THE EMBASSY OF THE DEMOCRATIC
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA TO SWITZERLAND
Pourtalèsstrasse 43
3074 Muri/Bern Switzerland
No 103/26
1. Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Goes round Venue of Garment and Footwear Exhibition in Light Industry
2. Press Statement of Spokesman for Association of Korean Victims of Forcible Drafting and Their Bereaved Families
3. Military Muscle-Flexing Will Meet with Reaction Based on Power: KCNA Commentary
4. Press Statement of Kim Yo Jong, Department Director of WPK Central Committee
5. Press Statement of Kim Yo Jong, Department Director of C.C., WPK
Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Goes round Venue of Garment and Footwear Exhibition in Light Industry
Pyongyang, October 20 (KCNA) -- Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, went round the venue of a garment and footwear exhibition in light industry on October 19.
He was accompanied by leading officials of the Party and the government.
Comrade Kim Jong Un was greeted on the spot by senior officials of the Light Industry Department of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.
On display at the National Garment and Footwear Exhibition-2026 to be held under the theme of "Enthusiasm for developing new products and improving their quality" are more than 70 700 garments of over 30 kinds and over 170 000 pairs of shoes of over 60 kinds which were manufactured by more than 270 garment, footwear and bag production units, including major light industry factories and the newly-built city and county garment factories to suit the tastes of the Korean people and the world trend of development.
Comrade Kim Jong Un went round with satisfaction the venue of the exhibition which comprehensively shows the features of the development of the light industry sector which is promoting the improvement of the material and cultural welfare of the people and making rapid progress.
Saying that the national light industry goods exhibition which has been held in every October is intimately settled in the cultural and emotional life of our people, he appreciated that the current exhibition has been prepared, making another progress in scale, content and form, which are different from last year's.
He said that all aspects including the brand and display, to say nothing of the shape, colour and quality of the products on display clearly show the rapid and substantial development of the light industry sector which is waging a hot emulation while concentrating efforts on improving the quality and developing new products, adding that the current exhibition eloquently signifies the daily-increasing cultural level of our people and the development of our light industry.
He said that dozens of kinds of smart and quality garment and footwear products presented by the city and county garment factories and other regional light industry factories newly built under the Party's policy of regional development are squarely competing with the products of the central-level factories, adding that this is a clear demonstration of the validity and vitality of the Party's policy aimed at eliminating the differences between the central and local areas and between urban and rural areas and achieving simultaneous and balanced development of the whole country.
Comrade Kim Jong Un said that progress in light industry should lead the noble and beautiful trend, civilization and development of our society by further accelerating the vigorous development trend of light industry so that the foundations of light industry, which have already been established in the central and local areas and are being expanded every year, can meet the people's growing cultural and emotional requirement and ensure their colorful life.
Saying that it is most important for the light industry sector to give precedence to designing of the products and develop it, Comrade Kim Jong Un stressed the need to organize design festivals and exhibitions in various forms and methods, learn about the cultural tastes of the working people through them and introduce them into production, thus increasing the economic effectiveness and scientific accuracy of the production of goods.
He set forth the orientation and tasks for the development of light industry including the issue of encouraging the development of peculiar national costumes of Korean style, the issue of producing more diverse light industrial goods with elements symbolic of the national flag of the DPRK to inspire the people with patriotism and make patriotism permeate the daily life of society, the issue of widely publishing and disseminating various kinds of picture albums and magazines introducing new garment and footwear products on an annual basis, the issue of raising the hot wind of emulation among the production units at all levels with their monopoly indices and the issue of consistently ensuring the quality in the production of schoolchildren's uniforms, bags and shoes.
Press Statement of Spokesman for Association of Korean Victims of Forcible Drafting and Their Bereaved Families
Pyongyang, October 20 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Association of Korean Victims of Forcible Drafting and Their Bereaved Families on Oct. 20 released the following press statement "Japanese politicians' tribute to Yasukuni Shrine to revive souls of militarists should never be tolerated":
Shortly ago, right-wing conservative politicians of Japan made offerings and visits to the Yasukuni Shrine again, occasioned by the autumn ancestral rite day.
The current chief executive of Japan made offerings to the shrine two times on the occasion of the April spring ancestral rite day. And on the day of Japan's defeat, she made a bow toward the shrine on her way to the venue for a national memorial service for the war dead. She again made an offering to the shrine during the autumn ritual period.
Meanwhile, about 70 dietmen belonging to the Association of Dietmen for Visiting "Yasukuni Shrine" flocked to the shrine, led by cabinet members, to pay tribute to the late militarists buried at the shrine and prayed for their souls' revival.
This constitutes Japan's categorical denial of its past blood-stained history of aggression and a manifestation of its lunatic militarism, a dangerous attempt to realize the daydream about the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" at any cost by inciting revanchism through society. No excuse or pretext can justify this.
The international community has opposed the Japanese politicians' tribute to the shrine and taken it seriously for decades, but the ruling politicians of Japan have persistently paid tribute to the shrine on every occasion to spread venomous militarism throughout Japan.
Visitors to the shrine pray for repose of the dead war maniacs and human butchers, punished by history for the hideous massacres they had committed by spearheading the invasions of other nations in the last century, and even praise them as "gods who brought comfort to the country" and "heroes". So its existence is just a serious matter.
What should not be overlooked is the fact that the Japanese reactionaries work hard to turn Japan into a war-capable nation after throwing away such signboards, so far put up as symbols of a "pacifist nation," as "exclusive defense", "three principles of arms export" and "three non-nuclear principles", and even talk about "creation of an environment for realizing the prime minister's tribute to the Yasukuni Shrine" to fan up the flames of neo-militarism.
The present chief executive of Japan is so impudent that she told the Diet there was no reason for her to reflect on the past crimes as she does not belong to the generation directly responsible for them. This shows her true colors as a descendant of militarism.
Now that an ultra-right politician, armed with militarism to her marrow of bone, has taken power, other politicians do not feel guilty about the past crimes but visit the Yasukuni Shrine to praise the war criminals as "patriots" who laid down their precious lives for the peace and prosperity of Japan and swear revenge for Japan's defeat. And they regard it as a "demonstration of their existence". This is the political climate of Japan.
Far from redeeming the sinful past, the Japanese politicians ceaselessly visit the Yasukuni Shrine dedicated to the top class war criminals, who inflicted untold misfortune and sufferings on the Korean people and other Asian peoples in the last century, and those killed on battlefields of aggressive war. This is an intolerable mockery of and insult to the victims of the Japanese imperialists' wars of aggression and their bereaved families and an unpardonable challenge to international justice and peace.
We cannot repress our surging indignation against the reckless moves of the Japanese authorities that continue rubbing salt into the unhealed wounds of the victims by distorting the history of aggression and insulting them, far from feeling guilty about the atrocities of the Japanese imperialist brutes and reflecting on them. And on behalf of all the victims and their bereaved families, we vehemently denounce the authorities.
The Japanese politicians should show the international community, desirous of justice and peace, their correct attitude towards history and make sincere apology and reparation for the thrice-cursed crimes, mindful that they would get nothing but the fate of Tojo for their group visits to the shrine.
Military Muscle-Flexing Will Meet with Reaction Based on Power: KCNA Commentary
Pyongyang, October 20 (KCNA) -- New danger of war is prevailing in the Korean peninsula and the rest of Northeast Asia due to the large-scale joint military exercises launched by the ROK and Japan with the U.S. on October 19.
The reckless moves of the enemy states, aimed at gaining the superior strength, foretell the escalation of regional military tensions, and constitute the root cause of adding a new element of instability to the security environment of regional countries.
The U.S. forces in the ROK will participate in the large-scale field mobile war exercises Hoguk to be conducted by the warmongers of the puppet ROK until October 30. During the exercises, two rounds of joint field mobile training, postponed during Ulji Freedom Shield war game in August for its earlier conclusion, will be reportedly conducted.
The ROK did not conceal the aggressive and provocative nature of Hoguk by announcing that it would intensify cooperation and actual war simulation in the spheres of ground, sea and air, and conduct such field mobile drills as simulated battles between units, in the light of recent warfare, during the exercises.
Timed to coincide with the war racket of the ROK, Japan, too, launched the largest-ever joint military drill Keen Sword with the U.S. across the Japanese archipelago on October 19 with the involvement of about 45 000 troops, 6 100 vehicles, 40 warships and 260 planes.
In particular, the U.S. nuclear carrier Theodore Roosevelt strike group will take part in the drill and the U.S. new-type anti-ship missile system NMESIS will be deployed in Japan for the first time.
Against this backdrop, the commander of the U.S. forces in the ROK and those concerned of the U.S. Eighth Army, cried out for responding to the DPRK's "evolved threat," openly revealed their design to drastically expand the joint military drills through the additional introduction of dispersive drill mode of the U.S. and the ROK, and betrayed their intention to accelerate the deployment of the U.S. Army multi-domain mobile task force in the ROK and turn it into the frontline logistic base.
The reality goes to clearly prove that the ROK and Japan are going to stand in the forefront of the "proxy war" against the DPRK and other regional countries under the active backstage manipulation of the U.S. aimed at forming the Asia-Pacific version of NATO.
Recently, the ROK staged provocative military drills such as a maritime infiltration drill and Ssangyong, all of which were aimed at mastering the war-fighting capability, and enacted a "special law" to introduce nuclear submarines.
Japan, too, is working hard to revive militarism, as evidenced by the fact that it specified "new mode of operation" and "increased capability for attacking enemy bases" in its 2026 Defense White Paper and is going to spend the largest-ever military expenditure and mobilize type 25 surface-to-ship guided missile with a range of 1 000 km for the Keen Sword joint military exercises.
The ROK and Japan are getting undisguised in their reckless moves for escalating military confrontation, occasioned by the U.S. pursuance of the strategy for "modernized alliance". This constitutes a major factor of aggravating the danger of war on the Korean peninsula and wantonly violating the security environment of the DPRK and other neighboring countries.
According to its new national security strategy and defence strategy, the U.S. seeks to let the ROK and Japan steadily increase their war-fighting capabilities under the pretext of deterring rival nations in the first island chain and use them as shock brigades for realizing its Indo-Pacific strategy.
The present situation, in which the hostile forces get frantic in their military moves to infringe upon the security interests of the DPRK and undermine the regional strategic stability, highlights the validity and justness of the DPRK's indispensable self-defensive efforts to deter them.
Bolstered deterrent is required to deal with ever-escalating threats, and repeated provocations are bound to meet with such prompt reaction as bolstering of stronger capabilities.
To cope with the security environment on the Korean peninsula that has been put in new danger by oft-repeated U.S.-Japan-ROK military provocations, the DPRK will continue to remind them of its will to defend sovereignty through ceaseless upgrading, bolstering and responsible demonstration of its reliable war deterrent for self-defence.
The DPRK is unshakable in its stand to control and manage all threats to its security sphere, given the immutable reality that the enemy states' ill-intended moves for military confrontation will never come to an end or diminish.
Tit-for-tat principle based on strong power will be applied to cope with the muscle flexing of the enemy states.
Press Statement of Kim Yo Jong, Department Director of WPK Central Committee
Pyongyang, October 19 (KCNA) -- Kim Yo Jong, department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, released the following press statement "We don't say empty words about protection of our sovereignty" on Oct. 19:
Now the situation of the southern border is very unstable.
A grave situation is prevailing along the southern border due to the reckless behavior of the ROK military gangsters.
The warmongers of the ROK military are seriously threatening the safety of our service personnel by firing warning shots at them with automatic rifles and large-calibre machine guns under such unreasonable pretext that the personnel, involved in fortifying the southern border, "crossed the borderline". Such provocations began in August, alongside warning loudspeaker blaring. They committed 2 870 rounds of provocative loudspeaker warning and 201 warning shot provocations from August 1 to October 17.
Such enemy provocations, more openly perpetrated in the wake of a fabricated "mine explosion farce", have gone beyond the red line.
The provocative loudspeaker blaring frequently comes from the posts in the deployment areas of the 7th and 15th Infantry Divisions of the Second Corps and the 21st and 22nd Infantry Divisions of the Third Corps of the ROK army. The provocative warning shots mostly come from the 278 military policemen post in the demilitarized zone under the 21st Infantry Division of its Third Corps. In actuality, provocative loudspeaker blaring was committed 998 times and warning shots 91 times in the period between Oct. 1 and 17.
Notably, the ROK military gangsters committed grave provocations escalating tensions by repeating provocative loudspeaker warning over 350 times and warning fire 60-odd times from October 15 to 17 in different areas adjacent to the southern border.
All the facts prove that the Lee Jae Myung regime, which exhibited "appeasement appearance," advocating "reconciliation" and "peace" from the outset of its office, has far outpaced the die-hard conservative regime of Yoon Suk Yeol, ill-famed for openly pursuing anti-communism, in escalating confrontation with the DPRK.
The main purpose of the military gangsters' such provocations is to "showcase" their "tough response" and disturb the fortification of our southern border.
But such reckless provocations will surely boomerang on the perpetrators, extremely imperiling the situation and bringing a terrible disaster on them.
To cope with the prevailing situation, our military leadership is examining the issues of deploying more tactical strike means along the southern border as a preemptive and suppressive measure to deal with contingency, and of resuming the loudspeaker broadcasting against the ROK, and considering other necessary and appropriate measures.
We seriously warn the ROK military gangsters against their reckless acts of aggravating the situation by constantly threatening the border security of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the safety of our service personnel.
Seoul will surely regret and face uncontrollably terrible danger, for such useless bravery of the military gangsters.
Explicitly speaking once again, we do not say empty words about the protection of our sovereignty.
Press Statement of Kim Yo Jong, Department Director of C.C., WPK
Pyongyang, October 21 (KCNA) -- Kim Yo Jong, department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, released the following press statement on Oct. 21:
Today I inspected the border together with Marshal Pak Jong Chon.
The Korean Central News Agency misreported the date in its article.
I inspected several places of the border early this morning, not yesterday.
The border has been clearly blocked and turned into a fortress more thoroughly.
This clearly proves that the history miswritten by us for a long time is being corrected and the current and future security of the DPRK guaranteed qualitatively.
Our head of state stressed that it is a terrible tragedy that the DPRK borders the most despicable and disgusting enemy in the world and, therefore, the border should be a permanent line never to be crossed.
Our army is carrying out a crucial and great undertaking in the face of the enemy's persistent threats.
A great history of peace will soon begin.
If the border is fortified, the danger of military conflict in this area will undoubtedly be eliminated.
The armed rogues committed provocative warning loudspeaker blaring and shots again in at least two spots today.
Our tactical hunting teams are taking new positions, and within October, the loudspeakers for psychological warfare against the ROK will be in operation along the whole border.
This is the most just measure and appropriate response.
Let us suppose that we open responsive fire on the enemy as a warning in the case like today.
The situation along the border will escalate into an unimaginably terrible phase.
We gird ourselves thoroughly for contingence, exercising great restraint.
If the enemy's warning shot provocation results in doing actual harm to the our territorial security and our service persons' safety, going beyond the level of warning, our border guards will show no mercy for the armed gangsters bereft of reason.