100,000 N. Koreans rally in Pyongyang for New Year economic drive: report

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Jan. 6 (Yonhap) -- About 100,000 North Koreans gathered in a Pyongyang
square on Monday to pledge their commitment to the New Year economic drive set up
by leader Kim Jong-il, the North's media reported.
Kim did not appear at the rally in Kimilsung Square, according to footage
released by the Korean Central Broadcasting Station, the North's television
station.
North Korea customarily holds a series of mass rallies across the country after
rolling out New Year policies through a joint newspaper editorial. This year's
editorial, issued last week, reaffirmed Pyongyang's commitment to denuclearize
the Korean Peninsula and rebuild the country's ailing industrial infrastructure.
Pyongyang citizens vowed to "widely open the gate to a powerful, prosperous
nation by 2012 by reaching a revolutionary peak in all sectors of socialism like
the time when the Chollima reached its peak after the war," the television
station said. The rally was also reported by Radio Pyongyang.
The Chollima movement, named after a mythical winged horse, was initiated by
North Korean founder Kim Il-sung in 1956 to mobilize North Korean citizens to
rebuild the country from the rubble of the Korean War.
The revival of the post-war movement signaled Pyongyang's desperate efforts to
resuscitate the country's ailing economy -- particularly to solve food shortages
"on our own," analysts say.
The citizens in the rally also pledged their loyalty to Kim's "military-first"
policy and all-out efforts to increase production in electricity, coal,
agriculture and daily equipment, the reports said.
Kim Jong-il made military tours his first activity of the New Year, his first
such move for more than a decade. But North Korean media have released no video
footage of Kim since he reportedly suffered a stroke in August.
Seoul and Washington officials say Kim is now recovering and in firm control of
the country.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Monday that the reclusive leader had
visited unit 1489 under the Artillery Command of the Korean People's Army
following a tour to a tank division last week. Characteristic of North Korean
reports on the leader, however, no specific date was given.
Kim usually starts the New Year with inspections of industrial sites or a visit
to the site where his father's embalmed body lies.
"It is the first time Kim has visited military units as his New Year activity
since 1995," Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said.
The army "has grown to be the powerful revolutionary armed forces equipped with
all types of modern offensive and defensive means," Kim was quoted by the KCNA as
telling the unit.
The Unification Ministry spokesman said, "North Korea is taking various follow-up
measures after the New Year joint editorial, but there is no unusual activity
yet."
The spokesman also called on Pyongyang to stop its intensifying mudslinging
against the South. In its New Year's message, Pyongyang referred to the Seoul
government as the "fascist rule of the sycophantic and treacherous conservative
authorities." It refrained from issuing its usual anti-U.S. tirade.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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