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NORTH KOREA THIS WEEK NO. 495 (April 17, 2008)
*** NEWS IN BRIEF (Part 1)
North Korea applies for 14 international patents in five years
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea has applied for 14 international patents in the past five years, reflecting the isolated country's will and capital to upgrade science and technology, a Washington-based radio station said on April 11.
According to Radio Free Asia, the North last year applied for two patents in line with the patent cooperation treaty, following three in 2003, three in 2004, two in 2005 and four in 2006.
The report quoted data from the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization.
The North reportedly applied for patents for the "UNI-Axial Screw Pump" and the "Flexible Natural Graphite Material and Flexible Manufacturing Method and Use Thereof" in 2007.
The North's parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly, on April 9 announced its five-year plan for science and technology as a means of expanding exports at its annual meeting, while stressing the importance of developing science and technology.
However, the North's level of patent application is still far short of the growth rate of 25 percent in East Asia.
South Korea was ranked fourth in international patent applications last year with 7,061 cases, following the United States, Germany and Japan.
"To apply for international patents is not easy, because it costs substantial money and requires peculiar technology," said Lee Woo-ram, a patent attorney in Seoul.
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North Korea donates US$2 million to pro-Pyongyang group in Japan
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Impoverished North Korea has donated US$2 million in educational funds to a group of Korean residents of Japan loyal to the North's regime, the North's media said on April 12.
Despite its dire economic situation, North Korea has periodically sent free educational funds to help support the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, a pro-Pyongyang organization.
The money was sent in the name of the North's leader, Kim Jong-il, marking the April 15 anniversary of the birth of Kim's late father, the North's founding leader Kim Il-sung who died in 1994 at the age of 82. The day is one the North's biggest holidays, along with the current leader's birthday.
Kim Jong-il "sent 205 million yen as educational aid fund and stipends to the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan for the democratic national education of the children of Koreans in Japan," the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a report, monitored in Seoul.
As a result of Japan's colonization of the Korean Peninsula in the early part of the 20th century, about 700,000 Koreans have ended up living in Japan. About 500,000 of them are pro-South Korea, with the remaining 200,000 believed loyal to Pyongyang.
North Korea regards the pro-Pyongyang group as its major overseas support base. The pro-communist group operates a number of primary and junior and high schools in Japan where students of Korean ancestry learn Korean history and language.
The latest North Korean financial donation comes amid warnings by international aid groups that the isolated communist country faces its worst food shortage in years.
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North Korea establishes order and medal to commemorate foundation
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea has established an order and medal commemorating the 60th anniversary of its foundation, which falls on Sept. 9.
The (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 13 said the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) on April 10 promulgated a decree on instituting the order and medal to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK (North Korea).
According to the KCNA, the decree said President Kim Il-sung's founding of the DPRK in 1948 marked a historic event which put forward the (North) Korean people as an independent and mighty revolutionary people and ushered in a new era of building a socialist state centered on the masses.
It also said the 60-year history of the DPRK represents a history of great changes in which it emerged as powerful, independent, self-supporting and self-reliant in defense, helped by the guidance of the party and the leader and a sacred path along which it has powerfully demonstrated the advantages and invincibility of Korean-style socialism.
The SPA Presidium also approved the regulations on awarding the order and medal and their explanatory diagram, the KCNA added.
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North Korean leader promotes 35 generals
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il promoted 35 army generals on April 15 to coincide with the anniversary of his late father's birthday, the communist state's official news agency reported.
Kim issued an order in his capacity as the supreme commander of the North Korean People's Army to promote two commanding officers to lieutenant general and 33 others to major general, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
The order came on the occasion of the 96th birthday of the country's late leader Kim Il-sung, the KCNA said.
Kim Jong-il expressed his strong belief that the promoted generals will "firmly defend the ideology, the system and the cause in the DPRK (North Korea) and creditably fulfill their mission and duty," in "Order No.0019," the report added.
The North has regularly promoted military generals around major holidays such as the birthdays of the late and current leaders and the anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party.
(END)
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