Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Plants Trees in Saeppyol Street on Tree-planting Day

Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, planted trees at the pondside park in Saeppyol Street on March 14, the tree-planting day.

Present at the tree planting were major leading cadres of the Party and the government, families of the martyrs of the overseas military operations who moved into their new houses in Saeppyol Street, officials of the Party and power organs in Hwasong District and students of revolutionary schools.

The participants were filled with great excitement and joy as they were to plant trees in the presence of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un in Saeppyol Street, a new street in the capital city where all the people across the country pay their respect and which represents the honor of our generation and pride of our state.

Ri Il Hwan, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK, made a speech on tree planting.

He said today's tree-planting ceremony, held along with the start of the spring in 2026, is a manifestation of the sincerity to always remember the true patriots who added a new page to the history of the DPRK's glorious dignity and to add luster to the desire of the martyrs who wished their beloved motherland eternal prosperity with youthfulness, and an expression of the noble will to spruce up the country more beautifully and improve the environment of the capital city more wonderfully.

Noting that the unanimous intention and mind cherished in the hearts of all the people are to be planted together with trees, he added that it represents the sincerest love and thanks to the heroes and the patriotic mission and mind, fervent and invariable like theirs.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, together with other participants, planted for a long time the trees which will become new witnesses to the prospering capital city, saying that the true image of our generation following the noble spirit of heroic soldiers and reliably carrying forward the tradition of invincibility should be reflected, along with the history of the country growing stronger, in every tree that will grow with the souls of the martyrs of the overseas military operations, adding beauty to the landscape of Saeppyol Street full of joy of moving into new houses.

He said that the martyrs of the overseas military operations were the ardent ones who loved their native places, parents, wives and children more warmly than any others, and the ones strong in their ideological and mental power who turned the flavor and beautiful memory of the hometown, provided by a handful of earth they each had taken in the homeland, into their indomitable heroism under a shower of fire on the alien battlefields.

He hoped that the noble spirit of the martyrs would deeply permeate this land to build a solid pillar of patriotism in the hearts of all the people and help train all the coming generations to be the most righteous human beings.

Patriotism is the source of enthusiasm giving birth to the unlimited miraculous might and the driving force for creation and changes, he said, adding we will surely build a prosperous and strong country, the most powerful one in the world, by dint of great patriotism.

The participants lavished their sincerity on tree planting, cherishing the noble intention of the great father as the immutable truth and true value of patriotism.

The meaningful tree planting in Saeppyol Street, which took place in the presence of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, was an event of great significance that added vitality to the capital city and the great country to be eternally thriving and implanted true patriotism in the minds of the people. -0-

www.kcna.kp (2026.03.15.)

KPA Long-range Artillery Sub-unit in Western Area Conducts Firepower Strike Drill

Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- A long-range artillery sub-unit of the Korean People's Army in the western area conducted a firepower strike drill on March 14.

The drill involved twelve 600mm-calibre ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies.

Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, observed the firepower strike drill on the spot.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un stated briefly that the drill was aimed at making the army do what it should do.

He said that the drill would expose the forces hostile to the DPRK, the enemies within the 420-km striking range, to uneasiness, making a signaling wave stronger than the aimed, and give them a deep understanding of the destructive power of tactical nuclear weapon.

He affirmed that the drill is a regular one for checking the DPRK's defensive posture and war deterrence and such drill will be frequently conducted in the future, too.

He authorized Full General Jang Chang Ha, general director of the Missile Administration accompanying him, to command the drill, and came out to the launching position to give an instruction on the firing method.

At the central command post, Jang Chang Ha gave an order to open fire.

Making the deafening sound rending the air, multiple rocket companies opened fire in waves.

The launched rockets battered the island target in the East Sea of Korea about 364.4 km away with the accuracy of 100 percent, proving once again the destructive capability of their concentration strike and the system's military value once again.

After overseeing the firing drill, he spoke highly of the soldiers of the artillery sub-unit for being prepared for deftly handling the state-of-the-art multiple rocket launcher system. Then he once again praised the combat performance of the 600mm-calibre ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers, saying:

"It is indeed a very deadly yet attractive weapon.

Worldwide, there exists no tactical weapon that surpasses the performance of this weapon system.

This will be so in the coming few years.

Certainly, however, we will never mark time till that time, being content with this.

I always hold our defence scientists in respect and appreciate them for developing such a weapon system.

As I have already stated, our powerful attacking capability is, in effect, for defending ourselves.

It is because the most powerful attacking capability precisely means a reliable defence capability.

It is, in the true sense of the word, a means of deterring war.

But in case such deterrents of a defensive nature do not prevent foreign forces from launching an armed provocation or invading our state to jeopardize the security of its sovereignty, they will immediately be used for their second mission, i.e., as a means of massive, destructive strike.

As I have said several times, if this weapon is used, the opponent's military infrastructure within its striking range can never survive.

Our Party and the government of the Republic will maintain durable peace by means of powerful military capabilities.

Peace is something that should be defended rather than desired."

Kim Jong Un stressed the need for all units of the army at different levels to organize and wage high-intensity practical maneuvers under the simulated conditions of an actual war, true to the Party's policy of bringing about a radical turn in training, and maintain their full response posture to thoroughly frustrate any provocation by the enemies with overwhelmingly strong power. -0-

www.kcna.kp (2026.03.15.)

Report of Central Election Committee

Pyongyang, March 13 (KCNA) -- The central election committee for the election of deputies to the 15th Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea issued the following report on March 13:

All constituencies across the country made public their registered candidates for the election of deputies to the 15th Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK at a time when a new journey toward greater transformation has started in hearty response to the grand struggle programme set forth by the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea.

The registration of candidates for deputies was decided at the meetings of voters for examining the qualifications of candidates for deputies to the SPA according to the Law of the DPRK on the Elections of Deputies to the People's Assemblies at All Levels.

The meetings were attended by working people in relevant constituencies and officials of institutions, enterprises and organizations who can represent the will of the voters. They fully exercised the responsibility and rights granted by the voters.

The participants in the meetings fairly examined and appreciated whether the nominated candidates for deputies to the SPA have qualifications as representatives of the people and expressed support for the citizens who are enjoying deep trust of the masses for having made devoted efforts for the development of the country and the interests of the people with transparent loyalty to the leader, strong Party spirit, revolutionary spirit and popular spirit.

The constituency committees for the election of deputies to the 15th Supreme People's Assembly registered citizens who received a majority votes among the nominated candidates as candidates for deputies to be elected in relevant constituencies.

The constituency committees made public candidates for deputies registered at all polling booths and are introducing them. -0-

www.kcna.kp (2026.03.13.)

Regional Security Environment Is Getting Severe Due to Japanese Militarism: KCNA Commentary

Pyongyang, March 13 (KCNA) -- Japan's moves for reviving militarism, aimed at rearmament, are leading to full-scale deployment of preemptive attack means for action.

Shortly ago, the Ministry of Defence of Japan made public that type 12 surface-to-ship guided missiles with drastically increased firing range would be deployed for action in Kumamoto City for the first time.

Not content with this, Japan is planning to deploy surface-to-surface missiles for "defending islands" in Shizuoka Prefecture within this month and long-range missiles at the bases of the "Self-Defense Forces" in Hokkaido and Miyazaki prefectures in order from 2028.

If this plan comes true, Japan will have long-range missiles targeting the neighboring countries deployed in all parts of the archipelago.

It is a dangerous military attempt.

Openly saying that the development and deployment of long-range missiles constitute the "core of the capability of attacking enemy bases", Japan is concentrating huge human and material resources on them.

The type 12 missiles, the deployment of which Japan is trying to accelerate, are the ones remodeled for years to greatly increase the firing range, which can be launched from ground, warships and fighter jets. They put the waters off surrounding areas within their striking range.

They are also rated as long-range attack weapons because they have the multi-purpose capability to attack fixed targets on the ground including harbors and airports as well as marine targets.

The same can be said of the type of missiles Japan is planning to deploy for action while claiming that they are the ones for "defending the islands."

It can be well evidenced by the anti-ship missile for "defending the islands" which was made public with the assertion that it has long-range strike capability, based on stealth and interceptor evasion technology.

This missile is expected to be similar or more in striking range, compared to the type 12 anti-ship cruise missile with the firing range of 1 000 km. It will reportedly be updated in various forms in the future.

World media and military experts say that the missile can be loaded by various launchers, such as missile destroyers, escort ships, ground mobile launchers and fighters now possessed by the "Self-Defense Forces", analyzing that its firing range is second only to the U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles in Japan.

Is the continuous development and deployment of different long-range strike means just for the "exclusive defense" as advocated by Japan?

No, it isn't. It is a part of the efforts for winding up its war preparations for launching reinvasion.

Japan is now making desperate efforts to justify its rearmament by trumpeting about "growing threat from neighboring countries" and "deteriorating security environment". And it is constantly filling all the spheres, including the ground, sea and space, with armed forces capable of attacking the neighboring countries by spending huge military expenditure while inciting the atmosphere of praising the past wars of aggression woven with heinous crimes through visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, etc.

Japan increased the import of weapons in 2021-2025 by 76 percent more than that in 2016-2020 and most of them are long-range strike means like Tomahawk cruise missiles. This clearly shows that Japan has recently become more active in securing the "capability of attacking enemy bases".

Japan, which has bolstered up its actual war capability in a diversified way by taking part in all military exercises staged in surrounding areas, is stepping up the deployment of long-range strike means for action while being hell-bent on the development and purchase of them. This fact proves that the time of their use is nearing.

It is needless to say that the targets of the long-range strike means are the neighboring countries including the DPRK, which Japan designated as "imminent threat" and "unprecedentedly biggest strategic challenge".

If Japan continues to behave in a foolish manner in despite of the strong concern and criticism of the world people, it will get involved in the bad thing of crossing the "red line," which surely incurs the "sinking" of the archipelago.

It is a reality that the regional security environment is getting more severe due to the revival of militarism of the war criminal state keen on reinvasion without any slightest guilty conscience of the past crimes. -0-

www.kcna.kp (2026.03.13.)

조선중앙통신 Copyr

Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Inspects Major Munitions Factory

Pyongyang, March 12 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, inspected a major munitions factory under the Second Economy Commission on March 11 to learn about the munitions production.

Accompanying him were the members of the Central Military Commission of the WPK and leading officials of the WPK Central Committee.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un learned about the fact that the factory started the production of new pistols according to its approved design, examined and ratified by the Central Military Commission of the WPK on February 19, 2025.

Saying that the factory is playing a very important role in increasing the combat efficiency of the army, public security forces and militia forces as it takes full charge of producing pistols and other portable light arms, he stressed the need to expand and create the production capacity of the factory in a far-sighted way and set a high level in modernization of the production line and cultured way of production in conformity with the demand, requirements and standards specified by the Party and implement it in a responsible manner.

He urged the Second Economy Commission to decisively raise the level of technical equipment of major munitions industry enterprises, establish strict quality control regulations and order and supply materials and products under contract in a planned way so as to organize the economic work well for producing weapons of thoroughly guaranteed quality in a serial way.

He stressed once again the need for all the munitions industry enterprises under the Second Economy Commission to organize and conduct the work for establishing cultured ways in production and life at a more developed stage and continue to create model standards.

That day, he visited the shooting gallery of the factory to acquaint himself with the combat performance of the new-type pistol that went into production.

Saying that he received a report from the Ministry of National Defence and the General Staff on the unanimous impression that the new-type pistol is superior in its structural performance, rate of hits, concentration fire and combat utility, he expressed satisfaction over the development of a really excellent pistol.

He clarified his view on the opinion of the Second Economy Commission with regard to the issue of establishing a new production line in addition at the factory during the period of the five-year plan for the development of national defence, and gave an important instruction for its implementation.

He stressed that the new production line should be established at a high level to be a model for modernization of the country's munitions industry.

He said that the examination of the plan for modernization of munitions factories in the period of the new five-year plan and of the budget bill for immediate modernization of three major munitions industry enterprises would be conducted at an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the WPK to be convened in April.

Repeatedly expressing satisfaction over the development and production of the excellent pistol, he extended thanks to the officials, technicians and workers of the factory. -0-

www.kcna.kp (2026.03.12.)

Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Sends Reply Message to General Secretary of C.C., LPRP

Pyongyang, March 11 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, sent a reply message to Thongloun Sisoulith, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, on March 10.

The reply message said:

Respected Comrade General Secretary,

I express deep thanks to you for sending warm and encouraging congratulations to me on my reelection as the general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea at the Ninth Congress of the WPK.

Your warm congratulations are valuable support and encouragement to our people's cause of struggle facing new goals.

Expressing belief that the traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries will be further developed thanks to the common efforts and will of all the members of the two parties and peoples of the two countries, I wish you good health and bigger success in fulfilling your important duty. -0-

www.kcna.kp (2026.03.11.)

The KAL 858-Mayumi case -old lies revisited

Some friends of KFA UK in Turkey told us that on Turkish social media some reactionaries brought up the old case of the ‘disappearance of KAL Flight 858  and Mayumi ‘which occurred in 1987 ,some 39 years ago . 

In those days the anti-DPRK propaganda tended to have a different focus whereas these days it is focussed on the nuclear question , ICBMs and the ‘human rights issue ‘  back in the 1980s one of the main anti-DPRK propaganda tropes was “terrorism “ with the DPRK being blamed for a number of incidents . One such incident was the disappearance of a south Korean airliner , flight KAL 858 disappeared over the Andaman Sea near Myanmar on the 29th of November 1987 . .Although most of the wreckage of the aircraft was not officially recovered at the time and apparently the “black box “ flight recorder was not recovered . However the south Korean puppets lost no time in blaming the DPRK for the incident which was used to frame the DPRK as a ‘state sponsor of terrorism ‘ and add the DPRK to the US list of “state sponsors of terrorism “.

Looking at the history of south Korean airlines , KAL , it is noticeable that the airline has a bad safety record with numerous crashes and incidents . Back in 1999 a KAL cargo plane exploded in the air above Stansted Airport in Essex , UK , are the south Korean puppets going to blame the DPRK for that ?

The case of KAL 858 was mysterious right from the start . For one thing apparently little wreckage and bodies were found at the time . However around the same time another plane crashed in the Indian ocean as a south Korean researcher pointed out  “ In fact, the South African Airways Flight 295 accident, in which all 159 people (47 Japanese) on board were killed, crashed into a deep trench at a depth of 3,600 meters, but the wreckage of the plane and its belongings, especially the black box, were recovered. In comparison, the KAL858, which disappeared with 115 people on board in the much shallower Andaman waters (about 60 meters), left suspicions as it hastily stopped the search without recovering any debris or black boxes”

So basically there was no real evidence that a ) Flight 858 had been bombed b) that the DPRK was responsible .

However , the south Korean puppets dramatically produced out of nowhere a so-called “north Korean terrorist “ or secret agent  ‘Mayumi’ or  ‘Kim Hyun-hee’ . Ms Kim’s case is very fishy . Supposedly she confessed to planting a bomb on the KAL aircraft after being shown around Seoul ! . Of course this is nonsense. This kind of thing might happen in films and TV but in real life it would take weeks or months or even years to break down a trained agent and force them to confess .

At the time the DPRK itself pointed out that there was no such person called Kim Hyun Hee with the same age and biographical data as suggested by the south Korean puppets. It was also very clear that the picture of the woman captured in Bahrain and the picture of the so-called secret agent Ms Kim were in fact different women . Later a former south Korean politician Jong Hui Son said that ‘Mayumi/Kim Hyun Hee’ was actually an actress .

Another detail is that supposedly the bomb on the aircraft was planted in a transistor radio and a bottle of liquor . However experts say that this would not be enough to destroy a Boeing 707 aircraft . Moreover , how was Ms Kim and her accomplice(who conveniently committed suicide ) able to smuggle the bomb on board to the aircraft but then leave the aircraft at a stopover but leave the bomb on board without anyone noticing ? This does not add up .

At the time the DPRK was committed to peaceful reunification with south Korea so would have no motive to bomb a south Korean airliner . Moreover the DPRK has always opposed individualistic terrorism 

In short the KAL 858 case was a frame up and a false flag operation against the DPRK  that was partly used for internal south Korean reasons namely to secure the election of south Korean puppet fascist Roh Tae Woo and to divert attention from internal problems but it was also used by the US to frame the DPRK as a “terrorist state “ and impose sanctions on the DPRK .

No one should be dredging up old worn out propaganda like the KAL 858 case !

Dr Dermot Hudson

KFA UK Chairman