nKorea: New Year Resolutions

A Neutral Note For The New Year, (Los Angeles Times)…Times Wire Reports
North Korea issued a New Year’s message with a promise to strengthen its military, but it broke with tradition by not accusing the U.S. of anything and only briefly mentioning its controversial nuclear program.

Frustrating Editorial, Jan 2, 2009. JoongAng Dailey

The usual tirades and hostile remarks toward Washin, ton were conspicuously absent from yesterday’s editorial, indicating Pyongyang’s expectation that it can build better Washington-Pyongyang ties with the incoming Obama administration.

North Korea’s trade dilemma, Jan 2, 2009. JoongAng Dailey. The North wants to avoid opening up completely while at the same time obtain as much foreign currency as possible.

North slams Lee’s gov’t, goes easy on Washington, Jan 2, 2009. JoongAng Dailey.

The communist nation uses a New Year’s Day joint editorial in the country’s major state-run newspapers to make public its priorities for the year.
The North also reiterated its pledge to bolster military power.

While there was no shortage of direct, harsh and lengthy criticism of the Lee administration, conspicuously absent from Pyongyang’s statement was the usual hostility toward Washington.

The 2008 joint editorial had no mention of the nuclear issue. In 2007, the editorial said the North “had nuclear deterrent power” after conducting the nuclear test in 2006.

Pyongyang even skipped its usual demand that the U.S. forces withdraw from the South.

“Totalitarian and independent survival are our unique methods of revolution,” the editorial said, encouraging its people to work to overcome the immediate food issue.