THE EMBASSY OF THE DEMOCRATIC
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA TO SWITZERLAND
Pourtalésstrasse 43 Tel: +41-31 951 6621
3074 Muri/Bern Switzerland Fax: +41-31 951 5704
E-mail: dprk.embassy@bluewin.ch
No. 5/23 January 19, 2023
1. 8th Session of 14th SPA of DPRK Held
2. Press Statement of Director General for Int'l Organizations of DPRK Foreign Ministry Issued
3. Great Love Dedicated to Education of Young Generation
4. Who Should Sit in Human Rights Dock?
5. Europe’s Dependence on Others: What Does It Show?
8th Session of 14th SPA of DPRK Held
Present at the session were the deputies to the SPA and as observers officials of the Party Central Committee, the Standing Committee of the SPA, the Cabinet, armed forces organs, ministries and national institutions, chairpersons of city and county people's committees and officials concerned.
Taking the platform were Kim Tok Hun, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), vice-president of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK and premier of the Cabinet, and Ri Pyong Chol, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK.
Choe Ryong Hae, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK, first vice-president of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK and chairman of the SPA Standing Committee, made an opening address.
When the session was declared open, the national anthem of the DPRK was played.
Prior to discussions on agenda items, the chairman and vice-chairman of the SPA were by-elected.
Chairman Pak In Chol presided over the meeting.
The session decided the agenda items of the 8th Session of the 14th SPA of the DPRK.
First, on the DPRK Cabinet's work in Juche 111 (2022) and its tasks for Juche 112 (2023)
Second, on the fulfillment of the state budget for Juche 111 (2022) and on the state budget for Juche 112 (2023) of the DPRK
Third, on adopting the law of the DPRK on the protection of the cultured Pyongyang dialect
Fourth, on the work of the DPRK Central Public Prosecutors Office in Juche 111 (2022)
Fifth, an organizational matter
Deputy Kim Tok Hun, premier of the Cabinet, made a report on the first agenda item and Deputy Ko Jong Bom, minister of Finance, made a report on the second agenda item.
Then deputies made speeches.
Speakers said that the reports submitted to the deliberation of the SPA correctly reviewed the work of the Cabinet and the fulfillment of the state budget for last year, clearly set forth the main tasks to be carried out by the Cabinet in this year's struggle to lay a decisive guarantee for the fulfillment of the five-year plan and drew up the state budget on the principle of supporting the buildup of national defence, economic development and improvement of the people's living in financial harmony, expressing full support to them.
They analyzed and reviewed the achievements and shortcomings made and revealed in their fields and units last year from a critical and developmental point of view and referred to the tasks and ways for their fields and units to ensure the stable development of the national economy and bring about a substantial change in the people's living.
Speakers raised the issues arising in developing the Cabinet's work as required by the policies.
Deputy Kim Tok Hun, premier of the Cabinet, explained the issues related with the Cabinet's work and the state's economic and practical measures to solve them.
Unanimously adopted at the session were the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly's decision "On approving the report on the work of the DPRK Cabinet and the fulfillment of the state budget for Juche 111 (2022)", and ordinance of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly "On the state budget of the DPRK for Juche 112 (2023)".
Deputy Kang Yun Sok, vice-chairman of the SPA Standing Committee, made a report on the third agenda item.
Saying that it is a law-governed requirement of the development of socialist national culture to protect and actively preserve the cultured Pyongyang dialect, he stressed the importance of thoroughly establishing a Juche orientation in everyday language.
The SPA Standing Committee brought up the draft law of the DPRK on the protection of the cultured Pyongyang dialect for deliberation of the SPA according to Article 95 of the Socialist Constitution.
Deputies had a study and discussion on the draft law.
The SPA decided to add the suggestions at the study and discussion to relevant articles of the draft law.
Speeches on the third agenda item were made.
The session adopted the ordinance of the Supreme People's Assembly "On the Adoption of the Law of the DPRK on the Protection of Cultured Pyongyang Dialect" with unanimous approval.
Deputy U Sang Chol, director of the Central Public Prosecutor's Office, made a report on the fourth agenda item.
The report detailed the work of the Central Public Prosecutors Office last year.
At the end of the report, the deputies presented their opinions on the work of the office.
Deputy U Sang Chol made public a proposal for the measures on the opinions.
The SPA examined the work of the office in 2022 and admitted that it had smoothly fulfilled its duty as stipulated in the Socialist Constitution and adopted a decision of the SPA "On approving the report of the DPRK Central Public Prosecutors Office's work".
The session discussed the organizational matter as the fifth agenda item.
Chairman Pak In Chol made a closing address.
The Eighth Session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly was successfully held.
Press Statement of Director General for Int'l Organizations of
DPRK Foreign Ministry Issued
At an open seminar of the UNSC sponsored by Japan on Jan. 12, UN Secretary-General Guterres made the very improper remarks that the DPRK is a "clear and existing danger", terming the latter's legitimate and reasonable policy of strengthening nuclear forces an "illegal one".
I express my deep regret at the fact that the UN Secretary-General has not gotten rid of the outdated, biased and insensible way of thinking on the present situation of the Korean Peninsula and, in particular, the sovereign right of a full-fledged member state of the UN and resolutely condemn and reject his remarks.
If Guterres understands that an individual UN member state's bolstering the capability for self-defence is the violation of international law, he, first of all, should take issue with Japan, stipulated in the UN Charter as a hostile country, over its ambition for turning itself into a military giant and, furthermore, explain why the U.S., the world's biggest nuclear weapons state and the military expenditure state, is receiving the extraterritorial treatment at the UN forum.
We have already advised several times the UN Secretary-General to examine the issue of the Korean Peninsula on the basis of impartiality and objectivity in accordance with his mission clarified in the charter.
However, he is trying to shift the blame onto the DPRK, ignoring the reckless arms buildup of the U.S. maximizing the regional tensions while constantly bringing all sorts of nuclear strike means to the Korean peninsula and the region. His behavior is a clear and typical double-standards and dangerous act of destroying the trust of the world community in the UN.
The source of reducing the international community into chaos is none other than the high-handed and arbitrary practices of the U.S. and its following forces.
To make the current seminar really helpful even a bit to maintaining the international peace and stability, it should have called into question the violation of international law by the U.S., the ringleader of world's instability, and other Western countries, first of all, not taking issue with a sovereign state over its exercise of the legitimate right to self-defence.
If the unfair deeds of the U.S. that is wantonly violating the purpose and principle of the UN Charter that clarifies the equality and respect of sovereignty and non-interference of internal affairs in order to maintain its unchallenged position remain intact, the world can never get rid of uneasiness, confusion, distrust and conflict.
As far as Japan, that has not yet admitted the results of the Second World War, the basic foundation and base for establishing the UN, and honestly liquidated the past history of its colonial rule over the Korean people, is concerned, it has no moral and legal qualification to rank itself into the UNSC by nature.
If Japan attempts to incite confrontation and division among countries and realize its ambition for turning itself into a military giant by abusing the position of the non-permanent member state of the UNSC, it will meet accusation and condemnation of the just international community and repeat its fatal past by itself.
No matter how desperately the U.S. and its vassal forces may try, the international position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state, true to its name, will remain an eternally inerasable, stark reality.
Great Love Dedicated to Education of Young Generation
On January 16, 2018, 5 years ago, respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, with a far-reaching plan to achieve rapid development in education, visited the newly-remodeled Pyongyang Teacher Training College.
The college, with a total floor space of more than 24 100 square meters, perfectly meets all the requirements of educational work. It has multi-function class rooms, education science exhibition hall, a library which could be seen as a reduced version of the Sci-Tech Complex, modern gymnasium, indoor swimming pool, etc. The college is pedigree establishment for training teachers completed under the meticulous care of respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.
He expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the college was reconstructed and modernized as required by the new era. And he said that education is work of lasting significance for the country's future and the teacher training colleges have an important role to play in glorifying the DPRK as a country of education and a talent power by bringing about a radical improvement in education in the new century.
Revolution in education doesn’t mean following in the steps of others. It means providing creative, innovative and offensive educational methods which challenge and lead the world and ensure that the level of our country’s education goes beyond the one of developed countries in the shortest possible period. In this way, we should achieve our ultimate goal of transforming our country into a country of education and talent power as soon as possible. This is the ennobling intention of respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.
Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, by setting the educational work for the posterity as an important matter related to the rise or fall of the country, took important measures for giving a top priority to the development of education in the historic march of the new century of Juche.
In September 2012, he brought about a radical turn in the new era’s educational revolution by introducing the universal 12-year compulsory education system. And in August 2014, he opened up a broad avenue for the education in the new century by publishing the immortal classic work “Let Us Glorify Ours as the Country of Education and a Power of Talents by Bringing about a Revolution in Education in the New Century".
At the 3rd Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee of the WPK, respected Comrade Kim Jong Un put forth the historical slogan “Let us make a leap forward by dint of science and guarantee the future by dint of education!” and wisely clarified the tasks and ways to flare up educational revolution in the new century among educational institutions. He also saw to it that a climate of attaching utmost importance to education pervades the whole country.
Comrade Kim Jong Un personally projected the construction of super-class modern apartments for educators and organized and guided the whole process of the construction. He also promised to actively support the university as honorary president. With his paternal love, a social climate of attaching importance to education was established more firmly in the whole country.
Under the noble love of respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, our education today serves as the nutrient of growth and the base of soul which brings up the coming generation – our future – in a strong and faithful way.
Thanks to the benevolent love and wise leadership of respected Comrade Kim Jong Un dedicated to the educational work for the posterity, our new generations are soundly growing into the pillars and masters of the future Korea, and our fatherland will continue to shine brilliantly as a country of education and as a talent power envied by the whole world.
Who Should Sit in Human Rights Dock?
At this moment when a new year begins, humankind is full of hope and expectations of the future, yet reflecting on the lessons of last year.
In the last year as well, the international society was so much concerned by specific forces who found fault with other countries at their own pleasure and dishonestly attempted to bring them into the human rights dock.
The ringleader who turned the international human rights arena – the room for promoting dialogue and cooperation between countries – into a venue for confrontation is none other than the United States.
At the UN Human Rights Council and the third Committee of the UNGA Session and other major meetings devoted to human rights last year, the U.S. tried to brand independent countries as human rights violators and anti-humanity criminal states by making a big fuss about “dismal human situation” and “wide-ranging violations of human rights” in those countries.
In particular, at the 51st Session of the UNHRC last October, the U.S. presented a draft resolution on regularizing the discussions of China Xinjiang issue from the 52nd Session in 2023 and desperately tried to pass it by mustering some Western countries.
However, the draft was ultimately turned down, for a number of developing countries strongly opposed to such attempt of the U.S. as interference in internal affairs of China.
Meanwhile, the U.S. did not hesitate to railroad following forces into adopting “human rights resolutions” which had seriously distorted and fabricated the human rights situations in individual countries.
Anti-imperialist independent countries like China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Belarus strongly condemned and rejected such double-standard and high-handed behavior as political provocation in pursuit of the aim to interfere in internal affairs and topple the system of those countries.
In December, the U.S. attempt to convene at the UNSC an official meeting to discuss so-called DPRK “human rights issue” met a rebuff after facing opposition from a majority of Security Council members.
The U.S. attempt to convene such a meeting has failed for 5 years in a row. This fact serves as a good judgment of the international society on the illegality and impropriety of the “human rights” racket against the DPRK.
The above-mentioned facts show that the time is long gone when the U.S. indulged itself in high-handedness and arbitrariness posing as a “human rights judge” in the international arena.
The U.S. fabricates “human rights violation” and “human rights abuse” of other countries which do not exist and raises much ado about them in public. But what it is doing behind the scenes only arouses surging resentment and contempt of the world people.
For instance, the crimes committed in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria in the new century are the gravest crimes of human rights violation that deserve to be placed in the dock of human rights as often as it can be.
The review process on the U.S. implementation of “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination”, which took place at the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in August last year, turned into a venue for impeachment where the foul crimes of human rights violation committed by the U.S. against the non-whites were indicted fully before the world.
Many experts participating in the review unanimously and sharply denounced the U.S. saying that, while being indifferent to the deep-rooted racial discrimination in its own country, the U.S. is bent on inventing lies and groundless rumors about human rights situation in other countries in order to use them as a means of hegemony-maintaining policy and political tricks.
Due to its own incurable dismal human rights situation and bloody atrocities it committed abroad, the U.S. has long been disqualified for arguing about human rights issues. Therefore, its conduct of imprudently labeling other countries and clinging to groundless criticism could never be accepted in today’s bright world.
The U.S. should clearly see the stern eyes of the broad spectrum of the international society and put an end to the anachronistic behavior of “human right judge”. And it should sit in the dock of human rights, honestly reflecting on the past and present crimes.
Jang Chol Ho, Researcher of Korean Association for Human Rights Studies
Europe’s Dependence on Others: What Does It Show?
Europe is now spending a harsh winter due to the inflation first ever in 40 years and the worst energy crisis in history.
This was compounded by price hikes. As a result, European residents are surviving hard time and factories and shops are closed one after another.
One of the ways out of the current economic crisis is to diversify external trade. This is common economic knowledge.
But Europe is wavering in its attitude just reading the face of the “inspector”- the U.S.
Recently, Germany is under pressure from the U.S. to stop China’s investment in Hamburg Port, one of the three major ports in Europe. Meanwhile, the Netherlands has also come under pressure from Washington to limit its semiconductor manufacturing equipment export to China.
EU and European countries should draw a lesson from the Ukrainian crisis.
Ukrainian crisis caused by the U.S.-led eastward advance of NATO has disturbed the security of Europe. Taking advantage of this, the U.S. has pushed EU and the European countries into the quagmire of the Ukrainian crisis.
I want to remind you that the U.S. used the Ukrainian situation as a good opportunity to create a windfall by conducting a large-scale transaction while the entire Europe is suffering a nightmare of security crisis, economic crisis and energy crisis due to the Ukrainian crisis.
As reported by the Bloomberg news agency, the U.S. sold its liquefied gas to Europe at four-fold price of its domestic sale despite the fact that Europe has already suffered a tremendous loss of US$ 1 trillion after giving up gas import from Russia.
According to the data published by the American magazine “Foreign Policy”, the weapons sales of the U.S. to NATO members increased two-fold in 2022 in comparison to 2021, driving up the profit of the U.S. munitions industry and share prices of many enterprises to the highest-ever level.
There is a saying “Friend in need is a friend indeed”. I am now wondering what a word is proper to describe a friend who lives by racketeering his friend when he is in need now.
Moreover, the U.S. once again proved the fact that there is no limit on its greed by publishing “Inflation Reduction Act”, the U.S.-priority law, taking no account of the straightened circumstances of its allies who are struggling to overcome the current economic crisis.
The American newspaper “Wall Street Journal” argued that the U.S. should demand that the allies actively join its policy of restraining semiconductor development in China in return for providing them with subsidy for electric cars. The Netherlands also made an unexpected announcement that it would limit the export of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China.
Now we can easily guess how desperately the U.S. is working behind the curtains.
It is the evil design of the U.S. to contain and weaken the radical economic growth of China even at the cost of sacrificing entire Europe.
The total amount of trade by Germany, the Netherlands and France between China are no less than US$ 235 billion, US$ 100 billion and US$ 80 billion respectively. For them and other European countries, it is tantamount to a suicidal act to exclude China from the global industrial chain and to reject Chinese market as required by the U.S.
The U.S. is instigating its allies to seek confrontation and use it as a good chance to hit the jackpot and to fish in troubled waters. EU and European countries should see through such evil intention of the U.S. and break from their conventional habit of depending on the U.S. at the earliest date possible.
Independent foreign policy will be the only choice for Europe.
Son U Jin, Researcher of Korea-Europe Association