Press Statement of Policy Research Director of Institute for American Studies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK

Pyongyang, December 16 (KCNA) -- The policy research director of the Institute for

American Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Sunday issued the following statement:

It is a significant event for ensuring peace and security of the region and beyond that the top

leaders of the DPRK and the U.S. committed themselves to improve the DPRK- U.S.  relations at the historic DPRK-U.S.  summit  held  in  Singapore last  June, and the

current DPRK-U.S. relations are advancing along the steadfast will of the top leaders to

follow through on the Singapore DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement in good faith.

However, the continued  commission  by  the United  States  of vicious  anti-DPRK

hostile actions, running  counter to  these developments, prompts  my  shock  and

indignation.

During the past six months since the Singapore DPRK-U.S. summit, the U.S. high-

ranking politicians including the secretary of state have almost every day slandered the

DPRK out of sheer malice, and the State Department and the Treasury Department have

taken anti-DPRK sanctions measures for as many as eight times against the companies,

individuals  and  ships  of not  only  the DPRK  but  also  Russia, China and  other third

countries  by  fabricating  pretexts  of all  hues  such  as  money  laundering, illegal

transactions through ship-to-ship transfer and cyber-attack.

Recently, the U.S. is resorting to anti-DPRK human rights plot in such a way that it

carries deliberate  provocation  by  adding  high-ranking  government  officials  of the

DPRK, a sovereign state, to its unilateral sanctions list, while taking issue with the non-

existent "human rights issue".

Now, the international  society  is  unanimous  in  welcoming  the proactive

denuclearization steps taken by the DPRK and urging the U.S. to respond to these steps

in  a corresponding  manner. And  president  Trump  avails  himself of every  possible

occasion to state his willingness to improve DPRK-U.S. relations.

Far from  the statements  of the president, the State Department  is  instead  bent  on

bringing the DPRK-U.S. relations back to the status of last year which was marked by

exchanges  of fire. I cannot  help  but  throw  doubt  on  the ulterior motive of the State

Department.

If they are a sort of diplomats of "only superpower", they should at least realize from

the past record of the DPRK-U.S. relations that sanctions and pressure would not work

against the DPRK.

The United  States  will  not  be unaware of the self-evident  fact  that  its  threat,

blackmail and pressure against the other side cannot be a solution under the relations of

pent-up  confrontation, mistrust  and  hostility  between  the DPRK  and  the U.S.  and

deterioration of the situation that might be incurred by these hostile actions would not

be beneficial for peace and security of the Korean peninsula and beyond.

Since we know too well that the deep-rooted hostility between the DPRK and the U.S.

cannot be redressed overnight, we have been proposing that the DPRK-U.S. relations be

improved on a step-by-step approach of resolving what is feasible one by one, by giving

priority to confidence building.

If the high-ranking  politicians  within  the U.S.  administration  including  the State

Department had calculated that they could drive us into giving up nuclear weapons by

way of increasing the anti-DPRK sanctions and pressure and human rights racket to an

unprecedented level, which has nothing to do with confidence building, it will count as

greatest  miscalculation, and  it  will  block  the path  to  denuclearization  on  the Korean

peninsula forever - a result desired by no one.

The U.S. should realize before it is too late that "maximum pressure" would not work

against us and take a sincere approach to implementing the Singapore DPRK-U.S. Joint

Statement. 

Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un Supervises Newly Developed Tactical Weapon Test

Pyongyang, November 16 (KCNA) -- Kim  Jong Un, chairman of the  Workers' Party

of  Korea,  chairman   of  the  State   Affairs  Commission  of  the   Democratic  People's

Republic of  Korea and  supreme commander  of the Korean  People's Army,  visited the

test  ground of  the  Academy  of  Defence Science  and  supervised  a newly  developed

ultramodern tactical weapon test.

After seeing the power of the tactical weapon, Supreme Leader  Kim Jong Un was so

excited to say that another  great work was done by the defence scientists and  munitions

industrial  workers to  increase  the  defence capability  of  the  country and  the  weapon

system whose development  Chairman Kim Jong Il had  chosen personally and directed

step  by step  with his  special  attention paid  to it  was  born at  last.  He added  that the

weapon is just like  a posthumous weapon and he missed Kim  Jong Il very much while

seeing the great success of its test.

Kim  Jong  Un highly   praised  the  officials,  scientists,  technicians  and   munitions

industrial  workers   for  successfully  conducting  the   test  of  an   ultramodern  tactical

weapon, to which the Party has attached importance in ardent expectation.

He expressed  great  satisfaction, saying  the great  success serves  as  another striking

demonstration  of the  validity  of the  Party  policy of  prioritizing  defence  science and

technology  and  the  rapidly  developing  defence  capability  of  the  country  and  as   a

decisive turn in bolstering the fighting capacity of the Korean People's Army.

He was accompanied by Choe Ryong Hae, Ri Pyong Chol, Ri Jong Sik, Jo Yong Won,

Kim Yong Su, Kim Chang Son and Pak Jong Chon.

Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un Inspects Taegwan Glass Factory

Pyongyang, November 18  (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un, chairman  of the Workers' Party

of  Korea,  chairman   of  the  State   Affairs  Commission  of  the   Democratic  People's

Republic of  Korea and  supreme commander  of the  Korean People's  Army, gave  field

guidance to the Taegwan Glass Factory.

Making the rounds  of the room for  the education in the  revolutionary history and the

room dedicated  to  the history  of the  factory, the  Supreme  Leader acquainted  himself

with the ideological education of its employees.

He highly  appreciated  that the  factory built  bases of  ideological education  to  be of

educational significance and is running regularly without fail and effectively conducting

the educational  work among its officials  and employees to  deeply implant the undying

leadership exploits of the WPK in their hearts.

Looking round  valuable  photos of  President Kim Il  Sung and  Chairman Kim Jong

Il and  relics  related  with their  guidance,  he  said  that  the  glass  factory built  on  the

personal initiative  of  the President  has turned  into  the country's  leading optical  glass

production base under  the leadership of Kim Jong Il.  Recalling that the workers of  the

factory have  resolutely upheld  the Party's  policy while  devotedly working  to produce

optical glassware urgently needed for the science, education and economic development

of the country  despite difficult situation  of the state  in the past, he  spoke highly of  the

course covered by them.

Calling at several  production shops of the factory,  the Supreme Leader learned  about

the production  and watched  glassware and optical  apparatuses newly  produced by  the

factory.

Highly estimating the  goods of the factory, he  said with great pleasure  that as he had

said last  time, the  glassware  and optical  apparatuses produced  by the  Taegwan Glass

Factory are flawless to all appearance.

Pointing out that the world is rapidly  changing and developing, he called for directing

steady  efforts  to   putting  the  factory's   overall  production  process   and  process  for

checking goods on a  modern basis and introducing update technology,  not content with

the present success, and thus producing better optical glass and measuring equipment.

He expressed  belief and conviction  that the Party  members and other  workers of the

factory would register bigger success in development and production of new goods, true

to the Party's line of building an economic power.

He was  accompanied by Choe Ryong  Hae, member of  the Presidium of  the Political

Bureau  of  the  Central  Committee  of  the  WPK,  vice-chairman  of  the  State  Affairs

Commission of the DPRK and vice-chairman of the C.C., WPK, Jo Yong Won and Kim

Yong Su,  vice  department directors  of the  C.C., WPK,  and Kim  Chang  Son and  Ma

Won Chun, officials of the State Affairs Commission

WHO DISTURBS FAVORABLY GOING REGIONAL SITUATION:

KCNA Commentary

Pyongyang,  November 16  (KCNA)  --  Japan's  military  moves are  so  noisy  in the region recently. It recently conducted an  interceptor missile test in  league with the U.S. in  the waters off Hawaii.

In October  the Ground  "Self-Defense Force"  staged its  first joint  drill with the  UK army. It was reported that  it is the first time for it to  conduct a joint military drill with a foreign army on the mainland, except the U.S. army.

GSDF staged the first joint drill with the Indian army in a northeastern area of India. As  known,  unprecedentedly  getting  stronger  in  the  region  is  the  joint  effort  for defusing the danger of war and preserving peace and security. However, Japan is keen on disturbing the  regional situation, failing to take part in the brisk regional dialogue but getting more and more isolated.

Worse  still,  the  militarist  fanatics  of  Japan  are  getting  desperate  in  the  reckless military  moves  for  realizing  the  wild  ambition  for  overseas  expansion,  only  to  go against the trend of the times and the public aspiration. This can never be overlooked.

The Abe  regime decided to extend  the sphere of  SDF overseas dispatch  to Asia this year  although  it  was  confined  to Africa  under  the  signboard  of  UN  peace-keeping activities.

It established a  mission in NATO  and is putting efforts  in intensifying "cooperation" with its member states. The overseas advance of SDF  being expanded to across the world means  that Japan's military operation covers the whole world.

This also can be abused to secure a "pretext" for the Japanese  forces to be involved in a war of aggression in any part of the world as was in the past century.

It is  as clear  as noonday  that the  Japanese reactionaries  are seeking  to realize  their dirty  dream at  any  cost by  perfecting  the actual  fighting  capacity  of SDF  under  the pretext of "military cooperation" and "joint drill."

With no sleight of hand the militarist fanatics can ever hide their wild ambition. The international community is seriously concerned of the Japanese reactionaries’ bellicose moves destroying peace in the region and other parts of the world. Japan should never forget that the international community is keeping its sharp eye on such moves.

JAPAN SHOULD ADMIT SEXUAL SLAVERY: KCNA COMMENTARY

Pyongyang, November  16 (KCNA)  -- Films dealing  with the  sexual slavery for  the Imperial  Japanese   Army  hit  the   silver  screen  at   an  international  film   festival  in Washington D.C.

The  first   film  festival  squarely  dealing   with  the  sexual   slavery  has  the  theme "wartime sexual abuses, unhealed wounds." Seeing  this, the  international  community realizes  that  the  settlement of  the  sexual slavery issue  still pending  in  the crime-woven  history of  Japan has  become a  serious question, the solution of which brooks no further delay.

The  sexual  slavery  is  the  heinous  inhuman  crime  which  was  perpetrated  by  the Japanese imperialists with the direct involvement of their government. Many Asian  women including 200  000 Korean  women were raped,  gang-raped and massacred by the  Japanese imperialists in  an organized way. Yet,  today's Japan fails to make an apology and reparation for it, still going with impunity.

Far from making  an apology for  the hideous past crimes  and reflecting on  them, the Japanese reactionaries are behaving so impudently, only to stun the public.

Worse still,  they are working  hard to  cover up the  information related  to the sexual slavery. Principal criminals involved  in the establishment and  operation of the sexual slavery system keep mum, not confessing their crimes.

A lot of classified documents detailing the  sexual slavery run by the military are kept in the  Ministry of Defense, Police  Agency, Ministry of  Health, Labor and Welfare  and Ministry of Finance of Japan.

The ruling quarters  of Japan are disallowing the  description of the fact in  the history textbooks while refusing to declassify the documents. The Abe regime  is talking rubbish  that there is  no information proving  the Japanese army's  forcible   drafting   of  comfort   women,  and   even   terms  the   sexual  slavery "volunteer service for making money."

However, the crime-woven history can be neither written off nor covered up. A  footage   proving   the  heinous   massacre  of   Korean   women  by   the  Japanese imperialists  kept in  the  U.S.  National  Archives was  opened  to  public  recently. And operational records  of the allied  forces dealing  with the gun-killings  of the  30 Korean women dating September 13, 1944 were declassified.

This being  a hard fact,  Japan desperately moves to  push under the  carpet the sexual slavery crime  and evade  the international  responsibility for it  only to  betray its  moral vulgarity.

Japan  should   honestly  apologize   and  atone   for  the   sexual   slavery,  instead   of disregarding the demand of the international community for  the settlement of the sexual slavery issue.

Everything will go uneasy for Japan if it fails to atone for its past crimes.

KCNA Commentary Hits Out at Japan's Military Moves

Pyongyang, November   10 (KCNA)   -- Intensified   overseas advance   of Japan’s military is drawing serious concern of the international community.

The Japan Ministry of Defense recently made a formal announcement that it would dispatch its Ground "Self-Defense Force" to Vietnam for the first time in Asia.

This means the expansion of the sphere of SDF overseas military operation to Asia. The sphere was confined to Africa, where SDF troops were deployed under the pretext of "UN peace-keeping activities."

On November 5 SDF kicked off the largest-ever joint military drills in league with the U.S. and Canada under the pretence of "stability of the India-Pacific region." Commenting on it, Reuters reported on Nov.  3 that  Japan  has  buckled  down  to military buildup, being concerned about the security of Asia and it dispatched its biggest warship Kaga to  various countries in the India-Pacific  region including Philippines, Sri Lanka, India and Singapore within  two months this year. Observers appreciated that the joint military drills are targeted at China bolstering its military force in the South China Sea, the British news agency added.

The aim sought by Japan in intensifying military drills with various countries in an all-round way outside its archipelago is as clear as noonday. It is to materialize the wild dream for overseas expansion by making SDF’s military operation easier across the world and perfecting the actual war capability of SDF.

The Japanese reactionaries, being crazy about the revanchist ambition, have never dropped the wild dream for overseas expansion. With the modification of the "Japan-U.S.  Defense Cooperation  Guidelines" and  the adoption of  the  "security law"  in recent  years, Japan  expanded the  SDF's operational sphere  confined to  its  vicinity to  cover  the whole  world.  It also  made  it possible  to exercise  the  "right  to  collective  self-defense"  under  the  pretext  of  military  aids  to "allies."

SDF has cunningly paved  its path for overseas expansion  bit by bit under the  pretext of "keeping  peace" and  "combating terrorism." It  has reached  the phase  of beating  its military drums across the world, hyping "proactive pacifism."

Now that  politicians  of Japan  are hurrying  to revise  the constitution  to specify  the existence of the  SDF in the constitution in the  wake of Prime Minister  Abe's reelection as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, it is  clear that Japan is openly pursuing the overseas advance of its military.

Japan  is  a   country  which  inflicted  untold   disasters  upon  the   peoples  of  Asian countries in the past century. It is just a defeated nation which is banned from exercising the right of belligerency and the rights to participate in a war and having a regular army.

Its  military's  projected  overseas  advance  just  means  a  war  of  aggression  and  such attempt is definitely a crime. The Japanese  reactionaries should be  aware that their  desperate military  moves will only  make Japan  further  isolated  and  rejected by  the  peoples  of the  region  and  the international community.

Revival of militarism will bring miserable ruin to Japan.

Japan Should Pay for Its Crime-Woven Past: KCNA Commentary

Pyongyang, November 13 (KCNA)  -- Japan, an island country,  has again betrayed its impudence.

As known, the Supreme  Court of south Korea recently  gave a decision that a relevant Japanese business should indemnify the Korean victims  of the conscript labor forced by the Japanese imperialists.

However,  Japan  termed  it  "absurd  judgment"  and   "challenge  to  the  international community."

It  even cries  out  for taking  a tough  countermeasure  and presenting  the  case to  the International Court of Justice.

It is just  going so preposterously that  its conduct cannot be  described with even such expressions as "impudence" and "shamelessness."

The international community is greatly astonished by it. Japan has no reason to protest against that judgment.

Japan,  which  declared  conscription  and requisition  as  its  national  policy,  forcibly brought more  than 8.4 million  Korean young  and middle-aged men  to battlefields  and labor sites through abduction  and haul-off, and massacred them  during its 40 odd-year- long occupation of Korea. This atrocity is still enraging the public.

The sites of slave labor where Koreans were toiling away still exist in Japan.

And the course of  drafting, and cruel exploitation, oppression and  killings of Koreans have already been proven by documents of the then Japanese army.

So, Japan  is obliged to  make a  sound apology and  national reparation to  the Korean people for its  crime-woven past when it inflicted  the loss of manpower  and mental and physical damage upon them.

This  is  also  its   legal  and  moral  responsibility  and  duty   before  the  international community.

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Nevertheless, Japan is  even denying the  court judgment on reparation  imposed on an individual company, and on the contrary,  it is behaving just like a guilty party filing the suit first. Such conduct is reminiscent of gangsters and hooligans.

It sheds light on its intent not to admit, reflect on and atone for its past wrongdoings.

It is  the ulterior design  of Japan no  longer to be  shackled by  the issue of  the past in order to turn itself into a "country capable  of going to war" by shaking off the yoke of a war criminal state.

That is why the Abe group is  recently pushing ahead with the project of constitutional revision and the scenario for building a military giant.

Not content with denying the  crime-woven past, it works hard to  repeat it. Herein lies the political and moral vulgarity and impudence peculiar to Japan.

Japan can never evade the responsibility for atoning for its past and it should not avoid the atonement for its past.

It is  the will of  the Korean  nation to  make it pay  dearly for the  past heinous  crimes

without fail even generation after generation