cornfield soil-covering battle began until now we have achieved the result of carrying out soil-covering in over 50 percent of the cornfield area throughout the city.\nIn this way, following the example of the Chongsan Cooperative Farm in Kangso-kuyok, which victoriously finished the soil-covering battle at the end of last year, the city’s many farms, including the Kochang, Kangson, Toji, and Taedae cooperative farms, are in the final stages of the soil-covering battle.\nThe innovative result of smashing through the 50-percent mark of total cornfield area within a short time after the soil-covering battle began, is a manifestation of the burning loyalty of the agricultural workers and support personnel here who are thoroughly implementing unconditionally the intentions of the party.\nIn order to thoroughly carry out the soil-covering battle, the city rural economic committee and other agricultural guidance organs underscored the requirements of the chuche agricultural method among the party members and workers, and followed this up by intensifying technical guidance, and setting up the necessary economic organizational work.\nThe agricultural workers and support personnel of the Chollima, Hanggu, and Waudo districts, effectively utilizing mechanical means and various hauling methods, while firing up their spirits from the start of the first combat of the new year, are overfulfilling their daily soil-covering tasks. In this way, they achieved the result of qualitatively accomplishing 70 percent of the soil-covering of the entire area of cornfields in the districts here.\nOn the other hand, even Kangso-kuyok and Yonggang County, which have large areas of cornfields, rationally selected fresh soil sites, concentrated their labor and machinery, and are achieving innovative results every day.\nThe revolutionary fervor of the masses mobilized to the soil-covering battle was high, and the greater the work results shown, the more the city turned its due attention to having them thoroughly implement the demands of the chuche agricultural method.\nThe struggle to vigorously support the soil-covering combat is progressing even more briskly among the working class of the city’s factories and enterprises. The laborers and technicians of the Chollima Iron and Steel Complex, the Nampo Smelting Complex, and the Kumsong Tractor General Factory are in the forefront of the support work.\nIn Yanggang Province\nHighly upholding the New Year's message of the great leader, the party members and workers in Yanggang Province have vigorously launched a soil-covering battle and are reaping great results.\nAccording to a wrap-up of various reporting, the province is overfulfilling its daily soil-covering plan by an average of l. G- fold.\nIn order to thoroughly implement the instructions of the great leader to do a good job of soil-covering, the provincial party committee here set up concrete measures for implementation, and in order to have them carried out without fail, saw to it that above all the party and administrative functionaries demonstrate a high level of revolutionary spirit, party spirit, working-class spirit, and people-mindedness. They organized and began the project in a revolutionary manner.\nResponsible functionaries of the provincial party committee and the provincial administrative and economic guidance committee, continuing their duties at the site of the soil-covering battle, carefully explained and propagandized the teachings of the great leader and the intentions of the party, discussed the methods one by one, and set up the necessary measures in a timely fashion so that the soil-covering achievements could continue, even under winter conditions where the soil was frozen deep by the biting cold.\nThe functionaries of Kim Hyong-kwon County, utilizing various means of hauling, including cableways, not to mention mechanical means, meticulously laid the groundwork for the organization work in order to carry the soil in large quantities. Meanwhile, on the other hand, they are leading them, standing in the forefront of the masses as a real model of leadership by personal example.\nPochon County is motivating the masses, having them search in various places—including the edge of the Karimchon—for rich sources of soil and humus, and having them dig it up and move it in a timely manner.\nIn this way, various counties in the province, beginning with Kim Hyong-kwon and Pochon counties, are succeeding in overfulfilling the soil-covering plan over 80 percent.\nProvincial-level organs also are aggressively providing support to the soil-covering battle. [passage omitted]"
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il Encourages Activities",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0133B Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 15 Jan 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "912C0133B",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NODONG SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[Article by staff reporter entitled “With a Self-Confident Fighting Spirit” published under the headline: “By Vigorously Launching the Soil-Covering Campaign, Let Us Resolutely Improve the Quality of Land“]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il pointed out as follows:\n“In order to increase agricultural production we must dynamically launch a struggle to increase the soil fertility of wet and dry fields.”\nWith burning resolve to carry out to the end, unconditionally, the task set forth by the great leader in this year’s New Year's message, the party members and agricultural workers of the cooperative farms of various areas who have vigorously launched into the work, are even more vigorously carrying out a soil-covering battle to increase the land's fertility. Worker-farmer correspondents of various areas are sending in news of how, since the beginning of the year, they are greatly expanding their successes.\nWorker-farmer correspondent Comrade Son Chae-mo has sent us news that the Mupyong Cooperative Farm in Chonchon County is carrying out the soil-covering battle in a big way. Functionaries of this farm have been putting their shoulders to the difficult and arduous urgent task, and are positively arousing the enthusiasm of the masses by means of energetic political work. Thus, in every soil-covering battle site of all the workteams, new innovations are being created day after day.\nIn particular, the farm workers of the No. 2 and No. 3 workteams are setting up combat objectives, and overfulfilling the daily soil-covering plans.\nWorker-farmer correspondent Comrade Chon Song-hun has sent us news of the soil-covering battle of the Taechong Cooperative Farm in Unpa County. At this farm they have set up the objective of spreading soil on several hundred chongbos [one chongbo equals 2.451 acres] of cornfields and have been in high spirits as they carried out a general mobilization of all their forces. Comrade Cho Yun-sik, leader of the No.2 workteam, and other primary level functionaries correctly set up their daily combat objectives and are heightening their performance by means of correct operations and direction. In particular, they are making many means of conveyance to suit their own actual circumstances and ardently carrying out the soil-covering project.\nDuring the past few days, the Tokpo Cooperative Farm in Myongchon County has been achieving some two times greater successes in soil-covering in the cornfields than before. According to news sent in by worker-farmer correspondent Comrade Yi Chi-ho, farm functionaries such as Comrades Yi Chong-chu and Kim Mun-hyon are standing in the van of the struggle and are encouraging and inspiring the members of the League of Socialist Working Youth (LSWY) of the farm by personal example. The farm's LSWY members volunteered to take charge of cumbersome tasks and, giving full play to the vigor and passion of youth, are markedly increasing soil-covering performance. As soon as news of their model behavior spread, all the farm members set up high objectives and are overfulfilling them each day.\nNews that the Pogu Subfarm of the Orchard General Farm in Kwail County is qualitatively carrying out soil-covering has been sent in by worker-farmer correspondent Comrade Kang Kyong-sam.\nWhether or not soil-covering is done according to the chuche agricultural method has an impact on the work of increasing the soil fertility of the land. The functionaries of the subfarm here, who are well aware of this fact, meticulously set up a soil-covering plan by field, by workteam, and by date, on the basis of a soil analysis chart. They led the masses, standing in the forefront. In this way, in all of the workteams there arose a vigorous struggle to haul soil according to the characteristics of the fields—stream-bottom soil where stream bottom soil is to be spread, and mud and coal ashes where mud and coal ashes are to be spread. Here the No. 3 and No. 10 workteams are doing a good job. They secured in advance a site for fresh soil to suit the characteristics of the fields, and increased their soil-spreading performance, trying hard to guarantee its quality. In this way this subfarm is achieving successes in qualitatively spreading soil on the cornfields.\nThe Chuuidong Cooperative Farm in Toksong County and the Taedok Cooperative Farm in Yiwon County are also doing soil-spreading qualitatively, and nowadays they are spreading over twice as much soil per day compared with when they first began soil-spreading. Worker-farmer correspondents Comrades Yi Hong-sop and Yo In-ho report that farms here are qualitatively carrying out soil-covering on all cornfields.\nIn particular, the No. | workteam of the Taedok Cooperative Farm set up measures so that their new soil sources would not freeze. They made various means of transport such as pushcarts and cableways by themselves, and they are carrying out soil-spreading on 1.5 times more area per day than called for in the plan. The No. 3 workteam of the Chuuidong Cooperative Farm made a cableway with the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and is achieving daily work results nearly twice those realized at the end of last year.\n—Let’s carry out even more vigorously the soil-spreading battle according to the intent of the party.\nNow agricultural workers in all areas are rushing to the soil-spreading battle with this kind of awareness and every day are creating new miracles and innovations."
},
{
"TITLE": "KCNA Review of 15 Mar Pyongyang Press",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503053791 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0436 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503053791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KCNA",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Press review]\n[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA}—Papers here today carry a photo-illustrated report that the great leader President Kim Il-song received the Indonesian parliamentary delegation.\nAppearing in papers is a report that the new Indonesian ambassador to Korea presented his credentials to President Kim Il-song of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.\nPresident Kim Il-song received solidarity letters from different countries denouncing the provocative “Team Spirit 91\" joint military exercises of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities and supporting the Korean people in their struggle for the reunification of the country, says the press.\nAccording to the press, works of dear Comrade Kim Chong-il were carried by foreign newspapers.\nHighlighted in NODONG SINMUN is news that articles highly praising Comrade Kim Chong-il as the people's leader and the genius of creation and construction were reported abroad on the occasion of the February holiday and the daily gives an account of the closing of the first Korean film festival which was opened on this occasion.\nMINJU CHOSON says Comrade Kim Chong-il has built up the Hamhung Woolen Mill into a modernly equipped textile mill.\nPapers give an account of a national meeting of railv ay workers that opened and carry a congratulatory message sent by the C.C. [Central Committee], the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] to the participants in the meeting.\nCarried in NODONG SINMUN is a solidarity message to the WPK Central Committee from the National Committee of the Communist Party of the U.S.A. condemning the “Team Spirit 91“ joint military exercises.\nEconews of the press includes reports on the fulfillment of the plans for the first quarter year by the Sariwon Mining Machine Factory and brisk farming preparations on co-op farms.\nIt is reported in papers that the permanent vice-minister of foreign effairs of Japan was interviewed by the reporters accompanying the DPRK Government delegation to the second intergovernmental full-dress talks for the normalisation of DPRK-Japan diplomatic relations and Korean players gave a good account of themselves at international weightlifting and table tennis tournaments.\nPfc. Kim Yu-chan of the Joint Security Corps of the “U.N. Forces Command” who came over to the northern half of Korea was interviewed by home and foreign reporters, says the press. Carried in the press is a declaration of conscience published by him before the reporters.\nConveyed in papers are home and foreign public voices lashing out at the Team Spirit 91“.\nNODONG SINMUN comes out with an article headlined ““Team Spirit’ exercises and anti-socialist strategy.”\nGiven in the press is an account of a press conference held at the Soviet Embassy here on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the signing of the agreement on economic and culiural cooperation between the Soviet Union and the DPRK.\nNODONG SINMUN conveys foreign press notes denouncing the South Korean authorities’ scheme for “unilateral U.N. membership“ and the overseas Koreans’ newspaper MINJOK SIBO published in Japan carried an editorial captioned “Let Us Intensify the Movement To Oust No Tae-u regime\nPapers run commentaries hitting out at No Tae-u for whipping up war hysterics against the North at the “graduation ceremonies” of the academies of the three services of the puppet army.\nPapers inform the readers that recommendations demanding an early normalisation of Japan-DPRK diplomatic relations were adopted at local assemblies of sapan, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a decision on the cooperation of the Soviet people's deputies in the enforcement of national referendum and the first vice-president of Iran called for the unity of the Muslims the world over against domination forces.\nNODONG SINMUN reports about the efforts directed to the economic development for the building of a prosperous new Asia by Laos, Vietnam, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Iran."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul Welcomes North's Bid To Join ESCAP",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503030491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0239 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503030491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korea would welcome and would fully cooperate with a North Korean bid to join the Economic and Social Council of Asia-Pacific (ESCAP), Foreign Minister Yi Sang-ok said Friday.\nYi said a North Korean trade representative in Bangkok, Thailand, had recently called on ESCAP headquarters there and expressed deep interest in joining the group.\n“It is not clear, however, whether North Korea plans to formally submit a membership application to the ESCAP General Assembly in Seoul in April, or is simply showing interest,” he said. “The government believes Pyongyang’s entry is desirable and widely welcomes it.“\nThe 47th ESCAP meeting opens here April | and 48 member nations, including China, the Soviet Union, Vietnam and Laos, will send approximately 1,000 delegates.\nThe government plans to propose adoption of a Seoul declaration,” outlining specific cooperation measures in the Asia-Pacific region for the 1990 s during the meeting. ministry officials say."
},
{
"TITLE": "Pak Chol-on Reportedly To Visit DPRK in May",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503121891 Seoul SEOUL SINMUN in Korean 15 Mar 9I p 1",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503121891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "SEOUL SINMUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] It was learned that Minister of Sports and Youth Pak Chol-on will visit Pyongyang in May and meet with high-ranking North Korean officials. A broad range of discussions will be held on pending North-South Korean issues such as expansion in sports and economic cooperation.\nMinister Pak will visit the North for four nights and five days and, in the capacity of the minister of sports and youth, will participate in the Pyongyang tryouts to form a single team for the World Youth Soccer Championships. It seems that during his visit he will hold talks with North Korea's leading officials such as Kim Yu-sun, chairman of the Korean Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Committee, and Vice President Yi Chong-ok.\nAs the real power in taking the initiative toward the sports exchange and the policy toward the North, it was learned that Minister Pak will also discuss trade on a barter system, which is intended to carry out direct trade of goods needed by North and South Korea.\nPast proposals on our side include expanding sports exchanges. It seems that Minister Pak will wrap up lose ends on inviting North Korean youths to the August World Jamboree and the sports festival for all Koreans, including those abroad, and on the mutual exchange of sports leaders."
},
{
"TITLE": "Hong Kong Agency Arranges Travel to DPRK",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1203115291 Seoul CHUNGANG ILBO in Korean 9 Mar 91 p2",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203115291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "CHUNGANG ILBO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[Report by Hong Kong Correspondent Kim Taek-won]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Citibank International Travel (President Ronald Chong), a Hong Kong travel agency, started arranging North Korean tours on 6 March. Also, it receives applications if two people or more apply. This virtually means that individual North Korean tours are possible. Before, only group tours were accepted.\nAn official of this agency said that anyone who is not from the ROK, South Africa, and Israel can receive a visa in a week after applying for it, that tours by two people or more and group tours of students are possible, and that tourists can select sites in North Korea when they travel.\nThis official said: The company arranges a four-day tour in which tourists leave Hong Kong, stay a night in Beijing, arrive in Pyongyang by a North Korea Korean civilian airline flight that leaves Beijing every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, and visit Kaesong and Pyongyang. The company also arrange a five-day tour in which tourists will also visit Mt. Myohyang.\nThis official also said that this company's tourism business is under the control of the Korea-Macao International Tourist Agency, a North Korean travel agency in Macao."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il’s Power Base Reportedly Fragile",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503134591 Seoul HANGUK ILBO in Korean 12 Mar 91 p 18",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503134591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "HANGUK ILBO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] In contrast with North Korea’s intensive efforts to consummate the power transfer to Kim Chong-il, North Korean college students studying in Beijing are making skeptical and noteworthy observations about Kim Chong-il’s succession to power.\nAccording to “The North Korean Situation As Seen By the North Korean Students Studying in Beijing” in The Flash Report on Reunification” distributed recently by the National Unification Board, North Korean residents hold a skeptical view of Kim Chong-il’s competence because of the economic setbacks of the last 17 years since the participation of Kim Chong-il in government affairs in 1973. Anti-Kim Chong-il forces are forming fairly extensively in the military and other circles.\nProfessor M of our country, who has recently been to China, met a professor who is a graduate of Kim Il-song University. He said: “Regardless of whether he will adhere to his father’s line or adopt a policy of openness, Kim Chong-il is doomed to be removed after all.“ He said that Kim Chong-il will follow the same fate as that of Hua Guofeng after the death of Mao Zedong.\nThis analysis is similar to that by various figures who visited North Korea last year, thereby suggesting that the power transfer to Kim Chong-il after the death of Kim Il-song, which is taken for granted by many, might not be that simple.\nParty Secretary Kim Chong-il is reported to be charged with all state affairs—except dipiomatic protocol—now that the 17-year preparation for his coming to power is completed.\nStudents studying in Beijing view the rapid emergence of Kim Chong-il as heir-apparent during the first half of the 1970's as resulting from the counteraction to the conspicuous growth of the so-called “Ring of the Heterodox Twigs” of Kim Song-ae, second wife of Kim Il-song.\nAccording to the students, Kim Yong-chu, Kim Il-song’s brother and a prominent candidate for succession to power, was classified as a Kim Song-ae ally and removed from the scene together with Kim Song-kap, Kim Song-ae’s brother who was then chairman of the Pyongyang Municipal People’s Committee.\nHowever, Kim Song-ae, chairman of the North Korea Women's Union, is appearing on official occasions for the first time in 18 years, and residents are also showing interest in Kim Pyong-il rather than Kim Chong-il.\nThe professor in Beijing, who graduated from Kim Il-song University, said that he got the impression when visiting Pyongyang last November that President Kim Il-song was withdrawing power which he had earlier given to Kim Chong-il. In other words, North Korea's political power, which shifted from Kim Song-ae toward Kim Chong-il in the early 1970's as a result of the will of public sentiment, is now moving toward Kim Pyong-il.\nTherefore, if Kim Il-song dies there will be great confusion. Although Kim Chong-il’s succession to power is quite probable, his power will not last more than six months.\nWhile having taken charge for the past 17 years, Kim Chong-il gave all power to the party. The State Administration Council, which is the administrative body, was allowed only to obey party orders. From time to time this resulted in friction between the party and the State Administration Council. During the North-South high-level talks last year, party cadres sarcastically talked about the delegation led by Premier Yon Hyong-muk. saying: What kind of talks can those puppets carry out?” This shows that State Administration Council cadres are treated as low-class party members.\nIn addition, those running the regime centering on Kim Chong-il are gradually losing confidence. Despite his holding absolute power, Kim does not have confidence about his position. He does not like to meet people from the outside and makes all decisions with only a small number of party members. This shows the seriousness of the centralization of power. For example, the North Korean Embassy in China does not even have authority to issue visas to those desiring to visit the North. Therefore, all such business must be handled after asking Pyongyang.\nIt seems that even after President Kim II|-song’s death it will be impossible to completely remove the Kim family because, since President Kim is God-like in North Korea, there is no conception that “the leader will die.” Therefore, it seems that after President Kim's death the people's sense of emptiness will be serious.\nThus, even though Kim Chong-il might be overchroun right after he gains power, the Kim family will rule under the “constitutional monarchy system.“ which is similar to the Japanese royal family. Also, its seems that practical politics will be carried out centering on the premier.\nJudging from this, Professor M forecasts that great changes will take place in North Korea in the next year or two, and even though there is no reunification, within a limited range, there will be great changes taking place in North-South relations.\nThe Board of National Unification also included the opinions of those who had visited the North last year and made a similar forecast. Due to the liberalization movement of the East European bloc, which started in 1989, as well as to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and the Soviet Union, North Korea felt a sense of danger, and thus strengthened its social control. As a counteraction to this, anti-Kim Chong-il forces are gradually being formed underground.\nCurrently there are 130 North Korean students studying in Beijing. Among them, 70-80 are attending universities of foreign language, and the rest are studying in science and engineering. Every Thursday these students receive political indoctrination at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing. Being aware of the surveillance from the embassy, senior students are considerably cautious about freshmen students. After returning to North Korea, the students cannot become hard core members of the North Korean regime but can work only as working-level officials."
},
{
"TITLE": "Nuclear Research Accord Signed With France",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1303014391 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 13 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION ID": "SK1303014391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE KOREA HERALD",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and France's Commissariat a Energie Atomique (CEA) have signed an agreement on joint research in the safety of pressurized water reactors, a KAERI spokesman said yesterday.\n“Under the agreement, signed by KAERI President Han Pil-sun and French Amb. [Ambassador] Hubert de la Fortelle, on behalf of CEA Friday, we will directly participate in CEA’s large-scale research and test projects during 1991-1997 and get sophisticated technology related to safety of pressurized water reactors,” he said.\n“KAERI and two French institutes under the CEA umbrella will especially concentrate on joint tests on design basis accident and fission product release during accidents involving pressurized water reactors in 1991-97.\"\nTwo KAERI researchers will be sent to France for the tests.\nKorean nuclear researchers have so far done safety tests on parts of nuclear power plants such as the reactor and containment in cooperation with U.S. experts."
},
{
"TITLE": "Civilians, Dissidents Form Antinuclear Body",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503035191 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 15 Mar 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503035191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE KOREA HERALD",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] An antinuclear civilian body was formed in Seoul Wednesday in a ceremony attended by about 300 people residing near nuclear power plants in Sosan and Yongkwang and in Tongduchon where U.S. military facilities are installed.\nThose attending the inaugural of the Coalition of Anti-nuclear Peace Movement include such dissident figures as Paek Ki-wan and Ke Hun-che."
},
{
"TITLE": "YONHAP, TASS Sign Accord on News Exchanges",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503003891 Seoul YONHAP in English 0022 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503003891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)}—YONPBAP news agency and TASS, the official Soviet news agency, Thursday signed an agreement for stable and long-term news and personnel exchanges.\nThe news cooperation agreement was signed by YONHAP President Cho Yong-chung and Lev Spiridonov, director general of TASS. It took effect on signing and will remain in effect until the end of 1993, replacing a memorandum exchanged in 1989.\nWith the agreement concluded, YONHAP can now exchange news and render cooperation with most of the world’s main news agencies except for XINHUA of China. Korea and China lack diplomatic ties."
},
{
"TITLE": "TASS Chief Departs After Week-Long Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503091991 Seoul YONHAP in English 0817 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503091991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP}—Lev Spiridonov, director general of the official Soviet news agency TASS, left South Korea Friday afternoon on an Aeroflot flight to Moscow, finishing a week-long visit here.\nSpiridonov, 60, was in Seoul at the invitation of YONHAP News Agency to sign a news cooperation agreement and thereby open up chances for Koreans and Soviets to know more about each other. The full-dress agreement was signed with YONHAP President Cho Yong-chung Thursday, enabling YONHAP to complete its aim of news cooperation and exchange agreements with all major international news agencies.\nThe top TASS official attracted attention among political and economic leaders, who are high.y curious about the Soviet Union, with which Korea normalized ties in September last year.\nHe paid a courtesy call on President No Tae-u, whose policy is to improve ties with socialist nations, and met with such ranking politicians and industrialists as Prime Minister No Chae-pong, National Assembly Speaker Pak Chun-kyu and Samsung Group Chairman Yi kun-hui.\nAccompanied by Sales and Marketing Manager Igor Derzhitskiy and Tokyo Bureau Chief Vladimir Koutchko, Spiridonov gave five press conferences and was on the state-run television news."
},
{
"TITLE": "KAL To Begin Flights Through Moscow to Rome",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1103131691 Seoul YONHAP in English 1026 GMT 11 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1103131691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 11, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 11 (YONHAP)—Korean Air (KAL) will begin weekly flights on the Seoul-Moscow-Amsterdam-Rome route June 27, the company said Monday.\nKAL will use a 410-seat B-747-300, departing Seoul Thursday morning and arriving in Rome Thursday night, it said. The service is in compliance with an agreement between KAL and Alitalia signed in January, and a government-level aviation pact between the two nations concluded last October, a KAL spokesman said.\nThe airline is to begin flights on the Seoul-Bombay-Cairo-Rome route by the end of the year, he said.\nKAL flies to eight cities in Europe, including Paris, London, Zurich, Amsterdam, Vienna, Frankfurt and Moscow, and serves 48 cities in 23 countries."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul To Send Medical Supplies to Soviets",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203081391 Seoul YONHAP in English 0551 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203081391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (YONHAP)—South Korea will ship 40 million U.S. dollars of medicine and medical equipment to the Soviet Union next month, the Health and Social Affairs Ministry said Tuesday.\nPayment will be made from a tied loan extended to the Soviet Union in January. The shipment accounts for nearly one-fifth of the country’s medical export of 220 million dollars for this year, ministry officials said.\nThe 11 medical products include analgesics, antipyretics, Vitamins, anti-tuberculous agents, anesthetics, surgical gloves and condoms, they said.\nThe ministry plans, over the next two years, to export 30 million dollars of plant-extracted medicine, 15 million dollars of disposable syringes and needles, 60,000 dollars of surgical gloves and 60 million dollars of medical equipments to the Soviet Union, they said.\nHealth officials are collecting information on Soviet medical products and hope to encourage civilian exchanges as well."
},
{
"TITLE": "Further on Telecommunications Loan to Philippines",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203040791 Seoul YONHAP in English 0220 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203040791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korea will provide the Philippines 3.79 billion won, an equivalent of 5.4 million U.S. dollars, in a concessionary loan to modernize and expand a provincial telecommunications network.\nHong Chae-hyong, chairman of the Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Rodolfo Dumaplas, Philippines charge d'affaires to Korea, signed a contract to extend the loan in Seoul Tuesday.\nThe government's Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) will put up the loan, which carries an interest rate of 3.5 percent per annum over 20 years, after a five-year grace period.\nThe Philippines will use the money to purchase and install a TDX-10 digital switching system with a capacity of 6,150 lines in Misamis Oriental Province."
},
{
"TITLE": "Elections ‘Dominated’ by Ruling Party Candidates",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503041991 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 15 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503041991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE KOREA HERALD",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[Nes Analysis“ by staff reporter Kim Chong-chan]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Registration of candidacy for the coming local assembly elections is dominated by ruling party candidates which may hamper the sound development of local self-government, the first in 30 years.\nMore than half of those running in the elections are reportedly members of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party [DLP] and pro-DLP figures.\nAccording to Chongwadae and ruling party sources, candidates who belong to the governing party account for 42.8 percent, or 4,339 of the total 10,120 candidates.\nThe figure compares with 14 percent for the main opposition Party for Peace and Democracy [PPD]; 1.8 percent for the minor Democratic Party and 0.2 percent for the progressive Minjung (People’s) Party of Korea.\nThe remaining 41.2 percent or 4,100 people are listed as “independents,” though at least one third are pro-DLP figures, the sources said.\nPolitical parties cannot field candidates for the March 26 small-area local elections in small- and medium-sized cities, “gun” (county) and “ku” (ward) in big cities. The large-unit local council elections are scheduled for June.\nThe domination by ruling party candidates in the elections may have stunned opposition leader Kim Tae-chung who still harbors presidential ambitions. PPD President Kim sees the implementation of “grass-roots democracy” as an occasion to expand his nationwide political base.\nPPD members running in Kim's stronghold, Kwangju and Cholla provinces, total 838, compared with only 469 belonging to the giant ruling DLP.\nWhen it comes to Taegu and Kyongsang provinces, however, the situation is quite different. The number of ruling party members and pro-DLP figures running in those areas is over 20 times that of those from the opposition, DLP officials said.\nA moderate competition ratio of 2.35 to 1 in the local elections shows that the ballot has attracted little public interest. Local assembly elections were suspended in 1961 when the military took power.\nA tally compiled by the Central Election Management Committee (CEMC) showed that there is more competition in provincial areas than urban districts, particularly the six big cities.\nTaegu, the third largest city in Korea, had the lowest competition ratio of 1.58 to 1, while Kangwon-do and two other provinces shared the highest with 2.8 to 1.\nObservers attributed the low competition in Taegu, the birthplace of President No Tae-u, to the ruling party's behind-the-scenes maneuvering to prevent “excessive competition” among ruling party members running in the city.\nA considerable number of ruling party members running there are said to have withdrawn their candidacy at the request of fellow party members. Surprisingly, the number of uncontested districts in Taegu totals 60 or 41.2 percent of the total 141 areas.\nCEMC has announced that the number of districts uncontested totals 441 or 12.3 percent of 3,562 electoral constituencies nation wide. A total of 547 or 12.7 percent of the fixed 4,304 council members have already won in those uncontested areas, including 83 in Seoul and 49 in the second largest city, Pusan.\nOne council member is to be picked from each of the small administrative units of “tong” in cities. But the number will go up to two or three according to population size.\nObservers said the lower than expected competition nationwide was attributable to public distrust of politicians mainly caused by the Suso housing scandal, a lack of public knowledge of local self-governing and the hasty arrangement of the elections.\nThe ruling camp had originally planned to hold the small-unit local elections in May. The opposition has accused the ruling party of advancing the voting in an attempt to divert public attention away from the Suso bribery case.\nPublic distrust of politicians may have climaxed as the destructive scandal came on the heels of a bribery case involving three lawmakers accused of taking bribes from a lobby group for their junket abroad.\nCandidacy registration shows that women still have little interest in politics. Women candidates accounted for merely 1.2 percent or 123 of the total 10,120.\nBy age, those who are between 51 and 55 topped the list with 23.2 percent, followed by those between 46 and 50 with 20.5 percent, between 41 and 45 with 15.9 percent and 56 and 60 with 15.5 percent.\nCandidates are also of diverse occupations. Those engaged in farming took the lion's share with 30.2 percent, followed by people engaged in commercial activities with 25.5 percent. In contrast, few professionals such as doctors and lawyers have filed their candidacy.\nThe fact that many self-employed persons like real estate brokers are running in the elections may cloud prospects for the healthy development of local autonomy. “They may spend more time peddling influence, in dogged pursuit of their own interests,” one observer said."
},
{
"TITLE": "No on Need for ‘Unflinching’ Defense Posture",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203083491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0733 GMT 2 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203083491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 2, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (YONHAP)—President No Tae-u said Tuesday an unflinching national defense posture was the key not only to deterring aggression but also to maintaining peace and getting North Korea to proceed with reunification.\n“Our air force should develop an efficient command system and air tactics and strategies suitable for our Situation, together with modernization of military strength, expecting Koreanization of the national defense in the near futuie,”’ No told graduating cadets at the Air Force Academy.\nHe said it was necessary to secure superiority in the air, in intelligence and in telecommunications, the importance of which was demonstrated in the allied victory in the Gulf war.\n“We are defending the fatherland with advanced fighters, assembled and manufactured with our own technology, and we are pushing to buy highly sophisticated fighters,” he said.\nIn the Korean war, the South had only light trainers and was crushed by more than 200 North Korean jet fighters, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Civilians To Hold More Defense Ministry Posts",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503053091 Seoul YONHAP in English 0232 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503053091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (YONHAP)—Civilians will be named to the posts of first and second assistant defense minister, until now held by generals, under a revision approved by the Cabinet Thursday. The change effect this month. [sentence as received]\nThe number of Defense Ministry directorates reserved for civil servants rises from three to five, and section chief posts from 31 to 35 under the revision.\nOf 103 posts above section chief, all but the minister, vice minister and assistant ministers will split between civil servants and generals. The civilian-military ratio of directors will be 5 to 15 and of section chiefs 35 to 44 under the revision.\n“The bill will enhance the development of a future-oriented defense policy, improve efficiency and proficiency, and increase civilian representation within the Ministry,” a senior Ministry official said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul To Recognize World Civi! Rights Articles",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403040691 Seoul YONHAP in English 0256 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1403040691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March i4 (YONHAP)—South Korea will withdraw its reservations regarding articles in two international civil rights conventions, effective Friday, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.\nKorea could take the step as contradictions between Korean laws and the treaties were removed by revision Jan. | of the civil law regarding discrimination between man and woman, ministry spokesman Chong Ui-yong said.\nThe two relevant pacts are the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and the international covenant on civil and political rights.\nHe said Korea would now recognize Article 16-1 of the convention, which stipulates, states parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women:\n(c) the same rights and responsibilities during marriage and at its dissolution:\nd) the same rights and responsibilities as parents, irrespective of their marital status, in matters relating to their children: in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount:\n“(f) the same rights and responsibilities with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship and adoption of children, or similar institutions where these concepts exist in national legislation: in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount:”\nArticle 23-4 of the covenant says: “States parties to the present covenant shall take appropriate steps to ensure equality of rights and responsibilities of spouses as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. In the case of dissolution, provision shall be made for the necessary protection of any children.”\nKorea joined the convention on May 25, 1983, and signed the covenant on April 10, 1990."
},
{
"TITLE": "Customs Revenue Statistics for 1990 Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403025291 Seoul YONHAP in English 0234 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1403025291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 14 (YONHAP)}—Customs revenue was 5.57 percent of the value of all imports in 1990, up 0.46 percentage points because of higher duties on luxury goods, the Customs Administration said Thursday.\nImports were valued at 49.6 trillion won (68.4 billion U.S. dollars), up 19.8 percent from a year earlier, and customs revenue was 2.76 trillion won (3.7 billion dollars), up 30.6 percent.\nRevenue outpaced the value of imports as more luxury items were imported than raw materials and capital goods, a customs official said.\nCar imports increased 40.7 percent, commodities 42 percent, machinery 16.6 percent and electric and electronics 9.9 percent.\nThe exchange rate applied to customs duty was 710.65 won to the dollar, compared to 675.35 won in 1989."
},
{
"TITLE": "Textile Exports Decline in ‘90; Imports Rise",
"FULL CITATION": "SK0703025891 Seoul YONHAP in English 0211 GMT Mar 7 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK0703025891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 7, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 7 (VONHAPY— South Korea's textile exports were depressed last year by weak price competitiveness, but imports soared, the Korea Federation of Textile Industries (KFTI) said Thursday.\nExports slipped 3.1 percent to 14.67 billion U.S. dollars, only the third decline in 20 years and the first since 1985, while imports gained 4.4 percent to 3.55 billion dollars, the Federation said.\nSluggish exports were blamed on weak price competitiveness, import restrictions in industrialized nations and challenges from other developing countries. The United States upheld dumping charges of Korean-made sweaters and shipments to Japan were restricted because of the voluntary export regulation in force since 1989.\nExports of textile products fell 12.6 percent, but shipments of textile materials and silk rose 3.2 percent and 20 percent respectively, it said.\nIt attributed growing imports to higher incomes and fads among rich people. Imports of textile materials slid 3.8 percent, but those of textile products soared 52.6 percent.\nSince textiles became Korea's major export item in the early 1970's, the industry has suffered only two setbacks—in 1982, when exports dropped from 6.19 billion to 5.92 billion dollars, and in 1984, when they fell from 7.08 billion to 7 billion dollars."
},
{
"TITLE": "Ministry To Ease Regulations on 280 imports",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1303033491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0238 GMT 13 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1303033491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 13 (YONHAP)—South Korea will ease regulations on some 280 agricultural and industrial imports from Thursday until the end of the year to better control inflation, the Trade and Industry Ministry said Wednesday.\nUnder the new rules, the economic planning minister can directly specify items and amounts for open import based on reviews and recommendations by economic ministers.\nSuch recommendations until now were made by an business organization or a minister in charge of a specific item, and there were cases when differences of opinion among organizations and government offices prevented timely importation, ministry officials said.\nThe government hopes to expedite the process by simplifying the decision-making, speeding up import procedures for items in demand and likely to spark price hikes, they said.\nInitial plans call for buying 283 products under the procedure, mostly agricultural and dairy items such as beef, poultry, powdered milk, and fruits. Industrial products include anthracite, the officials said.\nThe ministry is also temporarily widening the import market for reinforced steel in anticipation of a domestic shortage from a construction boom. The government will encourage steel imports from all seller countries, instead of recommending the United States and the European Community, the officials said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Companies Increase USSR, East Europe Imports",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503094591 Seoul CHOSON ILBO in Korean 15 Mar 91 p7",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503094591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "CHOSON ILBO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Import of machines from the Soviet Union and East Europe has increased to reach $60 billion a year. Domestic general trade firms are importing machines from East Europe whose quality is somewhat inferior to that of products of advanced nations, including Japan, but which are not produced at home. In importing these machines compensation trade (barter), in which our electronic products are offered as the import payment, has also been actively pushed ahead. Accordingly, general trade firms are pushing for contracts with machine producers in this area for exclusive import of their products. Besides, these firms are organizing special teams to secure domestic customers and service centers.\nDaewoo Company, Inc., has already imported weaving machines produced from Czechoslovakia's Invest Company with the (Juberka) trademark. This year, Daewoo decided to import various machines amounting to $18.3 million, including $11 million worth of weaving machines, heavy-duty equipment, and machine tools manufactured in Czechoslovakia. Daewoo is also planning to import machine tools amounting to $900,000 from the Soviet Union, bartering our electronic products.\nThe Hyundai Trade Company, which has been bartering automobiles for grinding machines with Hungary's (Techno) Company since 1989, imported machines amounting to $1 million last year. This year it decided to increase its import, reaching $2 million.\nIn particular, Hyundai concluded a contract with the Soviet Union's (Ulyanovsk) for exclusive import of machine tools. It has already imported $400,000 worth of products, and is planning to import 81 million more.\nLucky Goldstar Company, which has been importing farming tractors from Czechoslovakia's Jetro Company since 1989, last year concluded a contract with Bulgaria's (Balkanka) Company, the world’s largest forklift maker, for its exclusive import. It had sold about 50 forklifts last year, and is planning to sell about 200 sets at home this year.\nSsangyong Company last year alone imported $2 million worth of machine tools fiom China. It is planning to import the same amount of machines this year, too. It is negotiating with the Soviet Union and East Europe on importing machine tools and milling machines from these nations.\nSsangyong in particular decided to build a plant of instruments for supersonic wave diagnosis in the Soviet Union in collaboration with the Soviet Federal Procurement Agency (GOSNAP). This plant will produce approximately 1.000 sets annually, and supply them to the Soviet Union and East Europe."
},
{
"TITLE": "Electronics Exports to Europe Continue To Grow",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1203040091 Seoul YONHAP in English 0154 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203040091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "YONHAP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korean electronic products are finding Europe more welcoming than North America, and the European market could soon be No. I. industry experts said Tuesday.\nShipments to North America are on a downward slope, slipping from over 40 percent of total electronics exports in the mid-1980s to barely 30 percent last year. European buyers are picking up the slack, taking almost 30 percent of Korean electronics goods last year to match, and in some cases even outdo, the American buyers, they said.\nNew markets in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are overtaking the traditional American market, and industry leaders such as Daewoo Electronics Co. are already selling more to Europe than to America.\nSamsung Electronic Co. saw sales to Poland jump 580 percent last year compared to the year before. Samsung, which mainly exports household appliances, had just 30.2 percent of its sales in the United States last year, down from 39.5 percent in 1989, a company spokesman said. Europe, East and West, bought 29.6 percent of the company’s exports, compared to 20 percent in 1989.\nSales of color televisions, VTR's [videotape recorders] and other consumer electronics to Poland alone registered 65.7 million U.S. dollars last year, an impressive leap from 11.26 million dollars in 1989, the spokesman said.\nGoldstar Co. marked a disappointing 28.5 percent of total sales in North America last year, compared to 44.8 perceni in 1988 and 41.8 percent in 1989.\nThe European market came to the rescue, growing year by year from 20.3 percent in 1988, 22 percent in 1989, and 28 percent in 1990.\nAmerican sales are visibly waning for Daewoo Electronics, whose 35-percent level in the mid-1980s dropped to 25 percent in 1989 and 17 percent last year.\nThe company received good news from Europe, whose buying spree accounted for 40 percent of Daewoo exports last year, up from 20 percent to 30 percent in the mid-1 980s."
},
{
"TITLE": "‘Crisis’ in ROK Manufacturing Industry Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0145 Seoul HANGUK KYONGJE SIN MUN in Korean 14 Jan 91 p 7",
"CITATION ID": "912C0145",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "HANGUK KYONGJE SIN MUN",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[Article by reporter Pak Yong-pae: “Crisis in ROK Manufacturing Industry: Manpower Shortage, Deteriorating Workers’ Attitudes“",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The thirty staff members of the labor section of the Kukche Corporation's Pusan factory are extremely busy these days. It is because they are trying to recruit as many of the new graduates in February as they can for the company’s production-related jobs.\nThey are running 25 hours a day with a firm determination not to repeat last year’s nightmare of shutting off some of their production lines due to a lac« of factory technicians. Their immediate objective is to run the production line, whereas the cost and profit margin are pushed away as a lower priority.\nThe company’s labor section staff members are trying every possible means in order to secure the manpower necessary for their production lines. Special recruiting forces were set up which will be in charge of almost every city and province, and are going around the whole nation. They are also sending out letters to as many schools as possible asking them to send the graduates to their company.\nMeanwhile, they are trying very hard to keep the employees from leaving the company. Despite all these efforts, about 1,400 out of 10,000 technicians left the company last year. It is expected that about 1,200 technicians are expected to leave the company this year. Keeping the employees is more difficult than recruiting new ones.\nThe annual turnover rate of women technicians is about 90 percent. Statistically, the highest turnover occurs in January and February.\nDuring the months of January and February, every company in the nation is engaged in competitive recruiting. Companies lure the potential candidates by proposing better salaries and benefits. Those who recruit many get hefty incentive bonuses. Because of this, they frequently see the whole section of about ten workers change their jobs.\nA more serious problem is that technicians change their jobs in areas totally different from their skills. Some of Kukche’s labor staff said that about 30 percent who left their company changed jobs in the area of services and office works. Since many technicians change their jobs, and since recruiting new ones is difficult, the hole in the employment is getting bigger.\nEvery year around this time, the shoe manufacturing companies, which are heavily concentrated in Pusan, are going through a terrible time recruiting production technicians. The fighting among companies that are engaged in the tug-of-war of recruiting and keeping employees, peaks around this time of every year.\nIt is not new that employees who bring in new members are paid special bonuses. Companies give loads of gifts and company advertising brochures to employees who visit their hometown during the new year and Chusok [Korean Thanksgiving] holiday vacations. They are encouraged to bring back any available relatives with them when they return to their companies after the holidays.\nRecently, companies are employing a more aggressive recruiting strategy. Companies are realizing that there is a limit in keeping technicians with a better salary being the only incentive. Therefore, shoe manufacturing companies these days are expanding benefit facilities and educational opportunities.\nThe building of cultural centers is booming in these companies, and extended college education in the companies is expanding. Kukche Sangsa and Hwaseung, two major shoe-manufacturing companies in Pusan, are even considering establishing junior colleges for their employees.\nManpower shortage is felt far more seriously in textile companies. The Sou, a jacket- and coat-production company located in Pupyong near Seoul, now has only 100 women technicians left from the 200 they had at the same time last year. Because of this, about 50 sewing machines out of 150 are left idle.\nLast year’s average monthly turnover rate was about 10 percent. A temporary means of sending employees to their hometown to recruit their relatives was not effective. The tactic of providing education expenses for those who enrolled in night schools was not effective either. As graduation approaches, only 10 out of the original 30 employees remain enrolled in their night schools.\nThe Sou's factory manager, Pak Chong- chi. complained: “Because of such frequent turnovers in people, it is difficult to order what to do, let alone to think about technology accumulation.”\nPak showed a serious concern by saying: “The profit margin is rapidly deteriorating since the subcontract rate has been increased to 35 percent from 10 percent a year ago due to manpower shortage. The amount of defective products reaches about 7 to 8 percent due to a lack of adequate skills of the technicians.”\nThe number of employees at Sokwang, a textile company in the Kuro industrial complex, also decreased to 200 from 350 about a year ago. Because of this only two production lines out of four are in normal operation.\nThe company manages to survive from its exports. The company has difficulty meeting deadlines due to a lack of adequate manpower.\nOne company official expressed his worries by saying, “It is very difficult to find subcontractors to share foreign buyers’ orders. Furthermore, production costs are steadily increasing. Therefore, we may have to reduce the amount of export.”\nIt is not an exception in the electronics industry, which is known for its relatively good working environment.\nGold Star's Changwon factory is in need of 200 technicians, but the company cannot do much to fill this gap.\nIt is because the respondents to the recruiting advertisement will be mostly from other Gold Star subsidiary companies or from subcontractors. Therefore, it will cause manpower crises in subsidiary companies and subcontractors, which in turn will cause problems in supplying components on time.\nThe company’s personnel department head, Yi Sang-hyong said: “Due to frequent shortages in component supply from our subcontractors, it is difficult to make an adequate production plan. Therefore, we gave up recruiting technicians from them.” It is an agony that many assemblying companies, such as Gold Star, which depend on components manufactured and supplied by their subcontractors, are going through these days.\nManpower shortage in the major industrial complexes is over the limit. In the case of the Kuro industrial complex, the number of technicians who left the complex since the second half of 1990 is about 1,000, and consequently, the current operation rate of the facility is about 84 percent.\nThe average facility operation rate is 75 percent in the lumber industry, 80 percent in the petrochemical industry, 79 percent in metallurgy, and 83 percent in the textile industry. The reduction in the facility operation rate naturally resulted in sales reduction. The 1990's total amount of export from the Kuro industrial complex was $5.4 billion, $1.2 billion short of the $6.6 billion goal.\nThe manpower crisis in industrial complexes near Seoul is as serious as in other areas. The normal facility operation is not possible due to a manpower shortage in the industrial complexes near the capital city such as Anyang, where various manufacturing companies are concentrated, Kunpo, Uiwang with 1.200 companies, and Panwol with 1,000 companies.\nThe labor-intensive sewing and electronics companies are suffering from the extensive labor crisis. In addition to the difficulties of recruiting new workers, employees leaving the companies added much more hardship to companies, according to officials related to these industrial complexes.\nManpower Import Prohibited\nThe fast turnover of manufacturing industry technicians is not a problem that was created overnight, but has been gradually progressing since late 1989.\nAccording to “Studies on the Status of Technology in Small Businesses in 1990\", a research conducted by the Korean Federation of Small Businesses during July 1989 and June 1990 on 2,296 small manufacturing companies having employees between 5 and 300, about 412,800 workers, which is 29.6 percent of the total 1,393,300 workers in the manufacturing area, changed jobs.\nAccording to studies on the trend of industrial activities conducted by the Economic Planning Board, as of November 1990, workers in the mining and manufacturing industries are 5,033,000; and those in indirect capital and services are 10,032,000. Compared to the numbers a year ago, the number of workers in the mining and manufacturing industries decreased by about 30,000 and that in services increased by 560,000.\nThe results of the study also indicated that wages in services are substantially higher than in mining and manufacturing industries.\nBecause of rapid increase in manpower shortage, textile and shoe industries are strongly hoping to import foreign labor. They are in fact sending opinion letters to various government organizations responsible for labor import.\nSome labor specialists in the academic and research communities, however, consider the industries’ idea of importing work forces to be very dangerous, and show a strong opposition.\nDr. Son Han-seung of the Korea Labor Research Institute is Opposing the labor import idea based on the examples of Germany.\nThe German policy of Gast Arbeiter [labor import from third countries] during the 1960 s failed and the new Aus Siedler [German labor force import] policy that was in effect since 1987 is also known to have failed.\nThe 200,000 to 300,000 workers, imported from Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries under the Gast Arbeiter policy, continued to stay in Germany even after their working visas expired. The German Government is now trying to encourage them to return to their home countries by even providing financial assistance.\nThe Aus Siedler policy, that collected German labor forces scattered in Poland, Hungary, and the Soviet Union, is also concluded to be unsuccessful.\nEven if the imported workers are of German origin, they are second and third generations whose emotions are different, and who needed language education. The large number of the imported German labor force caused a serious housing problem in Germany. The abundant labor force as a result of the reunification of the two Germanys added a burden of employing these imported workers. It is the labor specialists’ analysis that importing workers from Southeastern nations and Korean-Chinese workers from Yonpyon, China, may provide a temporary relief to the current manpower shortage in domestic industries, but it will eventually cause serious political and social problems, similar to the German's.\nIn addition to the shortage of production workers, the shortage of high-quality research manpower is another urgent problem to be solved.\nThe large electronics companies such as Samsung and Gold Star have difficulties in hiring the required research manpower, especially those with masters and doctoral degrees.\nThe Korea Electronics Promotion Corporation predicted that if the current trend continues, the research manpower shortfall in the year 2000 will be about 7,200 with undergraduate degrees, and 3.100 with graduate degrees.\nSocial Atmosphere Is a Big Problem\nThe cause of the manpower crisis in Korean industries should be found in the social structure.\nFirst of all, the workers lost their desire to work hard. The prevailing extravagant habit of the rich upper class led the workers to feel despondent. The social atmosphere of get-rich-quick from speculative real estate investment destroys the workers’ dreams. Most of the workers believe that savings cannot make their dream come true.\nSecondly, there is a trend that people are trying to avoid hard labor. A typical example is that women workers in production facilities are leaving for service areas. It is frequently seen around industrial complexes that women workers are leaving their companies for employment in pleasure-seeking business.\nThirdly, workers do not have job satisfaction. During the 1960's and 70's, workers’ esteem was very high because the government praised them as heroes of export and industry. Nowadays, the trend of looking down on those who are working in the manufacturing companies discourages them from wanting to work.\nAnalysts in labor and manufacturing industries say that Korea does not have a shortage of workers. We simply do not have a plan to properly utilize them. The imbalance of supply and demand in labor manpower is a problem to be resolved by combined efforts among the government, industries, and society."
},
{
"TITLE": "Wa, Shan Rebels Set To Renew Battles",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503024591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 15 Mar 91 p AS",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503024591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE NATION",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[By Dome Suwawan]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Chiang Mai—Thai security officers in this northern province predicted a new outbreak of battles next month between the private armies of two Burmese ethnic groups which have been waging war since late 1989 to control a strategic area along the Thai-Burmese border.\nThe United Wa State Army (UWSA) and opium kingping Khun Sa's Muang Tai Army (MTA), over the past month have reinforced their troop strength as well as their strongholds in preparation for the new round of fighting, as both sides had earlier suffered high casualties and severe depletion of ammunition in their military engagements, said the officers, who requested not to be named.\nIn a related move, Khun Sa's forces on Monday destroyed a Wa artillery position located opposite Thailand's Ban Hua Mae Kham in Mae Chan District of Chiang Rai.\nAs a precaution against spillovers or intrusions by the two forces, Thai authorities have fortified the border frontier.\nAccording to the officers, the Wa and its rival force were confronting each other in the mountainous areas opposite Thailand’s Ban Sob Lang in Mae Ai District, and Ban Huay Yot of Chiang Rai's Mae Chan district. The area covers part of the undefined Thai-Burmese border area of Doilang, a long range of mountains dividing the two countries.\nThe United Wa State Army, which includes the main core of the defunct Burma Communist Party (BCP), together with other ethnic fighters, such as Kokang and Kachim, revolted against the BCP hardliners in early 1989 and have since declared their abandonment of communist ideology.\nAbout half of the estimated 20,000 Wa forces later moved down from the northeastern part of Shan State bordering China to the Thai-Burmese border aiming to set up a new stronghold in southern Shan State.\nThai officers said the UWSA and the MTA have been fighting to control the long strip of the northern Thai-Burmese border, which is the main trafficking route for narcotic drugs, gems and other smuggled goods between the two countries.\nThe Burmese Army, said the officers, has reportedly not made any move so far to intervene in the clashes between the two ethnic parties. “I think they (the Burmese) are waiting for a final outcome, when both sides are exhausted, and then will move in to wipe out the two,” said one senior Thai officer."
},
{
"TITLE": "Students, Opposition Observe Human Rights Day",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503033791 Bangkok BANGKOK POST in English 15 Mar 91 p 5",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503033791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "BANGKOK POST",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Mae Sot—About 500 siudents and Burmese opposing the Rangoon Junta on Wednesday took part in Human Rights Day celebrations at Manerplaw camp in Burma, opposite this border town district.\nMoe Thee Zon, chairman of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, said the celebrations were also in memory of two student leaders of the Rangoon Institute of Technology who were killed in the 1988 uprising.\nHe said his group would join the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) in support of the alternative National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma to fight for democracy and freedom.\nChairman of the DAB, Bo Mya, accused strongman Ne Win and junta leader Gen Saw Maung of refusing the demands of the Burmese people, thus prolonging a civil war which had lasted 42 years.\nHe said countries should stop giving aid to the Rangoon government because their assistance could be regarded as giving support to human rights abuses in Burma.\nU Hla Pe, Information Minister of the alternative government based in Manerplaw, called on the United Nations to recognise his government and also urged the world community to stop providing economic assistance to the Burmese junta."
},
{
"TITLE": "New Foreign Minister Assumes Post 15 Mar",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503090091 Kuala Lumpur International Service in English 0800 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503090091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Kuala Lumpur",
"CITATION OUTLET": "International Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has returned to the Malaysian cabinet after almost four years. Prime Minister Datuk Sri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed had last month named him foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle effective today.\nDatuk Abdullah had previously held the education and defense portfolios. Commenting on his latest appointment, the foreign minister said it was a pleasant surprise."
},
{
"TITLE": "Economic Growth in 1990 3rd Quarter Reported",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1403150091 Kuala Lumpur NEW STRAITS TIMES in English 13 Mar 91 p 16",
"CITATION ID": "BK1403150091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Kuala Lumpur",
"CITATION OUTLET": "NEW STRAITS TIMES",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[By Charles Raj; al! figures in Malaysian dollars]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The Malaysian economy grew by a robust 10.6 percent in the third quarter of last year, bringing the overall growth rate for the first nine months of last year to 10.4 percent.\nThis growth in real Gross Domestic Product is compared with 1989's third quarter growth rate of 9.1 percent and 8.8 percent for the whole of that year.\nIn the first quarter of last year, the economy grew by 11.7 percent and nine percent in the second quarter.\nIn a general survey of the economy contained in its latest quarterly bulletin released yesterday, Bank Negara [Central Bank] said the Gulf crisis and the ensuing oil price hike had no immediate dampening impact, as the economy was underpinned by the robust performance of all sectors except agriculture.\nIt said manufacturing activity in particular, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production, increased significantly by 19.3 percent during the period (13.6 percent in the preceding 1989 quarter) reflecting the buoyancy of both the export and domestic market-oriented industries.\nExport growth was led by the electronics and electrical and off-estate processed product industries, while the domestic industries were led by the double-digit growths of the fabricated metal and transport equipment industries.\nGrowth in private sector demand continued to remain robust, spurred by the better performances of corporations, improved labour market and higher income levels.\nPrivate investment sentiments during the third quarter also remained strong as reflected by the 289 applications for manufacturing projects involving proposed capital outlays of $11 billion.\nPublic demand during the quarter moderated as budgetary operations of the Government slowed down with total expenditure declining by 3.4 percent to $7.1 billion.\nThe Federal Government's current account recorded a large surplus of $1.1 billion for the period and this led to a smaller deficit in the overall account to $282 million compared with $1.4 billion previously.\nBank Negara said total public debt rose by 2.2 percent to $92.7 billion at the end of September, reflecting a marginal increase in both the domestic and external debt.\nThe country’s trade account deteriorated to record a deficit of $560 million compared with a surplus of $716 million in the first quarter and $27 million in the second quarter due largely to the sharp increases in gross imports.\nThe ringgit continued to depreciate against most currencies in the third quarter of last year due io the strengthening of these currencies against the U.S. dollar.\nThe Central Bank said movements in domestic prices remained moderate during the period with prices of consumer goods recording slower increases. The prices of producer products increased moderately."
},
{
"TITLE": "Optimism on Economy, Caution on Rapid Growth",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1303121591 Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES in English 13 Mar 91 p 1",
"CITATION ID": "BK1303121591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Singapore",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE STRAITS TIMES",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Finance Minister Richard Hu yesterday said he was optimistic that economic growth this year would be on target, but warned against the economy growing too rapidly.\n“The ending of the Gulf war will restore business confidence and this wil have a positive effect on our economy,” he said.\nTherefore, he predicted, Singapore should have no difficulty achieving the upper end of the 3 to 6 per cent target for growth.\nBut he also stressed that the high average growth of more than 9 per cent over the last four years was no longer sustainable as the economy was getting overheated because of the tight labour market.\nIf wage costs exceeded productivity gains, and if this coincided with a world recession, Singapore will lose its competitive edge and see a replay of the 1985 recession, he warned.\nFor this year though, the expected growth of 5 to 6 per cent “should take the pressure off the labour market, remove speculative frenzy and allow the economy to consolidate,” he said.\nDr Hu began his round-up speech by broadly outlining the Government's thinking on the economy. He prescribed a path for the economy to grow fast, but without costs rising too much.\nUrging businesses not to look to the Government to restore high growth rates, he said they should take the initiative of relocating or investing overseas.\nIndustries, he suggested, should move their labour-intensive activities into the other two points of the Singapore-Johor-Riau Growth Triangle, or move their surplus capital further offshore into the industrial markets. As for those in the services industry, they should upgrade their workers’ skills and diversify into high value-added areas.\nThe Finance Minister gave this advice to businessmen in his reply to MPs [members of parliament] at the end of the two-day debate that saw 27 MPs commenting on this year's Budget, which was unveiled on March 1.\nAddressing their concern over rising business costs, he said most of them were “inevitable” because of rapid economic growth.\nIndeed, he argued that it was important to allow for such increases to send the right signals that scarce resources must be used well.\nOn the pro-business MPs’ calls to defer the | percentage point increase in employers’ CPF [Central Provident Fund] contributions, he stressed that the Government was committed to the restoration of cuts made in the 1985 recession. The economy had done well, and “there is therefore no good reason to postpone a further cautious adjustment to CPF contribution rates.”\nBut he added that this incease should be taken into account during this year’s wage negotiations, emphasising that wage increses should be moderate.\nThe call to delay the | percentage point increase was earlier protested against vigorously by no fewer than five labour MPs who came on one after another to rap those who had made the call.\nReminding the House of how workers had willingly borne the brunt of the 15 percentage point cut in CPF contributions in 1985, they warned employers not to quibble over the increase. This would only make workers doubt their word in future and make them more militant” in their demands, they said.\nThe high costs, they argued, were due more to the fat salaries of executives, not workers. Rather than try to lower wages, employers should try to increase productivity by sending workers for training, they said.\nThe pro-labour MPs also denounced the call to liberalise the foreign workers policy to ease business costs, saying this would depress local workers’ wages.\nIn his reply, Dr Hu said these issues would be addressed in the committee of supply debate later.\nResponding then to complaints of rising costs of services and utlities for the man in the street, the minister said these could not be avoided, but assured the House that the Government would monitor charges and make only gradual increases when necessary.\nOn calls for more personal and other reliefs, he made plain that the Government did not want to create a “crutch economy”.\nHe stressed: “Government's policy is that as many citizens as possible should pay some tax, however small, so that all share in paying for the cost of public services and facilities.”\nAt the same time, ıt was committed to providing a high level” of basic necessities such as housing, education and leisure.\n“Beyond that, everyone must work and contribute towards improving the quality of life. There is no free lunch and we cannot afford it,” he said.\nDr Hu also replied to specific queries by MPs over the last two days, including calls to cut the corporate tax rate, grant tax concessions on foreign income and on the higher water rates.\nConcluding, he said that Singapore was now entering a new phase in its development, and businessmen here must go beyond the national boundaries.\n“This Budget will help them widen their international linkages and create more economic space. It also focuses on our continued investment in our people to enable them to move onto higher value-added and better-paid jobs,” he said, to applause from MPs.\nDebate continues today, when the House will examine the spending of each ministry."
},
{
"TITLE": "New UN Permanent Representative Appointed",
"FULL CITATION": "BK1503113291 Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES in English 13 Mar 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503113291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Singapore",
"CITATION OUTLET": "THE STRAITS TIMES",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] A career diplomat Mr Chew Tai Soo, has been appointed Singapore's next Permanent Representative to the United Nations.\nMr Chew, 50, succeeds Professor Chan Heng Chee who came home last month after two years on the job.\nMr Chew served in the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur from 1972 to 1974 and worked for a year in Tokyo in 1974. From 1975 to 1977 he was Singapore's Consul General in Osaka.\nHe was appointed Permanent Representative to the Singapore permanent mission at the United Nations in Geneva from 1982 to 1986.\nMr Chew was also the chairman of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Committee on Trade and Development in 1984 and presided as chairman on three GATT Dispute Settlement Panels.\nProf Chan, 48, told THE STRAITS TIMES that it was she who had requested to return before completing here three-year term, but preferred not to make public her reasons.\nWhile she could not discuss her immediate plans, it is understood that she is being tapped for a new, important post.\nProf Chan headed the National University of Singapore’s Political Science Department and later became the first director of the Institute of Policy Studies before going to the UN.\nShe is now on leave and could not be contacted for comment."
},
{
"TITLE": "Opposition Crimes Against Religion Assailed",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503094591 Phnom Penh Domestic Service in Cambodian 1300 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503094591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Phnom Penh",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Domestic Service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Station commentary: “Is This What the Other Cambodian Side Means by Respect for the Will of the Citizens?“\n[Text] Lately, in their intensifying civil war activities in Cambodia, the Polpotists and their genocidal alliance have stepped up the destruction of the people's property and lives as well as their national heritage and popular shrines. In fact, the Polpotists and their allies recently fired artillery barrages at some areas in Battambang Province. They damaged Banan Temple and shattered Phnum Sampeou Monastery, killing a Buddhist monk, a nun, and a child. Also in Banan District, Battambang Province, they senselessly pounded Tuol Andet Monastery, causing heavy damage to one of shrines most venerated by our people. Recently, on 4 March, the Polpotists joined by the Sihanoukists and Sonsannians fired artillery shells into a monastery in Ron Ta Ek Commune, Banteay Srei District, Siem Reap-Oddar Meanchey Province, causing injuries to two resident monks and a monastery caretaker.\nThe Cambodian people, like members of the international public who have closely followed the situation in Cambodia, clearly understand that this is not the first, nor will it be the last, attempt made by the Polpotists and their allies to destroy the national heritage and popular shrines. For the past more than 12 years while our Cambodian people who are mostly Buddhist have been making concerted efforts to restore and revive various fields, including religion, the tripartite coalition has been seeking by all means to burn down and blow up temples or ambush and set ablaze road convoys. In order to cover up their crimes, the Pol Pot gang and its allies the Sihanoukists and Sonsannians have used the Vietnamese label as an excuse, vociferously shouting that they were firing at Vietnamese trucks, blowing up Vietnamese trains, shelling Vietnamese positions, and so on. We would like to ask them: Did the monasteries that they shelled or burned down belong to the Vietnamese? Were the slain or wounded Buddhist monks, nuns, wise men, and children in those monasteries Vietnamese. too?\nMoreover, it is public knowledge that Buddhism, which is over 2,500 years old, is a religion that preaches peace, nonviolence, and nonaggression and that it has never forced anyone to believe or venerate it. Buddhism came to the land of Angkor more than a thousand years ago and has been espoused and practiced by more than 90 percent of our people. In 1969 there were 3,370 monasteries and more than 66,000 Buddhist monks in Cambodia. Under the Pol Pot regime, all beliefs, mores, and traditions of the people, including Buddhism, were prohibited. For three years, eight months, and 20 days, the Polpotists de-robed or murdered 25,000 monks and razed 1,970 monasteries. The remaining pagodas were turned into prisons, stables, or manure depots.\nSince liberation on 7 January 1979, the Government of the State of Cambodia has restored to the people their right to worship and to observe their mores and traditions, As a result, Buddhism has been revived and has becorne the state religion. Moreover, other religions revered by the minority peoples have also been restored.\nThe Government of the State of Cambodia has collected after a long search the Lord Buddha's bones and the Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures] which constitute two of the five sacred objects for Buddhists and which had been badly damaged by the Polpotists. These jewels have now been enshrined for worship by the faithful. The government also asked the Indian Government to supply us with the venerated pipal trees that have now been planted in a number of provinces to create favorable conditions for the Buddhist faithful to engage in worship. This is what we see as our sincere respect for the will of the citizens.\nOn the contrary, not only have the other Cambodian factions—especially Sihanouk's and Son Sann’s—which have been boasting that they respect the will of the citizens failed to promote Buddhism ravaged by the Pol Pot barbarians, but they have even cooperated with the latter in attacking and destroying monasteries and temples painstakingly restored by our people. For this reason, can our people believe that they would respect the will of the citizens through the free and fair elections that could be held soon?\nOur people clearly see that if even monasteries, Buddhist monks, and nuns have not been spared by the genocidal alliance, how then can this alliance bring peace to the people who for the past 12 years have been engaged in self-defense against its maneuvers? Moreover, at a time when our people are unanimously calling for peace, a cease-fire, and a cessation of military aid to all Cambodian factions, the genocidal alliance instead is resoundingly stepping up the war and receiving more arms from a foreign country.\nOur people clearly hold that only by intensifying solidarity and unity around the party and the front can they preserve the gains of national society and that only the Government of the State of Cambodia really respects and serves the will of the citizens."
},
{
"TITLE": "Chea Sim Inaugurates Mosque in Kandal Province",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503060091 Phnom Penh SPK in English 0410 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503060091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Phnom Penh",
"CITATION OUTLET": "SPK",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Phnom Penh SPK March 15—A mosque was inaugurated on March 11 in Kompong Luong Commune, Ponhea Loe District, Kandal Province.\nChea Sim, member of the Political Bureau of the People's Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea Central Committee [CC] and chairman of both the National Assembly and the National Council of the United Front for Construction and Defence of the Kampuchean Fatherland, was present at the inaugural ceremony.\nThis first building of Islamic culture has been restored since May 1988 on the site of a former mosque completely destroyed by the genocidal regime of Pol Pot. The other two mosques in the commune of 359 Islamic families are now being reconstructed.\nSpeaking at the opening of the mosque, Chairman Chea Sim recalled the rapid revival of the Cambodian people following the downfall of the genocidal Pol Pot clique particularly in the religious domain. He also informed the 10,000-odd audience of the combat capacity of the People’s Armed Forces of Cambodia, which are now fully able to defend the country against the return of the genocidal Polpotists.\nThe Cambodian leader spoke of the recent extraordinary session of the National Assembly and reaffirmed the Cambodian people's ardent aspiration for peace and the goodwill position of the party and government of the State of Cambodia in the search for a political solution to the Cambodian conflict in order to put an immediate end to the war waged by the three Khmer opposition factiors.\nChairman Chea Sim called upon the Islamic nationals and the entire Cambodian people in general to unite closely around the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea [PRPK] in the national construction and to contribute to the build-up and development of the armed forces and the prevention of the Polpotists's return.\nAccompanied by Mat Ly, Politburo member of the PRPK CC and vice-chairman of the National Assembly, Chea Sim also called on wounded cadres and combatants and presented gifts to 50 families of wounded combatants."
},
{
"TITLE": "Heng Samrin, Hun Sen Greet Hungarian Leaders",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503073291 Phnom Penh SPK in French 1124 GMT 14 March 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503073291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Phnom Penh",
"CITATION OUTLET": "SPK",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "French",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Phnom Penh 14 March (SPK)}—Heng Samrin, head of state, and Hun Sen, chairman of the Council of Ministers of the State of Cambodia, addressed warm congratulations to Hungarian leaders on the 143th anniversary of the Republic of Hungary's national day.\nIn their messages, addressed to Arpad Goncz, president of the republic, and Antall Jozsef, prime minister of Hungary, the Cambodian leaders expresed their firm conviction that the relations of friendship and multiform cooperation between the two countries will further deepen and develop.\nOn the same occasion, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong also sent his warm congratulations to his Hungarian counterpart, Geza Jeszensky."
},
{
"TITLE": "Japanese Initiative on UN Solution Discussed",
"FULL CITATION": "BK1503065491 Hong Kong AFP in English 0621 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503065491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Hong Kong",
"CITATION OUTLET": "AFP",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Bangkok, March 15 (AFP)}—Japan has called for an election ban on any Cambodian faction which resumes fighting after a pre-election demobilisation of troops is agreed upon, well-informed sources said here Friday.\nThe proposal, aimed at breathing life back into Cambodia's stalled peace process, was broached in separate meetings last month between senior Japanese diplomats and leaders of the warring factions, said the sources.\nPhnom Penh's Vietnam-installed government has demanded that a U.N.-brokered peace plan be modified to include strong measures to prevent the Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge, the mainstay of an anti-government guerrilla coalition, from returning to power.\nThe Khmer Rouge, a radical Marxist group, was driven from power in Cambodia in January 1979 following an invasion of the country by Vietnam. It now dominates the guerrilla coalition, which also includes two smaller U.S.-aided groups loyal to former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk and ex-Prime Minister Son Sann.\nThe Japanese proposal is aimed at removing objections to the U.N. blueprint by Phnom Penh, which has rejected the plan's calls for dismantling the current administration and its armed forces. The Khmer Rouge and its partners have insisted that the U.N. plan be implemented without alteration.\nThe Cambodian Government appears to have reacted coolly to Japan's initiative judging by reiterations of its objections to the U.N. plan since the Japanese proposal was outlined to leaders in Phnom Penh during a visit last month by senior Bangkok-based Japanese diplomat Yukio Imagawa.\nThe proposal was presented to Prince Sihanouk when another Bangkok-based Japanese envoy, Tadashi Ikeda, travelled to Beijing last month to meet the prince who is currently staying in the Chinese capital, the sources said.\nUnder the Japanese proposal, a U.N. Transitional Authority for Cambodia (UNTAC) would verify the successive stages of the military components of the plan: ceasefire, cantonment of forces, uncovering of arms caches, disarmament of troops and demobilization, the sources said.\nJapan, in a parallel bid to meet Phnom Penh's concerns over the Khmer Rouge, has also proposed that a special committee be set up to invesiigate the human rights record of the Khmer Rouge during their 1975-79 rule in which hundreds of thousands were executed or died of mistreatment in Cambodia's killing fields.\nPhnom Penh constantly accuses the Khmer Rouge of genocide although most of its top leadership, which is also communist although less extreme, is formed of Khmer Rouge defectors.\nJapan has suggested that the special committee be made up of representatives of the rival Cambodian factions, UNTAC and the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Commission, the sources said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Leaders Briefed on Japanese Peace Plan",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403133391 Tokyo KYODO in English 1320 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1403133391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "KYODO",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Beijing, March 14 KYODO—A Japanese envoy briefed Cambodian resistance leaders here on Thursday about Tokyo's plan to end the | 2-year war in Cambodia, Japanese Embassy officials said.\nThe officials declined to reveal Japan's peace plan but said it is aimed at reinforcing a United Nations peace proposal which calls for a ceasefire and disarming of al. four parties.\nTadashi Ikeda, minister at the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok, met with leaders of three anti-Vietnamese factions—Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan, and former Prime Minister Son Sann, officials said.\nThe five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council drafted a peace plan to end the civil war last August, but there have been differences among the warring parties on ways to implement a ceasefire.\nThe Security Council plan calls on the Vietnamese-backed Phnom Penh government to give up control of key ministries to U.N. administrators during a transitional period prior to free elections.\nThere is also Cambodian disagreement on how to deal with the mass killings that took place when the Khmer Rouge ruled the country from 1975-79.\nJapan's peace plan is designed to resolve the differences, the officials said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Note’ on Leaders 13 March Meeting in Beijing",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503033291 (Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodian 2315 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503033291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Clandestine",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "Note on the meeting of leaders of the Cambodian national government and the Cambodian national resistance forces ‘ssued by the Cambodian Embassy in Beijing”)\n[Text] Note: On 13 March 1991, leaders of the Cambodian National Government [CNG] and the Cambodian National Resistance Forces [CNRF] held an important meeting in Beijing on solving and ending Vietnam's war of aggression in Cambodia politically and comprehensively. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Samdech Norodom Sihanouk, president of Cambodia and leader of the CNRF; His Excellency Son Sann, prime minister of the CNG; His Excellency Khieu Samphan, vice president of Cambodia in charge of foreign affairs; and Prince Ranariddh, personal representative of Samdech Norodom Sihanouk in Cambodia and Asia and general secretary of FUNCINPEC [National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia].\nLeaders of the CNG and the CNRF unanimously agreed on the following:\n— To reaffirm their full support for the 28 August 1990 framework document of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council [UNSC], the 10 September 1990 Jakarta joint statement, the 668/90 resolution of the UNSC dated 20 September 1990, the 26 November 1990 draft agreement, and the 23 December 1990 Paris joint statement.\n— To call on all parties to accept all the above documents, particularly in order to implement the 668/90 resolution of the UNSC, to promote a comprehensive political solution to the Cambodian conflict in accordance with the profound aspirations of the Cambodian people who want peace and national independence most quickly.\n— Leaders of the CNG and the CNRF would like to express once again their profound gratitude to all friendly countries, particularly the ASEAN countries, for their precious support to the Cambodian people's just cause to restore national independence and sovereignty with territorial integrity.\n— Leaders of the CNG and the CNRF would also like to take this fine opportunity to express profound gratitude to the PRC and its government for always providing support and assistance and generous accommodation.\n[Dated] Beijing, 13 March 1991"
},
{
"TITLE": "VONADK Reaffirms Nature of War in Cambodia",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503043491 (Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodian 2315 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503043491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Clandestine",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "“Communique of the Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea on the war in Cambodia: This is Vietnam's war of Aggression Against Cambodia and Not a Civil War“\n[Text] I. The Hanoi Vietnamese aggressors committed aggression against and invaded Cambodia with hundreds of thousands of troops at the end of 1978 and have been occupying Cambodia ever since in accordance with Vietnam's Indochinese federation strategy. Everyone in the world knows about this. The United Nations and the UN General Asembly in particular have for the past 12 years confirmed this fact.\nThe documents of the United Nations Security Council [UNSC] permanent members and the entire UNSC clearly state that ine United Nations should supervise and control foreign aggressor forces in Cambodia—that is Vietnamese aggressor forces. Vietnamese aggressor forces are still occupying Cambodia. And to this day, the world knows about this fact and has been constantly talking about it.\nII. The Vietnamese enemy aggressors and a small number of their allies, however, with a strategic and dirty political goal in mind, have instead said that the current war in Cambodia is a civil war. Furthermore, the Vietnamese enemy and a small number of its allies have:\n1. Opposed the UN documents on the Cambodian problem and instead dissolved the UN documents on solving the Cambodian problem comprehensively;\n2. Called on Cambodia's Supreme National Council to discuss and solve matters among itself and completely eliminated the international aspect of the UN documents—the international aspect which clearly mentions foreign forces, namely Vietnamese aggressor forces, which are committing aggression against Cambodia:\n3. Proposed a new plan, different from the UN documents, aimed at maintaining Vietnam's puppet regime in Phnom Penh, and through this, maintaining Vietnamese aggressor forces in Cambodia. This would also maintain Vietnamese aggressor troops through Vietnam's puppet regime and elections would be organized at will aimed at discarding the Cambodian national resistance forces, and through this allowing Vietnam, the aggressor, to continue occupying Cambodia forever and legitimately.\nIII. The entire Cambodian people in and outside the country, the entire Cambodian national resistance forces, the world, and the United Nations will absolutely not be taken in by the Vietnamese enemy and its allies. People will continue to stand firmly by the UN documents on the plan to search for peace and to end Vietnam's war of aggression comprehensively and the documents related to this UN document. The Cambodian people, the world, and the United Nations all have clearly realized that it is the Hanoi Vietnamese enemy aggressors and puppets Hun Sen, Heng Samrin, and Chea Sim who oppose the UN documents on settling Vietnam's war of aggression in Cambodia comprehensively. People will continue to pressure Vietnam and its puppets and lackeys to accept, abide by, and implement these UN documents in order to end Vietnam's war of aggression in Cambodia comprehensively. This way Cambodia and Southeast Asia would have peace and security. People absolutely do not need any other plans apart from the UN plan because those plans would be just deceitful ones which can neither solve and end Vietnam's war of aggression and restore peace in Cambodia nor restore peace and security in Southeast Asia."
},
{
"TITLE": "Government Regiments Routed in Battambang",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503023891 (Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodian 2315 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503023891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Clandestine",
"CITATION OUTLET": "Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] On 4 and 5 March, the Vietnamese enemy aggressors and race exterminators and their puppets and lackeys gathered four regiments of their troops, backed by four tanks, and started out from Kralanh and Srei Snam Districts [Siem Reap Province] in an attempt to take our liberated villages in Phnum Srok District. They were ambushed and routed by our national resistance forces.\nWe killed 25 enemy soldiers and wounded 42 others; destroyed | 1 AK’s, two B-40’s, a 12.7-mm machine gun; and seized a quantity of assorted ammunition and war materiel."
And Gemini 2.5 Flash Thinking? It made it to page 54 at a cost of $0.194826 ($0.003607 a page):
[
{
"TITLE": "ASEAN To Accept USSR as Dialogue Partner",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1403093591 Tokyo KYODO in English 0817 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1403093591",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Masanori Kikuta",
"FULL_TEXT": "Kuala Lumpur, March 14 KYODO—The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed in principle to accept the Soviet Union as one of its dialogue partners.“ Malaysian Foreign Minister Omar Abu Hassan indicated Thursday.\n\nThe Soviet Union “would like to be closer to us and has offered to join Japan, the United States and other existing partners of dialogue with ASEAN, Abu Hassan told a press conference.\n\n“We will certainly look at the best possible means to get them (the Soviets) involved in one way or another,” he said. “There have been some discussions among officials.“\n\nASEAN is scheduled to hold an annual meeting of foreign ministers, followed by a meeting with their counterparts from six existing dialogue partners, plus South Korea, in Kuala Lumpur on July 19-24, Abu Hassan said.\n\nSouth Korea will be the seventh full dialogue partner, starting with the meeting, but it has not been decided yet if the Soviet Union will join such a ministerial meeting, he said.\n\n“We are still looking at the kind of format or relationship we want to establish with them,” he said.\n\nMalaysian Government officials said earlier that ASEAN is also considering beginning a dialogue with China.\n\nSouth Korea began a dialogue with ASEAN when particular issues such as trade and investment matters arose, before allowing it to become a full partner.\n\nASEAN will discuss “other ways of association” with the Soviet Union as well as Vietnam, Myanmar [Burma], and other potential dialogue partners because involving them as full participants in regular meetings will mean “very long and taxing” sessions, Abu Hassan said.\n\nSenior ASEAN officials “will think about how best to engage them into this kind of association,” he said.\n\nIn the meantime, he said, ASEAN's six member countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei—will try to establish “economic linkages with them bilaterally, not on an ASEAN basis,” he added.\n\nMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed told an international economic conference on the Indonesian resort island of Bali last week ASEAN is considering inviting Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar to the next foreign ministers’ meeting.\n\nBut Abu Hassan indicated it will be some time before the three Indochinese socialist countries become dialogue partners.\n\n“This will be discussed from time to time by senior officials” and “will definitely be on the agenda of the (next) summit“ of ASEAN planned for Singapore late this year or early next year, he said.\n\nASEAN last held a summit in Manila in 1987, itself the first in a decade, and Mahathir proposed at the Bali conference that ASEAN leaders meet more frequently.\n\nSenior ASEAN officials met in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the increase in dialogue partners and other issues, said Abu Hassan, who will be appointed minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in a cabinet reshuffle Friday.\n\nAnother session devoted to economic issues is scheduled for Friday.\n\nAmong issues discussed so far have been a plan to set up an “ASEAN cooperation unit“ of specialists with the help of the United Nations development program to provide technical services for the management of various projects undertaken jointly by the ASEAN countries, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "APEC Agrees To Push for Trade Liberalization",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1303052591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 13 Mar 91 p B10",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1303052591",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "the nation",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Oranut Anasuksathian and Yindi Loetcharoenchok",
"FULL_TEXT": "Thai officials who attended a two-day meeting on the Asia-Pacific economic grouping last week, expressed satisfaction at the renewed attempts of the 12 member countries to push for regional trade liberalization and to adopt three new projects.\n\nBesides, progress was made to link up trade and investment data available in member countries with the Global Link centre in Singapore, said Laksanachanthon Laohaphan, director general of the Foreign Ministry's ASEAN Affairs Department.\n\nShe led the Thai delegation to the discussions at the Honeymoon Island of Cheju in South Korea on March 5 and 6.\n\nThailand, she said, is preparing to subscribe to the information and the Commerce Ministry is updating and arranging its own database to facilitate the link-up.\n\nIn an interview with THE NATION, Laksanachanthon described the Cheju meeting as “full of cooperation, cordial and quite positive”. all member countries, she added, agreed on the urgency to speed up cooperation and resolve the existing barriers between each other.\n\nThe Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) comprises the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the six countries of ASEAN—Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.\n\nMeanwhile, three new projects were approved in addition to the existing seven working programmes previously adopted by the members. Two of the three new projects on transportation and tourism were proposed by the United States while New Zealand suggested a fishery project. Thailand has expressed a keen interest in the project.\n\nThe members also agreed with an Australian proposal to set up an ad hoc committee to study regional trade liberalization and with the Canadian suggestion to study the regional macroeconomic outlook and its implications.\n\nSo far, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Japan and Singapore have subscribed to the Australian initiative. Other members may join in the consultation process later, Laksanachanthon said.\n\nA summary paper of APEC’s senior officials’ meeting stated that the participants were of a general agreement that non-discriminatory trade liberalization in the region was an appropriate area for detailed study and consideration. There was also a general agreement among the members on the importance of the trade liberalization as a continuing policy focus for APEC.\n\nCanada which spearheaded the move to explore and study the regional economic policy and trends will soon call a meeting of the member countries, said an official at the meeting.\n\nAll the proposals will be submitted to the senior official representatives of the 12 members and later at the APEC ministerial- level meeting in Seoul in October.\n\nASEAN senior foreign officials were to meet in Kuala Lumpur today until March 15 to discuss the outcome of the APEC consultations. But the meeting was indefinitely postponed because of the coup in Thailand.\n\nIn a related development, ASEAN’s senior economic officials are to meet today in Bandung to study the proposals approved by APEC officiais. The meeting ends on Friday.\n\nThe Cheju meeting also agreed on the financial aspects of the projects and timetables for implementing them. The expenses incurred from these projects will be shared by the members.\n\nBut the six ASEAN nations have asked the developed countries in the group to recognize their financial constraints and suggested that the developed economies contribute more in carrying out big projects, according to a commerce official.\n\nLaksanachanthon said that the agreement on the financial aspects and new projects is a major step forward for APEC, a cooperation of countries from extremely different economic and political backgrounds.\n\nWhile foreign officials were very optimistic about the progress made in the regional economic consultations, some Thai commerce officials who accompanied the delegation said the talk moved very little forward.\n\nThe three projects given approval at the official-level meeting were pending since the first official consultation in Singapore last year, they said. Moreover, ASEAN has repeated its intention for the cooperation process to go slow.\n\nAccording to Laksanachanthon, the exchange of opinions on trade and investment information and the development of human resources have progressed the most because they do not require the establishment of new mechanisms.\n\nOther projects, including energy cooperation, telecommunications and technology transfer are also moving forward due to consultations held between individual working groups, she added."
},
{
"TITLE": "Agency Ready To Dispatch Minesweepers to Gulf",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1503082791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0754 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1503082791",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan could dispatch a small fleet of minesweepers in about a week if given orders to help clean- up efforts in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war, a Defense Agency source said Friday.\n\nThe Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel, and with port calls could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said.\n\nThe task of removing more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before the war would take about a year to complete, the source said.\n\nJapanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulſ's waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran-Iraq war.\n\nThe government received similar requests for mine-sweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait.\n\nThe Defense Agency will likely deploy four mine-sweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote- controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines.\n\nThe flagship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180.\n\nThe minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and that can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes.\n\nAccording to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task.\n\n“It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,” said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kaifu Undecided on Dispatch",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1503112991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1106 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1503112991",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday implied he opposed a proposal to send Japanese minesweepers to help cleanup the effects of the Persian Gulf war.\n\nKaifu, speaking at the House of Representatives’ standing committee on foreign affairs, said the government is now collecting information to see if Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] ships are needed in the Gulf. Kaifu said he “is addressing the matter carefully.”\n\n“I have never decided to send the minesweepers. It is irresponsible to do so without exact knowledge about the situation” in the Gulf area, Kaifu said.\n\nState Minister for Defense Vukihiko Ikeda told reporters Friday that Japan should handle the matter carefully, without any speculation. Speculation could lead Japan in the wrong direction, he said.\n\n“I am embarrassed that controversy over such an abrupt proposal has been spreading across the nation,” Ikeda said.\n\nEarlier this week, senior officials in Kaifu's ruling Liberal Democratic Party proposed deploying mine-sweepers to the Gulf.\n\nOn Thursday, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama told a parliamentary committee that Japan is obliged to try to protect Japanese sailors in the area. Nakayama also said the government will discuss sending minesweepers to the Gulf with the seafarers union.\n\nEarlier Friday, a Defense Agency source said Japan could deploy a small minesweeper fleet in about a week, if given orders.\n\nIf sent, the Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel. Allowing time for port calls, it could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said.\n\nIt will take about a year to remove more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before ti 2 war, the source said.\n\nJapanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulf’s waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran-Iraq war.\n\nThe government received similar requests for mine-sweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait.\n\nThe Defense Agency will likely deploy four mine-sweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote- controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines.\n\nThe flag ship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180.\n\nThe minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet-made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes.\n\nAccording to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to completing the task.\n\n“It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,” said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Official: SDF Aircraft Can Be Used for Evacuees",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1403165191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1457 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1403165191",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan can fly Air Self-Defense Force [ASDF] aircraft to Kuwait to transport evacuees if an international body makes such a request, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Thursday.\n\nThe official, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited the government's special administrative ordinance made to send ASDF transport aircraft abroad to carry refugees earlier this year. The ordinance makes such flights possible if they are requested by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) or a related world body.\n\nThe official was commenting on a question relating to a possible Egyptian request to shuttle Egyptian workers being evacuated to Kuwait from Iraq, which is now gripped by internal conflict.\n\n“If the IOM makes such a request to Japan with Kuwaiti approval, then why not? The ordinance never specifically defines the flight routes,” the official said, adding he has rc information that such a request has yet been made.\n\nPrime Minister Toshiki Kaifu's government made the ordinance with the possibility of flying ASDF aircraft between Cairo and some Jordanian cities in mind, but actually no such request was made."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Minister Urges Kaifu To Visit U.S. Soon",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW'1503033791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0258 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW'1503033791",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu should visit Washington as early as possible, even later this month or in April, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama said Friday.\n\nNakayama told reporters after a regular cabinet meeting that the prime minister himself wishes to make the trip even if it is a brief one.\n\nThe foreign minister said Kaifu should have no problem with Diet business, saying four days is enough for a return trip to Washington.\n\nNakayama said he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week.\n\nHe is set to leave Japan next Wednesday to meet with Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials.\n\nNakayama said Japan's upcoming Golden Week” series of national holidays in late April and early May, usually used for politicians’ visits abroad, should be the best time for Kaiſu's swing to Southeast Asian nations, which was postponed in January amid the Persian Gulf crisis, and Kaifu's U.S. visit should come first.\n\nForeign Ministry officials have expressed strong hopes for an early Japan-U.S. summit to discuss bilateral cooperation after the Gulf war.\n\nPresident George Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed as a result of the Gulf war. Foreign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be “too late.”"
},
{
"TITLE": "More on Aims of Visit",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW'1503101091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0955 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW'1503101091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu may visit the United States in early April to exchange views with U.S. President George Bush on peace prospects in the Middle East and the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks, government sources said Friday.\n\nIn the talks with Bush, Kaifu is expected to express Japan's willingness to strengthen political and economic relations with Israel as part of a comprehensive Japanese Middle East policy in the wake of the Persian Gulf war.\n\nWashington has expressed hope the Japanese Government will extend economic assistance to Israel to facilitate postwar restoration work.\n\nJapan has never given economic aid to Israel and has maintained a generally pro-Arab Middle East policy.\n\nKaifu is also expected to express Japan's readiness to find a breakthrough in the stalled multinational trade talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the sources said.\n\nBut they did not give further details on what proposals Kaifu will make to bring about a successful conclusion of the trade talks.\n\nDuring the visit, Kai‘u is likely to stay in Washington or a U.S. west coast city for three or four days.\n\nNakayama told reporters he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week. The foreign minister is set to leave Japan Wednesday to meet Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials.\n\nPresident Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed because of the Gulf war.\n\nForeign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be too late.”\n\nA top Foreign Ministry official suggested that Kaifu would visit Washington in April.\n\n“There is little possibilty (of Kaifu's U.S. trip) in March,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that the trip would take place before the holidays that begin in late April.\n\nHe also said that there might be a need to adjust ties between Japan and the U.S. before Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev visits Japan Apri! 16-19."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Ministry Aide To Visit U.S. 17 Mar",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1503110991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1503110991",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan will dispatch a senior Foreign Ministry official to Washington on Sunday to discuss post- Persian Gulf war policies, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.\n\nYukio Sato, director general of the ministry's information analysis, research and planning bureau, will visit Washington at the request of the U.S. Government, ministry officials said.\n\nThe trip will precede Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama’s scheduled U.S. visit, beginning next Wednesday.\n\nState Department officials are expected to brief Sato on the results of Secretary of State James Baker's Middle East tour and President George Bush's series of talks with European leaders.\n\nSato last visited the U.S. between February 25 and March 6. On that trip, he presented Japanese ideas on international restrictions on arms shipments to the Middle East, and said Japan was ready to help repair environmental damage in the Gulf region, the officials said.\n\nHe is expected to discuss more specific aspects of postwar international cooperation during his upcoming trip, they said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Urges U.S. Rice Display’s Removal",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1503051791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1503051791",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister Motoji Kondo reiterated Friday that he will urge a U.S. rice industry group to withdraw samples of U.S. rice displayed at a food trade show now under way in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture.\n\nKondo said at a press conference after a regular cabinet meeting that he will request the U.S.A. Rice Council to remove the American rice samples by Saturday, when the food show at the Makuhari Exposition Center is scheduled to end.\n\nHe said such activities aimed at promoting rice sales violate Japan's Food Control Law.\n\nThe minister also said it is questionable whether the rice samples for the show have been quarantined or not.\n\nThe ministry will consult with its affiliated Food Agency about what to do if the U.S. council does not accept his demand, Kondo said.\n\nThe National Confederation of Farmers’ Movements has announced it will take legal action against the U.S. group over the rice samples."
},
{
"TITLE": "Business Delegation To Meet U.S. Counterparts",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1403132991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1305 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1403132991",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Business leaders from Japan and the United States will meet in Los Angeles on May 11-12 to “deepen mutual understanding,” the first such meeting since the end of the Persian Gulf war, business sources said Thursday.\n\nThe meeting will be in preparation for a session of the Japan- U.S. Businessmen's Conference to be held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in July.\n\nThe officials said the Japanese delegation will explain Japan's basic stance concerning the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks.\n\nThey said the Japanese side also is concerned about the hardening of U.S. sentiment toward Japan over Tokyo's alleged lukewarm support for the U.S.-led multinational forces fighting the Gulf war.\n\nThe Japanese delegation will include Eishiro Saito, honorary chairman of the powerful Federation of Economic Organizations; Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the federation; and Rokuro Ishikawa, president of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry."
},
{
"TITLE": "CPSU Department Chief Falin Continues Visit",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1403131591 Tokyo NHK General Television Network in Japanese 1000 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1403131591",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "nhk general television network",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Japanese",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "The Liberal Democratic Party [LDP] established its Jepan-USSR Parliamentarians League today. In a speech delivered prior to the plenary session, CPSU International Department Chief Falin indicated Soviet intentions to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japan in April.\n\nWith President Gorbachev scheduled to visit Japan in April, the LDP’s Japan-USSR Parliamentarians’ League was established today for the purpose of promoting extensive exchanges between the two nations. Keijiro Murata, former chairman of the party's policy affairs research council, will serve as chairman of the League.\n\nCPSU International Department chief Falin, on his first visit to Japan to attend the league's inaugural session, delivered a speech prior to the plenary session. Commenting on President Gorbachev's visit to Japan, Falin said that President Gorbachev would bring with him not the former image of the Soviet Union but a picture filled with a brighter future. He added that despite the fact that the domestic situation in the Soviet Union is not very favorable right now, it will not be long before the sun shines on Soviet-Japanese relations through the efforts of the two nations. Thus, he indicated the Soviet intention to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japar.\n\nFurthermore, regarding President Gorbachev's perestroyka policy, International Department chief Falin stated: Unless domestic disorder in the Soviet Union turns into civil war, there will be no going back on perestroyka or any shift in the chosen orientation."
},
{
"TITLE": "Reads Gorbachev Message",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1403154991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1347 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1403154991",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said in a message read here Thursday that he would like a Japanese delegation to visit Moscow before he travels to Tokyo in April.\n\nThe two countries share a common desire to open a new stage of relations, Gorbachev said in his message read at the inauguration of a bilateral parliamentarians’ group.\n\nThe parliamentarians’ league was formed by Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Soviet Union.\n\nThe Soviet Union and Japan are obligated to play an “objective role” in the region and internationally, Gorbachev said in the message read by Valentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party's International Affairs Division.\n\n“I hope that, as two major members of the world community, our unique contribution to the process of global cooperation will become larger. Gorbachev said in the message.\n\nHe said he wants to meet with a Japanese delegation before his scheduled April 16-19 visit to Japan, apparently referring to a possible visit by LDP Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa.\n\nFalin, in a separate address to the league, said he was upbeat about bilateral relations.\n\nHe warned, however, that Gorbachev's historic visit comes at a time of domestic turmoil in the Soviet Union.\n\nEconomic reforms are falling victim to political power struggles, Falin told the audience of some 500 political and economic leaders.\n\nHe said Gorbachev will stay on the path of “perestroyka” economic reforms and democratization unless the country is swept up in chaos.\n\n“When President Gorbachev visits Japan, he will bring with him a bright picture of the future of the Soviet Union, not the old image,” said Falin, a top foreign policy aide to Gorbachev.\n\nFalin said financial credit and goods are important to his country, but what the Soviet Union needs most is a model that will help the public make the “correct decision” between a free market economic system and the present centrally planned economy.\n\nSpeeches by Japanese political leaders, meanwhile, lacked the usual references to the four-decade territorial dispute over four islands north of Hokkaido that has frozen relations in a bitter standoff.\n\nThe league, joined by 184 LDP parliamentarians, was established to help resolve problems in Japan-Soviet economic cooperation, and promote exchanges by the two countries’ ruling parties in advance of Gorbachev's visit.\n\nIt supplements an existing suprapertisan league."
},
{
"TITLE": "Laverov, Falin Meet Kaifu",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1503041391 Tokyo KYODO in English 0342 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1503041391",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—A foreign policy adviser to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said to Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday the two countries should make “100 percent“ use of the Kremlin leader's visit to Tokyo next month to achieve a breakthrough in ties.\n\nValentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party's International Affairs Division, said he spoke with Gorbachev immediately before arriving in Japan on Thursday, and that the President is “prepared to make a breakthrough in ties.”\n\n“When the President comes, discussions should not be only of the weather and the cherry blossoms, there should also be serious talks on bilateral and international issues. Falin said.\n\nLet's make 100 percent use of this chance,” he said in a 15- minute courtesy call, also joined by Soviet Vice Premier Nikolay Laverov.\n\nThe two officials are here to attend separate political and science events to promote ties prior to Gorbachev's visit.\n\nKaifu said he hopes for a resolution of the territorial dispute over four islands east of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, so that the two countries could sign a peace treaty.\n\nThe northern islands issue has been a stumbling block for improving relations ever since World War II, when the Soviet troops occupied the islands.\n\nKaifu said he hopes to see a “dynamic” expansion of relations in a wide variety of fields, including economics and technology.\n\nLaverov, here to attend the opening of a Soviet science fair, suggested that Soviet basic technology combined with Japanese know- how in application would deliver fruitful results."
},
{
"TITLE": "Gorbachev, Kaifu To Hold Three Rounds of Talks",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW'1503141091 Tokyo KYODC in English 1343 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW'1503141091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will hold three rounds of talks with Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu during his April 16 to 19 visit to Japan, with the two countries’ territorial dispute high on the agenda, government officials said Friday.\n\nGorbachev and Kaifu are expected to sign 11 pacts and documents on issues such as Japan's support for Gorbachev's “perestroyka™ restructuring efforts, and aid to victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.\n\nThe two leaders plan to issue a joint statement on the results and meaning of Gorbachev's visit, officials said.\n\nThe Soviet president is also scheduled to meet with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, make a speech at the Diet, give a lecture at a university and meet with the press during his four-day stay in Japan, they said.\n\nVisits to Osaka and Kyoto are also being arranged, officials said.\n\nThe schedule will be finalized when Soviet Foreign Minister Aleksander Bessmertnykh visits Japan from March 29-31.\n\nGorbachev's visit to Japan will be the first by a top Kremlin leader in the two nations’ history.\n\nIt will also be the first Japan-Soviet summit conference in six years, following the meeting between Gorbachev and then Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. At that time, Nakasone went to Moscow to attend the state funeral of Soviet Communist Party leader Konstantin Chernenko, who was succeeded by Gorbachev.\n\nThere have been only two other Japanese-Soviet summit meetings—between Ichiro Hatoyama and Nikolay Bulganin in October 1956, and between Kakuei Tanaka and Leonid Brezhnev in October 1973.\n\nWith Gorbachev's visit, Japan hopes to find a breakthrough in realizing the return of the four northern islands off Hokkaido that the Soviet Union occupied after World War II.\n\n“We hope to pave the path for solving the territorial dispute and the signing of a Japan-Soviet peace treaty in order to build a foundation for bilateral relations,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said. “And we would like to make it a turning point in dealing with postwar issues.”\n\nSome Foreign Ministry sources, however, say the territorial dispute cannot be solved in one or two top-level meetings.\n\nWith just one month before the visit, Tokyo hopes to feel out Moscow's positions in Bessmerinykh's meetings with Kaifu and Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama later this month, officials said.\n\nLiberal Democractic Party [LDP] Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa is also planning to visit Moscow during March, LDP sources said.\n\nThe Soviet Union, however, is suffering severe economic difficulties, and political and ethnic turmoil at home and is hoping to secure Japan's financial aid while sounding out Japan's position on the territorial dispute.\n\nMeanwhile, a Soviet advance team will arrive in Tokyo on Monday for a weeklong visit, Soviet (i)plomatic sources said Friday."
},
{
"TITLE": "Envoy Says Gorbachev Hopes To Meet Businessmen",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1403125991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1215 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1403125991",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev hopes to meet with Japanese business leaders during his visit to Tokyo in April, Soviet Ambassador to Japan Lyudvig Chizhov said Thursday.\n\nChizhov called on Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the influential Federation of Economic Organizations, known as the Keidanren, Thursday afternoon to convey Gorbachev's desire for a meeting with Hiiaiwa and other business leaders, Keidanren officials said.\n\nHiraiwa welcomed the request and hoped that Gorbachev's trip to Japan will mark a dramatic step forward in relations between Japan and the Soviet Union, said Keidanren officials."
},
{
"TITLE": "USSR Foreign Minister To Discuss Middle East",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1503104291 Tokyo KYODO in English 1006 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1503104291",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Foreign Ministers Aleksander Bessmertnykh and Taro Nakayama will discuss Middle East security in the post-Persian Gulf war period and other international issues during their talks in Tokyo later this month, Soviet diplomatic sources said Friday.\n\nThe March 29-31 meeting, aimed at finalizing details for President Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to Japan April 16-19, will be the second between the two foreign ministers this year, and the first followirg last month's end of hostilities in the Gulf.\n\nThe foreign ministers are also to discuss 11 agreements to be inked during Gorbachev's planned April visit, as well as a final statement to be issued at the end of the trip and a peace treaty, the sources said.\n\nBoth Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu and Gorbachev have expressed hopes that the visit will provide a breakthrough in relations, snagged over a dispute over ownership of four small islands occupied by the Soviet Union after World War II.\n\nHowever, there have been few hints yet how the two sides will approach the territorial dispute, which Japan says must be resolved before a peace treaty can be concluded.\n\nThe sources said the Soviet Union plans to hand over a list of some 40,000 deceased Japanese World War II prisoners of war prior to Gorbachev's visit.\n\nIt recently canceled a plan to hand over the register to a private association of former war detainees in Siberia following a demand by the Japanese Government that the list be delivered via official channels.\n\nAmong those accompanying Gorbachev on the historic visit will be his wife Raisa, Bessmertnykh, and presidential spokesman Vitaliy Ignatenko, the sources said.\n\nThe visit here is to be the first ever by a Kremlin leader.\n\nFour Japanese prime ministers have traveled to the Soviet Union while in office.\n\nIn 1956 Ichiro Hatoyama visited the Soviet Union to normalize diplomatic relations. Kakuei Tanaka traveled to Moscow in 1973, Zenko Suzuki in 1982, and Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1984.\n\nThe sources said they did not expect the Soviet referendum slated for Sunday on preservation of the country’s union structure to affect the visit."
},
{
"TITLE": "Ministry Official ‘Lukewarm’ on USSR Aid",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW'1S03081191 Tokvo KYODO in English 0602 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW'1S03081191",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—A senior Finance Ministry official expressed a lukewarm view Friday regarding possible Japanese financial aid to the Soviet Union.\n\nThe official, who declined to be named, said the Soviet economy has worsened since the International Monetary Fund and other international organizations issued a negative report on the economic situation in the Soviet Union late last year.\n\nThe official also said the Soviet military crackdown on independence movements in the Baltic republics adversely affected the Western attitude toward Moscow.\n\nHe said Western aid to the Soviet Union will be discussed at the London summit of seven Western industrialized nations in July but their attitude will not be as enthusiastic as it was in the previous summit in Houston, Texas, last year."
},
{
"TITLE": "SDP To Review Stand on Kuril Islands",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW'1403171691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1516 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW'1403171691",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—The Social Democratic Party (SDP) will review its basic policy calling for the return of all the Kuril Islands, including the four Soviet-held islands off Hokkaido, party officials said Thursday.\n\nThey said party members have been deinanding more flexibility in policy toward the Soviet Union.\n\nThe SDP, Japan's largest opposition party, has argued since 1961 that Moscow must return two of the four islands—Shikotan Island and the Habomai Island group—before concluding a peace treaty with Tokyo, and said that the return of the other Kuril islands should be negotiated later.\n\nThe four islands were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.\n\nA Japanese-Soviet joint declaration in 1956 specified that the Soviet Union would return Shikotan and the Habomais after concluding a peace treaty between the two countries."
},
{
"TITLE": "Marubeni Postpones Vladivostok Office Plan",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW'1503125591 Tokyo KYODO in English 1116 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW'1503125591",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Marubeni Corp. said Friday it has put off its plan to open a representative office in the Soviet far east city of Viadivostok because of an abrupt aboutface in Soviet policy.\n\nThe trading giant has apparently made the decision after learning of a change in Soviet policy, apparently stemming from the rise of conservatives in the leadership following the military crackdown in the Baltic republics, industry sources said.\n\nCompany officials said they had an impression that the Kremlin now does not want to open Vladivostok, a major Soviet naval port on the Sea of Japan, to foreigners for the time being.\n\nThe Soviet Union earlier promised to allow foreign companies to open offices in the city in March in order to promote economic reforms in the Far East.\n\nMarubeni and another Japanese trading firm, Mitsubishi Corp., then announced plans to open offices there.\n\nMitsubishi said it has not received information about Moscow's change of policy. The firm said it has not withdrawn its application filed to the state authorities of that country, because the Soviet situation remains fluid.\n\nVladivostok, with a population of about 650,000, is the home of the Soviet Far East naval fleet."
},
{
"TITLE": "Development Loan Pleadged to PRC",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1503110791 Tokyo KYODO in English 1041 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1503110791",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan has pledged to extend a low-interest, untied loan of up to 43.38 billion yen to China in the third disbursement of its aid package for fiscal 1990, the Foreign Ministry announced Friday.\n\nThe ministry said the fund will be used to help finance five development projects, including construction . highways, railways, and other facilities.\n\nThe loan, part of Japan's official development assistance (ODA), is repayable over a 30-year period, including a 10-year grace period, at an annual interest rate ol 7.5 percent, the ministry said.\n\nNotes on the loan were exchanged in Beijing on Friday between Japanese Ambassador to China Hiroshi Hashimoto and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Qi Huaiyuan, the ministry said.\n\nThe projects to be financed by the loan include:\n\n—construction and consolidation of highway and tele- communications networks in Qingdao City at a cost of 12,834 million yen.\n\n—construction of railways in Baoji in northwestern China at a cost of 5,572 million yen.\n\n—construction of an airport in Wuhan at 6,279 million yen.\n\n—construction of coal transportation railways linking Hengshui and Shangqiu at a cost of 5,695 million.\n\n—construction of the Beijing Shisanling pumped-storage power station at 13 billion yen."
},
{
"TITLE": "Grants Extended to Latin America, Affica",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1403125091 Tokyo KYODO in English 1027 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1403125091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan will extend grant-in-aid to Peru, Honduras, Benin, Madagascar, and Botswana, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.\n\nPeru will receive 3.5 billion yen and Honduras 500 million yen in a nonproject grant to help pay for the Latin American nations’ necessary imports, the ministry said.\n\nBenin will get 900 million yen and Madagascar 3.5 billion yen for the same purpose.\n\nThe 104-million-yen grant for Botswana is for debt relief and will compensate for part of its debts in yen loans from Japan extended until March 1988, the ministry said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Finance Minister Remarks on Yen's Weakness",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1503061991 Tokyo KYODO in English 0550 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1503061991",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said Friday the current weakness of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar in foreign exchange markets should not be sustained.\n\n“I do not think current exchange rates between the two currencies reflect Japanese economic fundamentals correctly,” Hashimoto told the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives.\n\nThe minister said he hopes currency rates will settle moderately, not sharply. The recent strength of the dollar is caused by U.S. investors’ euphoria at the end of the Persian Gulf war, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Sees Economic Expansion Without Inflation",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW1503020291 Tokyo KYODO in English 0119 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW1503020291",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said on Friday the economy continues to expand without any fear of a rekindling of inflation.\n\nSpeaking at a press conference after a cabinet meeting, Hashimoto said brisk domestic demand is supporting the current economic expansion.\n\nMeanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Yasushi Mieno said personal consumption and private-sector capital spending are still the main pillars of Japan's 51-month economic expansion.\n\nMieno made his remarks before a Finance Committee meeting at the House of Representatives.\n\nThe central bank chief said there is no signs of a decline in the two pillars and that the pace of economic expansion remains steady.\n\n“A moderate slowdown in the growth rate would sustain the country's economic expansion,” Mieno said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Administrative Vice Finance Minister Named",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW'1403151191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1438 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW'1403151191",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has decided to name Hiroshi Yasuda, Budget Bureau Chief, as Administrative Vice Minister of Finance, ministry officials said Thursday night.\n\nYasuda, 58, will succeed Masami Kogayu, 59, who will retire from the post. Their personnel change is expected to be formalized in late June, the officials said.\n\nJiro Saito, 55, chief of the minister's secretariat, will succeed Yasuda as new Budget Bureau Chief.\n\nAt the same time, Tadao Chino, 57, International Finance Bureau chief, will be named to succeed Makoto Utsumi, 56, the retiring vice minister for international affairs, the ministry officials said.\n\nHashimoto's decision on the appointments followed the passage of the national budget bill for fiscal 1991 through the House of Representatives earlier in the evening.\n\nThe newly picked administrative vice minister, Yasuda previously served as head of the minister's secretariat before taking up the current post last June."
},
{
"TITLE": "Lower House Approves 1991 Fiscal Budget",
"FULL_CITATION": "OH 1403142691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1359 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OH 1403142691",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—The House of Representatives passed by a majority vote Thursday the government-proposed 1991 fiscal budget totaling 70,347.4 billion yen.\n\nThe budget incorporates 12,212.2 billion yen for social welfare, up 5.1 percent over the current year, 6,589.7 billion yen for public works projects, up 6.0 percent, and 883.1 billion for official development aid, up 8.0 percent.\n\nDefense spending was slashed to 4,386 billion yen in order to raise funds for Japan's 9 billion dollar contribution to the cost of the Persian Gulf war, though this was still an increase of 5.45 percent.\n\nThe bulk of the 9 billion dollars was generated in a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year.\n\nIn addition, Japan earlier offered 2 billion dollars to the U.S.- led multinational forces deployed in the Middle East and another 2 billion dollars in aid to countries affected by the conflict.\n\nThe legislation was immediately sent to the House of Councillors for further deliberation.\n\nAccording to the Constitution, the bill will be enacted automatically in 30 days even if the upper house fails to act on it.\n\nThe government is also expected to compile a provisional budget amounting to about 5 trillion yen to cover government expenditures for the first 12 days of fiscal 1991, beginning April 1."
},
{
"TITLE": "Commodity Funds Bill To Include Securities",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1403131691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1056 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1403131691",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—A law to introduce commodity funds in Japan to be enacted soon will allow such funds to include securities for less than 50 percent of their assets, government officials said Thursday.\n\nThe Finance Ministry, Ministry of International Trade and Industry [MITI], and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Ministry have jointly drawn up a draft of a bill which is expected to be submitted to the current Diet session.\n\nThe bill will also provide for the punishment of violators, including imprisonment, a MITI official said.\n\nTrust banks will be the sole institutions that are allowed to establish commodity funds under the new law, the official said.\n\nOn the marketing side, commodity funds for general investors will be marketed by trust banks, while those for corporate and institutional investors will be handled by trading houses and iease companies, he said.\n\nSecurities to be included in the funds include government bonds, corporate debentures, and mortgages.\n\nBut resale of these funds will be prohibited to limit the distribution.\n\nCommodity funds are a type of trust fund in which the trustees invest money on behalf of investors in commodity futures markets, such as grain, precious metals, and crude oil futures."
},
{
"TITLE": "Household Spending Increases in 1990",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1503121091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0805 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1503121091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO— Japanese households spent an average 311,174 yen per month in 1990, up 0.8 percent in real terms over the year before, the Management and Coordination Agency said in a report Friday.\n\nThis is the second year for growth to be below 1.0 percent, following the 0.5 percent rise in 1989, and shows that spending has been discouraged in part by a surge of consumer prices ai a rate that has not been seen since 1981, the report said.\n\nHouseholds of salaried workers spent an average 331,595 yen per month or 1.6 percent more than in the previous year.\n\nThe average nonsalaried worker's households spent only 0.1 percent more at an average of 275,583 yen.\n\nAn increase in overseas holidays boosted spending in the leisure- related service sector, as more households spent more on airline tickets and group tours.\n\nSpending grew notably in cordless telephones and telephone services, eyeglasses, and medical goods.\n\nSteady consumption was seen in household durable goods such as air conditioners and refrigerators, helped in part by the hot summer weather, but purchases of television sets and videotape recorders fell for the first time in 12 years, the report said.\n\nSpending on alcohol, other beverages, and prepared foods went up, but that on fresh fruit and vegetables fell, due to their higher prices, it said.\n\nA steady growth was seen in the monthly income of salaried workers’ households, which went up 2.0 percent on average from the year before to 521,757 yen.\n\nAlthough the income earned by household heads rose a weak 1.0 percent, due to the spreading employment of older, lower-paid people, there were jumps of 4.8 percent in bonus payments to them and of 4.6 percent in the income earned by their spouses.\n\nSpending in the nonconsumption sector surged 9.1 percent due to higher social insurance rates.\n\nDouble-income households earned 556,633 yen monthly, or 16.8 percent more than single-income households, with the income of the spouse accounting for an average 107,928 yen, or 19.4 percent of the total.\n\nDouble-income households spent 11.8 percent more than single- income households, with spending on education notably higher, the report said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Plant Site Acquisitions Drop in 1990",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1503120691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0821 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1503120691",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—The number of large sites acquired for industrial use during 1990 fell 9.0 percent from the previous year, the first annual decline in four years, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said Friday\n\nMITI’s annual report on plant site purchases said those with an area of 1,000 square meters or more bought during the year for building facilities for manufacturing or production of electricity, gas, or eat amounted to 3,781, down from 4,157 in 1989.\n\nThe total area of newly purchased land came to 4,616 hectares, down 2.3 percent from the previous year.\n\nMITI said the figures are still at high levels and show no signs of a major slowdown.\n\nThe most popular reason gien for companies selecting sites was securing their workiurces.\n\nMetal product manufacturers accounted for the largest share—15.9 percent—of the total acquisitions, followed by general machinery makers (12.9 percent), food processing firms (11.2 percent), and electronics companies (10.9 percent).\n\nPurchases by chemical, oil, and coal companies fell sharply.\n\nThe number of purchases by foreign firms plunged to 18 from 31 in the previous year.\n\nSites bought for building research laboratories also slipped to 46 from 63."
},
{
"TITLE": "Firm Builds Intelsat Earth Station on Comoros",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1403151391 Tokyo KYODO in English 1405 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1403151391",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—KDD Engineering and Consulting Inc. (KEC) has built an Intelsat satellite earth station in the Comoros Islands, off the East African coast, KDD, the company’s parent firm, said Thursday.\n\nThe station will go into operation on Saturday. The completion of the station will ensure improved and stable international telecommunications to and from the island republic. KDD, Japan's international telecom giant, said.\n\nKEC has built the earth station under a contract with the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, and with aid from the Japanese Government. The station has won the approval of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat).\n\nThe republic has so far had only shortwave circuits, and communications to and from the republic had been disturbed by jamming and noises."
},
{
"TITLE": "Major Shipping Companies Plan Merger",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1503080691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0559 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1503080691",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Nihon Yusen K.K. and Nippon Liner Systems Ltd. have agreed to merge their worldwide shipping operations to better compete in a severely competitive market, industry sources said Friday.\n\nBoth companies are expected to announce the merger at a Tokyo press conference late Friday afternoon, the sources said.\n\nAccording to the sources, Nippon Yusen will purchase all the stock of and absorb Nippon Liner Systems into its worldwide shipping operations.\n\nNippon Liner Systems, an affiliate company of Navix Line Ltd. and established in 1988, operates a fixed liner service between Japan and North America. The company has been suffering losses since its start-up, the sources said.\n\nNavix, established in June 1989 through a merger of Yamashita Shin Nihon Steamship Co. and Japan Lines Ltd., had been talking with Nihon Yusen about taking the company off its hands for some time, the sources said.\n\nNippon Liner suffered losses of 190 million yen in the third quarter of Fiscal 1990. Second quarter operating profits for July, August, and September of Fiscal 1990 are expected to amount to 1.6 percent of the revenues for the same period in the previous year, the sources said.\n\nAfter the merger, Nihon Yusen, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., and Navix Ltd. will be the only remaining Japanese shipping firms to continue fixed international shipping routes, the sources said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Correction to Kaifu Interview With NHK",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW1503083091",
"CITATION_ID": "OW1503083091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": null,
"CITATION_OUTLET": null,
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": null,
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "The following correction pertains to the item headlined “NHK interview With Prime Minister Kaifu,” published in the 13 March East Asia DAILY REPORT, page 1:\n\nPage two, column two, fifth paragraph make read: [Yamamoto] Concerning aid programs, we have ODA [official development assistance]. Is that right? It seems that the government plans to review programs for aid to those nations that have large military budgets or that have been exporting arms. Is it not necessary for us to lay down a basic principle so that such aid will be provided for the purpose of stabilizing people's livelihood? [new graf]\n\n[Kaifu] Regarding the ODA, I think that. . (supplying missing question by Yamamoto)"
},
{
"TITLE": "U.S. Denounced for ‘Marring’ DPRK Image",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1203052391 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0449 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1203052391",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Pyongyang March 12 (KCNA)}—The U.S. delegate at a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission held in Geneva recently took issue with our country over the “human rights” problem.\n\nDenouncing this, a news analyst of NODONG SINMUN today says:\n\nThe “human rights” problem is not raised at all in our country, where all the people exercise equal and independent rights befitting the true master of the state and society and enjoy a genuine political, economic and cultural life.\n\nThe news analyst further says:\n\nIt is a malicious challenge to our Republic and an unpardonable insult to our people for the United States to charge our country with the “human rights” problem.\n\nThe United States seeks a sinister purpose of marring the image of our Republic ever rising in the international arena, undermining its prestige and influence and isolating our Republic internationally.\n\nWhen the United States raises a hue and cry over someone's “human rights”, acting the “international judge of human rights”, it reminds us of a thief crying “stop thief”\n\nThe United States is the very general headquarters and chieftain of human rights violation.\n\nIt is universally recognized that tens of millions of U.S. people are deprived of the most elementary rights of humanity such as democracy and vital rights and their freedom is totally trampled down. It is also the United States where racial inequality is most serious.\n\nWhile keeping utter silence about the wanton violation of human rights in South Korea, their colony, the U.S. ruling circles are speaking ill of our Republic. This fully reveals again their shameless and brigandish nature.\n\nThe United States had better mind its own business before taking issue with others over “human rights“"
},
{
"TITLE": "Team Spirit Exercise Said ‘Challenge’ to North",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1403151091 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0022 GMT 9 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1403151091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "NODONG SINMUN 9 March special article: A Game of Playing With Fire That Leads the Situation to the Brink of War",
"FULL_TEXT": "Despite the unanimous protest and denouncement of all the Korean people and the world's peace-loving people, the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean warmongers are leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war by conducting the adventurous Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise.\n\nNot only the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, and the puppet forces, but also massive aggressive arms from the U.S. mainland and the Pacific region will be mobilized in this war exercise. The war exercise will continue until late April, starting with mobile deployment in late January.\n\nOffensive operations for northward invasion, such as joint landing operations, mobile aerial strike operations, commando operations, and river-crossing operations, will be conducted during the war exercise.\n\nThe reckless nuclear war exercise is an unforgivable challenge to our Republic and the people who are earnestly making efforts for peace and peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula, and is an intolerable criminal act of leading the situation on the Korean peninsula into very dangerous phase once again.\n\nBecause of the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, today, a dark cloud of nuclear catastrophe is hovering over the heads of our people, and a state of emergency is being created in our country in which a new war may break out.\n\nTo cope with the grave situation in which nuclear war is developing as a real danger in our country because of the reckless, provocative military plot of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet clique, the supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] has issued an order to the Army, Navy, and Air Forces of the KPA, all the units of the Korean Security Forces, and all the members of the Worker-Peasant Militia and the Red Youth Guards, to assume a full combat mobilization posture with high revolutionary vigilance.\n\nT ais is a just step to defend the sacred fatherland and the valuable revolutionary achievements. Now, the U.S. imperialists and the puppets, in order to rationalize their reckless war madness, are babbling about our self-defense combat mobilization posture while saying that it is an annual exercise and is not dangerous at all. They also said hat we were reacting in a very sensitive manner. This, however, is only the poor excuse of the warmongers.\n\nIt is a well-known fact that the Team Spirit joint military exercise, which has been conducted since 1976, is a dangerous preliminary war and a test nuclear war aimed at carrying out a preemtive strike against our Republic. The exercise, which is being conducted this year for the sixteenth time, shows a very serious direction. Because of this, we cannot regard it as a simple exercise that has been annually conducted.\n\nThe great leader Comrade Kim II-song has taught: Today, all events taking place in South Korea show that the new war-provoking maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and their stooges are in a very dangerous phase, and the situation of our country is on the brink of war.\n\nAs is known, the high-level talks between the North and the South were held from last year. Many issues, including the issue of removing political and military confrontation, were presented in the talks. In particular, the issue of adopting a nonaggression declaration was presented as an important item on the agenda.\n\nIn order to make this year a year of relaxtion and peace, a year of reconciliation and unity, and a historical year that opens a new phase in national reunification, the government of our Republic, at the very beginning of the year, put forward epocal proposals, including the proposal for peaceful national reunification, and for guran- teeing peace on the Korean peninsula.\n\nWe have put forward a flexible proposal to the United States and the South Korean authorities, suggesting that a nonaggression declaration be adopted by the North and South, and that the Team Spirit joint military exercise be completely suspended or, at least, suspended for two or three years.\n\nHowever, ignoring our sincere efforts, the U.S. imperialists and the puppets openly undertook to conduct the criminal Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise and repeatedly held war conferences from late last year. Finally, they started a nuclear war exercise this year, thus openly challenging us.\n\nThis proves that the United States and the South Korean puppets, blocking forever the road toward peace and peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula, have attempted to destroy our Republic through force of arms by waging a nuclear war.\n\nThe Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is also serious because it is being conducted in South Korea in the situation where preparations for an aggressive war against the northern half of the Republic have been completed.\n\nHaving conducted the Team Spirit joint military exercise in South Korea every year since 1976, the United States imperialists have now escalated it. Through this exercise, the U.S. imperialists have attempted to complete preparations for northward aggression. A large number of U.S. soldiers and their ultramodern equipment were brought from the U.S. mainland and throughout the Pacific to the Korean peninsula and, emphasizing nuclear attack, the forces of aggression from overseas, along with the U.S. forces occupying South Korea and the puppets, conducted massive sea, land, and aerial strike operations.\n\nMobilizing enough forces in the Team Spirit joint military exercise to wage a war, the U.S. imperialists have mastered and completed, in recent years, a three-dimensional war on land, sea, and in the air by repeatedly conducting actual fighting exercises.\n\nGiven the absurd remarks of the U.S. imperialist war servants that during the Team Spirit joint military exercise they may wage unexpected war, and given the remarks of foreign military commentators that if an order to wage war is issued, this military exercise will automatically turn into a war, it is not difficult to see that this game of playing with fire has reached a dangerous point.\n\nEven today when the preparations for an armed aggression against the northern half of the Republic have been completed, they are conducting this war exercise, even while propagandizing that it is an annual exercise. This can be done only by warmongers. The exercise is more dangerous this year because it has been conducted on the whole part of South Korea under the situation in which an unprecedented and sharp atmosphere of war was created.\n\nAlready late last year, under a plausible pretext of war against crimes, the South Korean puppets have already mobilized violent forces, such as a larger number of the puppet military forces, policemen, and reserve forces, and massively kicked up the suppression commotion against the patriotic forces for reunification. From the very beginning of this year, they have created a more terrible atmosphere of terror. We cannot help but say that this is a result of maneuvers designed to strengthen the military fascist system in preparation for wartime in accordance with the U.S. aggressive policy over Korea.\n\nFrom the very beginning of this year, a large number of the latest operational equipment and nuclear-equipped fighter bombers flew into South Korea from abroad, and aerial war exercises to strike us were staged almost every day. All kinds of military provocation and reconnaissance acts against the northern half of the Republic are frequently being conducted.\n\nUnder the pretext of the Gulf war, the United States and the South Koran puppets have declared an emergency wartime system in South Korea, and have ordered U.S. and the puppet soldiers to be ready for an emergency mobilization.\n\nWholly aiming their guns at the northern half of the Republic, the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, as well as the puppet forces, have been under an emergency wartime system. In addition, under the pretext of the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, the aggressive forces from abroad have crowded into the Korean peninsula with their nuclear weapons. This will never be overlooked.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets have perpetuated approximately 1,500 military provocations, including intensive gun fire against our side on the area of the Military Demarcation Line just 20 days after the announcement of the plan for the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise.\n\nNevertheless, a war may be easily provoked by a trivial incident on the Korean peninsula where the massive arms of both sides confront each other over the MDL {Military Demarcation Line]. How can we regard playing with fire amid the atmosphere of war as destiny?\n\nSo far, the Team Spirit joint military exercise has been conducted approximately ten times in South Korea. However, the exercise has never been conducted in the whole of South Korea in such a grave, war-like atmosphere as this year.\n\nAll the facts show that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets, taking advantage of the destruction of the balance of power in international relations and the military imbalance created on the Korean peninsula by our reduction of 100,000 troops at our initiative, are surely going to set a conflagration for northward invasion on the Korean peninsula.\n\nThe propaganda that the Team Spirit joint military exercise is not dangerous because it has been conducted annually is merely transparent subterfuge by those who would dull our vigilance and perpetuate an aggressive war at any opportunity. With no sophistry can the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets conceal the fact that the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is dangerous.\n\nUpon receiving an order from the supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people are now fully prepared for combat mobilization to smash the war maneuvers of the enemy.\n\nOur people love peace and do not want confrontation and war. However, they will never forgive those who antagonize us without reason. If the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets take the road of adventurous and aggressive war at last by miscalculating our efforts for peace as an indication of weakness, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people will retaliate ten thousand fold."
},
{
"TITLE": "13 March Team Spirit Maneuvers Reported",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1503045291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0430 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1503045291",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)}—The U.S. imperialists staged another nuclear air strike exercise against the North on March 13 at a time when a horrible atmosphere of war has been created throughout South Korea by the adventurous “Team Spirit 91“ joint manoueuvres, according to military sources.\n\nThey sent by stealth a formation of Guam-based nuclear-capable B-52 strategic bombers to the sky above Asan Bay for a nuclear air strike exercise for a surprise attack on main targets in the strategic depth of the northern half of Korea. Participating in it were formations of nuclear-capable F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers which have been mobilized in the “Team Spirit 91“ from the Pacific bases.\n\nOn the same day, they held a large-scale joint ground strike exercise against the North in the air above Yongju of north Kyongsang Province with the mobilization of fighter-bombers and assault planes based in the U.S. mainland and the Pacific and formations of fighter-bombers, assault planes and observation planes belonging to the U.S. Airforce present in South Korea and the puppet airforce.\n\nMore than 150 warplanes including nuclear-capable F-16 were involved in it.\n\nOn March 12, the U.S. imperialists brought an E-3A early warning plane based in Kadena, Japan, to the sky above the Military Demarcation Line [MDL] area and let it command flying corps in aerial espionage and war exercises against the North. On March 12 and 13, they also let U-2 high-altitude strategic reconnaissance planes make shuttle flights for hours along the MDL for an aerial espionage on the objects in the depth of the North.\n\nThe warplanes mobilized in the “Team Spirit 91\" manoeuvres on March 12 and 13 numbered more than 1,560.\n\nThis proves that the provocative “Team Spirit 91” started by the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean rulers has reached a very dangerous stage."
},
{
"TITLE": "DPRK MAC Member Sends Letter of Protest",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1503051291 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0310 GMT Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1503051291",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Letter of protest“ from Major General Choe Ui-ung, senior member of the DPRK side to the Military Armistice Commission (MAC), to the senior member of the U.S. side on 15 March—read by announcer",
"FULL_TEXT": "Our side sends this letter to your side in connection with the large-scale Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise which your side is adventurously waging in a full-scale stage, and with the situation on the Korean peninsula which your side strained to an extreme point.\n\nThe Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is a preliminary war and test nuclear war which thoroughly takes the northern half of our Republic as the target of attack. It itself is a grave act of war.\n\nIt is a basic mission of the MAC to safeguard peace by preventing the recurrence of war on the Korean peninsula. Proceeding from this, our side strongly demanded during the 459th MAC meeting held on 13 February that your side suspend the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise which creates the danger of nuclear war and hinders North-South dialogue. Our side even put forward a new proposal that if your side cannot suspend this exercise, we, in the name of both sides of the MAC, recommend to the relevant government authorities the issue of discontinuing the large-scale war exercise.\n\nThis was prompted by the earnest desire to ensure peace in Korea and North-South dialogue by preventing at any cost the situation from being strained due to the large-scale war exercise.\n\nHowever, your side staged the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise instead of responding to our just demand put forward in accordance with the Armistice Agreement, and to the proposal for negotiations. Today your side expanded this exercise into a full-scale stage, thus leading the situation to a grave stage.\n\nDespite our repeated protest and warnings, your side is finally waging the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise in a full-scale stage. This is a grave and dangerous war provocation commotion leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to an extreme point.\n\nYou dragged enormous armed personnel and nuclear Operation equipment into South Korea from U.S. military bases on the U.S. mainland and in the Pacific region, including Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines. You are waging a large-scale war exercise together with the armed forces in South Korea by simulating an attack on us.\n\nIn the landing operation in Pohang on 12 March, which signaled the launch of a general offensive in the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, you mobilized the troops of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and commando units, which were brought in from the U.S. mainland and from the bases in the Pacific region, the U.S. forces in South Korea, and the South Korean forces, a total of some 1,000 military planes, such as the fighter-bombers, vertical takeoff and landing assault planes, pursuit-assault planes, electronic jamming planes, refueling planes, and antisubmarine planes, and patrol planes, and hundreds of warships, such as missile-carrying cruisers, missile-carrying destroyers, nuclear-powered submarines, and landing vessels, and waged an offensive operation simulating a landing on the coastal areas of the northern half of the Republic. You are also conducting aerial mobile strike operations, ground offensive operations, landing operations, and commando operations on a large scale.\n\nYou are committing grave military provocations one after another in the DMZ in which the armed forces of the two sides are directly confronting each other. On 4 March, your side shelled our side with artillery in the DMZ in the eastern front; and on 8 March, fired at our side many rounds of a large-caliber machine gun in the DMZ in the western front, committing some 4,100 military provocations as of 14 March from the time your side began the Team Spirit-91 war rehearsal.\n\nBecause of these war rehearsal commotions and military provocations of your side, military confrontation between the two sides is now dashing toward the point of no return. Our side protests and denounces resolutely once again the aggressive Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities as a wanton violation of the Armistice Agreement, an open challenge to us and the supervisory organizations of the Armistice, and intentional maneuvers frustrating the security on the Korean peninsula and North-South dialogue.\n\nWe oppose war and desire peace, but never beg anyone for peace. Our revolutionary Armed Forces and all our people are closely watching the reckless war commotions conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities, and will respond to the provocation with a due measure for self-defense.\n\nYour side will be held totally responsible for creating on the Korean peninsula the situation comparable to that on the eve of war like today, for frustrating the North-South dialogue, and for straining the relations between the two sides extremely."
},
{
"TITLE": "KPA Holds Meetings To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1503043891 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1503043891",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)}—The officers and men of the unit of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] to which Comrade Kim Yong-cho belongs, the naval unit of the KPA to which Comrade An To-chik belongs and the airforce unit of the KPA to which Comrade Choe Sang-hyon belongs held meetings to denounce the “Team Spirit 91” joint military exercises and declared that if the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities unleash a war of aggression, they would revenge themselves on the aggressors a thousand fold.\n\nSpeakers at the meetings angrily denounced the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities who have entered into field exercises of the “Team Spirit 91,” noting that this was driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war.\n\nAll the KPA officers and men, upon receiving orders from the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, keep themselves in ful! combat readiness to cope with the enemy's new war provocation moves, they said, adding: There are no assurances that the reckless war game of the U.S. imperialists who were driven mad with the scheme to ignite another war and of their stooges will not turn into a war against the North.\n\nAs long as the one-beats-a-hundred soldiers who defeated the aggressors and displayed matchless heroic feats in the Fatherland Liberation War stand guard, the defences of our socialist motherland are impregnable, they declared, and stressed:\n\nNone of the aggressors who intrude our territory, seas and sky will be let to go home alive."
},
{
"TITLE": "More Meetings Held To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1403105591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0959 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1403105591",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "U.S. Imperialists and South Korean Authorities Must Act With Discretion\" —KCNA headline",
"FULL_TEXT": "Pyongyang March 14 (KCNA)}—Meetings were held at the Pyongyang thermal power complex, the Sinuiju textile mill and the Hwasong co-op farm in Yongsong district, Pyongyang, and other places to denounce the “Team Spirit 91“ joint maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities.\n\nSpeeches were made there.\n\nThe speakers said that the “Team Spirit 91“ joint maneuvers started by the U.S. imperialists and the No Tae-u ruling group in defiance of the unanimous protests and denunciation by the people at home and abroad are assuming ever more dangerous dimensions with each passing day. This is pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war, they noted.\n\nIt must not go unnoticed that the South Korean authorities unhesitatingly committed grave military provocations by firing bullets and shells at the northern portion of the demilitarized zone along the Military Demarcation Line, timing to coincide with the “Team Spirit 91”, they said, adding: Such military provocations were motivated by the sinister aim to deliberately aggravate the North-South relations and find an excuse to invade our Republic.\n\nThey stressed that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities must act with discretion, looking straight at the invincible strength of our people united with a single heart.\n\nIf the enemy dare ignite a war of aggression on the Korean peninsula, he will face his final doom before our revolutionary Armed Forces and people, they warned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Criticizes U.S. ‘Antisocialist Strategy’",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1503104091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1002 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1503104091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Team Spirit’ Exercises and Anti-Socialist Strategy” — KCNA headline",
"FULL_TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCBA)—NODONG SINMUN today carries a by-lined article entitled “*Team Spirit’ Exercises and Anti-Socialist Strategy”.\n\nIt says:\n\nIn its anti-socialist moves the United States is persistently following the policy of strength on the one hand and resorting to the “peaceful transition” strategy on the other.\n\nThe double-track anti-socialist offensive of the U.S. imperialists finds its concentrical manifestation in their Korea policy. In an attempt to contain our republic by means of strength, they have converted South Korea into the biggest nuclear forward base in the Far East, where more than 1,000 pieces of nuclear weapons are deployed. and are annually staging Team Spirit“ joint maneuvers, a test nuclear war against us.\n\nThe “Team Spirit” is a heinous challenge to and provocation against our republic and a sinister move to gratify their aggressive ambition by settling the Korean issue by strength, by means of war, not by peaceful means through dialogue.\n\nThe United States is also trying viciously and craftily to realize its anti-DPRK “peaceful transition“ strategy, backed by strength. The U.S. imperialists and their stooges, the South Korean authorities, are trying by hook or by crook to instill the wind of “liberalization” in the northern half of Korea.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists are also foolishly attempting to realize their “peaceful transition” strategy at an early date by laying obstacles in the way of our socialist construction and making us use up our national strength through such large-scale military frenzy as “Team Spirit” maneuvers.\n\nThe “peaceful transition” strategy, a camouflaged, indirect method, is no less dangerous than the direct threat and blackmail of strength.\n\nThese two aggressive methods of the U.S. imperialists constitute an important characteristic of their policy toward Korea at present and it bespeaks that they attach great importance to the Korean peninsula in their anti-socialist offensive and are making desperate efforts to save their policies toward Korea and Asia from bankruptcy by directing the spearhead of aggression on our republic and weakening the socialist position.\n\nOur people are victoriously advancing, successfully smashing the double-track aggressive offensive of the U.S. imperialists.\n\nThe imperialists’ strategies of strength and “peaceful transition“ are powerless to check our people's onward movement and they are doomed to failure."
},
{
"TITLE": "No Tae-u Said Inciting Fratricidal War’",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1503054291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0425 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1503054291",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Pyongyang March IS (KCNA)—NODONG SINMUN and MINJU CHOSON today denounce No Tae-u for inciting a fratricidal war.\n\nNo Tae-u told a “graduation ceremony of the military academy that peace on the Korean peninsula can be “preserved” only by military power strong enough to “deter someone's provocation and at the “Airforce Academy” he blared that reinforcing the armed forces is the “key to unification”. He also piffled that the puppet army should establish “strategy and tactics suited to the reality and effective commanding system“, drawing a lesson from the Gulf war.\n\nWhat No said at the puppet army military academ es training tools of war is utterances encouraging them to light the fuse of a war to gratify his wild design to “unify the country by prevailing over communism,” the news analyst of NODONG SINMUN says, and continues:\n\nNo Tae-u is a traitor to the nation and a bellicose element who is not entitled to talk about peace and “unification”.\n\nThe South Korean authorities have turned down our proposal for the adoption of a nonaggression declaration and responded to our call for an end to the war exercises with the “Team Spirit“ joint manoeuvres.\n\nThe bellicose acts of No Tae-u show that the war servant of the U.S. imperialists is trying to bring dark clouds of a nuclear war over the Korean peninsula at any cost.\n\nNo must act with discretion, deeply mindful how serious is the crime he is committing by staging the “Team Spirit“ nuclear war exercises together with the U.S. imperialists.\n\nThe news analyst of MINJU CHOSON says:\n\nNo Tae-u is screwing up the tension and trying to start a war in an effort to stave off the serious crisis of his tottering regime. However, it is not a way out but a way to his doom."
},
{
"TITLE": "* Kim Proposes Coexistence Under Reunification",
"FULL_CITATION": "912C0140A Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 18 Jan Y",
"CITATION_ID": "912C0140A",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "nodong sinmun",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION_DATE": "January 18, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Article by reporter Yi Sun-hui: The North and the South Can Coexist in a Reunified Country",
"FULL_TEXT": "The great leader Comrade Kim Il-song taught in his 1991 New Year's address as follows:\n\n“The two systems can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country if they are placed on the basis of the common national traits that have been carried on without a break historically.”\n\nIn the address, the great leader made it clear that the reunification of our country should be carried out under a confederal system formula of one nation, one country and two systems, two governments. He then elucidated that if we stand on the basis of what the Korean nation has in common historically unbroken, the North and the South—even if their systems differ with each other—can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country.\n\nThe proposed reunification based on the confederal system formula—envisaging reunification by means of leaving the two different systems of the North and the South as they are and establishing a reunited nation-state on them—is the most realistic and fairest way of reunification enabling the North and the South to reconcile and reunite with each other as one nation and to realize the reunification of the country peacefully at the earliest possible date.\n\nWe already proposed a long time ago the founding of a democratic confederal republic of Koryo as a way for the North and the South to confederate and establish a reunited nation-state while leaving their different ideologies and systems intact.\n\nThis proposal, for its realistic and rational quality, was met with positive support and approval by the people in the North and the South and the world over as soon as it was announced.\n\nThe South Korean authorities and some other people say that the North and the South took on “heterogeneity” and therefore must regain “homogeneity” before they are reunified.\n\nThis is a sophistry being used by those seeking a permanent national division to justify their criminal attempt.\n\nThe North and the South indeed have been separated for more than 40 years but there has been, and there is, no change in what they have in common as a nation. They remain homogeneous.\n\nWe share the same blood and language, the most fundamental characteristics of a nation. Our nation’s homeland is Korea on which our forefathers have built a long, long history and culture. In other words, as a nation, nothing has changed between the North and the South. If there is anything different between the North and the South at all, it is the heterogeneity associated with the two systems that have existed in the past 40-odd years and it is by no means a big thing in comparison with the national homogeneity that has developed and solidified over thousands of years. The difference between the two systems can by no means be a factor compelling our nation to live in separation nor an obstacle insurmountable in reunifying the North and the South.\n\nThe South Korean authorities, without seeing this fact, cling to their pretext of recovering “homogeneity,” maintaining that there is no alternative but continue the two-states separation until the systems are unified. They are thus calling for “unification of systems” based on a one-nation and one-system formula. What they are doing is tantamount to perpetuating the division endlessly, and to denying reunification after all.\n\nThe problem is not a North-South “heterogeneity” but the South Korean puppets persistently seeking such heterogeneity for the purpose of creating “two Koreas.”\n\nThe successive South Korean ruling circles, extolling the U.S. imperialists as “liberator” and “aider,” spread the worship-America and fear-America thoughts among the people, blunting their spirit of national independence. They brought in the American way of life and left it to gnaw at the traditional, laudable manners aad customs of the Korean nation.\n\nIn the economic area, too, the puppets severed the North-South tics, subjugating the South Korean economy to the U.S. economy.\n\nThe South Korean ruling circles, engrossed in flunkeyism and acts of treason, even came up with the “racial reform doctrine” in an attempt to cut the blood-line of the nation.\n\nAlso, how knavish they were with their anticommunist stratagems and rackets to stir antagonism and jealousy between the North and the South!\n\nWhat the U.S. imperialists and South Korean ruling circles sought was to turn the North and the South into two different nations and thus split both the people and the country into two permanently.\n\nHowever, they were unable to carry out their criminal attempt after all.\n\nThe South Korean people are now strongly resisting the U.S. imperialists’ colonial enslavement policy and waging vigorous struggles under slogans demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops and nuclear weapons and opposing the U.S. economic aggression.\n\nThe policy of anticommunist confrontation pursued by the U.S. imperialists and South Korean reactionaries inevitably wound up bankrupt. And now the southern land is swept by a rising mood for reunification through coalition with communism and with the North.\n\nFrom the very beginning, the Korean people have been a homogeneous nation of one bloodline. As such, they have been a people of integrity and high pride who courageously repelled invasions by outside forces and glorified their history and culture.\n\nFor 36 years, the Japanese imperialist colonial rulers tried to liquidate the Korean nation under the pretext of “integration of mainland Japan and Korea“ or of “the same ancestors and same roots“ but our people not only resisted their attempt to the last and defended the racial traits but also waged glorious struggles to accomplish the historic cause of restoring the fatherland.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists and South Korean puppets are attempting to create “two Koreas” and keep the North and the South separated forever but the Korean people will not tolerate their scheme after all.\n\nLast year, compatriots of all strata in the North and the South met in one place and held the festival of dialogue and reunification. It was an impressive event demonstrating the fact that although separated under different systems, our brethren in the North and the South belong to the same nation, share the same aspiration for reunification, and that they can easily communicate with each other once they meet and can vigorously work out the way for reunification through reconciliation and solidarity.\n\nIt is extremely unrealistic and treasonable that the South Korean ruling circles are calling for “unification of systems“ under the pretext of recovering the “homogeneity” while turning a blind eye to the common national traits which the Korean people have inherited historically generation after generation and to their fervent aspiration for reunification.\n\nUnder the stark reality that the different systems exist in the North and the South and that neither side is willing to make a concession, there is even no telling how long the “reunification of systems” will take. Especially, since “unification of systems” implies one side absorbing the other, the theory can lead to disasters involving conflicts and war.\n\nThe South Korean authorities should abandon the “reunification by prevailing over communism” delusions and respond favorably to our proposal for reunification by the confederal system formula of one nation and one country, two systems and two governments.\n\nTo realize the reunification of the fatherland by establishing a reunified nation-state upon—and leaving intact—the existing systems and governments in the North and the South is the best possible way to resolve the reunification issue with fairness and in consistency with the national interests under the present conditions of our country.\n\nIf the North and the South give prominence to the common national traits and work to resolve the reunification issue on that basis, it is fully possible for them to realize the confederal system reunification and coexist as one nation and in one reunified country.\n\nThe North and the South and our people overseas will without fail expedite the confederal system-based national reunification through their united struggles upholding the militant tasks set forth by the great leader in his New Year's address."
},
{
"TITLE": "CPRF on ‘Suppression’ Before ROK Elections",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1503044091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0415 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1503044091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland [(CPRF] in its Information No. 583 on March 14 denounced the South Korean authorities for intensifying suppression of the people in a bid to use the local assembly elections in securing a foothold for their long-term office.\n\nRecalling that the South Korean chief exccutive issued a repressive order on March 12 to deal with all acts of violation of the “Election Law” by “law” in such a manner as waging “the war against crimes,” the information said:\n\nA chain of repressive orders and utterances of the South Korean authorities reveal their ulterior intention to openly involve government power in the local assembly elections slated for March 26 on the specious cloak of “fair elections” and brutally suppress the election campaign of the pro-reunification democratic forces.\n\nThe South Korean authorities are now facing a serious crisis of their rule as the struggle of students and people for independence, democracy and reunification is gaining momentum in South Korea and the strife and rift within the “Democratic Liberal Party” (DLP) growing serious and, worse still, the Suso housing episode, an extra-large scandal in which No Tae-u himself and ruling party figures were directly involved, was brought to light.\n\nTheir threat to strictly deal with“ any involvement in elections“ of political parties and illegal acts of organizations during the local assembly elections is intended, as the election law” faked up by them suggests, to check the election campaign of the opposition parties and dissident democratic organizations and rig the “elec- tion“ of DLV men through election committee members appointed by them and government power. This is a heinous scheme to lay a foothold for long-term office of the DLP.“"
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Analyzes U.S. Policy of ‘Cosmopolitism’",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1403125391 Pyongvang Domestic Service in Korean 0018 GMT 6 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1403125391",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 6, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "NODONG SINMUN 6 March special article: Cosmopolitism Is a Reactionary Ideology Serving the U.S. Imperialists as a Tool for Their World Supremacy”",
"FULL_TEXT": "The U.S. imperialists are viciously perpetrating intervention, outrage, aggression, and plunder the world over. What is important in penetrating into the present aggressive nature of the U.S. imperialists is clearly recognizing the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism advocated by the imperialists. Cosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological trend which embellishes the U.S. imperialists’ policy of arrogant interference and occupation, and serves the realization of their strategy toward global domination.\n\nDear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has noted as follows: Today the U.S. imperialists have combined the reactionary bourgeois racist theory and national chauvinism with the aggressive cosmopolitism to use it as an ideological tool to realize their ambition for world supremacy.\n\nComopolitism—which denies a nation state a self-reliant national economy and national culture, and which advocates a global state and a worldwide economy and culture without nationality—serves the aggression and domination of the imperialists and the exploitation of multinational enterprises.\n\nCosmopclitism holds an important place in the reactionary policy of the U.S. imperialists.\n\nHiding their aggressive nature with the sophism of bourgeois ideology is a hackneyed method of the imperialists. The U.S. imperialists have openly revealed their ambition for world supremacy by challenging the tenor of the present era, in which the trend of independence has been prevalent, and have made particular efforts to use such a reactionary idea as cosmopolitism under the present situation in which the idea cannot be realized.\n\nHistorically, the U.S. imperialists’ policies of intervention, tyranny, aggression, and plunder have been embellished with the sophism of cosmopolitism, and their blood-stained hands, which smell of gun powder, have been veiled under the cloak of cosmopolitism. Herein lies the crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists who maliciously attempt to confuse the reasoning of people, and to make them blind to their aggressive nature.\n\nThe basic intent of cosmopolitism is to disregard the independence of each and every country and nation, and to preach that the homeland of each and every person is the whole world and all people are world citizens.\n\nOn the basis of the theory that all people are equal, those who advocate cosmopolitism contend that all people should desert their fatherland and nation and become world citizens to build a welfare society for all people, and that they should conduct a campaign for world citizenship to form a so-called cosmopolitan government. Furthermore, they fabricate the white race as the most superior race in the world, place a western culture as the most superior culture of mankind, and then, rave that the world should be dominated and harmonized by the distinguished race and developed culture of the West.\n\nInasmuch as people take the root of their lives in their fatherland and nation, they cannot become members of the human race and world citizens before they are members of their nation.\n\nMoreover, it is obvious that a so-called cosmopolitan government, a worldwide economy, and a global culture are not feasible in this world where acute confrontation and struggle between socialism and imperialism and between progressive and reactionary ideologies are basic characteristics of the present era where the universal outlook of mankind is distorted by imperialism and the idea of domination.\n\nTo realize their wild ambition for world supremacy, the U.S. imperialists persistently advocate cosmopolitism. Arrogantly enough, the U.S. imperialists always consider this planet of all mankind as their own, and clamor that the global government preached by cosmopolitism should be the United States.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists are now further intensifying aggression, interference, occupation, and plunder worldwide, using reactionary cosmopolitism as an ideological instrument.\n\nTheir maneuvers under the plausible name of cosmopolitism are clearly manifested in their acting as the “world’s monarch” and as the “international gendarme,” claiming a leading role for the United States in the world.\n\nCosmopolitism is the reactionary ideological foundation of the U.S. imperialists’ theory of the leading role of the United States. Talking about the management and guidance of the world on the basis of the cosmopolitan theory, they preach that the United States has the mission to lead the world.\n\nWashington, the first President of the United States, said that under no circumstances should U.S. acts take into consideration the interests of other countries, and then declared it the basic course of U.S. foreign policy which future generations of the United States should respect.\n\nHis successors have run hard along the road of aggression and plunder, clamoring that the Americans have appeared in the stage of history only to determine whether they are fated to rule over the world or to be subjugated to the others.\n\nBush, the incumbent U.S. President, boasting that U.S. leadership over the world should be handed down from generation to generation, is bent on glorifying the dignity of the United States by power politics based on strength.\n\nTyranny, occupation, war, and plunder have always followed the U.S. imperialists, who have lorded it over mankind as the devastator of justice and the strangler of truth, whatever they may have touched with their interfering hands and wherever they may have set their aggressive foot.\n\nAggression toward the weak countries, the artificial engineering of international feuds, open interference in international issues and their self-proclaimed role as referee; their tyranny in international organizations, and their acting as the international gendarme worldwide— these combine to portray the true appearance of the U.S. imperialists who claim to be the leader of the world.\n\nThe world’s reasonable peopie find the expression of the brigandish nature of imperialism in the arrogance of the U.S. imperialists who see interference as the cosmopolitans’ morality, tyranny as the expression of authority enjoyed by the world leader, and aggression as a resolute act undertaken for the management of the world.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists’ aggressive doctrine of cosmopolitism as such stands fully exposed in our country. Their occupation of South Korea and the continuing division of Korea are the reactionary results of their cosmopolitism.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists applied the tragic plan for partial occupation to our country, which was not even a vanquished country, and imposed the insulting system of occupation on South Korea, and then artificially divided Korea. In view of the principles of justice and the demands of international law, these were intolerable under any circumstances.\n\nWhat is more, those currently in power in the United States are persistently carrying out antireunification maneuvers, arguing that although a reunified Korea may be good for the Korean people, maintaining the other half of the Korean peninsula occupied by a friendly regime is much more favorable to the United States. Thus, the United States provokes indignation from all over the world.\n\nThe division of Korea and other facts reveal that the management of the world is done by the U.S. imperialists and that any claim fabricated and proclaimed by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but an attempt to infringe upon other countries’ sovereignty in the aggressive interest of the United States, and to change the structure of the world and its order.\n\nThe crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists’ aggressive maneuvers finds expression in their attempt to invent the concept of an Asian state of the United States and the concept of a European state of the United States based on the reactionary doctrine of cosmopolitism, and thus bring the continents of the world under their control.\n\nAlthough the United States is a country sitting on the American Continent, the U.S. imperialists claim their country to be an Asian country in front of the Asian countries, and then slyly remark that the United States is a European country, too, in front of the European countries.\n\nWhat the United States seeks to achieve behind such sly remarks is to disintegrate the unity and cooperation among the countries in Asia and Europe by identifying themselves with those countries, and then securing its sphere of influence in these areas.\n\nAsia is for the Asian peoples and Europe is for the European peoples. The United States has no justification to occupy somebody else’s place in Asia or Europe, distant places oceans away.\n\nThis insidious trick by the U.S. imperialists is not accepted in these regions where the cause of converting the world into one governed by independence and anti-U.S. sentiment are on the rise. Rather, they are provoking strong objection and sense of vigilance from these regions.\n\nBy being able to see sharply through the aggressive nature of the U.S. claim that it is an Asian power, which smacks of the cosmopolitan poison, the Asian peoples should reject it resolutely and unite and cooperate with each other in order to build a peaceful and prosperous new Asia.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists see power politics as the first step on the road toward realizing their leading role over the world.\n\nBush, the U.S. imperialist warmonger, made an outrageous remark that the United States has stretched out its hands to virtually every corner of the world, and that the extended hands, once disturbed, will be turned into powerful fists.\n\nThat it is natural for the United States to stretch its hands of domination out to the world because it is in the position of the world’s monarch, and that its extended hands should be turned into iron fists because it is ordained to rule over the world, is the philosophy of rule by power worshipped by the U.S. imperialists who have been accustomed to the aggressive cosmopolitanism.\n\nProceeding from this logic of power, the U.S. imperialists say that it is the pride of America the Great to be able to have its troops stationed in tens of countries around the world, to wield tyranny in many international organizations, and to tempt many countries with baits of aid.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists disguise their power politics and their evil tentacles of world domination as something necessary for attaining global peace. Nevertheless, the defense of global peace babbled about by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but a shield to camouflage the domination of the world by the United States.\n\nThe scheme that the U.S. imperialists carry out under the plausible name of cosmopolitism reveals itself in the fact that they are trying hard to establish a world based on the American-style liberal democracy, describing American values as universal human values.\n\nAdvertising the superiority of their moral values, the U.S. imperialists are maneuvering to accelerate the process of unification and the commonness of the world as its basis.\n\nSuccessive U.S. presidents were fond of uttering such pleasantries as that the United States cannot be its genuine self unless it stands in a lofty moral position.\n\nThis means that the United States is the embodier of world morality, standing as it does above ethics and morality.\n\nHowever, the notion that imperialism can be reconciled with ethics and morality cannot convince anybody. If the U.S. imperialists have any kind of moral principles, they must be the reverse of ethics, seeing injustice as justice and evil as good.\n\nThe imperialist behavior stems from greed. The U.S. imperialists always assess and approach international issues with other countries based on their aggressive and plundering objectives and greedy interests.\n\nPreposterously branding countries that maintain independence, and defend the banner of revolution as closed-door countries or terrorist countries, the U.S. imperialists intensify their reactionary offensive against those countries, while beautifying their brazen-faced aggression against, and interference in, sovereign countries as acts of protecting human rights or defending democracy.\n\nNot satisfied with the occupation of the other half of Korea, the U.S. imperialists have been conducting the Team Spirit war exercise every year, thereby creating the threat of northward invasion, while clamoring about the threat of southward invasion or the defense of peace. They also claimed that they were defending the liberal democratic system after invading Grenada and Panama. After triggering a war as a result of their ill-suited interference in regional feuds, they said that they were trying to build a world governed by laws, not the law of the jungle. Such an assertion is nothing but an insult to the conscience of the world and to progressive mankind.\n\nMany people in the world still vividly remember U.S. President Bush's remarks that the human spirit cannot be strangled or the national spirit obliterated with a wall alone in his commentary on the breaking down of the wall between East and West Germany.\n\nEven so, the U.S. imperialists ignore the call for the wall of division in Korea to be broken down, while maneuvering to keep the wall in place.\n\nThe wall of division in Korea is contemporary evidence that manifests the criminal truth about American-style values, which are a mixture of contradictions and falsehood.\n\nFrom the contradictory attitude of the United States, the progressive people of the world keenly realized the false moral values of the United States and its antimankind and antipeace nature. The United States claimed that certain barriers should be removed and other barriers should be kept intact. Thus, the progressive people of the world express indignation over such an attitude.\n\nThe great moral principle, in which the famous U.S. politicians take pride, and which they claim enables the United States to exist as the United States, should be branded as the principle of injustice which mankind should curse.\n\nHanging out the signboards of cosmopolitism, the U.S. imperialists are attempting to establish a free world on the earth. The free world which they talk about means the world where the United States can act as the ruler.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists, attaching great significance to cosmopolitism, are running amok to spread it for the purpose of reducing the world to the so-called free world which they want.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists have the idea that if they implant the U.S.-style liberal democracy in all nations, the world will become by itself a possession of the United States. Thus, they are viciously advocating the theory of a free world.\n\nRaving that when mankind is allowed to have the right of choice, it chooses freedom, the U.S. imperialists said that the system which they want to implant in many world nations is the system realized on the basis of freedom, individual creative power, and market principles.\n\nFreedom, choice, and so forth advertized by the U.S. imperialists are, in essence, freedom and choice which make one participate in the beastly struggle for existence and for survival by victimizing and oppressing other people.\n\nIt is the original nature of independent mankind to aspire to genuine freedom and happiness by opposing various forms of domination and subjugation. It is an inevitable trend of human history that independent mankind chooses a genuine society which safeguards and realizes the independence of mankind, instead of a society similar to the beastly world where precious dignity and the value of mankind are reduced to the standard of animals.\n\nThe capitalist society causes various social evils and social tragedy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and advances without a sense of direction by writhing amid social disorder and pain. If one defines this society as the society where freedom and democracy are realized, such a definition would indeed be the complete reversing of black and white.\n\nThe maneuvers of cosmopolitism by the U.S. imperialists, who are attempting to establish a free world while advertizing the corrupt society lacking vitality or a future as the ideal of the people, are indeed preposterous, like a house of cards.\n\nThrough their experience, goals, and cool judgment amid the whirlpool that is the history of the complex and diversified present era, a great number of people of the world deny the liberal democratic system advocated by the U.S. imperialists with reason, and firmly believe that only the genuine man-centered socialism which embodies the dignity and value of mankind is the way to rescue mankind.\n\nCosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological poison which blocks the advance of the revolutionary cause of the working class and spoils the people's consciousness of the revolution.\n\nThe reactionary nature of the cosmopolitism advocated by the U.S. imperialists is that cosmopolitism has become an ideological poison which denies the independence of the national state and violates and infringes upon its independence.\n\nAs indicated by the chuche idea, independence of the national state is as precious as life for all people. To live in a national state is an immovable order of life for all the people, formed through the course of the long history of mankind.\n\nWhat gives the life and means of living to the people are the fatherland and the state, and linked to the destiny of each individual person are the fatherland and the state.\n\nIndeed, the fatherland and the people are the source of life and the mother’s bosom of all mankind. If a man thinks that he can live as an abstract public figure of the world, going away from the bosom of the fatherland and the people, he will be branded as a snob [songmul] who has lost his mind and forgotten the basis of his life, and as a nation-seller who has betrayed the nation where he was born.\n\nHowever, the advocates of cosmopolitism contend that such concepts as motherland, nation, state, class, and party are all meaningless in the internationalized world, and that panhuman phrases such as planet, humanity, human world, and civilization should be in vogue. This is a reactionary sophism that dulls the people's national consciousness of independence.\n\nThe nations and the people develop themselves together with the war history of mankind. At the same time, international relations are formulated and consolidated among the nations and the people in the course of such development. This is an inevitable phenomenon.\n\nWhat is at issue is on what basis, one views the history of mankind. The chuche idea defines the shape and characteristics of the world, and teaches that the main forces which lead the basic flow of human history are the people in each individual independent state.\n\nIf we recall human history, we come to know that the independent development of each individual nation and people served as the basis for the advance of global history and the development of mankind, and as the basic content of both.\n\nHistory clearly proved that by denying the independence of the nation and the people, one cannot talk, even a word, about the development of the world, the progress of mankind, and the destiny of planet.\n\nOur people achieved the independent development of the nation by maintaining the line of independence, self-reliance, and self-defense under the leadership of the party and the leader. Thus, we are greatly contributing to the common cause of mankind.\n\nHowever, the imperialist stooges, who advocate cosmopolitism, raved that claims of national sovereignty are collective egoism, and defiled the sacred struggle of the people in many world nations who are defending the national right for self-determination and building the national economy and culture. Thus, they advertised a preposterous global economy and culture of no nationality.\n\nThe purpose of the vicious denial of national independence with the ideological poison of cosmopolitism by the imperialists is to pave the way for their aggression. No one can conquer the people with a strong sense of independence. On the contrary, the people, who lost their sense of national independence and whose determination to defend and glorify themselves is weak, cannot precisely realize the reactionary doctrine of imperialism and domination that are concealed by the theory of the common destiny of mankind and the theory of the superiority of panhuman values.\n\nThis is why the imperialists are maneuvering to eradicate national consciousnesses of independence and persistently advertising cosmopolitism.\n\nThe people in all world nations who treasure independence should correctly realize the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism, and resolutely crush the doctrine of cosmopolitism with the independent strength of the nation.\n\nThe reactionary nature of cosmopolitism as pursued by the U.S imperialists finds another expression in that it has been used as an ideological tool barring the tide toward world independence, and impeding the healthy development of international relations.\n\nThose who advocate cosmopolitism claim that it is the way of present international developments that national state, national economy, and national culture gradually wither away, and a global government, world economy, and world culture are formed, by which the world becomes homogeneous and common.\n\nThis is nothing but a sophism that misrepresents those who undertake the world movement and its motivating force and the essence of present international relations.\n\nThe main characteristics of the change and development of the world are that it is becoming independent. The motivating force that holds the control lever of the world movement, are those people advocating independence. Hence, the appearance of the world, its essential content, and the aspects of its development are decided by the progressive world people advocating independence.\n\nAdvocating independence by opposing domination, subjugation, exploitation, and oppression, is the original nature of mankind and the life of the nation. This constitutes the unique characteristics of progressive mankind.\n\nThus. more nations and more people are advancing to achieve freedom and independence by breaking the chains of imperialism and colonialism. This constitutes the essential content of the change and development of the world. The course of the world toward independence is an inevitable and positive course in the development of human history.\n\nThe independence of the world is achieved through the independent struggle of all nations and all people. Thus, it cannot be pushed and realized by so-called global management and guidance.\n\nHowever, the imperialists are lecturing on the benefits of international management and guidance of the world. while trying to make the global government stand in confrontation with the people's aspirations for independence. They are running amok to block by force the trend of the world toward independence.\n\nThe theory on global government advocated by the imperialists runs totally counter to the idea of world independence because world independence is a world- wide trend realized through the respect and the demonstrable independence of each nation and people. Global government will only work to oppress and infringe upon the independence of each nation and each people.\n\nThe theory on global government instigated by cosmopolitism is preposterous because as long as there are imperialists and dominationists, the attempt for global domination cannot be removed.\n\nThe basic nature of the imperialists is for aggression and plunder. This finally returns to ambition for conquering the world. In the present century when the fierce struggle of the imperialists and dominationists is being waged to expand the sphere of influence, the so-called global government lacks reality, and will only act to further instigate their ambition for world domination.\n\nToday the optimistic advocates of global government think that they can establish a global government in such a manner as to strengthen its authority, seeking a model in such international organizations as the United Nations. However, many events taking place in the international arena make one realize that such an idea is unrealistic and is a dream.\n\nThe U.S. imperialists abused the sacred name of the United Nations when they fabricated a puppet regime in South Korea, and when they dragged the armed forces of their 15 following nations into the Korean war. They are still abusing this name for keeping the U.S. troops in South Korea. This raises great worry and disappointment on the part of progressive mankind, who aspires to global peace and international justice.\n\nAs long as there are the imperialists and dominationists in the world, and as long as the U.S. imperialists’ self-righteousness and tyranny are allowed in the international arena, no one can think of forming and developing sound and fair international relations.\n\nThe development of the world is only possible when the whole world is made independent. Only when they join themselves in the great current toward the independence of the world under the banner of independence, can the people of all the progressive countries of the world properly shape the destiny of their countries on their own, and build an independent, new world free from domination and subjugation.\n\nThe imperialists’ strategy for cosmopolitism, intended to benumb the people's revolutionary consciousness, and reverse the trend of history, is doomed to failure in the face of the struggle of the people who are advancing under the banner of independence.\n\nEven the high-ranking figures in U.S. political circles pointed out that the U.S. Congress reproves and criticizes other countries nearly every day, and admitted that the act of the United States to denounce the events of the world [segye il] all day long is foolish. They confessed that the crisis, with which the United States is faced as the result of having become an imperialist state which excessively stretched out its hands [chinachige sonul ppochida], makes even them shudder.\n\nJust as they have said, because of pernicious evils inherent in capitalism and the debt crisis facing the United States, and because of the fierce anti-imperialist and anti-U.S. struggle of the revolutionary people of the world, tue hands which the U.S. imperialists have stretched out to the world will tremble with fear.\n\nThe aggressive doctrine of cosmopolitism does not go down well with people advocating independence. Today the great doctrine of independence has captivated the hearts of mankind and bcurgeois reactionary ideologies, including cosmopolitism, are breaking into fragments in the face of the rush of the world to independence.\n\nIt is inevitable that cosmopolitism and all other reactionary thoughts will be bankrupt under the bright rays of the great chuche idea.\n\nImperialism is destined to destruction with the collapse of cosmopolitism."
},
{
"TITLE": "Government Delegation Returns From Japan",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1503105291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1028 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1503105291",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The government delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea led by Chon In-chol, vice-minister of foreign affairs, returned home today after participating in the second intergovernmental full-dress talks for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Japan held in Tokyo.\n\nIt was met at the airport by Kim Chae-suk, vice-minister of foreign affairs, and Councillor of the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang Dong Buming."
},
{
"TITLE": "Soviet Envcy Holds News Conference in Pyongyang",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1503044291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0420 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1503044291",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—A press conference was held at the Soviet Embassy here Thursday on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the conclusion of the agreement on economic and cultural cooperation between the USSR and the DPRK.\n\nAmbassador Alexandr Kapto touched on the development of cooperation and exchange between the two countries in the economic and cultural fields over the past 42 years since the signing of the agreement and elaborated on the need to strengthen relations in these fields in the future."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il Replies to Birthday Greetings",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1503110291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1022 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1503110291",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)}—Dear Comrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to foreign party leaders in reply to their messages of greetings on his birthday.\n\nComrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to Dr. Vassos Lyssarides, chairman, and Takis Hadjidemetriou, secretary general, of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party of Cyprus; Takako Doi, chairwoman of the Central Executive Committee of the Japan Social-Democratic Party: Habimana Bonaventure, general secretary of the National Revolutionary Movement for Development of Rwanda; Herving Chung, chairman of the Caribbean National Movement: Sam Marcy, chairman of the Workers World Party of the United States; Guillermo Garcia Ponce, general secretary of “New Alternative“ of Venezuela; Jose Francisco Aguilar Bulgarelli, general secretary of the popular force organized in Costa Rica; Jorge del Prado, general secretary, and Friddy Arana, international secretary, of the Central Committee of the Peruvian Communist Party: Rolando Brena Pantoja, president of the National Executive Committee of the Left Revolutionary Union of Peru; Genaro Ledesma Izquieta, chairman of the People’s Front of Workers, Peasants and Students of Peru: Rigoberto Padilla Ruz, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Honduras; and Eric Trevett, general secretary of the Central Committee of the New Communist Party of Great Britain.\n\nComrade Kim Chong-il in the messages expressed the belief that friendly relations forged between the Workers’ Party of Korea and the above-said parties will continue to develop favourably and wished the party leaders great success in their responsible work."
},
{
"TITLE": "Youth Mark Labor Exploits in Railway Projects",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1503091691 Pyongvang Domestic Service in Korean 2100 GMT 10 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1503091691",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 10, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "The railway construction to replace the narrow railroad between Haeju and Ongjin and between Sing- gangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad is being pushed ahead rapidly.\n\nThrough the persistent labor struggle of members of the youth railway construction shock brigade and supporters, railroad ties were laid and the railroad was extended over several scores of ri [1 ri is equivalent to 400 meters] in 20 days recently. Besides, the project of leveling the grade on mountain slopes and railroad repair work have been pushed for on a large scale. The work of leveling the ground and framework construction have been accelerated, and more gravel, stones, sand, and soil than planned have been made made available to use for repairing the station compound.\n\nThus, a guarantee for completing the construction of two sections of the railroad ahead of schedule has been provided.\n\nMembers of the youth railway construction shock brigade, who were assigned the project of extending the railroad, waged a vigorous labor struggle with the same spirit and vigor they had when they completed the construction of the railroad between Haeju and Hasong in a short period of time. Thus, they laid railroad ties on, and broadened the railroad on, a 20 odd-ri section between Sohaeju Station and Pyoksong Station.\n\nUpon receiving the order of the respected supreme commander, members of the youth shock brigade accelerated the work by thoroughly preparing themselves to cope with the new war provocation maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet clique. They are constantly increasing the speed of the project of laying railroad ties and broadening the railroad between Pyoksong Station and Singangnyong Station.\n\nMembers of the youth shock brigade of Kangnyong county, who are charged with the project of replacing the narrow railroad between Singangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad, have accomplished the work of securing over 700 cubic meters of gravel, sand, and stones, which is said to require more than a month, ahead of schedule by highly demonstrating the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and arduous struggle and vigor for extermination of the enemy, and by overcoming various difficulties. Thus, they effected innovations.\n\nThrough such struggle, they opened a breakthrough to complete ahead of schedule a number of framework construction pro ts. including an iron bridge and drainage work.\n\nThe railroad construction between Haeju and Ongjin is also being carried out rapidly. The youth, who were assigned the difficult work of lowering the grade on mountain slopes to 10 meters, made several hundred holes with dynamite in only seven days with the Paektu revolutionary spirit, and pulled down 6,000-odd cubic meters of soil through successive blasting.\n\nMembers of the youth shock brigade in Pyoksong county transported several hundred cubic meters of soil and materials each day, and increased the speed of laying railroad ties, widening the railroad, and repairing the railroad by 1.5 to two times over that planned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kye Ung-tae, Officials Attend Railway Meeting",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1503113591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1503113591",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—A national meeting of railway workers was held here on March 14 and 15.\n\nThe meeting summed up the successes and experience gained in railway transportation under the wise leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] and discussed tasks to effect a new turn in this domain in the same fighting spirit and mettle displayed in the postwar period of great Chollima upsurge.\n\nThe meeting was attended by Kye Ung-tae, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the C.C. [Central Committee], WPK, Choe Yong-nim, alternate member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., WPK and vice-premier of the Administration Council, and other officials concerned.\n\nKye Ung-tae read out a congratulatory message of the WPK Central Committee to the participants in the meeting.\n\nThe WPK Central Committee in the message pointed out that the railway transport of the country has turned into a modern one with the successful realization of electrification and the fast progress of the work for the introduction of heavy rails and automation, into an independent socialist railway transport with solid foundations for the self-supply of various means of carriage including 8-axle electric locomotives and 100-ton wagons.\n\nIt noted with high appreciation that the railway workers have made great contributions to the acceleration of socialist construction by displaying matchless heroism and self-sacrificing spirit in their endeavours to carry through the party's policy of railway transport with intense loyalty to the socialist country and the people.\n\nUnderlining the tasks facing railway transportation, it stressed the need to make the maximum utilization of the existing material and technical foundations of railway transport, further accelerate the chuche-orientation, modernization and scientification of railway transport and press ahead with new railway projects and thus further supplement the railway networks of the country and expend big efforts on scientific researches and the training of technical personnel.\n\nYi Kil-song, chairman of the Transport Commission, delivered a report.\n\nIt is an event of great significance in the development of our country’s railway transport to hold a national meeting of railway workers on the meaningful day marking the lapse of 30 years since the great leader Comrade Kim Il-song gave highly important teachings at the meeting of active workers in the domain of transport on March 14, 1961, he said.\n\nHe noted that, deeply taking into consideration the position and role of railway transport in the development of the national economy, the great leader and our party defined railways as the artery of the country, as the pilot of the national economy, and have clearly indicated the road ahead of raiiway transport in each period and at each stage of the developing revolution.\n\nAccording to his report, under the plan of the great leader who defined the basic orientation of development of railway transport in keeping with the geographical conditions of the country which has most of its land covered with mountains and abounds in power resources, nearly all railway lines, not only trunk lines but even branch lines and railway lines branching into enterprises, have been switched over to electric traction, with the result that the freight turnover by electric haulage accounts for more than 90 percent of the total and the unitary traction by electric locomotives has reached the stage of completion.\n\nThe total extension of the nation’s railways has markedly increased, a grand loopline of railway networks have taken shape and the railway transport capacity increased remarkably with the construction of linkages, round-about lines, partial double tracks and mixed lines in different places of the country.\n\nAs a result of the vigorous “Drive for extra-haulage on schedule without accident to implement the decisions of the 18th plenary meeting of the Sth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea” upwards of 13 million more tons of freight were carried than the rated traction last year alone. Many locomotive drivers have carried out their assignments for the Third Seven-Year Plan (1987-1993).\n\nSpeeches were made at the meeting.\n\nThe speakers called upon all the railway workers to carry through the party's policy of railway transport in the same spirit and mettle displayed during the past war and the great Chollima upsurge, upholding the slogan “When our party is determined we can do anything!” and thus make greater contributions to increasing the potential of the independent national economy of the country.\n\nA letter of pledge was adopted at the meeting."
},
{
"TITLE": "Man's ‘Independence’ in Socialism Viewed",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1503122591 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0010 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1503122591",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "NODONG SINMUN 12 March special article: “Our Socialism Is a Superior Social System That Guarantees Independence to the People“",
"FULL_TEXT": "Our country’s socialism is displaying a higher degree of superiority and vitality with the passage of time. The source of the unrivaled superiority and the invincible vitality of our socialism lies in the fact that it completely embodies the essential demands of man.\n\nOur socialism, which has its roots deep in this land, is a unique socialism that was built and is being developed and brought to perfection with the great chuche idea as its foundation. The chuche idea is the ideological foundation of our socialism and our socialism shines as a superior socialism which has thoroughly embodied the essential demands of men, as it is based on the chuche idea.\n\nFully explaining once again the superiority of our socialism in a series of documents released recently, the dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has shed light on the fact that socialism has, above all, wonderfully embodied the independent demands of men. This is a valuable ideological and theoretical guideline needed to deeply understand and glorify the superiority of our own style of socialism even further.\n\nThe dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has noted: Learning from the painful life they experienced in the past as colonial slaves, and from today’s new, free, and rewarding socialist life, our people have drawn a clear lesson that only socialism provides the people with independence, and are devoted to the struggle to endlessly value and defend our socialism that completely defends the popular masses’ independence.\n\nMan is a social being that assumes independence as its essential nature. Making the working masses achieve independence and their independent demands is a practical yardstick with which to rate the nature and superiority of a social system.\n\nGenerally, the superiority of a social system can be determined on the basis of how it embodies the essential demands of man. When it comes to the essential demands of man, it means the independent demands before anything else.\n\nA society can be called an advanced and superior social system only when it satisfactorily embodies the desire of man to be free from all manner of subordination and to live and develop an independent life.\n\nThe superiority of our social system which has embodied the independent desire of man lies in the fact that it completely guarantees our people with sociopolitical independence.\n\nIf independence can be likened to man’s life, it generally means sociopolitical life. Man has two kinds of lives— physical life and sociopolitical life. The essential characteristics of man lie in the fact that he has sociopolitical life.\n\nMan's rights are, above all, sociopolitical rights and human dignity is to be guaranteed by sociopolitical independence. To realize sociopolitical independence is a precondition for realizing all manner of essential desires of man. Under the condition where the popular masses are subordinated socially and politically, man can benefit nothing from the remaking of society, nor can he free himself from the fetters of an old ideology and culture.\n\nTo defend and safeguard sociopolitical independence is for the popular masses a vital matter for realizing independence.\n\nWith the socialist revolution completed in our country, no social and economic conditions restricting the sociopolitical independence exist. In addition, the working masses are completely guaranteed sociopolitical independence.\n\nSocialist ownership of the government and production means is defended, strengthened, and developed without interruption. As a result, the popular masses are firmly guaranteed sociopolitical independence.\n\nThe independent right of the popular masses finds its expression mainly in the exercise of national sovereignty. It was because they were unable to have a say-so in the government and production means that the popular masses lost their sociopolitical independence and were forced to suffer a life of slavery for thousands of years.\n\nOnly when they become the masters of the socialist government and production means, can the popular masses defend and realize their independence. Sociopolitical independence is tied to genuine freedom and the right to sociopolitical life, which are expressed in the direct access the popular masses have to national sovereignty and their unrestricted participation in running state affairs.\n\nToday, the average working people are actively participating in running state affairs, as the masters of the state and society, and each and every one of them can exercise their right to elect and to be elected, regardless of their sex, occupation, wealth, degree of knowledge, political views, and religious differences.\n\nDeputies to the Supreme People's Assembly and other people's assemblies at all levels, including the workers, members of cooperative farms, and intellectuals— representatives of the working people—manage and run state affairs according to the independent demands and the will of the popular masses. Also, with the socialist ownership unilaterally dominating the production means, the economy is managed, run, and developed without interruption, according to plans in a way that suits the demands and interest of the popular masses.\n\nThe working masses’ independence can be defended and realiz J only when the position of the popular masses concerning national sovereignty is raised even further, and social ownership over production means is strengthened. This is a truth proven by practice.\n\nAlso, thanks to the profound consideration of the party and leader which provides and brightens the noble political life, each and every one of our people enjoys the most valuable and rewarding sociopolitical life.\n\nOur people are ‘reely involved in sociopolitical activity when they are lined up behind certain political organizations, such as the party and working organizations, and are sufficiently guaranteed the freedom of the press, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, and freedom of demonstrations.\n\nThe mass media in our country, which are in the hands of the popular masses, serve the working masses in achieving the cause of independence. In our country there can be no such thing as infringement on the democratic freedom and the rights of the popular masses.\n\nThe realities of our country which guarantee the working masses substantive rights as the masters of the state and society and politics, and all the members of society, lead a sound and revolutionary organizational life in certain sociopolitical organizations, demonstrate that our socialism is a superior social system which defends and realizes the people's independence.\n\nAnother superior element of our socialism embodying the independent demands of man is well expressed in the fact that it has freed them from the fetters of nature and old ideology and culture.\n\nSociopolitical independence is very important for man. Nevertheless, it is not the whole of independence. The popular masses’ sociopolitical independence can be realized when the socialist system is set up, it is not yet entirely free from the fetters of nature and the old ideology and culture.\n\nEven after the socialist system is set up, the legacy of the exploited society is to remain for a certain period of time, serving as a basic obstacle to completely realizing the independence of the popular masses. For this reason, only when the revolution is carried out without interruption, even after a socialist society is established, can the people, occuping their position as the masters of society and playing their role as the masters, consummate the popular masses’ cause of independence.\n\nTo continue the revolution is the most positive way of realizing independence for the popular masses.\n\nUnder the guidance of the party, our country is accelerating the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural—while firmly maintaining the independent stand.\n\nThe independent stand is the most correct stand to solidify and develop and glory our socialism by carrying out the revolution and construction on our own, and the lines of the three revolutions are the correct lines for socialist and communist construction.\n\nOur revolutionary practice has proved that when the independent stand is maintained and the lines of the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural— are implemented, socialism can be defended under any adverse circumstances and the socialist cause can be hastened victoriously along the most straightforward road.\n\nWith socialist construction vigorously carried out under the banner of the three revolutions in our country, the working masses enjoy a more independent and creative life, and the legacies of the old society are steadily disappearing in every field of social life.\n\nThe cause of completely realizing the independence of the popular masses which began as a struggle to smash the old exploitative system is being successfully achieved through the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural.\n\nThe healthy and civilized ideological and cultural life and affluent material life enjoyed today by our people is a vigorous manifestation of the superiority of our socialism.\n\nOur country's socialism not only realizes the independence of the popular masses, but also firmly guarantees it. Defending the independence of the popular masses based on the principle of self-defense in .iense is a superiority of our socialism.\n\nAlthough the struggle to attain independence is arduous, no less arduous is the struggle to defend and safeguard the independence that has already been won.\n\nIn order to defend and safeguard the independence of the popular masses, it is imperative to stage a principled but positive struggle.\n\nThe imperialists and reactionaries are now viciously maneuvering to rob the people in socialist countries of independence and to fetter them again as colonial slaves.\n\nIn order to smash the maneuvers of the imperialists who are bent on robbing the people in socialist countries of independence, and to firmly defend independence, it is imperative to strengthen defense capability.\n\nWithout the self-defense capability to defend the independence and the sovereignty of the country and the people against the imperialist aggression, it is impossible to think of the independence of the popular masses.\n\nToday, the imperialists, while clamoring about detente and peace, are on the lookout for an opportunity to invade other countries, maintaining and strengthening military blocs and beefing up military forces.\n\nIt is imperative to resolutely struggle against the imper.- alists and strengthen national defense capabilities, not only for the independence of one’s own country and people, but also for the cause of converting the whole world into one governed by independence.\n\nOur people have strengthened the capabilities of our self-defense by thoroughly implementing the party's self- defense military lines, and are now capable of repelling any kind of aggressive maneuvers of the imperialists and of firmly defending the independence of the country and people.\n\nThis is an important element that guarantees the invincibility of our country's socialism and its bright future.\n\nOur people's support for, and confidence in, our own type of socialism, which is built on the immortal chuche idea and which thoroughly defends and realizes the independence of the popular masses, remain firm and unwavering.\n\nOur people are firmly convinced that our socialism is the best, and have an endless attachment to the socialist cause of chuche.\n\nOur people should glorify our socialism even further by embodying the chuche idea under the guidance of the great leader and the great party, and should bring the revolutionary cause to perfection while advancing along the socialist road no matter what difficulties and ordeals they may encounter."
},
{
"TITLE": "* Agricultural Soil-Covering Campaigns Reported",
"FULL_CITATION": "912C0133A Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 15 Jan 91 p 3",
"CITATION_ID": "912C0133A",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "nodong sinmun",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION_DATE": "January 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Reports by special correspondent Yi Myong-chan enti tled “At the Cooperative Farms in Nampo City” and by special correspondent Pak Yong-tok entitled “In Yang- gang Province“ published under the headline: “By Vigorously Launching the Soil-Covering Campaign, Let Us Resolutely Improve the Quality of the Land“",
"FULL_TEXT": "The great leader Comrade Kim Il-song taught as follows in this year's New Year's message:\n\n“In the agricultural sector this year we must decisively improve the soil fertility of the land under cultivation according to the requirements of the chuche agricultural method, scientifically and technologically conduct agriculture, and without fail attain the targets for grain production and develop the rural economy by diverse methods to suit the natural geographical conditions.”\n\nHighly supporting this year's New Year's message of the great leader, the agricultural workers, in addition to the clerical and other workers of Nampo City, who have rushed forward as one to the struggle to increase the soil fertility of land under cultivation, vigorously launched a soil-spreading battle from the beginning of the year, and are achieving the innovation of completing 2-3 percent of the total area of cornfields each day.\n\nFrom the time the cornfield soil-covering battle began until now we have achieved the result of carrying out soil-covering in over 50 percent of the cornfield area throughout the city.\n\nIn this way, following the example of the Chongsan Cooperative Farm in Kangso-kuyok, which victoriously finished the soil-covering battle at the end of last year, the city’s many farms, including the Kochang, Kangson, Toji, and Taedae cooperative farms, are in the final stages of the soil-covering battle.\n\nThe innovative result of smashing through the 50- percent mark of total cornfield area within a short time after the soil-covering battle began, is a manifestation of the burning loyalty of the agricultural workers and support personnel here who are thoroughly implementing unconditionally the intentions of the party.\n\nIn order to thoroughly carry out the soil-covering battle, the city rural economic committee and other agricultural guidance organs underscored the requirements of the chuche agricultural method among the party members and workers, and followed this up by intensifying technical guidance, and setting up the necessary economic organizational work.\n\nThe agricultural workers and support personnel of the Chollima, Hanggu, and Waudo districts, effectively utilizing mechanical means and various hauling methods, while firing up their spirits from the start of the first combat of the new year, are overfulfilling their daily soil-covering tasks. In this way, they achieved the result of qualitatively accomplishing 70 percent of the soil-covering of the entire area of cornfields in the districts here.\n\nOn the other hand, even Kangso-kuyok and Yonggang County, which have large areas of cornfields, rationally selected fresh soil sites, concentrated their labor and machinery, and are achieving innovative results every day.\n\nThe revolutionary fervor of the masses mobilized to the soil-covering battle was high, and the greater the work results shown, the more the city turned its due attention to having them thoroughly implement the demands of the chuche agricultural method.\n\nThe struggle to vigorously support the soil-covering combat is progressing even more briskly among the working class of the city’s factories and enterprises. The laborers and technicians of the Chollima Iron and Steel Complex, the Nampo Smelting Complex, and the Kumsong Tractor General Factory are in the forefront of the support work.\n\nIn Yanggang Province\n\nHighly upholding the New Year's message of the great leader, the party members and workers in Yanggang Province have vigorously launched a soil-covering battle and are reaping great results.\n\nAccording to a wrap-up of various reporting, the province is overfulfilling its daily soil-covering plan by an average of l. G- fold.\n\nIn order to thoroughly implement the instructions of the great leader to do a good job of soil-covering, the provincial party committee here set up concrete measures for implementation, and in order to have them carried out without fail, saw to it that above all the party and administrative functionaries demonstrate a high level of revolutionary spirit, party spirit, working-class spirit, and people-mindedness. They organized and began the project in a revolutionary manner.\n\nResponsible functionaries of the provincial party committee and the provincial administrative and economic guidance committee, continuing their duties at the site of the soil-covering battle, carefully explained and propagandized the teachings of the great leader and the intentions of the party, discussed the methods one by one, and set up the necessary measures in a timely fashion so that the soil-covering achievements could continue, even under winter conditions where the soil was frozen deep by the biting cold.\n\nThe functionaries of Kim Hyong-kwon County, utilizing various means of hauling, including cableways, not to mention mechanical means, meticulously laid the groundwork for the organization work in order to carry the soil in large quantities. Meanwhile, on the other hand, they are leading them, standing in the forefront of the masses as a real model of leadership by personal example.\n\nPochon County is motivating the masses, having them search in various places—including the edge of the Karimchon—for rich sources of soil and humus, and having them dig it up and move it in a timely manner.\n\nIn this way, various counties in the province, beginning with Kim Hyong-kwon and Pochon counties, are succeeding in overfulfilling the soil-covering plan over 80 percent.\n\nProvincial-level organs also are aggressively providing support to the soil-covering battle. [passage omitted]"
},
{
"TITLE": "* Kim Chong-il Encourages Activities",
"FULL_CITATION": "912C0133B Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 15 Jan 91 p 3",
"CITATION_ID": "912C0133B",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "nodong sinmun",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION_DATE": "January 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Article by staff reporter entitled “With a Self-Confident Fighting Spirit” published under the headline: “By Vigorously Launching the Soil-Covering Campaign, Let Us Resolutely Improve the Quality of Land“",
"FULL_TEXT": "The dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il pointed out as follows:\n\n“In order to increase agricultural production we must dynamically launch a struggle to increase the soil fertility of wet and dry fields.”\n\nWith burning resolve to carry out to the end, unconditionally, the task set forth by the great leader in this year’s New Year's message, the party members and agricultural workers of the cooperative farms of various areas who have vigorously launched into the work, are even more vigorously carrying out a soil-covering battle to increase the land's fertility. Worker-farmer correspondents of various areas are sending in news of how, since the beginning of the year, they are greatly expanding their successes.\n\nWorker-farmer correspondent Comrade Son Chae-mo has sent us news that the Mupyong Cooperative Farm in Chonchon County is carrying out the soil-covering battle in a big way. Functionaries of this farm have been putting their shoulders to the difficult and arduous urgent task, and are positively arousing the enthusiasm of the masses by means of energetic political work. Thus, in every soil-covering battle site of all the workteams, new innovations are being created day after day.\n\nIn particular, the farm workers of the No. 2 and No. 3 workteams are setting up combat objectives, and overfulfilling the daily soil-covering plans.\n\nWorker-farmer correspondent Comrade Chon Song-hun has sent us news of the soil-covering battle of the Taechong Cooperative Farm in Unpa County. At this farm they have set up the objective of spreading soil on several hundred chongbos [one chongbo equals 2.451 acres] of cornfields and have been in high spirits as they carried out a general mobilization of all their forces. Comrade Cho Yun-sik, leader of the No.2 workteam, and other primary level functionaries correctly set up their daily combat objectives and are heightening their performance by means of correct operations and direction. In particular, they are making many means of conveyance to suit their own actual circumstances and ardently carrying out the soil-covering project.\n\nDuring the past few days, the Tokpo Cooperative Farm in Myongchon County has been achieving some two times greater successes in soil-covering in the cornfields than before. According to news sent in by worker-farmer correspondent Comrade Yi Chi-ho, farm functionaries such as Comrades Yi Chong-chu and Kim Mun-hyon are standing in the van of the struggle and are encouraging and inspiring the members of the League of Socialist Working Youth (LSWY) of the farm by personal example. The farm's LSWY members volunteered to take charge of cumbersome tasks and, giving full play to the vigor and passion of youth, are markedly increasing soil-covering performance. As soon as news of their model behavior spread, all the farm members set up high objectives and are overfulfilling them each day.\n\nNews that the Pogu Subfarm of the Orchard General Farm in Kwail County is qualitatively carrying out soil-covering has been sent in by worker-farmer correspondent Comrade Kang Kyong-sam.\n\nWhether or not soil-covering is done according to the chuche agricultural method has an impact on the work of increasing the soil fertility of the land. The functionaries of the subfarm here, who are well aware of this fact, meticulously set up a soil-covering plan by field, by workteam, and by date, on the basis of a soil analysis chart. They led the masses, standing in the forefront. In this way, in all of the workteams there arose a vigorous struggle to haul soil according to the characteristics of the fields—stream-bottom soil where stream bottom soil is to be spread, and mud and coal ashes where mud and coal ashes are to be spread. Here the No. 3 and No. 10 workteams are doing a good job. They secured in advance a site for fresh soil to suit the characteristics of the fields, and increased their soil-spreading performance, trying hard to guarantee its quality. In this way this subfarm is achieving successes in qualitatively spreading soil on the cornfields.\n\nThe Chuuidong Cooperative Farm in Toksong County and the Taedok Cooperative Farm in Yiwon County are also doing soil-spreading qualitatively, and nowadays they are spreading over twice as much soil per day compared with when they first began soil-spreading. Worker-farmer correspondents Comrades Yi Hong-sop and Yo In-ho report that farms here are qualitatively carrying out soil-covering on all cornfields.\n\nIn particular, the No. | workteam of the Taedok Cooperative Farm set up measures so that their new soil sources would not freeze. They made various means of transport such as pushcarts and cableways by themselves, and they are carrying out soil-spreading on 1.5 times more area per day than called for in the plan. The No. 3 workteam of the Chuuidong Cooperative Farm made a cableway with the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and is achieving daily work results nearly twice those realized at the end of last year.\n\n—Let’s carry out even more vigorously the soil- spreading battle according to the intent of the party.\n\nNow agricultural workers in all areas are rushing to the soil-spreading battle with this kind of awareness and every day are creating new miracles and innovations."
},
{
"TITLE": "KCNA Review of 15 Mar Pyongyang Press",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1503053791 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0436 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1503053791",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Press review",
"FULL_TEXT": "Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA}—Papers here today carry a photo-illustrated report that the great leader President Kim Il-song received the Indonesian parliamentary delegation.\n\nAppearing in papers is a report that the new Indonesian ambassador to Korea presented his credentials to President Kim Il-song of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.\n\nPresident Kim Il-song received solidarity letters from different countries denouncing the provocative “Team Spirit 91\" joint military exercises of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities and supporting the Korean people in their struggle for the reunification of the country, says the press.\n\nAccording to the press, works of dear Comrade Kim Chong-il were carried by foreign newspapers.\n\nHighlighted in NODONG SINMUN is news that articles highly praising Comrade Kim Chong-il as the people's leader and the genius of creation and construction were reported abroad on the occasion of the February holiday and the daily gives an account of the closing of the first Korean film festival which was opened on this occasion.\n\nMINJU CHOSON says Comrade Kim Chong-il has built up the Hamhung Woolen Mill into a modernly equipped textile mill.\n\nPapers give an account of a national meeting of railv ay workers that opened and carry a congratulatory message sent by the C.C. [Central Committee], the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] to the participants in the meeting.\n\nCarried in NODONG SINMUN is a solidarity message to the WPK Central Committee from the National Committee of the Communist Party of the U.S.A. condemning the “Team Spirit 91\" joint military exercises.\n\nEconews of the press includes reports on the fulfillment of the plans for the first quarter year by the Sariwon Mining Machine Factory and brisk farming preparations on co-op farms.\n\nIt is reported in papers that the permanent vice-minister of foreign effairs of Japan was interviewed by the reporters accompanying the DPRK Government delegation to the second intergovernmental full-dress talks for the normalisation of DPRK-Japan diplomatic relations and Korean players gave a good account of themselves at international weightlifting and table tennis tournaments.\n\nPfc. Kim Yu-chan of the Joint Security Corps of the “U.N. Forces Command” who came over to the northern half of Korea was interviewed by home and foreign reporters, says the press. Carried in the press is a declaration of conscience published by him before the reporters.\n\nConveyed in papers are home and foreign public voices lashing out at the Team Spirit 91“.\n\nNODONG SINMUN comes out with an article headlined ““Team Spirit’ exercises and anti-socialist strategy.”\n\nGiven in the press is an account of a press conference held at the Soviet Embassy here on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the signing of the agreement on economic and cultural cooperation between the Soviet Union and the DPRK.\n\nNODONG SINMUN conveys foreign press notes denouncing the South Korean authorities’ scheme for “unilateral U.N. membership“ and the overseas Koreans’ newspaper MINJOK SIBO published in Japan carried an editorial captioned “Let Us Intensify the Movement To Oust No Tae-u regime\n\nPapers run commentaries hitting out at No Tae-u for whipping up war hysterics against the North at the “graduation ceremonies” of the academies of the three services of the puppet army.\n\nPapers inform the readers that recommendations demanding an early normalisation of Japan-DPRK diplomatic relations were adopted at local assemblies of sapan, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a decision on the cooperation of the Soviet people's deputies in the enforcement of national referendum and the first vice-president of Iran called for the unity of the Muslims the world over against domination forces.\n\nNODONG SINMUN reports about the efforts directed to the economic development for the building of a prosperous new Asia by Laos, Vietnam, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Iran."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul Welcomes North's Bid To Join ESCAP",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1503030491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0239 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1503030491",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korea would welcome and would fully cooperate with a North Korean bid to join the Economic and Social Council of Asia-Pacific (ESCAP), Foreign Minister Yi Sang-ok said Friday.\n\nYi said a North Korean trade representative in Bangkok, Thailand, had recently called on ESCAP headquarters there and expressed deep interest in joining the group.\n\n“It is not clear, however, whether North Korea plans to formally submit a membership application to the ESCAP General Assembly in Seoul in April, or is simply showing interest,” he said. “The government believes Pyongyang’s entry is desirable and widely welcomes it.“\n\nThe 47th ESCAP meeting opens here April | and 48 member nations, including China, the Soviet Union, Vietnam and Laos, will send approximately 1,000 delegates.\n\nThe government plans to propose adoption of a Seoul declaration,” outlining specific cooperation measures in the Asia-Pacific region for the 1990 s during the meeting. ministry officials say."
},
{
"TITLE": "Pak Chol-on Reportedly To Visit DPRK in May",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1503121891 Seoul SEOUL SINMUN in Korean 15 Mar 9I p 1",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1503121891",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "seoul sinmun",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "It was learned that Minister of Sports and Youth Pak Chol-on will visit Pyongyang in May and meet with high-ranking North Korean officials. A broad range of discussions will be held on pending North-South Korean issues such as expansion in sports and economic cooperation.\n\nMinister Pak will visit the North for four nights and five days and, in the capacity of the minister of sports and youth, will participate in the Pyongyang tryouts to form a single team for the World Youth Soccer Championships. It seems that during his visit he will hold talks with North Korea's leading officials such as Kim Yu-sun, chairman of the Korean Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Committee, and Vice President Yi Chong-ok.\n\nAs the real power in taking the initiative toward the sports exchange and the policy toward the North, it was learned that Minister Pak will also discuss trade on a barter system, which is intended to carry out direct trade of goods needed by North and South Korea.\n\nPast proposals on our side include expanding sports exchanges. It seems that Minister Pak will wrap up lose ends on inviting North Korean youths to the August World Jamboree and the sports festival for all Koreans, including those abroad, and on the mutual exchange of sports leaders."
},
{
"TITLE": "Hong Kong Agency Arranges Travel to DPRK",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1203115291 Seoul CHUNGANG ILBO in Korean 9 Mar 91 p2",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1203115291",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "chungang ilbo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Report by Hong Kong Correspondent Kim Taek-won",
"FULL_TEXT": "Citibank International Travel (President Ronald Chong), a Hong Kong travel agency, started arranging North Korean tours on 6 March. Also, it receives applications if two people or more apply. This virtually means that individual North Korean tours are possible. Before, only group tours were accepted.\n\nAn official of this agency said that anyone who is not from the ROK, South Africa, and Israel can receive a visa in a week after applying for it, that tours by two people or more and group tours of students are possible, and that tourists can select sites in North Korea when they travel.\n\nThis official said: The company arranges a four-day tour in which tourists leave Hong Kong, stay a night in Beijing, arrive in Pyongyang by a North Korea Korean civilian airline flight that leaves Beijing every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, and visit Kaesong and Pyongyang. The company also arrange a five-day tour in which tourists will also visit Mt. Myohyang.\n\nThis official also said that this company's tourism business is under the control of the Korea-Macao International Tourist Agency, a North Korean travel agency in Macao."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il’s Power Base Reportedly Fragile",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1503134591 Seoul HANGUK ILBO in Korean 12 Mar 91 p 18",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1503134591",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "hanguk ilbo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "In contrast with North Korea’s intensive efforts to consummate the power transfer to Kim Chong-il, North Korean college students studying in Beijing are making skeptical and noteworthy observations about Kim Chong-il’s succession to power.\n\nAccording to “The North Korean Situation As Seen By the North Korean Students Studying in Beijing” in The Flash Report on Reunification” distributed recently by the National Unification Board, North Korean residents hold a skeptical view of Kim Chong-il’s competence because of the economic setbacks of the last 17 years since the participation of Kim Chong-il in government affairs in 1973. Anti-Kim Chong-il forces are forming fairly extensively in the military and other circles.\n\nProfessor M of our country, who has recently been to China, met a professor who is a graduate of Kim Il-song University. He said: “Regardless of whether he will adhere to his father’s line or adopt a policy of openness, Kim Chong-il is doomed to be removed after all.“ He said that Kim Chong-il will follow the same fate as that of Hua Guofeng after the death of Mao Zedong.\n\nThis analysis is similar to that by various figures who visited North Korea last year, thereby suggesting that the power transfer to Kim Chong-il after the death of Kim Il-song, which is taken for granted by many, might not be that simple.\n\nParty Secretary Kim Chong-il is reported to be charged with all state affairs—except dipiomatic protocol—now that the 17-year preparation for his coming to power is completed.\n\nStudents studying in Beijing view the rapid emergence of Kim Chong-il as heir-apparent during the first half of the 1970's as resulting from the counteraction to the conspicuous growth of the so-called “Ring of the Heterodox Twigs” of Kim Song-ae, second wife of Kim Il-song.\n\nAccording to the students, Kim Yong-chu, Kim Il-song’s brother and a prominent candidate for succession to power, was classified as a Kim Song-ae ally and removed from the scene together with Kim Song-kap, Kim Song-ae’s brother who was then chairman of the Pyongyang Municipal People’s Committee.\n\nHowever, Kim Song-ae, chairman of the North Korea Women's Union, is appearing on official occasions for the first time in 18 years, and residents are also showing interest in Kim Pyong-il rather than Kim Chong-il.\n\nThe professor in Beijing, who graduated from Kim Il-song University, said that he got the impression when visiting Pyongyang last November that President Kim Il-song was withdrawing power which he had earlier given to Kim Chong-il. In other words, North Korea's political power, which shifted from Kim Song-ae toward Kim Chong-il in the early 1970's as a result of the will of public sentiment, is now moving toward Kim Pyong-il.\n\nTherefore, if Kim Il-song dies there will be great confusion. Although Kim Chong-il’s succession to power is quite probable, his power will not last more than six months.\n\nWhile having taken charge for the past 17 years, Kim Chong-il gave all power to the party. The State Administration Council, which is the administrative body, was allowed only to obey party orders. From time to time this resulted in friction between the party and the State Administration Council. During the North-South high- level talks last year, party cadres sarcastically talked about the delegation led by Premier Yon Hyong-muk. saying: What kind of talks can those puppets carry out?” This shows that State Administration Council cadres are treated as low-class party members.\n\nIn addition, those running the regime centering on Kim Chong-il are gradually losing confidence. Despite his holding absolute power, Kim does not have confidence about his position. He does not like to meet people from the outside and makes all decisions with only a small number of party members. This shows the seriousness of the centralization of power. For example, the North Korean Embassy in China does not even have authority to issue visas to those desiring to visit the North. Therefore, all such business must be handled after asking Pyongyang.\n\nIt seems that even after President Kim II|-song’s death it will be impossible to completely remove the Kim family because, since President Kim is God-like in North Korea, there is no conception that “the leader will die.” Therefore, it seems that after President Kim's death the people's sense of emptiness will be serious.\n\nThus, even though Kim Chong-il might be overchroun right after he gains power, the Kim family will rule under the “constitutional monarchy system.“ which is similar to the Japanese royal family. Also, its seems that practical politics will be carried out centering on the premier.\n\nJudging from this, Professor M forecasts that great changes will take place in North Korea in the next year or two, and even though there is no reunification, within a limited range, there will be great changes taking place in North-South relations.\n\nThe Board of National Unification also included the opinions of those who had visited the North last year and made a similar forecast. Due to the liberalization movement of the East European bloc, which started in 1989, as well as to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and the Soviet Union, North Korea felt a sense of danger, and thus strengthened its social control. As a counteraction to this, anti-Kim Chong-il forces are gradually being formed underground.\n\nCurrently there are 130 North Korean students studying in Beijing. Among them, 70-80 are attending universities of foreign language, and the rest are studying in science and engineering. Every Thursday these students receive political indoctrination at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing. Being aware of the surveillance from the embassy, senior students are considerably cautious about freshmen students. After returning to North Korea, the students cannot become hard core members of the North Korean regime but can work only as working-level officials."
},
{
"TITLE": "Nuclear Research Accord Signed With France",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1303014391 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 13 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1303014391",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "the korea herald",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and France's Commissariat a Energie Atom- aique (CEA) have signed an agreement on joint research in the safety of pressurized water reactors, a KAERI spokesman said yesterday.\n\n“Under the agreement, signed by KAERI President Han Pil-sun and French Amb. [Ambassador] Hubert de la Fortelle, on behalf of CEA Friday, we will directly participate in CEA’s large-scale research and test projects during 1991-1997 and get sophisticated technology related to safety of pressurized water reactors,” he said.\n\n“KAERI and two French institutes under the CEA umbrella will especially concentrate on joint tests on design basis accident and fission product release during accidents involving pressurized water reactors in 1991-97.\"\n\nTwo KAERI researchers will be sent to France for the tests.\n\nKorean nuclear researchers have so far done safety tests on parts of nuclear power plants such as the reactor and containment in cooperation with U.S. experts."
},
{
"TITLE": "Civilians, Dissidents Form Antinuclear Body",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1503035191 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 15 Mar 91 p 3",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1503035191",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "the korea herald",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "An antinuclear civilian body was formed in Seoul Wednesday in a ceremony attended by about 300 people residing near nuclear power plants in Sosan and Yongkwang and in Tongduchon where U.S. military facilities are installed.\n\nThose attending the inaugural of the Coalition of Anti- nuclear Peace Movement include such dissident figures as Paek Ki-wan and Ke Hun-che."
},
{
"TITLE": "YONHAP, TASS Sign Accord on News Exchanges",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1503003891 Seoul YONHAP in English 0022 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1503003891",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)}—YONPBAP news agency and TASS, the official Soviet news agency, Thursday signed an agreement for stable and long-term news and personnel exchanges.\n\nThe news cooperation agreement was signed by YONHAP President Cho Yong-chung and Lev Spiridonov, director general of TASS. It took effect on signing and will remain in effect until the end of 1993, replacing a memorandum exchanged in 1989.\n\nWith the agreement concluded, YONHAP can now exchange news and render cooperation with most of the world’s main news agencies except for XINHUA of China. Korea and China lack diplomatic ties."
},
{
"TITLE": "TASS Chief Departs After Week-Long Visit",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1503091991 Seoul YONHAP in English 0817 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1503091991",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)}—Lev Spiridonov, director general of the official Soviet news agency TASS, left South Korea Friday afternoon on an Aeroflot flight to Moscow, finishing a week-long visit here.\n\nSpiridonov, 60, was in Seoul at the invitation of YONHAP News Agency to sign a news cooperation agreement and thereby open up chances for Koreans and Soviets to know more about each other. The full-dress agreement was signed with YONHAP President Cho Yong-chung Thursday, enabling YONHAP to complete its aim of news cooperation and exchange agreements with all major international news agencies.\n\nThe top TASS official attracted attention among political and economic leaders, who are high.y curious about the Soviet Union, with which Korea normalized ties in September last year.\n\nHe paid a courtesy call on President No Tae-u, whose policy is to improve ties with socialist nations, and met with such ranking politicians and industrialists as Prime Minister No Chae-pong, National Assembly Speaker Pak Chun-kyu and Samsung Group Chairman Yi kun-hui.\n\nAccompanied by Sales and Marketing Manager Igor Derzhitskiy and Tokyo Bureau Chief Vladimir Koutchko, Spiridonov gave five press conferences and was on the state-run television news."
},
{
"TITLE": "KAL To Begin Flights Through Moscow to Rome",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1103131691 Seoul YONHAP in English 1026 GMT 11 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1103131691",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 11, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Seoul, March 11 (YONHAP)—Korean Air (KAL) will begin weekly flights on the Seoul-Moscow- Amsterdam-Rome route June 27, the company said Monday.\n\nKAL will use a 410-seat B-747-300, departing Seoul Thursday morning and arriving in Rome Thursday night, it said. The service is in compliance with an agreement between KAL and Alitalia signed in January, and a government-level aviation pact between the two nations concluded last October, a KAL spokesman said.\n\nThe airline is to begin flights on the Seoul- Bombay-Cairo-Rome route by the end of the year, he said.\n\nKAL flies to eight cities in Europe, including Paris, London, Zurich, Amsterdam, Vienna, Frankfurt and Moscow, and serves 48 cities in 23 countries."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul To Send Medical Supplies to Soviets",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1203081391 Seoul YONHAP in English 0551 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1203081391",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Seoul, March 12 (YONHAP)—South Korea will ship 40 million U.S. dollars of medicine and medical equipment to the Soviet Union next month, the Health and Social Affairs Ministry said Tuesday.\n\nPayment will be made from a tied loan extended to the Soviet Union in January. The shipment accounts for nearly one-fifth of the country’s medical export of 220 million dollars for this year, ministry officials said.\n\nThe 11 medical products include analgesics, antipyretics, Vitamins, anti-tuberculous agents, anesthetics, surgical gloves and condoms, they said.\n\nThe ministry plans, over the next two years, to export 30 million dollars of plant-extracted medicine, 15 million dollars of disposable syringes and needles, 60,000 dollars of surgical gloves and 60 million dollars of medical equipments to the Soviet Union, they said.\n\nHealth officials are collecting information on Soviet medical products and hope to encourage civilian exchanges as well."
},
{
"TITLE": "Further on Telecommunications Loan to Philippines",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1203040791 Seoul YONHAP in English 0220 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1203040791",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Seoul, March 12 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korea will provide the Philippines 3.79 billion won, an equivalent of 5.4 million U.S. dollars, in a concessionary loan to modernize and expand a provincial telecommunications network.\n\nHong Chae-hyong, chairman of the Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Rodolfo Dumaplas, Philippines charge d'affaires to Korea, signed a contract to extend the loan in Seoul Tuesday.\n\nThe government's Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) will put up the loan, which carries an interest rate of 3.5 percent per annum over 20 years, after a five-year grace period.\n\nThe Philippines will use the money to purchase and install a TDX-10 digital switching system with a capacity of 6,150 lines in Misamis Oriental Province."
},
{
"TITLE": "Elections ‘Dominated’ by Ruling Party Candidates",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1503041991 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 15 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1503041991",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "the korea herald",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Nes Analysis“ by staff reporter Kim Chong-chan",
"FULL_TEXT": "Registration of candidacy for the coming local assembly elections is dominated by ruling party candidates which may hamper the sound development of local self-government, the first in 30 years.\n\nMore than half of those running in the elections are reportedly members of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party [DLP] and pro-DLP figures.\n\nAccording to Chongwadae and ruling party sources, candidates who belong to the governing party account for 42.8 percent, or 4,339 of the total 10,120 candidates.\n\nThe figure compares with 14 percent for the main opposition Party for Peace and Democracy [PPD]; 1.8 percent for the minor Democratic Party and 0.2 percent for the progressive Minjung (People’s) Party of Korea.\n\nThe remaining 41.2 percent or 4,100 people are listed as “independents,” though at least one third are pro-DLP figures, the sources said.\n\nPolitical parties cannot field candidates for the March 26 small-area local elections in small- and medium-sized cities, “gun” (county) and “ku” (ward) in big cities. The large-unit local council elections are scheduled for June.\n\nThe domination by ruling party candidates in the elections may have stunned opposition leader Kim Tae-chung who still harbors presidential ambitions. PPD President Kim sees the implementation of “grass-roots democracy” as an occasion to expand his nationwide political base.\n\nPPD members running in Kim's stronghold, Kwangju and Cholla provinces, total 838, compared with only 469 belonging to the giant ruling DLP.\n\nWhen it comes to Taegu and Kyongsang provinces, however, the situation is quite different. The number of ruling party members and pro-DLP figures running in those areas is over 20 times that of those from the opposition, DLP officials said.\n\nA moderate competition ratio of 2.35 to 1 in the local elections shows that the ballot has attracted little public interest. Local assembly elections were suspended in 1961 when the military took power.\n\nA tally compiled by the Central Election Management Committee (CEMC) showed that there is more competition in provincial areas than urban districts, particularly the six big cities.\n\nTaegu, the third largest city in Korea, had the lowest competition ratio of 1.58 to 1, while Kangwon-do and two other provinces shared the highest with 2.8 to 1.\n\nObservers attributed the low competition in Taegu, the birthplace of President No Tae-u, to the ruling party's behind-the-scenes maneuvering to prevent “excessive competition” among ruling party members running in the city.\n\nA considerable number of ruling party members running there are said to have withdrawn their candidacy at the request of fellow party members. Surprisingly, the number of uncontested districts in Taegu totals 60 or 41.2 percent of the total 141 areas.\n\nCEMC has announced that the number of districts uncontested totals 441 or 12.3 percent of 3,562 electoral constituencies nation wide. A total of 547 or 12.7 percent of the fixed 4,304 council members have already won in those uncontested areas, including 83 in Seoul and 49 in the second largest city, Pusan.\n\nOne council member is to be picked from each of the small administrative units of “tong” in cities. But the number will go up to two or three according to population size.\n\nObservers said the lower than expected competition nationwide was attributable to public distrust of politicians mainly caused by the Suso housing scandal, a lack of public knowledge of local self-governing and the hasty arrangement of the elections.\n\nThe ruling camp had originally planned to hold the small-unit local elections in May. The opposition has accused the ruling party of advancing the voting in an attempt to divert public attention away from the Suso bribery case.\n\nPublic distrust of politicians may have climaxed as the destructive scandal came on the heels of a bribery case involving three lawmakers accused of taking bribes from a lobby group for their junket abroad.\n\nCandidacy registration shows that women still have little interest in politics. Women candidates accounted for merely 1.2 percent or 123 of the total 10,120.\n\nBy age, those who are between 51 and 55 topped the list with 23.2 percent, followed by those between 46 and 50 with 20.5 percent, between 41 and 45 with 15.9 percent and 56 and 60 with 15.5 percent.\n\nCandidates are also of diverse occupations. Those engaged in farming took the lion's share with 30.2 percent, followed by people engaged in commercial activities with 25.5 percent. In contrast, few professionals such as doctors and lawyers have filed their candidacy.\n\nThe fact that many self-employed persons like real estate brokers are running in the elections may cloud prospects for the healthy development of local autonomy. “They may spend more time peddling influence, in dogged pursuit of their own interests,” one observer said."
},
{
"TITLE": "No on Need for ‘Unflinching’ Defense Posture",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1203083491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0733 GMT 2 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1203083491",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 2, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Seoul, March 12 (YONHAP)—President No Tae-u said Tuesday an unflinching national defense posture was the key not only to deterring aggression but also to maintaining peace and getting North Korea to proceed with reunification.\n\n“Our air force should develop an efficient command system and air tactics and strategies suitable for our Situation, together with modernization of military strength, expecting Koreanization of the national defense in the near futuie,”’ No told graduating cadets at the Air Force Academy.\n\nHe said it was necessary to secure superiority in the air, in intelligence and in telecommunications, the importance of which was demonstrated in the allied victory in the Gulf war.\n\n“We are defending the fatherland with advanced fighters, assembled and manufactured with our own technology, and we are pushing to buy highly sophisticated fighters,” he said.\n\nIn the Korean war, the South had only light trainers and was crushed by more than 200 North Korean jet fighters, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Civilians To Hold More Defense Ministry Posts",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1503053091 Seoul YONHAP in English 0232 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1503053091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Seoul, March 15 (YONHAP)—Civilians will be named to the posts of first and second assistant defense minister, until now held by generals, under a revision approved by the Cabinet Thursday. The change effect this month. [sentence as received]\n\nThe number of Defense Ministry directorates reserved for civil servants rises from three to five, and section chief posts from 31 to 35 under the revision.\n\nOf 103 posts above section chief, all but the minister, vice minister and assistant ministers will split between civil servants and generals. The civilian-military ratio of directors will be 5 to 15 and of section chiefs 35 to 44 under the revision.\n\n“The bill will enhance the development of a future- oriented defense policy, improve efficiency and proficiency, and increase civilian representation within the Ministry,” a senior Ministry official said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul To Recognize World Civil Rights Articles",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1403040691 Seoul YONHAP in English 0256 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1403040691",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Seoul, March i4 (YONHAP)—South Korea will withdraw its reservations regarding articles in two international civil rights conventions, effective Friday, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.\n\nKorea could take the step as contradictions between Korean laws and the treaties were removed by revision Jan. | of the civil law regarding discrimination between man and woman, ministry spokesman Chong Ui-yong said.\n\nThe two relevant pacts are the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and the international covenant on civil and political rights.\n\nHe said Korea would now recognize Article 16-1 of the convention, which stipulates, states parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women:\n\n(c) the same rights and responsibilities during marriage and at its dissolution:\n\nd) the same rights and responsibilities as parents, irrespective of their marital status, in matters relating to their children: in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount:\n\n“(f) the same rights and responsibilities with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship and adoption of children, or similar institutions where these concepts exist in national legislation: in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount:”\n\nArticle 23-4 of the covenant says: “States parties to the present covenant shall take appropriate steps to ensure equality of rights and responsibilities of spouses as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. In the case of dissolution, provision shall be made for the necessary protection of any children.”\n\nKorea joined the convention on May 25, 1983, and signed the covenant on April 10, 1990."
},
{
"TITLE": "Customs Revenue Statistics for 1990 Viewed",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1403025291 Seoul YONHAP in English 0234 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1403025291",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Seoul, March 14 (YONHAP)}—Customs revenue was 5.57 percent of the value of all imports in 1990, up 0.46 percentage points because of higher duties on luxury goods, the Customs Administration said Thursday.\n\nImports were valued at 49.6 trillion won (68.4 billion U.S. dollars), up 19.8 percent from a year earlier, and customs revenue was 2.76 trillion won (3.7 billion dollars), up 30.6 percent.\n\nRevenue outpaced the value of imports as more luxury items were imported than raw materials and capital goods, a customs official said.\n\nCar imports increased 40.7 percent, commodities 42 percent, machinery 16.6 percent and electric and electronics 9.9 percent.\n\nThe exchange rate applied to customs duty was 710.65 won to the dollar, compared to 675.35 won in 1989."
},
{
"TITLE": "Textile Exports Decline in ‘90; Imports Rise",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK0703025891 Seoul YONHAP in English 0211 GMT Mar 7 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK0703025891",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 7, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Seoul, March 7 (YONHAPY— South Korea's textile exports were depressed last year by weak price competitiveness, but imports soared, the Korea Federation of Textile Industries (KFTI) said Thursday.\n\nExports slipped 3.1 percent to 14.67 billion U.S. dollars, only the third decline in 20 years and the first since 1985, while imports gained 4.4 percent to 3.55 billion dollars, the Federation said.\n\nSluggish exports were blamed on weak price competitiveness, import restrictions in industrialized nations and challenges from other developing countries. The United States upheld dumping charges of Korean-made sweaters and shipments to Japan were restricted because of the voluntary export regulation in force since 1989.\n\nExports of textile products fell 12.6 percent, but shipments of textile materials and silk rose 3.2 percent and 20 percent respectively, it said.\n\nIt attributed growing imports to higher incomes and fads among rich people. Imports of textile materials slid 3.8 percent, but those of textile products soared 52.6 percent.\n\nSince textiles became Korea's major export item in the early 1970's, the industry has suffered only two setbacks—in 1982, when exports dropped from 6.19 billion to 5.92 billion dollars, and in 1984, when they fell from 7.08 billion to 7 billion dollars."
},
{
"TITLE": "Ministry To Ease Regulations on 280 Imports",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1303033491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0238 GMT 13 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1303033491",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Seoul, March 13 (YONHAP)—South Korea will ease regulations on some 280 agricultural and industrial imports from Thursday until the end of the year to better control inflation, the Trade and Industry Ministry said Wednesday.\n\nUnder the new rules, the economic planning minister can directly specify items and amounts for open import based on reviews and recommendations by economic ministers.\n\nSuch recommendations until now were made by an business organization or a minister in charge of a specific item, and there were cases when differences of opinion among organizations and government offices prevented timely importation, ministry officials said.\n\nThe government hopes to expedite the process by simplifying the decision-making, speeding up import procedures for items in demand and likely to spark price hikes, they said.\n\nInitial plans call for buying 283 products under the procedure, mostly agricultural and dairy items such as beef, poultry, powdered milk, and fruits. Industrial products include anthracite, the officials said.\n\nThe ministry is also temporarily widening the import market for reinforced steel in anticipation of a domestic shortage from a construction boom. The government will encourage steel imports from all seller countries, instead of recommending the United States and the European Community, the officials said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Companies Increase USSR, East Europe Imports",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK 1503094591 Seoul CHOSON ILBO in Korean 15 Mar 91 p7",
"CITATION_ID": "SK 1503094591",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "choson ilbo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Import of machines from the Soviet Union and East Europe has increased to reach $60 billion a year. Domestic general trade firms are importing machines from East Europe whose quality is somewhat inferior to that of products of advanced nations, including Japan, but which are not produced at home. In importing these machines compensation trade (barter), in which our electronic products are offered as the import payment, has also been actively pushed ahead. Accordingly, general trade firms are pushing for contracts with machine producers in this area for exclusive import of their products. Besides, these firms are organizing special teams to secure domestic customers and service centers.\n\nDaewoo Company, Inc., has already imported weaving machines produced from Czechoslovakia's Invest Company with the (Juberka) trademark. This year, Daewoo decided to import various machines amounting to $18.3 million, including $11 million worth of weaving machines, heavy-duty equipment, and machine tools manufactured in Czechoslovakia. Daewoo is also planning to import machine tools amounting to $900,000 from the Soviet Union, bartering our electronic products.\n\nThe Hyundai Trade Company, which has been bartering automobiles for grinding machines with Hungary's (Techno) Company since 1989, imported machines amounting to $1 million last year. This year it decided to increase its import, reaching $2 million.\n\nIn particular, Hyundai concluded a contract with the Soviet Union's (Ulyanovsk) for exclusive import of machine tools. It has already imported $400,000 worth of products, and is planning to import 81 million more.\n\nLucky Goldstar Company, which has been importing farming tractors from Czechoslovakia's Jetro Company since 1989, last year concluded a contract with Bulgaria's (Balkanka) Company, the world’s largest forklift maker, for its exclusive import. It had sold about 50 forklifts last year, and is planning to sell about 200 sets at home this year.\n\nSsangyong Company last year alone imported $2 million worth of machine tools fiom China. It is planning to import the same amount of machines this year, too. It is negotiating with the Soviet Union and East Europe on importing machine tools and milling machines from these nations.\n\nSsangyong in particular decided to build a plant of instruments for supersonic wave diagnosis in the Soviet Union in collaboration with the Soviet Federal Procurement Agency (GOSNAP). This plant will produce approximately 1.000 sets annually, and supply them to the Soviet Union and East Europe."
},
{
"TITLE": "Electronics Exports to Europe Continue To Grow",
"FULL_CITATION": "SK1203040091 Seoul YONHAP in English 0154 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "SK1203040091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Seoul, March 12 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korean electronic products are finding Europe more welcoming than North America, and the European market could soon be No. I. industry experts said Tuesday.\n\nShipments to North America are on a downward slope, slipping from over 40 percent of total electronics exports in the mid-1980s to barely 30 percent last year. European buyers are picking up the slack, taking almost 30 percent of Korean electronics goods last year to match, and in some cases even outdo, the American buyers, they said.\n\nNew markets in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are overtaking the traditional American market, and industry leaders such as Daewoo Electronics Co. are already selling more to Europe than to America.\n\nSamsung Electronic Co. saw sales to Poland jump 580 percent last year compared to the year before. Samsung, which mainly exports household appliances, had just 30.2 percent of its sales in the United States last year, down from 39.5 percent in 1989, a company spokesman said. Europe, East and West, bought 29.6 percent of the company’s exports, compared to 20 percent in 1989.\n\nSales of color televisions, VTR's [videotape recorders] and other consumer electronics to Poland alone registered 65.7 million U.S. dollars last year, an impressive leap from 11.26 million dollars in 1989, the spokesman said.\n\nGoldstar Co. marked a disappointing 28.5 percent of total sales in North America last year, compared to 44.8 perceni in 1988 and 41.8 percent in 1989.\n\nThe European market came to the rescue, growing year by year from 20.3 percent in 1988, 22 percent in 1989, and 28 percent in 1990.\n\nAmerican sales are visibly waning for Daewoo Electronics, whose 35-percent level in the mid-1980s dropped to 25 percent in 1989 and 17 percent last year.\n\nThe company received good news from Europe, whose buying spree accounted for 40 percent of Daewoo exports last year, up from 20 percent to 30 percent in the mid-1980s."
},
{
"TITLE": "* ‘Crisis’ in ROK Manufacturing Industry Viewed",
"FULL_CITATION": "912C0145 Seoul HANGUK KYONGJE SINMUN in Korean 14 Jan 91 p 7",
"CITATION_ID": "912C0145",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "hanguk kyongje sinmun",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION_DATE": "January 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Article by reporter Pak Yong-pae: “Crisis in ROK Manufacturing Industry: Manpower Shortage, Deteriorating Workers’ Attitudes“",
"FULL_TEXT": "The thirty staff members of the labor section of the Kukche Corporation's Pusan factory are extremely busy these days. It is because they are trying to recruit as many of the new graduates in February as they can for the company’s production-related jobs.\n\nThey are running 25 hours a day with a firm determination not to repeat last year’s nightmare of shutting off some of their production lines due to a lac« of factory technicians. Their immediate objective is to run the production line, whereas the cost and profit margin are pushed away as a lower priority.\n\nThe company’s labor section staff members are trying every possible means in order to secure the manpower necessary for their production lines. Special recruiting forces were set up which will be in charge of almost every city and province, and are going around the whole nation. They are also sending out letters to as many schools as possible asking them to send the graduates to their company.\n\nMeanwhile, they are trying very hard to keep the employees from leaving the company. Despite all these efforts, about 1,400 out of 10,000 technicians left the company last year. It is expected that about 1,200 technicians are expected to leave the company this year. Keeping the employees is more difficult than recruiting new ones.\n\nThe annual turnover rate of women technicians is about 90 percent. Statistically, the highest turnover occurs in January and February.\n\nDuring the months of January and February, every company in the nation is engaged in competitive recruiting. Companies lure the potential candidates by proposing better salaries and benefits. Those who recruit many get hefty incentive bonuses. Because of this, they frequently see the whole section of about ten workers change their jobs.\n\nA more serious problem is that technicians change their jobs in areas totally different from their skills. Some of Kukche’s labor staff said that about 30 percent who left their company changed jobs in the area of services and office works. Since many technicians change their jobs, and since recruiting new ones is difficult, the hole in the employment is getting bigger.\n\nEvery year around this time, the shoe manufacturing companies, which are heavily concentrated in Pusan, are going through a terrible time recruiting production technicians. The fighting among companies that are engaged in the tug-of-war of recruiting and keeping employees, peaks around this time of every year.\n\nIt is not new that employees who bring in new members are paid special bonuses. Companies give loads of gifts and company advertising brochures to employees who visit their hometown during the new year and Chusok [Korean Thanksgiving] holiday vacations. They are encouraged to bring back any available relatives with them when they return to their companies after the holidays.\n\nRecently, companies are employing a more aggressive recruiting strategy. Companies are realizing that there is a limit in keeping technicians with a better salary being the only incentive. Therefore, shoe manufacturing companies these days are expanding benefit facilities and educational opportunities.\n\nThe building of cultural centers is booming in these companies, and extended college education in the companies is expanding. Kukche Sangsa and Hwaseung, two major shoe-manufacturing companies in Pusan, are even considering establishing junior colleges for their employees.\n\nManpower shortage is felt far more seriously in textile companies. The Sou, a jacket- and coat-production company located in Pupyong near Seoul, now has only 100 women technicians left from the 200 they had at the same time last year. Because of this, about 50 sewing machines out of 150 are left idle.\n\nLast year’s average monthly turnover rate was about 10 percent. A temporary means of sending employees to their hometown to recruit their relatives was not effective. The tactic of providing education expenses for those who enrolled in night schools was not effective either. As graduation approaches, only 10 out of the original 30 employees remain enrolled in their night schools.\n\nThe Sou's factory manager, Pak Chong- chi. complained: “Because of such frequent turnovers in people, it is difficult to order what to do, let alone to think about technology accumulation.”\n\nPak showed a serious concern by saying: “The profit margin is rapidly deteriorating since the subcontract rate has been increased to 35 percent from 10 percent a year ago due to manpower shortage. The amount of defective products reaches about 7 to 8 percent due to a lack of adequate skills of the technicians.”\n\nThe number of employees at Sokwang, a textile company in the Kuro industrial complex, also decreased to 200 from 350 about a year ago. Because of this only two production lines out of four are in normal operation.\n\nThe company manages to survive from its exports. The company has difficulty meeting deadlines due to a lack of adequate manpower.\n\nOne company official expressed his worries by saying, “It is very difficult to find subcontractors to share foreign buyers’ orders. Furthermore, production costs are steadily increasing. Therefore, we may have to reduce the amount of export.”\n\nIt is not an exception in the electronics industry, which is known for its relatively good working environment.\n\nGold Star's Changwon factory is in need of 200 technicians, but the company cannot do much to fill this gap.\n\nIt is because the respondents to the recruiting advertisement will be mostly from other Gold Star subsidiary companies or from subcontractors. Therefore, it will cause manpower crises in subsidiary companies and subcontractors, which in turn will cause problems in supplying components on time.\n\nThe company’s personnel department head, Yi Sang- hyong said: “Due to frequent shortages in component supply from our subcontractors, it is difficult to make an adequate production plan. Therefore, we gave up recruiting technicians from them.” It is an agony that many assemblying companies, such as Gold Star, which depend on components manufactured and supplied by their subcontractors, are going through these days.\n\nManpower shortage in the major industrial complexes is over the limit. In the case of the Kuro industrial complex, the number of technicians who left the complex since the second half of 1990 is about 1,000, and consequently, the current operation rate of the facility is about 84 percent.\n\nThe average facility operation rate is 75 percent in the lumber industry, 80 percent in the petrochemical industry, 79 percent in metallurgy, and 83 percent in the textile industry. The reduction in the facility operation rate naturally resulted in sales reduction. The 1990's total amount of export from the Kuro industrial complex was $5.4 billion, $1.2 billion short of the $6.6 billion goal.\n\nThe manpower crisis in industrial complexes near Seoul is as serious as in other areas. The normal facility operation is not possible due to a manpower shortage in the industrial complexes near the capital city such as Anyang, where various manufacturing companies are concentrated, Kunpo, Uiwang with 1.200 companies, and Panwol with 1,000 companies.\n\nThe labor-intensive sewing and electronics companies are suffering from the extensive labor crisis. In addition to the difficulties of recruiting new workers, employees leaving the companies added much more hardship to companies, according to officials related to these industrial complexes.\n\nManpower Import Prohibited\n\nThe fast turnover of manufacturing industry technicians is not a problem that was created overnight, but has been gradually progressing since late 1989.\n\nAccording to “Studies on the Status of Technology in Small Businesses in 1990\", a research conducted by the Korean Federation of Small Businesses during July 1989 and June 1990 on 2,296 small manufacturing companies having employees between 5 and 300, about 412,800 workers, which is 29.6 percent of the total 1,393,300 workers in the manufacturing area, changed jobs.\n\nAccording to studies on the trend of industrial activities conducted by the Economic Planning Board, as of November 1990, workers in the mining and manufacturing industries are 5,033,000; and those in indirect capital and services are 10,032,000. Compared to the numbers a year ago, the number of workers in the mining and manufacturing industries decreased by about 30,000 and that in services increased by 560,000.\n\nThe results of the study also indicated that wages in services are substantially higher than in mining and manufacturing industries.\n\nBecause of rapid increase in manpower shortage, textile and shoe industries are strongly hoping to import foreign labor. They are in fact sending opinion letters to various government organizations responsible for labor import.\n\nSome labor specialists in the academic and research communities, however, consider the industries’ idea of importing work forces to be very dangerous, and show a strong opposition.\n\nDr. Son Han-seung of the Korea Labor Research Institute is Opposing the labor import idea based on the examples of Germany.\n\nThe German policy of Gast Arbeiter [labor import from third countries] during the 1960 s failed and the new Aus Siedler [German labor force import] policy that was in effect since 1987 is also known to have failed.\n\nThe 200,000 to 300,000 workers, imported from Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries under the Gast Arbeiter policy, continued to stay in Germany even after their working visas expired. The German Government is now trying to encourage them to return to their home countries by even providing financial assistance.\n\nThe Aus Siedler policy, that collected German labor forces scattered in Poland, Hungary, and the Soviet Union, is also concluded to be unsuccessful.\n\nEven if the imported workers are of German origin, they are second and third generations whose emotions are different, and who needed language education. The large number of the imported German labor force caused a serious housing problem in Germany. The abundant labor force as a result of the reunification of the two Germanys added a burden of employing these imported workers. It is the labor specialists’ analysis that importing workers from Southeastern nations and Korean-Chinese workers from Yonpyon, China, may provide a temporary relief to the current manpower shortage in domestic industries, but it will eventually cause serious political and social problems, similar to the German's.\n\nIn addition to the shortage of production workers, the shortage of high-quality research manpower is another urgent problem to be solved.\n\nThe large electronics companies such as Samsung and Gold Star have difficulties in hiring the required research manpower, especially those with masters and doctoral degrees.\n\nThe Korea Electronics Promotion Corporation predicted that if the current trend continues, the research manpower shortfall in the year 2000 will be about 7,200 with undergraduate degrees, and 3.100 with graduate degrees.\n\nSocial Atmosphere Is a Big Problem\n\nThe cause of the manpower crisis in Korean industries should be found in the social structure.\n\nFirst of all, the workers lost their desire to work hard. The prevailing extravagant habit of the rich upper class led the workers to feel despondent. The social atmosphere of get-rich-quick from speculative real estate investment destroys the workers’ dreams. Most of the workers believe that savings cannot make their dream come true.\n\nSecondly, there is a trend that people are trying to avoid hard labor. A typical example is that women workers in production facilities are leaving for service areas. It is frequently seen around industrial complexes that women workers are leaving their companies for employment in pleasure-seeking business.\n\nThirdly, workers do not have job satisfaction. During the 1960's and 70's, workers’ esteem was very high because the government praised them as heroes of export and industry. Nowadays, the trend of looking down on those who are working in the manufacturing companies discourages them from wanting to work.\n\nAnalysts in labor and manufacturing industries say that Korea does not have a shortage of workers. We simply do not have a plan to properly utilize them. The imbalance of supply and demand in labor manpower is a problem to be resolved by combined efforts among the government, industries, and society."
},
{
"TITLE": "Wa, Shan Rebels Set To Renew Battles",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1503024591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 15 Mar 91 p AS",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1503024591",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "the nation",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Dome Suwawan",
"FULL_TEXT": "Chiang Mai—Thai security officers in this northern province predicted a new outbreak of battles next month between the private armies of two Burmese ethnic groups which have been waging war since late 1989 to control a strategic area along the Thai-Burmese border.\n\nThe United Wa State Army (UWSA) and opium king- ping Khun Sa's Muang Tai Army (MTA), over the past month have reinforced their troop strength as well as their strongholds in preparation for the new round of fighting, as both sides had earlier suffered high casualties and severe depletion of ammunition in their military engagements, said the officers, who requested not to be named.\n\nIn a related move, Khun Sa's forces on Monday destroyed a Wa artillery position located opposite Thailand's Ban Hua Mae Kham in Mae Chan District of Chiang Rai.\n\nAs a precaution against spillovers or intrusions by the two forces, Thai authorities have fortified the border frontier.\n\nAccording to the officers, the Wa and its rival force were confronting each other in the mountainous areas opposite Thailand’s Ban Sob Lang in Mae Ai District, and Ban Huay Yot of Chiang Rai's Mae Chan district. The area covers part of the undefined Thai-Burmese border area of Doilang, a long range of mountains dividing the two countries.\n\nThe United Wa State Army, which includes the main core of the defunct Burma Communist Party (BCP), together with other ethnic fighters, such as Kokang and Kachim, revolted against the BCP hardliners in early 1989 and have since declared their abandonment of communist ideology.\n\nAbout half of the estimated 20,000 Wa forces later moved down from the northeastern part of Shan State bordering China to the Thai-Burmese border aiming to set up a new stronghold in southern Shan State.\n\nThai officers said the UWSA and the MTA have been fighting to control the long strip of the northern Thai- Burmese border, which is the main trafficking route for narcotic drugs, gems and other smuggled goods between the two countries.\n\nThe Burmese Army, said the officers, has reportedly not made any move so far to intervene in the clashes between the two ethnic parties. “I think they (the Burmese) are waiting for a final outcome, when both sides are exhausted, and then will move in to wipe out the two,” said one senior Thai officer."
},
{
"TITLE": "Students, Opposition Observe Human Rights Day",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1503033791 Bangkok BANGKOK POST in English 15 Mar 91 p 5",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1503033791",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "bangkok post",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Mae Sot—About 500 siudents and Burmese opposing the Rangoon Junta on Wednesday took part in Human Rights Day celebrations at Manerplaw camp in Burma, opposite this border town district.\n\nMoe Thee Zon, chairman of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, said the celebrations were also in memory of two student leaders of the Rangoon Institute of Technology who were killed in the 1988 uprising.\n\nHe said his group would join the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) in support of the alternative National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma to fight for democracy and freedom.\n\nChairman of the DAB, Bo Mya, accused strongman Ne Win and junta leader Gen Saw Maung of refusing the demands of the Burmese people, thus prolonging a civil war which had lasted 42 years.\n\nHe said countries should stop giving aid to the Rangoon government because their assistance could be regarded as giving support to human rights abuses in Burma.\n\nU Hla Pe, Information Minister of the alternative gov- ernment based in Manerplaw, called on the United Nations to recognise his government and also urged the world community to stop providing economic assistance to the Burmese junta."
},
{
"TITLE": "New Foreign Minister Assumes Post 15 Mar",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1503090091 Kuala Lumpur International Service in English 0800 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1503090091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Kuala Lumpur",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "international service",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has returned to the Malaysian cabinet after almost four years. Prime Minister Datuk Sri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed had last month named him foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle effective today.\n\nDatuk Abdullah had previously held the education and defense portfolios. Commenting on his latest appointment, the foreign minister said it was a pleasant surprise."
},
{
"TITLE": "Economic Growth in 1990 3rd Quarter Reported",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1403150091 Kuala Lumpur NEW STRAITS TIMES in English 13 Mar 91 p 16",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1403150091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Kuala Lumpur",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "new straits times",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Charles Raj; al! figures in Malaysian dollars",
"FULL_TEXT": "The Malaysian economy grew by a robust 10.6 percent in the third quarter of last year, bringing the overall growth rate for the first nine months of last year to 10.4 percent.\n\nThis growth in real Gross Domestic Product is compared with 1989's third quarter growth rate of 9.1 percent and 8.8 percent for the whole of that year.\n\nIn the first quarter of last year, the economy grew by 11.7 percent and nine percent in the second quarter.\n\nIn a general survey of the economy contained in its latest quarterly bulletin released yesterday, Bank Negara [Central Bank] said the Gulf crisis and the ensuing oil price hike had no immediate dampening impact, as the economy was underpinned by the robust performance of all sectors except agriculture.\n\nIt said manufacturing activity in particular, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production, increased significantly by 19.3 percent during the period (13.6 percent in the preceding 1989 quarter) reflecting the buoyancy of both the export and domestic market-oriented industries.\n\nExport growth was led by the electronics and electrical and off-estate processed product industries, while the domestic industries were led by the double-digit growths of the fabricated metal and transport equipment industries.\n\nGrowth in private sector demand continued to remain robust, spurred by the better performances of corporations, improved labour market and higher income levels.\n\nPrivate investment sentiments during the third quarter also remained strong as reflected by the 289 applications for manufacturing projects involving proposed capital outlays of $11 billion.\n\nPublic demand during the quarter moderated as budgetary operations of the Government slowed down with total expenditure declining by 3.4 percent to $7.1 billion.\n\nThe Federal Government's current account recorded a large surplus of $1.1 billion for the period and this led to a smaller deficit in the overall account to $282 million compared with $1.4 billion previously.\n\nBank Negara said total public debt rose by 2.2 percent to $92.7 billion at the end of September, reflecting a marginal increase in both the domestic and external debt.\n\nThe country’s trade account deteriorated to record a deficit of $560 million compared with a surplus of $716 million in the first quarter and $27 million in the second quarter due largely to the sharp increases in gross imports.\n\nThe ringgit continued to depreciate against most currencies in the third quarter of last year due io the strengthening of these currencies against the U.S. dollar.\n\nThe Central Bank said movements in domestic prices remained moderate during the period with prices of consumer goods recording slower increases. The prices of producer products increased moderately."
},
{
"TITLE": "Optimism on Economy, Caution on Rapid Growth",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1303121591 Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES in English 13 Mar 91 p 1",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1303121591",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Singapore",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "the straits times",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Finance Minister Richard Hu yesterday said he was optimistic that economic growth this year would be on target, but warned against the economy growing too rapidly.\n\n“The ending of the Gulf war will restore business confidence and this wil have a positive effect on our economy,” he said.\n\nTherefore, he predicted, Singapore should have no difficulty achieving the upper end of the 3 to 6 per cent target for growth.\n\nBut he also stressed that the high average growth of more than 9 per cent over the last four years was no longer sustainable as the economy was getting overheated because of the tight labour market.\n\nIf wage costs exceeded productivity gains, and if this coincided with a world recession, Singapore will lose its competitive edge and see a replay of the 1985 recession, he warned.\n\nFor this year though, the expected growth of 5 to 6 per cent “should take the pressure off the labour market, remove speculative frenzy and allow the economy to consolidate,” he said.\n\nDr Hu began his round-up speech by broadly outlining the Government's thinking on the economy. He prescribed a path for the economy to grow fast, but without costs rising too much.\n\nUrging businesses not to look to the Government to restore high growth rates, he said they should take the initiative of relocating or investing overseas.\n\nIndustries, he suggested, should move their labour- intensive activities into the other two points of the Singapore-Johor-Riau Growth Triangle, or move their surplus capital further offshore into the industrial markets. As for those in the services industry, they should upgrade their workers’ skills and diversify into high value-added areas.\n\nThe Finance Minister gave this advice to businessmen in his reply to MPs [members of parliament] at the end of the two-day debate that saw 27 MPs commenting on this year's Budget, which was unveiled on March 1.\n\nAddressing their concern over rising business costs, he said most of them were “inevitable” because of rapid economic growth.\n\nIndeed, he argued that it was important to allow for such increases to send the right signals that scarce resources must be used well.\n\nOn the pro-business MPs’ calls to defer the | percentage point increase in employers’ CPF [Central Provident Fund] contributions, he stressed that the Government was committed to the restoration of cuts made in the 1985 recession. The economy had done well, and “there is therefore no good reason to postpone a further cautious adjustment to CPF contribution rates.”\n\nBut he added that this incease should be taken into account during this year’s wage negotiations, emphasising that wage increses should be moderate.\n\nThe call to delay the | percentage point increase was earlier protested against vigorously by no fewer than five labour MPs who came on one after another to rap those who had made the call.\n\nReminding the House of how workers had willingly borne the brunt of the 15 percentage point cut in CPF contributions in 1985, they warned employers not to quibble over the increase. This would only make workers doubt their word in future and make them more militant” in their demands, they said.\n\nThe high costs, they argued, were due more to the fat salaries of executives, not workers. Rather than try to lower wages, employers should try to increase productivity by sending workers for training, they said.\n\nThe pro-labour MPs also denounced the call to liberalise the foreign workers policy to ease business costs, saying this would depress local workers’ wages.\n\nIn his reply, Dr Hu said these issues would be addressed in the committee of supply debate later.\n\nResponding then to complaints of rising costs of services and utlities for the man in the street, the minister said these could not be avoided, but assured the House that the Government would monitor charges and make only gradual increases when necessary.\n\nOn calls for more personal and other reliefs, he made plain that the Government did not want to create a “crutch economy”.\n\nHe stressed: “Government's policy is that as many citizens as possible should pay some tax, however small, so that all share in paying for the cost of public services and facilities.”\n\nAt the same time,ıt was committed to providing a high level” of basic necessities such as housing, education and leisure.\n\n“Beyond that, everyone must work and contribute towards improving the quality of life. There is no free lunch and we cannot afford it,” he said.\n\nDr Hu also replied to specific queries by MPs over the last two days, including calls to cut the corporate tax rate, grant tax concessions on foreign income and on the higher water rates.\n\nConcluding, he said that Singapore was now entering a new phase in its development, and businessmen here must go beyond the national boundaries.\n\n“This Budget will help them widen their international linkages and create more economic space. It also focuses on our continued investment in our people to enable them to move onto higher value-added and better-paid jobs,” he said, to applause from MPs.\n\nDebate continues today, when the House will examine the spending of each ministry."
},
{
"TITLE": "New UN Permanent Representative Appointed",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK1503113291 Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES in English 13 Mar 91 p 3",
"CITATION_ID": "BK1503113291",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Singapore",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "the straits times",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "A career diplomat Mr Chew Tai Soo, has been appointed Singapore's next Permanent Representative to the United Nations.\n\nMr Chew, 50, succeeds Professor Chan Heng Chee who came home last month after two years on the job.\n\nMr Chew served in the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur from 1972 to 1974 and worked for a year in Tokyo in 1974. From 1975 to 1977 he was Singapore's Consul General in Osaka.\n\nHe was appointed Permanent Representative to the Singapore permanent mission at the United Nations in Geneva from 1982 to 1986.\n\nMr Chew was also the chairman of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Committee on Trade and Development in 1984 and presided as chairman on three GATT Dispute Settlement Panels.\n\nProf Chan, 48, told THE STRAITS TIMES that it was she who had requested to return before completing here three- year term, but preferred not to make public her reasons.\n\nWhile she could not discuss her immediate plans, it is understood that she is being tapped for a new, important post.\n\nProf Chan headed the National University of Singa- pore’s Political Science Department and later became the first director of the Institute of Policy Studies before going to the UN.\n\nShe is now on leave and could not be contacted for comment."
},
{
"TITLE": "Opposition Crimes Against Religion Assailed",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1503094591 Phnom Penh Domestic Service in Cambodian 1300 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1503094591",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Phnom Penh",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Station commentary: “Is This What the Other Cambodian Side Means by Respect for the Will of the Citizens?“",
"FULL_TEXT": "Lately, in their intensifying civil war activities in Cambodia, the Polpotists and their genocidal alliance have stepped up the destruction of the people's property and lives as well as their national heritage and popular shrines. In fact, the Polpotists and their allies recently fired artillery barrages at some areas in Battambang Province. They damaged Banan Temple and shattered Phnum Sampeou Monastery, killing a Buddhist monk, a nun, and a child. Also in Banan District, Battambang Province, they senselessly pounded Tuol Andet Monastery, causing heavy damage to one of shrines most venerated by our people. Recently, on 4 March, the Polpotists joined by the Sihanoukists and Sonsannians fired artillery shells into a monastery in Ron Ta Ek Commune, Banteay Srei District, Siem Reap-Oddar Meanchey Province, causing injuries to two resident monks and a monastery caretaker.\n\nThe Cambodian people, like members of the international public who have closely followed the situation in Cambodia, clearly understand that this is not the first, nor will it be the last, attempt made by the Polpotists and their allies to destroy the national heritage and popular shrines. For the past more than 12 years while our Cambodian people who are mostly Buddhist have been making concerted efforts to restore and revive various fields, including religion, the tripartite coalition has been seeking by all means to burn down and blow up temples or ambush and set ablaze road convoys. In order to cover up their crimes, the Pol Pot gang and its allies the Sihanoukists and Sonsannians have used the Vietnamese label as an excuse, vociferously shouting that they were firing at Vietnamese trucks, blowing up Vietnamese trains, shelling Vietnamese positions, and so on. We would like to ask them: Did the monasteries that they shelled or burned down belong to the Vietnamese? Were the slain or wounded Buddhist monks, nuns, wise men, and children in those monasteries Vietnamese. too?\n\nMoreover, it is public knowledge that Buddhism, which is over 2,500 years old, is a religion that preaches peace, nonviolence, and nonaggression and that it has never forced anyone to believe or venerate it. Buddhism came to the land of Angkor more than a thousand years ago and has been espoused and practiced by more than 90 percent of our people. In 1969 there were 3,370 monasteries and more than 66,000 Buddhist monks in Cambodia. Under the Pol Pot regime, all beliefs, mores, and traditions of the people, including Buddhism, were prohibited. For three years, eight months, and 20 days, the Polpotists de-robed or murdered 25,000 monks and razed 1,970 monasteries. The remaining pagodas were turned into prisons, stables, or manure depots.\n\nSince liberation on 7 January 1979, the Government of the State of Cambodia has restored to the people their right to worship and to observe their mores and traditions, As a result, Buddhism has been revived and has become the state religion. Moreover, other religions revered by the minority peoples have also been restored.\n\nThe Government of the State of Cambodia has collected after a long search the Lord Buddha's bones and the Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures] which constitute two of the five sacred objects for Buddhists and which had been badly damaged by the Polpotists. These jewels have now been enshrined for worship by the faithful. The government also asked the Indian Government to supply us with the venerated pipal trees that have now been planted in a number of provinces to create favorable conditions for the Buddhist faithful to engage in worship. This is what we see as our sincere respect for the will of the citizens.\n\nOn the contrary, not only have the other Cambodian factions—especially Sihanouk's and Son Sann’s—which have been boasting that they respect the will of the citizens failed to promote Buddhism ravaged by the Pol Pot barbarians, but they have even cooperated with the latter in attacking and destroying monasteries and temples painstakingly restored by our people. For this reason, can our people believe that they would respect the will of the citizens through the free and fair elections that could be held soon?\n\nOur people clearly see that if even monasteries, Buddhist monks, and nuns have not been spared by the genocidal alliance, how then can this alliance bring peace to the people who for the past 12 years have been engaged in self-defense against its maneuvers? Moreover, at a time when our people are unanimously calling for peace, a cease-fire, and a cessation of military aid to all Cambodian factions, the genocidal alliance instead is resoundingly stepping up the war and receiving more arms from a foreign country.\n\nOur people clearly hold that only by intensifying solidarity and unity around the party and the front can they preserve the gains of national society and that only the Government of the State of Cambodia really respects and serves the will of the citizens."
},
{
"TITLE": "Chea Sim Inaugurates Mosque in Kandal Province",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1503060091 Phnom Penh SPK in English 0410 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1503060091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Phnom Penh",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "spk",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Phnom Penh SPK March 15—A mosque was inaugurated on March 11 in Kompong Luong Commune, Ponhea Loe District, Kandal Province.\n\nChea Sim, member of the Political Bureau of the People's Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea Central Committee [CC] and chairman of both the National Assembly and the National Council of the United Front for Construction and Defence of the Kampuchean Fatherland, was present at the inaugural ceremony.\n\nThis first building of Islamic culture has been restored since May 1988 on the site of a former mosque completely destroyed by the genocidal regime of Pol Pot. The other two mosques in the commune of 359 Islamic families are now being reconstructed.\n\nSpeaking at the opening of the mosque, Chairman Chea Sim recalled the rapid revival of the Cambodian people following the downfall of the genocidal Pol Pot clique particularly in the religious domain. He also informed the 10,000-odd audience of the combat capacity of the People’s Armed Forces of Cambodia, which are now fully able to defend the country against the return of the genocidal Polpotists.\n\nThe Cambodian leader spoke of the recent extraordinary session of the National Assembly and reaffirmed the Cambodian people's ardent aspiration for peace and the goodwill position of the party and government of the State of Cambodia in the search for a political solution to the Cambodian conflict in order to put an immediate end to the war waged by the three Khmer opposition factiors.\n\nChairman Chea Sim called upon the Islamic nationals and the entire Cambodian people in general to unite closely around the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea [PRPK] in the national construction and to contribute to the build-up and development of the armed forces and the prevention of the Polpotists's return.\n\nAccompanied by Mat Ly, Politburo member of the PRPK CC and vice-chairman of the National Assembly, Chea Sim also called on wounded cadres and combatants and presented gifts to 50 families of wounded combatants."
},
{
"TITLE": "Heng Samrin, Hun Sen Greet Hungarian Leaders",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1503073291 Phnom Penh SPK in French 1124 GMT 14 March 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1503073291",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Phnom Penh",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "spk",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "French",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Phnom Penh 14 March (SPK)}—Heng Samrin, head of state, and Hun Sen, chairman of the Council of Ministers of the State of Cambodia, addressed warm congratulations to Hungarian leaders on the 143th anniversary of the Republic of Hungary's national day.\n\nIn their messages, addressed to Arpad Goncz, president of the republic, and Antall Jozsef, prime minister of Hungary, the Cambodian leaders expresed their firm conviction that the relations of friendship and multiform cooperation between the two countries will further deepen and develop.\n\nOn the same occasion, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong also sent his warm congratulations to his Hungarian counterpart, Geza Jeszensky."
},
{
"TITLE": "Japanese Initiative on UN Solution Discussed",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK1503065491 Hong Kong AFP in English 0621 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK1503065491",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Hong Kong",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "afp",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Bangkok, March 15 (AFP)}—Japan has called for an election ban on any Cambodian faction which resumes fighting after a pre-election demobilisation of troops is agreed upon, well-informed sources said here Friday.\n\nThe proposal, aimed at breathing life back into Cambodia's stalled peace process, was broached in separate meetings last month between senior Japanese diplomats and leaders of the warring factions, said the sources.\n\nPhnom Penh's Vietnam-installed government has demanded that a U.N.-brokered peace plan be modified to include strong measures to prevent the Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge, the mainstay of an anti-government guerrilla coalition, from returning to power.\n\nThe Khmer Rouge, a radical Marxist group, was driven from power in Cambodia in January 1979 following an invasion of the country by Vietnam. It now dominates the guerrilla coalition, which also includes two smaller U.S.-aided groups loyal to former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk and ex-Prime Minister Son Sann.\n\nThe Japanese proposal is aimed at removing objections to the U.N. blueprint by Phnom Penh, which has rejected the plan's calls for dismantling the current administration and its armed forces. The Khmer Rouge and its partners have insisted that the U.N. plan be implemented without alteration.\n\nThe Cambodian Government appears to have reacted coolly to Japan's initiative judging by reiterations of its objections to the U.N. plan since the Japanese proposal was outlined to leaders in Phnom Penh during a visit last month by senior Bangkok-based Japanese diplomat Yukio Imagawa.\n\nThe proposal was presented to Prince Sihanouk when another Bangkok-based Japanese envoy, Tadashi Ikeda, travelled to Beijing last month to meet the prince who is currently staying in the Chinese capital, the sources said.\n\nUnder the Japanese proposal, a U.N. Transitional Authority for Cambodia (UNTAC) would verify the successive stages of the military components of the plan: ceasefire, cantonment of forces, uncovering of arms caches, disarmament of troops and demobilization, the sources said.\n\nJapan, in a parallel bid to meet Phnom Penh's concerns over the Khmer Rouge, has also proposed that a special committee be set up to invesiigate the human rights record of the Khmer Rouge during their 1975-79 rule in which hundreds of thousands were executed or died of mistreatment in Cambodia's killing fields.\n\nPhnom Penh constantly accuses the Khmer Rouge of genocide although most of its top leadership, which is also communist although less extreme, is formed of Khmer Rouge defectors.\n\nJapan has suggested that the special committee be made up of representatives of the rival Cambodian factions, UNTAC and the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Commission, the sources said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Leaders Briefed on Japanese Peace Plan",
"FULL_CITATION": "OW 1403133391 Tokyo KYODO in English 1320 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "OW 1403133391",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Beijing, March 14 KYODO—A Japanese envoy briefed Cambodian resistance leaders here on Thursday about Tokyo's plan to end the | 2-year war in Cambodia, Japanese Embassy officials said.\n\nThe officials declined to reveal Japan's peace plan but said it is aimed at reinforcing a United Nations peace proposal which calls for a ceasefire and disarming of al. four parties.\n\nTadashi Ikeda, minister at the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok, met with leaders of three anti-Vietnamese factions—Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan, and former Prime Minister Son Sann, officials said.\n\nThe five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council drafted a peace plan to end the civil war last August, but there have been differences among the warring parties on ways to implement a ceasefire.\n\nThe Security Council plan calls on the Vietnamese- backed Phnom Penh government to give up control of key ministries to U.N. administrators during a transitional period prior to free elections.\n\nThere is also Cambodian disagreement on how to deal with the mass killings that took place when the Khmer Rouge ruled the country from 1975-79.\n\nJapan's peace plan is designed to resolve the differences, the officials said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Note on Leaders 13 March Meeting in Beijing",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1503033291 (Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodian 2315 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1503033291",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Clandestine",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "voice of the national army of democratic kampuchea",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Note on the meeting of leaders of the Cambodian national government and the Cambodian national resistance forces ‘ssued by the Cambodian Embassy in Bei jing”",
"FULL_TEXT": "Note: On 13 March 1991, leaders of the Cambodian National Government [CNG] and the Cambodian National Resistance Forces [CNRF] held an important meeting in Beijing on solving and ending Vietnam's war of aggression in Cambodia politically and comprehensively. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Samdech Norodom Sihanouk, president of Cambodia and leader of the CNRF; His Excellency Son Sann, prime minister of the CNG; His Excellency Khieu Samphan, vice president of Cambodia in charge of foreign affairs; and Prince Ranariddh, personal representative of Samdech Norodom Sihanouk in Cambodia and Asia and general secretary of FUNCINPEC [National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia].\n\nLeaders of the CNG and the CNRF unanimously agreed on the following:\n\n— To reaffirm their full support for the 28 August 1990 framework document of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council [UNSC], the 10 September 1990 Jakarta joint statement, the 668/90 resolution of the UNSC dated 20 September 1990, the 26 November 1990 draft agreement, and the 23 December 1990 Paris joint statement.\n\n— To call on all parties to accept all the above documents, particularly in order to implement the 668/90 resolution of the UNSC, to promote a comprehensive political solution to the Cambodian conflict in accordance with the profound aspirations of the Cambodian people who want peace and national independence most quickly.\n\n— Leaders of the CNG and the CNRF would like to express once again their profound gratitude to all friendly countries, particularly the ASEAN countries, for their precious support to the Cambodian people's just cause to restore national independence and sovereignty with territorial integrity.\n\n— Leaders of the CNG and the CNRF would also like to take this fine opportunity to express profound gratitude to the PRC and its government for always providing support and assistance and generous accommodation.\n\n[Dated] Beijing, 13 March 1991"
},
{
"TITLE": "VONADA Reaffirms Nature of War in Cambodia",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1503043491 (Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodian 2315 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1503043491",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Clandestine",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "voice of the national army of democratic kampuchea",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "“Communique of the Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea on the war in Cambodia: This is Vietnam's war of Aggression Against Cambodia and Not a Civil War“",
"FULL_TEXT": "I. The Hanoi Vietnamese aggressors committed aggression against and invaded Cambodia with hundreds of thousands of troops at the end of 1978 and have been occupying Cambodia ever since in accordance with Vietnam's Indochinese federation strategy. Everyone in the world knows about this. The United Nations and the UN General Asembly in particular have for the past 12 years confirmed this fact.\n\nThe documents of the United Nations Security Council [UNSC] permanent members and the entire UNSC clearly state that ine United Nations should supervise and control foreign aggressor forces in Cambodia—that is Vietnamese aggressor forces. Vietnamese aggressor forces are still occupying Cambodia. And to this day, the world knows about this fact and has been constantly talking about it.\n\nII. The Vietnamese enemy aggressors and a small number of their allies, however, with a strategic and dirty political goal in mind, have instead said that the current war in Cambodia is a civil war. Furthermore, the Vietnamese enemy and a small number of its allies have:\n\n1. Opposed the UN documents on the Cambodian problem and instead dissolved the UN documents on solving the Cambodian problem comprehensively;\n\n2. Called on Cambodia's Supreme National Council to discuss and solve matters among itself and completely eliminated the international aspect of the UN documents—the international aspect which clearly mentions foreign forces, namely Vietnamese aggressor forces, which are committing aggression against Cambodia;\n\n3. Proposed a new plan, different from the UN documents, aimed at maintaining Vietnam's puppet regime in Phnom Penh, and through this, maintaining Vietnamese aggressor forces in Cambodia. This would also maintain Vietnamese aggressor troops through Vietnam's puppet regime and elections would be organized at will aimed at discarding the Cambodian national resistance forces, and through this allowing Vietnam, the aggressor, to continue occupying Cambodia forever and legitimately.\n\nIII. The entire Cambodian people in and outside the country, the entire Cambodian national resistance forces, the world, and the United Nations will absolutely not be taken in by the Vietnamese enemy and its allies. People will continue to stand firmly by the UN documents on the plan to search for peace and to end Vietnam's war of aggression comprehensively and the documents related to this UN document. The Cambodian people, the world, and the United Nations all have clearly realized that it is the Hanoi Vietnamese enemy aggressors and puppets Hun Sen, Heng Samrin, and Chea Sim who oppose the UN documents on settling Vietnam's war of aggression in Cambodia comprehensively. People will continue to pressure Vietnam and its puppets and lackeys to accept, abide by, and implement these UN documents in order to end Vietnam's war of aggression in Cambodia comprehensively. This way Cambodia and Southeast Asia would have peace and security. People absolutely do not need any other plans apart from the UN plan because those plans would be just deceitful ones which can neither solve and end Vietnam's war of aggression and restore peace in Cambodia nor restore peace and security in Southeast Asia."
},
{
"TITLE": "Government Regiments Routed in Battambang",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1503023891 (Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodian 2315 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1503023891",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Clandestine",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "voice of the national army of democratic kampuchea",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "On 4 and 5 March, the Vietnamese enemy aggressors and race exterminators and their puppets and lackeys gathered four regiments of their troops, backed by four tanks, and started out from Kralanh and Srei Snam Districts [Siem Reap Province] in an attempt to take our liberated villages in Phnum Srok District. They were ambushed and routed by our national resistance forces.\n\nWe killed 25 enemy soldiers and wounded 42 others; destroyed | 1 AK’s, two B-40’s, a 12.7-mm machine gun; and seized a quantity of assorted ammunition and war materiel."
},
{
"TITLE": "Correction—Hun Sen on Assembly Session",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK0903073191",
"CITATION_ID": "BK0903073191",
"CITATION_LOCATION": null,
"CITATION_OUTLET": null,
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": null,
"CITATION_DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "The following correction pertains to the item headlined “Hun Sen on Extraordinary Assembly Session,” published in the 11 March East Asia DAILY REPORT, page 25:\n\nPage 27, column one, paragraph two, sentence one make read:...but there will be monitoring [ka truot pinit].\n\nPage 27, column one, paragraph four, sentences four make read:...we will accept monitoring [ka truot pinit] to a.... (changing word “control” to monitoring“)"
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister: No Sociopolitical Party Owns Newspapers",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1503073091 Jakarta ANTARA in English 0623 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1503073091",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Jakarta",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "antara",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Jakarta, Mar 15 (OANA-ANTARA)}—No newspaper is owned by a socio-political organization in Indonesia, Information Minister Harmoko has said.\n\nIf we justify the possesion of newspaper by socio- political organization it will be a setback and like during the 60s when every political party had newspaper, he said at the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the SUARA KARYA daily here on Thursday.\n\nThe press is exclusively owned by legal bodies, managed by the professionals and stands for the national interests, he stated.\n\nThe development of the press in Indonesia has been marked by the entry of business and industrial elements, which is unavoidable.\n\nThe minister said the presence of these elements would only be meaningful if the integrity and idealism of the press was maintained.\n\nMinister Harmoko on the occasion urged the press companies to speed up the transfer of some of their shares to their employees, which has already been commonly agreed upon.\n\nThe general chairman of the Functional Group (Golkar), Wahono, meanwhile said that in the future the need for information would be felt very strongly because precise information could be very useful as a source of decision making.\n\nTo meet such demands he said all information networks and facilities needed to be modernized including the print media.\n\nThe commemoration of the anniversary of SUARA KARYA daily was opened by Manpower Minister Kosmas Batubara, the supervisor of the newspaper, and attended by the cabinet ministers."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Encourages Smooth PRC Business Travel",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1303132691 Jakarta Domestic Service in Indonesian 1200 GMT 13 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1303132691",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Jakarta",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Indonesian",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Minister and State Secretary Murdiono has asked the China Committee of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to help ensure the smooth flow of visits by Indonesian businessmen to the PRC and vice versa in an effort to increase non-oil and non- gas exports. Minister and State Secretary Murdiono said this at Merdeka Palace this afternoon in reply to questions on reports that the China Committee of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and lndu ry was hampering the flow of visits by Indonesian businessmen to the PRC.\n\nAccording to Minister Murdiono, Presidential Instruction No. 9/1985 governing direct trade links with that country before relations were normalized should be revoked now that diplomatic relations have been normalized. The government is taking steps to cope with the coming revocation of the presidential instruction. The minister stressed that there was no problem regarding the flow of visits by Indonesian businessmen to the PRC."
},
{
"TITLE": "Analysts: New Rules Put Brakes on Banking Growth",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1503104491 Hong Kong AFP in English 0706 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1503104491",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Hong Kong",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "afp",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Endy Bayuni",
"FULL_TEXT": "Jakarta, March 15 (AFP)}—Indonesia has hit the brakes on the banking industry by tightening regulations after more than two years of rapid and almost uncontrolled growth, analysts said Friday.\n\nBank Indonesia, the Central Bank, Thursday announced a new set of rules that gives stronger supervisory power and control to authorities, sets stricter ownership and management criteria, and lays down lending practices and capitalisation rules more in line with international standards.\n\n“The move is bound to affect the banks’ expansion plans,” said one Indonesian economist.\n\nThe banking industry has experienced explosive growth since October 1988 when government deregulation reopened the sector to newcomers and allowed banks to open unlimited numbers of branches.\n\nSome 63 new banks, including 17 foreign joint ventures, have since opened up to bring the total to 174, and the number of bank branches leapt to 4,500 from 2,372, according to official figures.\n\nBut the unleashed competition, including a fierce interest rate war to attract depositors, and lack of control from authorities have led three banks into virtual financial collapse since then, analysts said.\n\nIndonesian banks have barely recovered from the shock of the withdrawal two weeks ago of 4.15 billion dollars of deposit funds owned by state enterprises in a government bid to stamp out currency speculation.\n\nBank Indonesia Governor Adrianus Mooy, announcing the new rules at an annual bankers’ dinner Thursday, said the rapid growth of recent years required that banks behaved more responsibly to protect the public interest.\n\n“Based on observation, several banks have yet to adjust their management style, strategy and operation in accordance with this development,” he said.\n\nHe said in 1990 the amount of credit extended by banks jumped 53 per cent to 97.3 trillion rupiah (50.9 billion dollars) and public funds mobilised by banks rose by the same rate to 83.2 trillion rupiah (44 billion dollars).\n\nOne of the new rules bars close relatives from sitting on the same board of directors and requires that a majority of directors have at least three years of banking experience.\n\nThe moral background of the directors will also be considered in approving the establishment of a bank, a move primarily aimed at preventing those with known gambling habits from taking such posts, analysts said.\n\nLast year, the banking industry was shaken by a revelation that Bank Duta, a major private bank, lost some 420 million dollars through foreign exchange speculation blamed on its vice-president Dicky Iskandar Di Nata.\n\nThree charity foundations chaired by President Suharto bailed out the bank with new fund injections but the fiasco was enough to put a question mark on bank Indonesia's ability to control the banking system.\n\nAnother offshoot from the scandal is the imposition of restrictions on banks in conducting marginal trading in foreign currencies, either for themselves or for their clients.\n\nThe new rules also set the minimum capital of a bank at eight per cent of productive assets to conform with the standard of capital adequacy ratio set by the Swiss-based bank for international settlements.\n\n“We have to apply international standards if we want to compete in the world.“ Mr. Mooy said, adding that many Indonesian banks were unable to open offices abroad in the past because they were not subject to the same standards.\n\nThe rule however will be applied gradually, setting 2 minimum five per cent by March 1992, seven per cent a year later and eight per cent by December 1993.\n\nBank Indonesia has also introduced a tighter requirement for banks to report on their financial positions at regular intervals in a bid to give early warning of impending trouble or bankruptcy.\n\nIt also introduced a new rating system by which the Central Bank can judge the health of banks."
},
{
"TITLE": "Bank Governor Remarks on Policy",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK1503114691 Jakarta ANTARA in English 0953 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK1503114691",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Jakarta",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "antara",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "Jakarta, Mar 15 (OANA/ANTARA)—The Central Bank Governor, Adrianus Mooy, has stated here that Bank Indonesia issued a new policy called the February Package aimed at improving the banking control and promotion system in an effort to realize a sound and efficient banking industry beneficial for the country’s economic growth.\n\nThe policy, issued on February 28, is a follow-up of the October 1988 financial, monetary and banking deregulatory policies (Pakto 27) which had great impact on the country’s banking industry, Adrianus Mooy told the press here on Thursday.\n\nHe further said that deregulatory measures in banking had actually been underway since 1983, which at that time was focused on the price control.\n\nWe have given freedom to the banks to decide their own interest rates, credit ceiling, abolish price control and gradually reduce various credit program and to start direct monetary control, he said.\n\nAccording to Mooy, there were two things that should be given priority by the Central Bank, namely the drafting of the bill on banking and the bill on the Central Bank. He hoped that the two bills could be completed in the next two weeks.\n\nHe admitted that in the last two years, the banking industry in Indonesia had been progressing well as a consequence of the previous deregulatory measures in monetary and banking industry.\n\nIt has an encouraging effect, because such a progress would also cause some problems for the bank since the bank is a credible institution, he insisted.\n\nIt is in this context that the banks are demanded to improve their management system and to be more responsible to the banks’ customers, he said.\n\nOn the occasion, Adrianus Mooy also announced that under the new policy package commercial banks are required to fulfil the capital adequacy ratio based on the [word indistinct] international settlements (BIS) amounting to [word indistinct] percent of the total assets of the banks and improve their prudential regulations to ensure a healthy growth of the banking industry.\n\nThus we have to adopt international regulations in order to avoid any difficulties when they are going to operate abroad, he said.\n\nAccording to Mooy, the fulfilment of the capital adequacy ratio will be applied gradually ranging from 5.0 per cent at the end of March [word indistinct] to 7.0 per cent at the end of March 1993 and 8.0 percent by the end of December 1993."
},
{
"TITLE": "U.S. Charges of Human Rights Abuses Denied",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1403134791 Vientiane Domestic Service in Lao 0500 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1403134791",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Vientiane",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Lao",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Undated PASASON Article: “Accusations and Interference in Each Other's Internal Affairs Are Not Good for Mutual Relations”",
"FULL_TEXT": "The Voice of America recently carried the U.S. State Department annual report on the 1990 human rights situation in over 100 countries including Laos. Citing the portion on the human rights situation in Laos and the Lao Government's policy toward various ethnic groups such as the Hmong tribe, the radio said that forty-three members of the Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] elected in 1989 represent minority groups. Nobody knows exactly how many have truly been elected by the people. The radio claimed that minority groups were the targets of attacks by the Lao armed forces and blamed the Lao Government for the lack of human rights promotion in the country and other shortcomings.\n\nThe U.S. State Department annual report broadcast by the radio constitutes not only groundless accusations against the Lao Government and people of all tribes but it is also a most blatant act of interference in the internal affairs of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic [LPDR]. Although the report might reflect some facts, it contains several untrue stories which run counter to the Lao Government's fair policy toward the people of all tribes in the country. On the face of it, most people might feel nothing strange about this issue because, since its defeat in the Indochina war, the United States has been constantly trying to discredit the LPDR government. For example, in the report presented to congress in September 1990 by the international drug office, the U.S. State Department accused Laos of promoting opium cultivation and breaching the agreement it has signed. Lately, the United States reportedly acclaimed Laos for its efforts in drug suppression. Therefore, the accusation against Laos by the U.S. side this time is no different from those of the past because it is based on a misunderstanding or a lack of understanding of the policy of finding new jobs for mountainous people. These new jobs have been designed to encourage them to change from slash-and-burn cultivation to rice growing or commodity production so that the Hmong tribe, for example, can settle permanently and will stop destroying forests, a valuable natural resource, for cultivation.\n\nThe Mountainous Region Development Company is one of the Lao Government's enterprises assigned to accelerate the economic, cultural, and social development in the mountainous region and improve the well-being of people in remote areas. The construction of the new township at Lak Sao in Khammouane Province has successfully attracted the resettlement of mountainous people. Subsequently, children of the mountainous people in the area now have access to education and medical services. This is one of the areas where the correct policy of the Lao party and government has been implemented. Accusations that minority groups have no representatives in the SPA as well as those on human rights are totally groundless. Though the United States falsely accuses the LPDR on human rights issues to discredit us internationally, U.S. aid to Laos in certain fields has yet to meet the human rights requirements of this country because the vices of the destructive war started by the United States are still costing lives and creating difficulties and hardships for the Lao people.\n\nBecause of its faith in human rights, fairness and correct policy toward the people, the Lao Government has allowed international human rights organizations including non-governmental agencies such as the Quaker and [word indistinct] and others to operate in the northern part of the country. Moreover, the LPDR government and Lao people have been extensively cooperating with the U.S. in searching for remains of U.S. troops missing or killed during the war of aggression against Indochina by the U.S. imperialists themselves. The above mentioned statements are only a small part of the truth testifying to the human rights-oriented policy of the Lao Government and multi-ethnic people toward the U.S. people and government. Thanks to the human rights consciousness and correct policy of the Lao Government and people, diplomatic relations between Laos and the United States has always been normal and relations between the two countries continues to expand today. Due to the above facts and in compliance with the aspiration for peaceful coexistence of the peoples of the two countries—the LPDR and United States—and desire for continued good relations to prove that each cherishes human rights and mutual friendship, the governments of the two countries should jointly seek ways to boost mutual cooperation on the basis of equality [words indistinct] and mutual interests, instead of falsely accusing each other and interfering in each other's internal affairs. Interference in (he internal affairs of one another can be detrimental to the good relations the two countries are now fostering."
},
{
"TITLE": "Phoumi Vongvichit Addresses LFNC Conference",
"FULL_CITATION": "BK 1403050891 Vientiane Domestic Service in Lao 1400 GMT 13 Mar 91",
"CITATION_ID": "BK 1403050891",
"CITATION_LOCATION": "Vientiane",
"CITATION_OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION_LANGUAGE": "Lao",
"CITATION_DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": null,
"FULL_TEXT": "This morning at the annual enlarged conference of the Lao Front for National Construction [LFNC] Central Committee in Vientiane, LFNC Central Committee Chairman Phoumi Vongvichit gave an address to the meeting, touching on the situation, path, and growth and development of the front work in each period, especially during the current period of new conceptual and behavioral changes of various forms in the world and in the country. He pointed out that the situation in Laos has been affected by such changes, thus driving certain aspects of our socioeconomic
And finally Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking? It made it all the way to page 56 at a cost of just $0.194724 ($0.003477):
[
{
"TITLE": "ASEAN To Accept USSR as Dialogue Partner",
"FULL CITATION": "Ou 1403093591 Tokyo KYODO in English 0817 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "Ou 1403093591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "ASEAN To Accept Soviet Union as Dialogue Partner™ (By Masanori Kikuta)]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Kuala Lumpur, March 14 KYODO—The Associ- ation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed in principle to accept the Soviet Union as one of its dialogue partners.“ Malaysian Foreign Minister Omar Abu Hassan indicated Thursday. The Soviet Union “would like to be closer to us and has offered to join Japan, the United States and other existing partners of dialogue with ASEAN, Abu Hassan told a press conference. “We will certainly look at the best possible means to get them (the Soviets) involved in one way or another,” he said. “There have been some discussions among offi- cials.“ ASEAN is scheduled to hold an annual meeting of foreign ministers, followed by a meeting with their counterparts from six existing dialogue partners, plus South Korea, in Kuala Lumpur on July 19-24, Abu Hassan said. South Korea will be the seventh full dialogue partner, starting with the meeting, but it has not been decided yet if the Soviet Union will join such a ministerial meeting, he said. “We are still looking at the kind of format or relationship we want to establish with them,” he said. Malaysian Government officials said earlier that ASEAN is also considering beginning a dialogue with China. South Korea began a dialogue with ASEAN when par- ticular issues such as trade and investment matters arose, before allowing it to become a full partner. ASEAN will discuss “other ways of association” with the Soviet Union as well as Vietnam, Myanmar [Burma], and other potential dialogue partners because involving them as full participants in regular meetings will mean “very long and taxing” sessions, Abu Hassan said. Senior ASEAN officials “will think about how best to engage them into this kind of association,” he said. In the meantime, he said, ASEAN's six member coun- tries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei—will try to establish “economic linkages with them bilaterally, not on an ASEAN basis,” he added. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed told an international economic conference on the Indonesian resort island of Bali last week ASEAN is considering inviting Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar to the next for- eign ministers’ meeting. But Abu Hassan indicated it will be some time before the three Indochinese socialist countries become dialogue partners. “This will be discussed from time to time by senior officials” and “will definitely be on the agenda of the (next) summit“ of ASEAN planned for Singapore late this year or early next year, he said. ASEAN last held a summit in Manila in 1987, itself the first in a decade, and Mahathir proposed at the Bali conference that ASEAN leaders meet more frequently. Senior ASEAN officials met in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the increase in dialogue partners and other issues, said Abu Hassan, who will be appointed minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in a cabinet reshuffle Friday. Another session devoted to economic issues is scheduled for Friday. Among issues discussed so far have been a plan to set up an “ASEAN cooperation unit“ of specialists with the help of the United Nations development program to provide technical services for the management of var- ious projects undertaken jointly by the ASEAN coun- tries, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "APEC Agrees To Push for Trade Liberalization",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1303052591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 13 Mar 91 p B10",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1303052591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "the nation",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Oranut Anasuksathian and Yindi Loetcharoenchok]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Thai officials who attended a two-day meeting on the Asia-Pacific economic grouping last week, expressed satisfaction at the renewed attempts of the 12 member countries to push for regional trade liberalization and to adopt three new projects. Besides, progress was made to link up trade and invest- ment data available in member countries with the Global Link centre in Singapore, said Laksanachanthon Lao- haphan, director general of the Foreign Ministry's ASEAN Affairs Department. She led the Thai delegation to the discussions at the Honeymoon Island of Cheju in South Korea on March 5 and 6. Thailand, she said, is preparing to subscribe to the information and the Commerce Ministry is updating and arranging its own database to facilitate the link-up. In an interview with THE NATION, Laksanachanthon described the Cheju meeting as “full of cooperation, cordial and quite positive”. all member countries, she added, agreed on the urgency to speed up cooperation and resolve the existing barriers between each other. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) com- prises the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the six countries of ASEAN—Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Meanwhile, three new projects were approved in addi- tion to the existing seven working programmes previ- ously adopted by the members. Two of the three new projects on transportation and tourism were proposed by the United States while New Z aland suggested a fishery project. Thailand has expressed a keen interest in the project. The members also agreed with an Australian proposal to set up an ad hoc committee to study regional trade liberalization and with the Canadian suggestion to study the regional macroeconomic outlook and its implica- tions. So far, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Japan and Singapore have subscribed to the Australian initiative. Other members may join in the consultation process later, Laksanachanthon said. A summary paper of APEC’s senior officials’ meeting stated that the participants were of a general agreement that non-discriminatory trade liberalization in the region was an appropriate area for detailed study and consid- eration. There was also a general agreement among the members on the importance of the trade liberalization as a continuing policy focus for APEC. Canada which spearheaded the move to explore and study the regional economic policy and trends will soon call a meeting of the member countries, said an official at the meeting. All the proposals will be submitted to the senior official representatives of the 12 members and later at the APEC ministerial- level meeting in Seoul in October. ASEAN senior foreign officials were to meet in Kuala Lumpur today until March 15 to discuss the outcome of the APEC consultations. But the meeting was indefi- nitely postponed because of the coup in Thailand. In a related development, ASEAN’s senior economic officials are to meet today in Bandung to study the proposals approved by APEC officiais. The meeting ends on Friday. The Cheju meeting also agreed on the financial aspects of the projects and timetables for implementing them. The expenses incurred from these projects will be shared by the members. But the six ASEAN nations have asked the developed countries in the group to recognize their financial con- Straints and suggested that the developed economies contribute more in carrying out big projects, according to a commerce official. Laksanachanthon said that the agreement on the finan- cial aspects and new projects is a major step forward for APEC, a cooperation of countries from extremely dif- ferent economic and political backgrounds. While foreign officials were very optimistic about the progress made in the regional economic consultations, some Thai commerce officials who accompanied the delegation said the talk moved very little forward. The three projects given approval at the official-level meeting were pending since the first official consultation in Singapore last year, they said. Moreover, ASEAN has repeated its intention for the cooperation process to go slow. According to Laksanachanthon, the exchange of opin- ions on trade and investment information and the devel- opment of human resources have progressed the most because they do not require the establishment of new mechanisms. Other projects, including energy cooperation, telecom- munications and technology transfer are also moving forward due to consultations held between individual working groups, she added."
},
{
"TITLE": "Agency Ready To Dispatch Minesweepers to Guif",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503082791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0754 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503082791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan could dis- patch a small fleet of minesweepers in about a week if given orders to help clean- up efforts in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war, a Defense Agency source said Friday. The Maritime Self-Defense Force [MSDF] fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel, and with port calls could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said. The task of removing more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before the war would take about a year to complete, the source said. Japanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulſ's waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran- Iraq war. The government received similar requests for mine- sweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait. The Defense Agency will likely deploy four mine- sweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote- controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines. The flagship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180. The minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet- made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and that can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes. According to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to com- pleting the task. “It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,” said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kaifu Undecided on Dispatch",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503112991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1106 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503112991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday implied he opposed a proposal to send Japanese minesweepers to help cleanup the effects of the Persian Gulf war. Kaifu, speaking at the House of Representatives’ standing committee on foreign affairs, said the govern- ment is now collecting information to see if Maritime Self-Defense Force {MSDF] ships are needed in the Gulf. Kaifu said he “is addressing the matter carefully.” “I have never decided to send the minesweepers. It is irresponsible to do so without exact knowledge about the situation” in the Gulf area, Kaifu said. State Minister for Defense Vukihiko Ikeda told reporters Friday that Japan should handle the matter carefully, without any speculation. Speculation could lead Japan in the wrong direction, he said. “I am embarrassed that controversy over such an abrupt proposal has been spreading across the nation,” Ikeda said. Earlier this week, senior officials in Kaifu's ruling Lib- eral Democratic Party proposed deploying mine- sweepers to the Gulf. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama told a parliamentary committee that Japan is obliged to try to protect Japanese sailors in the area. Nakayama also said the government will discuss sending minesweepers to the Gulf with the seafarers union. Earlier Friday, a Defense Agency source said Japan could deploy a small minesweeper fleet in about a week, if given orders. If sent, the Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet would include four minesweepers, a flag ship, and one supply vessel. Allowing time for port calls, it could arrive in the Gulf in about a month, the source said. It will take about a year to remove more than 1,000 mines Iraq scattered throughout the northern end of the Gulf before ti 2 war, the source said. Japanese experts have long studied the task of removing mines from the Gulf’s waters, beginning with a request in 1987 from the United States for Japanese minesweepers to help protect sea lanes during the height of the Iran- Iraq war. The government received similar requests for mine- sweepers last fall after Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait. The Defense Agency will likely deploy four mine- sweepers of the Hatsushima-class. Each of the 440- to 490-ton vessels carries a crew of 45 and is equipped with top-of-the-line sonar and remote- controlled diving devices that can go as deep as 200 meters in their hunt for mines. The flag ship will likely be the 2,000-ton Hayase which will carry a crew of 180. The minesweepers will try to remove hundreds of Soviet- made mines, including old contact-type mines and newer models that are concealed underwater and can be set off by water pressure changes as a ship passes overhead or by the noise a ship makes. According to one MSDF expert, close cooperation with the U.S. and British Navies will be essential to com- pleting the task. “It is also necessary to understand that the job is full of danger,” said the minesweeping expert."
},
{
"TITLE": "Official: SDF Aircraft Can Be Used for Evacuees",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1403165191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1457 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW'1403165191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan can fly Air Self-Defense Force [ASDF] aircraft to Kuwait to trans- port evacuees if an international body makes such a request, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Thursday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited the government's special administrative ordinance made to send ASDF transport aircraft abroad to carry refugees earlier this year. The ordinance makes such flights pos- sible if they are requested by the International Organi- zation for Migration (IOM) or a related world body. The official was commenting on a question relating to a possible Egyptian request to shuttle Egyptian workers being evacuated to Kuwait from Iraq, which is now gripped by internal conflict. “If the IOM makes such a request to Japan with Kuwaiti approval, then why not? The ordinance never speciſi- cally defines the flight routes,” the official said, adding he has rc information that such a request has yet been made. Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu's government made the ordinance with the possibility of flying ASDF aircraft between Cairo and some Jordanian cities in mind, but actually no such request was made."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Minister Urges Kaifu To Visit U.S. Soon",
"FULL CITATION": "OW’1503033791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0258 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW’1503033791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu should visit Washington as early as pos- sible, even later this month or in April, Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama said Friday. Nakayama told reporters after a regular cabinet meeting that the prime minister himself wishes to make the trip even if it is a brief one. The foreign minister said Kaifu should have no problem with Diet business, saying four days is enough for a return trip to Washington. Nakayama said he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week. He is set to leave Japan next Wednesday to meet with Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials. Nakayama said Japan's upcoming Golden Week” series of national holidays in late April and early May, usually used for politicians’ visits abroad, should be the best time for Kaiſu's swing to Southeast Asian nations, which was postponed in January amid the Persian Gulf crisis, and Kaifu's U.S. visit should come first. Foreign Ministry officials have expressed strong hopes for an early Japan-U.S. summit to discuss bilateral cooperation after the Gulf war. President George Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed as a result of the Gulf war. Foreign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industri- alized nations in July would be “too late.”"
},
{
"TITLE": "More on Aims of Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1503101091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0955 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW'1503101091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu may visit the United States in early April to exchange views with U.S. President George Bush on peace prospects in the Middle East and the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks, government sources said Friday. In the talks with Bush, Kaifu is expected to express Japan's willingness to strengthen political and economic relations with Israel as part of a comprehensive Japanese Middle East policy in the wake of the Persian Gulf war. Washington has expressed hope the Japanese Govern- ment will extend economic assistance to Israel to facili- tate postwar restoration work. Japan has never given economic aid to Israel and has maintained a generally pro-Arab Middle East policy. Kaifu is also expected to express Japan's readiness to find a breakthrough in the stalled multinational trade talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the sources said. But they did not give further details on what proposals Kaifu will make to bring about a successful conclusion of the trade talks. During the visit, Kai‘u is likely to stay in Washington or a U.S. west coast city for three or four days. Nakayama told reporters he will arrange the possible timetable during his own U.S. visit next week. The foreign minister is set to leave Japan Wednesday to meet Secretary of State James Baker and other U.S. officials. President Bush had been scheduled to visit Japan earlier this year but the trip was postponed because of the Gulf war. Foreign Ministry officials say a Kaifu-Bush meeting at the London summit of seven major industrialized nations in July would be too late.” A top Foreign Ministry official suggested that Kaifu would visit Washington in April. “There is little possibilty (of Kaifu's U.S. trip) in March,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that the trip would take place before the holidays that begin in late April. He also said that there might be a need to adjust ties between Japan and the U.S. before Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev visits Japan Apri! 16-19."
},
{
"TITLE": "Foreign Ministry Aide To Visit U.S. 17 Mar",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503110991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503110991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan will dispatch a senior Foreign Ministry official to Washington on Sunday to discuss post- Persian Gulf war policies, the Foreign Ministry said Friday. Yukio Sato, director general of the ministry's informa- tion analysis, research and planning bureau, will visit Washington at the request of the U.S. Government, ministry officials said. The trip will precede Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama’s scheduled U.S. visit, beginning next Wednesday. State Department officials are expected to brief Sato on the results of Secretary of State James Baker's Middle East tour and President George Bush's series of talks with European leaders. Sato last visited the U.S. between February 25 and March 6. On that trip, he presented Japanese ideas on international restrictions on arms shipments to the Middle East, and said Japan was ready to help repair environmental damage in the Gulf region, the officials said. He is expected to discuss more specific aspects of postwar international cooperation during his upcoming trip, they said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Urges U.S. Rice Display’s Removal",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503051791 Tokyo KYODO in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503051791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Agriculture, For- estry, and Fisheries Minister Motoji Kondo reiterated Friday that he will urge a U.S. rice industry group to withdraw samples of U.S. rice displayed at a food trade show now under way in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture. Kondo said at a press conference after a regular cabinet meeting that he will request the U.S.A. Rice Council to remove the American rice samples by Saturday, when the food show at the Makuhari Exposition Center is scheduled to end. He said such activities aimed at promoting rice sales violate Japan's Food Control Law. The minister also said it is questionable whether the rice samples for the show have been quarantined or not. The ministry will consult with its affiliated Food Agency about what to do if the U.S. council does not accept his demand, Kondo said. The National Confederation of Farmers’ Movements has announced it will take legal action against the U.S. group over the rice samples."
},
{
"TITLE": "Business Delegation To Meet U.S. Counterparts",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403132991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1305 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403132991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Business leaders from Japan and the United States will meet in Los Angeles on May 11-12 to “deepen mutual understand- ing,” the first such meeting since the end of the Persian Gulf war, business sources said Thursday. The meeting will be in preparation for a session of the Japan- U.S. Businessmen's Conference to be held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in July. The officials said the Japanese delegation will explain Japan's basic stance concerning the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks. They said the Japanese side also is concerned about the hardening of U.S. sentiment toward Japan over Tokyo's alleged lukewarm support for the U.S.-led multinational forces fighting the Gulf war. The Japanese delegation will include Eishiro Saito, hon- orary chairman of the powerful Federation of Economic Organizations; Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the federa- tion; and Rokuro Ishikawa, president of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry."
},
{
"TITLE": "CPSU Department Chief Falin Continues Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403131591 Tokyo NHK General Television Network in Japanese 1000 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403131591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "nhk general television network",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Japanese",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The Liberal Democratic Party [LDP] established its Jepan-USSR Parliamentarians League today. In a speech delivered prior to the plenary session, CPSU International Department Chief Falin indicated Soviet intentions to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japan in April. With President Gorbachev scheduled to visit Japan in April, the LDP’s Japan-USSR Parliamentarians’ League was established today for the purpose of promoting extensive exchanges between the two nations. Keijiro Murata, former chairman of the party's policy affairs research council, will serve as chairman of the League. CPSU International Department chief Falin, on his first visit to Japan to attend the league's inaugural session, delivered a speech prior to the plenary session. Com- menting on President Gorbachev's visit to Japan, Falin said that President Gorbachev would bring with him not the former image of the Soviet Union but a picture filled with a brighter future. He added that despite the fact that the domestic situation in the Soviet Union is not very favorable right now, it will not be long before the sun shines on Soviet-Japanese relations through the efforts of the two nations. Thus, he indicated the Soviet intention to promote Soviet-Japanese relations through President Gorbachev's visit to Japar. Furthermore, regarding President Gorbachev's pere- stroyka policy, International Department chief Falin stated: Unless domestic disorder in the Soviet Union turns into civil war, there will be no going back on perestroyka or any shift in the chosen orientation."
},
{
"TITLE": "Reads Gorbachev Message",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403154991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1347 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403154991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said in a message read here Thursday that he would like a Japanese delegation to visit Moscow before he travels to Tokyo in April. The two countries share a common desire to open a new stage of relations, Gorbachev said in his message read at the inauguration of a bilateral parliamentarians’ group. The parliamentarians’ league was formed by Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union and Japan are obligated to play an “objective role” in the region and internationally, Gor- bachev said in the message read by Valentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party's International Affairs Division. “I hope that, as two major members of the world community, our unique contribution to the process of global cooperation will become larger. Gorbachev said in the message. He said he wants to meet with a Japanese delegation before his scheduled April 16-19 visit to Japan, appar- ently referring to a possible visit by LDP Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa. Falin, in a separate address to the league, said he was upbeat about bilateral relations. He warned, however, that Gorbachev's historic visit comes at a time of domestic turmoil in the Soviet Union. Economic reforms are falling victim to political power struggles, Falin told the audience of some 500 political and economic leaders. He said Gorbachev will stay on the path of “pere- stroyka” economic reforms and democratization unless the country is swept up in chaos. “When President Gorbachev visits Japan, he will bring with him a bright picture of the future of the Soviet Union, not the old image,” said Falin, a top foreign policy aide to Gorbachev. Falin said financial credit and goods are important to his country, but what the Soviet Union needs most is a model that will help the public make the “correct deci- sion” between a free market economic system and the present centrally planned economy. Speeches by Japanese political leaders, meanwhile, lacked the usual references to the four-decade territorial dispute over four islands north of Hokkaido that has frozen relations in a bitter standoff. The league, joined by 184 LDP parliamentarians, was established to help resolve problems in Japan-Soviet economic cooperation, and promote exchanges by the two countries’ ruling parties in advance of Gorbachev's visit. It supplements an existing suprapertisan league."
},
{
"TITLE": "Laverov, Falin Meet Kaifu",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503041391 Tokyo KYODO in English 0342 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503041391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—A foreign policy adviser to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said to Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu on Friday the two coun- tries should make “100 percent“ use of the Kremlin leader's visit to Tokyo next month to achieve a break- through in ties. Valentin Falin, head of the Soviet Communist Party's International Affairs Division, said he spoke with Gor- bachev immediately before arriving in Japan on Thursday, and that the President is “prepared to make a breakthrough in ties.” “When the President comes, discussions should not be only of the weather and the cherry blossoms, there should also be serious talks on bilateral and international issues. Falin said. Let's make 100 percent use of this chance,” he said in a 15- minute courtesy call, also joined by Soviet Vice Premier Nikolay Laverov. The two officials are here to attend separate political and science events to promote ties prior to Gorbachev's visit. Kaifu said he hopes for a resolution of the territorial dispute over four islands east of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, so that the two countries could sign a peace treaty. The northern islands issue has been a stumbling block for improving relations ever since World War II, when the Soviet troops occupied the islands. Kaifu said he hopes to see a “dynamic” expansion of relations in a wide variety of fields, including economics and technology. Laverov, here to attend the opening of a Soviet science fair, suggested that Soviet basic technology combined with Japanese know- how in application would deliver fruitful results."
},
{
"TITLE": "Gorbachev, Kaifu To Hold Three Rounds of Talks",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'150314109! Tokyo KYODC in English 1343 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW'150314109!",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will hold three rounds of talks with Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu during his April 16 to 19 visit to Japan, with the two countries’ territorial dispute high on the agenda, government officials said Friday. Gorbachev and Kaifu are expected to sign 11 pacts and documents on issues such as Japan's support for Gor- bachev's “perestroyka™ restructuring efforts, and aid to victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The two leaders plan to issue a joint statement on the results and meaning of Gorbachev's visit, officials said. The Soviet president is also scheduled to meet with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, make a speech at the Diet, give a lecture at a university and meet with the press during his four-day stay in Japan, they said. Visits to Osaka and Kyoto are also being arranged, officials said. The schedule will be finalized when Soviet Foreign Minister Aleksander Bessmertnykh visits Japan from March 29-31. Gorbachev's visit to Japan will be the first by a top Kremlin leader in the two nations’ history. It will also be the first Japan-Soviet summit conference in six years, following the meeting between Gorbachev and then Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. At that time, Nakasone went to Moscow to attend the state funeral of Soviet Communist Party leader Kon- stantin Chernenko, who was succeeded by Gorbachev. There have been only two other Japanese-Soviet summit meetings—between Ichiro Hatoyama and Nikolay Bul- ganin in October 1956, and between Kakuei Tanaka and Leonid Brezhnev in October 1973. With Gorbachev's visit, Japan hopes to find a break- through in realizing the return of the four northern islands off Hokkaido that the Soviet Union occupied after World War II. “We hope to pave the path for solving the territorial dispute and the signing of a Japan-Soviet peace treaty in order to build a foundation for bilateral relations,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said. “And we would like to make it a turning point in dealing with postwar issues.” Some Foreign Ministry sources, however, say the terri- torial dispute cannot be solved in one or two top-level meetings. With just one month before the visit, Tokyo hopes to feel out Moscow's positions in Bessmerinykh's meetings with Kaifu and Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama later this month, officials said. Liberal Democractic Party [LDP] Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa is also planning to visit Moscow during March, LDP sources said. The Soviet Union, however, is suffering severe economic difficulties, and political and ethnic turmoil at home and is hoping to secure Japan's financial aid while sounding out Japan's position on the territorial dispute. Meanwhile, a Soviet advance team will arrive in Tokyo on Monday for a weeklong visit, Soviet ( iplomatic sources said Friday."
},
{
"TITLE": "Envoy Says Gorbachev Hopes To Meet Businessmen",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403125991 Tokyo KYODO in English 1215 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403125991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev hopes to meet with Japanese busi- ness leaders during his visit to Tokyo in April, Soviet Ambassador to Japan Lyudvig Chizhov said Thursday. Chizhov called on Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of the influential Federation of Economic Organizations, known as the Keidanren, Thursday afternoon to convey Gorbachev's desire for a meeting with Hiiaiwa and other business leaders, Keidanren officials said. Hiraiwa welcomed the request and hoped that Gor- bachev's trip to Japan will mark a dramatic step forward in relations between Japan and the Soviet Union, said Keidanren officials."
},
{
"TITLE": "USSR Foreign Minister To Discuss Middle East",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503104291 Tokyo KYODO in English 1006 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503104291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Foreign Ministers Aleksander Bessmertnykh and Taro Nakayama will dis- cuss Middle East security in the post-Persian Gulf war period and other international issues during their talks in Tokyo later this month, Soviet diplomatic sources said Friday. The March 29-31 meeting, aimed at finalizing details for President Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to Japan April 16-19, will be the second between the two foreign min- isters this year, and the first followirg last month's end of hostilities in the Gulf. The foreign ministers are also to discuss 11 agreements to be inked during Gorbachev's planned April visit, as well as a final statement to be issued at the end of the trip and a peace treaty, the sources said. Both Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu and Gorbachev have expressed hopes that the visit will provide a break- through in relations, snagged over a dispute over owner- ship of four small islands occupied by the Soviet Union after World War II. However, there have been few hints yet how the two sides will approach the territorial dispute, which Japan says must be resolved before a peace treaty can be concluded. The sources said the Soviet Union plans to hand over a list of some 40,000 deceased Japanese World War II prisoners of war prior to Gorbachev's visit. It recently canceled a plan to hand over the register to a private association of former war detainees in Siberia following a demand by the Japanese Government that the list be delivered via official channels. Among those accompanying Gorbachev on the historic visit will be his wife Raisa, Bessmertnykh, and presiden- tial spokesman Vitaliy Ignatenko, the sources said. The visit here is to be the first ever by a Kremlin leader. Four Japanese prime ministers have traveled to the Soviet Union while in office. In 1956 Ichiro Hatoyama visited the Soviet Union to normalize diplomatic relations. Kakuei Tanaka traveled to Moscow in 1973, Zenko Suzuki in 1982, and Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1984. The sources said they did not expect the Soviet refer- endum slated for Sunday on preservation of the coun- try’s union structure to affect the visit."
},
{
"TITLE": "Ministry Official ‘Lukewarm’ on USSR Aid",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1503081191 Tokvo KYODO in English 0602 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW'1503081191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—A senior Finance Ministry official expressed a lukewarm view Friday regarding possible Japanese financial aid to the Soviet Union. The official, who declined to be named, said the Soviet economy has worsened since the International Monetary Fund and other international organizations issued a negative report on the economic situation in the Soviet Union late last year. The official also said the Soviet military crackdown on independence movements in the Baltic republics adversely affected the Western attitude toward Moscow. He said Western aid to the Soviet Union will be dis- cussed at the London summit of seven Western indus- trialized nations in July but their attitude will not be as enthusiastic as it was in the previous summit in Houston, Texas, last year."
},
{
"TITLE": "SDP To Review Stand on Kuril Islands",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1403171691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1516 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW'1403171691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—The Social Demo- cratic Party (SDP) will review its basic policy calling for the return of all the Kuril Islands, including the four Soviet-held islands off Hokkaido, party officials said Thursday. They said party members have been deinanding more flexibility in policy toward the Soviet Union. The SDP, Japan's largest opposition party, has argued since 1961 that Moscow must return two of the four islands—Shikotan Island and the Habomai Island group—before concluding a peace treaty with Tokyo, and said that the return of the other Kuril islands should be negotiated later. The four islands were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. A Japanese-Soviet joint declaration in 1956 specified that the Soviet Union would return Shikotan and the Habomais after concluding a peace treaty between the two countries."
},
{
"TITLE": "Marubeni Postpones Vladivostok Office Plan",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1503125591 Tokyo KYODO in English 1116 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW'1503125591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Marubeni Corp. said Friday it has put off its plan to open a representative office in the Soviet far east city of Viadivostok because of an abrupt aboutface in Soviet policy. The trading giant has apparently made the decision after learning of a change in Soviet policy, apparently stem- ming from the rise of conservatives in the leadership following the military crackdown in the Baltic republics, industry sources said. Company officials said they had an impression that the Kremlin now does not want to open Vladivostok, a major Soviet naval port on the Sea of Japan, to for- eigners for the time being. The Soviet Union earlier promised to allow foreign companies to open offices in the city in March in order to promote economic reforms in the Far East. Marubeni and another Japanese trading firm, Mitsubishi Corp., then announced plans to open offices there. Mitsubishi said it has not received information about Moscow's change of policy. The firm said it has not withdrawn its application filed to the state authorities of that country, because the Soviet situation remains fluid. Vladivostok, with a population of about 650,000, is the home of the Soviet Far East naval fleet."
},
{
"TITLE": "Development Loan Pleadged to PRC",
"FULL CITATION": "QW 1503110791 Tokyo KYODO in English 1041 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "QW 1503110791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Japan has pledged to extend a low-interest, untied loan of up to 43.38 billion yen to China in the third disbursement of its aid package for fiscal 1990, the Foreign Ministry announced Friday. The ministry said the fund will be used to help finance five development projects, including construction . highways, railways, and other facilities. The loan, part of Japan's official development assistance (ODA), is repayable over a 30-year period, including a 10-year grace period, at an annual interest rate ol 7.5 percent, the ministry said. Notes on the loan were exchanged in Beijing on Friday between Japanese Ambassador to China Hiroshi Hashi- moto and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Qi Huaiyuan, the ministry said. The projects to be financed by the loan include: —construction and consolidation of highway and tele- communications networks in Qingdao City at a cost of 12,834 million yen. —construction of railways in Baoji in northwestern China at a cost of 5,572 million yen. —construction of an airport in Wuhan at 6,279 million yen. —construction of coal transportation railways linking Hengshui and Shangqiu at a cost of 5,695 million. —construction of the Beijing Shisanling pumped-storage power station at 13 billion yen."
},
{
"TITLE": "Grants Extended to Latin America, Affrica",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403125091 Tokyo KYODO in English 1027 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403125091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Japan will extend grant-in-aid to Peru, Honduras, Benin, Madagascar, and Botswana, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday. Peru will receive 3.5 billion yen and Honduras 500 million yen in a nonproject grant to help pay for the Latin American nations’ necessary imports, the ministry said. Benin will get 900 million yen and Madagascar 3.5 billion yen for the same purpose. The 104-million-yen grant for Botswana is for debt relief and will compensate for part of its debts in yen loans from Japan extended until March 1988, the ministry said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Finance Minister Remarks on Yen's Weakness",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503061991 Tokyo KYODO in English 0550 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503061991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said Friday the current weakness of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar in foreign exchange markets should not be sustained. “I do not think current exchange rates between the two currencies reflect Japanese economic fundamentals cor- rectly,” Hashimoto told the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives. The minister said he hopes currency rates will settle moderately, not sharply. The recent strength of the dollar is caused by U.S. investors’ euphoria at the end of the Persian Gulf war, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Sees Economic Expansion Without Inflation",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503020291 Tokyo KYODO in English 0119 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503020291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said on Friday the economy con- tinues to expand without any fear of a rekindling of inflation. Speaking at a press conference after a cabinet meeting, Hashimoto said brisk domestic demand is supporting the current economic expansion. Meanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Yasushi Mieno said personal consumption and private-sector capital spending are still the main pillars of Japan's 51-month economic expansion. Mieno made his remarks before a Finance Committee meeting at the House of Representatives. The central bank chief said there is no signs of a decline in the two pillars and that the pace of economic expan- sion remains steady. “A moderate slowdown in the growth rate would sustain the country's economic expansion,” Mieno said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Administrative Vice Finance Minister Named",
"FULL CITATION": "OW'1403151191 Tokyo KYODO in English 1438 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW'1403151191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has decided to name Hiroshi Yasuda, Budget Bureau Chief, as Administrative Vice Minister of Finance, ministry officials said Thursday night. Yasuda, 58, will succeed Masami Kogayu, 59, who will retire from the post. Their personnel change is expected to be formalized in late June, the officials said. Jiro Saito, 55, chief of the minister's secretariat, will succeed Yasuda as new Budget Bureau Chief. At the same time, Tadao Chino, 57, International Finance Bureau chief, will be named to succeed Makoto Utsumi, 56, the retiring vice minister for international affairs, the ministry officials said. Hashimoto's decision on the appointments followed the passage of the national budget bill for fiscal 1991 through the House of Representatives earlier in the evening. The newly picked administrative vice minister, Yasuda previously served as head of the minister's secretariat before taking up the current post last June."
},
{
"TITLE": "Lower House Approves 1991 Fiscal Budget",
"FULL CITATION": "OH 1403142691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1359 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OH 1403142691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—The House of Rep- resentatives passed by a majority vote Thursday the government-proposed 1991 fiscal budget totaling 70,347.4 billion yen. The budget incorporates 12,212.2 billion yen for social welfare, up 5.1 percent over the current year, 6,589.7 billion yen for public works projects, up 6.0 percent, and 883.1 billion for official development aid, up 8.0 percent. Defense spending was slashed to 4,386 billion yen in order to raise funds for Japan's 9 billion dollar contri- bution to the cost of the Persian Gulf war, though this was still an increase of 5.45 percent. The bulk of the 9 billion dollars was generated in a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year. In addition, Japan earlier offered 2 billion dollars to the U.S.- led multinational forces deployed in the Middle East and another 2 billion dollars in aid to countries affected by the conflict. The legislation was immediately sent to the House of Councillors for further deliberation. According to the Constitution, the bill will be enacted automatically in 30 days even if the upper house fails to act on it. The government is also expected to compile a provi- sional budget amounting to about 5 trillion yen to cover government expenditures for the first 12 days of fiscal 1991, beginning April 1."
},
{
"TITLE": "Commodity Funds Bill To Include Securities",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403131691 Tokyo KYODO in English 1056 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403131691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—A law to introduce commodity funds in Japan to be enacted soon will allow such funds to include securities for less than 50 percent of their assets, government officials said Thursday. The Finance Ministry, Ministry of International Trade and Industry [MITI], and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Ministry have jointly drawn up a draft of a bill which is expected to be submitted to the current Diet session. The bill will also provide for the punishment of viola- tors, including imprisonment, a MITI official said. Trust banks will be the sole institutions that are allowed to establish commodity funds under the new law, the official said. On the marketing side, commodity funds for general investors will be marketed by trust banks, while those for corporate and institutional investors will be handled by trading houses and iease companies, he said. Securities to be included in the funds include govern- ment bonds, corporate debentures, and mortgages. But resale of these funds will be prohibited to limit the distribution. Commodity funds are a type of trust fund in which the trustees invest money on behalf of investors in com- modity futures markets, such as grain, precious metals, and crude oil futures."
},
{
"TITLE": "Household Spending Increases in 1990",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503121091 Tokyo KYODO in English 0805 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503121091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO— Japanese house- holds spent an average 311,174 yen per month in 1990, up 0.8 percent in real terms over the year before, the Management and Coordination Agency said in a report Friday. This is the second year for growth to be below 1.0 percent, following the 0.5 percent rise in 1989, and shows that spending has been discouraged in part by a surge of consumer prices ai a rate that has not been seen since 1981, the report said. Households of salaried workers spent an average 331,595 yen per month or 1.6 percent more than in the previous year. The average nonsalaried worker's households spent only 0.1 percent more at an average of 275,583 yen. An increase in overseas holidays boosted spending in the leisure- related service sector, as more households spent more on airline tickets and group tours. Spending grew notably in cordless telephones and tele- phone services, eyeglasses, and medical goods. Steady consumption was seen in household durable goods such as air conditioners and refrigerators, helped in part by the hot summer weather, but purchases of television sets and videotape recorders fell for the first time in 12 years, the report said. Spending on alcohol, other beverages, and prepared foods went up, but that on fresh fruit and vegetables fell, due to their higher prices, it said. A steady growth was seen in the monthly income of salaried workers’ households, which went up 2.0 percent on average from the year before to 521,757 yen. Although the income earned by household heads rose a weak 1.0 percent, due to the spreading employment of older, lower-paid people, there were jumps of 4.8 percent in bonus payments to them and of 4.6 percent in the income earned by their spouses. Spending in the nonconsumption sector surged 9.1 per- cent due to higher social insurance rates. Double-income households earned 556,633 yen monthly, or 16.8 percent more than single-income households, with the income of the spouse accounting for an average 107,928 yen, or 19.4 percent of the total. Double-income households spent 11.8 percent more than single- income households, with spending on edu- cation notably higher, the report said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Plant Site Acquisitions Drop in 1990",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503120691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0821 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503120691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—The number of large sites acquired for industrial use during 1990 fell 9.0 percent from the previous year, the first annual decline in four years, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said Friday MITI’s annual report on plant site purchases said those with an area of 1,000 square meters or more bought during the year for building facilities for manufacturing or production of electricity, gas, or eat amounted to 3,781, down from 4,157 in 1989. The total area of newly purchased land came to 4,616 hectares, down 2.3 percent from the previous year. MITI said the figures are still at high levels and show no signs of a major slowdown. The most popular reason gien for companies selecting sites was securing their workiurces. Metal product manufacturers accounted for the largest share—15.9 percent—of the total acquisitions, followed by general machinery makers (12.9 percent), food pro- cessing firms (11.2 percent), and electronics companies (10.9 percent). Purchases by chemical, oil, and coal companies fell sharply. The number of purchases by foreign firms plunged to 18 from 31 in the previous year. Sites bought for building research laboratories also slipped to 46 from 63."
},
{
"TITLE": "Firm Builds Intelsat Earth Station on Comoros",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403151391 Tokyo KYODO in English 1405 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403151391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 14 KYODO—KDD Engineering and Consulting Inc. (KEC) has built an Intelsat satellite earth station in the Comoros Islands, off the East African coast, KDD, the company’s parent firm, said Thursday. The station will go into operation on Saturday. The completion of the station will ensure improved and stable international telecommunications to and from the island republic. KDD, Japan's international telecom giant, said. KEC has built the earth station under a contract with the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, and with aid from the Japanese Government. The station has won the approval of the International Telecommunications Sat- ellite Organization (Intelsat). The republic has so far had only shortwave circuits, and communications to and from the republic had been disturbed by jamming and noises."
},
{
"TITLE": "Major Shipping Companies Plan Merger",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1503080691 Tokyo KYODO in English 0559 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1503080691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Tokyo, March 15 KYODO—Nihon Yusen K.K. and Nippon Liner Systems Ltd. have agreed to merge their worldwide shipping operations to better compete in a severely competitive market, industry sources said Friday. Both companies are expected to announce the merger at a Tokyo press conference late Friday afternoon, the sources said. According to the sources, Nippon Yusen will purchase all the stock of and absorb Nippon Liner Systems into its worldwide shipping operations. Nippon Liner Systems, an affiliate company of Navix Line Ltd. and established in 1988, operates a fixed liner service between Japan and North America. The com- pany has been suffering losses since its start-up, the sources said. Navix, established in June 1989 through a merger of Yamashita Shin Nihon Steamship Co. and Japan Lines Ltd., had been talking with Nihon Yusen about taking the company off its hands for some time, the sources said. Nippon Liner suffered losses of 190 million yen in the third quarter of Fiscal 1990. Second quarter operating profits for July, August, and September of Fiscal 1990 are expected to amount to 1.6 percent of the revenues for the same period in the previous year, the sources said. After the merger, Nihon Yusen, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., and Navix Ltd. will be the only remaining Japanese shipping firms to continue fixed international shipping routes, the sources said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Correction to Kaifu Interview With NHK",
"FULL CITATION": "OW1503083091",
"CITATION ID": "OW1503083091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "",
"CITATION OUTLET": "",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "",
"CITATION DATE": "",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "The following correction pertains to the item headlined “NHK interview With Prime Minister Kaifu,” published in the 13 March East Asia DAILY REPORT, page 1: Page two, column two, fifth paragraph make read: [Yamamoto] Concerning aid programs, we have ODA [official development assistance]. Is that right? It seems that the government plans to review programs for aid to those nations that have large military budgets or that have been exporting arms. Is it not necessary for us to lay down a basic principle so that such aid will be provided for the purpose of stabilizing people's livelihood? [new graf] [Kaifu] Regarding the ODA, I think that. . (supplying missing question by Yamamoto)"
},
{
"TITLE": "U.S. Denounced for ‘Marring’ DPRK Image",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203052391 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0449 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1203052391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 12 (KCNA)}—The U.S. dele- gate at a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commis- sion held in Geneva recently took issue with our country over the “human rights” problem. Denouncing this, a news analyst of NODONG SINMUN today says: The “human rights” problem is not raised at all in our country, where all the people exercise equal and inde- pendent rights befitting the true master of the state and society and enjoy a genuine political, economic and cultural life. The news analyst further says: It is a malicious challenge to our Republic and an unpardonable insult to our people for the United States to charge our country with the “human rights” problem. The United States seeks a sinister purpose of marring the image of our Republic ever rising in the international arena, undermining its prestige and influence and iso- lating our Republic internationally. When the United States raises a hue and cry over someone's “human rights”, acting the “international judge of human rights”, it reminds us of a thief crying “stop thief” The United States is the very general headquarters and chieftain of human rights violation. It is universally recognized that tens of millions of U.S. people are deprived of the most elementary rights of humanity such as democracy and vital rights and their freedom is totally trampled down. It is also the United States where racial inequality is most serious. While keeping utter silence about the wanton violation of human rights in South Korea, their colony, the U.S. ruling circles are speaking ill of our Republic. This fully reveals again their shameless and brigandish nature. The United States had better mind its own business before taking issue with others over “human rights“"
},
{
"TITLE": "Team Spirit Exercise Said ‘Challenge’ to North",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403151091 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0022 GMT 9 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1403151091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "NODONG SINMUN 9 March special article: “A Game of Playing With Fire That Leads the Situation to the Brink of War”]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Despite the unanimous protest and denounce- ment of all the Korean people and the world's peace- loving people, the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean warmongers are leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war by conducting the adventurous Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise. Not only the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, and the puppet forces, but also massive aggressive arms from the U.S. mainland and the Pacific region will be mobilized in this war exercise. The war exercise will continue until late April, starting with mobile deployment in late January. Offensive operations for northward invasion, such as joint landing operations, mobile aerial strike operations, commando operations, and river-crossing operations, will be conducted during the war exercise. T ais is a just step to defend the sacred fatherland and the valuable revolutionary achievements. Now, the U.S. imperialists and the puppets, in order to rationalize their reckless war madness, are babbling about our self- defense combat mobilization posture while saying that it is an annual exercise and is not dangerous at all. They also said hat we were reacting in a very sensitive manner. This, however, is only the poor excuse of the warmongers. It is a well-known fact that the Team Spirit joint military exercise, which has been conducted since 1976, is a dangerous preliminary war and a test nuclear war aimed at carrying out a preemtive strike against our Republic. The exercise, which is being conducted this year for the sixteenth time, shows a very serious direction. Because of this, we cannot regard it as a simple exercise that has been annually conducted. The great leader Comrade Kim II-song has taught: Today, all events taking place in South Korea show that the new war-provoking maneuvers of the U.S. imperial- ists and their stooges are in a very dangerous phase, and the situation of our country is on the brink of war. As is known, the high-level talks between the North and the South were held from last year. Many issues, including the issue of removing political and military confrontation, were presented in the talks. In particular, the issue of adopting a nonaggression declaration was presented as an important item on the agenda. In order to make this year a year of relaxtion and peace, a year of reconciliation and unity, and a historical year that opens a new phase in national reunification, the government of our Republic, at the very beginning of the year, put forward epocal proposals, including the pro- posal for peaceful national reunification, and for guran- teeing peace on the Korean peninsula. We have put forward a flexible proposal to the United States and the South Korean authorities, suggesting that a nonaggression declaration be adopted by the North and South, and that the Team Spirit joint military exercise be completely suspended or, at least, suspended for two or three years. However, ignoring our sincere efforts, the U.S. imperi- alists and the puppets openly undertook to conduct the criminal Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise and repeatedly held war conferences from late last year. Finally, they started a nuclear war exercise this year, thus openly challenging us. This proves that the United States and the South Korean puppets, blocking forever the road toward peace and peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula, have attempted to destroy our Republic through force of arms by waging a nuclear war. The Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is also serious because it is being conducted in South Korea in the situation where preparations for an aggressive war against the northern half of the Republic have been completed. Having conducted the Team Spirit joint military exer- cise in South Korea every year since 1976, the United States imperialists have now escalated it. Through this exercise, the U.S. imperialists have attempted to com- plete preparations for northward aggression. A large number of U.S. soldiers and their ultramodern equip- ment were brought from the U.S. mainland and throughout the Pacific to the Korean peninsula and, emphasizing nuclear attack, the forces of aggression from overseas, along with the U.S. forces occupying South Korea and the puppets, conducted massive sea, land, and aerial strike operations. Mobilizing enough forces in the Team Spirit joint mili- lary exercise to wage a war, the U.S. imperialists have mastered and completed, in recent years, a three- dimensional war on land, sea, and in the air by repeat- edly conducting actual fighting exercises. Given the absurd remarks of the U.S. imperialist war servants that during the Team Spirit joint military exercise they may wage unexpected war, and given the remarks of foreign military commentators that if an order to wage war is issued, this military exercise will automatically turn into a war, it is not difficult to see that this game of playing with fire has reached a dangerous point. Even today when the preparations for an armed aggres- sion against the northern half of the Republic have been completed, they are conducting this war exercise, even while propagandizing that it is an annual exercise. This can be done only by warmongers. The exercise is more dangerous this year because it has been conducted on the whole part of South Korea under the situation in which an unprecedented and sharp atmosphere of war was created. Already late last year, under a plausible pretext of war against crimes, the South Korean puppets have already mobilized violent forces, such as a larger number of the puppet military forces, policemen, and reserve forces, and massively kicked up the suppression commotion against the patriotic forces for reunification. From the very beginning of this year, they have created a more terrible atmosphere of terror. We cannot help but say that this is a result of maneuvers designed to strengthen the military fascist system in preparation for wartime in accordance with the U.S. aggressive policy over Korea. From the very beginning of this year, a large number of the latest operational equipment and nuclear-equipped fighter bombers flew into South Korea from abroad, and aerial war exercises to strike us were staged almost every day. All kinds of military provocation and reconnais- sance acts against the northern half of the Republic are frequently being conducted. Under the pretext of the Gulf war, the United States and the South Koran puppets have declared an emergency wartime system in South Korea, and have ordered U.S. and the puppet soldiers to be ready for an emergency mobilization. Wholly aiming their guns at the northern half of the Republic, the U.S. forces occupying South Korea, as well as the puppet forces, have been under an emergency wartime system. In addition, under the pretext of the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, the aggressive forces from abroad have crowded into the Korean pen- insula with their nuclear weapons. This will never be overlooked. The U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets have perpetuated approximately 1,500 military provoca- tions, including intensive gun fire against our side on the area of the Military Demarcation Line just 20 days after the announcement of the plan for the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise. Nevertheless, a war may be easily provoked by a trivial incident on the Korean peninsula where the massive arms of both sides confront each other over the MDL {Military Demarcation Line]. How can we regard playing with fire amid the atmosphere of war as destiny? So far, the Team Spirit joint military exercise has been conducted approximately ten times in South Korea. However, the exercise has never been conducted in the whole of South Korea in such a grave, war-like atmo- sphere as this year. All the facts show that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets, taking advantage of the destruc- tion of the balance of power in international relations and the military imbalance created on the Korean pen- insula by our reduction of 100,000 troops at our initia- tive, are surely going to set a conflagration for northward invasion on the Korean peninsula. The propaganda that the Team Spirit joint military exercise 1s not dangerous because it has been conducted annually is merely transparent subterfuge by those who would dull our vigilance and perpetuate an aggressive war at any opportunity. With no sophistry can the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets conceal the fact that the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is dangerous. Upon receiving an order from the supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people are now fully prepared for combat mobilization to smash the war maneuvers of the enemy. Our people love peace and do not want confrontation and war. However, they will never forgive those who antagonize us without reason. If the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets take the road of adven- turous and aggressive war at last by miscalculating our efforts for peace as an indication of weakness, our revolutionary Armed Forces and all the people will retaliate ten thousand fold."
},
{
"TITLE": "13 March Team Spirit Maneuvers Reported",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503045291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0430 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503045291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The U.S. impe- rialists staged another nuclear air strike exercise against the North on March 13 at a time when a horrible atmosphere of war has been created throughout South Korea by the adventurous “Team Spirit 91“ joint man- oeuvres, according to military sources. They sent by stealth a formation of Guam-based nuclear- capable B-52 strategic bombers to the sky above Asan Bay for a nuclear air strike exercise for a surprise attack on main targets in the strategic depth of the northern half of Korea. Participating in it were formations of nuclear- capable F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers which have been mobilized in the “Team Spirit 91“ from the Pacific bases. On the same day, they held a large-scale joint ground strike exercise against the North in the air above Yongju of north Kyongsang Province with the mobilization of fighter-bombers and assault planes based in the U.S. mainland and the Pacific and formations of fighter- bombers, assault planes and observation planes belonging to the U.S. Airforce present in South Korea and the puppet airforce. More than 150 warplanes including nuclear-capable F- 16 were involved in it. On March 12, the U.S. imperialists brought an E-3A early warning plane based in Kadena, Japan, to the sky above the Military Demarcation Line [MDL] area and let it command flying corps in aerial espionage and war exercises against the North. On March 12 and 13, they also let U-2 high-altitude strategic reconnaissance planes make shuttle flights for hours along the MDL for an aerial espionage on the objects in the depth of the North. The warplanes mobilized in the “Team Spirit 91" manoeuvres on March 12 and 13 numbered more than 1,560. This proves that the provocative “Team Spirit 91” started by the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean rulers has reached a very dangerous stage."
},
{
"TITLE": "DPRK MAC Member Sends Letter of Protest",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503051291 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0310 GMT Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503051291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Letter of protest“ from Major General Choe Ui-ung, senior member of the DPRK side to the Military Armi- stice Commission (MAC), to the senior member of the U.S. side on 15 March—read by announcer]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Our side sends this letter to your side in connec- tion with the large-scale Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise which your side is adventurously waging in a full-scale stage, and with the situation on the Korean peninsula which your side strained to an extreme point. The Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise is a prelimi- nary war and test nuclear war which thoroughly takes the northern half of our Republic as the target of attack. It itself is a grave act of war. It is a basic mission of the MAC to safeguard peace by preventing the recurrence of war on the Korean penin- sula. Proceeding from this, our side strongly demanded during the 459th MAC meeting held on 13 February that your side suspend the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise which creates the danger of nuclear war and hinders North-South dialogue. Our side even put for- ward a new proposal that if your side cannot suspend this exercise, we, in the name of both sides of the MAC, recommend to the relevant government authorities the issue of discontinuing the large-scale war exercise. This was prompted by the earnest desire to ensure peace in Korea and North-South dialogue by preventing at any cost the situation from being strained due to the large- scale war exercise. However, your side staged the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise instead of responding to our just demand put forward in accordance with the Armistice Agreement, and to the proposal for negotiations. Today your side expanded this exercise into a full-scale stage, thus leading the situation to a grave stage. Despite our repeated protest and warnings, your side is finally waging the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise in a full-scale stage. This is a grave and dangerous war provocation commotion leading the situation on the Korean peninsula to an extreme point. You dragged enormous armed personnel and nuclear Operation equipment into South Korea from U.S. mili- tary bases on the U.S. mainland and in the Pacific region, including Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines. You are waging a large-scale war exercise together with the armed forces in South Korea by simulating an attack on us. In the landing operation in Pohang on 12 March, which signaled the launch of a general offensive in the Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise, you mobilized the troops of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and commando units, which were brought in from the U.S. mainland and from the bases in the Pacific region, the U.S. forces in South Korea, and the South Korean forces, a total of some 1,000 military planes, such as the fighter-bombers, vertical takeoff and landing assault planes, pursuit-assault planes, electronic jamming planes, refueling planes, and antisubmarine planes, and patrol planes, and hundreds of warships, such as missile- carrying cruisers, missile-carrying destroyers, nuclear- powered submarines, and landing vessels, and waged an offensive operation simulating a landing on the coastal areas of the northern half of the Republic. You are also conducting aerial mobile strike operations, ground offensive operations, landing operations, and com- mando operations on a large scale. You are committing grave military provocations one after another in the DMZ in which the armed forces of the two sides are directly confronting each other. On 4 March, your side shelled our side with artillery in the DMZ in the eastern front; and on 8 March, fired at our side many rounds of a large-caliber machine gun in the DMZ in the western front, committing some 4,100 military provocations as of 14 March from the time your side began the Team Spirit-91 war rehearsal. Because of these war rehearsal commotions and military provocations of your side, military confrontation between the two sides is now dashing toward the point of no return. Our side protests and denounces resolutely once again the aggressive Team Spirit-91 joint military exercise conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities as a wanton violation of the Armi- stice Agreement, an open challenge to us and the super- visory organizations of the Armistice, and intentional maneuvers frustrating the security on the Korean penin- sula and North-South dialogue. We oppose war and desire peace, but never beg anyone for peace. Our revolutionary Armed Forces and all our people are closely watching the reckless war commotions conducted by the United States and the South Korean authorities, and will respond to the provocation with a due measure for self-defense. Your side will be held totally responsible for creating on the Korean peninsula the situation comparable to that on the eve of war like today, for frustrating the North- South dialogue, and for straining the relations between the two sides extremely."
},
{
"TITLE": "KPA Holds Meetings To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503043891 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0409 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503043891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The officers and men of the unit of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] to which Comrade Kim Yong-cho belongs, the naval unit of the KPA to which Comrade An To-chik belongs and the airforce unit of the KPA to which Comrade Choe Sang- hyon belongs held meetings to denounce the “Team Spirit 91” joint military exercises and declared that if the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities unleash a war of aggression, they would revenge them- selves on the aggressors a thousand fold. Speakers at the meetings angrily denounced the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities who have entered into field exercises of the “Team Spirit 91,” noting that this was driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war. All the KPA officers and men, upon receiving orders from the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, keep themselves in ful! combat readiness to cope with the enemy's new war provocation moves, they said, adding: There are no assurances that the reckless war game of the U.S. imperialists who were driven mad with the scheme to ignite another war and of their stooges will not turn into a war against the North. As long as the one-beats-a-hundred soldiers who defeated the aggressors and displayed matchless heroic feats in the Fatherland Liberation War stand guard, the defences of our socialist motherland are impregnable, they declared, and stressed: None of the aggressors who intrude our territory, seas and sky will be let to go home alive."
},
{
"TITLE": "More Meetings Held To Denounce Team Spirit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403105591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0959 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1403105591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "U.S. Imperialists and South Korean Authorities Must Act With Discretion\" —KCNA headline]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 14 (KCNA)}—Meetings were held at the Pyongyang thermal power complex, the Sinuiju textile mill and the Hwasong co-op farm in Yongsong district, Pyongyang, and other places to denounce the “Team Spirit 91“ joint maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities. Speeches were made there. The speakers said that the “Team Spirit 91“ joint maneuvers started by the U.S. imperialists and the No Tae-u ruling group in defiance of the unanimous protests and denunciation by the people at home and abroad are assuming ever more dangerous dimensions with each passing day. This is pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war, they noted. It must not go unnoticed that the South Korean author- ities unhesitatingly committed grave military provoca- tions by firing bullets and shells at the northern portion of the demilitarized zone along the Military Demarca- tion Line, timing to coincide with the “Team Spirit 91”, they said, adding: Such military provocations were moti- vated by the sinister aim to deliberately aggravate the North-South relations and find an excuse to invade our Republic. They stressed that the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities must act with discretion, looking straight at the invincible strength of our people united with a single heart. If the enemy dare ignite a war of aggression on the Korean peninsula, he will face his final doom before our revolutionary Armed Forces and people, they warned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Criticizes U.S. ‘Antisocialist Strategy’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503104091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1002 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503104091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Team Spirit’ Exercises and Anti-Socialist Strategy” — KCNA headline]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCBA)—NODONG SINMUN today carries a by-lined article entitled “*Team Spirit’ Exercises and Anti-Socialist Strategy”. It says: In its anti-socialist moves the United States is persis- tently following the policy of strength on the one hand and resorting to the “peaceful transition” strategy on the other. The double-track anti-socialist offensive of the U.S. imperialists finds its concentrical manifestation in their Korea policy. In an attempt to contain our republic by means of strength, they have converted South Korea into the biggest nuclear forward base in the Far East, where more than 1,000 pieces of nuclear weapons are deployed. and are annually staging Team Spirit“ joint maneuvers, a test nuclear war against us. The “Team Spirit” is a heinous challenge to and provo- cation against our republic and a sinister move to gratify their aggressive ambition by settling the Korean issue by strength, by means of war, not by peaceful means through dialogue. The United States is also trying viciously and craftily to realize its anti-DPRK “peaceful transition“ strategy, backed by strength. The U.S. imperialists and their stooges, the South Korean authorities, are trying by hook or by crook to instill the wind of “liberalization” in the northern half of Korea. The U.S. imperialists are also foolishly attempting to realize their “peaceful transition” strategy at an early date by laying obstacles in the way of our socialist construction and making us use up our national strength through such large-scale military frenzy as “Team Spirit” maneuvers. The “peaceful transition” strategy, a camouflaged, indi- rect method, is no less dangerous than the direct threat and blackmail of strength. These two aggressive methods of the U.S. imperialists constitute an important characteristic of their policy toward Korea at present and it bespeaks that they attach great importance to the Korean peninsula in their anti- socialist offensive and are making desperate efforts to save their policies toward Korea and Asia from bank- ruptcy by directing the spearhead of aggression on our republic and weakening the socialist position. Our people are victoriously advancing, successfully smashing the double-track aggressive offensive of the U.S. imperialists. The imperialists’ strategies of strength and “peaceful transition“ are powerless to check our people's onward movement and they are doomed to failure."
},
{
"TITLE": "No Tae-u Said Inciting Fratricidal War’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503054291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0425 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503054291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March IS (KCNA)—NODONG SINMUN and MINJU CHOSON today denounce No Tae-u for inciting a fratricidal war. No Tae-u told a “graduation ceremony of the military academy that peace on the Korean peninsula can be “preserved” only by military power strong enough to “deter someone's provocation and at the “Airforce Academy” he blared that reinforcing the armed forces is the “key to unification”. He also piffled that the puppet army should establish “strategy and tactics suited to the reality and effective commanding system“, drawing a lesson from the Gulf war. What No said at the puppet army military academ es training tools of war is utterances encouraging them to light the fuse of a war to gratify his wild design to “unify the country by prevailing over communism,” the news analyst of NODONG SINMUN says, and continues: No Tae-u is a traitor to the nation and a bellicose element who is not entitled to talk about peace and “unification”. The South Korean authorities have turned down our proposal for the adoption of a nonaggression declaration and responded to our call for an end to the war exercises with the “Team Spirit“ joint manoeuvres. The bellicose acts of No Tae-u show that the war servant of the U.S. imperialists is trying to bring dark clouds of a nuclear war over the Korean peninsula at any cost. No must act with discretion, deeply mindful how serious is the crime he is committing by staging the “Team Spirit“ nuclear war exercises together with the U.S. imperialists. The news analyst of MINJU CHOSON says: No Tae-u is screwing up the tension and trying to start a war in an effort to stave off the serious crisis of his tottering regime. However, it is not a way out but a way to his doom."
},
{
"TITLE": "* Kim Proposes Coexistence Under Reunification",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0140A Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 18 Jan Y",
"CITATION ID": "912C0140A",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "nodong sinmun",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 18, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[Article by reporter Yi Sun-hui: The North and the South Can Coexist in a Reunified Country“",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The great leader Comrade Kim Il-song taught in his 1991 New Year's address as follows: “The two systems can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country if they are placed on the basis of the common national traits that have been carried on without a break historically.” In the address, the great leader made it clear that the reunification of our country should be carried out under a confederal system formula of one nation, one country and two systems, two governments. He then elucidated that if we stand on the basis of what the Korean nation has in common historically unbroken, the North and the South—even if their systems differ with each other—can perfectly coexist within one nation and one reunified country. The proposed reunification based on the confederal system formula—envisaging reunification by means of leaving the two different systems of the North and the South as they are and establishing a reunited nation-state on them—is the most realistic and fairest way of reuni- fication enabling the North and the South to reconcile and reunite with each other as one nation and to realize the reunification of the country peacefully at the earliest possible date. We already proposed a long time ago the founding of a democratic confederal republic of Koryo as a way for the North and the South to confederate and establish a reunited nation-state while leaving their different ideol- ogies and systems intact. This proposal, for its realistic and rational quality, was met with positive support and approval by the people in the North and the South and the world over as soon as it was announced. The South Korean authorities and some other people say that the North and the South took on “heterogeneity” and therefore must regain “homogeneity” before they are reunified. This is a sophistry being used by those seeking a perma- nent national division to justify their criminal attempt. The North and the South indeed have been separated for more than 40 years but there has been, and there is, no change in what they have in common as a nation. They remain homogeneous. We share the same blood and language, the most funda- mental characteristics of a nation. Our nation’s home- land is Korea on which our forefathers have built a long, long history and culture. In other words, as a nation, nothing has changed between the North and the South. If there is anything different between the North and the South at all, it is the heterogeneity associated with the two systems that have existed in the past 40-odd years and it is by no means a big thing in comparison with the national homogeneity that has developed and solidified over thousands of years. The difference between the two systems can by no means be a factor compelling our nation to live in separation nor an obstacle insurmount- able in reunifying the North and the South. The South Korean authorities, without seeing this fact, cling to their pretext of recovering “homogeneity,” maintaining that there is no alternative but continue the two-states separation until the systems are unified. They are thus calling for “unification of systems” based on a one-nation and one-system formula. What they are doing is tantamount to perpetuating the division endlessly, and to denying reunification after all. The problem is not a North-South “heterogeneity” but the South Korean puppets persistently seeking such heterogeneity for the purpose of creating “two Koreas.” The successive South Korean ruling circles, extolling the U.S. imperialists as “liberator” and “aider,” spread the worship-America and fear-America thoughts among the people, blunting their spirit of national independence. They brought in the American way of life and left it to gnaw at the traditional, laudable manners aad customs of the Korean nation. In the economic area, too, the puppets severed the North-South tics, subjugating the South Korean economy to the U.S. economy. The South Korean ruling circles, engrossed in flun- keyism and acts of treason, even came up with the “racial reform doctrine” in an attempt to cut the blood- line of the nation. Also, how knavish they were with their anticommunist stratagems and rackets to stir antagonism and jealousy between the North and the South! What the U.S. imperialists and South Korean ruling circles sought was to turn the North and the South into two different nations and thus split both the people and the country into two permanently. However, they were unable to carry out their criminal attempt after all. The South Korean people are now strongly resisting the U.S. imperialists’ colonial enslavement policy and waging vigorous struggles under slogans demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops and nuclear weapons and opposing the U.S. economic aggression. The policy of anticommunist confrontation pursued by the U.S. imperialists and South Korean reactionaries inevitably wound up bankrupt. And now the southern land is swept by a rising mood for reunification through coalition with communism and with the North. From the very beginning, the Korean people have been a homogeneous nation of one bloodline. As such, they have been a people of integrity and high pride who courageously repelled invasions by outside forces and glorified their history and culture. For 36 years, the Japanese imperialist colonial rulers tried to liquidate the Korean nation under the pretext of “integration of mainland Japan and Korea“ or of “the same ancestors and same roots“ but our people not only resisted their attempt to the last and defended the racial traits but also waged glorious struggles to accomplish the historic cause of restoring the fatherland. The U.S. imperialists and South Korean puppets are attempting to create “two Koreas” and keep the North and the South separated forever but the Korean people will not tolerate their scheme after all. Last year, compatriots of all strata in the North and the South met in one place and held the festival of dialogue and reunification. It was an impressive event demon- strating the fact that although separated under different systems, our brethren in the North and the South belong to the same nation, share the same aspiration for reuni- fication, and that they can easily communicate with each other once they meet and can vigorously work out the way for reunification through reconciliation and soli- darity. It is extremely unrealistic and treasonable that the South Korean ruling circles are calling for “unification of systems“ under the pretext of recovering the “homoge- neity” while turning a blind eye to the common national traits which the Korean people have inherited histori- cally generation after generation and to their fervent aspiration for reunification. Under the stark reality that the different systems exist in the North and the South and that neither side is willing to make a concession, there is even no telling how long the “reunification of systems” will take. Especially, since “unification of systems” implies one side absorbing the other, the theory can lead to disasters involving conflicts and war. The South Korean authorities should abandon the “reunification by prevailing over communism” delu- sions and respond favorably to our proposal for reunifi- cation by the confederal system formula of one nation and one country, two systems and two governments. To realize the reunification of the fatherland by estab- lishing a reunified nation-state upon—and leaving intact—the existing systems and governments in the North and the South is the best possible way to resolve the reunification issue with fairness and in consistency with the national interests under the present conditions of our country. If the North and the South give prominence to the common national traits and work to resolve the reunifi- cation issue on that basis, it is fully possible for them to realize the confederal system reunification and coexist as one nation and in one reunified country. The North and the South and our people overseas will without fail expedite the confederal system-based national reunification through their united struggles upholding the militant tasks set forth by the great leader in his New Year's address."
},
{
"TITLE": "CPRF on ‘Suppression’ Before ROK Elections",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503044091 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0415 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503044091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text) Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA) —The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland [(CPRF] in its Information No. 583 on March 14 denounced the South Korean authorities for intensi- fying suppression of the people in a bid to use the local assembly elections in securing a foothold for their long- term office. Recalling that the South Korean chief exccutive issued a repressive order on March 12 to deal with all acts of violation of the “Election Law” by “law” in such a manner as waging “the war against crimes,” the infor- mation said: A chain of repressive orders and utterances of the South Korean authorities reveal their ulterior intention to openly involve government power in the local assembly elections slated for March 26 on the specious cloak of “fair elections” and brutally suppress the election cam- paign of the pro-reunification democratic forces. The South Korean authorities are now facing a serious crisis of their rule as the struggle of students and people for independence, democracy and reunification is gaining momentum in South Korea and the strife and rift within the “Democratic Liberal Party” (DLP) growing serious and, worse still, the Suso housing epi- sode, an extra-large scandal in which No Tae-u himself and ruling party figures were directly involved, was brought to light. Their threat to strictly deal with“ any involvement in elections“ of political parties and illegal acts of orga- nizations during the local assembly elections is intended, as the election law” faked up by them suggests, to check the election campaign of the opposition parties and dissident democratic organizations and rig the “elec- tion“ of DLV men through election committee mem- bers appointed by them and government power. This is a heinous scheme to lay a foothold for long-term office of the DLP.“"
},
{
"TITLE": "Daily Analyzes U.S. Policy of ‘Cosmopolitism’",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403125391 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0018 GMT 6 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1403125391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 6, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "NODONG SINMUN 6 March special article: “Cosmo- politism Is a Reactionary Ideology Serving the U.S. Imperialists as a Tool for Their World Supremacy”)",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The U.S. imperialists are viciously perpetrating intervention, outrage, aggression, and plunder the world over. What is important in penetrating into the present aggressive nature of the U.S. imperialists is clearly recognizing the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism advocated by the imperialists. The U.S. imperialists are cunningly maneuvering to lord it over mankind as the monarch of the world with a worldwide leadership, veiling their ambition for world supremacy with the reactionary doctrine of cosmopolit- ism. Cosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological trend which embellishes the U.S. imperialists’ policy of arro- gant interference and occupation, and serves the realiza- tion of their strategy toward global domination. Dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has noted as follows: Today the U.S. imperialists have combined the reac- tionary bourgeois racist theory and national chauvinism with the aggressive cosmopolitism to use it as an ideo- logical tool to realize their ambition for world supremacy. Comopolitism—which denies a nation state a self-reliant national economy and national culture, and which advo- cates a global state and a worldwide economy and culture without nationality—serves the aggression and domina- tion of the imperialists and the exploitation of multina- tional enterprises. Cosmopclitism holds an important place in the reac- tionary policy of the U.S. imperialists. Hiding their aggressive nature with the sophism of bourgeois ideology is a hackneyed method of the impe- rialists. The U.S. imperialists have openly revealed their ambition for world supremacy by challenging the tenor of the present era, in which the trend of independence has been prevalent, and have made particular efforts to use such a reactionary idea as cosmopolitism under the present situation in which the idea cannot be realized. Historically, the U.S. imperialists’ policies of interven- tion, tyranny, aggression, and plunder have been embel- lished with the sophism of cosmopolitism, and their blood-stained hands, which smell of gun powder, have been veiled under the cloak of cosmopolitism. Herein lies the crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists who mali- ciously attempt to confuse the reasoning of people, and to make them blind to their aggressive nature. The basic intent of cosmopolitism is to disregard the independence of each and every country and nation, and to preach that the homeland of each and every person is the whole world and all people are world citizens. On the basis of the theory that all people are equal, those who advocate cosmopolitism contend that all people should desert their fatherland and nation and become world citizens to build a welfare society for all people, and that they should conduct a campaign for world citizenship to form a so-called cosmopolitan govern- ment. Furthermore, they fabricate the white race as the most superior race in the world, place a western culture as the most superior culture of mankind, and then, rave that the world should be dominated and harmonized by the distinguished race and developed culture of the West. Inasmuch as people take the root of their lives in their fatherland and nation, they cannot become members of the human race and world citizens before they are members of their nation. Moreover, it is obvious that a so-called cosmopolitan government, a worldwide economy, and a global culture are not feasible in this world where acute confrontation and struggle between socialism and imperialism and between progressive and reactionary ideologies are basic characteristics of the present era where the universal outlook of mankind is distorted by imperialism and the idea of domination. To realize their wild ambition for world supremacy, the U.S. imperialists persistently advocate cosmopolitism. Arrogantly enough, the U.S. imperialists always consider this planet of all mankind as their own, and clamor that the global government preached by cosmopolitism should be the United States. The U.S. imperialists are now further intensifying aggression, interference, occupation, and plunder world- wide, using reactionary cosmopolitism as an ideological instrument. Their maneuvers under the plausible name of cosmo- politism are clearly manifested in their acting as the “world’s monarch” and as the “international gen- darme,” claiming a leading role for the United States in the world. Cosmopolitism is the reactionary ideological foundation of the U.S. imperialists’ theory of the leading role of the United States. Talking about the management and guid- ance of the world on the basis of the cosmopolitan theory, they preach that the United States has the mission to lead the world. Washington, the first President of the United States, said that under no circumstances should U.S. acts take into consideration the interests of other countries, and then declared it the basic course of U.S. foreign policy which future generations of the United States should respect. His successors have run hard along the road of aggres- sion and plunder, clamoring that the Americans have appeared in the stage of history only to determine whether they are fated to rule over the world or to be subjugated to the others. Bush, the incumbent U.S. President, boasting that U.S. leadership over the world should be handed down from generation to generation, is bent on glorifying the dignity of the United States by power politics based on strength. Tyranny, occupation, war, and plunder have always followed the U.S. imperialists, who have lorded it over mankind as the devastator of justice and the strangler of truth, whatever they may have touched with their inter- fering hands and wherever they may have set their aggressive foot. Aggression toward the weak countries, the artificial engineering of international feuds, open interference in international issues and their self-proclaimed role as referee; their tyranny in international organizations, and their acting as the international gendarme worldwide— these combine to portray the true appearance of the U.S. imperialists who claim to be the leader of the world. The world’s reasonable peopie find the expression of the brigandish nature of imperialism in the arrogance of the U.S. imperialists who see interference as the cosmopol- itans’ morality, tyranny as the expression of authority enjoyed by the world leader, and aggression as a resolute act undertaken for the management of the world. The U.S. imperialists’ aggressive doctrine of cosmo- politism as such stands fully exposed in our country. Their occupation of South Korea and the continuing division of Korea are the reactionary results of their cosmopolitism. The U.S. imperialists applied the tragic plan for partial occupation to our country, which was not even a van- quished country, and imposed the insulting system of occupation on South Korea, and then artificially divided Korea. In view of the principles of justice and the demands of international law, these were intolerable under any circumstances. What is more, those currently in power in the United States are persistently carrying out antireunification maneuvers, arguing that although a reunified Korea may be good for the Korean people, maintaining the other half of the Korean peninsula occupied by a friendly regime is much more favorable to the United States. Thus, the United States provokes indignation from all over the world. The division of Korea and other facts reveal that the management of the world is done by the U.S. imperial- ists and that any claim fabricated and proclaimed by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but an attempt to infringe upon other countries’ sovereignty in the aggressive interest of the United States, and to change the structure of the world and its order. The crafty nature of the U.S. imperialists’ aggressive maneuvers finds expression in their attempt to invent the concept of an Asian state of the United States and the concept of a European state of the United States based on the reactionary doctrine of cosmopolitism, and thus bring the continents of the world under their control. Although the United States is a country sitting on the American Continent, the U.S. imperialists claim their country to be an Asian country in front of the Asian countries, and then slyly remark that the United States is a European country, too, in front of the European countries. What the United States seeks to achieve behind such sly remarks is to disintegrate the unity and cooperation among the countries in Asia and Europe by identifying themselves with those countries, and then securing its sphere of influence in these areas. Asia is for the Asian peoples and Europe is for the European peoples. The United States has no justification to occupy somebody else’s place in Asia or Europe, distant places oceans away. This insidious trick by the U.S. imperialists is not accepted in these regions where the cause of converting the world into one governed by independence and anti- U.S. sentiment are on the rise. Rather, they are pro- voking strong objection and sense of vigilance from these regions. By being able to see sharply through the aggressive nature of the U.S. claim that it is an Asian power, which smacks of the cosmopolitan poison, the Asian peoples should reject it resolutely and unite and cooperate with each other in order to build a peaceful and prosperous new Asia. The U.S. imperialists see power politics as the first step on the road toward realizing their leading role over the world. Bush, the U.S. imperialist warmonger, made an outra- geous remark that the United States has stretched out its hands to virtually every corner of the world, and that the extended hands, once disturbed, will be turned into powerful fists. That it is natural for the United States to stretch its hands of domination out to the world because it is in the position of the world’s monarch, and that its extended hands should be turned into iron fists because it is ordained to rule over the world, is the philosophy of rule by power worshipped by the U.S. imperialists who have been accustomed to the aggressive cosmopolitanism. Proceeding from this logic of power, the U.S. imperial- ists say that it is the pride of America the Great to be able to have its troops stationed in tens of countries around the world, to wield tyranny in many international orga- nizations, and to tempt many countries with baits of aid. The U.S. imperialists disguise their power politics and their evil tentacles of world domination as something necessary for attaining global peace. Nevertheless, the defense of global peace babbled about by the U.S. imperialists is nothing but a shield to camouflage the domination of the world by the United States. The scheme that the U.S. imperialists carry out under the plausible name of cosmopolitism reveals itself in the fact that they are trying hard to establish a world based on the American-style liberal democracy, describing American values as universal human values. Advertising the superiority of their moral values, the U.S. imperialists are maneuvering to accelerate the pro- cess of unification and the commonness of the world as its basis. Successive U.S. presidents were fond of uttering such pleasantries as that the United States cannot be its genuine self unless it stands in a lofty moral position. This means that the United States is the embodier of world morality, standing as it does above ethics and morality. However, the notion that imperialism can be reconciled with ethics and morality cannot convince anybody. If the U.S. imperialists have any kind of moral principles, they must be the reverse of ethics, seeing injustice as justice and evil as good. The imperialist behavior stems from greed. The U.S. imperialists always assess and approach international issues with other countries based on their aggressive and plundering objectives and greedy interests. Preposterously branding countries that maintain inde- pendence, and defend the banner of revolution as closed- door countries or terrorist countries, the U.S. imperial- ists intensify their reactionary offensive against those countries, while beautifying their brazen-faced aggres- sion against, and interference in, sovereign countries as acts of protecting human rights or defending democracy. Not satisfied with the occupation of the other half of Korea, the U.S. imperialists have been conducting the Team Spirit war exercise every year, thereby creating the threat of northward invasion, while clamoring about the threat of southward invasion or the defense of peace. They also claimed that they were defending the liberal democratic system after invading Grenada and Panama. After triggering a war as a result of their ill-suited interference in regional feuds, they said that they were trying to build a world governed by laws, not the law of the jungle. Such an assertion is nothing but an insult to the conscience of the world and to progressive mankind. Many people in the world still vividly remember U.S. President Bush's remarks that the human spirit cannot be strangled or the national spirit obliterated with a wall alone in his commentary on the breaking down of the wall between East and West Germany. Even so, the U.S. imperialists ignore the call for the wall of division in Korea to be broken down, while maneu- vering to keep the wall in place. The wall of division in Korea is contemporary evidence that manifests the criminal truth about American-style values, which are a mixture of contradictions and false- hood. From the contradictory attitude of the United States, the progressive people of the world keenly realized the false moral values of the United States and its antimankind and antipeace nature. The United States claimed that certain barriers should be removed and other barriers should be kept intact. Thus, the progressive people of the world express indignation over such an attitude. The great moral principle, in which the famous U.S. politicians take pride, and which they claim enables the United States to exist as the United States, should be branded as the principle of injustice which mankind should curse. Hanging out the signboards of cosmopolitism, the U.S. imperialists are attempting to establish a free world on the earth. The free world which they talk about means the world where the United States can act as the ruler. The U.S. imperialists, attaching great significance to cosmopolitism, are running amok to spread it for the purpose of reducing the world to the so-called free world which they want. The U.S. imperialists have the idea that if they implant the U.S.-style liberal democracy in all nations, the world will become by itself a possession of the United States. Thus, they are viciously advocating the theory of a free world. Raving that when mankind is allowed to have the right of choice, it chooses freedom, the U.S. imperialists said that the system which they want to implant in many world nations is the system realized on the basis of freedom, individual creative power, and market principles. Freedom, choice, and so forth advertized by the U.S. imperialists are, in essence, freedom and choice which make one participate in the beastly struggle for existence and for survival by victimizing and oppressing other people. It is the original nature of independent mankind to aspire to genuine freedom and happiness by opposing various forms of domination and subjugation. It is an inevitable trend of human history that independent mankind chooses a genuine society which safeguards and realizes the independence of mankind, instead of a society similar to the beastly world where precious dignity and the value of mankind are reduced to the standard of animals. The capitalist society causes various social evils and social tragedy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and advances without a sense of direction by writhing amid social disorder and pain. If one defines this society as the society where freedom and democracy are realized, such a definition would indeed be the complete reversing of black and white. The maneuvers of cosmopolitism by the U.S. imperial- ists, who are attempting to establish a free world while advertizing the corrupt society lacking vitality or a future as the ideal of the people, are indeed preposterous, like a house of cards. Through their experience, goals, and cool judgment amid the whirlpool that is the history of the complex and diversified present era, a great number of people of the world deny the liberal democratic system advocated by the U.S. imperialists with reason, and firmly believe that only the genuine man-centered socialism which embodies the dignity and value of mankind is the way to rescue mankind. Cosmopolitism is a reactionary ideological poison which blocks the advance of the revolutionary cause of the working class and spoils the people's consciousness of the revolution. The reactionary nature of the cosmopolitism advocated by the U.S. imperialists is that cosmopolitism has become an ideological poison which denies the indepen- dence of the national state and violates and infringes upon its independence. As indicated by the chuche idea, independence of the national state is as precious as life for all people. To live in a national state is an immovable order of life for all the people, formed through the course of the long history of mankind. What gives the life and means of living to the people are the fatherland and the state, and linked to the destiny of each individual person are the fatherland and the state. Indeed, the fatherland and the people are the source of life and the mother’s bosom of all mankind. If a man thinks that he can live as an abstract public figure of the world, going away from the bosom of the fatherland and the people, he will be branded as a snob [songmul] who has lost his mind and forgotten the basis of his life, and as a nation-seller who has betrayed the nation where he was born. However, the advocates of cosmopolitism contend that such concepts as motherland, nation, state, class, and party are all meaningless in the internationalized world, and that panhuman phrases such as planet, humanity, human world, and civilization should be in vogue. This is a reactionary sophism that dulls the people's national consciousness of independence. The nations and the people develop themselves together with the war history of mankind. At the same time, international relations are formulated and consolidated among the nations and the people in the course of such development. This is an inevitable phenomenon. What is at issue is on what basis, one views the history of mankind. The chuche idea defines the shape and char- acteristics of the world, and teaches that the main forces which lead the basic flow of human history are the people in each individual independent state. If we recall human history, we come to know that the independent development of each individual nation and people served as the basis for the advance of global history and the development of mankind, and as the basic content of both. History clearly proved that by denying the independence of the nation and the people, one cannot talk, even a word, about the development of the world, the progress of mankind, and the destiny of planet. Our people achieved the independent development of the nation by maintaining the line of independence, self-reliance, and self-defense under the leadership of the party and the leader. Thus, we are greatly contributing to the common cause of mankind. However, the imperialist stooges, who advocate cosmo- politism, raved that claims of national sovereignty are collective egoism, and defiled the sacred struggle of the people in many world nations who are defending the national right for self-determination and building the national economy and culture. Thus, they advertised a preposterous global economy and culture of no nationality. The purpose of the vicious denial of national indepen- dence with the ideological poison of cosmopolitism by the imperialists is to pave the way for their aggression. No one can conquer the people with a strong sense of independence. On the contrary, the people, who lost their sense of national independence and whose deter- mination to defend and glorify themselves is weak, cannot precisely realize the reactionary doctrine of impe- rialism and domination that are concealed by the theory of the common destiny of mankind and the theory of the superiority of panhuman values. This is why the imperialists are maneuvering to eradicate national consciousnesses of independence and persis- tently advertising cosmopolitism. The people in all world nations who treasure indepen- dence should correctly realize the reactionary nature of cosmopolitism, and resolutely crush the doctrine of cosmopolitism with the independent strength of the nation. The reactionary nature of cosmopolitism as pursued by the U.S imperialists finds another expression in that it has been used as an ideological tool barring the tide toward world independence, and impeding the healthy development of international relations. Those who advocate cosmopolitism claim that it is the way of present international developments that national state, national economy, and national culture gradually wither away, and a global government, world economy, and world culture are formed, by which the world becomes homogeneous and common. This is nothing but a sophism that misrepresents those who undertake the world movement and its motivating force and the essence of present international relations. The main characteristics of the change and development of the world are that it is becoming independent. The motivating force that holds the control lever of the world movement, are those people advocating independence. Hence, the appearance of the world, its essential content, and the aspects of its development are decided by the progressive world people advocating independence. Advocating independence by opposing domination, sub- jugation, exploitation, and oppression, is the original nature of mankind and the life of the nation. This constitutes the unique characteristics of progressive mankind. Thus. more nations and more people are advancing to achieve freedom and independence by breaking the chains of imperialism and colonialism. This constitutes the essential content of the change and development of the world. The course of the world toward independence is an inevitable and positive course in the development of human history. The independence of the world is achieved through the independent struggle of all nations and all people. Thus, it cannot be pushed and realized by so-called global management and guidance. However, the imperialists are lecturing on the benefits of international management and guidance of the world. while trying to make the global government stand in confrontation with the people's aspirations for indepen- dence. They are running amok to block by force the trend of the world toward independence. The theory on global government advocated by the imperialists runs totally counter to the idea of world independence because world independence is a world- wide trend realized through the respect and the demon- strable independence of each nation and people. Global government will only work to oppress and infringe upon the independence of each nation and each people. The theory on global government instigated by cosmo- politism is preposterous because as long as there are imperialists and dominationists, the attempt for global domination cannot be removed. The basic nature of the imperialists is for aggression and plunder. This finally returns to ambition for conquering the world. In the present century when the fierce struggle of the imperialists and dominationists is being waged to expand the sphere of influence, the so-called global government lacks reality, and will only act to further instigate their ambition for world domination. Today the optimistic advocates of global government think that they can establish a global government in such a manner as to strengthen its authority, seeking a model in such international organizations as the United Nations. However, many events taking place in the international arena make one realize that such an idea is unrealistic and is a dream. The U.S. imperialists abused the sacred name of the United Nations when they fabricated a puppet regime in South Korea, and when they dragged the armed forces of their 15 following nations into the Korean war. They are still abusing this name for keeping the U.S. troops in South Korea. This raises great worry and disappoint- ment on the part of progressive mankind, who aspires to global peace and international justice. As long as there are the imperialists and dominationists in the world, and as long as the U.S. imperialists’ self-righteousness and tyranny are allowed in the inter- national arena, no one can think of forming and devel- oping sound and fair international relations. The development of the world is only possible when the whole world is made independent. Only when they join themselves in the great current toward the independence of the world under the banner of independence, can the people of all the progressive countries of the world properly shape the destiny of their countries on their own, and build an independent, new world free from domination and subjugation. The imperialists’ strategy for cosmopolitism, intended to benumb the people's revolutionary consciousness, and reverse the trend of history, is doomed to failure in the face of the struggle of the people who are advancing under the banner of independence. Even the high-ranking figures in U.S. political circles pointed out that the U.S. Congress reproves and criti- cizes other countries nearly every day, and admitted that the act of the United States to denounce the events of the world [segye il] all day long is foolish. They confessed that the crisis, with which the United States is faced as the result of having become an imperialist state which excessively stretched out its hands [chinachige sonul ppochida], makes even them shudder. Just as they have said, because of pernicious evils inherent in capitalism and the debt crisis facing the United States, and because of the fierce anti-imperialist and anti-U.S. struggle of the revolutionary people of the world, tue hands which the U.S. imperialists have stretched out to the world will tremble with fear. The aggressive doctrine of cosmopolitism does not go down well with people advocating independence. Today the great doctrine of independence has captivated the hearts of mankind and bcurgeois reactionary ideologies, including cosmopolitism, are breaking into fragments in the face of the rush of the world to independence. It is inevitable that cosmopolitism and all other reac- tionary thoughts will be bankrupt under the bright rays of the great chuche idea. Imperialism is destined to destruction with the collapse of cosmopolitism."
},
{
"TITLE": "Government Delegation Returns From Japan",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503105291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1028 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503105291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—The government delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea led by Chon In-chol, vice-minister of foreign affairs, returned home today after participating in the second intergovernmental full-dress talks for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Japan held in Tokyo. It was met at the airport by Kim Chae-suk, vice-minister of foreign affairs, and Councillor of the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang Dong Buming."
},
{
"TITLE": "Soviet Envoy Holds News Conference in Pyongyang",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503044291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0420 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503044291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—A press confer- ence was held at the Soviet Embassy here Thursday on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the conclusion of the agreement on economic and cultural cooperation between the USSR and the DPRK. Ambassador Alexandr Kapto touched on the develop- ment of cooperation and exchange between the two countries in the economic and cultural fields over the past 42 years since the signing of the agreement and elaborated on the need to strengthen relations in these fields in the future."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il Replies to Birthday Greetings",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503110291 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1022 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503110291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA}—Dear Comrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to foreign party leaders in reply to their messages of greetings on his birthday. Comrade Kim Chong-il sent messages to Dr. Vassos Lyssarides, chairman, and Takis Hadjidemetriou, secre- tary general, of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party of Cyprus; Takako Doi, chairwoman of the Central Executive Committee of the Japan Social-Democratic Party: Habimana Bonaventure, general secretary of the National Revolutionary Movement for Development of Rwanda; Herving Chung, chairman of the Caribbean National Movement: Sam Marcy, chairman of the Workers World Party of the United States; Guillermo Garcia Ponce, general secretary of “New Alternative“ of Venezuela; Jose Francisco Aguilar Bulgarelli, general secretary of the popular force organized in Costa Rica; Jorge del Prado, general secretary, and Friddy Arana, international secretary, of the Central Committee of the Peruvian Communist Party: Rolando Brena Pantoja, president of the National Executive Committee of the Left Revolutionary Union of Peru; Genaro Ledesma Izquieta, chairman of the People’s Front of Workers, Peasants and Students of Peru: Rigoberto Padilla Ruz, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Honduras; and Eric Trevett, general secretary of the Central Committee of the New Commu- nist Party of Great Britain. Comrade Kim Chong-il in the messages expressed the belief that friendly relations forged between the Workers’ Party of Korea and the above-said parties will continue to develop favourably and wished the party leaders great success in their responsible work."
},
{
"TITLE": "Youth Mark Labor Exploits in Railway Projects",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503091691 Pyongvang Domestic Service in Korean 2100 GMT 10 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503091691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 10, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The railway construction to replace the narrow railroad between Haeju and Ongjin and between Sing- gangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad is being pushed ahead rapidly. Through the persistent labor struggle of members of the youth railway construction shock brigade and sup- porters, railroad ties were laid and the railroad was extended over several scores of ri [1 ri is equivalent to 400 meters] in 20 days recently. Besides, the project of leveling the grade on mountain slopes and railroad repair work have been pushed for on a large scale. The work of leveling the ground and framework construction have been accelerated, and more gravel, stones, sand, and soil than planned have been made made available to use for repairing the station compound. Thus, a guarantee for completing the construction of two sections of the railroad ahead of schedule has been provided. Members of the youth railway construction shock bri- gade, who were assigned the project of extending the railroad, waged a vigorous labor struggle with the same spirit and vigor they had when they completed the construction of the railroad between Haeju and Hasong in a short period of time. Thus, they laid railroad ties on, and broadened the railroad on, a 20 odd-ri section between Sohaeju Station and Pyoksong Station. Upon receiving the order of the respected supreme commander, members of the youth shock brigade accel- erated the work by thoroughly preparing themselves to cope with the new war provocation maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet clique. They are constantly increasing the speed of the project of laying railroad ties and broadening the railroad between Pyoksong Station and Singangnyong Station. Members of the youth shock brigade of Kangnyong county, who are charged with the project of replacing the narrow railroad between Singangnyong and Kupo with a wide railroad, have accomplished the work of securing over 700 cubic meters of gravel, sand, and stones, which is said to require more than a month, ahead of schedule by highly demonstrating the revolutionary spirit of self- reliance and arduous struggle and vigor for extermina- tion of the enemy, and by overcoming various difficul- ties. Thus, they effected innovations. Through such struggle, they opened a breakthrough to complete ahead of schedule a number of framework construction pro ts. including an iron bridge and drainage work. The railroad construction between Haeju and Ongjin is also being carried out rapidly. The youth, who were assigned the difficult work of lowering the grade on mountain slopes to 10 meters, made several hundred holes with dynamite in only seven days with the Paektu revolutionary spirit, and pulled down 6,000-odd cubic meters of soil through successive blasting. Members of the youth shock brigade in Pyoksong county transported several hundred cubic meters of soil and materials each day, and increased the speed of laying railroad ties, widening the railroad, and repairing the railroad by 1.5 to two times over that planned."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kye Ung-tae, Officials Attend Railway Meeting",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503113591 Pyongyang KCNA in English 1030 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503113591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA)—A national meeting of railway workers was held here on March 14 and 15. The meeting summed up the successes and experience gained in railway transportation under the wise leader- ship of the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] and dis- cussed tasks to effect a new turn in this domain in the same fighting spirit and mettle displayed in the postwar period of great Chollima upsurge. The meeting was attended by Kye Ung-tae, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the C.C. [Central Committee], WPK, Choe Yong-nim, alternate member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., WPK and vice- premier of the Administration Council, and other offi- cials concerned. Kye Ung-tae read out a congratulatory message of the WPK Central Committee to the participants in the meeting. The WPK Central Committee in the message pointed out that the railway transport of the country has turned into a modern one with the successful realization of electrification and the fast progress of the work for the introduction of heavy rails and automation, into an independent socialist railway transport with solid foun- dations for the self-supply of various means of carriage including 8-axle electric locomotives and 100-ton wagons. It noted with high appreciation that the railway workers have made great contributions to the acceleration of socialist construction by displaying matchless heroism and self-sacrificing spirit in their endeavours to carry through the party's policy of railway transport with intense loyalty to the socialist country and the people. Underlining the tasks facing railway transportation, it stressed the need to make the maximum utilization of the existing material and technical foundations of railway transport, further accelerate the chuche- orientation, modernization and scientification of railway transport and press ahead with new railway projects and thus further supplement the railway net- works of the country and expend big efforts on scientific researches and the training of technical personnel. Yi Kil-song, chairman of the Transport Commission, delivered a report. It is an event of great significance in the development of our country’s railway transport to hold a national meeting of railway workers on the meaningful day marking the lapse of 30 years since the great leader Comrade Kim Il-song gave highly important teachings at the meeting of active workers in the domain of transport on March 14, 1961, he said. He noted that, deeply taking into consideration the position and role of railway transport in the develop- ment of the national economy, the great leader and our party defined railways as the artery of the country, as the pilot of the national economy, and have clearly indicated the road ahead of raiiway transport in each period and at each stage of the developing revolution. According to his report, under the plan of the great leader who defined the basic orientation of development of railway transport in keeping with the geographical conditions of the country which has most of its land covered with mountains and abounds in power resources, nearly all railway lines, not only trunk lines but even branch lines and railway lines branching into enterprises, have been switched over to electric traction, with the result that the freight turnover by electric haulage accounts for more than 90 percent of the total and the unitary traction by electric locomotives has reached the stage of completion. The total extension of the nation’s railways has markedly increased, a grand loopline of railway networks have taken shape and the railway transport capacity increased remarkably with the construction of linkages, round- about lines, partial double tracks and mixed lines in different places of the country. As a result of the vigorous “Drive for extra-haulage on schedule without accident to implement the decisions of the 18th plenary meeting of the Sth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea” upwards of 13 million more tons of freight were carried than the rated traction last year alone. Many locomotive drivers have carried out their assignments for the Third Seven-Year Plan (1987-1993). Speeches were made at the meeting. The speakers called upon all the railway workers to carry through the party's policy of railway transport in the same spirit and mettle displayed during the past war and the great Chollima upsurge, upholding the slogan “When our party is determined we can do anything!” and thus make greater contributions to increasing the potential of the independent national economy of the country. A letter of pledge was adopted at the meeting."
},
{
"TITLE": "Man's ‘Independence’ in Socialism Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503122591 Pyongyang Domestic Service in Korean 0010 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503122591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "NODONG SINMUN 12 March special article: “Our Socialism Is a Superior Social System That Guarantees Independence to the People“",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Our country’s socialism is displaying a higher degree of superiority and vitality with the passage of time. The source of the unrivaled superiority and the invincible vitality of our socialism lies in the fact that it completely embodies the essential demands of man. Our socialism, which has its roots deep in this land, is a unique socialism that was built and is being developed and brought to perfection with the great chuche idea as its foundation. The chuche idea is the ideological foun- dation of our socialism and our socialism shines as a superior socialism which has thoroughly embodied the essential demands of men, as it is based on the chuche idea. Fully explaining once again the superiority of our socialism in a series of documents released recently, the dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has shed light on the fact that socialism has, above all, wonderfully embodied the independent demands of men. This is a valuable ideological and theoretical guideline needed to deeply understand and glorify the superiority of our own style of socialism even further. The dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il has noted: Learning from the painful life they experienced in the past as colonial slaves, and from today’s new, free, and rewarding socialist life, our people have drawn a clear lesson that only socialism provides the people with independence, and are devoted to the struggle to end- lessly value and defend our socialism that completely defends the popular masses’ independence. Man is a social being that assumes independence as its essential nature. Making the working masses achieve independence and their independent demands is a prac- tical yardstick with which to rate the nature and superi- ority of a social system. Generally, the superiority of a social system can be determined on the basis of how it embodies the essential demands of man. When it comes to the essential demands of man, it means the independent demands before anything else. A society can be called an advanced and superior social system only when it satisfactorily embodies the desire of man to be free from all manner of subordination and to live and develop an independent life. The superiority of our social system which has embodied the independent desire of man lies in the fact that it completely guarantees our people with sociopolitical independence. If independence can be likened to man’s life, it generally means sociopolitical life. Man has two kinds of lives— physical life and sociopolitical life. The essential charac- — of man lie in the fact that he has sociopolitical life. Man's rights are, above all, sociopolitical rights and human dignity is to be guaranteed by sociopolitical independence. To realize sociopolitical independence is a precondition for realizing all manner of essential desires of man. Under the condition where the popular masses are subordinated socially and politically, man can benefit nothing from the remaking of society, nor can he free himself from the fetters of an old ideology and culture. To defend and safeguard sociopolitical independence is for the popular masses a vital matter for realizing inde- pendence. With the socialist revolution completed in our country, no social and economic conditions restricting the socio- political independence exist. In addition, the working masses are completely guaranteed sociopolitical inde- pendence. Socialist ownership of the government and production means is defended, strengthened, and developed without interruption. As a result, the popular masses are firmly guaranteed sociopolitical independence. The independent right of the popular masses finds its expression mainly in the exercise of national sover- eignty. It was because they were unable to have a say-so in the government and production means that the pop- ular masses lost their sociopolitical independence and were forced to suffer a life of slavery for thousands of years. Only when they become the masters of the socialist government and production means, can the popular masses defend and realize their independence. Sociopo- litical independence is tied to genuine freedom and the right to sociopolitical life, which are expressed in the direct access the popular masses have to national sover- eignty and their unrestricted participation in running state affairs. Today, the average working people are actively partici- pating in running state affairs, as the masters of the state and society, and each and every one of them can exercise their right to elect and to be elected, regardless of their sex, occupation, wealth, degree of knowledge, political views, and religious differences. Deputies to the Supreme People's Assembly and other people's assemblies at all levels, including the workers, members of cooperative farms, and intellectuals— representatives of the working people—manage and run state affairs according to the independent demands and the will of the popular masses. Also, with the socialist ownership unilaterally dominating the production means, the economy is managed, run, and developed without interruption, according to plans in a way that suits the demands and interest of the popular masses. The w king masses’ independence can be defended and realiz J only when the position of the popular masses concerning national sovereignty is raised even further, and social ownership over production means is strength- ened. This is a truth proven by practice. Also, thanks to the profound consideration of the party and leader which provides and brightens the noble political life, each and every one of our people enjoys the most valuable and rewarding sociopolitical life. Our people are ‘reely involved in sociopolitical activity when they are lined up behind certain political organi- zations, such as the party and working organizations, and are sufficiently guaranteed the freedom of the press, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, and freedom of demonstrations. The mass media in our country, which are in the hands of the popular masses, serve the working masses in achieving the cause of independence. In our country there can be no such thing as infringement on the democratic freedom and the rights of the popular masses. The realities of our country which guarantee the working masses substantive rights as the masters of the state and society and politics, and all the members of society, lead a sound and revolutionary organizational life in certain sociopolitical organizations, demonstrate that our socialism is a superior social system which defends and realizes the people's independence. Another superior element of our socialism embodying the independent demands of man is well expressed in the fact that it has freed them from the fetters of nature and old ideology and culture. Sociopolitical independence is very important for man. Nevertheless, it is not the whole of independence. The popular masses’ sociopolitical independence can be real- ized when the socialist system is set up, it is not yet entirely free from the fetters of nature and the old ideology and culture. Even after the socialist system is set up, the legacy of the exploited society is to remain for a certain period of time, serving as a basic obstacle to completely realizing the independence of the popular masses. For this reason, only when the revolution is carried out without interrup- tion, even after a socialist society is established, can the people, occuping their position as the masters of society and playing their role as the masters, consummate the popular masses’ cause of independence. To continue the revolution is the most positive way of realizing independence for the popular masses. Under the guidance of the party, our country is acceler- ating the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural—while firmly maintaining the independent stand. The independent stand is the most correct stand to solidify and develop and glory our socialism by carrying out the revolution and construction on our own, and the lines of the three revolutions are the correct lines for socialist and communist construction. Our revolutionary practice has proved that when the independent stand is maintained and the lines of the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural— are implemented, socialism can be defended under any adverse circumstances and the socialist cause can be hastened victoriously along the most straightforward road. With socialist construction vigorously carried out under the banner of the three revolutions in our country, the working masses enjoy a more independent and creative life, and the legacies of the old society are steadily disappearing in every field of social life. The cause of completely realizing the independence of the popular masses which began as a struggle to smash the old exploitative system is being successfully achieved through the three revolutions—ideological, technical, and cultural. The healthy and civilized ideological and cultural life and affluent material life enjoyed today by our people is a vigorous manifestation of the superiority of our socialism. Our country's socialism not only realizes the indepen- dence of the popular masses, but also firmly guarantees it. Defending the independence of the popular masses based on the principle of self-defense in .iense is a superiority of our socialism. Although the struggle to attain independence is arduous, no less arduous is the struggle to defend and safeguard the independence that has already been won. In order to defend and safeguard the independence of the popular masses, it is imperative to stage a principled but positive struggle. The imperialists and reactionaries are now viciously maneuvering to rob the people in socialist countries of independence and to fetter them again as colonial slaves. In order to smash the maneuvers of the imperialists who are bent on robbing the people in socialist countries of independence, and to firmly defend independence, it is imperative to strengthen defense capability. Without the self-defense capability to defend the inde- pendence and the sovereignty of the country and the people against the imperialist aggression, it is impossible to think of the independence of the popular masses. Today, the imperialists, while clamoring about detente and peace, are on the lookout for an opportunity to invade other countries, maintaining and strengthening military blocs and beefing up military forces. It is imperative to resolutely struggle against the imper.- alists and strengthen national defense capabilities, not only for the independence of one’s own country and people, but also for the cause of converting the whole world into one governed by independence. Our people have strengthened the capabilities of our self-defense by thoroughly implementing the party's self- defense military lines, and are now capable of repelling any kind of aggressive maneuvers of the imperialists and of firmly defending the independence of the country and people. This is an important element that guarantees the invin- cibility of our country's socialism and its bright future. Our people's support for, and confidence in, our own type of socialism, which is built on the immortal chuche idea and which thoroughly defends and realizes the independence of the popular masses, remain firm and unwavering. Our people are firmly convinced that our socialism is the best, and have an endless attachment to the socialist cause of chuche. Our people should glorify our socialism even further by embodying the chuche idea under the guidance of the great leader and the great party, and should bring the revolutionary cause to perfection while advancing along the socialist road no matter what difficulties and ordeals they may encounter."
},
{
"TITLE": "* Agricultural Soil-Covering Campaigns Reported",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0133A Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 15 Jan 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "912C0133A",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "nodong sinmun",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[Reports by special correspondent Yi Myong-chan enti- tled “At the Cooperative Farms in Nampo City” and by special correspondent Pak Yong-tok entitled “In Yang- gang Province“ published under the headline: “By Vig- orously Launching the Soil-Covering Campaign, Let Us Resolutely Improve the Quality of the Land“]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Excerpt] At the Cooperative Farms in Nampo City The great leader Comrade Kim II-song taught as follows in this year's New Year's message: “In the agricultural sector this year we must decisively improve the soil fertility of the land under cultivation according to the requirements of the chuche agricultural method, scientifically and technologically conduct agri- culture, and without fail attain the targets for grain production and develop the rural economy by diverse methods to suit the natural geographical conditions.” Highly supporting this year's New Year's message of the great leader, the agricultural workers, in addition to the clerical and other workers of Nampo City, who have rushed forward as one to the struggle to increase the soil fertility of land under cultivation, vigorously launched a soil-spreading battle from the beginning of the year, and are achieving the innovation of completing 2-3 percent of the total area of cornfields each day. From the time the cornfield soil-covering battle began until now we have achieved the result of carrying out soil-covering in over 50 percent of the cornfield area throughout the city. In this way, following the example of the Chongsan Cooperative Farm in Kangso-kuyok, which victoriously finished the soil-covering battle at the end of last year, the city’s many farms, including the Kochang, Kangson, Toji, and Taedae cooperative farms, are in the final stages of the soil-covering battle. The innovative result of smashing through the 50- percent mark of total cornfield area within a short time after the soil-covering battle began, is a manifestation of the burning loyalty of the agricultural workers and sup- port personnel here who are thoroughly implementing unconditionally the intentions of the party. In order to thoroughly carry out the soil-covering battle, the city rural economic committee and other agricultural guidance organs underscored the requirements of the chuche agricultural method among the party members and workers, and followed this up by intensifying tech- nical guidance, and setting up the necessary economic organizational work. The agricultural workers and support personnel of the Chollima, Hanggu, and Waudo districts, effectively uti- lizing mechanical means and various hauling methods, while firing up their spirits from the start of the first combat of the new year, are overfulfilling their daily soil-covering tasks. In this way, they achieved the result of qualitatively accomplishing 70 percent of the soil- covering of the entire area of cornfields in the districts here. On the other hand, even Kangso-kuyok and Yonggang County, which have large areas of cornfields, rationally selected fresh soil sites, concentrated their labor and machinery, and are achieving innovative results every day. The revolutionary fervor of the masses mobilized to the soil-covering battle was high, and the greater the work results shown, the more the city turned its due attention to having them thoroughly implement the demands of the chuche agricultural method. The struggle to vigorously support the soil-covering combat is progressing even more briskly among the working class of the city’s factories and enterprises. The laborers and technicians of the Chollima Iron and Steel Complex, the Nampo Smelting Complex, and the Kum- song Tractor General Factory are in the forefront of the support work. In Yanggang Province Highly upholding the New Year's message of the great leader, the party members and workers in Yanggang Province have vigorously launched a soil-covering battle and are reaping great results. According to a wrap-up of various reporting, the prov- ince is overfulfilling its daily soil-covering plan by an average of l. G- fold. In order to thoroughly implement the instructions of the great leader to do a good job of soil-covering, the provincial party committee here set up concrete mea- sures for implementation, and in order to have them carried out without fail, saw to it that above all the party and administrative functionaries demonstrate a high level of revolutionary spirit, party spirit, working-class spirit, and people-mindedness. They organized and began the project in a revolutionary manner. Responsible functionaries of the provincial party com- mittee and the provincial administrative and economic guidance committee, continuing their duties at the site of the soil-covering battle, carefully explained and propa- gandized the teachings of the great leader and the inten- tions of the party, discussed the methods one by one, and set up the necessary measures in a timely fashion so that the soil-covering achievements could continue, even under winter conditions where the soil was frozen deep by the biting cold. The functionaries of Kim Hyong-kwon County, utilizing various means of hauling, including cableways, not to mention mechanical means, meticulously laid the groundwork for the organization work in order to carry the soil in large quantities. Meanwhile, on the other hand, they are leading them, standing in the forefront of the masses as a real model of leadership by personal example. Pochon County is motivating the masses, having them search in various places—including the edge of the Karimchon—for rich sources of soil and humus, and having them dig it up and move it in a timely manner. In this way, various counties in the province, beginning with Kim Hyong-kwon and Pochon counties, are suc- ceeding in overfulfilling the soil-covering plan over 80 percent. Provincial-level organs also are aggressively providing support to the soil-covering battle. [passage omitted]"
},
{
"TITLE": "* Kim Chong-il Encourages Activities",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0133B Pyongyang NODONG SINMUN in Korean 15 Jan 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "912C0133B",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "nodong sinmun",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[Article by staff reporter entitled “With a Self-Confident Fighting Spirit” published under the headline: “By Vig- orously Launching the Soil-Covering Campaign, Let Us Resolutely Improve the Quality of Land“]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The dear leader Comrade Kim Chong-il pointed out as follows: “In order to increase agricultural production we must dynamically launch a struggle to increase the soil fertility of wet and dry fields.” With burning resolve to carry out to the end, uncondi- tionally, the task set forth by the great leader in this year’s New Year's message, the party members and agricultural workers of the cooperative farms of various areas who have vigorously launched into the work, are even more vigorously carrying out a soil-covering battle to increase the land's fertility. Worker-farmer correspon- dents of various areas are sending in news of how, since the beginning of the year, they are greatly expanding their successes. Worker-farmer correspondent Comrade Son Chae-mo has sent us news that the Mupyong Cooperative Farm in Chonchon County is carrying out the soil-covering battle in a big way. Functionaries of this farm have been putting their shoulders to the difficult and arduous urgent task, and are positively arousing the enthusiasm of the masses by means of energetic political work. Thus, in every soil-covering battle site of all the workteams, new innovations are being created day after day. In particular, the farm workers of the No. 2 and No. 3 workteams are setting up combat objectives, and over- fulfilling the daily soil-covering plans. Worker-farmer correspondent Comrade Chon Song-hun has sent us news of the soil-covering battle of the Taechong Cooperative Farm in Unpa County. At this farm they have set up the objective of spreading soil on several hundred chongbos [one chongbo equals 2.451 acres] of cornfields and have been in high spirits as they carried out a general mobilization of all their forces. Comrade Cho Yun-sik, leader of the No.2 workteam, and other primary level functionaries correctly set up their daily combat objectives and are heightening their performance by means of correct operations and direc- tion. In particular, they are making many means of conveyance to suit their own actual circumstances and ardently carrying out the soil-covering project. During the past few days, the Tokpo Cooperative Farm in Myongchon County has been achieving some two times greater successes in soil-covering in the cornfields than before. According to news sent in by worker-farmer corre- spondent Comrade Yi Chi-ho, farm functionaries such as Comrades Yi Chong-chu and Kim Mun-hyon are standing in the van of the struggle and are encouraging and inspiring the members of the League of Socialist Working Youth (LSWY) of the farm by personal example. The farm's LSWY members volunteered to take charge of cumbersome tasks and, giving full play to the vigor and passion of youth, are markedly increasing soil-covering performance. As soon as news of their model behavior spread, all the farm members set up high objectives and are overfulfilling them each day. News that the Pogu Subfarm of the Orchard General Farm in Kwail County is qualitatively carrying out soil-covering has been sent in by worker-farmer corre- spondent Comrade Kang Kyong-sam. Whether or not soil-covering is done according to the chuche agricultural method has an impact on the work of increasing the soil fertility of the land. The functionaries of the subfarm here, who are well aware of this fact, meticulously set up a soil-covering plan by field, by workteam, and by date, on the basis of a soil analysis chart. They led the masses, standing in the forefront. In this way, in all of the workteams there arose a vigorous struggle to haul soil according to the characteristics of the fields—stream-bottom soil where stream bottom soil is to be spread, and mud and coal ashes where mud and coal ashes are to be spread. Here the No. 3 and No. 10 workteams are doing a good job. They secured in advance a site for fresh soil to suit the characteristics of the fields, and increased their soil-spreading perfor- mance, trying hard to guarantee its quality. In this way this subfarm is achieving successes in qualitatively spreading soil on the cornfields. The Chuuidong Cooperative Farm in Toksong County and the Taedok Cooperative Farm in Yiwon County are also doing soil-spreading qualitatively, and nowadays they are spreading over twice as much soil per day compared with when they first began soil-spreading. Worker-farmer correspondents Comrades Yi Hong-sop and Yo In-ho report that farms here are qualitatively carrying out soil-covering on all cornfields. In particular, the No. | workteam of the Taedok Coop- erative Farm set up measures so that their new soil sources would not freeze. They made various means of transport such as pushcarts and cableways by them- selves, and they are carrying out soil-spreading on 1.5 times more area per day than called for in the plan. The No. 3 workteam of the Chuuidong Cooperative Farm made a cableway with the revolutionary spirit of self- reliance and is achieving daily work results nearly twice those realized at the end of last year. —Let’s carry out even more vigorously the soil- spreading battle according to the intent of the party. Now agricultural workers in all areas are rushing to the soil-spreading battle with this kind of awareness and every day are creating new miracles and innovations."
},
{
"TITLE": "KCNA Review of 15 Mar Pyongyang Press",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503053791 Pyongyang KCNA in English 0436 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503053791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Pyongyang",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kcna",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[Press review]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Pyongyang March 15 (KCNA}—Papers here today carry a photo-illustrated report that the great leader President Kim Il-song received the Indonesian parliamentary delegation. Appearing in papers is a report that the new Indonesian ambassador to Korea presented his credentials to Presi- dent Kim Il-song of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. President Kim Il-song received solidarity letters from different countries denouncing the provocative “Team Spirit 91" joint military exercises of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean authorities and supporting the Korean people in their struggle for the reunification of the country, says the press. According to the press, works of dear Comrade Kim Chong-il were carried by foreign newspapers. Highlighted in NODONG SINMUN is news that articles highly praising Comrade Kim Chong-il as the people's leader and the genius of creation and construction were reported abroad on the occasion of the February holiday and the daily gives an account of the closing of the first Korean film festival which was opened on this occasion. MINJU CHOSON says Comrade Kim Chong-il has built up the Hamhung Woolen Mill into a modernly equipped textile mill. Papers give an account of a national meeting of railv ay workers that opened and carry a congratulatory message sent by the C.C. [Central Committee], the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] to the participants in the meeting. Carried in NODONG SINMUN is a solidarity message to the WPK Central Committee from the National Committee of the Communist Party of the U.S.A. con- demning the “Team Spirit 91“ joint military exercises. Econews of the press includes reports on the fulfillment of the plans for the first quarter year by the Sariwon Mining Machine Factory and brisk farming preparations on co-op farms. It is reported in papers that the permanent vice-minister of foreign effairs of Japan was interviewed by the reporters accompanying the DPRK Government delega- tion to the second intergovernmental full-dress talks for the normalisation of DPRK-Japan diplomatic relations and Korean players gave a good account of themselves at international weightlifting and table tennis tournaments. Pfc. Kim Yu-chan of the Joint Security Corps of the “U.N. Forces Command” who came over to the northern half of Korea was interviewed by home and foreign reporters, says the press. Carried in the press is a declaration of conscience published by him before the reporters. Conveyed in papers are home and foreign public voices lashing out at the Team Spirit 91“. NODONG SINMUN comes out with an article headlined ““Team Spirit’ exercises and anti-socialist strategy.” Given in the press is an account of a press conference held at the Soviet Embassy here on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the signing of the agreement on economic and culiural cooperation between the Soviet Union and the DPRK. NODONG SINMUN conveys foreign press notes denouncing the South Korean authorities’ scheme for “unilateral U.N. membership“ and the overseas Koreans’ newspaper MINJOK SIBO published in Japan carried an editorial captioned “Let Us Intensify the Movement To Oust No Tae-u regime Papers run commentaries hitting out at No Tae-u for whipping up war hysterics against the North at the “graduation ceremonies” of the academies of the three services of the puppet army. Papers inform the readers that recommendations demanding an early normalisation of Japan-DPRK dip- lomatic relations were adopted at local assemblies of sapan, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a decision on the cooperation of the Soviet people's dep- uties in the enforcement of national referendum and the first vice-president of Iran called for the unity of the Muslims the world over against domination forces. NODONG SINMUN reports about the efforts directed to the economic development for the building of a prosperous new Asia by Laos, Vietnam, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Iran."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul ‘Welcomes’ North’s Bid To Join ESCAP",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503030491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0239 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503030491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korea would welcome and would fully cooperate with a North Korean bid to join the Economic and Social Council of Asia-Pacific (ESCAP), Foreign Minister Yi Sang-ok said Friday. Yi said a North Korean trade representative in Bangkok, Thailand, had recently called on ESCAP headquarters there and expressed deep interest in joining the group. “It is not clear, however, whether North Korea plans to formally submit a membership application to the ESCAP General Assembly in Seoul in April, or is simply showing interest,” he said. “The government believes Pyongyang’s entry is desirable and widely welcomes it.“ The 47th ESCAP meeting opens here April | and 48 member nations, including China, the Soviet Union, Vietnam and Laos, will send approximately 1,000 dele- gates. The government plans to propose adoption of a Seoul declaration,” outlining specific cooperation measures in the Asia-Pacific region for the 1990 s during the meeting. ministry officials say."
},
{
"TITLE": "Pak Chol-on Reportedly To Visit DPRK in May",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503121891 Seoul SEOUL SINMUN in Korean 15 Mar 9I p 1",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503121891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "seoul sinmun",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] It was learned that Minister of Sports and Youth Pak Chol-on will visit Pyongyang in May and meet with high-ranking North Korean officials. A broad range of discussions will be held on pending North-South Korean issues such as expansion in sports and economic coop- eration. Minister Pak will visit the North for four nights and five days and, in the capacity of the minister of sports and youth, will participate in the Pyongyang tryouts to form a single team for the World Youth Soccer Champion- ships. It seems that during his visit he will hold talks with North Korea's leading officials such as Kim Yu-sun, chairman of the Korean Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Committee, and Vice President Yi Chong-ok. As the real power in taking the initiative toward the sports exchange and the policy toward the North, it was learned that Minister Pak will also discuss trade on a barter system, which is intended to carry out direct trade of goods needed by North and South Korea. Past proposals on our side include expanding sports exchanges. It seems that Minister Pak will wrap up lose ends on inviting North Korean youths to the August World Jamboree and the sports festival for all Koreans, including those abroad, and on the mutual exchange of sports leaders."
},
{
"TITLE": "Hong Kong Agency Arranges Travel to DPRK",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1203115291 Seoul CHUNGANG ILBO in Korean 9 Mar 91 p2",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203115291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "chungang ilbo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 9, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Report by Hong Kong Correspondent Kim Taek-won]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Citibank International Travel (President Ronald Chong), a Hong Kong travel agency, started arranging North Korean tours on 6 March. Also, it receives appli- cations if two people or more apply. This virtually means that individual North Korean tours are possible. Before, only group tours were accepted. An official of this agency said that anyone who is not from the ROK, South Africa, and Israel can receive a visa in a week after applying for it, that tours by two people or more and group tours of students are possible, and that tourists can select sites in North Korea when they travel. This official said: The company arranges a four-day tour in which tourists leave Hong Kong, stay a night in Beijing, arrive in Pyongyang by a North Korea Korean civilian airline flight that leaves Beijing every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, and visit Kaesong and Pyongyang. The company also arrange a five-day tour in which tourists will also visit Mt. Myohyang. This official also said that this company's tourism busi- ness is under the control of the Korea-Macao Interna- tional Tourist Agency, a North Korean travel agency in Macao."
},
{
"TITLE": "Kim Chong-il’s Power Base Reportedly Fragile",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503134591 Seoul HANGUK ILBO in Korean 12 Mar 91 p 18",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503134591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "hanguk ilbo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] In contrast with North Korea’s intensive efforts to consummate the power transfer to Kim Chong-il, North Korean college students studying in Beijing are making skeptical and noteworthy observations about Kim Chong-il’s succession to power. According to “The North Korean Situation As Seen By the North Korean Students Studying in Beijing” in The Flash Report on Reunification” distributed recently by the National Unification Board, North Korean residents hold a skeptical view of Kim Chong-il’s competence because of the economic setbacks of the last 17 years since the participation of Kim Chong-il in government affairs in 1973. Anti-Kim Chong-il forces are forming fairly extensively in the military and other circles. Professor M of our country, who has recently been to China, met a professor who is a graduate of Kim Il-song University. He said: “Regardless of whether he will adhere to his father’s line or adopt a policy of openness, Kim Chong-il is doomed to be removed after all.“ He said that Kim Chong-il will follow the same fate as that of Hua Guofeng after the death of Mao Zedong. This analysis is similar to that by various figures who visited North Korea last year, thereby suggesting that the power transfer to Kim Chong-il after the death of Kim Il-song, which is taken for granted by many, might not be that simple. Party Secretary Kim Chong-il is reported to be charged with all state affairs—except dipiomatic protocol—now that the 17-year preparation for his coming to power is completed. Students studying in Beijing view the rapid emergence of Kim Chong-il as heir-apparent during the first half of the 1970's as resulting from the counteraction to the con- spicuous growth of the so-called “Ring of the Heterodox Twigs” of Kim Song-ae, second wife of Kim Il-song. According to the students, Kim Yong-chu, Kim Il-song’s brother and a prominent candidate for succession to power, was classified as a Kim Song-ae ally and removed from the scene together with Kim Song-kap, Kim Song- ae’s brother who was then chairman of the Pyongyang Municipal People’s Committee. However, Kim Song-ae, chairman of the North Korea Women's Union, is appearing on official occasions for the first time in 18 years, and residents are also showing interest in Kim Pyong-il rather than Kim Chong-il. The professor in Beijing, who graduated from Kim Il-song University, said that he got the impression when visiting Pyongyang last November that President Kim Il-song was withdrawing power which he had earlier given to Kim Chong-il. In other words, North Korea's political power, which shifted from Kim Song-ae toward Kim Chong-il in the early 1970's as a result of the will of public sentiment, is now moving toward Kim Pyong-il. Therefore, if Kim Il-song dies there will be great confu- sion. Although Kim Chong-il’s succession to power is quite probable, his power will not last more than six months. While having taken charge for the past 17 years, Kim Chong-il gave all power to the party. The State Admin- istration Council, which is the administrative body, was allowed only to obey party orders. From time to time this resulted in friction between the party and the State Administration Council. During the North-South high- level talks last year, party cadres sarcastically talked about the delegation led by Premier Yon Hyong-muk. saying: What kind of talks can those puppets carry out?” This shows that State Administration Council cadres are treated as low-class party members. In addition, those running the regime centering on Kim Chong-il are gradually losing confidence. Despite his holding absolute power, Kim does not have confidence about his position. He does not like to meet people from the outside and makes all decisions with only a small number of party members. This shows the seriousness of the centralization of power. For example, the North Korean Embassy in China does not even have authority to issue visas to those desiring to visit the North. Therefore, all such business must be handled after asking Pyongyang. It seems that even after President Kim II|-song’s death it will be impossible to completely remove the Kim family because, since President Kim is God-like in North Korea, there is no conception that “the leader will die.” Therefore, it seems that after President Kim's death the people's sense of emptiness will be serious. Thus, even though Kim Chong-il might be overchroun right after he gains power, the Kim family will rule under the “constitutional monarchy system.“ which is similar to the Japanese royal family. Also, its seems that prac- tical politics will be carried out centering on the premier. Judging from this, Professor M forecasts that great changes will take place in North Korea in the next year or two, and even though there is no reunification, within a limited range, there will be great changes taking place in North-South relations. The Board of National Unification also included the opinions of those who had visited the North last year and made a similar forecast. Due to the liberalization move- ment of the East European bloc, which started in 1989, as well as to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and the Soviet Union, North Korea felt a sense of danger, and thus strengthened its social control. As a counteraction to this, anti-Kim Chong-il forces are gradually being formed underground. Currently there are 130 North Korean students studying in Beijing. Among them, 70-80 are attending universities of foreign language, and the rest are studying in science and engineering. Every Thursday these students receive political indoctrination at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing. Being aware of the surveillance from the embassy, senior students are considerably cautious about freshmen students. After returning to North Korea, the students cannot become hard core members of the North Korean regime but can work only as working-level officials."
},
{
"TITLE": "Nuclear Research Accord Signed With France",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1303014391 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 13 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION ID": "SK1303014391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "the korea herald",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and France's Commissariat a Energie Atom- aique (CEA) have signed an agreement on joint research in the safety of pressurized water reactors, a KAERI spokesman said yesterday. “Under the agreement, signed by KAERI President Han Pil-sun and French Amb. [Ambassador] Hubert de la Fortelle, on behalf of CEA Friday, we will directly participate in CEA’s large-scale research and test projects during 1991-1997 and get sophisticated tech- nology related to safety of pressurized water reactors,” he said. “KAERI and two French institutes under the CEA umbrella will especially concentrate on joint tests on design basis accident and fission product release during accidents involving pressurized water reactors in 1991- 97.\" Two KAERI researchers will be sent to France for the tests. Korean nuclear researchers have so far done safety tests on parts of nuclear power plants such as the reactor and containment in cooperation with U.S. experts."
},
{
"TITLE": "Civilians, Dissidents Form Antinuclear Body",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503035191 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 15 Mar 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503035191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "the korea herald",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] An antinuclear civilian body was formed in Seoul Wednesday in a ceremony attended by about 300 people residing near nuclear power plants in Sosan and Yongk- wang and in Tongduchon where U.S. military facilities are installed. Those attending the inaugural of the Coalition of Anti- nuclear Peace Movement include such dissident figures as Paek Ki-wan and Ke Hun-che."
},
{
"TITLE": "YONHAP, TASS Sign Accord on News Exchanges",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503003891 Seoul YONHAP in English 0022 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503003891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)}—YONPBAP news agency and TASS, the official Soviet news agency, Thursday signed an agreement for stable and long-term news and personnel exchanges. The news cooperation agreement was signed by YONHAP President Cho Yong-chung and Lev Spiri- donov, director general of TASS. It took effect on signing and will remain in effect until the end of 1993, replacing a memorandum exchanged in 1989. With the agreement concluded, YONHAP can now exchange news and render cooperation with most of the world’s main news agencies except for XINHUA of China. Korea and China lack diplomatic ties."
},
{
"TITLE": "TASS Chief Departs After Week-Long Visit",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1503091991 Seoul YONHAP in English 0817 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1503091991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (OANA-YONHAP)}—Lev Spiri- donov, director general of the official Soviet news agency TASS, left South Korea Friday afternoon on an Aeroflot flight to Moscow, finishing a week-long visit here. Spiridonov, 60, was in Seoul at the invitation of YONHAP News Agency to sign a news cooperation agreement and thereby open up chances for Koreans and Soviets to know more about each other. The full-dress agreement was signed with YONHAP President Cho Yong-chung Thursday, enabling YONHAP to complete its aim of news cooperation and exchange agreements with all major international news agencies. The top TASS official attracted attention among polit- ical and economic leaders, who are high.y curious about the Soviet Union, with which Korea normalized ties in September last year. He paid a courtesy call on President No Tae-u, whose policy is to improve ties with socialist nations, and met with such ranking politicians and industrialists as Prime Minister No Chae-pong, National Assembly Speaker Pak Chun-kyu and Samsung Group Chairman Yi kun-hui. Accompanied by Sales and Marketing Manager Igor Derzhitskiy and Tokyo Bureau Chief Vladimir Koutchko, Spiridonov gave five press conferences and was on the state-run television news."
},
{
"TITLE": "KAL To Begin Flights Through Moscow to Rome",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1103131691 Seoul YONHAP in English 1026 GMT 11 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1103131691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 11, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 11 (YONHAP)—Korean Air (KAL) will begin weekly flights on the Seoul-Moscow- Amsterdam-Rome route June 27, the company said Monday. KAL will use a 410-seat B-747-300, departing Seoul Thursday morning and arriving in Rome Thursday night, it said. The service is in compliance with an agreement between KAL and Alitalia signed in January, and a government-level aviation pact between the two nations concluded last October, a KAL spokesman said. The airline is to begin flights on the Seoul- Bombay-Cairo-Rome route by the end of the year, he said. KAL flies to eight cities in Europe, including Paris, London, Zurich, Amsterdam, Vienna, Frankfurt and Moscow, and serves 48 cities in 23 countries."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul To Send Medical Supplies to Soviets",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203081391 Seoul YONHAP in English 0551 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1203081391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (YONHAP)—South Korea will ship 40 million U.S. dollars of medicine and medical equipment to the Soviet Union next month, the Health and Social Affairs Ministry said Tuesday. Payment will be made from a tied loan extended to the Soviet Union in January. The shipment accounts for nearly one-fifth of the country’s medical export of 220 million dollars for this year, ministry officials said. The 11 medical products include analgesics, antipyret- ics, Vitamins, anti-tuberculous agents, anesthetics, sur- gical gloves and condoms, they said. The ministry plans, over the next two years, to export 30 million dollars of plant-extracted medicine, 15 million dollars of disposable syringes and needles, 60,000 dollars of surgical gloves and 60 million dollars of medical equipments to the Soviet Union, they said. Health officials are collecting information on Soviet medical products and hope to encourage civilian exchanges as well."
},
{
"TITLE": "Further on Telecommunications Loan to Philippines",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203040791 Seoul YONHAP in English 0220 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1203040791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korea will provide the Philippines 3.79 billion won, an equivalent of 5.4 million U.S. dollars, in a concessionary loan to modernize and expand a provincial telecommu- nications network. Hong Chae-hyong, chairman of the Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Rodolfo Dumaplas, Philippines charge d'affaires to Korea, signed a contract to extend the loan in Seoul Tuesday. The government's Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) will put up the loan, which carries an interest rate of 3.5 percent per annum over 20 years, after a five-year grace period. The Philippines will use the money to purchase and install a TDX-10 digital switching system with a capacity of 6,150 lines in Misamis Oriental Province."
},
{
"TITLE": "Elections ‘Dominated’ by Ruling Party Candidates",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503041991 Seoul THE KOREA HERALD in English 15 Mar 91 p 2",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503041991",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "the korea herald",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Nes Analysis“ by staff reporter Kim Chong-chan]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Registration of candidacy for the coming local assembly elections is dominated by ruling party candi- dates which may hamper the sound development of local self-government, the first in 30 years. More than half of those running in the elections are reportedly members of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party [DLP] and pro-DLP figures. According to Chongwadae and ruling party sources, candidates who belong to the governing party account for 42.8 percent, or 4,339 of the total 10,120 candidates. The figure compares with 14 percent for the main opposition Party for Peace and Democracy [PPD]; 1.8 percent for the minor Democratic Party and 0.2 percent for the progressive Minjung (People’s) Party of Korea. The remaining 41.2 percent or 4,100 people are listed as “independents,” though at least one third are pro-DLP figures, the sources said. Political parties cannot field candidates for the March 26 small-area local elections in small- and medium-sized cities, “gun” (county) and “ku” (ward) in big cities. The large-unit local council elections are scheduled for June. The domination by ruling party candidates in the elec- tions may have stunned opposition leader Kim Tae- chung who still harbors presidential ambitions. PPD President Kim sees the implementation of “grass-roots democracy” as an occasion to expand his nationwide political base. PPD members running in Kim's stronghold, Kwangju and Cholla provinces, total 838, compared with only 469 belonging to the giant ruling DLP. When it comes to Taegu and Kyongsang provinces, however, the situation is quite different. The number of ruling party members and pro-DLP figures running in those areas is over 20 times that of those from the opposition, DLP officials said. A moderate competition ratio of 2.35 to 1 in the local elections shows that the ballot has attracted little public interest. Local assembly elections were suspended in 1961 when the military took power. A tally compiled by the Central Election Management Committee (CEMC) showed that there is more compe- tition in provincial areas than urban districts, particu- larly the six big cities. Taegu, the third largest city in Korea, had the lowest competition ratio of 1.58 to 1, while Kangwon-do and two other provinces shared the highest with 2.8 to 1. Observers attributed the low competition in Taegu, the birthplace of President No Tae-u, to the ruling party's behind-the-scenes maneuvering to prevent “excessive competition” among ruling party members running in the city. A considerable number of ruling party members running there are said to have withdrawn their candidacy at the request of fellow party members. Surprisingly, the number of uncontested districts in Taegu totals 60 or 41.2 percent of the total 141 areas. CEMC has announced that the number of districts uncontested totals 441 or 12.3 percent of 3,562 electoral constituencies nation wide. A total of 547 or 12.7 percent of the fixed 4,304 council members have already won in those uncontested areas, including 83 in Seoul and 49 in the second largest city, Pusan. One council member is to be picked from each of the small administrative units of “tong” in cities. But the number will go up to two or three according to popula- tion size. Observers said the lower than expected competition nationwide was attributable to public distrust of politi- cians mainly caused by the Suso housing scandal, a lack of public knowledge of local self-governing and the hasty arrangement of the elections. The ruling camp had originally planned to hold the small-unit local elections in May. The opposition has accused the ruling party of advancing the voting in an attempt to divert public attention away from the Suso bribery case. Public distrust of politicians may have climaxed as the destructive scandal came on the heels of a bribery case involving three lawmakers accused of taking bribes from a lobby group for their junket abroad. Candidacy registration shows that women still have little interest in politics. Women candidates accounted for merely 1.2 percent or 123 of the total 10,120. By age, those who are between 51 and 55 topped the list with 23.2 percent, followed by those between 46 and 50 with 20.5 percent, between 41 and 45 with 15.9 percent and 56 and 60 with 15.5 percent. Candidates are also of diverse occupations. Those engaged in farming took the lion's share with 30.2 percent, followed by people engaged in commercial activities with 25.5 percent. In contrast, few profes- sionals such as doctors and lawyers have filed their candidacy. The fact that many self-employed persons like real estate brokers are running in the elections may cloud prospects for the healthy development of local autonomy. “They may spend more time peddling influence, in dogged pursuit of their own interests,” one observer said."
},
{
"TITLE": "No on Need for ‘Unflinching’ Defense Posture",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1203083491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0733 GMT 2 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1203083491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 2, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (YONHAP)—President No Tae- u said Tuesday an unflinching national defense posture was the key not only to deterring aggression but also to maintaining peace and getting North Korea to proceed with reunification. “Our air force should develop an efficient command system and air tactics and strategies suitable for our Situation, together with modernization of military strength, expecting Koreanization of the national defense in the near futuie,”’ No told graduating cadets at the Air Force Academy. He said it was necessary to secure superiority in the air, in intelligence and in telecommunications, the impor- tance of which was demonstrated in the allied victory in the Gulf war. “We are defending the fatherland with advanced fighters, assembled and manufactured with our own technology, and we are pushing to buy highly sophisti- cated fighters,” he said. In the Korean war, the South had only light trainers and was crushed by more than 200 North Korean jet fighters, he said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Civilians To Hold More Defense Ministry Posts",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503053091 Seoul YONHAP in English 0232 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503053091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 15 (YONHAP)—Civilians will be named to the posts of first and second assistant defense minister, until now held by generals, under a revision approved by the Cabinet Thursday. The change effect this month. [sentence as received] The number of Defense Ministry directorates reserved for civil servants rises from three to five, and section chief posts from 31 to 35 under the revision. Of 103 posts above section chief, all but the minister, vice minister and assistant ministers will split between civil servants and generals. The civilian-military ratio of directors will be 5 to 15 and of section chiefs 35 to 44 under the revision. “The bill will enhance the development of a future- oriented defense policy, improve efficiency and profi- ciency, and increase civilian representation within the Ministry,” a senior Ministry official said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Seoul To Recognize World Civil Rights Articles",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403040691 Seoul YONHAP in English 0256 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1403040691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March i4 (YONHAP)—South Korea will withdraw its reservations regarding articles in two inter- national civil rights conventions, effective Friday, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday. Korea could take the step as contradictions between Korean laws and the treaties were removed by revision Jan. | of the civil law regarding discrimination between man and woman, ministry spokesman Chong Ui-yong said. The two relevant pacts are the convention on the elimi- nation of all forms of discrimination against women and the international covenant on civil and political rights. He said Korea would now recognize Article 16-1 of the convention, which stipulates, states parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women: (c) the same rights and responsibilities during marriage and at its dissolution: d) the same rights and responsibilities as parents, irrespective of their marital status, in matters relating to their children: in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount: “(f) the same rights and responsibilities with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship and adoption of children, or similar institutions where these concepts exist in national legislation: in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount:” Article 23-4 of the covenant says: “States parties to the present covenant shall take appropriate steps to ensure equality of rights and responsibilities of spouses as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. In the case of dissolution, provision shall be made for the necessary protection of any children.” Korea joined the convention on May 25, 1983, and signed the covenant on April 10, 1990."
},
{
"TITLE": "Customs Revenue Statistics for 1990 Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1403025291 Seoul YONHAP in English 0234 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1403025291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 14 (YONHAP)}—Customs revenue was 5.57 percent of the value of all imports in 1990, up 0.46 percentage points because of higher duties on luxury goods, the Customs Administration said Thursday. Imports were valued at 49.6 trillion won (68.4 billion U.S. dollars), up 19.8 percent from a year earlier, and customs revenue was 2.76 trillion won (3.7 billion dol- lars), up 30.6 percent. Revenue outpaced the value of imports as more luxury items were imported than raw materials and capital goods, a customs official said. Car imports increased 40.7 percent, commodities 42 percent, machinery 16.6 percent and electric and elec- tronics 9.9 percent. The exchange rate applied to customs duty was 710.65 won to the dollar, compared to 675.35 won in 1989."
},
{
"TITLE": "Textile Exports Decline in ‘90; Imports Rise",
"FULL CITATION": "SK0703025891 Seoul YONHAP in English 0211 GMT Mar 7 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK0703025891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 7, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 7 (VONHAPY— South Korea's tex- tile exports were depressed last year by weak price competitiveness, but imports soared, the Korea Federa- tion of Textile Industries (KFTI) said Thursday. Exports slipped 3.1 percent to 14.67 billion U.S. dollars, only the third decline in 20 years and the first since 1985, while imports gained 4.4 percent to 3.55 billion dollars, the Federation said. Sluggish exports were blamed on weak price competi- tiveness, import restrictions in industrialized nations and challenges from other developing countries. The United States upheld dumping charges of Korean-made sweaters and shipments to Japan were restricted because of the voluntary export regulation in force since 1989. Exports of textile products fell 12.6 percent, but ship- ments of textile materials and silk rose 3.2 percent and 20 percent respectively, it said. It attributed growing imports to higher incomes and fads among rich people. Imports of textile materials slid 3.8 percent, but those of textile products soared 52.6 percent. Since textiles became Korea's major export item in the early 1970's, the industry has suffered only two set- backs—in 1982, when exports dropped from 6.19 billion to 5.92 billion dollars, and in 1984, when they fell from 7.08 billion to 7 billion dollars."
},
{
"TITLE": "Ministry To Ease Regulations on 280 imports",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1303033491 Seoul YONHAP in English 0238 GMT 13 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1303033491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 13 (YONHAP)—South Korea will ease regulations on some 280 agricultural and industrial imports from Thursday until the end of the year to better control inflation, the Trade and Industry Ministry said Wednesday. Under the new rules, the economic planning minister can directly specify items and amounts for open import based on reviews and recommendations by economic ministers. Such recommendations until now were made by an business organization or a minister in charge of a specific item, and there were cases when differences of opinion among organizations and government offices prevented timely importation, ministry officials said. The government hopes to expedite the process by sim- plifying the decision-making, speeding up import proce- dures for items in demand and likely to spark price hikes, they said. Initial plans call for buying 283 products under the procedure, mostly agricultural and dairy items such as beef, poultry, powdered milk, and fruits. Industrial prod- ucts include anthracite, the officials said. The ministry is also temporarily widening the import market for reinforced steel in anticipation of a domestic shortage from a construction boom. The government will encourage steel imports from all seller countries, instead of recommending the United States and the European Community, the officials said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Companies Increase USSR, East Europe Imports",
"FULL CITATION": "SK 1503094591 Seoul CHOSON ILBO in Korean 15 Mar 91 p7",
"CITATION ID": "SK 1503094591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "choson ilbo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Import of machines from the Soviet Union and East Europe has increased to reach $60 billion a year. Domestic general trade firms are importing machines from East Europe whose quality is somewhat inferior to that of products of advanced nations, including Japan, but which are not produced at home. In importing these machines compensation trade (barter), in which our electronic products are offered as the import payment, has also been actively pushed ahead. Accordingly, gen- eral trade firms are pushing for contracts with machine producers in this area for exclusive import of their products. Besides, these firms are organizing special teams to secure domestic customers and service centers. Daewoo Company, Inc., has already imported weaving machines produced from Czechoslovakia's Invest Com- pany with the (Juberka) trademark. This year, Daewoo decided to import various machines amounting to $18.3 million, including $11 million worth of weaving machines, heavy-duty equipment, and machine tools manufactured in Czechoslovakia. Daewoo is also planning to import machine tools amounting to $900,000 from the Soviet Union, bartering our electronic products. The Hyundai Trade Company, which has been bartering automobiles for grinding machines with Hungary's (Techno) Company since 1989, imported machines amounting to $1 million last year. This year it decided to increase its import, reaching $2 million. In particular, Hyundai concluded a contract with the Soviet Union's (Ulyanovsk) for exclusive import of machine tools. It has already imported $400,000 worth of products, and is planning to import 81 million more. Lucky Goldstar Company, which has been importing farming tractors from Czechoslovakia's Jetro Company since 1989, last year concluded a contract with Bulgaria's (Balkanka) Company, the world’s largest forklift maker, for its exclusive import. It had sold about 50 forklifts last year, and is planning to sell about 200 sets at home this year. Ssangyong Company last year alone imported $2 million worth of machine tools fiom China. It is planning to import the same amount of machines this year, too. It is negotiating with the Soviet Union and East Europe on importing machine tools and milling machines from these nations. Ssangyong in particular decided to build a plant of instruments for supersonic wave diagnosis in the Soviet Union in collaboration with the Soviet Federal Procure- ment Agency (GOSNAP). This plant will produce approximately 1.000 sets annually, and supply them to the Soviet Union and East Europe."
},
{
"TITLE": "Electronics Exports to Europe Continue To Grow",
"FULL CITATION": "SK1203040091 Seoul YONHAP in English 0154 GMT 12 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "SK1203040091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "yonhap",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 12, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Seoul, March 12 (OANA-YONHAP)—South Korean electronic products are finding Europe more welcoming than North America, and the European market could soon be No. I. industry experts said Tuesday. Shipments to North America are on a downward slope, slipping from over 40 percent of total electronics exports in the mid-1980s to barely 30 percent last year. European buyers are picking up the slack, taking almost 30 percent of Korean electronics goods last year to match, and in some cases even outdo, the American buyers, they said. New markets in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are overtaking the traditional American market, and industry leaders such as Daewoo Electronics Co. are already selling more to Europe than to America. Samsung Electronic Co. saw sales to Poland jump 580 percent last year compared to the year before. Samsung, which mainly exports household appliances, had just 30.2 percent of its sales in the United States last year, down from 39.5 percent in 1989, a company spokesman said. Europe, East and West, bought 29.6 percent of the company’s exports, compared to 20 percent in 1989. Sales of color televisions, VTR's [videotape recorders] and other consumer electronics to Poland alone regis- tered 65.7 million U.S. dollars last year, an impressive leap from 11.26 million dollars in 1989, the spokesman said. Goldstar Co. marked a disappointing 28.5 percent of total sales in North America last year, compared to 44.8 perceni in 1988 and 41.8 percent in 1989. The European market came to the rescue, growing year by year from 20.3 percent in 1988, 22 percent in 1989, and 28 percent in 1990. American sales are visibly waning for Daewoo Elec- tronics, whose 35-percent level in the mid-1980s dropped to 25 percent in 1989 and 17 percent last year. The company received good news from Europe, whose buying spree accounted for 40 percent of Daewoo exports last year, up from 20 percent to 30 percent in the mid-1 980s."
},
{
"TITLE": "* ‘Crisis’ in ROK Manufacturing Industry Viewed",
"FULL CITATION": "912C0145 Seoul HANGUK KYONGJE SINMUN in Korean 14 Jan 91 p 7",
"CITATION ID": "912C0145",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Seoul",
"CITATION OUTLET": "hanguk kyongje sinmun",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Korean",
"CITATION DATE": "January 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "[Article by reporter Pak Yong-pae: “Crisis in ROK Manufacturing Industry: Manpower Shortage, Deterio- rating Workers’ Attitudes“",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The thirty staff members of the labor section of the Kukche Corporation's Pusan factory are extremely busy these days. It is because they are trying to recruit as many of the new graduates in February as they can for the company’s production-related jobs. They are running 25 hours a day with a firm determina- tion not to repeat last year’s nightmare of shutting off some of their production lines due to a lac« of factory technicians. Their immediate objective is to run the production line, whereas the cost and profit margin are pushed away as a lower priority. The company’s labor section staff members are trying every possible means in order to secure the manpower necessary for their production lines. Special recruiting forces were set up which will be in charge of almost every city and province, and are going around the whole nation. They are also sending out letters to as many schools as possible asking them to send the graduates to their company. Meanwhile, they are trying very hard to keep the employees from leaving the company. Despite all these efforts, about 1,400 out of 10,000 technicians left the company last year. It is expected that about 1,200 technicians are expected to leave the company this year. Keeping the employees is more difficult than recruiting new ones. The annual turnover rate of women technicians is about 90 percent. Statistically, the highest turnover occurs in January and February. During the months of January and February, every company in the nation is engaged in competitive recruiting. Companies lure the potential candidates by proposing better salaries and benefits. Those who recruit many get hefty incentive bonuses. Because of this, they frequently see the whole section of about ten workers change their jobs. A more serious problem is that technicians change their jobs in areas totally different from their skills. Some of Kukche’s labor staff said that about 30 percent who left their company changed jobs in the area of services and office works. Since many technicians change their jobs, and since recruiting new ones is difficult, the hole in the employment is getting bigger. Every year around this time, the shoe manufacturing companies, which are heavily concentrated in Pusan, are going through a terrible time recruiting production tech- nicians. The fighting among companies that are engaged in the tug-of-war of recruiting and keeping employees, peaks around this time of every year. It is not new that employees who bring in new members are paid special bonuses. Companies give loads of gifts and company advertising brochures to employees who visit their hometown during the new year and Chusok [Korean Thanksgiving] holiday vacations. They are encouraged to bring back any available relatives with them when they return to their companies after the holidays. Recently, companies are employing a more aggressive recruiting strategy. Companies are realizing that there is a limit in keeping technicians with a better salary being the only incentive. Therefore, shoe manufacturing com- panies these days are expanding benefit facilities and educational opportunities. The building of cultural centers is booming in these companies, and extended college education in the com- panies is expanding. Kukche Sangsa and Hwaseung, two major shoe-manufacturing companies in Pusan, are even considering establishing junior colleges for their employees. Manpower shortage is felt far more seriously in textile companies. The Sou, a jacket- and coat-production com- pany located in Pupyong near Seoul, now has only 100 women technicians left from the 200 they had at the same time last year. Because of this, about 50 sewing machines out of 150 are left idle. Last year’s average monthly turnover rate was about 10 percent. A temporary means of sending employees to their hometown to recruit their relatives was not effec- tive. The tactic of providing education expenses for those who enrolled in night schools was not effective either. As graduation approaches, only 10 out of the original 30 employees remain enrolled in their night schools. The Sou's factory manager, Pak Chong- chi. complained: “Because of such frequent turnovers in people, it is difficult to order what to do, let alone to think about technology accumulation.” Pak showed a serious concern by saying: “The profit margin is rapidly deteriorating since the subcontract rate has been increased to 35 percent from 10 percent a year ago due to manpower shortage. The amount of defective products reaches about 7 to 8 percent due to a lack of adequate skills of the technicians.” The number of employees at Sokwang, a textile company in the Kuro industrial complex, also decreased to 200 from 350 about a year ago. Because of this only two production lines out of four are in normal operation. The company manages to survive from its exports. The company has difficulty meeting deadlines due to a lack of adequate manpower. One company official expressed his worries by saying, “It is very difficult to find subcontractors to share foreign buyers’ orders. Furthermore, production costs are steadily increasing. Therefore, we may have to reduce the amount of export.” It is not an exception in the electronics industry, which is known for its relatively good working environment. Gold Star's Changwon factory is in need of 200 techni- cians, but the company cannot do much to fill this gap. It is because the respondents to the recruiting advertise- ment will be mostly from other Gold Star subsidiary companies or from subcontractors. Therefore, it will cause manpower crises in subsidiary companies and subcontractors, which in turn will cause problems in supplying components on time. The company’s personnel department head, Yi Sang- hyong said: “Due to frequent shortages in component supply from our subcontractors, it is difficult to make an adequate production plan. Therefore, we gave up recruiting technicians from them.” It is an agony that many assemblying companies, such as Gold Star, which depend on components manufactured and supplied by their subcontractors, are going through these days. Manpower shortage in the major industrial complexes is over the limit. In the case of the Kuro industrial com- plex, the number of technicians who left the complex since the second half of 1990 is about 1,000, and consequently, the current operation rate of the facility is about 84 percent. The average facility operation rate is 75 percent in the lumber industry, 80 percent in the petrochemical industry, 79 percent in metallurgy, and 83 percent in the textile industry. The reduction in the facility operation rate naturally resulted in sales reduction. The 1990's total amount of export from the Kuro industrial complex was $5.4 billion, $1.2 billion short of the $6.6 billion goal. The manpower crisis in industrial complexes near Seoul is as serious as in other areas. The normal facility operation is not possible due to a manpower shortage in the industrial complexes near the capital city such as Anyang, where various manufacturing companies are concentrated, Kunpo, Uiwang with 1.200 companies, and Panwol with 1,000 companies. The labor-intensive sewing and electronics companies are suffering from the extensive labor crisis. In addition to the difficulties of recruiting new workers, employees leaving the companies added much more hardship to companies, according to officials related to these indus- trial complexes. Manpower Import Prohibited The fast turnover of manufacturing industry technicians is not a problem that was created overnight, but has been gradually progressing since late 1989. According to “Studies on the Status of Technology in Small Businesses in 1990", a research conducted by the Korean Federation of Small Businesses during July 1989 and June 1990 on 2,296 small manufacturing companies having employees between 5 and 300, about 412,800 workers, which is 29.6 percent of the total 1,393,300 workers in the manufacturing area, changed jobs. According to studies on the trend of industrial activities conducted by the Economic Planning Board, as of November 1990, workers in the mining and manufac- turing industries are 5,033,000; and those in indirect capital and services are 10,032,000. Compared to the numbers a year ago, the number of workers in the mining and manufacturing industries decreased by about 30,000 and that in services increased by 560,000. The results of the study also indicated that wages in services are substantially higher than in mining and manufacturing industries. Because of rapid increase in manpower shortage, textile and shoe industries are strongly hoping to import foreign labor. They are in fact sending opinion letters to various government organizations responsible for labor import. Some labor specialists in the academic and research communities, however, consider the industries’ idea of importing work forces to be very dangerous, and show a strong opposition. Dr. Son Han-seung of the Korea Labor Research Insti- tute is Opposing the labor import idea based on the examples of Germany. The German policy of Gast Arbeiter [labor import from third countries] during the 1960 s failed and the new Aus Siedler [German labor force import] policy that was in effect since 1987 is also known to have failed. The 200,000 to 300,000 workers, imported from Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries under the Gast Arbeiter policy, continued to stay in Germany even after their working visas expired. The German Government is now trying to encourage them to return to their home countries by even providing financial assistance. The Aus Siedler policy, that collected German labor forces scattered in Poland, Hungary, and the Soviet Union, is also concluded to be unsuccessful. Even if the imported workers are of German origin, they are second and third generations whose emotions are different, and who needed language education. The large number of the imported German labor force caused a serious housing problem in Germany. The abundant labor force as a result of the reunification of the two Germanys added a burden of employing these imported workers. It is the labor specialists’ analysis that importing workers from Southeastern nations and Korean-Chinese workers from Yonpyon, China, may provide a temporary relief to the current manpower shortage in domestic industries, but it will eventually cause serious political and social problems, similar to the German's. In addition to the shortage of production workers, the shortage of high-quality research manpower is another urgent problem to be solved. The large electronics companies such as Samsung and Gold Star have difficulties in hiring the required research manpower, especially those with masters and doctoral degrees. The Korea Electronics Promotion Corporation pre- dicted that if the current trend continues, the research manpower shortfall in the year 2000 will be about 7,200 with undergraduate degrees, and 3.100 with graduate degrees. Social Atmosphere Is a Big Problem The cause of the manpower crisis in Korean industries should be found in the social structure. First of all, the workers lost their desire to work hard. The prevailing extravagant habit of the rich upper class led the workers to feel despondent. The social atmo- sphere of get-rich-quick from speculative real estate investment destroys the workers’ dreams. Most of the workers believe that savings cannot make their dream come true. Secondly, there is a trend that people are trying to avoid hard labor. A typical example is that women workers in production facilities are leaving for service areas. It is frequently seen around industrial complexes that women workers are leaving their companies for employment in pleasure-seeking business. Thirdly, workers do not have job satisfaction. During the 1960's and 70's, workers’ esteem was very high because the government praised them as heroes of export and industry. Nowadays, the trend of looking down on those who are working in the manufacturing companies dis- courages them from wanting to work. Analysts in labor and manufacturing industries say that Korea does not have a shortage of workers. We simply do not have a plan to properly utilize them. The imbalance of supply and demand in labor manpower is a problem to be resolved by combined efforts among the government, industries, and society."
},
{
"TITLE": "Wa, Shan Rebels Set To Renew Battles",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503024591 Bangkok THE NATION in English 15 Mar 91 p AS",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503024591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "the nation",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Dome Suwawan]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Chiang Mai—Thai security officers in this northern province predicted a new outbreak of battles next month between the private armies of two Burmese ethnic groups which have been waging war since late 1989 to control a strategic area along the Thai-Burmese border. The United Wa State Army (UWSA) and opium king- ping Khun Sa's Muang Tai Army (MTA), over the past month have reinforced their troop strength as well as their strongholds in preparation for the new round of fighting, as both sides had earlier suffered high casualties and severe depletion of ammunition in their military engagements, said the officers, who requested not to be named. In a related move, Khun Sa's forces on Monday destroyed a Wa artillery position located opposite Thai- land's Ban Hua Mae Kham in Mae Chan District of Chiang Rai. As a precaution against spillovers or intrusions by the two forces, Thai authorities have fortified the border frontier. According to the officers, the Wa and its rival force were confronting each other in the mountainous areas oppo- site Thailand’s Ban Sob Lang in Mae Ai District, and Ban Huay Yot of Chiang Rai's Mae Chan district. The area covers part of the undefined Thai-Burmese border area of Doilang, a long range of mountains dividing the two countries. The United Wa State Army, which includes the main core of the defunct Burma Communist Party (BCP), together with other ethnic fighters, such as Kokang and Kachim, revolted against the BCP hardliners in early 1989 and have since declared their abandonment of communist ideology. About half of the estimated 20,000 Wa forces later moved down from the northeastern part of Shan State bordering China to the Thai-Burmese border aiming to set up a new stronghold in southern Shan State. Thai officers said the UWSA and the MTA have been fighting to control the long strip of the northern Thai- Burmese border, which is the main trafficking route for narcotic drugs, gems and other smuggled goods between the two countries. The Burmese Army, said the officers, has reportedly not made any move so far to intervene in the clashes between the two ethnic parties. “I think they (the Burmese) are waiting for a final outcome, when both sides are exhausted, and then will move in to wipe out the two,” said one senior Thai officer."
},
{
"TITLE": "Students, Opposition Observe Human Rights Day",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503033791 Bangkok BANGKOK POST in English 15 Mar 91 p 5",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503033791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Bangkok",
"CITATION OUTLET": "bangkok post",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Mae Sot—About 500 siudents and Burmese opposing the Rangoon Junta on Wednesday took part in Human Rights Day celebrations at Manerplaw camp in Burma, opposite this border town district. Moe Thee Zon, chairman of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, said the celebrations were also in memory of two student leaders of the Rangoon Institute of Technology who were killed in the 1988 uprising. He said his group would join the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) in support of the alternative National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma to fight for democracy and freedom. Chairman of the DAB, Bo Mya, accused strongman Ne Win and junta leader Gen Saw Maung of refusing the demands of the Burmese people, thus prolonging a civil war which had lasted 42 years. He said countries should stop giving aid to the Rangoon government because their assistance could be regarded as giving support to human rights abuses in Burma. U Hla Pe, Information Minister of the alternative gov- ernment based in Manerplaw, called on the United Nations to recognise his government and also urged the world community to stop providing economic assistance to the Burmese junta."
},
{
"TITLE": "New Foreign Minister Assumes Post 15 Mar",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503090091 Kuala Lumpur International Service in English 0800 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503090091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Kuala Lumpur",
"CITATION OUTLET": "international service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has returned to the Malaysian cabinet after almost four years. Prime Minister Datuk Sri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed had last month named him foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle effective today. Datuk Abdullah had previously held the education and defense portfolios. Commenting on his latest appoint- ment, the foreign minister said it was a pleasant surprise."
},
{
"TITLE": "Economic Growth in 1990 3rd Quarter Reported",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1403150091 Kuala Lumpur NEW STRAITS TIMES in English 13 Mar 91 p 16",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1403150091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Kuala Lumpur",
"CITATION OUTLET": "new straits times",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Charles Raj; al! figures in Malaysian dollars]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The Malaysian economy grew by a robust 10.6 percent in the third quarter of last year, bringing the overall growth rate for the first nine months of last year to 10.4 percent. This growth in real Gross Domestic Product is compared with 1989's third quarter growth rate of 9.1 percent and 8.8 percent for the whole of that year. In the first quarter of last year, the economy grew by 11.7 percent and nine percent in the second quarter. In a general survey of the economy contained in its latest quarterly bulletin released yesterday, Bank Negara [Cen- tral Bank] said the Gulf crisis and the ensuing oil price hike had no immediate dampening impact, as the economy was underpinned by the robust performance of all sectors except agriculture. It said manufacturing activity in particular, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production, increased signifi- cantly by 19.3 percent during the period (13.6 percent in the preceding 1989 quarter) reflecting the buoyancy of both the export and domestic market-oriented industries. Export growth was led by the electronics and electrical and off-estate processed product industries, while the domestic industries were led by the double-digit growths of the fabricated metal and transport equipment industries. Growth in private sector demand continued to remain robust, spurred by the better performances of corpora- tions, improved labour market and higher income levels. Private investment sentiments during the third quarter also remained strong as reflected by the 289 applications for manufacturing projects involving proposed capital outlays of $11 billion. Public demand during the quarter moderated as bud- getary operations of the Government slowed down with total expenditure declining by 3.4 percent to $7.1 billion. The Federal Government's current account recorded a large surplus of $1.1 billion for the period and this led to a smaller deficit in the overall account to $282 million compared with $1.4 billion previously. Bank Negara said total public debt rose by 2.2 percent to $92.7 billion at the end of September, reflecting a marginal increase in both the domestic and external debt. The country’s trade account deteriorated to record a deficit of $560 million compared with a surplus of $716 million in the first quarter and $27 million in the second quarter due largely to the sharp increases in gross imports. The ringgit continued to depreciate against most curren- cies in the third quarter of last year due io the strength- ening of these currencies against the U.S. dollar. The Central Bank said movements in domestic prices remained moderate during the period with prices of consumer goods recording slower increases. The prices of producer products increased moderately."
},
{
"TITLE": "Optimism on Economy, Caution on Rapid Growth",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1303121591 Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES in English 13 Mar 91 p 1",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1303121591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Singapore",
"CITATION OUTLET": "the straits times",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Finance Minister Richard Hu yesterday said he was optimistic that economic growth this year would be on target, but warned against the economy growing too rapidly. “The ending of the Gulf war will restore business confi- dence and this wil have a positive effect on our econ- omy,” he said. Therefore, he predicted, Singapore should have no dif- ficulty achieving the upper end of the 3 to 6 per cent target for growth. But he also stressed that the high average growth of more than 9 per cent over the last four years was no longer sustainable as the economy was getting overheated because of the tight labour market. If wage costs exceeded productivity gains, and if this coincided with a world recession, Singapore will lose its competitive edge and see a replay of the 1985 recession, he warned. For this year though, the expected growth of 5 to 6 per cent “should take the pressure off the labour market, remove speculative frenzy and allow the economy to consolidate,” he said. Dr Hu began his round-up speech by broadly outlining the Government's thinking on the economy. He pre- scribed a path for the economy to grow fast, but without costs rising too much. Urging businesses not to look to the Government to restore high growth rates, he said they should take the initiative of relocating or investing overseas. Industries, he suggested, should move their labour- intensive activities into the other two points of the Singapore-Johor-Riau Growth Triangle, or move their surplus capital further offshore into the industrial mar- kets. As for those in the services industry, they should upgrade their workers’ skills and diversify into high value-added areas. The Finance Minister gave this advice to businessmen in his reply to MPs [members of parliament] at the end of the two-day debate that saw 27 MPs commenting on this year's Budget, which was unveiled on March 1. Addressing their concern over rising business costs, he said most of them were “inevitable” because of rapid economic growth. Indeed, he argued that it was important to allow for such increases to send the right signals that scarce resources must be used well. On the pro-business MPs’ calls to defer the | percentage point increase in employers’ CPF [Central Provident Fund] contributions, he stressed that the Government was committed to the restoration of cuts made in the 1985 recession. The economy had done well, and “there is therefore no good reason to postpone a further cau- tious adjustment to CPF contribution rates.” But he added that this incease should be taken into account during this year’s wage negotiations, empha- sising that wage increses should be moderate. The call to delay the | percentage point increase was earlier protested against vigorously by no fewer than five labour MPs who came on one after another to rap those who had made the call. Reminding the House of how workers had willingly borne the brunt of the 15 percentage point cut in CPF contributions in 1985, they warned employers not to quibble over the increase. This would only make workers doubt their word in future and make them more mili- tant” in their demands, they said. The high costs, they argued, were due more to the fat salaries of executives, not workers. Rather than try to lower wages, employers should try to increase produc- tivity by sending workers for training, they said. The pro-labour MPs also denounced the call to liberalise the foreign workers policy to ease business costs, saying this would depress local workers’ wages. In his reply, Dr Hu said these issues would be addressed in the committee of supply debate later. Responding then to complaints of rising costs of services and utlities for the man in the street, the minister said these could not be avoided, but assured the House that the Government would monitor charges and make only gradual increases when necessary. On calls for more personal and other reliefs, he made plain that the Government did not want to create a “crutch economy”. He stressed: “Government's policy is that as many citizens as possible should pay some tax, however small, so that all share in paying for the cost of public services and facilities.” At the same time, ıt was committed to providing a high level” of basic necessities such as housing, education and leisure. “Beyond that, everyone must work and contribute towards improving the quality of life. There is no free lunch and we cannot afford it,” he said. Dr Hu also replied to specific queries by MPs over the last two days, including calls to cut the corporate tax rate, grant tax concessions on foreign income and on the higher water rates. Concluding, he said that Singapore was now entering a new phase in its development, and businessmen here must go beyond the national boundaries. “This Budget will help them widen their international linkages and create more economic space. It also focuses on our continued investment in our people to enable them to move onto higher value-added and better-paid jobs,” he said, to applause from MPs. Debate continues today, when the House will examine the spending of each ministry."
},
{
"TITLE": "New UN Permanent Representative Appointed",
"FULL CITATION": "BK1503113291 Singapore THE STRAITS TIMES in English 13 Mar 91 p 3",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503113291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Singapore",
"CITATION OUTLET": "the straits times",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] A career diplomat Mr Chew Tai Soo, has been appointed Singapore's next Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Mr Chew, 50, succeeds Professor Chan Heng Chee who came home last month after two years on the job. Mr Chew served in the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur from 1972 to 1974 and worked for a year in Tokyo in 1974. From 1975 to 1977 he was Singapore's Consul General in Osaka. He was appointed Permanent Representative to the Singapore permanent mission at the United Nations in Geneva from 1982 to 1986. Mr Chew was also the chairman of the General Agree- ment on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Committee on Trade and Development in 1984 and presided as chairman on three GATT Dispute Settlement Panels. Prof Chan, 48, told THE STRAITS TIMES that it was she who had requested to return before completing here three- year term, but preferred not to make public her reasons. While she could not discuss her immediate plans, it is understood that she is being tapped for a new, important post. Prof Chan headed the National University of Singa- pore’s Political Science Department and later became the first director of the Institute of Policy Studies before going to the UN. She is now on leave and could not be contacted for comment."
},
{
"TITLE": "Opposition Crimes Against Religion Assailed",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503094591 Phnom Penh Domestic Service in Cambodian 1300 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503094591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Phnom Penh",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Station commentary: “Is This What the Other Cambo- dian Side Means by Respect for the Will of the Citi- rens?“",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Lately, in their intensifying civil war activities in Cambodia, the Polpotists and their genocidal alliance have stepped up the destruction of the people's property and lives as well as their national heritage and popular shrines. In fact, the Polpotists and their allies recently fired artillery barrages at some areas in Battambang Province. They damaged Banan Temple and shattered Phnum Sampeou Monastery, killing a Buddhist monk, a nun, and a child. Also in Banan District, Battambang Province, they senselessly pounded Tuol Andet Monas- tery, causing heavy damage to one of shrines most venerated by our people. Recently, on 4 March, the Polpotists joined by the Sihanoukists and Sonsannians fired artillery shells into a monastery in Ron Ta Ek Commune, Banteay Srei District, Siem Reap-Oddar Meanchey Province, causing injuries to two resident monks and a monastery caretaker. The Cambodian people, like members of the interna- tional public who have closely followed the situation in Cambodia, clearly understand that this is not the first, nor will it be the last, attempt made by the Polpotists and their allies to destroy the national heritage and popular shrines. For the past more than 12 years while our Cambodian people who are mostly Buddhist have been making concerted efforts to restore and revive various fields, including religion, the tripartite coalition has been seeking by all means to burn down and blow up temples or ambush and set ablaze road convoys. In order to cover up their crimes, the Pol Pot gang and its allies the Sihanoukists and Sonsannians have used the Vietnamese label as an excuse, vociferously shouting that they were firing at Vietnamese trucks, blowing up Vietnamese trains, shelling Vietnamese positions, and so on. We would like to ask them: Did the monasteries that they shelled or burned down belong to the Vietnamese? Were the slain or wounded Buddhist monks, nuns, wise men, and children in those monasteries Vietnamese. too? Moreover, it is public knowledge that Buddhism, which is over 2,500 years old, is a religion that preaches peace, nonviolence, and nonaggression and that it has never forced anyone to believe or venerate it. Buddhism came to the land of Angkor more than a thousand years ago and has been espoused and practiced by more than 90 percent of our people. In 1969 there were 3,370 monas- teries and more than 66,000 Buddhist monks in Cam- bodia. Under the Pol Pot regime, all beliefs, mores, and traditions of the people, including Buddhism, were pro- hibited. For three years, eight months, and 20 days, the Polpotists de-robed or murdered 25,000 monks and razed 1,970 monasteries. The remaining pagodas were turned into prisons, stables, or manure depots. Since liberation on 7 January 1979, the Government of the State of Cambodia has restored to the people their right to worship and to observe their mores and tradi- tions, As a result, Buddhism has been revived and has becorne the state religion. Moreover, other religions revered by the minority peoples have also been restored. The Government of the State of Cambodia has collected after a long search the Lord Buddha's bones and the Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures] which constitute two of the five sacred objects for Buddhists and which had been badly damaged by the Polpotists. These jewels have now been enshrined for worship by the faithful. The govern- ment also asked the Indian Government to supply us with the venerated pipal trees that have now been planted in a number of provinces to create favorable conditions for the Buddhist faithful to engage in wor- ship. This is what we see as our sincere respect for the will of the citizens. On the contrary, not only have the other Cambodian factions—especially Sihanouk's and Son Sann’s—which have been boasting that they respect the will of the citizens failed to promote Buddhism ravaged by the Pol Pot barbarians, but they have even cooperated with the latter in attacking and destroying monasteries and tem- ples painstakingly restored by our people. For this reason, can our people believe that they would respect the will of the citizens through the free and fair elections that could be held soon? Our people clearly see that if even monasteries, Buddhist monks, and nuns have not been spared by the genocidal alliance, how then can this alliance bring peace to the people who for the past 12 years have been engaged in self-defense against its maneuvers? Moreover, at a time when our people are unanimously calling for peace, a cease-fire, and a cessation of military aid to all Cambo- dian factions, the genocidal alliance instead is resound- ingly stepping up the war and receiving more arms from a foreign country. Our people clearly hold that only by intensifying soli- darity and unity around the party and the front can they preserve the gains of national society and that only the Government of the State of Cambodia really respects and serves the will of the citizens."
},
{
"TITLE": "Chea Sim Inaugurates Mosque in Kandal Province",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503060091 Phnom Penh SPK in English 0410 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503060091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Phnom Penh",
"CITATION OUTLET": "spk",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Phnom Penh SPK March 15—A mosque was inaugurated on March 11 in Kompong Luong Com- mune, Ponhea Loe District, Kandal Province. Chea Sim, member of the Political Bureau of the Peo- ple's Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea Central Com- mittee [CC] and chairman of both the National Assembly and the National Council of the United Front for Construction and Defence of the Kampuchean Fatherland, was present at the inaugural ceremony. This first building of Islamic culture has been restored since May 1988 on the site of a former mosque com- pletely destroyed by the genocidal regime of Pol Pot. The other two mosques in the commune of 359 Islamic families are now being reconstructed. Speaking at the opening of the mosque, Chairman Chea Sim recalled the rapid revival of the Cambodian people following the downfall of the genocidal Pol Pot clique particularly in the religious domain. He also informed the 10,000-odd audience of the combat capacity of the People’s Armed Forces of Cambodia, which are now fully able to defend the country against the return of the genocidal Polpotists. The Cambodian leader spoke of the recent extraordinary session of the National Assembly and reaffirmed the Cambodian people's ardent aspiration for peace and the goodwill position of the party and government of the State of Cambodia in the search for a political solution to the Cambodian conflict in order to put an immediate end to the war waged by the three Khmer opposition factiors. Chairman Chea Sim called upon the Islamic nationals and the entire Cambodian people in general to unite closely around the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kam- puchea [PRPK] in the national construction and to contribute to the build-up and development of the armed forces and the prevention of the Polpotists's return. Accompanied by Mat Ly, Politburo member of the PRPK CC and vice-chairman of the National Assembly, Chea Sim also called on wounded cadres and combatants and presented gifts to 50 families of wounded combatants."
},
{
"TITLE": "Heng Samrin, Hun Sen Greet Hungarian Leaders",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503073291 Phnom Penh SPK in French 1124 GMT 14 March 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503073291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Phnom Penh",
"CITATION OUTLET": "spk",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "French",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Phnom Penh 14 March (SPK)}—Heng Samrin, head of state, and Hun Sen, chairman of the Council of Ministers of the State of Cambodia, addressed warm congratulations to Hungarian leaders on the 143th anni- versary of the Republic of Hungary's national day. In their messages, addressed to Arpad Goncz, president of the republic, and Antall Jozsef, prime minister of Hungary, the Cambodian leaders expresed their firm conviction that the relations of friendship and multiform cooperation between the two countries will further deepen and develop. On the same occasion, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong also sent his warm congratulations to his Hungarian counterpart, Geza Jeszensky."
},
{
"TITLE": "Japanese Initiative on UN Solution Discussed",
"FULL CITATION": "BK1503065491 Hong Kong AFP in English 0621 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503065491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Hong Kong",
"CITATION OUTLET": "afp",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Bangkok, March 15 (AFP)}—Japan has called for an election ban on any Cambodian faction which resumes fighting after a pre-election demobilisation of troops is agreed upon, well-informed sources said here Friday. The proposal, aimed at breathing life back into Cambo- dia's stalled peace process, was broached in separate meetings last month between senior Japanese diplomats and leaders of the warring factions, said the sources. Phnom Penh's Vietnam-installed government has demanded that a U.N.-brokered peace plan be modified to include strong measures to prevent the Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge, the mainstay of an anti-government guer- rilla coalition, from returning to power. The Khmer Rouge, a radical Marxist group, was driven from power in Cambodia in January 1979 following an invasion of the country by Vietnam. It now dominates the guerrilla coalition, which also includes two smaller U.S.-aided groups loyal to former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk and ex-Prime Minister Son Sann. The Japanese proposal is aimed at removing objections to the U.N. blueprint by Phnom Penh, which has rejected the plan's calls for dismantling the current administration and its armed forces. The Khmer Rouge and its partners have insisted that the U.N. plan be implemented without alteration. The Cambodian Government appears to have reacted coolly to Japan's initiative judging by reiterations of its objections to the U.N. plan since the Japanese proposal was outlined to leaders in Phnom Penh during a visit last month by senior Bangkok-based Japanese diplomat Yukio Imagawa. The proposal was presented to Prince Sihanouk when another Bangkok-based Japanese envoy, Tadashi Ikeda, travelled to Beijing last month to meet the prince who is currently staying in the Chinese capital, the sources said. Under the Japanese proposal, a U.N. Transitional Authority for Cambodia (UNTAC) would verify the successive stages of the military components of the plan: ceasefire, cantonment of forces, uncovering of arms caches, disarmament of troops and demobilization, the sources said. Japan, in a parallel bid to meet Phnom Penh's concerns over the Khmer Rouge, has also proposed that a special committee be set up to invesiigate the human rights record of the Khmer Rouge during their 1975-79 rule in which hundreds of thousands were executed or died of mistreatment in Cambodia's killing fields. Phnom Penh constantly accuses the Khmer Rouge of genocide although most of its top leadership, which is also communist although less extreme, is formed of Khmer Rouge defectors. Japan has suggested that the special committee be made up of representatives of the rival Cambodian factions, UNTAC and the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Commission, the sources said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Leaders Briefed on Japanese Peace Plan",
"FULL CITATION": "OW 1403133391 Tokyo KYODO in English 1320 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "OW 1403133391",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Tokyo",
"CITATION OUTLET": "kyodo",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Beijing, March 14 KYODO—A Japanese envoy briefed Cambodian resistance leaders here on Thursday about Tokyo's plan to end the | 2-year war in Cambodia, Japanese Embassy officials said. The officials declined to reveal Japan's peace plan but said it is aimed at reinforcing a United Nations peace proposal which calls for a ceasefire and disarming of al. four parties. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council drafted a peace plan to end the civil war last August, but there have been differences among the warring parties on ways to implement a ceasefire. The Security Council plan calls on the Vietnamese- backed Phnom Penh government to give up control of key ministries to U.N. administrators during a transi- tional period prior to free elections. There is also Cambodian disagreement on how to deal with the mass killings that took place when the Khmer Rouge ruled the country from 1975-79. Japan's peace plan is designed to resolve the differences, the officials said."
},
{
"TITLE": "Note on Leaders 13 March Meeting in Beijing",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503033291 (Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodian 2315 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503033291",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Clandestine",
"CITATION OUTLET": "voice of the national army of democratic kampuchea",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Note on the meeting of leaders of the Cambodian national government and the Cambodian national resis- tance forces ‘ssued by the Cambodian Embassy in Bei- jing”)",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Note: On 13 March 1991, leaders of the Cambo- dian National Government [CNG] and the Cambodian National Resistance Forces [CNRF] held an important meeting in Beijing on solving and ending Vietnam's war of aggression in Cambodia politically and comprehen- sively. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Samdech Norodom Sihanouk, president of Cambodia and leader of the CNRF; His Excellency Son Sann, prime minister of the CNG; His Excellency Khieu Samphan, vice president of Cambodia in charge of foreign affairs; and Prince Ranariddh, personal representative of Sam- dech Norodom Sihanouk in Cambodia and Asia and general secretary of FUNCINPEC [National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Coop- erative Cambodia]. Leaders of the CNG and the CNRF unanimously agreed on the following: — To reaffirm their full support for the 28 August 1990 framework document of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council [UNSC], the 10 Sep- tember 1990 Jakarta joint statement, the 668/90 res- olution of the UNSC dated 20 September 1990, the 26 November 1990 draft agreement, and the 23 December 1990 Paris joint statement. — To call on all parties to accept all the above docu- ments, particularly in order to implement the 668/90 resolution of the UNSC, to promote a comprehensive political solution to the Cambodian conflict in accor- dance with the profound aspirations of the Cambo- dian people who want peace and national indepen- dence most quickly. — Leaders of the CNG and the CNRF would like to express once again their profound gratitude to all friendly countries, particularly the ASEAN countries, for their precious support to the Cambodian people's just cause to restore national independence and sov- ereignty with territorial integrity. — Leaders of the CNG and the CNRF would also like to take this fine opportunity to express profound grati- tude to the PRC and its government for always pro- viding support and assistance and generous accommo- dation. [Dated] Beijing, 13 March 1991"
},
{
"TITLE": "VONADA Reaffirms Nature of War in Cambodia",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503043491 (Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodian 2315 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503043491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Clandestine",
"CITATION OUTLET": "voice of the national army of democratic kampuchea",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "“Communique of the Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea on the war in Cambodia: This is Vietnam's war of Aggression Against Cambodia and Not a Civil War“",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] I. The Hanoi Vietnamese aggressors committed aggression against and invaded Cambodia with hun- dreds of thousands of troops at the end of 1978 and have been occupying Cambodia ever since in accordance with Vietnam's Indochinese federation strategy. Everyone in the world knows about this. The United Nations and the UN General Asembly in particular have for the past 12 years confirmed this fact. The documents of the United Nations Security Council [UNSC] permanent members and the entire UNSC clearly state that ine United Nations should supervise and control foreign aggressor forces in Cambodia—that is Vietnamese aggressor forces. Vietnamese aggressor forces are still occupying Cambodia. And to this day, the world knows about this fact and has been constantly talking about it. II. The Vietnamese enemy aggressors and a small number of their allies, however, with a strategic and dirty political goal in mind, have instead said that the current war in Cambodia is a civil war. Furthermore, the Viet- namese enemy and a small number of its allies have: 1. Opposed the UN documents on the Cambodian problem and instead dissolved the UN documents on solving the Cambodian problem comprehensively; 2. Called on Cambodia's Supreme National Council to discuss and solve matters among itself and completely eliminated the international aspect of the UN docu- ments—the international aspect which clearly mentions foreign forces, namely Vietnamese aggressor forces, which are committing aggression against Cambodia: 3. Proposed a new plan, different from the UN docu- ments, aimed at maintaining Vietnam's puppet regime in Phnom Penh, and through this, maintaining Viet- namese aggressor forces in Cambodia. This would also maintain Vietnamese aggressor troops through Viet- nam's puppet regime and elections would be organized at will aimed at discarding the Cambodian national resistance forces, and through this allowing Vietnam, the aggressor, to continue occupying Cambodia forever and legitimately. III. The entire Cambodian people in and outside the country, the entire Cambodian national resistance forces, the world, and the United Nations will absolutely not be taken in by the Vietnamese enemy and its allies. People will continue to stand firmly by the UN docu- ments on the plan to search for peace and to end Vietnam's war of aggression comprehensively and the documents related to this UN document. The Cambo- dian people, the world, and the United Nations all have clearly realized that it is the Hanoi Vietnamese enemy aggressors and puppets Hun Sen, Heng Samrin, and Chea Sim who oppose the UN documents on settling Vietnam's war of aggression in Cambodia comprehen- sively. People will continue to pressure Vietnam and its puppets and lackeys to accept, abide by, and implement these UN documents in order to end Vietnam's war of aggression in Cambodia comprehensively. This way Cambodia and Southeast Asia would have peace and security. People absolutely do not need any other plans apart from the UN plan because those plans would be just deceitful ones which can neither solve and end Vietnam's war of aggression and restore peace in Cam- bodia nor restore peace and security in Southeast Asia."
},
{
"TITLE": "Government Regiments Routed in Battambang",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503023891 (Clandestine) Voice of the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodian 2315 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503023891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Clandestine",
"CITATION OUTLET": "voice of the national army of democratic kampuchea",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Cambodian",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] On 4 and 5 March, the Vietnamese enemy aggres- sors and race exterminators and their puppets and lackeys gathered four regiments of their troops, backed by four tanks, and started out from Kralanh and Srei Snam Districts [Siem Reap Province] in an attempt to take our liberated villages in Phnum Srok District. They were ambushed and routed by our national resistance forces. We killed 25 enemy soldiers and wounded 42 others; destroyed | 1 AK’s, two B-40’s, a 12.7-mm machine gun; and seized a quantity of assorted ammunition and war materiel."
},
{
"TITLE": "Correction—Hun Sen on Assembly Session",
"FULL CITATION": "BK0903073191",
"CITATION ID": "BK0903073191",
"CITATION LOCATION": "",
"CITATION OUTLET": "",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "",
"CITATION DATE": "",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "The following correction pertains to the item headlined “Hun Sen on Extraordinary Assembly Session,” pub- lished in the 11 March East Asia DAILY REPORT, page 25: Page 27, column one, paragraph two, sentence one make read:...but there will be monitoring [ka truot pinit]. Page 27, column one, paragraph four, sentences four make read:...we will accept monitoring [ka truot pinit] to a.... (changing word “control” to monitoring“)"
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister: No Sociopolitical Party Owns Newspapers",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503073091 Jakarta ANTARA in English 0623 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503073091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Jakarta",
"CITATION OUTLET": "antara",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Jakarta, Mar 15 (OANA-ANTARA)}—No news- paper is owned by a socio-political organization in Indonesia, Information Minister Harmoko has said. If we justify the possesion of newspaper by socio- political organization it will be a setback and like during the 60s when every political party had newspaper, he said at the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the SUARA KARYA daily here on Thursday. The press is exclusively owned by legal bodies, managed by the professionals and stands for the national interests, he stated. The development of the press in Indonesia has been marked by the entry of business and industrial elements, which is unavoidable. The minister said the presence of these elements would only be meaningful if the integrity and idealism of the press was maintained. Minister Harmoko on the occasion urged the press companies to speed up the transfer of some of their shares to their employees, which has already been com- monly agreed upon. The general chairman of the Functional Group (Golkar), Wahono, meanwhile said that in the future the need for information would be felt very strongly because precise information could be very useful as a source of decision making. To meet such demands he said all information networks and facilities needed to be modernized including the print media. The commemoration of the anniversary of SUARA KARYA daily was opened by Manpower Minister Kosmas Batubara, the supervisor of the newspaper, and attended by the cabinet ministers. Minister Kosmas was speaking on the history of the newspaper and its relationship with Golkar."
},
{
"TITLE": "Minister Encourages Smooth PRC Business Travel",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1303132691 Jakarta Domestic Service in Indonesian 1200 GMT 13 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1303132691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Jakarta",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Indonesian",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Minister and State Secretary Murdiono has asked the China Committee of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to help ensure the smooth flow of visits by Indonesian businessmen to the PRC and vice versa in an effort to increase non-oil and non- gas exports. Minister and State Secretary Murdiono said this at Merdeka Palace this afternoon in reply to questions on reports that the China Committee of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and lndu ry was hampering the flow of visits by Indonesian businessmen to the PRC. According to Minister Murdiono, Presidential Instruc- tion No. 9/1985 governing direct trade links with that country before relations were normalized should be revoked now that diplomatic relations have been nor- malized. The government is taking steps to cope with the coming revocation of the presidential instruction. The minister stressed that there was no problem regarding the flow of visits by Indonesian businessmen to the PRC."
},
{
"TITLE": "Analysts: New Rules Put Brakes on Banking Growth",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503104491 Hong Kong AFP in English 0706 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503104491",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Hong Kong",
"CITATION OUTLET": "afp",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "By Endy Bayuni]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Jakarta, March 15 (AFP)}—Indonesia has hit the brakes on the banking industry by tightening regulations after more than two years of rapid and almost uncon- trolled growth, analysts said Friday. Bank Indonesia, the Central Bank, Thursday announced a new set of rules that gives stronger supervisory power and control to authorities, sets stricter ownership and management criteria, and lays down lending practices and capitalisation rules more in line with international standards. “The move is bound to affect the banks’ expansion plans,” said one Indonesian economist. The banking industry has experienced explosive growth since October 1988 when government deregulation reopened the sector to newcomers and allowed banks to open unlimited numbers of branches. Some 63 new banks, including 17 foreign joint ventures, have since opened up to bring the total to 174, and the number of bank branches leapt to 4,500 from 2,372, according to official figures. But the unleashed competition, including a fierce interest rate war to attract depositors, and lack of control from authorities have led three banks into virtual finan- cial collapse since then, analysts said. Indonesian banks have barely recovered from the shock of the withdrawal two weeks ago of 4.15 billion dollars of deposit funds owned by state enterprises in a govern- ment bid to stamp out currency speculation. Bank Indonesia Governor Adrianus Mooy, announcing the new rules at an annual bankers’ dinner Thursday, said the rapid growth of recent years required that banks behaved more responsibly to protect the public interest. “Based on observation, several banks have yet to adjust their management style, strategy and operation in accor- dance with this development,” he said. He said in 1990 the amount of credit extended by banks jumped 53 per cent to 97.3 trillion rupiah (50.9 billion dollars) and public funds mobilised by banks rose by the same rate to 83.2 trillion rupiah (44 billion dollars). One of the new rules bars close relatives from sitting on the same board of directors and requires that a majority of directors have at least three years of banking experi- ence. The moral background of the directors will also be considered in approving the establishment of a bank, a move primarily aimed at preventing those with known gambling habits from taking such posts, analysts said. Last year, the banking industry was shaken by a revela- tion that Bank Duta, a major private bank, lost some 420 million dollars through foreign exchange speculation blamed on its vice-president Dicky Iskandar Di Nata. Three charity foundations chaired by President Suharto bailed out the bank with new fund injections but the fiasco was enough to put a question mark on bank Indonesia's ability to control the banking system. Another offshoot from the scandal is the imposition of restrictions on banks in conducting marginal trading in foreign currencies, either for themselves or for their clients. The new rules also set the minimum capital of a bank at eight per cent of productive assets to conform with the standard of capital adequacy ratio set by the Swiss-based bank for international settlements. “We have to apply international standards if we want to compete in the world.“ Mr. Mooy said, adding that many Indonesian banks were unable to open offices abroad in the past because they were not subject to the same standards. The rule however will be applied gradually, setting 2 minimum five per cent by March 1992, seven per cent a year later and eight per cent by December 1993. Bank Indonesia has also introduced a tighter require- ment for banks to report on their financial positions at regular intervals in a bid to give early warning of impending trouble or bankruptcy. It also introduced a new rating system by which the Central Bank can judge the health of banks."
},
{
"TITLE": "Bank Governor Remarks on Policy",
"FULL CITATION": "BK1503114691 Jakarta ANTARA in English 0953 GMT 15 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK1503114691",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Jakarta",
"CITATION OUTLET": "antara",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "English",
"CITATION DATE": "March 15, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Jakarta, Mar 15 (OANA/ANTARA)—The Cen- tral Bank Governor, Adrianus Mooy, has stated here that Bank Indonesia issued a new policy called the February Package aimed at improving the banking control and promotion system in an effort to realize a sound and efficient banking industry beneficial for the country’s economic growth. The policy, issued on February 28, is a follow-up of the October 1988 financial, monetary and banking deregu- latory policies (Pakto 27) which had great impact on the country’s banking industry, Adrianus Mooy told the press here on Thursday. He further said that deregulatory measures in banking had actually been underway since 1983, which at that time was focused on the price control. We have given freedom to the banks to decide their own interest rates, credit ceiling, abolish price control and gradually reduce various credit program and to start direct monetary control, he said. According to Mooy, there were two things that should be given priority by the Central Bank, namely the drafting of the bill on banking and the bill on the Central Bank. He hoped that the two bills could be completed in the next two weeks. He admitted that in the last two years, the banking industry in Indonesia had been progressing well as a consequence of the previous deregulatory measures in monetary and banking industry. It has an encouraging effect, because such a progress would also cause some problems for the bank since the bank is a credible institution, he insisted. It is in this context that the banks are demanded to improve their management system and to be more responsible to the banks’ customers, he said. On the occasion, Adrianus Mooy also announced that under the new policy package commercial banks are required to fulfil the capital adequacy ratio based on the {word indistinct] international settlements (BIS) amounting to [word indistinct] percent of the total assets of the banks and improve their prudential regulations to ensure a healthy growth of the banking industry. Thus we have to adopt international regulations in order to avoid any difficulties when they are going to operate abroad, he said. According to Mooy, the fulfilment of the capital ade- quacy ratio will be applied gradually ranging from 5.0 per cent at the end of March [word indistinct] to 7.0 per cent at the end of March 1993 and 8.0 percent by the end of December 1993. Bank Indonesia has also introduced a tighter require- ment for banks to report on their financial positions at regular intervals in a bid to give early warning of impending trouble or bankruptcy. It also introduced a new rating system by which the Central Bank can judge the health of banks."
},
{
"TITLE": "U.S. Charges of Human Rights Abuses Denied",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1403134791 Vientiane Domestic Service in Lao 0500 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1403134791",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Vientiane",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Lao",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Undated PASASON Article: “Accusations and Interfer- ence in Each Other's Internal Affairs Are Not Good for Mutual Relations”]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] The Voice of America recently carried the U.S. State Department annual report on the 1990 human rights situation in over 100 countries including Laos. Citing the portion on the human rights situation in Laos and the Lao Government's policy toward various ethnic groups such as the Hmong tribe, the radio said that forty-three members of the Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] elected in 1989 represent minority groups. Nobody knows exactly how many have truly been elected by the people. The radio claimed that minority groups were the targets of attacks by the Lao armed forces and blamed the Lao Government for the lack of human rights promotion in the country and other shortcomings. The U.S. State Department annual report broadcast by the radio constitutes not only groundless accusations against the Lao Government and people of all tribes but it is also a most blatant act of interference in the internal affairs of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic [LPDR]. Although the report might reflect some facts, it contains several untrue stories which run counter to the Lao Government's fair policy toward the people of all tribes in the country. On the face of it, most people might feel nothing strange about this issue because, since its defeat in the Indochina war, the United States has been constantly trying to discredit the LPDR government. For example, in the report presented to congress in Sep- tember 1990 by the international drug office, the U.S. State Department accused Laos of promoting opium cultivation and breaching the agreement it has signed. Lately, the United States reportedly acclaimed Laos for its efforts in drug suppression. Therefore, the accusation against Laos by the U.S. side this time is no different from those of the past because it is based on a misun- derstanding or a lack of understanding of the policy of finding new jobs for mountainous people. These new jobs have been designed to encourage them to change from slash-and-burn cultivation to rice growing or com- modity production so that the Hmong tribe, for example, can settle permanently and will stop destroying forests, a valuable natural resource, for cultivation. The Mountainous Region Development Company is one of the Lao Government's enterprises assigned to accel- erate the economic, cultural, and social development in the mountainous region and improve the well-being of people in remote areas. The construction of the new township at Lak Sao in Khammouane Province has successfully attracted the resettlement of mountainous people. Subsequently, children of the mountainous people in the area now have access to education and medical services. This is one of the areas where the correct policy of the Lao party and government has been implemented. Accusations that minority groups have no representatives in the SPA as well as those on human rights are totally groundless. Though the United States falsely accuses the LPDR on human rights issues to discredit us internationally, U.S. aid to Laos in certain fields has yet to meet the human rights requirements of this country because the vices of the destructive war started by the United States are still costing lives and creating difficulties and hardships for the Lao people. Because of its faith in human rights, fairness and correct policy toward the people, the Lao Government has allowed international human rights organizations including non-governmental agencies such as the Quaker and [word indistinct] and others to operate in the northern part of the country. Moreover, the LPDR government and Lao people have been extensively coop- erating with the U.S. in searching for remains of U.S. troops missing or killed during the war of aggression against Indochina by the U.S. imperialists themselves. The above mentioned statements are only a small part of the truth testifying to the human rights-oriented policy of the Lao Government and multi-ethnic people toward the U.S. people and government. Thanks to the human rights consciousness and correct policy of the Lao Gov- ernment and people, diplomatic relations between Laos and the United States has always been normal and relations between the two countries continues to expand today. Due to the above facts and in compliance with the aspiration for peaceful coexistence of the peoples of the two countries—the LPDR and United States—and desire for continued good relations to prove that each cherishes human rights and mutual friendship, the gov- ernments of the two countries should jointly seek ways to boost mutual cooperation on the basis of equality [words indistinct] and mutual interests, instead of falsely accusing each other and interfering in each other's internal affairs. Interference in (he internal affairs of one another can be detrimental to the good relations the two countries are now fostering."
},
{
"TITLE": "Phoumi Vongvichit Addresses LF NC Conference",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1403050891 Vientiane Domestic Service in Lao 1400 GMT 13 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1403050891",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Vientiane",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Lao",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] This morning at the annual enlarged conference of the Lao Front for National Construction [LFNC] Cen- tral Committee in Vientiane, LFNC Central Committee Chairman Phoumi Vongvichit gave an address to the meeting, touching on the situation, path, and growth and development of the front work in each period, especially during the current period of new conceptual and behav- ioral changes of various forms in the world and in the country. He pointed out that the situation in Laos has been affected by such changes, thus driving certain aspects of our socioeconomic development to encounter some difficulties. The most important thing is that such changes have become a hindrance to the process of our national defense and national construction. On this occasion, the LFNC Central Committee chairman put special emphasis on the four fundamental duties of the LFNC Central Committee, especially on dealing with national defense and public security main- tenance work. He noted that it is necessary that the people of all strata and ethnic backgrounds be encour- aged to make material, physical, and spiritual contribu- tions to defending our territory and people. In the economic field, he pointed out that all sectors must be encouraged to engage in «conomic development and production expansion aimed at transforming the subsistence family economy into good: production econc my so that the living conditions of the multiethnic people will be gradually improved. In education and public health work, all cadres and people must be mobi- lized to contribute to building schools and hospitals. More attention must be paid to improving the life of cadres concerned. With regard to religious and cultural work, attention must be paid to giving advice to people to adopt a new lifestyle which conforms to the traditions, customs, and progressive culture of our nation. she 1991 annual enlarged conference has outlined the orientation of the tasks which must be executed by the LFNC Central committee in 1991. The conference which continued for three days was closed this afternoon with brilliant success."
},
{
"TITLE": "Third Armywide Congress of Cadres Adjourned",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1303132591 Vientiane Domestic Service in Lao 0430 GMT 13 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1303132591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Vientiane",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Lao",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] After working with a spirit of urgency and a sense of responsibility, the third armywide congress of party cadres, which was opened on the morning of 5 March, was adjourned with glorious success on the morning of 12 March. The congress was attended by 223 full dele- gates representing party cells attached to various army combat and specialized units, factories, schools, hospi- tals, and business enterprises throughout the country. It was also attended by representatives of senior party cadres, national heroes and heroines, and the regional armed forces from all provinces. During the 8-day session, the delegates studied, appreci- ated, and commented on a report reviewing the national defense and public security maintenance work in the past five years as well as the orientation of this work in the next five years as presented by Comrade Lieutenant General Choummali Sai-gnason, alternate member of the party Central Committee Political Bureau and first deputy minister of national defense. They also studied, appreciated, and comm ented on the draft political report of the party Central Committee, which will be presented at the Fifth Party Congress, as well as the new amended party regulations presented by Comrade Lieutenant General Osakan Thammatheva, member of the party Central Committee, deputy minister of national defense, and head of the Army General Political Department. Of special significance, the congress heard and studied a lecture given by Comrade General Secretary Kaysone Phomvihan, chairman of the Council of Ministers and chairman of the Central National Defense and Public Security Maintenance Committee, emphatically urging all the delegates to understand the world, regional, and internal situations, which are changing in a rapid and confusing manner, thereby causing adverse effects on our revolution. In his lecture, Comrade General Secre- tary Kaysone Phomvihan also pointed out certain major tasks that must be more effectively undertaken by the armed forces in consolidating all aspects of the national defense and public security maintenance work and in closely coordinating the national defense and public security maintenance work with economic, cultural, and social construction and foreign relations work. He noted that to fulfill these tasks, it is imperative that we must step up the party's drastic, direct, and all-round leader- ship toward the national defense forces. The congress also voted to elect forty-five full members and five alternate members to attend the Fifth Party Congress. In his speech closing the congress, Comrade Choummali Sai-gnason stressed the significance of many issues and called on all the participating delegates to firmly grasp and apply the contents of the congress to the actual work in their respective units so as to effectively implement the national defense and public security line outlined by the party in the new period. It was reported that the congress also sent a message to the party Central Committee, expressing its profound gratitude to the party leadership for organizing, guiding, and leading the national defense and public security forces to incessantly mature and become stronger so they can brilliantly fulfill their duties. The armed forces, said the letter, pledge that they will continue to more effec- tively fulfill the noble tasks entrusted to them by the party, country, and people in the new period."
},
{
"TITLE": "Army Congress Report to Party Leadership",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1503095591 Vientiane Domestic Service in Lao 0430 GMT 14 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1503095591",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Vientiane",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Lao",
"CITATION DATE": "March 14, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] After the adjournment of the third armywide congress of party cadres, which was held in Vientiane from 5 to 12 March 1991 and attended by 190 full delegates, 12 senior delegates, and 15 representatives of the regional forces, and with a sense of great pride in and elation over the success of the congress, all the delegates at the congress unanimously sent a report to the party Central Committee on the outcome of the congress. The report reads: Implementing the instruction of the party Central Committee Secretariat on making prepa- rations to convene the Fifth Party Congress, the National Defense Ministry and the Lao People’s Army [LPA] General Political Department issued an instruc- tion advising all organizations and units of the regular and regional armed forces to launch emulation cam- paigns to realize achievements in all fields to welcome the Fifth Congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party [LPRP], which will convene in the near future. The emulation campaigns were involved, for instance, with the mobilization of production movements at the grass- roots level and with the dismantling of numerous multi- faceted subversive schemes of the enemy. Relying on these campaigns, we have strived to build and invigorate our party, cadres, and armed forces in all aspects. In doing so, we have paid close attention to building party foundations with comprehensive leader- ship and to organizing comprehensive and strong grass- roots units by closely linking such activities to the campaigns to build (?villages) into strong fortresses of the new regime of the people's democratic republic [passage indistinct]. All the delegates to the congress unanimously agreed that in the past five years, even though the imperialists and reactionary forces and the exiled Lao reactionaries have employed numerous schemes to subvert and destroy the new regime, including deploying massive forces to launch nibbling attacks against our territory at Na Bonoi village, Boten District, Sayaboury Province, our armed forces and people have managed to triumphantly smash those evil designs, thereby securely safeguarding our country and maintaining basic public security throughout the country. Our armed forces have made important con ‘butions to building the country's eco- nomic and cultural foundations. At the same time, our armed forces have also been built, consolidated, and strengthened in all aspects to grow stronger and bigger without pause. All these achievements and victories have been won thanks primarily to the correct, brilliant, and talented leadership of the party which is sensitive to all new developments and quick to outline a new path of restructuring for implementation to conform to the reality in Laos. On behalf of all party cadres and members as well as combatants in the entire LPA, the delegates to the third armywide congress of party cadres would like to extend our profound gratitude toward the party Central Com- mittee for attentively leading, educating, and training the LPA to continually grow stronger and larger to the extent that we are capable of winning one victory after another as we are also doing currently. With our faithful loyalty to the country and the party and to deserve the trust of the party and the multi-ethnic Lao people, the delegates to the third armywide congress of party cadres pledge to the LPRP Central Committee to carry out the following tasks: |. [passage indistinct]; 2. We will make positive contributions to (building foundations for) economic and cultural construction and to building and strengthening the field position of peo- ple's wars in defending the country and maintaining security and peace at the grass roots level; 3. We will strive to build (party organizations) [words indistinct]; 4. We will hold aloft the spirit of relying on and building our own strength and strive to increase production {words indistinct] by studying from traditional experi- ence gained by our country and army [words indistinct}; 5. We will strive to realize the setting up of strategic rear positions throughout the country and in each province: 6. We will strengthen the internal unity as well as our solidarity with the international community, especially the special solidarity between Laos, Vietnam, and Cam- bodia. The third armywide congress of party cadres wishes Comrade General Secretary Kaysone Phomvihan and all other party leaders good health so that they can continue leading the Lao people in general, and the LPA in particular, to march forward to win more new greater victories. With great resp: |, Signed] The delegates to the third armywide congress of party cadres Vientiane, 12 March 1991"
},
{
"TITLE": "‘Brilliant Success’ of Congress Hailed",
"FULL CITATION": "BK 1403041091 Vientiane Domestic Service in Lao 0430 GMT 13 Mar 91",
"CITATION ID": "BK 1403041091",
"CITATION LOCATION": "Vientiane",
"CITATION OUTLET": "domestic service",
"CITATION LANGUAGE": "Lao",
"CITATION DATE": "March 13, 1991",
"SOURCELINE": "Unattributed editorial: ““Wholeheartedly Hail Success of the Third Armywide Congress of Party Cadres“]",
"FULL TEXT": "[Text] Respected listeners, after having been convened for eight days with a high sense of responsibility by the congress presidium and delegates, the third armywide congress of party cadres was officially adjourned with brilliant success on the afternoon of 12 March. The third armywide congress of party cadres constitutes a new step of growth and development of the national defense and public security maintenance forces in fol- lowing the path laid down by the party leadership. It is one of the common victories recorded by our party and army in the past five years. During the eight-day session, the delegates heard a lecture and precious advice given by beloved and respected Comrade General Secretary Kaysone Phomvi- han, chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and chairman of the Central National Defense and Public Security Mainte- nance Committee. They also wholeheartedly studied and commented on the report of the National Defense Min- istry regarding national defense and public security maintenance work and the draft political report of the party Central Committee, which will be presented at the Fifth Party Congress, as well as the new amended party regulations. At the same time, the congress also voted to elect 45 delegates to attend the Fifth Party Congress. All the delegates to the congress assessed with a sense of responsibility and unanimously endorsed the party's line and policies. They unanimously supported the party Central Committee's assessment of the current situation and of the numerous new cunning tricks employed by the enemy. They came to understand the difficult and favor- able points in the advancement of the revoiution in the new period. At the same time, the congress profoundly studied and assessed the implementation of the resolu- tions adopted at the Fourth Party Congress on the national defense and public security maintenance front in the recent past. They understood that even though the enemy have employed numerous notorious schemes, including deploying their forces to launch nibb®ag attacks along the border areas and by stirring political, economic, and social unrest in our country, our army and people have managed to securely defend our country and to maintain basic security throughout the country. In addition to reviewing those achievements and victo- ries, the congress also studied and assessed a number of weak points and shortcomings and urgent measures which must be taken to resolve them. Another important achievement attained by the congress was that the delegates studied, commented on, and unanimously endorsed the orientation of the national defense and public security maintenance work for the years to come as well as the overaii direction, detailed tasks, and measures aimed at implementing the said orientation in an all-around manner among the entire masses so as to ensure effective execution of the national defense tasks in the new period. The fundamental pre- requisite in fulfilling the national defense and public security maintenance tasks is to build the party into a strong entity and to train party cadres to have capabili- ties in many fields. In so doing, an emphasis must be primarily placed on raising their cultural and political standards. The building of the all-around strong units and the all-around leadership of party cells must be regarded as the pivotal task in the movement to build party cells and armed forces units. All this is aimed at incessantly increasing the all-around quality of the armed forces. The various resolutions adopted by the third armywide congress of party cadres conform to the party's new concepts and the reality in the country and within the armed forces. They constitute the objectives of, as well as a compass fo,r our efforts in building the armed forces to become strong in all aspects. All party cadres and members and combatants in our entire armed forces are eagerly awaiting to welcome these resolutions so that they can translate them into
And finally, let's visualize the Gemini 3 Pro PDF-derived version as an infographic using Nano Banana Pro:
Create a prompt to visualize this as a large illustrated explainer poster designed to be printed on a large-format poster printer and hung up on the wall that narrates the report below as a single large poster that can be printed and hung on a wall that outlines all of the major themes and trends and findings. Focus on the combined story of the report. The poster should be entirely in English.
Given the text rendering issues in the image, let's run our prompt a second time, this time with 4K resolution:
