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NORTH KOREA THIS WEEK NO. 477 (December 6, 2007)
*** NEWS IN BRIEF (Part 2)
North Korea, China agree on cooperation in meteorology
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea and China agreed on Nov. 30 to cooperate in meteorology, according to a report by the North's state-run media monitored in Seoul.
After the 14th talks between the two countries on meteorological science and technology, delegates from the North's Hydro-Meteorological Service and the China Meteorological Administration signed an agreement in Pyongyang, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
The news agency, however, did not provide details on the contents of the agreement.
The agreement was signed by Deputy Director Ho Chang-sok and Deputy Administrator Xu Xiaofeng, who led Chinese delegation, the KCNA said.
In January 2005, China donated equipment to North Korea for monitoring and reporting the weather under a voluntary cooperation plan of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The North joined the WMO in 1975, and since then has been making efforts to modernize its meteorological equipment with China's technological help.
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North Korean foreign minister meets visiting U.S. nuclear envoy
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea's top diplomat on Dec. 4 held talks with the United States' chief envoy to the six-nation talks on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, the North's official news agency said.
The meeting between North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun and Christopher Hill came on the second day of Hill's visit to Pyongyang to discuss the list of nuclear programs that the North is obliged to submit before the end of this year.
Pak met Christopher Hill, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of State, and his party at the Mansudae Assembly Hall on Dec. 4 when the latter paid a courtesy call on him, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
The U.S. envoy began his trip to the North on Dec. 3 and traveled to the North's main nuclear complex at Yongbyon to inspect the disablement of sensitive nuclear facilities there.
North Korea began disabling the Yongbyon complex early last month under an aid-for-denuclearization program signed at the talks that involve the two Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia.
The deal also requires Pyongyang to disclose all of its nuclear programs by the year's end in exchange for energy and economic assistance and political concessions.
Hill's trip to North Korea is the second of its kind. He last visited North Korea in June.
If the U.S. envoy's trip is successful, a new round of the nuclear talks will likely be held in Beijing in December.
Meanwhile, the KCNA said on Dec. 5 that Yang Hyong-sop, vice president of the SPA Presidium, meets with Christopher Hill and his party at the Mansudae Assembly Hall. Hill headed to China that day, ending his three-day trip to the North.
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North Korea claims Japan, U.S. fabricate threats
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Although North Korea has been increasingly engaging the U.S. and Japan in six-party talks over the North's denuclearization, the communist country recently condemned what it called the anti-DPRK (North Korea) policies of the two countries.
The Rodong Sinmun, organ of the North's ruling Workers' Party of (North) Korea, on Nov. 30 alleged imperialist forces are plotting provocations against the trend of the times, saying they fabricate threats from independent states such as North Korea and Iran.
The article was carried by the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), which was monitored in Seoul.
The North's mouthpiece also criticized that Japanese "reactionaries" tried to interfere with Washington's move to remove the DPRK from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, while extending sanctions against Pyongyang for another six months along with its joint military exercises with the U.S.
The newspaper said the U.S., which is deadlocked in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, alloted US$459 billion for its military budget for fiscal year 2008, claiming that its forces are pursuing state-of-the-art weapons like a space bomber called "Falcon."
The Rodong Sinmun also said such moves, allegedly to prepare for a preemptive strike, are to realize its ambition for military supremacy and world domination, urging them to discard the anachronistic design.
(END)
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