Looks to me like a group of surveyors surrounding the Great Leader Comrade-General Kim Il Sung. Presumably, he is about to whip out his theodilite and explain the wonders of triangulation to the proletarian multitudes. Though God only knows why they need a musical accompaniment.

Pyongyang, June 30 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il gave field guidance to the Hamhung Semiconductor Materials Factory and the Hamhung Branch of the State Academy of Sciences.

The first leg of his guidance was the Hamhung Semiconductor Materials Factory.

After being briefed on the factory before a huge map showing its panoramic view, Kim Jong Il went round production processes and products. He warmly encouraged the workers there in their dynamic 150-day campaign and acquainted himself in detail with the technical equipment and production at the factory.

He highly estimated the feats performed by the workers of the factory, expressing great satisfaction over the fact that they laid solid material and technical foundations of the factory by fully displaying the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and are mass- producing quality semiconductor materials.

He advanced tasks to be fulfilled by the factory. Underscoring the need to steadily boost the production capacity in order to satisfactorily meet the daily growing demand for semiconductor materials, he set a long-term production goal and indicated the orientation and ways for hitting it.

Then he examined the products turned out at the Rare-Earth Metal Factory and discussed the issue related to the production with officials of the factory before stressing the need to accelerate the technical updating of the factory so as to increase the production of rare-earth metals.

The next leg of his guidance was the Hamhung Branch of the State Academy of Sciences.

He, to begin with, went round the exhibits on display at the Exhibition of Scientific Achievements for hours. He was satisfied with a lot of work the group of researchers of the branch have done by working hard for the prosperity and development of the country with all their wisdom and skills.

Then he learned in detail about the scientific researches at the branch, going round its different places.

Noting that the branch has made a great contribution to the development of the nation's Juche-based chemical industry including the establishment of the vinalon industry, he highly appreciated the feats performed by it for the party and the revolution, the country and the people over the past years.

He advanced highly important tasks facing the branch, saying that the party has a very great expectation towards the branch.

Our science and technology can serve as a powerful engine for the revolution and construction and provide a scientific and technological guarantee for building a great prosperous and powerful nation only when they are closely combined with production, he said, underlining the need for the scientists and technicians to pay primary attention to the scientific researches relying on the domestic resources.

Urging the scientists and technicians to choose, study and settle the scientific and technological issues whose solution is required by the realities, he stressed that to this end they should establish the revolutionary habit of keeping abreast of the pulsating reality and solving scientific and technological problems arising in different fields of the national economy and introduce their research achievements to production in good time by relying on the strength of the popular masses so that they may pay off.

He called upon the scientists and technicians to advance a lot of scientific hypotheses helpful to the guidance to the implementation of the Party economic policies and specified tasks and ways to do so.

Our scientists and technicians are the nation's precious persons of talent strong in the revolutionary spirit, he said, underlining the need to take meticulous care of their work and living.

He expressed the expectation and belief that the scientists and technicians of the Hamhung Branch would bring about a fresh turn in their scientific researches and register valuable research results through the on-going dynamic 150-day campaign.

He was accompanied by Pak Nam Gi and Jang Song Thaek, department directors of the WPK Central Committee, and Ju Kyu Chang and Ri Je Gang, first vice department directors of the C.C., WPK.

the girl on the left entering the picture might be Lynn and that Sargent Sully is hideing behing the tree at the bottom of the hill franically trying to unravel a threat that he sees as far worse than crazey Kim's playing with large nuclear tipped fireworks.....

Pyongyang, July 1 2009 (KCNA) -- The April 15 technical innovation shock brigades are moving lively in the DPRK.

Over the last 10-odd years more than 100,000 April 15 technical innovation shock brigades have been organized in factories and enterprises across the country to invent and apply more than 854,000 technical innovation schemes to production.

They have made a lot of scientific and technological successes these years so as to increase the might of the independent national economy and accelerate the building of a great, prosperous and powerful nation.

The Chollima Steel Complex, Hwanghae Iron and Steel Complex and other units in the metal industry have lowered the norm of fuel consumption by putting operation of electric furnaces on normal track and pushing ahead with technological update of coke ovens and sintering furnaces. They have also concentrated their efforts on research for developing varieties of quality steels.

Those in the sector of the power industry solved scientific and technological problems which made it possible to turn out more electric power while saving fuel, manpower and fund.

Various coal mines including February 8 Jikdong Youth Coal Mine have detected the correct vein of coal with advanced surveying techniques and raised the tunneling speed 1.2 times and more with rational blasting method.

Successes have been also made in the railway transport through the efforts for putting the railway transport on a scientific basis, normalizing the production and repair of freight wagons on a high level and realizing the technological upgrading of facilities.

Light industrial factories have deepened perseveringly the research for updating spinning and weaving machinery, developing functional cosmetics made with natural materials and increasing their output and expanding variety of consumer goods and improving their quality.