*** NEWS IN BRIEFS

WPK Regional Chapter Heads Wrap up China Tour

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Chief secretaries of provincial chapters of the Workers' Party of (North) Korea (WPK) wrapped up their unexpected visit to China, the latest in a series of growing high-level exchanges between the allies.

   The (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Oct. 23 that the friendly delegation composed of responsible secretaries of 12 WPK provincial chapters led by Mun Kyong-dok, who is responsible secretary of the WPK's Pyongyang chapter, returned home after an eight-day trip to the neighboring China.

   The delegation arrived in Beijing on Oct. 16 and were received by Zhou Yongkang, a member of the powerful Politburo Presidium of the Communist Party of China (CPC), at the Great of the People in Beijing on Oct. 19, according to the KCNA.

   High-profile exchanges between North Korea and Beijing have increased significantly this year, with Kim Jong-il having made two trips to China this year alone.

   Zhou noted that the North Korean leader's two trips to China this year bear the "utmost importance to the development of the friendly relations between the two parties and two countries" and said the Kim-led North Korea would "open the gate to a great, prosperous and powerful nation."

   Also present at the reception were Wang Jiarui, head of the International Liaison Department of the CPC, and Choe Pyong-gwan, then-North Korean ambassador to China.

   The (North) Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported on Oct. 21 that the group toured various places in Beijing and Shanghai, including the main Olympic stadium in the Chinese capital and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

   The delegation later visited various production facilities in Harbin City of the Heilongjiang Province, Changchun and Jilin, both in Jilin Province.

   They also visited a middle school in Jilin where late North Korean founder Kim Il-sung attended as a teenager, the KCNA said.

   During the latter part of the trip, the group was received by Ji Bingxuan, secretary of the Heilongjiang Provincial Committee of the CPC, Sun Zhengcai, secretary of the Jilin Provincial Committee of the CPC. They were also invited to receptions given by the Heilongjiang and Jilin provincial committees of the CPC and the Changchun and Jilin city committees of the CPC.

  
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N.K. Repeats Justification for Nuclear Deterrent, Denounces U.S. Threat

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea justified its possession of "nuclear deterrent" on Oct. 23, claiming that the United States has schemed to use nuclear weapons against it for more than half a century.

   Citing what it called recently declassified U.S. documents, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Washington has "persistently examined and planned the use of nuclear weapons" against North Korea since the 1950s.

   The KCNA report said the documents showed that the U.S. considered using nuclear weapons on Pyongyang during the 1950-53 Korean War, and high-ranking officials in Washington also have threatened to launch nuclear weapons against the communist country on at least six occasions since 1976.

   The North also argued that the U.S. assertion that Pyongyang's nuclear threat had led to problems on the peninsula is "a sheer fabrication" and said the North was "quite right and appropriate" to maintain nuclear deterrence.

   "The documents glaringly reveal the root cause of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and the arch criminal posing a nuclear threat to it," the KCNA report said.

   "The U.S. nuclear threat was a wanton and brazen-faced violation of international law, a total departure from its obligation as a state assigned to custody of the (Nuclear) Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) not to pose a nuclear threat to non-nuclear states," it said.

   North Korea withdrew from NPT in 2003 amid international criticism about its nascent nuclear weapons programs, saying then the move was "a legitimate self-defensive measure taken against the U.S. moves to stifle the DPRK (North Korea)."

  
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North Korea Promotes CNC Technology in Machine Industry for Automation

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea has proliferated the computerized numerical control (CNC) technology in its machinery plants to push for production authorization, a pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan reported on Oct. 25.

   The CNC technique is linked to the North's heir apparent Kim Jong-un, as the socialist country has propagated the technology development as his own feat.

   According to the report by Choson Sinbo, major factories in North Korea have adopted the CNC system to lay the groundwork for normalizing production and improving qualities.

   Among those armed with the system include the plants where leader Kim Jong-il made a field inspection, it added.
The introduction of the CNC machines aims to achieve the automation of managing facilities, officials of the related ministry were quoted by the newspaper as saying.

   Some of the plants in Pyongyang have already automatized their process line and tried to push the boundary, the report added.

  
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North Korean Leader, Heir Apparent Inspect Spy Agency

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il together with his heir apparent son recently inspected the country's top anti-espionage agency.

   Kim, along with his son Kim Jong-un, visited Unit 10215 of the (North) Korean People's Army (KPA) and told its members to "hold the arms of the working class more tightly and firmly defend the motherland and the socialist system," the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Oct. 26. The report did not say when the trip was made.

   The unit is better known as the country's top anti-espionage agency, the National Security Agency charged with cracking down on dissent and a key tool for the autocratic leader in maintaining his totalitarian grip on power.

   The KCNA said Kim praised the unit's preparedness and expressed "great satisfaction" over its combat duty.

   Earlier this month, the father and son watched a live-fire drill of KPA Unit 851, which marked Jong-un's first public field activity since his debut as heir apparent in late September.

   Believed to be no older than 28, Kim Jong-un became a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party and was promoted to the rank of general in what is believed to be the start of another father-to-son power succession in the communist state.

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