On Occasion of 81th Birth Anniversary of Chairman Kim Jong Il: DPRK

-Kim Jong Il and Political Independence

 Kim Jong Il (1942-2011), eternal Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, maintained the Juche idea as his political philosophy in the revolution and construction throughout his life.

 The Juche idea clarifies that man is the master of his own destiny and he has the strength with which to carve out his destiny.

 In the closing years of last century socialism collapsed in several countries in succession, but the DPRK remained unperturbed; the credit should go to the line of independence maintained by Kim Jong Il. When the allied imperialist forces of the world were claiming about the “end of socialism,” he made public several works including The Historical Lesson in Building Socialism and the General Line of Our Party, Abuses of Socialism Are Intolerable and Socialism Is a Science. Through these works, the world was convinced of his faith in the truthfulness and scientific accuracy of socialism and inevitability of its triumph and his country’s unshakable will to remain unchanged on the road of its own choice.

 Vishwanath, former secretary general of the International Institute of the Juche Idea, recalled the days when these works were being published, saying, “His works that declared to the whole world the scientific character of socialism were rays of the sun, a light.”

 The exploit of exploits Kim Jong Il performed was that he defended socialism by administering Songun politics.

 His Songun politics was a powerful political mode that made his country firmly maintain independence in the turbulent political situation of the world at the time.

 With the end of the Cold War, the allied imperialist forces led by the United States, the self-acclaimed one and only superpower in the world, availed themselves of the destroyed balance of power on the planet and resorted to high-handedness and arbitrariness on the international arena; they were undisguised in their attempts to invade other countries and interfere in their internal affairs. Particularly unprecedented were their pressure and sanctions and attempts for an aggressive war against the DPRK that was steadily following the road of socialism under the unfurled banner of anti-imperialist independence.

 In order to cope with the brigandish acts of the imperialists, Kim Jong Il formulated Songun politics as the basic mode of socialist politics, which requires giving precedence to military affairs over all other affairs of the state on the principle of attaching importance to arms, consolidating the driving force of the revolution with the army as the core and main force and, by relying on it, advancing the socialist cause victoriously. 

 This brought about a fundamental change in the human and socialist political history.

 Kim Jong Il led the struggle for defending socialism to victory by braving the difficulties; he resolutely overpowered the imperialists and crushed their outrageous pressure and challenges by responding with the tougher countermeasure of wielding a sword when the enemy were drawing a knife and levelling a cannon when they were pointing a gun.

 The international community commented that the DPRK was humbling the United States while saying what it had to say on the international arena, that it was the only country that responds to the high-handed and arbitrary acts of the United States on its own terms, that the United States was on the defensive in the face of the independent Songun politics of the DPRK, and that the DPRK was leading the United States which was said to be leading the world.

 In 2002 Kim Jong Il met a foreign figure on a visit to his country.

 The foreigner said that the DPRK had always won victory on its own terms in the confrontation with the United States, asking him what the source of that strength was.

 Kim Jong Il replied that it was the temperament of his people to confront the more fiercely the greater the pressure against them was.

 Recollecting his meeting with Kim Jong Il, the foreigner wrote in an article, titled, Political Mechanics of the DPRK:

 Action and reaction is the third law presented by Isaac Newton and it is a basis of the classic mechanics. On the basis of this law, a Russian scientist presented the theory of rocket and opened the era of conquering outer space; true to this law, the greater the pressure by the United States is, the greater the strength of the people of the DPRK grows and the more frequent the US nuclear threat is, the greater the country’s capability of striking becomes. This is the political mechanics of the DPRK advanced by Kim Jong Il.

 The exploits performed by Kim Jong Il, a giant of independent politics, will live forever in the hearts of the progressive people of the world.

-Son of Guerrillas

 The people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea call Kim Jong Il (1942-2011), eternal Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK, a son of guerrillas.

 The whole life of the Chairman, who was born in the family of guerrillas and grew up among the anti-Japanese guerrillas, is permeated with their soul and mettle.

Unexcelled Courage and Mettle

 The anti-Japanese guerrillas of Korea were unusual in their courage and mettle, for it had been inconceivable for a small number of them armed with light weapons to fight against Japan, self-acclaimed one of the five major powers in the world at the time, with no state to support it in the rear or the backing of a regular army.

 Born as a son of Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), commander of the anti-Japanese guerrillas, and of Kim Jong Suk (1917-1949), the anti-Japanese war heroine, Kim Jong Il grew up among the guerrillas, learning their courage and mettle.

 The world still remembers the Pueblo incident. In January 1968 the US armed spy ship was captured by the DPRK.

 Feeling ashamed that one of its warships had been captured for the first time in its history by the small country, the United States dispatched three aircraft carriers including a nuclear-powered one, threatening the country with nuke.           

 At the time President Kim Il Sung asked Kim Jong Il to make a decision on how he would deal with the ship if he were the Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army. Kim Jong Il stated firmly that he would never release the crew unless the United States submitted a letter of surrender, that even if it presented such a letter, he would not return the ship as it was his country’s trophy.

 The US administration submitted a formal letter of apology, in which it acknowledged its acts of espionage.

 During the whole period of nuclear confrontation with the United States, Kim Jong Il never made a concession or compromise; in March 1993, the United States attempted to enforce “forced inspection” of the DPRK’s nuclear facilities, picking a quarrel with its “nuclear issue,” and made public that it would conduct the largest-ever Team Spirit exercise, a nuclear war game, with the south Korean army; his country declared its withdrawal from the NPT to defend its sovereignty and dignity, and the United States sent a letter of assurance in the name of its president.

 In order to put an end to the nuclear blackmail, Kim Jong Il turned his country into a powerful nuclear state.

 Today the DPRK has become a world-class military power which no one dares to provoke; the credit should go to the solid foundations of its defence industry, which  Kim Jong Il laid with courage and mettle in his lifetime.

Outlook on Life

 “Live not merely for today but for tomorrow!”–this was Kim Jong Il’s outlook on life.

 This was also an outlook on life cherished by the anti-Japanese guerrillas when they were fighting in the wilderness of Manchuria for over ten years with a belief in the liberation of their country when the militarist Japan was in high spirits, expanding its aggression to the Chinese mainland and to the Pacific.

 This happened in 1998, when Kim Jong Il was passing by a village in a province.

 Seeing the farm field composed of small patches, he said that he had long been giving thought to land realignment, unfolding his plan to have all the crop fields in the country into large-scale, standardized ones.

 In those days his country was experiencing serious economic difficulties owing to the collapse of socialism in the East European countries and the natural disasters that hit it for several consecutive years; it was in need of a large sum of money every day even to surmount the economic difficulties and shortage of food. But with an eye into the distant future, he had the large-scale project launched to realign the crop fields across the country into standardized ones. This was not all. Under his guidance many scenic places and spots, like Mts Kuwol, Chilbo and Ryongak and Ryongmun Cave were developed into pleasure grounds for the people

 His outlook on life enabled his country to overcome the harshest-ever period in its history and open a wide road for building a powerful socialist country.

People’s Leader

 To love the people ardently, respect them as his teacher and make devoted service for them was the ennobling traits Kim Jong Il cherished as their leader.

 Whom he saw every day in his childhood were the anti-Japanese guerrillas, who were respecting the people and fighting for their interests wherever they were, saying that as fish cannot live without water, so they could not live without the people and dedicating their lives without hesitation. His parents would teach him to love the people and devote himself for the good of the people.

 Born in a simple log cabin, the first clothes he wore were those his mother made by shortening her military uniform, and the first quilt was a patched one the women guerrillas made by gathering bits of cloth and patching them together. He had to overcome all sorts of difficulties, experiencing the shortage of food with the guerrillas. This was why he led a frugal life all his lifetime and was always ready to face any difficulty if it was for the good of his people.

 In the last days of his life he was suffering from a serious disease caused by excessive mental and physical fatigue, but he worked energetically, not revealing the state of his health.

 In December 2011 when he was about to go on an on-site guidance trip, doctors and officials, out of their concern for his health, tried in tears to dissuade him from doing so. But he dug in his heels, saying: I still have many places to visit; it is only when I visit them that the flames of victory will flare up across the country and the people will become better-off; please take care of your own health so that you would not fall ill.

 He then left, and no one knew that it would be his last on-site guidance trip. He breathed his last on the train running for the wellbeing of the people.

-Endless Stream of Visitors to the Revolutionary Battle Sites in the Mt Paektu Area

 The people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea visit the area of Mt Paektu (2 750m high above sea level), located in the northernmost part of their country.

 Paektu, which had long been called ancestral mountain of the Korean nation, is regarded as a sacred mountain of the revolution after Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), eternal President of the DPRK, waged the anti-Japanese armed struggle for the liberation of his country with this area as a base and Kim Jong Il (1942-2011), eternal Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK, was born there.

Through expeditions to the revolutionary battle sites in the area, the Korean people harden their faith and will to advance along the road of socialism, carrying forward their forerunners’ ideas and spirits permeated in the mountain.

Kim Jong Un, President of the State Affairs of the DPRK, climbed the mountain several times. In October 2019 he climbed the snow-covered mountain on a white horse, attracting the attention of the world.