Life and revolutionary Activities of the great leader comrade KIM JONG -speech delivered by Alexander Meads to meeting of the JISGE January 30th

Comrade Kim Jong Il was born in a secret camp at Mt. Paektu on February 16th 1942. His birth coincided with a historical period, when a new advance was being made in the development of the Korean and world revolution. His mother, Kim Jong Suk, was a communist revolutionary fighter who had devoted her whole life to the struggle for the restoration of the country. His parents, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Suk, raised him to be an excellent revolutionary and a staunch patriot.

Comrade Kim Jong Il was an extraordinarily clever scholar and possessed the power of keen observation, accompanied by the power of clear analysis. During his time in school education, Kim Jong Il participated and encouraged the other students to respect Kim Il Sung and study his works in detail. Comrade Kim Jong Il set forth the slogan “Let us learn for Korea!” and he strove to establish ‘Juche’ among students and young people. While he was still in education, Comrade Kim Jong Il took part in the building of 20,000 family dwellings in Pyongyang and in the work of the Taedong River bank protection. He involved himself in the construction of the Pyongyang School Children’s Palace and motivated his fellow students with skilful organisation and enthusiasm.

On September 1^st 1960, Comrade Kim Jong Il was admitted to Kim Il Sung University and during that day he pledged to serve and make Socialist Korea a great country for all the people. The great leader comrade Kim Jong Il led the Korean revolution for a period of more than five decades. This began with his guidance to the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su no 105 tank division of the Korean People's Army in August 1960 and he joined the Workers’ Party of Korea on July 22nd 1961. Kim Jong Il laboured tirelessly to establish the building up of the Workers Party of Korea and he began work at the Central Committee of the WPK on June 19th 1964. At this time, Kim Jong Il launched a decisive struggle against anti-party revisionist elements. Also at this time the US imperialists had been making the situation on the Korean peninsula extremely tense. They caused this to occur by provoking the Panmunjom shooting incident in April 1967 and ordering an intrusion into the DPRK’s territorial waters by the armed spy ship USS Pueblo, in January 1968. In 1969, there were more provocative acts by the US, which included the spy plane, EC-121, entering DPRK territorial air space. This situation caused the Korean peninsula to be on the brink of war.

Comrade Kim Jong Il, immediately ordered that Korea's revolutionary armed forces were to be strengthened and ensured that the KPA became a strong and powerful army, capable of destroying any imperialist aggressor. This decisive action reaffirms that the Songun Politics of Kim Jong Il has guaranteed the peace and security of the Korean peninsula and the world, even to this day.

In 1974, Kim Jong Il was appointed the Successor to the Revolutionary Juche Cause of Kim Il Sung. He announced the programme of modelling the whole of society on the Juche idea and organised the struggle to develop the Juche idea to a new and higher stage. Throughout the 1980s, Kim Jong Il carried out on the spot guidance and published his famous work titled, “On the Juche Idea”.

Under Kim Jong Ils direction the famous West Sea Barrage was completed in 1982 and Kim Jong Il worked tirelessly to promote the Juche Idea in all aspects of the people’s lives.

Between the late 1980s and the early 1990s serious events took place in several socialist countries, which lead to a collapse of Socialism and a revival of Capitalism in these countries. To deal with this the situation, Comrade Kim Jong Il, published a number of works and thesis’s on how socialism should be defended. After the passing of the President Kim Il sung in 1994, Kim Jong Il, continued to consolidate the gains of Korean style socialism. For his services to the cause of Juche, Kim Jong Il was elected the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea on October 9th 1997. This was decided by the entire membership of the WPK and of the Korean people. Throughout the period of the Arduous March, in which Korea suffered a number of natural disasters and numerous US sanctions, Kim Jong Il made sure that food was distributed to all the people. He also continued to promote Songun politics as an effective way of dealing with the vicious threats of US imperialism. Under Kim Jong Ils wise leadership, Korea advanced into the 21^st century as a nuclear power capable of launching satellites.

Kim Jong Il also devoted his efforts to Korea's independent and peaceful reunification. Under Kim Jong Il’s guidance, Korean reunification became a real possibility with the signing of the north-south June 2000 agreement. It was Kim Jong Il's principle that Korea should be reunified by the Korean people themselves and not by outside forces using the slogan "By-Our-Nation-Itself".

Kim Jong Il passed away at the age of 69 in 2011 and to the very last moment of Kim Jong Il's life, he was always active in the building of people centred socialism.

The passing away of Kim Jong Il was absolutely devastating for the Korean nation and indeed for progressive mankind. Kim Jong Il was a truly great leader. He will always be sadly missed, while held in the greatest respect for his immortal exploits. So now let us Juche idea and Songun idea followers, join hands with the Korean people in remembering the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il on the 74^th anniversary of his birth.