KIM JONG IL
LET US HOLD THE GREAT LEADER IN HIGH ESTEEM FOREVER AND ACCOMPLISH HIS CAUSE
Talk to the Senior Officials of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea
October 16, 1994
One
hundred days have passed since the death of the great leader Comrade
Kim Il Sung. During these days our people have felt even more keenly
how great he was and how much they were blessed by having him as their
leader. We admired him for his greatness in his lifetime, and his
greatness becomes even more conspicuous in death.
Comrade
Kim Il Sung was the great leader whom our people held in high esteem
for the first time in their history of thousands of years, and the sun
of humankind who was looked up to by the whole world. Having embarked
on the road of revolution in his early years, he devoted his all to the
people’s freedom and welfare, overcoming every manner of hardship.
And, with the absolute support and trust of our people and of the
progressive people the world over he led the revolution to victory,
accomplishing immortal exploits that will shine in history. He led our
Party and people for half a century after Korea’s liberation, not to
mention the period when he led the anti-Japanese revolutionary
struggle.
Had
he lived one year longer, he would have witnessed the celebration of
the 50th anniversaries of Korea’s liberation and the founding of the
Workers’ Party of Korea. No leader anywhere in the world has led his
party, state and people for 50 years and created such shining
achievements as Comrade Kim Il Sung did. His immortal exploits in
achieving the victory of the cause of the independence of the masses,
the cause of socialism, constitute the greatest achievements inthe
history of humankind and the international communist movement. He was
truly a great philosopher, statesman, military strategist and artist of
leadership, who glorified modern history with his outstanding ideas
and theories and wise leadership. We must feel very proud that we were
led by such a great man.
Comrade
Kim Il Sung was also an outstanding revolutionary, a great man and the
benevolent father of the people. He trained our people into excellent
people, established our advantageous socialist system and worked
energetically to the last moment of his life to provide our people with
still greater happiness. He treasured the people, regarding them as his
God, and had everything honourable named after the “people”–the names
of the state, of the armed forces, of a palace of culture, of a study
house and of hospitals.
He
was infinitely gracious and humble. On July 6, he telephoned me and
told me about the problems arising in north- south relations, and asked
me the Party’s opinion. When I answered that the Party would do as he
resolved, he said he would act in the belief that he had the Party’s
approval. That was the last time he called me. He completed all his
work before his death, as if he had foreseen what was to happen.
Although
he was in his eighties, he has in recent years met all the surviving
veterans of the anti-Japanese revolution and the orphaned sons and
daughters of the martyrs of the southKorean revolution and other
martyrs. When writing his memoirs, he recalled everyone who had been
associated with his revolutionary struggle, and met not only those in
the country but also those who live abroad. Whenever he met the
bereaved sons and daughters of revolutionary martyrs and those
associated with his career, he would say that he owed his good health
to me and asked them to support me loyally. He presented them with wrist
watches and showed them everymanner of affection and kindness. He
posed for souvenir photographs on numerous occasions.
This
year alone he posed with the participants in the National Meeting of
Agriculture and the National Meeting of Workers in the Coal-Mining
Industry, as well as with numerous otherworking people.
This
year he met officials in various sectors and gave them valuable
instructions. On April 25, he met commanding officers of the Korean
People’s Army and gave them instructions for strengthening the armed
forces. It was his last behest to the army. That day he said that the
army should loyally support its Supreme Commander. This year he
presided over several consultative meetings of leading agricultural
officials, and on July 5 and 6, just before his death, heconvened a
consultative meeting of senior officials in the economic sector and
gave them instructions to be strictly followed in socialist economic
construction. This year he conducted energetic activities in the
external field, meeting many foreigners; he met former US President
Jimmy Carter and created favourable conditions for us in the DPRK-USA
talks.
In
his lifetime, he brought every problem to a perfect solution, with the
exception of that of national reunification. Even so, he laid down
solid foundations for the early resolution of the problem of national
reunification. He said that the Korean nation, though divided at
present, would lead a happy life in a reunified country before long.
Thus
he died after completing his work in all spheres and leaving a
lingering influence in the hearts of the Korean people and of the
revolutionary people the world over. No other leader in the world has
ever completed all his work prior to his death. Comrade Kim Il Sung
died of heart disease. He had suffered from heart disease for several
years, but we kept the 3state of his health from the people, lest they
should worry about him. This year, he was suffering from eye trouble,
so he readthe manuscript of his New Year Address with difficulty. He
underwent an eye operation. Even a young man must rest for at least a
month after such an operation. However, a few days
after
the operation, he met Son Won Thae, and had a photograph taken with
the participants in the Fifth Congress of the Children’s Union of
Korea. Subsequently he met Carter and other foreign dignitaries on
their visit to our country. He was working to a tight schedule,
formulating the political and economic issues our side would present at
the north-south summit, going over the many documents that were
submitted to him and giving on-the-spot guidance to farms in
OnchonCounty and on the outskirts of Pyongyang. Although he had been
suffering from heart disease for several years, he never stopped
working. Because he worked with such a superhumaneffort even at the
advanced age of 80-plus, his condition went from bad to worse. There
can have been no other leader in the world who worked so dynamically
even in his eighties right upuntil his death, as he did. Since he worked
so hard for the benefit of the people right up until his sudden death,
our people feel even more heartbroken.
He
worked with vigour for the Party and the revolution, the country and
his fellow people until he died in his office. He died at his post. He
is the only leader in the world who completed his work through
energetic activities right up until the last moment of his life. In
view of this, he was thegreatest of great men. He was a great leader, a
great revolutionary and a great man beyond comparison with all other
great men.
His
great traits and great image, characterized by his brilliant ideas and
theories, his unexcelled leadership, his noble virtues, his
outstanding personality, his informal manner and his frugal life, have
moved the world’s people and presented to them the image of the most
outstanding manin history. As the days go by, we feel more keenly that
he was inherently a great man. We must have many books about his
greatness written to inform our contemporaries and posterity about it.
Our
people’s boundless loyalty to and reverence for him has been more
evident since his death. They have, by displaying their noble spiritual
and moral traits to the full, conveyed thefeeling that they will not
forget the gratitude they owe him for providing them with genuine
happiness.
In
bitter grief over his death and with an earnest longing for him, our
people have visited statues of him by day and at night. They have all
mourned him and paid great tribute to his memory with full honour. A
few days after his death, while I was touring Pyongyang, I drove to his
statue onMansu Hill. There I saw numerous citizens, in spite of the
rain, extending their condolences to the deceased in the concourse in
front of the statue, and many others awaiting their turn at the foot of
the steps leading up to the concourse. Among them were five university
students who were waiting their turn to lay a wreath of flowers;
although they were soaked to the skin, they were covering the wreath
with their shirts to keep it from getting wet. I gazed at them for a
while, and shed tears; all I could think was, these are the students of
the new generation.
Today
on my way back from the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Party
Central Committee after the national memorial service on the occasion
of the 100 th day followingComrade Kim Il Sung’s death, I saw some
housewives who had attended the ceremony, requesting to be allowed into
the Kumsusan Assembly Hall. They apparently were doing so out of
their unquenchable desire to see the late leader. Last night when I
went to Mansu Hill during my tour of Pyongyang, I saw endless crowds of
people visiting the leader’s statue, in spite of the rain. I was so
sorry to see them exposed to the cold rain that I called an official
and told him to dissuade the people from doing so. During the mourning
period, our people demonstrated their high moral standards to the
world. I was greatly moved by the noble morality of our people in
holding their deceased leader in such high esteem. Our people are truly
a noble people who are incomparable to any other people in the world
with regard to the ideological, spiritual and moral qualities with
which they support their leader. They are highly laudable. The world
will never know another people as excellent as ours.
Our
people are our blessing. It is because we have these excellent people
that we can defend socialism in confrontation with the allied forces of
imperialism. Even our enemy, not to mention the progressive people of
the world, express admiration at the loyalty and filial devotion
withwhich our people follow their leader. Some businessmen and
specialists from a capitalist country, who had been in our country
during the mourning period, were interviewed by journalists upon their
return home. In the interview, they said that all the Korean people
cherished unqualified
reverence
for the late President Kim Il Sung and wailed with bitterest grief over
his death, and that they had never seen such people anywhere else. CNN
International and NHK broadcast the scenes of the Korean people
expressing their heartfelt regret and indescribable grief over
thePresident’s death. Now, the world is speaking highly of our people’s
spiritual and moral qualities.
6The
enemy, when they see the noble ideological and spiritual qualities of
our people who are unfailingly faithful to the Party and the leader,
are afraid of us because we have such excellent people. In the
documentary film The Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung Is Immortal, the
enemy can see not only images of Korean people in their grief but also
the might of their single-hearted unity. The might of the
single-hearted unity of our people is greater than that of an atomic
bomb. Noenemy, however formidable, and no weaponry, however advanced,
will prevail over such people as ours who are infinitely loyal to the
Party and the leader. Our people are a great people. We should use the
adjective “great” in describing our people. I am very grateful to our
people for expressing their condolences over the passing of the late
leader with such bitter grief.
That
we are blessed with such people is thanks to Comrade Kim Il Sung. He
placed great political trust in us and appointed us to important posts
of the Party and the state. He edified our people and brought them up
to be an excellent people with a proper attitude towards their leader
and Party. Always mindful of his achievements in this, and with a sense
of great pride and honour in having such an excellent people, we
should serve them more faithfully.
We
should conduct education among cadres, Party members and other working
people so that they consummate the revolutionary cause of the great
leader Comrade Kim Il Sung in the belief that he is always with us.
Although his heart has stopped beating, he is with our people as ever.
As the brain of the unity of the leader, the Party and the masses and
as the sun of the nation, he is immortal. Itcan be said that his history
will continue as the country grows prosperous, as he wished in his
lifetime.
We
should hold him in high esteem through the ages and undertake all work
as he did. The founder of our nation was Tangun, and the founder of
socialist Korea was Comrade Kim Il Sung. Without him, we could not
conceive of Korea today, shining over the world, or of the great
dignity, honourand pride of the Korean nation. He is the great father of
the nation; under his leadership the Korean nation has become the
most dignified and happiest nation in the world. Overseas Koreans call
their nation Kim Il Sung’s nation. We should work with greater devotion
to enhance the dignity of the nation that is named after him. Without
this national dignity, we may repeat the history of worshipping big
countries and suffering humiliation. We should ensure that all cadres,
Party members and other working people give fuller play to the
Korean-nation-first spirit, taking pride in having built the most
advantageous people-centred, Korean-style socialism under his
leadership.
We
should add eternal glory to Comrade Kim Il Sung’s great ideology, cause
and undying exploits by displaying a noble moral outlook.
The
moral quality of communists finds concentrated expression in holding
their leader in high regard. Some people are of the opinion that new
Party and state leadership bodies should be formed right away, now that
the President has passed away, but this cannot and need not be done.
In view of the noble moral outlook with which we hold him in high
esteem, we cannot rush such a reorganization. As you can see in the
documentary The Great Life in 1994, Comrade Kim Il Sung vigorously
conducted his last revolutionary activities in 1994, refusing to rest
even for a moment. In view of this, we should make the rest of the year
a mourning period. In olden times, our ancestors mourned a death for a
period of 100 days or a year or three years. We should form the
newleadership after the work has been completed of preserving his body.
It is not appropriate for new Party and state leadership bodies to be
formed and hailed while the people, in their grief, are still lamenting
at his bier.
Since
our political system is based on the single-hearted unity of the
leader, the Party and the masses, it will never waver. The People’s
Army is boundlessly loyal to its Supreme Commander, and the people are
also demonstrating undivided loyalty to their leader. Our people, who
are more solidly rallied behind the Party without the slightest
vacillation since Comrade Kim Il Sung’s death, are persevering to
consummate the revolutionary cause of Juche that he pioneered. In the
mourning
period the solid single-hearted unity of the leader, the Party and the
masses fully demonstrated its solidity; the creation of this unity is
one of the great achievements of Comrade Kim Il Sung. If he had not
built up the driving force of the revolution and constructed socialism
of the Korean style by realizing this unity, we would not have been
able to surmount the current difficulties. Because the People’s Army is
boundlessly loyal to its Supreme Commander, the Partymaintains a
harmonious whole with the masses and the leadership system of the Party
is firm, we need not hurry over forming new leadership bodies.
Instead of concerning ourselves with the formation of a new leadership,
we should think about how to safeguard the revolutionary cause of Juche
pioneered by Comrade Kim Il Sung and carry it forward successfully. We
must follow only the road of revolution that he travelled and
concentrate all our efforts on carrying out his cause.
A
communist should seek satisfaction in waging the revolution regardless
of his post.Comrade Kim Il Sung did not have in mind the posts of
party general secretary and head ofstate after Korea’s liberation when
he was leading the anti- Japanese revolution in his early years at the
head of the Korean revolution. He waged the bloody anti-Japanese
revolution for some 20 years simply to liberate the country and provide
the people with freedom and happiness.
I
have always considered myself to be one of his men. I will carry
forward his revolutionary cause as his loyal man as I did in his
lifetime. Our pledge after his demise cannot differ from the one we
made in his lifetime; we must remain true to our noble moral
obligations as his revolutionary fighters.
As
the days go by, our people are longing for him more eagerly, visiting
his statues to lay wreaths and flowers and to pay tribute to him. I
ensured that the mourning period was prolongedin line with the people’s
wishes, so that they could continue to extend their condolences. In the
mourning period our people have nurtured the conviction that Comrade
Kim Il Sung isalways with them. We must ensure that they hold him in
high esteem forever and remain faithful to his will. If we undertake
the work of holding him in high esteem for eternity, we can exert a
significant influence on establishing a true communist moral outlook in
the international communist movement. Communist morality is pure,
noble and genuine. The core of communist morality isloyalty to the
leader. In the past revisionists such as Khrushchev who appeared in the
international communist movement, seriously undermined communist
morality. Khrushchev, by slandering Stalin, gave the negative
impression to the world that communists were ignorant of their
forerunners in the revolution and fought one another. Lenin, the
founder of the first socialist state, is today slandered by the
renegade socialists, seventy years after his death. Similar phenomena
have been witnessed in other parties in the international communist
movement. As a result, the communists lost the people’s trust and
support, and this ended with the collapse of socialism in several
countries. By holding Comrade Kim Il Sung in high esteem forever, even
more so than we did in his lifetime, we should demonstrate to the world
the outlook on morality with whichcommunists support their leaders. Thus
we can actively contribute to safeguarding and adding glory to the
noblest communist morality and to its worldwide rehabilitation, after
it was marred by the revisionists and renegades of socialism.
Those
who took the floor at today’s national memorial service pledged to
carry forward as ever the revolutionary cause of Juche that was
pioneered by Comrade Kim Il Sung. The armed forces and the people
should struggle vigorously in pursuance of this pledge. We should
safeguard and glorifyhis great revolutionary exploits as we did in his
lifetime and carry out the revolution and construction at all times as
he intended and as he did. By faithfully carrying forward the socialist
cause, the revolutionary cause of Juche that he hewed out, we will
demonstrate the Korean communists’ noble moral outlook. At the same
time as we are setting fine examples for therevolutionary people of the
world in political, ideological, moral and all other fields, we must
produce a lot of literature on the subject. I am currently writing a
treatise, titled, Socialism Is a Science. I intend to publish it in
November or December this year. We must not only defend and develop
socialism of our own style, but also intensify our theoretical
information work so as to offer encouragement to the people who aspire
after socialism.
Edification
through documentary films should be conducted in an effective manner.
Documentaries are an effective means of ideological education. Such
films help Party members and other workingpeople recognize the greatness
of their leader. Recently, several documentaries, including parts one,
two and three of The Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung Is Immortal, and
The Great Lifein 1994 were produced. We should make arrangements for
these films to be shown for educational purposes. When The Great Leader
Comrade Kim Il Sung Is Immortal was produced, the officials concerned
proposed organizing showings of the three parts of the film. I ensured
that the firstpart was shown initially, and that the second and third
parts were shown on the occasion of the memorial service marking the
100 th day after his death. Showing the film in such a wayhas proved
effective in educating Party members and other working people. When the
documentary The Great Life in 1994 was in the production stage, I
ensured that the voice of Comrade Kim Il Sung was inserted in the scene
in which he is speaking at a consultative meeting of senior officials
in the economic sector on July 6, 1994. This is the first documentary
in which his voice appears. I was told that cadres, Party members and
other working people were very moved to hear
his
voice when they watched the film. This shows that documentaries serve
as a powerful means of educating Party members and other working
people. The first and second parts of the documentary President Kim Il
Sung Meets Foreign Heads of State and Prominent Figures have been
produced. The subsequent parts will also be produced. From the day of
Korea’s liberation until his deathComrade Kim Il Sung met over 70 000
foreign figures,including heads of state. No other leader in the world
has ever met so many foreign figures. How good it would have been if
we had produced the documentary in his lifetime so that he could see
it! We should make arrangements for thesedocumentaries to be shown to
cadres, Party members and other working people so that they fully
realize his greatness and hold him in high esteem through the ages.
The documentary President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il Were Always
Together on the Road for the Well-Being of the People contains scenes
of Comrade Kim Il Sung and myself working together. In the film there
is a scene in which Comrade Kim Il Sung sings Nostalgia. It is a song
he used to sing in the days of the anti-Japanese revolutionary
struggle. Once he sang a Chinese song, Song of Su Wu, which he also
used to sing in those days. In his memoirs With the Century he
recollected that song with deep emotion. The song reflects the patriotic
sentiments of the Chinese people. After Korea’s liberation he sought
out the text of the song, and he finally obtained it just a few years
ago. He was so delighted that he sang it. I have a tape recording of
him singing Nostalgia and Song of Su Wu; it issomething to treasure. It
will be good if the scene of him singing Song of Su Wu is inserted in a
documentary. Our people will be greatly moved to see him singing the
song. Although it is a Chinese song, it will be all right to broadcast
the scene because he was a great internationalist.
The
Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble produced the song We Pledge after Comrade
Kim Il Sung’s demise. I had it broadcast on the occasion of the 100 th
day after his death. The text of thesong is clear and simple. The song
sings about the will of our people to remain faithful to the Party’s
cause to the last and make their country ever more prosperous, true to
ComradeKim Il Sung’s last behest. As the song says, we must make our
country more prosperous by remaining faithful to his last will. Only by
making our country more prosperous can we add lustreto our socialism
and hasten national reunification.
In
order to safeguard Comrade Kim Il Sung’s revolutionary cause and
accomplish it, we must strengthen the Party and consolidate the
single-hearted unity of the leader, the Party and the masses.The Party
is the destiny of the country, the nation and the people. The decisive
guarantee of victory in the revolution lies in strengthening the Party
and enhancing its leadership role. We should continue to direct great
efforts to building up the Party organizationally and ideologically and
thus make it invincible.
We
should, first of all, build up the Party ranks and cement its unity
and cohesion centred on the leader by conducting effective
organizational work. We should prevent any alien element from
infiltrating our Party ranks and any negative factor, however
negligible, from undermining its unity and cohesion. Along with
organizational work, Party ideological work should be conducted in a
substantial manner. Education in the Juche idea constitutes the essence
of ideological education
among
Party members and other working people. The Juche idea is the only
ideology guiding our revolution and construction, and it is the
lifeline of the Korean people. If our people are truly to exist, they
must firmly equip themselves with the Juche idea and follow the road
indicated by it. Byconducting education in the Juche idea in a more
effective manner, we can ensure that all Party members and other
working people arm themselves firmly with the idea, accept it as their
unshakable conviction and make positive efforts to apply it in
practice.It is important in strengthening the Party and enhancing its
leadership role to establish the leadership system of the Party. The
development of the Party and the victorious advance of
the
revolution and construction are inconceivable apart from the system in
which the entire Party, all the people and the whole army move as one
under the unified guidance of the Party Central Committee. We should
consolidate the monolithic leadership system of the Party and create in
theentire Party and the whole society a revolutionary habit of
accepting and carrying out the Party’s lines and policies unreservedly.
We
should continue to develop the single-hearted unity of the leader, the
Party and the masses, a weapon with which we will emerge victorious in
the confrontation with the enemy. This unity will make us a match for
any enemy, however formidable, and enable us to surmount any trial and
emerge victorious. We should continue to develop this unity in depth,
so as to rally all the people more firmly around the Party and the
leader and by dint of this unity overcome the trials on the road of
revolution.
We
should channel great efforts into economic work. Although nearly a
year has passed since a new revolutionary economic strategy was adopted
at the 21 st Plenary Meeting of the Sixth Central Committee of the
Party, economic work is not being conducted with the vigour that the
Party demands. The revolutionary economic strategy of the Party is, in
essence, a strategy for developing agriculture and light industry, and
for improving the people’s standard of living. The most conspicuous
shortcoming in the implementation of this strategy is the failure to
grasp the main link in the whole chain, and this is due to efforts
being dispersed and too many construction projects being undertaken.
Comrade Kim Il Sung worried about economic work until the last moment
of his life. We should implement the Party’s economic strategy by any
means and put his lifetime wish into reality. We should, by strictly
adhering to this strategy, carry out the agriculture-first policy,
light-industry-first policy and foreign-trade-first policy and thus
rapidly improve the people’s
standard
of living. The commissions and ministries of the Administration
Council and the departments of the Party Central Committee should
orient their work to carrying outthese tasks and, in particular, focus
their efforts on agriculture and light industry.
The
Administration Council and the State Planning Commission should
reexamine the overall national economic plan and amend it to facilitate
the implementation of the economic strategy. The plan should be mapped
out along the line of concentrating all our efforts on agriculture and
lightindustry in reflection of the main targets and requirements of
the economic strategy, so as to improve the people’s standard of living
radically. Without focusing on agriculture and lightindustry, we can
neither improve the people’s standard of living quickly nor maintain
our existence. In order to support agriculture and light industry, we
should also direct efforts to the vanguard sectors in the national
economy, principally the power industry. Without electricity, we can
neither produce fertilizer nor farm well nor run our light-industry
factories at full capacity. And, based on a feasibility study of the
projects that are now under construction, we should suspend
theinfeasible ones and divert the equipment, materials and funds to
agriculture and light industry.
In
order to implement the revolutionary economic strategy of the Party,
the Administration Council should enhance its role. The Administration
Council is the economic headquarters 16that organizes and commands the
overall economic work of the country in a unified manner; it is
answerable to the Party on economic matters. Success in economic work
depends on how the Administration Council works. The Party has
established a system by which the Administration Council assumes
fullresponsibility for economic affairs and performs the central role
in the economic sphere, and has created favourable conditions for it to
do its work so that it can undertake economic work as the economic
headquarters of the country. The Administration Council, fully aware of
the Party’sintention, must apply the system thoroughly and organize and
command the country’s economic work with a high sense of
responsibility. All economic bodies, including the commissionsand
ministries of the Administration Council, should bring any problems
that arise in economic work to the attention of the Administration
Council and solve them under its unified
command.
If a fresh upsurge is to be achieved in economic work, officials must
give full play to the revolutionary spirit of self- reliance and
fortitude. It is true that there are some difficultiesin economic work,
but they can be surmounted if officials work hard in the revolutionary
spirit of self-reliance and fortitude. One thing Comrade Kim Il Sung
used to emphasize in his lifetime was the revolutionary spirit of
self-reliance and fortitude. I ensured that, during the mourning
period, officials inspected the cooperative farms on the Yonbaek Plain,
the Jonchon County Commercial Management Agency and Maengsan County
as a way of encouraging them to implement the Party’s revolutionary
economic strategy thoroughly and perform the work of their own units
well bydisplaying the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and
fortitude. The Jonchon County Commercial Management Agency and Maengsan
County are model units; they have been working well, in the spirit of
self-reliance and fortitude. The provinces should strive to emulate the
example ofMaengsan County, and in the commercial field the Jong Chun
Sil movement, which aims at following the example of the Jonchon County
Commercial Management Agency, should beconducted more vigorously. In
view of the great importance of officials displaying the revolutionary
spirit of self-reliance and fortitude, I emphasized it at today’s
meeting of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee. Leading
economic officials in every sector and at every unit should,based on a
clear understanding of the Party’s intention, fulfil the economic
tasks assigned to them by displaying the revolutionary spirit of
self-reliance and fortitude.
We
should strengthen the People’s Army and create a climate in which
prominence is given to military affairs throughout society. We are
waging a revolution in direct confrontation with theUS imperialists, the
chieftain of the world’s reactionaries, and have yet to accomplish
national reunification. The road of our revolution is beset with many
trials and obstacles, and the USimperialists and reactionaries are
intensifying their moves of aggression and war against our country. In
these circumstances, if we are to overcome all the trials and hardships
facing us andsafeguard and advance the socialist cause, we must
resolutely strengthen the army as well as the Party. Without
strengthening the army, we cannot defend the gains of the revolution,
step upsocialist construction or accomplish the reunification of the
country. What is important in strengthening the army at present is to
make it boundlessly loyal to the cause of the Party. OurPeople’s Army is
the army of the Party. The People’s Army as the army of the Party must
hold high the red flag, the flag of the Workers’ Party of Korea. That
it fights bravely and in defiance of death for the cause of the Party
constitutes the essential feature and is the source of the
invincibility of the People’s Army. The army must remain loyal to the
cause of the Party, whatever the adversity, and establish the
revolutionary trait of sharing destiny with the Party. For the sake of
victory in the revolutionary struggle, the Party and the army should
form an integral whole. Both areinseparably linked to each other; a
party that fails to command the army cannot display its might, and an
army that does not enjoy the party’s leadership cannot be a strong
combat force.An army that is separated from the leadership of a party
cannot win a revolutionary war. The military command system can bring
the army into action but it cannot mobilize the civilianmasses. It is
the party that mobilizes broad sections of the masses. Only when the
party and the army form an integral whole can the entire party, all the
people and the whole army move as one. The revolutionary party, when
the army defends it by force of arms, remains invincible; and the
revolutionary army, when the revolutionary party guides it and enlists
the masses, can display its formidable might. If the party and the
army pool their strength they can defeat any enemy and emerge
victorious in the revolutionary struggle. In this sense, it can be said
that in our country today the Party is the army and the army is the
Party. The People’s Army should create a revolutionary climate within
itself, based on the climate within the Party. The People’s Army should
staunchly defend the Party, be loyal to its leadership and defend its
cause by force of arms. We should ensure that relations between the
army and the people are good, since they are a key link in the
preparedness for combat. Unless they are united in one mind and one
will, they cannot defeat the enemy. We must give free rein to the
traditional traits of unity between the army and the people sothat in
times of emergency they will defeat the aggressors and defend the
socialist homeland, united in one mind and one will. We should create a
climate in which prominence is given tomilitary affairs throughout
society. By doing so, we can ensure that all the people love and
support the army and make the country a “porcupine” by placing all the
people under arms andfortifying the whole country. Combat sports should
be developed. As our country is indirect confrontation with the enemy,
we must develop such sports as shooting and boxing.
Achieving
national reunification is of great importance in accomplishing Comrade
Kim Il Sung’s cause and implementing his last will. He, more than
anyone else, grieved over the nation’sdivision, and he directed
unremitting efforts to the cause of national reunification. He wished
for reunification with such fervour, but he died before its
realization. One of his last wishes was national reunification; he
wanted to see the whole nation enjoying a harmonious life in a
reunified country. We should achieve, at any cost, the historic cause
of national reunificationfor which he wished so fervently, and thus
fulfil his desire. We must continue the struggle to bring back the
unconverted long-term prisoners from south Korea. Because of the
country’s division, many people are undergoing hardship in the south.
The unconverted long-term prisoners in the south are waging an active
struggle to return to the north. We should, come what may, bring back
the many unconverted long-term prisoners from the south.
In
order to safeguard and consummate the revolutionary cause of Comrade
Kim Il Sung, we should hold fast to the principle of independence.
Political independence is a major hallmark of a sovereign state, and
adhering to the principle of independence is the main guarantee for
winning victoryin the revolution. It is because we have firmly adhered
to our independence that we have been able to defend socialism without
the slightest vacillation under the difficult and complex situation
created by the continuing vicious moves by the imperialists and
reactionaries. Lack of independence leads a country to ruin. The Eastern
European socialist countries imploded because, lacking political
independence, they acted according to the dictates of big countries.
Just as we did in the past, so in the future, too, we should strictly
adhere to independence in all spheres ofParty and state activities. We
must hold fast to the independent foreign policy of our Party.
In
the whole course of leading the revolution and construction, Comrade
Kim Il Sung always followed an independent foreign policy. In the past,
big-power chauvinists tried to pressure our country into joining the
Warsaw Pact and the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
(CMEA).Comrade Kim Il Sung, however, did not bow to the pressure, and
instead adhered to independence. Our country was absolutely right to
have refused to join the Warsaw Pact and the CMEA. If we had joined
these organizations, there is no knowing what disaster might have
befallen us.
Comrade
Kim Il Sung was, indeed, a remarkably far-sighted leader of the
revolution andconstruction. We should, in the future, too, adhere to an
independent and principled foreign policy, true to his will, and thus
defend our national dignity and consolidate international solidarity
with our revolution. Long ago, the Party proclaimed the slogans “Let us
live our own way!” and “Let us give fuller play to the Korean-nation-
first spirit!” No other slogans could be more readily acceptedby us. We
should, by holding higher the banner of the Juche idea, adhere to the
principle of independence, and at all times live our own way.
No comments:
Post a Comment