A  WORD FROM OUR CHAIRMAN

20th March 2020

NZ Donation for COVID-19 Testing in North Korea

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO2003/S00096/donation-to-north-korea-for-covid-19-testing.htm

13th March 2020

The  Donald Borrie Memorial Scholarship Fund has provided US$2,00 to the DPRK Red Cross for the purchase in China of Coronavirus COVID-19  testing kits and related medical supplies.

2020 Paektusan Highlands Trek

https://www.hikekorea.com/paektusan-highland-treks/

North Korea Quarantines in Place for Coronavirus: Envoy

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/02/19/world/asia/19reuters-china-health-northkorea.html

PHOTO EXHIBITION TO MARK 78TH DAY OF THE SHINING STAR

http://www.kawankorea.com. 

DESPITE TALKS WITH NORTH KOREA, US ESTABLISHMENT ‘DOESN’T WANT ANY PEACEFUL RESOLUTION’

https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201908011076423926-despite-talks-with-north-korea-us-establishment-doesnt-want-any-peaceful-resolution/

YES, THE TRUMP-KIM DMZ MEETING WAS A BREAKTHROUGH. HERE IS WHAT SHOULD COME NEXT

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-kim-jong-un-north-korea-dmz-breakthrough-1446848?link_id=9&can_id=6aa92b31723b9f8f5792abf672217af6&source=email-sunflower-newsletter-july-2019&email_referrer=email_564142&email_subject=sunflower-newsletter-july-2019

Launch of Book Written by Raymond Fergusson, Secretary Australia DPRK Freindship and Cultural Society.   Brisbane June 12th 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85c7eNRfwlo&feature=youtu.be

Call for Jacinda Ardern to help break Korea impasse

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1905/S00171/call-for-jacinda-ardern-to-help-break-korea-impasse.htm

Insidious Aggression: Sanctions as Covert Warfare 

Sanctions are merely warfare by another name

https://covertactionmagazine.com/index.php/2019/05/13/insidious-aggression-sanctions-as-covert-warfare/

2019 Trek

Trek for 6 days (7 nights)  in the spectacular Paektu plateua and mountain region plus 5 days in Pyongyang.  September 5th to 17th.  Restricted to 14 persons, make your booking now

https://www.hikekorea.com/paektusan-highland-treks/

"One Korea" Photo Exhibition Auckland 17 March 2019

https://myalbum.com/album/siuuikOswoAi

The Donald Borrie Memorial Scholarship Fund has been established in memory of the late Rev. Ian Donald (Don) Borrie and is intended to further the work that he began as a co-founder of the New Zealand DPRK Society.

For over four decades Don was a tireless worker advocating friendly relations and understanding between New Zealand and DPRK (North Korea) as well as peace and justice in the world. Over those years he was involved in many joint NZ – DPRK people to people projects. The Memorial Fund will continue in this tradition by fully (or partly) financing projects that promote relations between the two countries primarily, but not exclusively in the education sector.

The Memorial Fund will be administered by a Steering Committee comprised initially of the following persons:

Robert Reid, President First Union.  Chair.

Peter Wilson, Secretary of the NZ DPRK Society.  Secretary.

Rev. Stuart Vogel.  Project Officer.

Rev. Richard Lawrence, Co-chair of the NZ ROK Friendship Society.

As the Donald Borrie Memorial Scholarship Fund is neither a registered Charitable Organization nor an Incorporated Society, donations will not qualify for a tax rebate.

Donations may be made by direct credit to the memorial Fund account, by cheque or by cash. Each donation will be acknowledged with a receipt and the NZ DPRK Society will report back to donors on projects funded.

Bank Account Name:  Donald Borrie Memorial

Bank Account Number:   Please email    nzdprksociety@gmail.com   if you wish to make a donation to the Fund.

It is hoped that people will want to promote and further the understanding and cooperative efforts that have arisen as a result of Don Borrie's work and thus contribute to a growing understanding between the two countries in the 21st century.

Joint statement of US civil society groups on the peace process in Korea

https://sites.google.com/view/peacetreatynow2nd-en/home

Open letter re visit of President Moon Jae-in to New Zealand

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1812/S00032/open-letter-re-visit-of-president-moon-jae-in-to-new-zealand.htm

The Rev Dr Stuart Vogel: Kiwis could show leadership on Nth Korean aid 3rd Dec.2018

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12170071

Open Letter to the Prime Minister of New Zealand

22nd November 2018

Rt. Honourable Jacinda Ardern,

Prime Minister,

Parliament Buildings,

Wellington.

jacinda.ardern@parliament.govt.nz

Dear Prime Minister,

Your announcement that President Moon is to visit New Zealand early December is a most welcome one.

That President Moon has chosen to come to New Zealand is of significance. It is also a plea for help.

Unlike most of his travel, it is of significance that he is not coming to our country for an international event. While he will be conscious of trade issues, his prime reason for visiting New Zealand will be to solicit support for the bold moves he is making in seeking a formal, internationally recognised, Korean peace regime and a nuclear free Peninsula.

Since your Coalition Government has come into office our Minister of Foreign Affairs has made statements encouraging talks between the two Koreas. The visit of President Moon gives New Zealand the opportunity to go beyond just words.

There are many actions that New Zealand could take to support and help President Moon in his mission of peace. We urge your Government to initiate such actions in order to achieve a just peace on the Korean peninsula

1. In seeking a nuclear free Korea, President Moon is moving into difficult territory. As a recognised global leader in disarmament advocacy, nuclear free Aotearoa is in a strong position to be able to help negotiate a pathway in this fraught arena.

2. New Zealand should encourage both Koreas to sign the United Nations treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons.

3. On his recent trip to Europe President Moon energetically canvassed Prime Minister May and President Macron to support his call for the easing of sanctions to facilitate the peace process. It appears that he was unsuccessful but Britain and France are both nuclear weapons states. As a proudly nuclear free state New Zealand should surely take a different position and support President Moon on this matter. Movement on a reduction of sanctions is essential if there is to be progress in negotiations between the USA and the DPRK.

4. For reasons which are not clear, New Zealand has frozen diplomatic contact with the DPRK over the past four years. It would be in keeping with President Moon’s policy of active rapprochement and dialogue if New Zealand were to restore full diplomatic relations with DPRK at this time. Concurrent with the restoration of diplomatic relations, the NZ Defence Attaché based in Seoul should be accredited additionally to the DPRK.

5. As highlighted in his Berlin speech President Moon is aiming for “an economic community where the two Koreas prosper together”. It would not only be in the interests of peace but also in New Zealand’s trade interests to explore ways in which the creation of this economic community can be achieved.

6. Cooperation on infectious diseases and forestry were also flagged in the Berlin speech and officials from both countries are already engaged on talks on both of these. New Zealand expertise could be offered to help in these sectors.

7. A final point made by President Moon in Berlin was to call for a mutual halt to acts of hostility around the Military Demarcation Line. Action has already commenced on this front with the demolishing of guard posts and removal of land mines. Within the last few days the DPRK has stated that the United Nations Command (UNC) is an “obstacle” to inter-Korean cooperation. Currently cooperation between the two Koreas on railways has been blocked by the UNC. From a Pyongyang viewpoint, the UNC has always appeared to be a hostile operational unit of the United States armed forces and the United Nations as a tool for implementation of United States foreign policy. New Zealand could contribute to defusing this situation by withdrawing some, or preferably all, of the NZ Defence personnel assigned to the UNC.

8. The United Nations agencies are currently requesting US$111 million to improve the nutritional status of the most vulnerable North Korean people, reduce preventable mortality and build resilience amongst the most vulnerable. This is reportedly only 20% funded. New Zealand could make a contribution to this humanitarian effort.

In looking forward to positive outcomes from President Moon’s impending visit we offer these actions as examples of what New

Zealand could do to help achieve a lasting peace for the Korean nation.

Sincerely, 

Tim Beal        Chairman 

Peter Wilson     Secretary

Celebrating 4th October Korean Summit

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1810/S00019/celebrating-4th-october-korean-summit.htm

Attending the DPRK 70th Founding Anniversary Celebrations

http://www.timbeal.net.nz/geopolitics/PW_DPRK70.pdf

Trekking on sacred Paektusan highlands  21Sept.2018

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180920000786

Introducing Trekking in North Korea  20th August 2018.

The NZ DPRK Society congratulates Roger Shepherd on the first trekking for foreign hikers in the DPRK

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1808/S00082/kiwi-notches-up-another-first-in-north-korea.htm

Kiwi mountaineer leads historic tourism venture in North Korea

https://www.facebook.com/1NEWSNZ/videos/315879019182678/

https://apnews.com/4040e7e7b13a41efbe70fdc10e4b6a60/Tourists-go-off-beaten-path-on-North-Korea's-sacred-volcano

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=12110314

.........................................................................................................................................

On the Eve of the Kim-Trump Summit – Facts, Fantasies and Prospects

http://www.zoominkorea.org/on-the-eve-of-the-kim-trump-summit-facts-fantasies-and-prospects/      Tim Beal

Letter to Ambassadors re Fourth Korea Summit  28th May 2018.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1805/S00176/letter-to-ambassadors-re-fourth-korea-summit.htm

COMMENTARY ON TRUMP CANCELLATION OF SUMMIT

"For the time being, it seems as though Bolton has dropped a proverbial bomb on the peace process. However, their remains a silver lining. With the US sidelined by Bolton’s negative attitude towards peace, there is now a chance for the two Korean states to work with China and Russia to help bring a formal end to the Korean War through a much overdue treaty while also working to strive towards a more integrated and more multipolar Korea on the  One  country two systems model. 

There is now a chance for the peace process to move on without the United States being directly involved in the negotiations. This could actually help to make the peace process one that could prioritise the needs and wishes of Seoul, Pyongyang, Beijing and Moscow over the increasingly unreasonable demands of Washington. If successful, this could mean that a more integrated pan-Korean economy and a peace treaty could be created on an entirely Asian basis without obstructionist input from the US. If such a thing were to be accomplished, the US would have little it could realistically demand at such a juncture without receiving the rebuke of China, Russia, the DPRK and most importantly, peace minded South Korean public opinion."

https://www.eurasiafuture.com/2018/05/24/donald-trump-cancels-meeting-with-kim-jong-un-as-neocon-bolton-derails-peace-process/

New Book by Roger Shepherd Scheduled for Publication July 2018

Roger first walked the 687 km of the South Korean mountain spine (the Baekdu Daegan) in 2006 and 2007. Since 2011 he has been visiting the DPRK and exploring the North Korean Baekdu Daegan. During these trips he has climbed at least 50 peaks and photographed many more.

He is now preparing a unique photo art book which will combine images of both South and North mountains along with explanatory essays.

To help fund a first print run of this book he has launched a Kickstarter campaign.

If you would like to help Roger in this venture please go to:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1697700485/one-korea-mountains-villages-and-people-a-photo-ar?ref=project_share#

For more information about Roger and his work see:

http://www.hikekorea.com/

Also a recent article about Roger, his work and the Kickstarter campaign see:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5682121/Stunning-images-mountain-range-connects-Koreas.html

Text of letter to Ambassador designate to New Zealand.

28th April 2018

His Excellency An Kwang-il,    

Ambassador Designate of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to New Zealand,

DPRK Embassy,

Jakarta.

Dear Ambassador Designate An,

The NZ DPRK Society wishes to express congratulations to the people of the DPRK on the outcome of the successful DPRK – ROK Summit held yesterday at Panmunjom.

In his New Year address, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un sagely stated that it is time to:  “sit face to face with a view to holding sincere discussions over the issue of improving inter-Korean relations by our nation itself and seek a way out for its settlement in a bold manner.”

We rejoice that this face to face meeting has now taken place and both parties have agreed to bring “an end to the current unnatural state of armistice and establish a robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.”

It is the NZ DPRK Society’s hope that, following the spirit of reconciliation set in motion by Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and President Moon Jae-in, that our NZ government will promptly reactivate diplomatic relations between our two countries.

Sincerely,

Peter Wilson 

Secretary

NZ DPRK Society

Inaugural Backpacking Trek

 18 - 27th August 2018

We are proud to announce for the first time in history, the commencement of overland back country camping/hiking expeditions of the Paektu Highlands in the northern province of Raynggang-do, North Korea.

Since 2011, New Zealander Roger Shepherd of Hike Korea   ( http://www.hikekorea.com/ ) has been regularly visiting the DPRK, camping in the back blocks, climbing and photographing the mountains.

The only Westerner to have ever accessed many of these mountains, he has built up a unique knowledge of the DPRK back country which he is now able to share with others having been granted exclusive permission to lead  10 person expeditions in the Paektu-san highlands preservation zone. 

For more information see:

https://www.facebook.com/koreahike/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/56294089@N06/sets/72157690340577312

Also radio NZ Interview 26 April 2018   https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018642304/hiking-in-north-korea

To take part contact:

roger@hikekorea.com 

Kim - Trump Talks

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1803/S00069/kim-trump-talks.htm

A  Korean Summit  -  the right move at the right time   11th February 2018

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1802/S00098/a-korean-summit-the-right-move-at-the-right-time.htm

In December it was reported that the “America is drawing up plans for a “bloody nose” military attack on North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons programme.”

As things are turning out it is America who is getting a snubbed, if not bloody, nose. “Pence’s Anti-North Korea PR Campaign Bombs,” as New York magazine has put it. His actions at the opening of the winter Olympics appeared crass and impolite. In this he was symbolic of the Trump administration; the American people deserve better

Be this as it may, Washington is being sidelined by of the leaders of the Korean nation who, with admirable sophistication, are jointly taking tentative steps to break out from the American yoke.

In lengthy discussions with North Korean diplomatic and other government officials stretching back over the past ten years I have on more than one occasion been told that the North does not need a third party or mediator  for them to deal with South Korea. “We can and do work with them, when the timing is right,” as one Ambassador put it to me.

In his recent New Year speech Kim Jong-un signaled that the timing is right:

“This year we will mark the 45th anniversary of the historic July 4 Joint Statement and the 10th anniversary of the October 4 Declaration. This year we should open up a broad avenue to independent reunification through a concerted effort of the whole [Korean] nation.

Positive measures should be taken to improve inter-Korean relations, avoid acute military confrontation and remove the danger of war between north and south.

The improvement of inter-Korean relations is the starting-point for peace and reunification, and it is a pressing demand of the whole nation.”

What was Kim Jong-un Referring to and Why is the Timing Right?

There have been two high level official meetings and two summits between the South and the North over the past five decades. The first of these was ‘The July 4 1972 South-North Joint Communiqué’.

Signed by both sides, the Communiqué expressed a desire for unification and how this could be achieved as follows:

“The two sides agreed on the following principles as a basis of achieving unification:

 First, unification shall be achieved independently, without depending on foreign powers and without foreign interference.

 Second, unification shall be achieved through peaceful means, without resorting to the use of force against each other.

 Third, a great national unity as one people shall be sought first, transcending differences in ideas, ideologies, and systems.”

The most recent meeting was the October 4 2007 summit when President Roh Moo-hyun accompanied by his staff officer Moon Jae-in travelled to Pyongyang and met with Kim Jong-il.

The resultant “Declaration for Development of North-South Relations and Peace and Prosperity” stated that:

The north and the south agreed to definitely convert the north-south relations into those of mutual respect and confidence irrespective of differing ideologies and systems.

The north and the south agreed to closely cooperate with each other in the efforts to put an end to the hostile military relations and ensure détente and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

 From Pyongyang’s point of view, the timing is now right for a number of reasons.

• • ·         They feel confident that they have an ICBM and miniaturized nuclear warhead capable of reaching the America and can therefore speak from a position of strength without fear of an attack from the United States.

  •  

  • ·         United States policy is in disarray under a weak, incompetent President.

  •  

  • ·         Within their socialized system they have restructured their economy so as to be able to do business and trade with the rest of the world. Besides controlled development of markets, this has included teaching English from primary school onwards.

  •  

  • ·         South Korea’s Democratic President Moon Jae-in has signaled his desire to talk via his July 2017 Berlin speech in which he stated:  “We already know the road that leads to a peaceful Korean Peninsula. It is returning to the June 15 Joint Declaration and the Oct. 4 Declaration.”

  •  

  • ·         The winter Olympics provide a suitable stage on which the two Koreas can make their first moves. 

Why is the United States not Keen on a Korean Summit?

How is it that while the rest of the world applauds, the United States and Japan are vilifying North Korea more vociferously than normal and attempting to obstruct dialogue between Seoul and Pyongyang.?

The United States has 78,000 military personnel in some 140 bases located in South Korea and Japan, supposedly to counter an aggressive North Korea. The South Korean and Japanese people do not like this, but tolerate the foreign troop’s because they have been conned into believing that North Korea is a threat.

The real reason why the United States maintains these bases is to have a presence close to China, but they do not want to openly state this. By demonizing North Korea they are able to maintain the fiction of a North Korean threat and thus maintain their bases.

The cost of maintaining these troops and bases costs billions of dollars per year, a large portion of which flows through to private sector defense contractors, all of whom are generous financial supporters of both Republican and Democratic party politicians.

Washington knows that if the two Koreas were to agree to go ahead with their June 15 and October 4 Declarations and end hostilities, it would only be a matter of time before the South Korean and Japanese populations would demand that the United States bases on their soils be closed and the American troops go home.

In Japan, fanatically hard right Prime Minister Shinzō Abe has fanned up fear and hatred of North Korea as a means to justifying his re-militarization programme.

For these reasons, the United States and Japan will be placing inordinate pressure on President Moon Jae-in to not accept Kim Jong-un’s invitation to visit.

Rectifying a Disaster

It has been disastrous for all Koreans, South and North, that the United Nations allowed itself to be manipulated into adopting United States foreign policy in June 1950 and ever since.

In recent years, to avoid peace and the loss of the South Korean and Japanese bases, it has been the United States policy (aided and abetted by a complicit United Nations Security Council) to isolate and sanction North Korea.  The reasoning is that if nobody is talking to North Korea the risk of peace is minimized. 

Common sense and natural justice dictate that the two Koreas should be able to negotiate peace and reunification “independently, without depending on foreign powers and without foreign interference,” as agreed to in the July 4 1972 Communiqué.

What Should New Zealand do?

It is to New Zealand’s great shame that we have allowed ourselves to be blindly carried along on the tide of United States misinformation. Instead of working for peace in Korea while on the Security Council, New Zealand actively advocated and supported increased isolation and sanctions. These are the tools of war, not of peace.

Fortunately the tide is now turning and the Korean leaders themselves are taking steps towards peace. 

New Zealand should recognize what is happening and publicly encourage the two Koreas to independently sort come to an accommodation.. 

Further, as a concrete sign that New Zealand is for peace not war, the Minister of Foreign Affairs should immediately restore full diplomatic relations with North Korea.

Peter Wilson

Secretary

NZ DPRK Society

Peter Wilson is a humanitarian worker with 40 years of experience working on field projects in Asia,  including food production in North Korea.

11th February 2018

And the Winner Is…Two Koreas Talk Peace at Olympics In Defiance of U.S.

https://sputniknews.com/radio_loud_and_clear/201802101061529631-and-the-winner-is-two-koreas-talk-peace-at-olympics-in-defiance-of-us/

Brian Becker and John Kiriakou aspeak with Ann Wright, a retired United States Army colonel and former U.S. State Department official in Afghanistan, who resigned in protest of the invasion of Iraq and became an anti-war activist, Dr. Tim Beal, an author, researcher, and teacher whose most recent book is “Crisis in Korea,” and Professor Simone Chun, a fellow at the Korea Policy Institute and a member of the Korean Peace Network.

17th January 2018

US allies from Korean War meet on North Korean nuke threat

http://www.news-herald.com/article/HR/20180116/NEWS/180119599

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180116000967

http://www.columbian.com/news/2018/jan/16/u-s-allies-from-korean-war-meet-on-north-korean-nuke-threat/

Korea summit 'achieves nothing': NZ lobby

https://nz.news.yahoo.com/korea-summit-apos-achieves-nothing-003600504.html

http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=262746&cat=978&fm=newsmain%2Cnarts

16th January 2018

Peter Wilson brings greetings  and support for the Mobilisation Against War and Occupation (MAWO) meeting "US Hands off North Korea"   16th  January 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQfTzlWLeoI

VANCOUVER WOMEN’S FORUM ON PEACE AND SECURITY ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA

JANUARY 16, 2018

 Final statement

The Vancouver Summit on Korea missed a critical opportunity for peace. Instead of supporting the reduction of tensions in the Korean peninsula that began with the inter-Korean dialogue and the Olympics truce, the Foreign Ministers chose to further isolate and threaten North Korea.

We urged Foreign Ministers to prepare the table for dialogue with North Korea.   Instead, they chose to obstruct the path for peace being laid by North and South Korea.

The US-led “maximum pressure” approach has utterly failed to halt North Korea’s nuclear and missile program. Seventy years of sanctions and isolation of North Korea have only furthered the DPRK’s resolve to develop its nuclear arsenal.

A maximum pressure campaign is not diplomacy that will lead to peace. Increased sanctions hurt ordinary people.

Secretary Tillerson’s depiction today of commercial airline flights as potential targets of North Korea’s missile tests is reminiscent of Colin Powell’s UN presentation about Iraq’s “so-called” weapons of mass destruction. This provocative effort to demonize North Korea sets up justification for even more extreme measures against DPRK, such as a naval blockade, which will be viewed by North Koreans as a war-like action.

We are profoundly disappointed by the Foreign Ministers representing countries with a commitment to peaceful diplomacy and feminist foreign policies. At a time of great global instability, we looked to them for leadership for true global peace and security.

We are resolved to build a global campaign to challenge sanctions that we know have cruel and punishing effects on ordinary North Koreans, to strengthen our feminist peace movements to challenge the drive for war, and to work towards the formal resolution of the Korean War.

Our commitment to peace is unshaken.

Contact: Christine Ahn, Women Cross DMZ, Women’s Forum Lead

5 January 2018

Text of letter sent to NZ Minister of Foreign Affairs:

Right Honourable Winston Peters,

Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister,

Parliament Buildings,

Wellington,

New Zealand.

Winston.peters@parliament.govt.nz

5th January 2018.

Dear Sir,

The 16 January Vancouver Group meeting, to which New Zealand has been invited, will achieve nothing unless the issue of replacing the 1953 Korea War Armistice with a peace treaty is addressed.

Since they wrote in 1974 to President Ford and the USA Congress formally proposing “talks be held for the conclusion of a peace agreement between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the United States of America,” [1] the DPRK has been repeatedly asking for a cessation of hostilities. 

The DPRK’s Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Kim In-ryong has made North Korea’s position clear in recent statements:

“The rolling back of the hostile policy towards DPRK is the prerequisite for solving all the problems in the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, the urgent issue to be settled on Korean Peninsula is to put a definite end to the U.S. hostile policy towards DPRK, the root cause of all problems.” [2]

“Unless the hostile policy and the nuclear threat of the US is thoroughly eradicated, we will never put our nuclear weapons and ballistic rockets on the negotiating table under any circumstances.” [3]

Announcing the Vancouver Group meeting, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stated that in seeking to increase the pressure on North Korea “all of us share one policy and one goal, and that is the full, complete, verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." [4]

Denuclearization of the Korean peninsula will not be achieved by increasing pressure on the DPRK as is being proposed to the Vancouver Group. North Koreans are still traumatised by US bombing which literally flattened their country and killed 30% of their countrymen.  These memories make them absolutely determined that no consideration can be given to denuclearization until hostilities have ceased.  Increasing pressure will merely strengthen their determination to further expand their nuclear deterrent capability.

Since the first sanctions were established in 1950, the United States has been continually increasing economic and military pressure on DPRK. The six decades of besiegement have created a strong siege mentality in Pyongyang. It has been in response to this pressure that the DPRK has created its nuclear programme. Only diplomacy can address this state of mind, not more isolation and sanctions.  .

President Putin has indicated that he fully understands this DPRK phsyche : “They'd rather eat grass than abandon their [nuclear weapons] programme unless they feel secure.” [5]

Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula can only be achieved through diplomatic discourse.

 The first step in this discourse is to end the state of war with a robust internationally agreed upon peace treaty. Given a guaranteed cessation of hostilities, the DPRK will have no further need for their nuclear deterrent.

Nothing will be achieved by the Vancouver Group unless steps are taken to initiate the negotiating of a peace treaty.

Peter Wilson

Secretary

NZ DPRK Society

[1]  For full text see:  http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/114199.pdf?v=cd0ef171ed9fcb19ebbe0b883d5103f7

[2]   https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear-usa-un/north-korea-says-u-s-has-to-roll-back-hostile-policy-before-talks-idUSKCN18F230

[3]  http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/north-korea-nuclear-war-break-moment-171017034147416.html

[4]   http://thehill.com/policy/international/365720-us-and-canada-to-co-host-meeting-on-north-korean-nuclear-threat-in

[5]    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41158281

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29th December Press Release

North Korea as a Threat - the Numbers

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1712/S00284/north-korea-as-a-threat-the-numbers.htm

The Clown and the Rock     Tim Beal  22nd December 2017

http://kpolicy.org/the-clown-and-the-rock/

North Korea may well be the rock on which the Trump administration, enfeebled and destabilised at home by Russiagate, shatters..................

Abe Pulls it Off - but will it end in tears?    October 24 2017.

Tim Beal

http://www.zoominkorea.org/abe-pulls-it-off-but-it-will-end-in-tears/

WomenCrossDMZ petition to the United Nations Secretary General

https://www.womencrossdmz.org/web/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Final_Letter-to-UNSG-ver6.pdf

18th September 2017  Press Release

What is Behind Kim Jong-un’s Equilibrium Statement?

North Korea's "final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military option[s]," said Kim Jong-un last week.

What does he mean by this?  Here is the background.

North Korea has been asking for an end to the Korean War in the form of a negotiated peace agreement since 1974.

Excerpt from letter to President Gerald Ford and the Congress of the United States of America   24 March 1974. [1]

“The Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea formally proposes that talks be held for the conclusion of a peace agreement between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the United States of America.”

Neither President Ford, nor the senate, nor the House of Representatives  ever replied, but an answer of sorts did come in 2003.

''We won't do non-aggression pacts or treaties, things of that nature,'' said then Secretary of State Colin Powell.

North Korea’s repeated requests for a peace settlement agreement as provided for in Clause 60 of the Armistice continue to be ignored to this day.

The United States entered Korea in 1950 on ideological grounds in an attempt to ensure establishment of a market led economy (as against centrally planned economy) throughout the peninsula. Over the years Washington’s objective has not changed.

In recent times the USA has come out into the open practising ‘surgical strikes’ to take out North Korean military assets and commissioning the Naval Seal Team Six, who assassinated Osama bin Laden, to accomplish the same with Kim Jong-un.

United States involvement in regime change has been documented in 36 countries since WWII according to the Centre for Research on Globalisation. [2]

Mindful of this situation, North Korea took the decision some 20 years ago that the only way to keep the United States out of their country was to develop a nuclear deterrent.

Hence Kim Jong-un’s equilibrium statement.

[1]  For full text see:  http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/114199.pdf?v=cd0ef171ed9fcb19ebbe0b883d5103f7

[2]  https://www.globalresearch.ca/overthrowing-other-peoples-governments-the-master-list-of-u-s-regime-changes/5400829

You are being lied to about North Korea! They are not aggressive, they desperately want peace!

Tim Lynch of   GreenPlanetFM interviews Peter Wilson

http://www.ourplanet.org/greenplanetfm/peter-wilson-you-are-being-lied-to-about-north-korea-they-are-not-aggressive-they-want-peace?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=peter_wilson

2nd August 2017  Press Release

North Korea's Security Concerns

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1708/S00043/north-koreas-security-concerns.htm

https://article.wn.com/view/2017/08/02/north_korea_aposs_security_concerns/

Within hours of the DPRK launching a ballistic missile last week, Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee issued a statement denouncing North Korea for continuing “to flout its obligations to the international community by testing these missiles........ it’s completely unacceptable,” he says.

According to Wikipedia 27 countries have developed, and presumably tested, missiles. These are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European joint-venture, France, Germany, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.

Apparently missile development is acceptable in 26 countries, but is unacceptable in only one.

This illogical stance ignores North Korea’s very genuine security concerns. 

In the interest of peace in our Asian/Pacific region, these concerns should be recognised and steps taken to address them.

As a first step Minister Brownlee should authorise our MFAT personnel to visit North Korea and listen to these concerns so that New Zealand can play an informed positive role in working to achieve peace on the Korean peninsula.

5th July 2017      Press Release

Missiles are Acceptable Everywhere – Except North Korea       

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1707/S00059/missiles-are-acceptable-everywhere-except-north-korea.htm

https://thestandard.org.nz/feed-items/missiles-are-acceptable-everywhere-except-north-korea/

https://trueinform.ru/modules.php?name=Laid&sid=14779

Missiles are Acceptable Everywhere in the World – Except North Korea

North Korea, which does not possess a single nuclear warhead, test fires another missile.

NZ Foreign Affairs Minister Brownlee promptly fires off an indignant press release stating that North Korean missile tests are unacceptable.

While this may sound good in Washington, it does not help contribute to peace and security in NE Asia.

In recent months India has tested Agni-2 medium-range and Agni-3 intermediate-range ballistic missiles, as well as an Agni-5 ICBM, Pakistan has fired an Ababeel medium-range ballistic missile, capable of delivering multiple warheads, South Korea has launched a Hyunmoo-2 cruise missile and is developing a new generation Hyunmoo-3. Both China and Russia have tested ICBMs. The United States which maintains a stock of some 7,000 nuclear warheads has fired Minuteman 3 and Trident missiles.

No comment from our Foreign Affairs Minister.

If Minister Brownlee genuinely wishes to contribute to peace and security in NE Asia he should equally promptly release a statement endorsing Presidents Xi and Putin’s proposal that the United States and South Korea refrain from carrying out large-scale joint war game exercises, and that North Korea reciprocate with a moratorium on testing nuclear devices thus defusing the situation and opening the way for peace talks.

4th July 2017.

Joint statement from Ministry of Foreign Affairs  of the Russian Federation    

and  the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China

The Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China are the Korean Peninsula’s neighbours, therefore the development of the situation in the region concerns the national interests of both countries. Russia and China will closely coordinate their efforts in order to promote a complex solution to the Korean Peninsula’s problems, including that of the nuclear issue, for the sake of achieving a lasting peace and stability in Northeast Asia. In the spirit of strategic cooperation the foreign ministries of Russia and China (hereinafter referred to as Parties) state the following:

1. The Parties are seriously worried by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s statement of July 4, 2017 about a ballistic missile launch and consider this statement unacceptable and in disharmony with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

2. The Parties express serious concern about the development of the situation on the Korean Peninsula and around it. Mounting political and military tension in that region, fraught with the eruption of an armed conflict, are calling on the international community to adopt collective measures to settle the situation peacefully through dialogue and consultations. The Parties oppose any statements or moves that might escalate tension or aggravate the contradictions and urge all countries concerned to maintain calm, renounce provocative moves or bellicose rhetoric, demonstrate readiness for dialogue without preconditions and work actively together to defuse tension.

3.The Parties are putting forward a joint initiative, which is based on the Chinese-proposed ideas of “double freezing” (missile and nuclear activities by the DPRK and large-scale joint exercises by the United States and the Republic of Korea) and “parallel advancement” towards the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and the creation of peace mechanisms on the peninsula, and the Russian-proposed stage-by-stage Korean settlement plan.

The Parties propose the following:

The DPRK, by way of a voluntary political decision, announces a moratorium on the testing of nuclear explosive devices and ballistic missile tests, and the United States and the Republic of Korea should, accordingly, refrain from large-scale joint exercises. Simultaneously, the conflicting parties begin talks and assert common principles of their relations, including the non-use of force, the renunciation of aggression, peaceful coexistence and determination to do all they can to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula with a view to promoting a complex resolution of all problems, including the nuclear issue. During the negotiating process, all parties concerned push forward, in a format suitable to them, the creation on the peninsula and in Northeast Asia of a peace and security mechanism and consequently normalise relations between the countries in question.

The Parties urge the international community to support the aforementioned initiative that paves the real way for resolving the Korean Peninsula’s problems.

4.The Parties are resolutely committed to the international non-proliferation regime and are firmly aimed at the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and a comprehensive and full implementation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. The Parties intend, jointly with other parties concerned, to continue making efforts to facilitate the balanced removal of the existing concerns via dialogue and consultations.

The Parties confirm that the DPRK’s justified concerns should be respected. Other states must make relevant efforts to have talks resumed and jointly to create an atmosphere of peacefulness and mutual trust.

The Parties are calling on all parties involved to comply with the commitments formulated in the Joint Statement of September 19, 2005, and to re-launch, as soon as possible, the dialogue on the comprehensive resolution of problems on the Korean Peninsula. Any possibility of using military means to solve the problems of the Korean Peninsula should be ruled out.

5. The Parties express support for the North and the South of the Korean Peninsula to conduct dialogue and consultations, display benevolence towards each other, improve relations, cooperate in the matter of a peaceful settlement, and play a due role in defusing the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in resolving its problems in a proper manner.

6. The Parties confirm that they are paying sufficient attention to the maintenance of the international and regional balance and stability, and emphasise that allied relations between separate states should not inflict damage on the interests of third parties. They are against any military presence of extra-regional forces in Northeast Asia and its build-up under the pretext of counteracting the DPRK’s missile and nuclear programmes.

The Parties confirm that the deployment of THAAD antimissile systems in Northeast Asia is inflicting serious damage on strategic security interests of regional states, including Russia and China, and does nothing to help achieve the aims of the Korean Peninsula’s denuclearisation, nor to ensure peace and stability in the region.

Russia and China are against the deployment of the said systems, call on the relevant countries to immediately stop and cancel the deployment process, and have agreed to adopt the necessary measures to protect the two countries’ security interests and to ensure a strategic balance in the region.

This statement was signed on July 4, 2017, in Moscow.

For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs             For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

         of the Russian Federation                       of the People’s Republic of China

11th June 2017

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge”  Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man

Here is a good example:

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/06/nz-halts-funding-to-complete-nutter-north-korea.html

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11874349

The Korean Nuclear Issue: Past, Present, and Future A Chinese Perspective

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/north-korean-nuclear-issue-fu-ying.pdf

Letter to New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Gerry Brownlee   2nd May 2017

https://sites.google.com/site/nzdprksociety/advocacy

Baptism of Fire for Brownlee     Op-Ed by Terence O'Brien   2nd May 2017

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/92073468/terence-obrien-baptism-of-fire-for-brownlee

North Korean, South Korean and Global Women Call on Trump Administration to Engage in Diplomacy to Avert War   25th April 2017

https://www.womencrossdmz.org/for-immediate-release-north-korean-south-korean-and-global-women-call-on-trump-administration-to-engage-in-diplomacy-to-avert-war/

https://www.womencrossdmz.org/category/in-the-news/

Update on NZ Civil Society Activities in DPRK

April 25th 2017

Despite a freezing of diplomatic relations and militaristic official statements from the NZ government which exacerbate rather than pour oil on troubled waters, relations between New Zealand and the DPRK continue to be active at civil society level.

This Month

A team of four from the Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre  ( http://www.miranda-shorebird.org.nz/  ) are currently in DPRK working with staff from the Natural Conservation union of the DPRK  (NCUK). For the first few days they are operating on mudflats near Nampo where they are banding birds that have migrated from Australia and New Zealand. From there they will move North where they will survey and count migratory birds which have stopped on their journey for a feed.

Next Month

Roger Shepherd   (http://www.hikekorea.com/  ) will spend between three weeks  in the North East of DPRK undertaking an ambitious programme of scaling and photographing 14 mountains along a 100 km section of the Baekdu Daegan, the mountainous spine which runs the entire length of the Korean Peninsula from Mt. Paektu in the North to Mt. Jirisan in the South. Later in the year he will be

holding an exhibition of the photos taken in both DPRK and the ROK.

September

Stuart Vogel and Richard Lawrence will visit to undertake quite an ambitious programme which will include:

·         A visit to the NZ Friendship School

·         A visit to the NZ Friendship Farm

·         A visit to the Korea Christian Federation and the Bongsu Bakery

·         Meeting with High School teachers who visited NZ in 2012

·         Meeting with Scholars who studied at Wintec in 2014

The major objective will be to obtain feedback about previous projects  from  each of these parties  which can help in planning and implementing future  people’s diplomacy projects.

This Is What’s Really Behind North Korea’s Nuclear Provocations

It’s easy to dismiss Kim Jong-un as a madman. But there’s a long history of US aggression against the North, which we forget at our peril.

https://www.thenation.com/article/this-is-whats-really-behind-north-koreas-nuclear-provocations/

DPR Korea Needs and Priorities 2017     (UNDP)

http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/DPRK%20Needs%20and%20Priorities%202017.pdf

Largest Ever US-Korea Military Drill Focuses on Striking North Korea’s Leadership

http://thediplomat.com/2016/03/largest-ever-us-korea-military-drill-focuses-on-striking-north-koreas-leadership/

Press Release                                                                                    23rd January 2016

Trump White House Assures Business as Usual for the Military Industrial Complex

Relax, Lockheed Martin, your $6 billion of annual profits from military hardware sales are safe.

Ignore the fact that Trump statements in recent weeks have dropped your stock price by 5%.

Don’t worry about potential loss of revenue from the winding down of NATO. That was profitable while it lasted, but it is small beer compared with what has now been promised.

Within minutes of inauguration, President Trump’s White House website committed to “develop a state-of-the-art missile defense system to protect against missile-based attacks from states like Iran and North Korea”.

It is irrelevant that Iran has no ICBM capability.

It is irrelevant that North Korea does not want war and has for decades been pleading for an end to hostilities in the form of the peace treaty (as provided for in the Korean War Armistice Agreement).

What is relevant is that the value of the state-of-the-art missile defense contracts will be worth far more than the NATO armament supply contracts ever were.

Relax, Lockheed Martin, and the rest of the military industrial complex, your billions of annual profits are assured.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1701/S00044/trump-white-house-assures-business-as-usual.htm

https://article.wn.com/view/2017/01/22/Trump_White_House_Assures_Business_as_Usual/

Petition to the Secretary General of the United Nations   27th September 2016

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1609/S00073/correction-petition-to-un-secretary-general-ban-ki-moon.htm

The following letter has been sent to the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting disaster relief funding following the flooding caused by Typhoon Lionrock.

No funding was forthcoming!

18th September 2016.

Mr. Brook Barrington,

Chief Executive and Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade,

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Dear Sir,

We understand that the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK) in Jakarta has submitted a request to the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeking humanitarian aid to assist people afflicted by the recent Typhoon Lionrock.

The NZ DPRK Society endorses this request and asks that a donation be made to one of the international agencies working on the ground in the afflicted area.

This is a major natural disaster with the Korean Central News Agency of DPRK stating that it is the “biggest cataclysm” since the devastation of World War II.

Over the weekend we have been provided with the following information regarding the extent of damage by Mr. Hwang Sung Chol, Secretary General of our counterpart Society, the Korea NZ Friendship Society:

“Nine different local cities and counties- Hueryong city, Puryong County, Onsong County including Yonsa County and Musan County of North Hamgyong Province- were inflicted great damages. Total loss of lives including the missing counted as 538, and numbers of destruction of buildings are around 16,000 which resulted in more than 68,000 people displaced without any shelter. Around 29,000 hectares agricultural land has been washed out by a flood.

As you may recollect, even though Rason city was damaged by the flood last year, the scale of damage this area is almost ten-fold of Rason city.”

This is the equivalent to the population of Rotorua District being rendered homeless. The country is facing a herculean challenge to provide shelter to this number of hapless people within the next six weeks, before the sub-zero temperatures of winter set in. 

It is now many years since NZ has made a special humanitarian grant to DPRK apart from routine support for the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

As this is a genuine humanitarian need, not a political issue, we urge a generous donation to one or all of the following: The World Food Program, UNICEF or the International Committee of the Red Cross all of whom we understand to be assisting the Government of DPRK relief work in the disaster area but are faced with inadequate financial resources to adequately meet the need.

Sincerely,

Tim Beal                   

Chairman

Peter Wilson              

Secretary

Stuart Vogel

Liaison Officer with Korea Christian Foundation

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 

North Korea’s Understandable Fears   10th Sept.2016

https://consortiumnews.com/2016/09/10/north-koreas-understandable-fears/

Press Release  25th August 2016

NZ Participation in US-led Korea War Games Foolish and Dangerous

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) is again participating in US-led military exercises in the Korean peninsula. The US claims these are necessary to protect South Korea against an invasion from the North, but this has absolutely no credibility.

The military budget of the US and its allies is some US$1000 billion, between 100 and 1000 times that of North Korea. The idea of North Korea starting a war against those odds is preposterous.

More plausibly the exercises are to practise a potential invasion of North Korea and a subsequent war with China.

It is understandable that the NZDF wants to play with the big boys’ toys – this is the largest military exercise in the world – and New Zealand prime ministers like to play golf with American presidents. But these are scarcely valid reasons to imperil the security of the nation and its economic well-being.

The situation is particularly tense in the aftermath of the announcement of the deployment of the THAAD component of the US missile defense system in South Korea – which both China and Russia see as aimed at them – and the US facing off China in the South China Sea.

New Zealand should not be unthinkingly exacerbating these tensions but rather seeking to defuse them.  Our security, and our economy are dependent on peace in East Asia and that objective should be the basis of our foreign policy.

Tim Beal

Chairman

Peter Wilson

Secretary

All correspondence should be addressed to Peter Wilson email   nzdprksociety@gmail.com

http://search.scoop.co.nz/search?sort_by=relevance&q=NZ+Participation+in+US-led+Korea+War+Games+Foolish&date_from=&date_to=

http://www.zoominkorea.org/press-release-nz-participation-in-us-led-war-games-in-korea-is-foolish-and-dangerous/

"Ultimately, North Korea threatens America only because America threatens North Korea"

Doug Bandow    July 31, 2016

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-skeptics/south-korea-must-learn-defend-itself%E2%80%94without-america-17193

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1607/S00078/12-north-korean-waitresses-held-incommunicado-in-south-korea.htm

http://www.zoominkorea.org/12-north-korean-waitresses-held-incommunicado-in-south-korea/

A look ahead at US Korea policy after the election

Trump

   http://www.zoominkorea.org/the-dangerous-year-2017-part-1/

Clinton

    http://www.zoominkorea.org/the-dangerous-year-2017-part-2/

A RUSSIAN VIEWPOINT ON  NORTH KOREA

The North Korean Phenomenon

Judging by South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s 13 June 2016 statement, Seoul has decided to cut off dialogue with North Korea, demanding that Pyongyang first end its nuclear programme.

As is well known, South Korea severed all communication channels with the North and closed the last collaborative economic development – a joint industrial zone in Kaesong – after North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test and satellite launch in January-February 2016.

In this regard, it is worth mentioning the conciliatory overtures made towards Seoul at the 7th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) held in May, which included the holding of high-level talks between military authorities and then the convening of an inter-Korean meeting in August to discuss reunification.

The North Korean government also extended an invitation to dialogue to Washington. In particular, it included an idea highly-valued by experts of a so-called package deal in the manner of a ‘moratorium for a moratorium’: Pyongyang would stop conducting nuclear tests for a certain period of time and the US would stop its annual large-scale joint military exercises with South Korea close to the demilitarised zone or at least move them to an area further away from North Korea.

Unfortunately, however, these proposals by North Korea were rejected just like all of the country’s previous ones. The argument that every peaceful step by Pyongyang is just propaganda intended to camouflage an imminent ‘act of provocation’ that needs to be prepared for in advance without losing time studying the diplomatic signals emanating from the banks of the Taedong River is an already familiar explanation for this kind of approach.

Categorically refusing to enter into a dialogue with North Korea proves only one thing – that Washington, Seoul and their allies have an alternative agenda aimed at regime change in North Korea by imposing the toughest sanctions, putting pressure on the country and deepening its isolation.

This also explains Seoul’s negative attitude to Pyongyang’s invitation to resume discussions on the prospect of Korean reunification at a meeting on 15 August that will coincide with the 71st anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. This clearly shows the fundamental differences between the two sides regarding how to reunite their divided nation.

The current government in Seoul is trying to reunite Korea by swallowing up the North and is trying to make this happen in the near future.

Pyongyang is suggesting a different way, however – reunification by forming a ‘Confederal Republic of Koryo.’ This plan, developed during the reign of Kim Il-sung, was confirmed in the overtures made towards South Korea in May-June 2016.

The essence of North Korea’s idea is the formation of a confederal republic that will allow for the existence of two social systems and two governments within a single nation and a single state. The formula supposes that the two parts of Korea will initially co-exist within the context of a common state formation and then gradually draw closer.

North Korea believes that the two Korean sides should not blindly copy the experience of other countries, but should form an entity that corresponds to the historical experience of Koreans without asking for the permission of external forces to reunify.

All of Pyongyang’s peace initiatives were formulated at the latest party congress. In our opinion, this event was worthy of much more attention than was given to it by the world’s media.

The 7th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) took place on 6-9 May 2016 after a 36-year hiatus. It opened a new stage in the development of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Among its most important achievements, the following are worth highlighting.

The congress marked the end of the transitional period for the establishment of Kim Jong-un’s leadership, confirming both its continuity with regard to the commitments of the previous government and the viability of new objectives and policies.

As is well known, Kim Jong-il, the father of North Korea’s current leader, who led the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from 1994 to 2011, did not conduct party congresses – he adhered to an army priority policy, which was regarded as the main driving force of society. This was due to the need to overcome the severe economic crisis of the middle to late 1990s.

Kim Jong-un, however, considered it possible to return to normal political practices by restoring the balance of the branches of government, which would also strengthen the role of the party.

The new leader came to power with the idea that «everyone should do their own job: the army should defend the state; the party should provide political leadership; and the cabinet of ministers should ensure economic development».

The party congress held after a 36-year hiatus confirmed that he has succeeded in carrying out his plan and returning to the principles of leadership practised by his grandfather, the founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kim Il-sung.

The policy aimed at the parallel development of the economy and nuclear arms build-up was also reinforced at the 7th Congress of the WPK.

One of the hobby horses of Western critics regarding this approach is the argument that it is impossible to combine these two objectives. They say that a government developing nuclear weapons is unable to successfully implement a programme of economic development and improve living standards.

The development of North Korea shows otherwise.

Even with the increasingly stringent sanctions, GDP continues to grow at a moderate but steady rate, more and more economic innovations are being implemented, which are also ensuring a seemingly never-ending construction boom, primarily in the capital, and there has also been an increase in harvests in recent years, which is reducing the food shortage considerably.

The party congress identified the transfer of all sectors of the economy to a scientific and intellectual level as a priority. Eyewitnesses testify that this is not just a slogan, and the successful practice of increasingly computerising national industry has had a tangible, material effect in recent years.

These days, even some US experts recognise the uniqueness of the North Korean phenomenon, the essence of which is that despite international sanctions, Kim Jong-un is successfully managing to both develop his country’s nuclear military potential and achieve a certain amount of economic growth, which is improving the lives of large segments of the North Korean population.

As a result, North Korea is not only surviving without help from the South, but is not even in any desperate need for a dialogue with it.

The 7th Congress of the WPK has also confirmed the seriousness of the North Korean government’s approach to doing business in the nuclear sector, including a commitment to the requirements of nuclear non-proliferation.

Note that the expectations of many observers, who believed that a fifth nuclear test would be carried out as a ‘gift’ for the party congress, have not been met.

The alarmist interpretations of Pyongyang’s statements on the right of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to a preventive nuclear strike, which were made at the time of a military and political crisis in March and April during large-scale American and South Korean military exercises, have also been left hanging in midair.

It was firmly stated from the podium of the party congress that North Korea has no intention of using nuclear weapons first.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea today is a country that is confident in its own abilities and in the possibility of further developing the social and economic system that exists within it.

Alexander Vorontsov is currently the head of the Department for Korean and Mongolian Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russia Academy of Sciences. He also holds several  posts as a professor and researcher at Lomonosov Moscow State University as a Russian Federation Military Science Academy professor and the the Institute for Asian Studies at Osaka University of Economy and Law in Japan as a visiting professor. He is a key member of the Russian half of the Russia-DPRK Intergovernmental Commission dealing with trade, economic, and scientific-technical cooperation between North Korea and Russia. Prof. Vorontsov was also a scholar at  Pyongyang Kim Il Sung University in North Korea.

The  source of this article is Strategic Culture Foundation:        http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2016/06/18/the-north-korean-phenomenon.html

Copyright © Alexander Vorontsov, Strategic Culture Foundation, 2016

Why North Korea is a safe haven for birds    20 June 2016

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36533469

Women's Walk for Peace Continues      8th May 2016

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1605/S00016/womens-walk-for-peace-in-korea-continues.htm

22nd April 2016

Death of  Rev. Donald Borrie

It is with sadness that we advise you that the Reverend Donald Borrie, Co-Founder, long time Chairman and in recent times, Patron of the NZ DPRK Society, passed away peacefully at his home yesterday.

Don, along with other visionaries, established the NZ DPRK Society in 1972. For the next 44 years he unwaveringly  advocated a peaceful non-military solution to the division of Korea as well as a better understanding within NZ of the  injustice international geopolitics have inflicted upon the North Korean people.

He worked tirelessly at promoting better relations between New Zealand and North Korea, both at government level and with people to people exchanges. As such he has been inspirational, not only to New Zealanders, but also to the North Koreans who held him in high regard.

Our condolences go to his wife Lyndel and the wider Borrie family at the time of their loss.

Tim Beal            Chairman

Peter Wilson       Secretary

Simplistic and naive reply from Minister of Defence re protest at NZ Defence personnel taking part in simulated beach landings i.e. invasion of North Korea.

Office of Hon Gerry Brownlee

MP for Ilam     Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery      Minister of Defence      Minister Responsible for the EarthquakeCommission

Dr Tim Beal

Chairman, NZ-DPRK Society                                                                              31 MAR 2016

timtimbeal.net.nz Dear Dr Beal

Thank you for your email of 9 March 2016 regarding the activities of members of the New Zealand Defence Force in the Republic of Korea.

New Zealand's participation in this exercise is designed to develop New Zealand Army capability. It is part of a series of ongoing twice-yearly exercises with the United States Marine Corps, aimed at developing and maintaining specialist military skills. The series, which got under way last year, currently alternates location between New Zealand and the Republic of Korea.

In both New Zealand and Korea, this specialist training is embedded as part of much broader exercises that ensure training is complex, realistic and provides a suitable challenge for our personnel. Both countries have participated in these exercises for many years. The exercise was planned many months in advance and is not a reaction to heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Yours sincerely

Hon Gerry Brownlee 

Minister of Defence

Letter protesting NZ troops joining war games in ROK.

9th March 2016.

Hon Gerry Brownlee

Minister of Defence

Via email: g.brownlee@ministers.govt.nz

cc: Phil Goff, Labour Party spokesperson on Defence [phil.goff@parliament.govt.nz]

Kennedy Graham, Green Party spokesperson on Defence [kennedy.graham@greens.org.nz]

Public distribution

NZ troops should not be practising invasion in Northeast Asia

We are alarmed at the announcement that 60 Defence Force personnel will be participating in the current US-led military exercises in South Korea. It appears that New Zealand troops will be involved in amphibious landings run by the US Marines, which are widely seen as practice for a possible invasion of North Korea. According to the South Korea press this year’s exercises are the largest ever, involving some 300,000 troops, not far short of the number used in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The Seoul newspaper Korea Times notes ‘Korea-US drills shifting to offensive ‘ and that the exercises this year are also practising implementing OPLAN 5015 which involves, amongst other things pre-emptive strikes against North Korea. The Americans will be deploying advanced nuclear-capable submarines and aircraft.

One aim of such exercises is to force North Korea to shift resources from the economy to defence and, as always, it is the vulnerable who go hungry in such circumstances. New Zealand should not be party to actions which may result in the malnutrition of children.

Far worse would eventuate if the exercises moved from practice to reality, something which cannot be discounted. An invasion of North Korea would be fiercely resisted and would lead to full –scale war and China would probably be sucked in. Has the NZ Government really thought through the implications of getting embroiled in another war with China?

 New Zealand armed forces should not be deployed overseas for combat or for military exercises against states that want to live in peace with us.

Tim Beal, Chairman, NZ-DPRK Society

Rev. Prince Devanandan, Director - Mission and Ecumenical, Methodist Church of New Zealand.

Commander Robert D Green Royal Navy (Ret'd), Disarmament & Security Centre

Celine Kearney, President, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Aotearoa

Kevin McBride, National Co-ordinator, Pax Christi Aotearoa-New Zealand.

Peter Wilson, Secretary, NZ-DPRK Society

February 17th 2016

US Plans for North Korea Threaten International Security

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/02/17/us-plans-for-north-korea-threaten-international-security/

February 8th 2016

Press Release

Press Release

8 February 2016

McCully’s Condemnation of Satellite Launch Sadly Predictable

Foreign Minister Murray McCully’s condemnation of North Korea’s launch of an earth observation satellite was predictable - he never strays far from American guidance. It was also sadly short-sighted. As a small country it is in our long-term interest to defend the norms of international law, not condone their violation. The centrepiece of international law has to be the equality of nations. We cannot have one law for powerful countries and another for small ones. Satellites are an important, indeed essential, part of the modern scientific environment. They have been launched by a large number of countries, including South Korea. Why condemn only North Korea?

Mr McCully’s repetition of the argument that the satellite launch employed ‘ballistic missile technology’ is disingenuous. All satellites are launched by ballistic rockets, but a satellite carrier rocket is not a missile. There are distinct and important differences.

However, the same principles of the norms of international law apply to missiles. Many countries test and deploy missiles, including the United States, Russia, China, India, and South Korea. We may well think that missiles, along with strategic bombers and nuclear weapons, should be banned but this must happen on the basis of equality. All countries should be equal before the law. Condemning one country, North Korea, for doing what other countries do just because that aligns with American foreign policy takes New Zealand down a slippery slope, to our detriment.

As a small country it is vital that New Zealand upholds the principles of international law because they offer us the best, and enduring, protection in a volatile global environment.

 Tim Beal, Chairman

Peter Wilson, Secretary

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1602/S00106/mccullys-condemnation-of-satellite-launch-sadly-predictable.htm

January 20th 2016

Don Borrie Steps Down  as Chairman of the  NZ DPRK Society

After many years at the helm of the NZ DPRK Society, co-founder Rev. Donald Borrie has stepped aside as Chairman because of ill health and accepted appointment as Patron.

The Society was formed in 1973 by Donald Borrie and Wolf Rosenberg. Over the subsequent 43 years Don has been active in promoting a better understanding in New Zealand of North Korea whose official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, is reflected in the title of the Society. He has visited the DPRK many times over this period, building relationships with institutions in Pyongyang such as the Korea-New Zealand Friendship Society and the Korean Christian Federation.

The former Vice Chairman Dr Tim Beal becomes the new Chairman. Tim is a retired academic who has written extensively on Asia. He has been Secretary of the NZ Asian Studies Society and was foundation director of Victoria University’s Centre for Asia/Pacific Law and Business. Tim has written numerous articles and two books about the Korean peninsula and has been described as NZ’s leading expert on North Korea. He is an occasional columnist for the Washington-based specialist website NK News and is frequently interviewed by Russia Today on Asian issues.

 In accepting the Chairmanship, Tim Beal paid tribute to Don Borrie’s long service in the advocacy of peace on the Korean peninsula.  “Don has worked tirelessly to promote better relations between our two countries, which would produce benefits for both. New Zealand has a lot to offer, and North Korea, with its 25 million energetic people, has considerable potential as a market for us. Don has considerable mana in North Korea, reminiscent of that of Rewi Alley in China”, he said.

Tim added, “Fortunately the rest of the team remains in place. Rev Dr Stuart Vogel, well known in the Asian community, remains Aid Co-ordinator and Peter Wilson, who has decades of experience working on agricultural projects in Asia, including the DPRK, continues to fulfil the crucial role of Secretary with incredible energy and unflagging enthusiasm.”

The NZ DPRK Society remains committed to its objectives which are:

• To promote peace and understanding between the People of the DPRK and NZ

• To support the peaceful reunification of the DPRK and ROK

• To facilitate the exchange of people and resources between the DPRK and NZ.

• To support recognition of DPRK by the international community of nations

• To encourage DPRK’s full participation in all international organisations.

January 7th 2016

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1601/S00011/the-north-korean-hydrogen-bomb.htm

The North Korean Hydrogen Bomb

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) announces it has tested a "miniaturised" hydrogen bomb which has been a "perfect success" and elevates the country's "nuclear might to the next level".

This once again sets off a depressingly predictable cycle of events. All to no avail. In fact the situation just gets worse with each turn of the cycle.

Washington condemns. Seoul condemns. The United Nations condemns. Wellington condemns. The whole world condemns.

There is immediate talk of increased sanctions. Great idea! Only problem is that sanctions against North Korea have been ramping up for 66 years now with no discernible effect. In the words of a 2007 House of Lords Select Committee report “Reliance on sanctions as the main means of resolving the current disputes with North Korea appears to be a recipe for failure.”

A US envoy will urgently visit Seoul, China and Japan for talks. The envoy will not make the one visit that should be made – to Pyongyang. That might look like giving North Korea what it is asking for, namely, talks to end the Korean War.

The NE Asian arms race will accelerate. South Korea, already the world’s largest importer of arms, will order more high tech armaments. Japan remilitarisation will accelerate The US will sharpen its pivot to Asia. In response China will increase its military budget.

 The US military industrial complex will laugh all the way to the bank.

North Korea will work towards raising its nuclear weapons capability to the next level.  It carries out another test.

And the whole cycle starts off again. Washington condemns. Seoul condemns, The United Nations condemns. Wellington condemns, etc. etc.  All the way through to the bit where the military industrial complex laughs all the way to the bank - again.

All of this is mind-numbingly stupid when all that is required is genuine discussion and agreement to formally end the Korean War.

“There can neither be suspended nuclear development nor nuclear dismantlement on the part of the North unless the U.S. has rolled back its vicious hostile policy toward the former,” North Korea said in a brief announcement on Wednesday,  according to the New York Times.

In other words the North Koreans are asking for talks. They want to talk about:

·  A cessation of hostilities.

·  Replacement of the Korean War Armistice Agreement with a Peace Treaty.

·  Guarantee of Sovereignty.

·  Lifting of all sanctions.

·  Removal of all foreign troops from the Korean Peninsula.

·  Declaration of the Korean Peninsula as a Nuclear Free Zone

But will this happen?

No.

Instead, Pyongyang will test fire a submarine launched missile or explode another hydrogen bomb. Washington will condemn, Seoul will condemn............

When will we ever learn?

Peter Wilson

Tim Beal

Peter Wilson is a Kiwi Asian specialist who over a period of 41 years worked in 21 Asian/Pacific countries including conflict and post-conflict situations in North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Kashmir, Bougainville and Timor Leste.

Tim Beal is a retired academic who has written widely on Asian affairs, including two books on the geopolitics of the Korean peninsula. He is an occasional columnist for the Washington based website NK News

November 2015

A delegation of 12 persons from the Ecumenical Forum for Peace, Reunification and Development Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula, facilitated b y the World Council of Churches visited  North Korea 23rd - 30th October 2015.

The delegation calls for:

Full implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration and the October 4 Declaration, adopted   at   the   North-South   summits   held   in   June   2000   and   October   2007 respectively. 

An end to  all joint  military exercises in the vicinity of the Korean peninsula  directed against   the    DPRK,     provocative      demonstrations       of   armed   force,      and confrontation  and  threats,  which  risk  increasing  tensions  and  destabilizing the delicate situation on the Korean peninsula.  

Lifting the economic sanctions against the DPRK which  succeed  only in  harming the most vulnerable, and contribute to maintaining tensions on the Korean peninsula. 

Resisting the  confrontational  misuse of human rights; ending the antagonistic leaflet campaign against the DPRK; avoiding the promotion of enemy images; eliminating all obstacles to the objective of peace and reconciliation; and seeking the realization of 

human rights through the promotion of peace and reconciliation. 

The replacement of the current Armistice Agreement of 1953 with a peace treaty.  

Respectful,  patient  and  persistent  dialogue  between  the  two  Koreas,  with  the objectives      of   mutual      recognition,     peaceful      co-existence,      reunification      and 

reconciliation. 

Promoting exchanges and encounters between North and South Koreans, and 

 mutual visits by members of the international Christian community and Christians in 

the DPRK, emphasizing the involvement of young people in such exchanges and 

visits, in particular young people from both North and South Korea . 

Strengthening the relationship between the KCF and the NCCK with the churches of  South Korea, and with the Korean Christian diaspora around the world.

http://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/ecumenical-forum-delegation-convenes-for-first-time-on-korean-peninsula-to-discuss-peace-reconciliation

http://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/interview_PP.pdf

September 2015

Food Production forecast to be 21% down on last year

http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/DPR%20Korea%20Drought%20Snapshot_Final.pdf

August 25th 2015

Full text of agreement after talks between North and South Korea

SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- Following is the English-version full text of a deal between South and North Korea in high-level talks, released by the North's state news agency KCNA Tuesday.

1. The north and the south agreed to hold talks between their authorities in Pyongyang or Seoul at an early date to improve the north-south ties and have multi-faceted dialogue and negotiations in the future.

2. The north side expressed regret over the recent mine explosion that occurred in the south side's area of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), wounding soldiers of the south side.

3. The south side will stop all loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the MDL from 12:00, August 25 unless an abnormal case occurs.

4. The north side will lift the semi-war state at that time.

5. The north and the south agreed to arrange reunions of separated families and relatives from the north and the south on the occasion of the Harvest Moon Day this year and continue to hold such reunions in the future, too and to have a Red Cross working contact for it early in September.

6. The north and the south agreed to vitalize NGO exchanges in various fields.

August 29th 2015

Press Release

New Zealand Donates Tractors to North Korean Cooperative Farm

In a ceremony earlier this month six small two wheel tractor with trailer units were presented to the Sambong Cooperative NZ Friendship Farm, Pyongyan Province, North Korea.

The ceremony was attended by three Kiwis and seven Australians who were visiting North Korea to take part in events commemorating the end of WWII, or Liberation Day as it is known as in the Koreas.

The tractors were purchased by the NZ DPRK Society with money provided by the NZ Ambassador to North Korea’s Head of Mission Fund.

Located  40 minutes NE of Pyongyang, the 900 ha. farm, home to some 2,000 people, is intensively cultivated and produces rice, maize, potatoes, soya bean, barley, vegetables, pip and stone fruits.

The tractors will be used for transporting inputs such as fertiliser and compost, as well as bringing in harvested produce.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39416050@N00/sets/72157657404990199 

US Congressmen Propose Official End to Korean Armistice

2015-07-28 15:31:06

http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_In_detail.htm?No=112277

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/384/text

Press Release.  May 29th 2015

A Korean Peace Initiative  - the Kiwi Connection.

A small group of Kiwi motorcycle riders blazed the trail for an historic peace walk across the heavily militarised border between North and South Korea by a group of high profile female peace keepers that has captured headlines across the globe.

A group of 30 international women including feminist icon Gloria Steinem and two Noble Peace prize Laureates crossed over the DMZ from North Korea into South Korea last Sunday May 24th calling for a declaration of peace on the Korean Peninsula. 

The walk for peace has caught the attention of the world. A group of Kiwi motorcyclists led by Gareth and Jo Morgan paved the way for this major event when they rode across the DMZ in 2013.

This triggered the formation of WomenCrossDMZ.org, a group of female peace activists working to bring an end to the long-running Korean War. They want to see the 1953 armistice between the two Koreas replaced with an internationally agreed upon peace settlement that ends the six decades of pain for families separated by the conflict. 

The first step in this campaign has been to follow in the pioneering footsteps of the Kiwis with the DMZ crossing in the name of peace last Sunday. 

Peter Wilson, of the NZ DPRK Society, travelled to North Korea to witness the women crossing. He was able accompany the women through the Kaesong Industrial Park, deep into the DMZ and watch as they marched about a kilometre to the North Korean customs and immigration checkpoint. 

“The departure was an incredibly emotional moment,” he said.

“The North Korean women, with tears flowing, were hugging and hugging the international women as they said goodbye.

“The pain of 10 million artificially and inhumanely separated families was raw for all to see.”

Prior to crossing the DMZ a joint declaration, drafted with input from both North and South Korean women was read at Panmunjom. This affirmed their “commitment to support the desires of the Korean people and all people of conscience around the world to work towards the peaceful reconciliation and reunification of the Korean peninsula.”

WomenCrossDMZ say they will march across the DMZ again next year on May24, this time from South Korea into North Korea. 

The Morgan motorcycle team was able to ride across the DMZ because of the efforts of the NZ DPRK Society and South Korean based explorer Kiwi Roger Shepherd who escorted them through the North Korean section. In 2011 the Society facilitated Shepherd to visit Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.  He returned two times and spent months tramping and camping in the backblocks photographing hallowed mountains, some of which had not been photographed for many decades. Subsequently he produced a photo-art book capturing mountains of both North & South Korea. 

 Shepherd introduced the Morgans to key North Korean officials who enthusiastically endorsed the concept of a North – South peninsula long  motorcycle ride  in the name of peace.  These officials negotiated all sorts of bureaucratic hurdles and made it happen.

More Information:  

https://www.womencrossdmz.org/

https://www.womencrossdmz.org/press.html

https://www.womencrossdmz.org/endorsements.html  

http://www.3news.co.nz/world/activists-cross-the-korean-dmz-2015052512#axzz3blZIiQ8x

May 24th 2015   

Today 30 women crossed the DMZ from the DPRK into the ROK as a means drawing attention to the plight of the tragically divided Korean people.

Early May 2015

A three man team from the Miranda Shorebird Centre has returned to NZ after a one week visit to DPRK. Working with staff from the Natural Conservation Union of the DPRK, field observations were made of migratory birds feeding on mudflats. Some 20,000 birds  from Australia, NZ and other countries were counted. 

April  2015

A team of three persons from the Miranda Shorebird Centre will spend May 2nd - 9th  in DPRK working alongside Natural Conservation Union of the DPRK in undertaking field observations of migratory birds feeding on local mudflats.

March 2015

In August 2013 a group of five Kiwi motorcyclists completed a trail blazing ride North – South along the entire length of the Korea Peninsula.  Nobody thought they could do it. But they did.

 "Korea really is one country. The issue we all face is how do we get back to that?" said Gareth Morgan in an interview with Reuters after crossing the DMZ.

Two years later this pioneering ride across the DMZ has inspired an International Women’s Peace March across the same demilitarized zone.

 On Wednesday 11th March, at the United Nations  in New York, using a conference on the status of women as a backdrop, leading female advocates of peace and disarmament formally announced their intent to walk across the Demilitarized Zone on May 24th 2015.

https://www.womencrossdmz.org/

February 2015

The DPRK Women's Football Team spent a week in Auckland and played two games. Their games against the NZ Ferns was a draw 1 - 1.  In their game against the Australian Women's Football team they were beaten 2 - 1.

At the request of NZ Football, Mr Stuart Vogel of the NZ DPRK Society provided liaison services for the visiting team.

January 2015

The DPRK Women's Football Team to play the NZ Ferns.

The DPRK Women's Football team is coming to Auckland to play two matches.

8th February they will play the Ferns, 7.30 p.m. at Bill McKinlay Park, 3 Ireland Road, Panmure, Auckland.

10th February they will play the Australian Women's Football Team, 3p.m. Bill McKinlay Park.

29th November 2014

International Society for Korean Studies - Oceania Branch

The  inaugural meeting of the ISKS Oceania Branch was held at Auckland University 29th November 2014.  Amongst the dozen papers presented two dealt with non-government activities between NZ and the DPRK. One paper summarised the NZ DPRK Society relations with Pyongyang between 1974 and 2014. The other paper  dealt with the developing relationship between Waikato Institute of Technology in Hamilton NZ and the Kim Hyong Jik University of Education in Pyongyang as well as the recent project which saw three scholars study for two months at WINTEC.

End of October 2014

The three scholars finished their two months at Waikato Institute of Technology and returned home.

During their time at WINTEC, the scholars improved their English and studied N Z methods of teaching English as a second language. They socialised widely and travelled to Auckland and Wellington. In letters of thanks for they stay in NZ they have say that it was a" memorable and profitable experience."

The NZ DPRK Society is grateful for all who made this project possible: the Morgan Family Foundation an d WINTEC who provided the funding, the staff of Wintec who gave unstintingly of their time, and the individuals who went out of their way to make the scholars feel at home while in NZ.

August 29th 2014

Three scholars arrived from Pyongyang to study for the next two months at Waikato Institute of Technology (WINTEC).

                                                                                           Here they are being briefed by Shorebird Centre Manager, Keith Woodley

July 7th  2014.                   DPRK Government Statement Calling for Ending Confrontation and Improving North-South Ties

Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- The government of the DPRK released the following statement Monday, 20 years since President Kim Il Sung left his last signature on a historic document related to Korea's reunification.

    The Korean nation's cause for national reunification is undergoing big difficulties and trials due to the vicious challenge and obstructive moves of the anti-reunification forces at home and abroad, the statement said.

    The DPRK government clarifies as follows out of its patriotic desire to tide over the difficulties lying before the nation, improve the north-south relations and open up a fresh turning phase for independent reunification at present:

    The north and the south should end reckless hostility and confrontation and open up the road for reconciliation and unity.

    The grave situation in which even a single remark and act and tiny friction may lead to a dangerous conflict and destruction of the nation is prevailing on the Korean peninsula as hostility and confrontation have reached the extremes.

    We should no longer remain a passive on-looker to this tragic situation in which exhaustive political strife among compatriots may cause tremendous catastrophe of the nation at a crucial time when all the Koreans should pool their strength and wisdom for the cause common to the nation.

    The north and the south should open up the road for improvement of relations from fresh viewpoint and stand for the destiny of the nation.

    The south Korean authorities should discard the anachronistic concept of hostility and make a bold decision to change its policy for confrontation with fellow countrymen into that for alliance and reconciliation with the north.

    They should stop all kinds of the north-targeted war exercises which they conduct with outsiders, a direct product of their hostile policy toward the fellow countrymen in the north.

    If they have true willingness to improve the relations with the north, they should opt for respecting and implementing the north-south agreements including the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration which were provided thanks to the top leaders of the north and the south.

    2. The north and the south should reject dependence on outsiders and settle all issues by the efforts of Koreans.

    The north and the south should never fall a victim to outsiders keen on fishing in troubled waters through the division of Korea.

    They should solve all issues by their own efforts in the common interests of the nation from the stand of putting the nation above all, attaching importance to the nation and achieving national unity.

    The north and the south should never tolerate the unreasonable act of outsiders to interfere in the internal issue of the nation but counter it with joint efforts.

    We will join hands with all those including the south Korean authorities if they take the stand of settling the issue of the north-south relations and the reunification issue of the country in line with the desire and wish of the nation.

    The north and the south should seek reasonable reunification proposals supported by all Koreans and that guarantee the prosperity common to the nation.

    There is increasing demand and requirement of fellow countrymen to achieve reunification through federal formula in Korea where differing ideologies and social systems exist.

    In the June 15 joint declaration the north and the south recognized that there are common points in the north-proposed low-level federation and the south-proposed confederation, and agreed to work for reunification in this direction in the future.

    The north and the south should specify the reunification proposals by way of federation and confederation and make efforts to realize them and thus actively promote co-existence, co-prosperity and common interests.

    The north and the south should create the atmosphere favorable for the improvement of the north-south relations.

    To actively create the atmosphere favorable for reconciliation and unity at present is a prerequisite for improving the extremely deteriorated north-south relations.

    It is necessary to put an end to all kinds of calumnies and vituperations that foster misunderstanding and distrust among the fellow countrymen, to begin with.

    Legal and institutional measures that block kindred bonds and compatriotic feelings between the north and the south should be lifted and a broad avenue for contacts, visits, cooperation and dialogue should be opened.

    An end should be put at an early date to such an abnormal situation in south Korea in which the desire of the people from all walks of life for reunification is dampened and the hostility against the DPRK is incited through the racket for "eliminating forces following the north".

    If the above-mentioned principled stand of the DPRK and measures taken by it in good faith are implemented, an epochal occasion will be provided in normalizing the deteriorated north-south ties, easing the situation on the Korean peninsula and achieving the national reconciliation and unity.

    We express the expectation that all Koreans would actively support the principled stand of the DPRK government that was prompted by its noble sense of responsibility to improve the north-south ties and open up a wide avenue for independent reunification and that the south Korean authorities would positively respond to it. 

NZ Migratory Birds Team Visits Pyongyang

In April 2014 a team comprising two persons from the Miranda Shorebirds Centre and two from the NZ Department of Conservation (DOC) visited Pyongyang and held discussions with the Natural Conservation Union of the DPRK  (NCUK).  The discussions led to  agreement that a five year joint programme studying migratory birds  on the DPRK shoreline will be undertaken.

DPRK Ambassador visits NZ

 DPRK Ambassador  Ri Jong Ryul, who is based in Jakarta,  visited New Zealand 29th April - 4th May 2014. He was accompanied by Counsellor (Political) Jang Yong Hwan and Counsellor Kim Song Hak who is responsible for Australia, NZ and the South Pacific. Besides presenting his Credentials to the Governor General, the Ambassador and his party held discussions with Ministry of Foreign Affairs Officials, and Hon John Hayes, Chairperson of the  Parliamentary Select  Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. In addition the Ambassador and Counsellors did some sight seeing around Wellington and met with members of the  NZ DPRK Society.

The Ambassador and Counsellors Viewing Kaitoke Regional Park

The NZ Friendship School - Help Us Celebrate Ten years of Partnership

To mark our ten year anniversary we want to upgrade the ancient computers in the school’s computer room.

The NZ Friendship School has 750 students aged between14 and 17. The one computer room is stocked with around 20 early 1990’s vintage computers powered by a Pentium chip. These have become totally inadequate and the IT teacher struggles to impart the basics of computer use to her pupils.

Our counterpart, the Korea NZ Friendship Society can buy desk tops in Pyongyang for around NZ$400.

If you would like to help us with funding please email and we will tell you how you can do it: nzdprksociety@gmail.com

The NZ Friendship School is an ordinary very typical middle high school in Pyongyang. It was established as the Pyongyang Ryongbok June 9 Middle School in 1969. Students start at age 14 and after three years move on to Senior High School. The 750 students are taught by 39 teachers and classes vary between 35 and 40 students in size. Ten elementary subjects are taught.

 In 2006 Tim Kearns, an intermediate school teacher from Christchurch  NZ made history as the first Westerner to teach in a North Korean school when he spent some months as a volunteer teaching  at the NZ Friendship School. He returned again in 2008.  

You can read about Tim's experience on: https://sites.google.com/site/nzdprksociety/nz-friendship-school

You can see some of Tim's photos on:  http://www.timbeal.net.nz/geopolitics/TK_photos/pyongyang_2006.html

RUN IN THE PYONGYANG MARATHON  !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyongyang_Marathon

http://www.koryogroup.com/travel_Itinerary_2014_pyonyang_marathon_tour.php

New Zealand bikers roar across Korean border on ride for peace

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/29/us-korea-newzealand-bikers-idUSBRE97S0H320130829?feedType=RSS&feedName=lifestyleMolt

The North Korean Motorcycle Diaries

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-30/an-new-zealand-motorcyclists-ride-across-dmz-in-rare-north-sout/4923918

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cJUmcfcHxg

https://www.vice.com/en/article/nnqbvx/north-korean-motorcycle-diaries

60th Anniversary of the signing of the Korean War Armistice.

See:    https://sites.google.com/site/nzdprksociety/visits-to-pyongyang/60th-anniversary-of-signing-of-the-armistice

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Why the US refuses to talk with DPRK

Interview with our Vice Chairman, Dr. Tim Beal on the US Rejection of DPRK Peace talks Proposal:

http://www.timbeal.net.nz/Crisis_in_Korea/CiK_events.htm

 On the US rejection of DPRK peace talks proposal 

North Korea From Inside the Classroom

Stewart Lone is professor of modern Asian history at the University of New South Wales, Australia, and the author of many works on Japan and Korea. Between 2010-2012 he was a regular working visitor to major schools in Pyongyang and has been interviewed on this work by the press in Beijing, Seoul, Sydney, and Washington DC.

From 2010-12, the author Stewart went every six months to teach at two major secondary schools in Pyongyang. Over these visits, he spent hundreds of hours teaching several hundred teenage schoolboys, and some schoolgirls, in the classroom and in informal conversation groups. In this book, he recounts his experiences and presents what he learned about their lives, study, ideas, interests, and ambitions. Who, for example, would have thought, in a society routinely dismissed as reclusive and repressive, that schoolchildren learn about Ireland, about Maoris and their customs, have discussions on being creative and on animal rights, that young boys idolize a Barcelona footballer, and that a favorite joke concerns a North Korean army deserter? What emerged through these experiences and observations, in school and in candid talks with teachers, officials, and a wide variety of ordinary people, is an intimate portrait, nowhere else available, of the human face of Pyongyang and of a generation set in future years to lead the country.

He has now written a book about these experiences and you can buy it on Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Pyongyang+Lessons%3A+North+Korea+From+Inside+the+Classroom.%5C

What North Koreans Think.

Stan Smith visited DPRK with Koryo Tours late March. Read what he found out:

https://sites.google.com/site/nzdprksociety/visits-to-pyongyang/what-north-koreans-think

Our Policy Toward North Korea is not Working

Mike Chinoy is a senior fellow at the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California and the author of “Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis.” He has visited North Korea 15 times.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mike-chinoy-our-policy-toward-north-korea-isnt-working/2013/03/29/8fcb48da-97e7-11e2-814b-063623d80a60_story.html

Kiwi aims to walk length of Korean Peninsula

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10907212

Roger Shepherd BBC  Interview:   http://vimeo.com/62225815

Vice Chairman Dr. Tim Beal on the DPRK Nuclear Test

http://www.timbeal.net.nz/Crisis_in_Korea/CiK_events.htm

Statement from the U.S. Working Group for Peace & Demilitarization in Asia & the Pacific

http://www.asiapacificinitiative.org/statement-in-response-to-third-dprk-nuclear-explosive-test/

The First Korea - New Zealand Friendship Society Delegation from Pyongyang to visit NZ in 13 years arrived in Auckland 27th November 2012.