*** NEWS IN BRIEF

N. Korean Leader Appears in Public After China Trip

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Following his second trip to China in about four months in August, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il made a series of public appearances throughout his country in early September.

   The North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Sept. 8 that Kim attended a concert given by the State Merited Chorus to mark the 62nd anniversary of the nation's founding.

   On Sept. 11, the KCNA said that the North Korean leader traveled to the March 5 Youth Mine, a coal mine in Jagang Province that borders China, and praised workers there for setting "an example in modernization."

  "He went round different production processes including open-cast mining sites, large crushing plants and ore dressing plants for hours to acquaint himself in detail with their technological updating and production there," the KCNA said.

   A day later, the KCNA also reported that Kim gave field guidance to the Manpho Unhwa Factory, a chemical factory also in Jagang Province.

   The leader was accompanied by Jang Song-thaek, vice chairman of the North's National Defense Commission and Kim Ki-nam, secretary of the ruling Workers' Party, the KCNA said.

  
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Chinese Leaders Congratulate N. Korea on Its Founding Anniversary

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao, congratulated North Korea on its founding, which took place 62 years ago, pledging to further bolster their relations so as to "safeguard peace and stability in this region," Pyongyang's state media said on Sept. 9.

   In the congratulatory message, Chinese leaders, including Jintao, China's top legislator Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao, said that the traditional friendships between the two countries have become "valuable assets of the peoples of the two countries after overcoming the hardship" of changing international situations.

   "We will safeguard peace and stability in this region and bring the peoples of the two countries better well-being by deepening exchanges and cooperation in every sector of the two countries and pushing incessantly" to move the relations forward, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted the message as saying.

   China, which provides North Korea with aid and diplomatic support, is the impoverished neighbor's last-remaining major ally. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who rarely travels abroad, made his second visit to China in about four months in August and held summit talks with China's president.

   Also, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent a congratulatory message to Kim Jong-il, saying strengthening relations between the two countries would help ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and across Asia, the KCNA said.

   The North's socialist regime officially began on Sept. 9, 1948, three years after the Korean Peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonial rule in August 1945. The anniversary is one of the most celebrated holidays in the North, along with the birthdays of the two Kims.

  
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North Korean Flood Victims Suffer Food Shortage: Report

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- The North Korean city of Sinuiju is in dire need of food and building materials for recovery work after a massive flood swept through the border town late last month, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan reported on Sept. 12.

   The Chosun Shinbo quoted a North Korean government official at the country's disaster management headquarters as saying that many homeless residents in Sinuiju have been staying in public shelters and the Pyongyang government has moved to provide construction materials and food to flood victims.

   "Some of them returned to their home, but others are still in the safe house together," Hong Chong-ho was quoted as saying. "The government has rolled up its sleeves to provide construction materials, including cement and lumber, to the devastated area and to send relief supplies to the thousand of flood victims on time."
Flooded islands in the river and other riverside areas are being restored, but workers lack earth to carry out restoration works, he said. "A great deal of labor is required to restore the area," said Hong.

   According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the flood in Sinuiju killed 14 people and prompted tens of thousands of others to evacuate to a North Korean border area.

   Earlier, North Korea's official media said that over 7,750 houses were flooded and a vast tract of farmland was inundated as heavy rain hit the area along the Amnok (Yalu) River that marks the border with China.

   North Korea is prone to natural disasters because of its lack of investment in disaster control and severe deforestation.

   And also, the North's official Korean Central News Agency on Sept. 15 said that Typhoon Kompasu, which rolled across the Korean Peninsula early September, left dozens of people dead.

  
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North Korean, Laotian Public Security Chiefs Hold Talks

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea's minister of public security met with his Laotian counterpart and discussed ways of cooperating in security in light of the Southeast Asian nation increasingly becoming a popular stopover destination for defectors from the socialist state.

   Ju Sang-song, the North's minister of people's security, held talks with Laos' Minister of Public Security Thongbanh Seng A Phone, the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Sept. 14.

   The KCNA said that the two officials "exchanged views on the matter of developing cooperation ... in the field of security and issues of mutual concern." It did not give further details of the meeting.

   A growing number of North Koreans are choosing to take the risky journey across the border into China to evade hunger and harsh political oppression at home. And given China's policy of repatriating defectors to the North, many are increasingly heading to Laos, Thailand or other Southeast Asian nations before seeking asylum in South Korea.

   Over 14,000 North Korean defectors have settled in the South, which provides limited financial support and rehabilitation training.

  
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North Korea Urges Establishing Party-centric Leadership

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea called for a firm establishment of a ruling system based solely and centered around the party amid a scheduled conference of its delegates for the first time in 44 years.

   The Rodong Sinmun, the paper for the North's Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), praised the party in an editorial on Sept. 14, and argued that a "leadership system based solely on the party must be further and thoroughly established in the party and the entire society."

   The comments were made as the WPK was reportedly prepared to kick off the conference of delegates to elect the party's "highest leading body" amid speculation that Kim Jong-un, the leader's youngest and third son, will be appointed to the political bureau to speed up the power succession process.

   The paper demanded that "iron-like" rules that mandate unified movement under the "sole leadership" be established through bolstering the spirit of revolution.

   It also further highlighted the need to consolidate power in the party, arguing that the fate of the country and the people lies on strengthening the WPK.

   It added that the party, the military and the people must protect the party's central committee headed by Kim Jong-il "with their lives," and stressed the entities to unite around it.

   Regarding the conference, the paper described the event as "upcoming," suggesting that it hasn't begun as of Sept. 14.

   The current North Korean leader was appointed as a member of the central committee of the Workers' Party when he emerged as Kim Il-sung's successor in 1974. Analysts say he may be planning a similar path for his son as North Korea's official media have been praising the committee since earlier this year.

  
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N. Korean Website Raises Succession Issue Ahead of Party Meeting

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- In a clear indication North Korea is paving the ground for a power succession, a Web site operated by a university in the socialist country is calling for picking the right successor to leader Kim Jong-il, possibly alluding to his son.

   "Only when the successor to the leader is selected right can the leader's ideas and revolutionary exploits be firmly maintained and spectacularly passed down," said a post on the North's Kimilsung Broadcasting University's website, uriminzokgangdang, seen in Seoul on Sept. 15. Uriminzokgangdang means "lecture hall of our nation" in English.

   Citizens in South Korea, which bans the socialist state's propaganda material citing years of enmity between them, are blocked from accessing the Web site at http://www.ournation-school.com.

   North Korean Web sites and media strictly refrain from raising the issue of succession, even though it is widely believed from outside that Kim, 68, has been trying to hand over power to his third son since he suffered a stroke in the summer of 2008.

   During the forthcoming Workers' Party meeting in Pyongyang, Kim Jong-un, around 27, is expected to be given a ranking position that could help pave the way for him to eventually take over the regime.

   The uriminzokgangdang post, written in early September in the form of an answer to an apparently pre-arranged question, also said the successor must establish exclusive authority because, until that happens, political turmoil could emerge.

   "Not everyone can be a successor to the leader, and just because someone is presented as a successor, it does not mean he can carry out significant tasks as such," it said, making it clear that the country faces a "succession issue."

  
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N. Korea to Send Vice Foreign Minister to U.N. General Assembly

NEW YORK (Yonhap) -- North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Pak Kil-yon is scheduled to attend this year's U.N. General Assembly, a senior U.N. official said on Sept. 15.

   Pak, a veteran diplomat who served as the North's ambassador to the U.N., will represent the North in the assembly and deliver a keynote speech, the official said on condition of anonymity.

   Pak also requested a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Bank Ki-moon, the official said.

   South Korea is scheduled to send acting foreign minister Shin Kak-soo to the assembly.

   The session opened this week, and chief delegates are scheduled to deliver keynote speeches from Sept. 23.

   It is unclear when Pak will give his speech. South Korea's Shin will deliver a keynote speech on Sept. 25.

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