North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui held talks with Laotian Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane in Pyongyang, discussing ways to strengthen and develop bilateral relations.
The ruling party’s newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, reported on its second page on Thursday that a meeting between Comrade Choe, Foreign Minister of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and Comrade Thongsavanh Phomvihane, Foreign Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, took place on the previous day at the Mansudae Assembly Hall.
On the front page, the paper boasted that North Korea is the only country providing free housing to workers. It claimed that the extraordinary and dynamic reality of the homeland, unimaginable elsewhere in the world, evokes endless admiration globally. The article asserted that this is a long-term initiative by the party, not for economic gain, but for the welfare of the people.
Page 3 featured an article titled, Can Desire Alone Achieve Results? It questioned party officials, stating that if officials’ vision and standards are narrow and low, they cannot create exemplary models that align with the party’s intentions and the demands of the times. The piece challenged officials, asking if they were relying solely on ambition to create these models.
The fourth page emphasized the need for local industrial plants to normalize production and highlighted efforts to establish a practical operational foundation for this year’s raw material farming. It reported that Kim Chaek University of Technology held the International Academic Conference 2025 on Tuesday and Wednesday. A symposium on urban management aesthetics took place the previous day at the Science and Technology Hall.
An article titled, Where Are the Great Reserves for Electricity Savings? criticized the mindset that merely not exceeding power consumption limits is sufficient. It pointed out the tendency to treat electricity-saving efforts as a mere administrative issue, condemning the self-centered approach that pursues narrow benefits for individual units at the expense of broader goals.
Page 5 reported on a historical discussion meeting held at the Academy of Social Sciences on Wednesday, which aimed to expose and condemn the eternal crimes of Japan, described as North Korea’s long-standing adversary. It also mentioned a performance titled Mother’s Happiness, featuring women agricultural workers and members of the Agricultural League, held on Mother’s Day.
The sixth page included an article titled, The History of Capitalist Prosperity: Environmental Destruction and Human Moral Decay. It denounced capitalism, asserting that in capitalist societies, everything is subordinated to increasing profits for the capitalist class. The piece criticized ongoing environmental degradation as humanity’s curse against what it called the disheartening capitalist system that has perpetuated its sinful actions for centuries.