On the Road for the People

On the Road for the People



The DPRK is now exerting a great effort to build a great prosperous and powerful nation.
The Korean people have made a remarkable advance by their own efforts overcoming all trials in the face of the harsh blockade and sanctions of the US-led imperialist allied forces.

This reality is inconceivable apart from the guidance of leader Kim Jong Il who keeps noble patriotism as his view of life.


Roots and Leaves

One February day officials told leader Kim Jong Il that they were resolved to become green leaves of a big tree for the country.

Leader Kim Jong Il said:

The leaves fall in a rainstorm, but roots remain unmoved even in the frozen land. You should become roots for the country and the revolution like those of a tree.
A tree can be a stout big one only when its roots are strong and solid. “Let us become the roots of revolution!”-This is the view of life for our revolutionaries to have today.

The roots make fat of the stem, branches and leaves and bring about abundant fruits. Nevertheless, they do not reveal themselves above the earth to the end.

To become the roots of revolution means to devote yourselves to the country and the people infinitely.

With a broad smile, leader Kim Jong Il went on to say that he was ready to become a solid root of revolution along with them, inspiring them to work harder together.



Special Invitation

Leader Kim Jong Il’s noble world of love for the country and the people embroiders touching stories in every part of the country.

On the early morning of June of one year leader Kim Jong Il visited the Komdok Mine, a large nonferrous mineral production base of Korea.

He met members of a mining work team including 6 labor heroes and innovators.
Talking with them, he learned that they would stay and work in the pit face for several days to produce more minerals.

Worrying himself about that, he said:

As I said the other day, you should not allow the miners to sleep in the unaired pit. Be sure that they sleep outside.

Leader Kim Jong Il knew too well the miners’ desire to produce ores as much as possible to contribute to the building of a thriving nation. That’s why he wanted to look after them all the more.

Informed that the work team had already fulfilled its yearly assignments by the officials, leader Kim Jong Il said that It was a very good thing and they were the core of the Party and the pillars of the mine.

Then he saw the performance of the mobile art agitation team of the mine seated side by side with the miners.

Coming out of the hall when the performance was over he personally invited the Hero Work Team members to Pyongyang.

The miners came up to the capital together with their wives, watched art performances and enjoyed themselves at entertainment centers, looking round different places under the care of leader Kim Jong Il.

While concealing his devoted services for the cause of the building of a thriving nation, leader Kim Jong Il gives wide publicity to the feats of ordinary people, though they did only what they should do.

Such moving stories produced on the road of his on-the-spot guidance tour serve as the motive force of the earlier building of a great prosperous and powerful nation.


A secret of Making Time

What is the richest in leader Kim Jong Il’s devotion to the building of a thriving nation is his warm love for the country and the people. But what is the most badly needed is time.

Leader Kim Jong Il says the song Higher and Faster reflects his will and often sings the song on his continuous on-site guidance tour.

On January 13 some years ago he was discussing economic problems with managers of factories and enterprises of a province. All of a sudden, he said he would celebrate the New Year’s Day together with them.

To the managers there all puzzled, he said with a smile that he had not yet celebrated the New Year’s Day because he was too busy and he might not celebrate the upcoming lunar New Year’s Day properly.

He went on to say earnestly:
While working, I grudge time most. What is most regretful is the flow of time. If I could extend a second into an hour, I would work that much more for the country and the people. It is a great pity that I can not do so.

Turning down the request of officials to take a rest even for a moment, leader Kim Jong Il earnestly said he should bring about a decisive turn in the economic construction and the people’s livelihood in that year at any cost.

The secret of his making so much time for the people lies in disallowing himself to take a rest.

He always plans to use time to the full without wasting even a second in his work. The objective of the great life of leader Kim Jong Il is to obtain more time and do more work for the people.

Led by the leader of the people, who works with boundless ardor with a view to become a root for the prosperity of socialist Korea, the DPRK will surely emerge as a thriving nation in a short span of time.

When friends become enemies Understanding leftwing hostility to the DPRK

When friends become enemies
Understanding leftwing hostility to the DPRK
By Jason LaBouyer

“North Korea is on the verge of collapse and only foodstuffs from China and the UN prevent it,” a prominent Czech political figure recently asserted. These comments were relayed at a press conference in Prague on June 10, following the politician’s return from a visit to the DPR of Korea. He continued to criticize the DPRK for what he described as “an excessive cult of personality” and defence policies he claims “consume 33 percent of the nation’s GDP.” Well, just to set the record straight, the DPRK is far from collapse. To most individuals who visit the country and see what life is really like in North Korea, that is plainly obvious. The real percentage of national GDP devoted to military spending in the DPRK, moreover, is not over 15 percent, according to official figures released in budgetary documents by the Supreme People’s Assembly earlier this year. And what this politician (as well as many other anti-DPRK activists in the West) frequently and ignorantly describe as a “cult of personality” is more accurately understood by those who actually know and understand Korean society as the people’s overwhelming support not only for their nation’s leadership, but for the philosophy of Juche socialism that has guided their economic and social development for over half a century. In other words, the Korean people’s dedication is not limited to Chairman Kim Jong Il, or to the late President Kim Il Sung, but to an entire ideology. But these points would no doubt be lost on our Czech friend; like many other political figures across the Western world, his beliefs concerning North Korea echo the same line handed down to him from the Bush administration, corporate media and other forces hell-bent on destroying North Korea once and for all. However, this official is different in one striking respect: he happens to be Miroslav Grebenicek, party boss of the Czech Republic’s KSCM, or the Communist Party of Bohemia and Morovia. Grebenicek’s comments reflect a bizarre trend that seems to have swept across the worldwide communist movement in recent years as a number of national communist parties seek to up their political appeal by radically redefining just what it means to stand for socialism. There once was a time when the DPRK enjoyed the unwavering friendship of Czechoslovakia’s ruling communist party, as well as communist parties throughout the socialist world. Back then, it seemed that socialist nations were united in a common ideological goal, sharing conceptions of socialism that, more or less, were similar. But those were different times, and that was a different party. The disintegration of socialism throughout East Central Europe, and the accompanying destruction of the USSR, resulted in a dramatic paradigm shift in the political discourses of many parties, nations and the international community at large. The perceived “discrediting” of socialism, in short, gave rise to the re-ascendancy of Western liberal capitalism throughout Eastern Europe, while the shattered remnants of the world communist movement were put on the defensive.

Alternate paths to socialism
Since the early 1990s, many communist and leftwing parties have attempted to “recalibrate” socialism in an effort to introduce a developmental model viable in the 21st century. In China, Vietnam and Laos, the ruling communist parties abandoned “traditional” socialism in favour of “market socialism,” retaining some degree of public ownership while privatizing many vital national industries and “opening up” the nation to the global market in the name of “long term economic growth.” These communist parties have rejected capitalism in principle, but have embraced it in practice under the belief that certain “concessions,” namely class stratification, cut-throat competition and consumerism, were a small price to pay in favour of “growth-oriented” economic policies that would create material wealth in the long run. Grebenicek is very fond of market socialism, as it turns out. His trip to the DPRK was followed by two additional visits to Vietnam and China, and both received his highest praise for the “huge miracle that has got moving there.” Indeed, Grebenicek’s praise neglected reference to the many societal problems arising from economic liberalization in formerly planned economies—or perhaps he too believes that pesky little nuisances like class antagonism, rampant greed, environmental degradation and corruption are simply “side effects” of progress. The “ends justify the means.” Whether or not the “trade-offs” arising from “growth-oriented” economic policies are ultimately justifiable, or capable of being resolved, is a decision to be made solely by the ruling communist parties of “market socialist” states. The Juche Idea stresses that all nations must follow a blueprint for national development that best suits their unique characteristics and circumstances. Why, however, should the DPRK, a country that pursues a developmental model in which social well being is not subordinated to the goal of economic growth, but complimented by it, be subject to denunciation? The Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), unlike its many fraternal parties around the world, has chosen not to embrace market socialism. Instead, the WPK promotes an economic program that retains full public ownership of the economy, putting people before profits. And it hasn’t been a cakewalk: over the course of the past 15 years, the DPRK has lost its major trade ally, the USSR, and endured multiple years of destructive floods and drought. The result, as we all know, was a major food crisis that only recently has been overcome. In addition, the DPRK has experienced seemingly incalculable economic losses from the US government’s manifold efforts to destroy it, from harsh economic sanctions that prevent the country from receiving much-needed capital and investment, to an interminable military threat which forces the DPRK to divert a full 15 percent of its GDP to national defence. Yet socialist Korea’s industrial production, trade and GDP have steadily grown for years now, a reality conceded even by foreign “experts” and international financial institutions who for years declared the country would collapse at any moment. Could it be that sensible economic planning and public ownership can also generate growth and prosperity? Not according to Grebenicek. The DPRK may be making tremendous strides in economic development, but this is not a side of the DPRK that Western media and the US government will have you see. Their image of North Korea, one of starving children, rampant poverty, oppression and decay, though totally divorced from reality, is all that most people in the West really know. Rather than fighting these lies, some self-described communists have decided to turn their backs on the Korean people altogether. There are at least two reasons for this unfortunate development. One is the growing belief amongst Western leftwing parties that North Korea represents a model of socialism that has long since gone the way of the dinosaurs. As the only country on earth maintaining complete public ownership of all economic resources, it is arguably the last remaining “traditional” socialist country. Yet the Soviet experience has convinced many that full public ownership simply cannot work. In their eyes, “market socialism” is the wave of the future. Other anti-DPRK leftists, however, have little concern for theory at all. Their aim is to boost their own electoral fortunes, to sell a watered-down platform palatable to the middle-class in an effort to win over votes to their party. And they’ll sell their souls to achieve it.

Left-wing betrayal?
Grebenicek’s comments likely arise from both cases. The KSCM, like many other left-oriented parties throughout the world today, may yearn for a “new theory,” an alternative path to communism in a time when many feel the “old” one, as embodied by the Soviet Union, has led to a dead end. Grebenicek, as his comments reveal, has embraced “market socialism;” North Korea has not. Yet this fails to explain his public vituperation against the DPRK. It is one matter to personally disagree with the DPRK’s economic and political model, but publicly condemning it is another matter altogether. That, it seems, can be explained by his party’s own political manoeuvring. The KSCM, after all, is presently the Czech parliament’s junior opposition party. It has an image to maintain. If the Czech public, like the rest of the world, is fed a daily dose of propaganda depicting North Korea as hell-on-earth, defending the DPRK, Grebenicek likely reasons, will simply not resonate well in the minds of voters. So the KSCM joins the anti-DPRK bandwagon. That the WPK and the Korean people are actually building socialism in practice, turning out feat after feat in the face of great travail, is simply irrelevant to these “communists.” They’re on the fast track to the political mainstream. The KSCM is not the only “legislative” communist party lacking ideological backbone. The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) has a much longer and far more disturbing legacy of following an anti-DPRK line, serving as one of the leading forces in Japan’s political establishment in favor of hard line policies against the socialist state. An endless flow of anti-DPRK rhetoric by JCP leaders disseminated through their party’s widely circulating newspaper, Akahata, has been instrumental in rallying the Japanese public behind the aggressive ambitions of militarists in Japan’s ruling establishment. The JCP, for example, has openly criticized the DPRK for developing a nuclear deterrence against the US, labeling the country a “threat to the world” and demanding that the DPRK “disarm at once.” The JCP has in effect joined forces with anticommunists by promoting an image of North Korea depicting it to be a threat to the world, a conceptual absurdity considering the unilateral reality of modern geopolitics and the US government’s longstanding history of aggression not only toward the DPRK, but to all countries that have sought to take their destinies into their own hands. Yet JCP leaders haven’t stopped there. Like Grebenicek, they too have attacked the Korean people for their “cult of personality,” even making a point of advertising the unwillingness of certain JCP representatives to bow to the late President Kim Il Sung at Kumsusan Palace during past delegations to the DPRK, amounting to a slap in the face to the nation and its leadership. The Japanese people have long been subject to the crudest and most grotesque of anti-DPRK propaganda by their nation’s government and press, and it seems that the JCP leadership decided early on that “going against the grain” would not do much to boost their electoral fortunes. Their tactics in the end might not have been very fruitful (the JCP today is, at best, on the margins of Japanese politics), but they hold firm, and frequent press releases make a point of condemning North Korea for one thing or another, whether it be because of that nation’s actions to protect itself or the highly publicized “abduction issue,” exploited for political purposes by the JCP and militarists alike. Unfortunately, the KSCM and JCP present only two of the more rabid cases of a much broader trend amongst some leftist parties around the world to “keep a distance” from the DPRK. A few, like the KSCM and JCP, have done so having embarked upon a futile mission to integrate themselves into the political mainstream—futile because, by definition, communist parties in bourgeois societies should seek to overthrow the mainstream. Challenging the many misperceptions and lies surrounding North Korea is seen as being too “risky” by these “communists,” who seek not to change the political establishment in their capitalist homelands, but to join it. Other communists have become awestruck by the “miracle” of market socialism, and have abandoned Marxism-Leninism entirely in pursuit of a “New Theory” of socialism. To communists of this type, the DPRK is commonly regarded as anachronistic. These developments pose serious implications for the viability of the world communist movement. Parties such as the KSCM and JCP have not only betrayed North Korea; they offer their nations platforms seemingly devoid of substance as their leaders pursue greater numbers of votes, seeking not to win over popular opinion to the cause of socialism, but to “redefine” socialism to conform to popular opinion. Yet as people everywhere are subject to a barrage of anti-communist propaganda by the media and by their governments, such a task is not simply futile, but deadly. The KSCM and JCP may indeed succeed in joining the political mainstream, but they will compromise their ideological integrity in doing so. If Grebenicek’s remarks serve as a testimony to a serious theoretical and moral dilemma prevalent in today’s worldwide communist movement, the endurance of the Korean Revolution is a testimony in itself to the Korean people’s spirit of perseverance, dedication and resolve—virtues that have kept the DPRK strong in the face of enemies, as it seems, on both sides of the political spectrum. The Korean Friendship Association has attracted many communists from around the world disillusioned by their parties’ failure to recognize and support Korea in its heroic struggles. To communists such as these, socialism still means social equality and collective prosperity, values held dear by Chairman Kim Jong Il and the late Kim Il Sung and revered by the Korean people for it. Together, our global KFA family will work to ensure that Korea’s people-centered socialist system remains alive and well for epochs to come.

To All Juche and Songun followers in the UK-meeting 5th February

The Juche Idea Study Group of England will be holding a meeting on the 5th of February 2011.For
further details please email juche007@yahoo.co.uk

IP Telephone Exchange Service System Developed in DPRK

IP Telephone Exchange Service System Developed in DPRK

Pyongyang, January 27 (KCNA) -- The Information Center of Kim Il Sung University of the DPRK developed an IP telephone exchange service system. The system ensures computer-to-computer conversation, computer-to-telephone conversation and telephone-to-telephone conversation. It also ensures a rapid and accurate message in any place outside. It has various options, including video phone call and telephone meeting.

UK KOREAN FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION
London 27th January
The UK Korean Friendship Association together with the Juche Idea Study Group of England and Association for the Study of Songun Politics issued the following joint statement.We wholeheartedly condemn the puppet fascist authorities of south Korea for jailing the Rev Han Sang Ryol,an honest fighter for peace and reunification of Korea.The Rev Han Sang Ryol did not commit any crime but simply visited the northern part of his country the DPRK to promote inter Korean understanding,peace and reunification.It is absurd that this should be treated as a crime,indeed the actions of the Rev Hang deserve praise and acclaim rather than a jail sentence as it was an act based on patriotism.

The fact that the south Korean regime is prepared to jail those who visit the DPRK and campaign for peace and reunification shows that south Korean regime is insincere towards dialaogue and peace and does not really want reunification.

We call on the south Korean authorities to revoke the penalty imposed on the Rev Han and free him from jail.

UK KFA
JISGE
ASSPUK

South Korea Ailing with Social Evils

South Korea Ailing with Social Evils

Increasing the poor bracket

In south Korean society misruled by the anti-people policy of the conservative regime, the number of the poor is increasing day after day.

Even according to an official announcement of the puppet regime the number of the poor households was 3,058,000, which holds nearly 20% of all the households and includes 7 million people.

According to a material 63% of the poor households are completely unemployed, and 14% of them are living on a shoestring as day-laborers and the rest are eking out a bare existence though they have certain jobs.

The conservative group has enforced the policy in favor of conglomerates and the rich only in disregard of the livelihood of the majority of the working people, so that the living standards gap between the rich and the poor extremely widened.

A large number of the medium-sized businesses and small merchants went into bankruptcy en masse so 134,725 households became the poor in 2009 alone.

In 2010, too, 30,000 ~ 70,000 independent businessmen went bankrupt every month. Therefore a growing number of the people face harsher living conditions, increasing the poor racket.

Poor public health

Since the conservative regime has been pursuing the “commercialization of the public health sector” after taking power, 82% hospitals flocked to big cities with high profit, further deteriorating the health condition in local areas. In particular, 43 counties are not equipped with emergency sections in hospitals, so that the inhabitants fail to receive any simple first-aid treatment.

Besides, 58% of all hospitals are treating the foreigners in the main for the sake of more fees, so that a few ones are available for the ordinaries.

In 2010, the outpatient fees increased by 7.2%, inpatient fees by 8.5%, tooth treatment fees by 10.6% compared with that in 2008, and the charges for appendix removal surgery skyrocketed to US$ 3,000, for abdominal cavity surgery to US$ 6,000 and for marrow transplantation surgery to US$ 170,000.

For the exorbitant prices of cold remedy and other common medicines 12 ~ 20% of all households are unable to go to hospital.

Miserable state of young people

The growing number of the young unemployed becomes a severe social problem.

The young unemployed number 764,000 in 2008, 905,000 in 2009 and 1,160,000 in the first half of 2010 making the unemployment rate of the young people a double that of the average.

6 of 10 university graduates, in particular, postpone their graduation to be undergraduate or withdraw from learning for the absence of jobs. Therefore, colleges and universities are called a nursery of the unemployed.

At present the portion of the young people working in big businesses and public sectors is very low at 20% and 10% respectively, and 50% of the 20s and 38% of the 30s are casual workers whose salary is no more than 54.7% of the full employed.

Young people and students who work in assorted chores for living expenses are 48% and 38.2%, the students absent from universities for failing to secure tuition fees are 26.9% and the students who owe debt for tuition fees are no less than 50.9%.

Among the suicides during the last 3 years the number increased by 35% in the 20s and 20.3% in the 30s every year.

Rampant crimes

Drug crimes are drastically increasing in south Korea.

15,000 drug users were recorded in 2000 but they reached to nearly one million in 2009, and addicts are numbered some 20,000.

Young drug users in their teens and 20s, in particular, account for 17%.

As the hospitals prescribe the medicines to patients with narcotic as the main agent, there appeared an atmosphere of openly agitating the use of drug in the public health sector, and the drug smuggling via internet increased 10 times more than that of 2008.

And the increasing sex offenses engage the society in a terror.

Sex offenses are growing in number every year, so in 2008 49 cases were reported on a daily average but in 2009 they were increased to 56.

In 2009, in particular, it is reported that the young sex criminals aged less than 18 years old increased by 25% more than the previous year and the sex crime against the chi

People's Leader

People's Leader

President Kim II Sung (1912-1994), father of socialist Korea, is the people's leader.
"Go among the People!"
As he wrote in his reminiscences With the Century, President Kim II Sung regarded the slogan "Go among the People!" as his lifelong motto from the first days when he embarked on the road of struggle for the country and the people during Japan's military occupation of Korea (1905-1945).
Already in his early days of revolutionary activities he authored the Juche idea, which asserts that the master of the revolution and construction is the masses of the people and they are also the driving force of the revolution and construction, and, on the basis of this, put forward the Juche-oriented line of the Korean revolution.
As he placed absolute trust in the inexhaustible strength of the masses he founded the Anti-Japanese People's Guerrilla Army (the predecessor of the Korean People's Army) on April 25, 1932, and organized and led the anti-Japanese armed struggle for over a decade with neither the backing of the state nor the support of a regular army. He always taught the guerrillas that as fish cannot live without water, so the guerrillas cannot live without the people, a dictum which became their most important motto. Enjoying the devoted affection and assistance of the people, the guerrillas defeated the Japanese imperialists and achieved the historic cause of national liberation (August 15, 1945).
In the Korean war (1950-1953) started by the United States the Korean army and people inflicted a defeat on the US imperialists, who had been boasting of being the "strongest" in the world, for the first time in their history. After the war the Americans clamoured that Korea would never rise again even after 100 years, but the Korean people finished the postwar rehabilitation in less than three years and carried out the gigantic task of industrialization in only 14 years, thus building up the country into a socialist power, independent in politics, self-supporting in the economy and self-reliant in defence. All these miraculous achievements were accomplished by the leadership of the President, who, cherishing the idea of'The people are my God," gave the fullest play to the inexhaustible strength of the people.
His journey for the people was associated with many legendary tales.
Saying that he must visit every place where there are people, he continued his trip of on-the-spot guidance, personally pushing his car stuck in the mud. When visiting a farm, he stepped into a wet paddy field to feel the depth of tilled soil; when visiting a mine, he said that he would rather not come than not meet the miners down at the face and walked down the narrow passage
of a pit under the dim light of a hand-lamp despite the exposure to water drippings from the ceiling.
In his lifetime the President often said to the officials that going among the people is to take the elixir of life, while not doing so is to come in for poison.
It is therefore not without reason that while answering the questions raised by a journalist delegation from CNN International in April 1994, in the last period of his life, he said it was his hobby to mix with the people and talk with them

Benevolent Father of the People
After visiting the DPRK and witnessing its reality in which blood ties between the leader and the people have been forged, Takeo Takagi, adviser to the editorial board of the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, wrote in his travelogue:
"The DPRK is, indeed, a country where the leader and the people are united harmoniously. Even a father and his offsprings can never be attached to each other like this. Everywhere I saw people following their President and shedding tears of gratitude for his benevolence."
President Kim II Sung was such benevolent father of the people that he established in the country a unique people-centred socialist system, in which people are masters of everything and everything serves them.
One year when he came back from his field guidance tour to a local area, the President saw that a project was about to begin for paving the road in the compound of the Kumsusan Assembly Hall where he was attending to his office. No sooner had he witnessed it than he summoned the officials concerned and told them to stop the project immediately. He said that he felt sorry to see people feel inconveniences in their life, so he was walking even along the paddy ridges to make them better off, although it was too much for his old age. He then continued that if they had known his mind, they must have proposed paving the road to a school in a mountainous village instead.
It happened in June 1994 when Kim II Sung was on a voyage with the former US President Jimmy Carter, who was visiting the DPRK, and had a friendly conversation with him. As the liner was making its way out of Pyongyang, Kim II Sung told one of his suite to have the ship slowed down. Seeing his American guest wondering why, he said, pointing to some anglers at one side of the river, that if the liner ruffled the water at a fast speed, it may bother the anglers, adding that they would better sail a bit slower for the anglers' convenience.
That is why the Korean people keep eternal memory of President Kim II Sung and hold him in high esteem although years go by.

True Nature of Nuclear Issue on the Korean Peninsula and the Way of Its Solution

True Nature of Nuclear Issue on the Korean Peninsula and the Way of Its Solution
The six-party talks for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula have now been stalled, and some are attempting to stir up public opinion against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea They argue that the nuclear issue, the major agenda item of the six-party talks, has been created by the nuclear possession of the DPRK, and, therefore, will be resolved of itself if the DPRK abandons its nuclear weapons.
Is it a correct view, then?
What deserves the first mention is that the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula involves not only the DPRK but also south Korea, that is, the whole Korean peninsula, and the neighbouring countries.
Let us see the origin of the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula.
Nuclear Threats from the United States for Over 60 Years
Recently the AP got an access to a declassified US military plan, which revealed that the US has pursued a nuclear attack against the DPRK ever since the 50s of the last century.
Already in the middle of August 1950, immediately after the Korean war (1950-1953) broke out, the US attempted nuclear attacks against the DPRK, its waning party. In November that year the then President Truman said at a press conference that whether to use atomic bombs was always under active examination. MacArthur, commander of the US Forces in the Far East, confessed that there had been a plan of dropping 30-50 atomic bombs on the borders of Korea and China.
The US Joint Chiefs of Staff issued an order in April 1951 that a "retaliatory attack" by means of
atomic bombs should be launched in order to make up for the defeat of the US forces in the Korean
front. Accordingly, B-29 strategic bombers of the US Air Force made a trial flight based on
simulated dropping of atomic bombs over Pyongyang. ;
The US Department of Defense, while examining a new offensive against the DPRK in early 1953, suggested the administration that atomic bombs should be used for a "victory within the shortest time."
The US has persisted with its nuclear threats against the DPRK even after the war. In mid-August 1953, just after the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement, the US Strategic Air Command had mapped out "OP-PLAN 8-53" of dropping atomic bombs en masse over Korea and China. At that time the US army, navy and air force tried to play the leading role in launching nuclear strikes against the DPRK.
When the US espionage plane, EC-121, was shot down from the sky over the East Sea of Korea in April 1969, tactical nuclear aircraft of the USAF were reportedly on emergency standby to make sorties to attack airports in north Korea within 15 minutes.
The US nuclear threats against the DPRK are not simple, past incidents in history.
Entering the new century, the Bush Administration made public the Nuclear Posture Review that included the DPRK in the target list of nuclear pre-emptive strikes. In April 2010, the US Defense Secretary Gates publicly declared in the Nuclear Posture Review that all choices were on the table, taking into consideration the fact that the possibility of nuclear pre-emptive strike against the DPRK would be no exclusion.
Nuclear blackmails and threats of the US against the DPRK have continued for decades, their risks and gravity becoming ever greater.
It is the very root cause of the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula.
Strenuous Efforts of the DPRK for Denuclearization
The DPRK has regarded it as an issue vital to ensuring peace and security in the country and the surrounding region to make the Korean peninsula nuclear-free, and made strenuous efforts for its accomplishment.
In the end of the 1950s it proposed creating a peace zone free from atomic weapons in Asia, followed by a proposal in the early 1980s of establishing a nuke-free zone in Northeast Asia and freeing the Korean peninsula from nukes. It also proposed the holding of the three-party talks for ridding the peninsula of the risk of a nuclear war, and afterwards published a governmental statement, solemnly declaring that it would allow neither test, production, storage and introduction of nuclear weapons, nor military bases of all kinds, including foreign nuclear bases, while disallowing foreign nukes to pass over the territorial land, sky and waters of the DPRK.
Out of its expectation that it would help rid itself of nuclear threats of the US, the DPRK signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). As the US had promised to suspend the Team Spirit joint military exercise, a nuclear test war, it allowed several rounds of ad hoc inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in conformity to the relevant articles of the NPT, and gave assistance.
The US, however, shunned itself from the DPRK's efforts Worse still, it had the brazen cheek to abuse the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula as a lever to stifle the latter. Boisterously criticizing a non-existent "doubt of nuclear development" by the DPRK, it manipulated the IAEA into adopting a resolution on special inspection of sensitive military sites in the country. It even forced the DPRK to allow the special inspection by threatening it with the resumption of the Team Spirit joint military exercise.
It became clear to the DPRK that both the international organization and treaty, far from
protecting it from the US high-handedness, were abused as an instrument of its justification.
Therefore, the DPRK resolutely withdrew from the NPT and the IAEA, and took the road of
preparing a self-defensive nuclear deterrent to cope with the ever-increasing nuclear threats of the
US.
The DPRK's joining of the ranks of nuclear states has put an end to the nuclear imbalance in the Korean peninsula, thus making US nuclear threats powerless.
Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula Depends Entirely on the US
Failure in settlement of the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula is mainly ascribable to the US that persistently pursues a hostile policy and nuclear threat against the DPRK. Had the US not threatened the DPRK with its nukes, but built confidence with it to make the bilateral relationship normal, they would have already reached the settlement.
Ypshiki Mine from the Japan-based Canon International Institute, who, as a diplomat, had specialized in disarmament and Korean affairs, said in the following vein: It is true that the US option of nuclear attack is in effect offering north Korea an excuse for its development, acquisition and possession of nuclear weapons. North Korea believes that its very existence is under threat. Therefore, it often states that it will never abandon nukes unless its national security is assured.
It is evident to everyone that the nuclear threat of the US against the DPRK is the first thing to be eradicated. It is the very key to the settlement of the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula.
The DPRK has declared on several occasions that it is prepared for the resumption of the six-party talks.
Nevertheless, the US and some other countries are not. The US should recognize that the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, separated from the removal of its nuclear threat, is meaningless and also impossible to be realized. And it must approach the resumption of the six-party talks with sincerity.
The US attitude to the six-party talks will decide the destiny of the talks and the future of the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Kim Jong Il Inspects Newly Built People's Study House

Kim Jong Il Inspects Newly Built People's Study House

Pyongyang, January 21 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il gave field guidance to the newly built the North Hwanghae Provincial People's Study House. He went round a remote-controlled lecture room, e-reading room and other places inside the study house and its outside for hours to learn in detail about the construction of the house and its technical equipment and operation. The house was not only designed well and the best quality was ensured in its construction but is equipped with all facilities to meet its scientific and technological needs, he said, expressing great satisfaction over the fact that the province successfully built the modern house by its own efforts. The WPK put up the slogan "Push Back the Frontiers of Latest Science and Technology!" as the rapid development of science and technology is one of the basic matters decisive of the rise and fall of the country, he said, noting that the party spares nothing if it is to disseminate rich scientific and technological knowledge to people and feels greater worth of working in doing so. He called upon all provinces to build modern people's study houses as required by the era of knowledge-based economy. He set forth tasks facing the people's study house. In order to help the people satisfactorily acquire latest science and technology it is important to adequately provide the house with all sorts of information and, at the same time, establish a perfect system for preserving information, he noted. He underlined the need to put the computer network service between the Grand People's Study House and county libraries on a normal footing so as to place reading on a scientific basis as required by visitors to the study house and thus steadily raise the level of their technological knowledge. Accompanying him were Kim Ki Nam and Choe Thae Bok, members of the Political Bureau and secretaries of the C.C., the WPK, Kim Kyong Hui, member of the Political Bureau and department director of the C.C., the WPK, Choe Ryong Hae and Kim Phyong Hae, alternate members of the Political Bureau and secretaries of the C.C., the WPK, Mun Kyong Dok, alternate member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the C.C., the WPK and chief secretary of the Pyongyang City Committee of the WPK, Hyon Chol Hae and Ri Myong Su, department directors of the NDC, and Pak Thae Dok, chief secretary of the North Hwanghae Provincial Committee of the WPK.

JISGE and ASSPUK Hail DPRK Peace Proposal

ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF SONGUN POLITICS UK
http://www.uk-songun.com

London 15th January
The Juche Idea Study Group of England and the Association for the Study of Songun Politics UK issued the following statement today.The JISGE and ASSPUK fully support the statement of the DPRK government,political parties and organisation of the 5th of January.

This is a sincere proposal which flows from the DPRK's ardent desire for reunification and fully reflects the aspirations of the entire Korean people north and south who wish to see reunification at an early date.The statement offers a concrete and realistic way to reduce tension and improve inter Korean relations.
The statement calls for wide ranging dialogue and also appeals for all inclusive dialogue with all south Korean organisations.Thus it seeks to fully involve all the people in the process of people not excluding anyone.
It is entirely thanks to the peace loving stand of the DPRK and the patience and forebearance of the Korean People's Army that the outbreak of war on the Korean peninsula was averted last year.Now the south Korean authorities must accept the offer that is on the table.

ASSPUK
JISGE

Self-Reliance, Key to Strong Economy

Self-Reliance, Key to Strong Economy

Pyongyang, January 7 (KCNA) -- The joint New Year editorial issued by major newspapers of the DPRK calls for adhering to the principle of self-reliance in economic construction. The principle has been consistently maintained by the Workers' Party of Korea in the protracted and arduous revolutionary struggle. With this principle, the DPRK has built an independent economy from poor foundations. The U.S.-led imperialists and their allies have persistently tried to obstruct the DPRK's economic construction with sanctions and blockade. However, they could not block the development of the DPRK as its economy is dependent on its own strength, technologies and resources. Solid foundations have been laid in the DPRK to massproduce steel, fiber and fertilizers with domestic materials and fuel. Signal achievements have also been made in the ultra-modern scientific and technological field like information and nuclear technologies. These facts clearly prove that self-reliance is a key to building a strong economy.

Copyrigh

UK KFA supports DPRK peace proposal

UK KOREAN FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION

London 8th January 2011 Juche 100
The UK Korean Friendship Association today issued a statement in support of the proposal made by the DPRK government,political parties and organisations on the 5th of January. We support this sincere and magnaminous proposal made by the DPRK to defuse the serious tensions, that have arisen on the Korean peninsula over the past few years,and to bring about peace and reunification.This proposal fully reflects the peace loving stand of the DPRK and the DPRK's desire for reunification of the divided Korean nation.
It is thanks to the patience,forebearance and peace loving stand of the DPRK that a war on the Korean peninsula was averted.Now the DPRK by advancing this proposal is taking concrete and realistic steps towards reducing tensions and improving the damaged inter Korean relations.The proposal is for all embracing and wide ranging dialogue which would not exclude anyone and would include both the ruling regime in south Korea but also all parties and organisations.Such a move would ensure meaningful and constructive dialogue.
The DPRK by putting forward this proposal has shown that it wants peace and not war.Now it is up to the south Korean authorities to respond to this offer that is on the table with good faith.This is the way to peace and reunification.We in UK KFA call upon the south Korean authorities to respond to this proposal at an early date and for outside forces not to block or interfere in any way with the implementation of this highly significant proposal.

UK KFA

Joint Statement of the DPRK government, political parties and organizations January 5th 2011

Joint Statement of the DPRK government, political parties and organizations
(Pyongyang, Jan 5, 2011)

The DPRK government, political parties and organizations at a joint meeting convened as regards the grave situation prevailing on the Korean Peninsula and between the north and the south discussed important issues of settling it and opening a new phase for peace and reunification and released a joint statement on Jan. 5.
In the joint statement, they set forth the following important proposal to the south Korean authorities, political parties and organizations, prompted by their patriotic decision to usher in a new era of independent reunification, peace and prosperity, reflecting the unanimous will of all Koreans for peace and reunification:
1. We courteously propose having wide-ranging dialogue and negotiations with the political parties and organizations of south Korea including its authorities.
It is the review of the past three years that the issue of inter-Korean relations can never be solved by confrontation but it only sparks off an armed clash and war.
In order to mend the north-south relations now at the lowest ebb we will conduct positive dialogue and negotiations with the political parties and organizations of south Korea including its authorities, be they authorities or civilians, ruling parties or opposition parties, progressives or conservatives.
We call for an unconditional and early opening of talks between the authorities having real power and responsibility, in particular.
2. We are ready to meet anyone anytime and anywhere, letting bygones be bygones, if he or she is willing to go hands in hands with us.
For the great cause of the nation present is more important than yesterday and tomorrow is dearer than present.
The danger of war will be defused and the day of peace, reunification and prosperity be brought earlier when all Koreans assert in concert and pool their wisdom and efforts.
3. We will discuss and solve all the issues related to the important matters of the nation including detente, peace, reconciliation, unity and cooperation at dialogue, negotiations and contacts.
The north and the south are called upon to sincerely approach the discussion on the issues related to the important issues of the nation irrespective of partisan interests and strategy and isms and make positive efforts to seek agreed points to the maximum.
4. As an immediate offer, we propose discontinuing to heap slanders and calumnies on each other and refraining from any act of provoking each other in order to create an atmosphere of improving the inter-Korean relations.
Dialogue and negotiations cannot be properly conducted nor can they make smooth progress even if the north and south sit at the negotiating table when mud-slinging and provocative acts against each other are allowed.
We call on the north and the south to refrain from now from the smear campaign and provocative act of deepening misunderstanding and distrust and inciting confrontation and hostility.
Consistent is our stand to improve the inter-Korean relations, promote national reconciliation and unity and open a landmark phase of peace and reunification on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and negotiations.
The government, political parties and organizations of the DPRK express expectation that the authorities, political parties and organizations of south Korea will positively respond to their sincere proposal and appeal for weathering the crisis on the peninsula and between the north and the south. They also call on all the Koreans at home and abroad, all governments, political parties and organizations in the world, international organizations and progressive people that love justice, truth and peace to extend warm support and solidarity to them.

JISGE and ASSPUK Hail DPRK New Year editorial

ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF SONGUN POLITICS UK
http://www.uk-songun.com/ email juche007@yahoo.co.uk

London 4th January
Today the ASSPUK and JISGE issued a joint statement in support of the joint New Year editorial of the DPRK newspapers Rodong Sinmun (Workers'Party) Joson Immingun (army) and Chongyon Jongwi(youth) entitled "Bring about a Decisive Turn in the Improvement of the People’s Standard of Living and the Building of a Great, Prosperous and Powerful Country by Accelerating the Development of Light Industry Once Again This Year" issued on the 1st of January.
The editorial sums up the vast achievements made in 2010 a year of decisive victory for the DPRK in which it produced Juche vinalon ,in the spirit of self reliance and also Juche fertiliser.Another self reliant achievement was the reclamation of the Taegyedo tideland.Progress was made in improving people's living standards by the construction of 100,000 modern dwellings with all conveniences that were given to people free of charge.All these achievements were made in the context of a tense situation defeated the unprecedented provocations of the south Korean fascist puppets and the attempts of US imperialism to put pressure on the DPRK and stifle Korean style socialism.The DPRK stood at the forefront of the struggle for anti imperialist independence

The editorial calls for these achievements to be carried forward an even faster pace in 2011 so as to decisively improve the people's living sstandards and make significant progress towards the cherished goal of building a great prosperous powerful socialist nation of Juche true to the instructions of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung,the sun of the Korean nation.The editorial stresses the importance of the goal of building a great prosperous powerful socialist nation in the context of the coming centenary of the birth of the great leader generalissimo Kim Il Sung in 2012.
The New Year editorial extols the need to develop light industry and living standards of the people.This is a reaffirmation of the principle of the DPRK and the WPK that raising people's living standards should be primary,this was fully encapsulated in President Kim Il Sung's maxim "The People Are My God".
The editorial correctly stipulates the principle of self-reliance should be applied thoroughly.This is the traditional mode of the Korean people and it offers a sure shortcut to smash the sanctions and blockade of the imperialists and achieve prosperity.Moreover it is an inspiration to the world revolutionary people's fighting against globalisation and the fake aid of the imperialists used to exploit people.
The editorial stress the need to raise the leadership role of the Workers' Party of Korea.This will firmly gguaranteethe success of the general offensive and powerfully inspire the people to higher and higher goals.
Bearing the tense situation in mind the editorial calls for the strengthening of the militant might of the Korean People's Army.The KPA is the core of the Songun revolution and the editorial will lead to the flames of the Songun revolution burning ever brighter.The editorial will ensure that the DPRK.s Songun might will increase even further and will decisively defend the independence and dignity of People's Korea and also defend world socialism.
We,the ASSPUK and JISGE ,believe that once the tasks outlined in the editorial ""Bring about a Decisive Turn in the Improvement of the People’s Standard of Living and the Building of a Great, Prosperous and Powerful Country by Accelerating the Development of Light Industry Once Again This Year"." are carried out the DPRK will more fully display its might and the Korean people will live in a beautiful prosperous socialist paradise which will inspire the Juche idea and Songun idea followers of the world and indeed all who aspire to peace,independence and socialism.We support and commend the editorial.

ASSPUK
JISGE

UK KFA Statement in support of DPRK New Year Editorial 2011

UK KOREAN FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION

London 4th January 2011.
The UK Korean Friendship Association issued today the following statement The UK Korean Friendship Association wishes to voice its full support for the joint editorial of the DPRK media ""Bring about a Decisive Turn in the Improvement of the People’s Standard of Living and the Building of a Great, Prosperous and Powerful Country by Accelerating the Development of Light Industry Once Again This Year" issued on the occasion of the New Year 2011.
The editorial stresses a general offensive to build on the great achievements during 2010 which saw the might of Juche Korea in the economic field increase greatly with industry becoming more Juche orientated and living standards improving.

The editorial sets as its yardstick the further development of light industry and the improvement of people's living standards.This fully reflects the people centred nature of the socialist system of the DPRK where improvement of living standards is a central task.
We think that under the banner of the editorial the DPRK will become a people's land of bliss,an example to the world.

The editorial also states that the principle of self-reliance must be thoroughly maintained.This line will greatly boost the independence of Juche Korea and also help to defeat sanctions by the imperialists.UK KFA views this as highly laudable.

We also support the steps mentioned in the editorial to ease the serious situation that has arisen on the Korean peninsula owing to the continous provocations of the US imperialists and south Korean puppets.We believe that the south Korean authorities should drop their anti DPRK anti reunification racket and take the road of indepenendence rather dependence.We applaud the call of the editorial for a nationwide struggle against the war and division.
We hail the peace loving stance of the DPRK to achieve peace in Asia and the world as explained in the editorial and support the DPRK's idea of achieving global independence.
We are sure that the New editorial "Bring about a Decisive Turn in the Improvement of the People’s Standard of Living and the Building of a Great, Prosperous and Powerful Country by Accelerating the Development of Light Industry Once Again This Year" will lead to greater successes in improving people's living standards,achieving Korean reunification and promoting world peace and global independence.

UK KFA.

Joint New Year Editorial of DPRK Major Newspapers

Pyongyang, January 1 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun, Joson Inmingun and Chongnyon Jonwi, leading newspapers of the DPRK, on Saturday carried a joint New Year editorial titled "Bring about a Decisive Turn in the Improvement of the People’s Standard of Living and the Building of a Great, Prosperous and Powerful Country by Accelerating the Development of Light Industry Once Again This Year". Following is the full text of the joint editorial: Today we are greeting the year 2011, a year filled with hope, a year of new prosperity, after glorifying the stirring first decade of the 21st century as a decade full of great victories. The last was a decade when we invariably defended the ideas and cause of President Kim Il Sung, a decade full of creations and miracles when we built a solid springboard for achieving the status of a great, prosperous and powerful country. In the crucible of the complicated 21st century, our country has always stood in the limelight of the world, at the forefront of anti-imperialist independence. Our service personnel and people, who have written a heroic epic of victory after victory under the energetic leadership of General Kim Jong Il, are full of ambition for a brighter future and confidence in sure victory. Last year 2010 was a year of great changes, when miraculous events that provided a picture of a prosperous tomorrow took place one after another. Our Party’s strategy of the building of a great, prosperous and powerful country is the most scientific and realistic. Our onward march of last year for a great upsurge was propelled as General Kim Jong Il had planned and intended, and came to wonderful fruition as he had visualized. Korea does what it is determined to do—this immutable truth was confirmed by the reality. The promising future and invincibility of our Party and revolution were fully demonstrated through the grand political events of last year noteworthy in the history of our nation. The Conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea that was convened amidst the mounting political enthusiasm of our people and the great interest of the world proved to be a major milestone in the development of our Party eternally into the party of President Kim Il Sung and in the enhancing of its leadership authority to the maximum. That the fundamental guarantee for carrying forward and accomplishing the cause of the Party, the Juche revolutionary cause, was provided is a great glory for our service personnel and people. The celebrations held on the highest standard and in a characteristic way greeting the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Party vividly demonstrated in front of the eyes of the world the might of the single-minded unity and invincible military strength that reached a new high. Notwithstanding the complicated situation, our public sentiment remained stable on a high level, and the will of the service personnel and people to stoutly follow the long road of revolution under the leadership of the Party grew stronger. There are no party and people in the world as great as ours, which have an ever-victorious history and a highly promising future. In the crucible of the onward march of last year for a great upsurge, a road was opened definitely for remarkably improving the people’s standard of living at an earlier date. The Party’s call for channeling everything into improving the people’s standard of living stirred the whole country and brought about thrilling sounds of victory in all the hard-fought projects for a great upsurge. Under the wise leadership of the Party the projects for modernization were promoted dynamically in the industrial sectors related to the people’s living, such as light industry, chemical industry and metal industry, opening a bright prospect of mass-producing the Juche-based steel, fibre and fertilizer. Hundreds of major projects including the Taegyedo tideland reclamation and Ryesonggang Youth Power Station No. 2 were brought to completion, and spectacular scenes in the Songun era unfolded in various parts of the country. The establishment of foundations for realizing the ideals of a great, prosperous and powerful country we have so long desired is a precious achievement made in the onward march for a great upsurge. Last year witnessed the spirit of Songun Korea dashing toward the world. World-shaking, brilliant achievements were made in such fields of latest science and technology as information and nuclear technologies through the high-pitched drive to push back the frontiers of science and technology. Kim Il Sung University, Hamhung University of Chemical Engineering and other institutions of training talents were refurbished splendidly as required by the era of the knowledge-based economy. The mass-based culture and art were developed onto a new high stage, and works of art and literature with perfect ideological and artistic qualities, like the light comedy "An Echo among the Hills," were produced one after another. These are a source of great pride to our country, a socialist cultural giant. Infinitely bright is the future of our country as all the people are giving free rein to their thoughts and feelings in a bid to make their great Party and Kim Il Sung’s Korea admired by the world. Last year was a historic year, when the outstanding leadership ability of General Kim Jong Il, who is translating his grand plan for achieving prosperity into reality, was demonstrated on the highest level. Our drive of last year to build a thriving nation was conducted under extremely tense situation and vicious sanctions of the enemy. Our Party’s idea is that of offensive, and its mode of making revolution is also that of offensive. The will of the great General to defend the dignity of the nation to the last in any storm and stress remained steadfast, and his art of leading the whole army and all the people to a dauntless offensive was quite extraordinary and adroit. Etched in the chronicle of General Kim Jong Il’s leadership for a great upsurge in 2010 are on-site guidance trips of forced march beyond human imagination. During the whole year from its outset, he continuously visited the battlefields for a great upsurge across the country, including the construction site of the Huichon Power Station, rousing Party organizations and officials to action and giving fullest play to the mental strength of service personnel and people. Following the great General, who continued his field guidance trips day and night, braving the biting cold and sultry weather, heavy rain and snowstorm, the harmonious whole of service personnel and people rose up, kindling raging flames of great innovations and leap forward. Two rounds of his visit to China in the limelight of the world were historic, in that they put the traditional relations of friendship between Korea and China onto a new stage and created an environment favorable for our revolution. Our cause of building a great, prosperous and powerful country will make steady progress toward the historic milestone set up by the respected General—this is the conviction our service personnel and people etched in their hearts in the worthwhile struggle of last year. The forthcoming decades of the 21st century will continue to shine as decades of great victories of sophisticated and experienced Kim Jong Il’s style of politics. New Year 2011 is a year of general offensive, when a radical turn should be brought about in the building of a thriving nation by kindling more fiercely the flames of great upsurge in improving the people’s standard of living. General Kim Jong Il said: "We should bring earlier the bright future of a thriving nation by making continuous innovations and advance, full of confidence in victory." Our people’s struggle to put up the plate of a powerful nation at the gate of the dignified Kim Il Sung’s Korea has entered an important phase. Next year we will be greeting the centenary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung. President Kim Il Sung is the founding-father of socialist Korea and the pioneer of the cause of building a Juche-oriented powerful nation. His lifetime instructions are tantamount to the programmes of the Party that must not be contravened to the slightest degree. We should launch an all-out, vigorous offensive for a breakthrough to realize the wish of the President to build a prosperous country, and thus greet the centenary of his birth as the greatest holiday of Kim Il Sung’s nation and a great event of humankind. Ours are a heroic people who carry out without fail whatever they are determined to do, and an indomitable people who never mark time even for a moment in the struggle to realize their lofty ideals. The world is now witnessing what great miracles are being wrought by our service personnel and people who, full of great ambition, are rushing toward the status of a powerful country, invincible and prospering. This year’s general offensive is a continuation of the grand onward march for improving the people’s standard of living, and its new, higher stage. We have already made a big stride in implementing our Party’s ambitious strategy for improving the people’s standard of living. We are now faced with the urgent task to consolidate and develop the already achieved successes in order to raise the people’s standard of living to the level appropriate to a great, prosperous and powerful country. It is a steadfast stand of our Party that the improvement of the people’s standard of living should be regarded as the most important issue, the highest goal of its struggle, and carried through to the end. We should make the whole country reverberate with the echoes of continued innovation and advance, echoes of general offensive, for a bright future, when people will enjoy all kinds of blessings to their hearts′ content. "Bring about a decisive turn in the improvement of the people’s standard of living and the building of a great, prosperous and powerful country by accelerating the development of light industry once again this year!"—this is the militant slogan we should uphold in speeding up the onward march for a great upsurge in the New Year. Light industry is the major front in the general offensive of this year. Now we have built up key industries and a strong force of scientists and technicians that support the revolution in light industry, and we have accumulated valuable experiences of putting light industry on the stage of upturn against all odds. To accelerate the development of light industry is a mature requirement and most pressing task for building the country into an economic giant. Today the stand on light industry is an important matter directly related with the attitude toward the people and the Party and with the viewpoint of the revolution. We should make sure that this year, a year of light industry, the whole country seethes with efforts to give priority to and concentrate everything on the sector of light industry. The modern light-industry factories, splendid producers of consumer goods serving as models in the new century, all of which our Party built at great cost, are precious assets for the improvement of the people’s standard of living. The sector of light industry should pay first and foremost attention to making the factories and enterprises associated with the Party’s warm care keep their production running at a high level. It should focus on the production of primary consumer goods and other necessities widely used in life, and expand and augment the overall production of other consumer goods. Respect for people and patriotism find expression in bringing about a radical improvement in the quality of consumer goods. The sector of light industry should turn out commodities that would be favoured by people, immaculate by any standard and competitive on the world market. It is also necessary to increase the kinds of consumer goods to meet people’s diverse demands and tastes. Continuous efforts should be directed to putting the production of consumer goods on a modern, scientific basis. It is our Party’s plan to press ahead with the upgrading of light industry, not partially but in an all-round way, not on an ordinary standard but on a standard of cutting edge, and with a sight set far ahead into the future. The upgrading of light industry should be carried on effectively by employing the finish-one-by-one method. Officials and workers in this sector should steadily improve the level of their technical skills so that they can adeptly operate CNC-based and other modern equipment and meet the scientific and technological requirements in their production and business activities. Local industry has a considerable share in the country’s output of consumer goods. Upholding the torch of a revolution in local industry General Kim Jong Il kindled in Changsong, all the people should launch a campaign to bolster up the local-industry factories across the country. It is important to follow the examples of Hoeryong and Kanggye in developing local industry as suited to one’s actual conditions and tapping all the locally available raw and other materials to run local-industry factories at full capacity. Public and nationwide concern for light industry should be heightened. True to the Party’s policy of attaching great importance to light industry, raw and other materials, fuel and funds necessary for this sector should be provided in good time and in sufficient amounts. A great effort should be channelled into putting the production of raw and other materials on a Juche-oriented, domestic basis. The drive for August 3 consumer goods production, which is demonstrating its vitality in making a revolution in light industry, should be more vigorously conducted, and units, as many as possible, should launch a drive to markedly increase the production of daily necessities. A revolution should be brought about in commodity supply and public catering service to make the people-oriented policies of the Party pay off. The present grand onward march for the improvement of the people’s standard of living demands that a full-scale offensive be launched in the overall economic front. Now our Party expects the officials and working class in the vanguard sectors of the national economy, the sectors of basic industry, to become the starting fire, like the heroic working class of the Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex, in making the flames of the great upsurge flare up more fiercely in improving the people’s standard of living. Achieve the victory of the great upsurge with the faith, mettle and practical abilities of the Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex—this is a call of our Party. Rapid increase in coal production leads to the mass-production of fertilizers, fibres, electricity and steel. The sector of coal-mining industry should concentrate effort on the coal mines with large deposits and favorable mining conditions and develop new coal fields in order to radically increase the output of coal. The whole country should assist the coal-mining sector with a sense of responsibility so as to inspire the coal-miners’ morale. The sector of electric-power industry should direct efforts to running the generating facilities at full capacity at all times, and improving and perfecting the system of power transmission and supply. The officials and working class in the sector of metal industry, while consolidating the great victory achieved in perfecting the Juche-based steel-making system, should attain without fail the high target of iron and steel production. Railway transport is the pilot of the national economy. A drive for increased transport should be more vigorously conducted to satisfy the growing, overall demand for transport by the national economy, and the whole country should turn out in upgrading railways radically. A revolution in light industry is just a revolution in chemical industry. The renovated large-scale chemical-industry bases in the Hamhung, Namhung and Sunchon areas should put their production on a normal track, thus turning out more fibres, plastic goods, various kinds of basic chemical goods, fertilizers and agrochemicals indispensable to improving the people’s standard of living. The agricultural front is the lifeline for solving the problem of people’s living. We should take bringing about an innovation in agricultural production as the key to giving full play to the advantages of our style of socialism and opening the gates of a thriving country. The agricultural sector should thoroughly implement the Party’s policies of seed revolution, double cropping, revolution in potato farming and soybean farming, and actively introduce advanced farming methods and techniques including organic farming. Competition should be vigorously pressed on to drastically boost unit-area grain yield by learning after the model units that are realizing with credit the Party’s far-reaching plan of rural construction. Today, our Party appeals for a revolution in aiding the countryside. Upholding the intention of the Party to solve the food problem without fail, state investment in the agricultural sector should be radically increased. All sectors and all units should give priority to the provision of materials necessary for farming in advance of farming processes. The Songun era of great upsurge is a thrilling age, when monumental structures for people’s happiness are being set up in a way larger than ever before. The construction of the Huichon Power Station, the coal gasification project in Hungnam, the construction of 100, 000 flats in Pyongyang and other major construction projects should be accelerated to the maximum for their completion at the earliest date possible. It is essential to ensure the quality of structure on the highest level cherishing the lofty feeling of patriotism to take responsibility for the safety of the projects and guarantee their absolute quality for all eternity. Production of building materials should be radically boosted, and the work of building modern bases for building-materials production vigorously pushed ahead. An important way to accelerate the speed of the onward march for a great upsurge in the whole of economic construction is to continue to intensify the drive of breaking through the cutting edge. It is our Party’s idea of breaking through the cutting edge that all sectors should surpass in the shortest time the scientific and technical standards the world has reached and stand in the van of the age of knowledge-based economy, on the basis of experience of having secured supremacy in the CNC technology. It is necessary to actively learn after the Huichon Ryonha General Machine Factory which is rushing forward in the van of the drive to push back the frontiers of science and technology. The intense drive of breaking through the cutting edge should be waged not only in the machine-building industry but in all other industrial sectors and not only in central industry but in local industry. The fields of core, basic technologies and cutting-edge science and technology, including information technology, nano technology and bioengineering, should be developed radically, and science and technology brought close to production. Strong national self-respect that we will beat others in the competition of science and technology and self-confidence that we can crush the enemy’s blockade of science and technology by dint of the campaign for pushing back the frontiers of science and technology should overflow in our hearts. Scientists and technicians should vigorously wage a campaign of brains, a technological campaign, to produce research findings of great value that are conducive to the revolution in light industry and the development of the national economy, and everyone should take an active part in the mass technical innovation movement. The principle of self-reliance should be applied thoroughly. Structures built with our own efforts and wisdom are soundly based, highly profitable and surely prospective. We should be persons strong in the spirit of self-reliance, who make a sturdy dash only in reliance on their own strength, like the Taegyedo tideland reclaimers who carried out the instructions of President Kim Il Sung despite the shortage of everything. We should develop and harness underground resources abundant in our country as much as we can to secure raw materials and funds needed for the improvement of the people’s standard of living and the building of the country into an economic giant. Improving the economic management becomes more urgent at the moment, when the national economy is put on the trajectory of revitalization. Enterprise management should be undertaken in a scientific and profitable way and in line with the principles of the socialist economic management of our own style, and a strict discipline observed in planning, finance and labour administration in all the units. Greater efforts should be made to spruce up the overall looks of the country as appropriate to a thriving nation. Those who transform their sectors and units in a revolutionary way with a broad and innovative vision of looking out over the world while keeping their feet firmly planted on their own land are the genuine builders of a thriving nation. The sector of education should raise the quality of education and improve the teaching conditions and environment in line with the requirements of the IT era, so as to develop ours into a world-class country of intellectual elite. The sector of literature and the arts should ensure that many excellent works of the times which are clear in the ideological principle and political stand and are down to earth, which can serve as textbooks for socialist education, are produced. The medical workers should add further brilliance to the advantages of the socialist free medical service by rendering sincere devotion to the care for the people’s health and developing the medical science. A hot wind of sports should be raised in all parts of the country to make Songun Korea widely known as a football and sports power. Boundless devotion to the cause of building a great, prosperous and powerful country is displayed in the undertakings to spruce up the country including land development and city management. The landscaping and afforestation should be done on a long-term basis and in a scientific way, and everyone should turn his or her native place and workplace into a socialist fairyland. Nationwide efforts should be channelled into drastically improving the roads. Cities should be designed and built in our own style as suited to the local characteristics and the global trend of development. Pyongyang, the capital of the revolution, should be built into a pollution-free city covered with verdure, into a magnificent world-class city. A decisive guarantee for this year’s successful general onward march is in raising the Party’s leadership role in every way. This year will be the first worthwhile year since the Conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea. The spirit of the conference is a spirit of single-hearted unity to invariably defend the centre of unity and leadership despite the passage of time, an indomitable spirit of forced march to brave a multitude of hardships and build a prosperous and powerful nation and a spirit of continuous revolution to accomplish the revolutionary cause under the leadership of the great Party. At present the building and activities of our Party should be conducted with this spirit as a starting point and be consistent with it. The Party’s leadership system should be established more thoroughly in politics, the military, the economy and all other sectors. The entire Party should be built up into an ideologically pure entity and an organizational whole, which shares life and death with the leader to the last and into the ranks of death-defying vanguards who translate the leader’s intention into brilliant reality. Our Party wants all its organizations to be powerful and lively organizations that lead the onward march for improving the people’s standard of living in the van. The habit of the Party organization and the administration carrying out revolutionary tasks as a harmonious whole and the principle of conducting all the economic activities in a way of doing political work should be applied thoroughly to Party work. The Party organizations should fully get acquainted with the public sentiment as required by the revolutionary mass line, intensify the work with people accordingly and deal with problems arising in the people’s living in a responsible manner. It is our Party’s way of work to conduct ideological work more vigorously when the tasks to be tackled are huge and the enemy’s moves become more vicious. The Party organizations at all levels should undertake education in the Juche idea and Songun idea in a consistent and intensive way to make the ideological position of our style of socialism rock-firm. They should train the Party members and other working people to be stalwart revolutionaries in the Songun era who are possessed of the spirit of defending the leader unto death, the spirit of national self-respect, the spirit of self-reliance and the love of and devotion to the future. They should briskly conduct mass-based cultural and artistic activities that are very appealing and refreshing, and continue to conduct the Three-Revolution Red Flag Movement. We should further strengthen the militant might of the People′s Army as we hold fast to our Party’s line of the Songun revolution. At present the Juche-oriented cause of army building is making dynamic progress on a new, high stage. The People’s Army should bring about a fresh radical turn in all military and political work by faithfully supporting the leadership of the great Songun commander Kim Jong Il this year that marks the 20th anniversary of his assumption of the KPA supreme commandership and the 15th anniversary of the launch of the movement of winning the title of O Jung Hup-led Seventh Regiment. The People’s Army should firmly carry forward the precious tradition of absolutely trusting and following the Party and the leader and defending them unto death under the slogan "Let us defend with our very lives the Party Central Committee headed by the great Comrade Kim Jong Il!" We should establish more soundly the monolithic command system of the Supreme Commander in the whole army, and deepen the Party’s political work incessantly to defend and add brilliance forever to its revolutionary character as the army of the leader and the Party. Today’s training is a forge that produces tomorrow’s war hero. The entire army should conduct intense combat training in an atmosphere of actual battle as required by the tense situation so as to reliably prepare all the officers and men to be all-round officers and a-match-for-a-hundred combatants who support our Party’s will of Songun by force of arms. It is necessary to improve the command and management of units by giving priority to the strengthening of company and amply demonstrate the militant spirit and looks of the revolutionary elite army by enforcing strict military discipline. The entire army should achieve unity between officers and men and combination of military work with political work more thoroughly under the slogan that calls on it to become one comrade, and always take the lead in strengthening unity between army and people in every way. The People’s Army should remain highly alert with the Juche-oriented view of war and the fighting spirit with which to annihilate the enemy. The spirit of the People’s Army resemblant to its great Supreme Commander is the Paektu spirit of offensive, and the mode of its counteraction of justice is the prompt, merciless and annihilatory action. It will not in the least pardon those who impair our absolute dignity and socialist system even a bit and violate our airspace, territory and waters even an inch, but discharge at any cost the historic mission it has assumed on behalf of the country and the nation with matchless arms. When the People’s Army rushes forward holding banner as befits the main force of the revolution, the whole of society will be vibrant with life and seethe with the spirit of great upsurge. It should build monumental structures of lasting value and be a model that leads civilians with the revolutionary soldier spirit, soldier temperament and soldier culture in the major theatres of the campaign to build a great, prosperous and powerful country. The defence industry is a source of the mightiness of Songun Korea and a reliable guarantee for the improvement of the people’s standard of living. The sector of defence industry should continue to admirably perform its mission as a pacemaker in the campaign to break through the cutting edge and a locomotive that leads the overall economy. It is necessary to radically improve the style and way of work in line with the requirements of the new era of the Songun revolution. "Fight and create as befit the descendants of President Kim Il Sung!"--this is our motto. We should work optimistically with lofty aims, high ideals and great courage as our President did. We should add lustre to each moment of the age of great upsurge with the indomitable disposition to perform without fail even what others say is impossible, the daring spirit of creating world-shaking things and the revolutionary way of work of doing everything perfectly so that it can bring benefits even to the coming generations. Success in the grand onward march for improving the people’s standard of living depends on officials, the leading personnel. They should not merely support Party policies but be doers who translate them into reality and fighters who carry out the tasks assigned by the Party most excellently, most sincerely, most faithfully and most perfectly and at the risk of their lives. Like the officials of the March 5 Youth Mine, they should set ambitious, long-term goals and plan every type of work methodologically so as to revolutionize the administration of their respective units. Everyone should realize his or her beautiful ideals to the last with boundless attachment to his or her province, county, village and workplace. The robust contingent of young people is the main force for national defence and socialist construction. Young people should display mass heroism to the full in every theatre of the campaign for the building of a great, prosperous and powerful nation, flying high the flag of Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League. Young people in the Songun era should burn their hearts with the great ambition and passion to shoulder the heavy burden of the motherland and seize supremacy in the cutting-edge technologies. The working people’s organizations should concentrate their efforts on ideological education for enlisting the mental strength of their members, and intensify a variety of mass movements including socialist emulation and shock-brigade movement. Last year our nation’s movement for the country’s reunification made dynamic progress even in the face of the vicious challenges of the separatist forces inside and outside. The 10th anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration and the 30th anniversary of the proposal for founding the Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo were marked significantly in the north, south and abroad, powerfully demonstrating the ardent desire of the nation for reunification. The more time passes by and the more ordeals and hardships crop up, the stronger the fellow countrymen’s will to reunify their country independently is growing. Last year the south Korean conservative authorities revealed their true colours as the minion of war and anti-reunification, confrontation maniac. In collaboration with the outside forces they incessantly hatched anti-DPRK plots and perpetrated north-targeted war moves, scuttling the inter-Korean dialogues and national reconciliation. Their reckless and wild behavior stirred up surging indignation of the whole nation. It is entirely thanks to our Songun politics of love of the country and the nation and our persevering efforts that war was deterred in the Korean peninsula and a series of humanitarian activities were conducted between north and south even under the touch-and-go situation. The new decade of the 21st century is the years of hope, years of reunification and prosperity, when the tragedy of national division must be brought to an end. Today there is no more vital task than national reunification for the Korean people. The stand of attaching importance to the nation, the stand toward independent reunification, is the touchstone by which to distinguish patriotism from treachery. This year we should launch a more determined campaign to improve inter-Korean relations and reunify the country under the slogan, "Let all Koreans in the north, south and abroad join efforts and bring a new phase of independent reunification!" Confrontation between north and south should be defused as early as possible. The south Korean authorities should scrap the anti-reunification policy of confrontation with the fellow countrymen, which is subjected to unanimous denunciation and rejection at home and abroad, and take the road of respecting and implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration and the October 4 Declaration. They should immediately discontinue the anti-DPRK smear campaign and the crackdown on the patriotic forces aspiring after reunification, which are hindering national reconciliation and unity and which run counter to reunification. The danger of war should be removed and peace safeguarded in the Korean peninsula. If a war breaks out on this land, it will bring nothing but a nuclear holocaust. The entire nation should rise up as one in the sacred, just and patriotic struggle against war and for defending peace in the Korean peninsula. It is imperative to check the north-targeted war exercises and arms buildup of the bellicose forces at home and abroad that seriously threaten national security and peace. Collaboration with outside forces leads to war and national ruin. The entire nation should never tolerate the criminal moves of pro-US war hawks who stake their fate on foreign forces and drive the situation to the brink of war in collusion with them. Dialogue and cooperation should be promoted proactively. Active efforts should be made to create an atmosphere of dialogue and cooperation between north and south by placing the common interests of the nation above anything else. Free travel of and exchanges between people from all walks of life should be ensured and cooperation projects encouraged, to contribute to improving inter-Korean relations and to achieving reunification. The North-South Joint Declaration is a banner of independent reunification which all the fellow countrymen should invariably hold high and a milestone of national prosperity. A rosy future will be in store for our nation when all its members in the north, south and abroad hold fast to the declaration and the ideal of By Our Nation Itself, its basic spirit, as the lifeline of the national reunification movement, and thoroughly implement it. The developments last year witnessed in the international arena show that the imperialist high-handedness and arbitrariness cannot make sense any longer and nothing can check the current of the times moving along the road of independence. The DPRK is consistent in its stand and will to achieve peace in Northeast Asia and denuclearization of the whole of the Korean peninsula. We will, in the future, too, strive to develop relations of friendship and cooperation with countries that are friendly towards us and achieve global independence under the ideals of independence, peace and friendship. The cause of our Party that has followed the victorious road generation after generation and century after century is now registering one victory after another with greater vigor and vitality. To review the one-hundred-year history of Kim Il Sung’s Korea, there has been no era like today when our nation’s dignity is exalted so highly and confidence in the future is so absolute in the hearts of our people. The gates of final victory are in sight. Our Party’s militant appeal for putting spurs after spurs to the general onward march of the revolution is a banner of great innovation to rise up to the world by jumping at one go over the stages which have been followed by others, a banner of patriotic loyalty to realize without fail in our generation President Kim Il Sung’s desire for building a thriving nation. We will staunchly advance till the day of final victory by uninterruptedly setting spurs to Chollima in the Songun era for a leap forward and general offensive. Let us all bring about a decisive turn in the building of a great, prosperous and powerful country in high spirits, firmly rallied around the Party Central Committee headed by General Kim Jong Il. -0-

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