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 14/23 February 23, 2023
1. Press Statement of DPRK Vice Foreign Minister for International Bodies
2. Article of International Affairs Analyst
3. Korea-Japan Protocol
4. National Food–Fermented Rice Cake
Press Statement of DPRK Vice Foreign Minister for International Bodies
Pyongyang, February 22 (KCNA) -- Kim Son Gyong, vice foreign minister for international bodies of the DPRK, issued the following press statement on Wednesday:
The UN secretary general reportedly clarified the stand of unjustly pulling up the DPRK over its self-defensive response to the anti-DPRK military threat and action of the U.S. and south Korea.
I express strong discontent and protest against the extremely unfair and imbalanced attitude taken by the UN secretary general, who ignored the dangerous military actions of the U.S. and south Korea but branded the DPRK's legitimate exercise of right to self-defence against the provocateurs as "provocation" and "threat".
We have already and understandably advised the secretary general of the UN several times to remain true to his duty specified in its Charter and maintain fairness and impartiality in dealing with the Korean peninsula issue.
However, to be most deplorable, the UN secretary general is going on the rampage of illogical and miserable remarks, which are little different from those of U.S. state department officials over the years.
The recent response of the DPRK armed forces was a countermeasure against the U.S., which has frequently introduced such evident strategic attack means as strategic bombers into the Korean peninsula and, together with south Korea, posed a serious threat to the security interests of the DPRK from the outset of the year. It was, furthermore, an action warning to the convocation of a UN Security Council meeting aimed to take issue with the DPRK's right to self-defence for no reason.
As the UN secretary general, he should have to properly consider the root cause of the worsening situation in the Korean peninsula this year and, accordingly, adopt a fair and balanced attitude such as making constructive proposals to help the situation be substantially stabilized.
The situation of the Korean peninsula has again reached an anxious worsening phase. It is entirely due to the reckless military moves and irresponsible bravery of the U.S. and south Korea seeking to contain the DPRK by force.
The UN body, which has to play a fair role in ensuring global peace and security, is being abused as a tool for the U.S. unjust hostile policy toward the DPRK, and thus it is losing confidence of the international community. This is rather due to the unfair behavior of UN Secretary-General Guterres.
The UN secretary general should clearly understand that his unreasonable and prejudiced stand on the Korean peninsula issue is acting as a factor inciting the hostile acts of the U.S. and its followers against the DPRK.
We make clear that in case a situation unwished by anyone arises on the Korean peninsula due to the excessive military adventure of the U.S. and south Korea, the UN secretary general, who has not yet expressed any concern, far from deterring their provocative acts, can never be free from the heavy responsibility for it.
Article of International Affairs Analyst
Pyongyang, February 23 (KCNA) -- Kim Yu Chol, an international affairs analyst, on Thursday made public an article titled "What does the present situation in Ukraine show". The full text of it is as follows:
One year has passed since Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine.
It is the long-cherished desire of mankind to live in a peaceful world free from any armed conflict and war.
The present situation in Ukraine, far from such noble ideal of mankind, clearly tells us who is the arch criminal that sparks disputes and conflicts in different parts of the world and threatens the global peace and security and the existence of mankind.
Inevitable outcome of high-handed practice and hegemonism
If someone claims that the current situation in Ukraine arousing the international community's uneasiness and concern was created one year ago or in 2014 when a coup took place in Ukraine, it will be a very short-sighted and narrow-minded view.
Whoever has a view on the international affairs and normal sense will easily understand that the present situation in Ukraine is not a sudden and short-term challenge to humankind but an inevitable and long-term crisis that has been ignited since the 1990s with the confrontation between the Soviet Union and the U.S. in the Cold War era as a fuse.
As already known, NATO, which had taken the Soviet Union into its strategic sight from the beginning of its birth, broke its promise made at a negotiation with the Soviet Union on unification of Germany that it would not expand the alliance even an inch, and admitted 14 countries in East Europe, the Balkans and Baltic seas into it on five occasions after the collapse of the Soviet Union. And it is now talking about the entry of even Ukraine near Russia.
It is a well known fact that the policy on NATO's "advance into the East" pursued by the U.S. and the West is aimed at ultimately separating and weakening Russia, the successor to the Soviet Union, and preventing it from restoration by tightening the encirclement ring around it.
Russia had repeatedly warned the U.S. and NATO of their dangerous moves, but they have systematically destroyed the regional security environment, persistently ignoring the former's legitimate and just demand and openly attempting to deploy the attack weapon system in Ukraine.
Russia proposed respectively to the U.S. and NATO the issue of concluding a treaty reflecting its legitimate security requirements, such as the cessation of the eastward expansion of NATO including the entry of Ukraine to NATO and the ban of deployment of attack weapons systems in neighboring countries of Russia in December 2021, but their response was too cool.
In the final analysis, it can be estimated that the hegemonic policy pursued by the U.S. and the West, which have persistently resorted to military threats and pressure policies, instead of regarding Russia as a true dialogue partner and companion to co-exist, compelled Russia to start preemptive military actions to fundamentally remove the external military threats to it.
It is preposterous for the U.S. and the West to label Russia as an "aggressor", "war criminal state" and "peace wrecker", while commenting the Ukrainian situation triggered by them, as they had already pushed several countries into a vortex of national discord, antagonism and armed conflict under unreasonable pretexts.
Real Intention to Pour Oil on Fire
Shortly ago, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Agency announced that the U.S. and NATO member states had supplied 440 tanks, 1 510 combat infantry vehicles, 665 artillery pieces and over 1.8 million shells to Ukraine in total. The U.S. Department of Defense also admitted that it has supported weapons worth 29.8 billion U.S. dollars to Ukraine from February last year.
This is enough to arm a country completely and fight a whole war.
The U.S. is insisting that its huge arms support to the Kiev authorities is aimed to make Ukraine defend itself from Russia's "aggression". But this is nothing but a crude sophism that can never deceive even a mere child.
As commented by experts on international affairs, the real intention of the U.S. offering huge military hardware to Ukraine in collusion with its allies is to continuously drive Ukraine into a proxy war with Russia and thus beat Russia down at any cost.
It is also to meet the interests of the U.S. munitions monopolies and further deteriorate the security situation in the region by taking advantage of the situation in Ukraine and thus keep the European countries under its control and maintain its hegemonic position.
An old proverb says that a quarrel should be stopped and a fire should be put out.
But the U.S. is persistently preventing the Ukraine-Russia dialogue and negotiation aimed at the peaceful settlement of the situation.
It is not without reason that it was told at the recent Munich Security Conference that there are forces who do not want a peace negotiation and truce to be realized and that they have a more ambitious strategic goal considering no sacrifice of Ukrainians and no loss of Europe.
The U.S., that is bringing Ukraine bloodshed and war clouds by providing it with many lethal weapons and equipment of various kinds, has deliberately fabricated and spread "rumors that some countries are supporting Russia with weapons," far from reflecting on and atoning for its unethical crimes. This is the height of the U.S. double-standards and shamelessness.
If the U.S. keeps on waging the reckless campaign to give military support to Ukraine, it will unavoidably cause more mighty countermeasures of Russia, aggravate the security situation in the region and increase the dangerousness of Russia-U.S. military conflict.
So there is no guarantee that such a military conflict will not lead to a new world war beyond Europe posing threats to existence of the entire mankind.
Following U.S. Leads to Self-Ruin
Russia and Ukraine are not simply neighbor countries.
The two countries are inseparable because of the history, culture, lineage, religious faith, etc. so it is no wonder that it is said that the peoples of the two countries belong to the same nation.
Notwithstanding, Ukraine has been involved in the war against Russia. It is because Ukraine has thrown its destiny on the pro-U.S. acts and submission to it.
At the instigation of the U.S., Ukraine oppressed the Russian-speaking residents and compatriots in Donbas, trampled on the cultural ties with Russia of more than a thousand years, denied the history of the Second World War, and revived Nazism. This has caused the ongoing tragedy.
This was not an unavoidable destiny.
If Ukraine had not recklessly availed itself of the U.S. policy of confrontation with Russia but promoted reconciliation and unity with its neighbors, little short of the fellow countrymen, rejecting the dirty tentacles of the U.S., the situation would not have reached such a grave phase as now.
The U.S., which emerged with aggression and has grown fat in wars, is an empire of evils encroaching upon the security and interests of not only the hostile states but also its allies without hesitation to attain its selfish purpose.
The group of traitors prolonging their remaining days by clinging to the U.S. sleeves which may be torn into pieces anytime, should get rid of the pro-U.S. sycophancy as early as possible and settle the present crisis peacefully to save their destiny, to say nothing of that of their citizens.
The present situation in Ukraine goes to clearly prove once again that peace will never settle in the world unless the high-handed and arbitrary practices and greedy aggression policy of the U.S. are terminated as it does not hesitate to sabotage the peace and security of a sovereign state in order to maintain its hegemonic position.
The U.S. should come to its senses, though belatedly.
If the U.S. persists in reckless acts of threatening the sovereignty and security of other countries by force of arms by instigating its stooges with the sinister aim to topple down sovereign states which do not follow its will, it will be burned to death by the fire kindled by it.
Korea-Japan Protocol
The history of Japan’s aggression against Korea records the Korea-Japan Protocol signed on February 23, 1904.
At a meeting held in December 1903, the Japanese Cabinet passed a decision that reads in part, “It would be most convenient to conclude a treaty on protectorate as we cannot but put it (the feudal Joson dynasty) under our control by force in any case, as well as it would be a best method to choose a plausible reason.”
This shows that Japan regarded it as a fait accompli to put Korea under its military occupation, and schemed to disguise it with a “diplomatic document” for form’s sake.
Japan persistently forced the feudal Joson government to sign the Korea-Japan Protocol by resorting to all sorts of threats and blackmail for months. However, its shameless attempt met with a strong opposition of the Joson government.
Japan’s hastening of the signing of the “protocol” was related to a violent competition between big powers to control Korea at that time.
In order not to lose the competition, it did not hesitate to mobilize means of violence. As its diplomatic blackmail failed, it unleashed the Russo-Japanese War.
In early February 1904, it informed Tsarist Russia severance of its diplomatic relations with the latter, and issued an order for moving to the previously-organized advance party of its armed forces.
The advance party landed on Inchon and straightly set foot in Hansong (Seoul).
The Japanese aggressor forces fully revealed their true colours from the beginning of their invasion of Korea. They turned Korea into a theatre of blood by further intensifying their threatening military actions.
Maechonyarok(a book of historical facts from 1864 to 1910) reveals the news of that time as follows:
“The Japanese army that arrived in Hansong from Inchon consisted of 50 000 soldiers with over 10 000 horses, occupying the Imperial Palace, government offices and even ordinary houses. In the southern part it marched to Taegu via Tongrae; from the South Sea to Namwon and to Jonju via Kunsan; in the west to Pyongyang and Samhwa; in the north to Wonsan and Songjin. It advanced gradually with the distance of tens of kilometres among one another.”
After creating such a situation, the Japanese imperialists resorted more persistently to their moves to fabricate the Korea-Japan Protocol.
In a word, it was a brigandish crime reminiscent of a military operation.
First of all, it ensured that the aggressor forces sealed off the Royal Palace on the plea of protecting the Imperial Palace and the territory, completely checking Emperor Kojong from escaping as a protest against signing the protocol.
As its attempt to fabricate the protocol was faced with a stubborn resistance of the Korean government officials, the Japanese aggressor troops staged arrests of “opposition forces,” even kidnapping some of them at midnight and sending them to Japan.
And it signed the Korea-Japan Protocol, sitting face to face with pro-Japanese traitors of Korea.
As seen above, the Korea-Japan Protocol was a fraudulent and aggressive document concocted by means of military threats and blackmail of Japan from A to Z.
Later, in 1905, Japan finally forced the Ulsa Five-point Treaty on the feudal Korean government, depriving Korea of its diplomatic rights and enforcing barbarous colonial rule over it.
The aggressive nature of Japan has not changed as yet.
In last December, the Japanese government adopted three security-related documents including the new state security strategy, and made public measures for increasing defence expenditure accordingly. Japan has thus cast off the veil of the “pacifist state” that all its successive governments had put forward even though externally after the Second World War, and removed the “exclusive defensive security system,” a brake gear for form’s sake, running headlong for its reinvasion. The repetition of its bloody crimes of aggression in the past will never be tolerated.
The Korean people, always remembering the thrice-cursed crimes committed by imperialist Japan, are hardening their will to settle accounts with their pent-up grudges against their centuries-old enemy state.
National Food–Fermented Rice Cake
Fermented rice cake is a kind of rice cake the Korean people are fond of.
Prepared by mixing grain flour with hot water, kneading the dough, fermenting it after adding a sweet drink, made with rice and malt, or liquor and steaming it, it is called by different names according to the methods it is made and to its shape.
Rice cake made by fermenting the dough with liquor was called kiju rice cake, and the one made by steaming was called jungphyon. According to shapes, rice cake in shape of dribble is called panguljungphyon, or phyonjungphyon when it is steamed on a flat surface.
The rice cake has been handed down from the period of Koryo (918-1392), but the detailed method of its preparation can be found in such historical books as Tongguksesigi and Puinphilji from the period of the feudal Joson dynasty (1392-1910).
According to Puinphilji, rice flour is mixed with hot water first before adding a small amount of liquor and sesame oil and the dough is kneaded. The container with the dough is sealed tight and put in a warm place. When the dough is fully fermented, a piece of wrapping cloth is spread over the cake steamer and the dough is ladled over it. It is garnished with finely sliced jujube, dried persimmon or pine nuts, cooked in a steamer and oiled.
Garnishes were an indispensable element for adding more to its taste, shape and colour. Chestnut, jujube, pine nuts, boletus and others were used for garnishing.
Unlike other kinds of rice cake, this rice cake, a fermented dish, does not become spoiled even in summer.
The Chongnyu Restaurant on the bank of the picturesque Pothong River in the capital city of Pyongyang serves fermented rice cake prepared by a traditional method. The rice cake has been registered on the list of celebrated dishes of the restaurant.
“Fermented rice cake with sour and delicious taste and fragrant smell is favoured by people who come to our restaurant,” said Kim Mi Hyang, a chef at the restaurant.