*** NEWS IN BRIEF

North Korea Holds Amateur Golf Tournament for Foreigners

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea recently hosted a rare amateur golf tournament for foreigners in an apparent effort to lure in hard foreign currency.

   Radio Free Asia (RFA), a U.S.-based broadcaster, reported on May 6 that Pyongyang hosted a one-day golf tournament on April 29 at the Pyongyang Golf complex, inviting a total of 17 players from eight countries including Britain, France, Germany and Australia.

   The station said that each player paid an entry fee of 999 euros, which included expenses for travel by train into the country from China, visas, meals and accommodation, as well as a three-day tour of the country.

   The after the event, the participants watched a magic show in Pyongyang and also visited Mount Myohyang and the Demilitarized Zone. Two British college students were allowed to film the tournament to produce a documentary, according to RFA.

   International sanctions severely limit Pyongyang's access to hard currency. South Korea is North Korea's second-largest trading partner after China, but trade between the two halves of the peninsula has dwindled following the sinking of a South Korean warship in March and North Korea's attack on Yeonpyeong Island in November.

   The North has been pushing the South to resume lucrative tours of a mountain in the North by tourists from the South, but Seoul has rejected the offer, saying the North must first return South Korean-owned buildings that were confiscated at the resort.

  
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North Korea Accuses Seoul of Blocking Talks, Aid

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea on May 6 accused South Korea of intentionally avoiding inter-Korean dialogue, also claiming Seoul was blocking its allies from talking or providing assistance to the impoverished North.

   An unidentified spokesman for Disarmament and Peace Institute, which operates under the North Korean Foreign Ministry, claimed this was because the South was still seeking to unify the two Koreas by "absorption" or force.

   "Pressurized by the public at home and abroad to resume dialogue and negotiations, they are giving lip-service to "open-hearted" dialogue but, in actuality, making it impossible for dialogue to open by craftily raising unreasonable preconditions unacceptable to the DPRK (North Korea)," the spokesman said in a statement carried by the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

   "It is a base scenario for them to justify their 'waiting strategy' and bar their allies from coming out for dialogue with the DPRK or feeling any need to give humanitarian aid to it," the statement said.

   The spokesman said the so-called "waiting strategy" will inevitably fail and only lead to a war if the South continues to pursue unification by absorption following the North's collapse.

   "The U.S. and Japan lost nearly 20 years due to their repeated DPRK policy failures under the miscalculation that the DPRK would collapse just as East European countries did. It was a hard reality that they compelled the DPRK to have access to nuclear weapons in the end," the statement said.

   "Under the situation where there is deep-rooted distrust between the North and the South and huge armed forces are standing in confrontation with each other, any attempt on the part of a side to swallow the other side up would inevitably spark a war."

   The spokesman said the best, if not the only, way to unify the divided Koreas was through its proposal for unification by federal formula.

   "The said proposal of the DPRK is the best one for peaceful reunification as it guarantees feasibility and helps avert war because it presupposes the co-existence of the present systems in the North and the South," he said.

   The two Koreas have been divided since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, and are still at war, technically, as the war ended only with an armistice pact, not a peace treaty.

  
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North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il Inspects Industrial Sites

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his senior aides recently inspected industrial sites throughout the country, according to media reports from the North.

   The KCNA on May 6 reported that Kim made a round of trips to light industrial factories in Pyongyang.

   He was accompanied by Kim Ki-nam, secretary of the ruling party's Central Committee, and other senior aides but the report, as is customary, did not specify when the trips were made.

   The first leg of the trip was to the Pyongyang Textile Mill, then the Rakrang Ponghwa Garment Factory. Kim also stopped by the Ponghwa Soup Factory and the Pyongyang Mechanical Pencil Factory.

   During the stops, Kim was briefed in detail on the production and operations of the respective facilities, the KCNA said.

   One day later, the KCNA made a separate report saying that Kim and his entourage, which included National Defense Commission Vice Chairman Jang Song-thaek, inspected the Namhung Youth Chemical Complex in South Pyongan Province.

   In another May 9 report, the KCNA reported that Kim and top aides watched a performance given by the art group of Kimhyongjik University of Education.

   According to the KCNA, Kim expressed "great satisfaction over the splendid performance given by students of the university" and extended thanks to them in the name of the WPK's Central Committee.

  
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Choson Sinbo Blasts U.S. for Bin Laden Killing

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- A pro-North Korea newspaper in Japan blasted the United States on May 9 for the May 1 killing of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, in contrast to Pyongyang's continued silence on the event.

   The Chosun Sinbo, newspaper of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, criticized the U.S. commando raid operation against bin Laden in Pakistan as a "clear violation of national sovereignty and arrogant imperialism."

   Denouncing the U.S. for not giving prior notification to the Pakistani government, the association, also known as "Chongryon," claimed the operation "dramatically showed once again that the U.S. is the main instigator of national terrorism."

   The strong statements come as North Korea has yet to react to the killing of the al-Qaida mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

   Bin Laden was killed in a 40-minute operation by a team of U.S. Navy SEALs after the U.S. gathered intelligence that he may be hiding in a highly fortified compound in Abbottabad, about 100 kilometers north of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

   The paper, however, said there was no evidence to prove bin Laden's link to the Sept. 11 attacks, arguing the U.S. should have put him on trial if it saw him as a suspect.

   The newspaper represents a community of ethnic Koreans who sided with the North after Korea gained independence from Japan at the end of World War II. Many of them are descendants of Korean laborers who were forcibly brought to Japan during Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

  
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North Korea Denies Hacking into South Korean Bank

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea on May 10 rejected results of an investigation by South Korean prosecutors that the North was behind a cyber attack on one of Seoul's largest banks in April, accusing the South of "fabricating" the probe.

   The denial by the North's Ministry of the People's Armed Forces under the powerful National Defense Commission came a week after prosecutors publicly blamed the North's top intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, for attacking and paralyzing the computer system of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, or Nonghyup.

   In its first official reaction to the hacking incident, the North's ministry said in a statement, carried by the (Nort) Korean Central News Agency, that the results of the probe "are just absurd argument based on unreasonable ground."

   North Korea also accused South Korea of boosting its anti-North Korean campaign.

   "All the developments go to prove that the group of traitors' rumor that 'the North was responsible for what happened' is one more farce staged against the nation to realize its sinister attempt and an anti-DPRK (North Korea) charade as ridiculous as the 'Cheonan' warship sinking case," the North's ministry said.

   A multinational team of investigators concluded last year that North Korea torpedoed the South's Cheonan warship and killed 46 sailors. The North still denies sinking the ship.

   South Korean prosecutors pinpointed North Korea as the perpetrator of the attack, saying the pattern and Internet protocol (IP) addresses used for the April attack were identical to those used by the North in previous cyber attacks.

   The latest attack paralyzed Nonghyup's computer system and affected tens of thousands of customers who were unable to use bank-issued credit cards for more than a week.

   The statement marks the first time that North Korea has reacted to accusations by South Korea over similar cyber attacks.

   South Korea has accused the North of launching cyber attacks on Web sites of government agencies and financial firms in March this year and last July.

  
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North Korean Envoy Meets Chinese Defense Chief in Beijing

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea's top diplomat to China recently met with Beijing's defense chief, during which the latter expressed his hope of boosting the two-way military alliance, the North's media reported.

   The KCNA reported on May 10 that the North Korean ambassador to China, Ji Jae-ryong, paid a courtesy call on Liang Guanglie, state councilor and minister of National Defense of China. The report did not say when the meeting took place.

   According to the report, Liang, during the meeting, noted that their countries' militant friendship was "sealed in blood and stood the test." China fought alongside the North Koreans during the 1950-53 Korean War.

   The minister also reiterated "the will to boost" cooperation under the leadership of President Hu Jintao and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, and assessed their relations as having steadily grown stronger, with their armies "protecting the common interests of the two sides."

   In tandem with North Korea's growing isolation from the international community, Pyongyang has sought to boost its relations with China, a time-honored ally, with Kim Jong-il traveling to the neighboring country twice just last year.

   Notable since last year were the exchange of visits by high-level officials between the two countries. Military and economic cooperation were topics included in the wide-ranging discussions.

   Ji Jae-ryong also held a series of meetings in recent weeks with top Chinese officials, including Jia Qinglin and Li Changchun, both members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

   It's rare for a top envoy to hold a series of talks with leading Chinese officials in such a short period of time, fueling speculation that this flurry of activity could be aimed at paving the way for a visit to Beijing by Kim Jong-il's son, heir-apparent Kim Jong-un.

  
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North Koreans Hold Masses Celebrating Buddha's Birthday

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea marked the celebration of Buddha's birthday through commemorative masses throughout the country, with many devotees praying for the reunification the divided Koreas, according to the North's media.

   The KCNA reported on May 10 that celebrations of Buddha's birthday took place simultaneously in temples across both Koreas.

   The report said many speakers at the masses urged all Buddhists in the North and the South to unite in the struggle to achieve the country's reunification and "intensify the practical actions to have the confrontation between the North and the South defused as early as possible."

   The participants also called for the removal of the danger of war on the Korean Peninsula, preservation of peace and actively promotion of dialogue and cooperation, the report said.

   On May 4, a delegation of South Korea's largest Buddhist sect, the Jogye Order, visited a temple in North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort and delivered medical aid supplies to the impoverished country.

   According to Jogye Order officials, the 10-member delegation toured Singye Temple on the scenic east-coast mountain and dined with North Korean monks before returning across the border.

   Officials also said that while Seoul opposed a religious service being held in the North, monks from the two countries went ahead and prayed to Buddha in accordance with established practices.

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