NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 46 (March 19, 2009)

*** NEWS IN BRIEF (Part 1)

In Unusual Move, N. Korea Reports Coal Mine Collapse

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- In a rare move, North Korea's state-run newspaper recently
reported the collapse of a coal mine that left 29 people trapped underground for
a week.

In its Feb. 27 issue, Rodong Sinmun said all the miners trapped were
"miraculously" rescued thanks to their "indomitable will" to survive and help
from local residents.
The report was usual for North Korea, where government monitors tightly control
the flow of information and negative news coverage is largely absent. The story
occupied the entire fourth page of the paper.
According to the report, the miners were trapped underground after a tunnel roof
collapsed in the early hours of Feb. 14 and had since subsisted on food delivered
through a hole. It did not say how deep the tunnel ran.
Rescue teams and local residents drilled for days to reach the miners, who swore
loyalty to leader Kim Jong-il even as they faced death and vowed to play an even
larger role in rebuilding the country into a powerful state, the newspaper said.
The mine was operated by the Anju Area Coal Mining Complex in South Pyongan
Province.

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North Korean Leader Observes Artillery Exercise

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited a field artillery unit
and observed a live fire exercise, the socialist country's media reported on
March 14.
The (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim, who heads the National
Defense Commission (NDC), toured Unit 1811 but did not disclose the location or
date.
The report said the exercise demonstrated the "fighting spirit and resolute
determination of the North to wipe out aggression in a single blow" and added Kim
expressed great satisfaction at the level of preparedness displayed by
servicemen.
(North) Korean People's Army Vice Marshal Kim Yong-chun and other high-ranking
military officers and members of the ruling Worker's Party of (North) Korea (WPK)
accompanied the North Korean leader.
Pyongyang watchers in Seoul said that while the North Korean leader frequently
visits military bases, the review of the artillery unit is significant because it
marks the third such tour this year.
Although the North's military technology is generally outdated, its long-range
artillery and coastal battery installments have considerable striking power.
North Korea has threatened to take action against Seoul for raising tensions on
the Korean Peninsula by participating in the annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle
military exercise with the United States, which ends March 20.
Three days later, the KCNA said Kim Jong-il made his visit to Sungri Motor
Complex in the county of Dokchon, South Pyongan Province.

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N. Koreans Volunteer to Join Army: Pro-Pyongyang Daily

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Meetings are being held across North Korea as volunteers
organize to join the army, a pro-Pyongyang daily reported on March 16, as
Pyongyang ratcheted up threats against the United States and South Korea in
protest of their joint military drill.
"Meetings for resolving to volunteer to join the Korean People's Army are under
way all over the country," Choson Sinbo, a pro-North Korea daily based in Japan,
wrote in a Pyongyang-datelined article without elaborating.
Factories and companies in North Korea have also hung banners emblazoned with
agitative slogans such as, "Let's more vigorously leap forward with a mind to
punish aggressors," the newspaper said, reflecting a warlike mood across the
country.
North Korea cut off a military hotline last week with South Korea, the last
remaining official communications channel, denouncing the country's ongoing
March 9-20 joint exercise with the U.S. as a rehearsal for a "second Korean
War."
The North has also warned it can no longer guarantee the safety of South Korean
passenger jets in its airspace while the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercise --
which involves over 25,000 U.S. troops and tens of thousands of South Korean
soldiers -- is underway.
The North's state Korean Central Television Broadcasting Station has also
recently aired video clips of the North Korean military back in 1993, when the
country was at "semi-war status" as it entered the early stages of a dispute over
its nuclear program.
The station also broadcast a documentary film in support of the North's claim
that it has always won in battles against the U.S.
(END)