LET US STEP UP SOCIALIST CONSTRUCTION UNDER THE BANNER OF THE JUCHE IDEA
Report at the National Celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
September 9, 1978
Comrades,
Thirty years have passed since the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea proclaimed its birth to the whole world.
In the past 30 years our people, holding their destiny firmly in their own hands under the banner of the Republic, have traveled a revolutionary path that is resplendent with victory and glory.
Today all the people of our country are jubilantly celebrating the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK with feelings of great national pride and the high honor of being victors, under the solemn circumstances in which energetic efforts are being made to carry out the Second Seven-Year Plan, a magnificent program of socialist construction, with success.
On this historic day, I warmly congratulate our heroic people who have worked with complete devotion for the prosperity and development of the Republic and the triumph of the cause of socialism and communism.
On this memorable day, I send warm congratulations and militant greetings to the entire people of south Korea, particularly the revolutionaries, youth and students and the patriotic democrats who, looking up to our Republic as a beacon of hope, are fighting resolutely for their right to live, their democratic freedom, national reunification and for the victory of the revolution.
I also extend warm greetings to our 600,000 fellow countrymen in Japan and to all other overseas Koreans who are struggling courageously in foreign lands for their democratic, national rights and for their socialist homeland with feelings of great national pride as citizens of our Republic.
Many revolutionary fighters and patriots fell in the hard yet worthwhile battle for the country’s independence and for the Republic. I pay the highest tribute to the memory of our immortal revolutionary forerunners and patriotic martyrs who laid down their precious lives in the cause of the country’s freedom and liberation, of the foundation of the Republic and its strengthening and development. The meritorious service rendered by our anti-Japanese revolutionary forerunners and patriotic martyrs will long abide with the name of the Republic in the nation’s history.
Many Party and government delegations and foreign friends have come to our country to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the DPRK. On behalf of the Government of the Republic and the entire Korean people, I extend a hearty welcome to these people who have come to celebrate our people’s national holiday.
Comrades,
The foundation of the DPRK is a great gain of our revolution.
The Korean communists and patriotic people waged a long, hard struggle to overthrow the colonial rule of Japanese imperialism, achieve the country’s independence and establish their own state power. In the crucible of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle, the brilliant traditions of our revolution were established and solid foundations were laid for establishing the people’s government.
After liberation our people set up the people’s government and carried out democratic reforms successfully under the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea and, on the basis of this, founded the DPRK in September 1948.
The foundation of the DPRK was a great, historic event in the development of our revolution and in the life of our people. With the birth of the DPRK our people became the genuine masters of the state and society and a mighty and dignified people whom no one would dare touch. The foundation of the Republic provided our people with a powerful weapon for the revolution and construction and enabled them to stand proudly in the international arena under the banner of an independent and sovereign state. Indeed, the establishment of the DPRK marked the emergence of an independent people and signified the solemn declaration of the birth of Juche Korea.
Over the past three decades, since its foundation, the DPRK has traveled a road of hard struggle and glorious victory and accomplished immortal feats for the sake of the country and the people. The Government of the Republic has led the masses of the people to promote the revolution and construction with vigor and thus established the most advanced socialist system in this land where exploitation and oppression had once prevailed, and turned our once poor and backward country into an independent socialist state with its own solid, independent national economy, brilliant national culture and powerful national defence. The thirty years of the Republic have been years of victory and glory, years of creation and prosperity.
Our Republic has now reached the zenith of its prosperity. The socialist system in our country is becoming consolidated and developed with every passing day and the Republic is steadily gaining in scope and strength in all areas—political, economic, cultural and military. Under the care of the Republic our people are provided in full with true freedom and rights, and enjoy all the material and cultural benefits they desire. Our Republic fully exercises its rights as an independent state in the international arena and has friends and sympathizers throughout the world. Never before in our nation’s 5,000-year history has our country so flourished or demonstrated its grandeur to the whole world.
Our Republic has won the absolute support and confidence of our people through its 30 years of struggle. All the people of Korea have unbounded love for the Republic and give unqualified support to all the lines and policies of the Government of the Republic. Our people are fully convinced, through their actual experience, that only the Republic can bring them a happy life, and they see a happier future in its strengthening and development.
It is a source of infinite honor and pride for all the people of our country to live and conduct the revolution as citizens of the Republic and they are fully confident that they can build a socialist and communist paradise in their homeland under the banner of the Republic. Today our people are fired with the determination to fight with complete devotion for the safeguarding of the Republic and for its prosperity and development.
1. Let Us Thoroughly Embody the Juche Idea in State Activity and Energetically Conduct the Three Revolutions
Comrades,
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the banner of freedom and independence for our people and a powerful weapon for building socialism and communism.
Proceeding from the general task of our revolution, the Government of the Republic has persevered in its efforts to accelerate the building of socialism in the northern half of the Republic, support the revolutionary struggle of the south Korean people and strengthen unity with the peoples of the world.
In the struggle for the reunification and independence of the country and the building of a new society, the Government of the Republic has thoroughly implemented the revolutionary line of independence, self-support and self-reliant defence in all spheres of state activity, with the Juche idea of our Party as its invariable guiding principle.
Political Chajusong is the lifeblood of an independent and sovereign state. A government with Chajusong alone can defend the dignity of the country and the people and push ahead energetically with the revolution and construction.
The Government of the Republic has firmly maintained Chajusong since the first day of its existence.
It has formulated all its lines and policies independently in conformity with the actual situation in our country and carried them out, relying on the strength of our people themselves. We have repudiated dogmatism and the worship of major powers, solved all the problems that arise in the revolution and construction at our own discretion, and accepted approved theories and foreign experience to suit the interests of our revolution.
The Government of the Republic develops friendly and cooperative relations with other countries on the principles of complete equality and mutual respect and deals with all international issues according to its own judgement and conviction. We never dance to the tune of others or allow outsiders to meddle in the internal affairs of our country. The prestige of our country as an independent and sovereign state and the dignity of our people consist precisely in the fact that the Government of the Republic adheres strictly to Chajusong.
In order to consolidate the country’s political independence and ensure complete Chajusong, it is necessary to build an independent national economy.
Economic independence is the material basis of political independence and Chajusong. The building of an independent national economy is essential for consolidating national independence, exercising sovereign rights and providing a prosperous material life for the people.
The Government of the Republic set the line of building an independent national economy, and has adhered to the revolutionary principle of self-reliance. As a result, it has built an admirable independent national economy fed with our own raw materials, run by our own skills and our own cadres and comprehensively developed and equipped with modern technology. Today our economy satisfies all the needs of socialist construction and of the life of the people with its own production and continues to develop at a high rate, unaffected by any economic upheavals in the world.
Self-reliance in national defence is a fundamental principle in building an independent and sovereign state.
Without a self-reliant defence capability it is impossible to defend one’s national independence and safeguard the revolutionary gains and the people’s security. In fact, a state which does not have the power to defend itself cannot be called a fully independent state.
Because we had founded regular revolutionary armed forces in good time and built up the country’s defence capability, we defended with honor the country’s independence and the gains of the revolution in the three-year long Fatherland Liberation War against the American imperialist aggressors.
The Government of the Republic has carried out the Party’s military line, the essence of which is to train the whole army into a cadre army, to modernize it, to arm all the people and to fortify the whole country, and has, in this way, strengthened our People’s Army to make it a revolutionary armed force each member of which is a match for a hundred foes, and converted the whole land into an impregnable fortress. Today we can say with confidence that our defence power is invincible and capable of completely smashing any enemy invasion.
The Government of the Republic has thoroughly implemented the revolutionary line of independence, self-support and self-reliant defence in all areas of the revolution and construction, and thus turned our country into a mighty socialist state that is politically independent, economically self-supporting and self-reliant in national defence.
The great changes and brilliant successes achieved in our country in the 30 years since the foundation of the Republic bear witness to the correctness and vitality of the line of independence, self-support and self-reliant defence.
In future, too, the Government of the Republic will fully apply the Juche idea in all fields of state activity and thus hasten the historic cause of equipping the whole of society with the Juche idea.
Equipping the whole of society with the Juche idea is the ultimate goal of the Government of the Republic. The Government should turn all members of society into communist people of a Juche type and completely transform the whole of society in conformity with the requirements of the Juche idea and thus take the ideological and material fortresses of communism.
The struggle to equip the whole of society with the Juche idea is, in essence, a struggle to guarantee the full Chajusong of the working masses. The full Chajusong of the working masses demands that the legacies of the old society be eliminated from all domains of social life—political, economic, ideological and cultural—and society be reorganized along revolutionary lines in all aspects of its basis and super-structure. Therefore, if a working-class state is to accomplish the historic task of providing complete Chajusong for the working masses, it should transform the old social system and, at the same time, carry out the revolution in the ideological, technical and cultural fields, too.
The ideological, technical and cultural revolutions are posed as a particularly important question in those countries—formerly colonies or semi-colonies—which have won their independence and are building a new society. The countries which were once under imperialist colonial rule are now backward ideologically, technically and culturally, so conducting the three revolutions is very difficult and complex and takes more effort and time in these countries.
After the democratic and socialist revolutions emerge victorious and the socialist system is established, the ideological, technical and cultural revolutions pose themselves as the fundamental revolutionary task facing the working-class state.
With the establishment of the socialist system, the socio-political Chajusong of the working masses is achieved, but the task of completely freeing them from the fetters of old ideas and the restrictions of nature still remains. Therefore, after the establishment of the socialist system, it is necessary to consolidate and develop this system without cease and, at the same time, to step up the work of comprehensively remolding the people and harnessing nature through the vigorous promotion of the three revolutions. This is the way to achieve the complete Chajusong of the working masses in all spheres.
In the first days of building a new society, the Government of the Republic put forward the policy of carrying out the three revolutions— ideological, technical and cultural—and has since been consistent in implementing it.
After the victorious conclusion of the socialist revolution, the Government of the Republic stipulated that the three revolutions should be the main content of the revolution in socialist society and the task of the continuous revolution until communism had been built, and has conducted the ideological, technical and cultural revolutions with vigor ever since. With the three revolutions forging ahead dynamically, our revolution and construction have progressed very rapidly and shining victories and successes have been achieved in all spheres of politics, the economy and culture. Holding aloft the three red banners of the ideological, technical and cultural revolutions, our people are now advancing with vigor in the spirit of Chollima, spurred on by the speed campaign, towards the high peak of socialism and communism.
Of the three revolutions, the ideological revolution is the most important.
The ideological revolution is the work of remolding human beings to form communist revolutionaries of the working people through making them revolutionary and working-class and is political work to enhance their revolutionary enthusiasm and creative initiative.
In leading the revolutionary struggle and construction work the Government of the Republic has always regarded the ideological revolution as the most important revolutionary task and adhered strictly to the principle of keeping it in advance of all other work.
As a result of the successful progress of the ideological revolution, our people’s ideological and moral qualities have undergone a great change.
All the working people have been equipped solidly with our Party’s revolutionary ideology, the Juche idea, and the whole of society is pervaded with this idea. Today all our people are intensely loyal to our Party and the Government of our Republic and, when dictated by the revolution, fight valiantly through fire and water.
We have also scored a great success in remolding the working people after the revolutionary and working-class patterns. All the working people have been closely armed with the progressive thinking of the working class, and work, study and live in a communist way under the slogan, “One for all and all for one”. All our working people have now become revolutionary so that they love work and struggle and make continuous innovations and advance without interruption.
The ideological revolution has further strengthened the political and ideological unity of our people. All the people are united solidly in one mind and one purpose on the basis of the Juche idea, and the whole of society has become a huge revolutionary family living in harmony, all the members of which help and lead each other forward. No force can ever break the political and ideological unity of our people that is based on the Juche idea. The indestructible unity and cohesion of our people is a sure guarantee for the prosperity of the Republic and the final victory of our revolution.
Today our revolution and construction have entered on a new, higher stage of development. We should step up the building of socialism and communism further by intensifying the ideological revolution without cease in compliance with the new requirements of the revolution.
It is an irrevocable requirement of the revolution to keep strengthening the ideological revolution. Unless this revolution is steadily intensified in socialist society, obsolete ideas may be revived in the minds of the people and capitalist thoughts spread by the imperialists may infiltrate from outside. Moreover, with the livelihood of the people improving and as they feel no worries about food, clothing and housing, if the ideological revolution is halted, their revolutionary enthusiasm may cool. Only when the ideological revolution is stepped up without cease can the difficult yet important task of re-educating the people in communism be fulfilled with success and the revolution and construction be advanced without interruption.
The central task of the ideological revolution at present is to equip all the members of society closely with the Juche idea. By intensifying education in the Juche idea further, we should see to it that all the working people equip themselves fully with the Juche revolutionary outlook and fight energetically for the comprehensive victory of the Juche idea.
Because they have their socialist homeland of Juche, our people have become a most dignified and proud people. All the working people should be educated to love their socialist homeland passionately and to fight resolutely for its prosperity.
Our struggle is not yet over and we are still on the revolutionary road. All the people should surmount every obstacle and difficulty with courage, a high degree of revolutionary ardor and a firm belief in their victory, and they should fight on unyieldingly until the final victory of the revolutionary cause.
The technical revolution is an important component of the three revolutions.
The technical revolution is a solemn revolutionary task to promote the people’s material well-being steadily and to free the working people from arduous labor through developing the productive forces.
It is only by conducting the technical revolution that it is possible to build an independent socialist national economy, free the working people from hard labor and provide them with an independent and creative working life.
The Government of the Republic set the technical revolution as a momentous revolutionary task for building a new society and a noble political task for enhancing the Chajusong of the working people, and launched it with vigor in all branches of the national economy.
By carrying out the technical revolution with energy, we eliminated the colonial one-sidedness and technical backwardness of the economy, that were a result of Japanese imperialist occupation, in a short period of time after liberation and, furthermore, accomplished the overall technical reconstruction of the national economy and fulfilled the historic task of socialist industrialization with honor.
Following the accomplishment of socialist industrialization, the Government of the Republic set the three major tasks for the technical revolution, strove to carry them out, and has already achieved great success.
As a result of the successful promotion of the technical revolution, our economy has now been placed firmly on a modern scientific and technological basis and its strength has grown immeasurably.
Today the productive forces in our country have reached a very high level. Last year industrial production was 196 times greater than in 1946, and between 1946 and 1977 the share taken by the engineering industry in the total value of industrial output rose from 5.1 to 33.7 per cent. Domestic production meets 98 per cent of our needs for machinery and equipment, and our country now ranks among the developed nations with regard to the per-capita output of major industrial products.
The working people have been relieved, to a large extent, of arduous labor, and the people’s standard of living has risen markedly. Mechanization, automation and remote control are being widely introduced in the major sectors of industry, particularly the mining and metallurgical industries, and the industrialization and modernization of agriculture have made brisk headway, with the result that the working people are free, in a large measure, from heat-affected labor, harmful labor and other kinds of hard labor. The food industry has been developed, so that the household burden of our women has been greatly eased. Easier labor and the increased output of material wealth have enabled the people to enjoy a more prosperous and cultured life, free from any worry.
The Government of the Republic should continuously and energetically advance the technical revolution, based on the success already achieved. In this way it should develop the productive forces to such an extent as to make it possible to realize communist distribution according to the needs of the individual, and should free the working people completely from the need to do arduous labor.
One important objective of the technical revolution is that, at the same time as promoting its three major tasks unremittingly, the national economy should be made Juche-orientated, modern and scientific.
This is the primary objective of the Second Seven-Year Plan, and constitutes the strategic line that must be consistently followed in the economic construction of socialism. In order to make the national economy Juche-orientated, modern and scientific, it is essential to promote the technical revolution with vigor and thus make the national economy more independent, improve the technical means and place the economy as a whole on a new, scientific basis.
The stress should be laid, above all else, on realizing the Juche-orientation of the national economy.
One important aspect of making the national economy Juche-oriented is to make more effective use of the country’s natural resources and improve the structure of the national economy further. There are rich deposits of a variety of mineral resources in our country. It is necessary to improve geological prospecting work to secure more mineral deposits and to locate all the mineral resources that have not yet been discovered. We should improve the structure of industry by creating new industrial branches and adhere strictly to the principle of developing an industry that is fed with domestic raw materials, and in this way we shall strengthen the independence and Juche character of our industry.
The modernization of the national economy means precisely the modernization of the technical means and the mechanization and automation of production. It is necessary to raise the level of the technical equipment in the national economy and to mechanize and automate all production. To do so, the work of making machines and equipment that are precise, large in size and high-speed should be accelerated and a variety of modern machines and equipment developed and built in larger numbers.
An important task facing us today is to modernize transport. Recently the mining and manufacturing industries have been making rapid progress, but transport is failing to keep pace with them. We should step up the modernization of transport and increase carrying capacities markedly. The electrification of the railways should be completed swiftly, the automation of the railways stepped up, and loading and unloading operations mechanized. Our country is bordered by the sea on three sides and has many rivers, so we should move towards developing water transport on a wide scale by building many large cargo ships and constructing canals extensively. To build many large, modern cargo ships and develop marine transport is of great significance in expanding our foreign trade.
Through the development of science and technology, we should put production and technical processes, methods of production and business activities in all branches of the national economy on a modern, scientific basis. The officials of state and economic organizations, scientists and technicians should improve the scientific research work that is essential for making the national economy more scientific and introduce new advances in science and technology in production to raise the scientific level of our national economy to a higher standard in the near future.
In particular, we should work hard to make farming more scientific and modern. Agricultural production should be made more scientific and intensive by consolidating the success already achieved in the struggle to apply the Theses on the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country and by meeting in full the requirements of the Juche method of farming. At the same time, we should strive to accelerate the reclamation of tideland and obtain more land by the widespread use of modern technical means and scientific methods of operation.
The cultural revolution is one of the three revolutionary tasks devolving on the working-class state.
The cultural revolution is the only way to eliminate the cultural backwardness that remains from the old society, to create a socialist and communist culture and to turn all the members of society into comprehensively-developed communists.
As a result of the successful promotion of the cultural revolution in the past, a socialist national culture has blossomed and our people, who were once far removed from modern civilization, have become genuine masters and enjoyers of socialist culture.
Education has made tremendous progress in our country. With the advance of the revolution and construction, compulsory education has been introduced by stages, and today universal 11-year compulsory education is in force so that all the younger generation receives comprehensive general secondary schooling. In our country now 8.6 million children and students, accounting for over half the population, receive free education at state expense, growing up into communist revolutionaries. Through the successful promotion of adult education, all the working people acquired the general knowledge of the standard of a secondary school leaver and above long ago, and today they are studying hard to master the general knowledge of a senior middle school leaver. Indeed, our country has now become a “country of learning”, a “country of education”, where all the people study.
Great success has also been registered in the training of our own cadres. In our country, which did not have a single institution of higher learning before liberation, 158 colleges and universities have sprung up, a comprehensive cadre-training centre has been established in every region and a huge army of one million intellectuals has been developed to manage state, economic and cultural institutions admirably.
Now the question of our own cadres has been completely solved here, where once we suffered so much from the lack of cadres.
Literature and art have risen to a high level, fully meeting the growing cultural needs of the people and greatly inspiring the working people in their revolutionary struggle.
The cultural revolution, which started with the elimination of illiteracy in our country after liberation, has advanced a long way under the banner of the Republic and has now reached a very high standard where compulsory higher education is the objective. This is one of the most valuable achievements made by our Republic in the building of a new society, and it is a source of great pride for our people.
Currently, the most important task of the cultural revolution is to hasten the work of making the whole of society intellectual. Only when the cultural and technical standards of the entire population are improved radically through this work is it possible to build socialism and communism successfully, to destroy the distinctions in labor for good and to ensure the complete equality of the working people.
In order to make the whole of society intellectual, education should be developed further through the full implementation of the Theses on Socialist Education. The people’s government bodies should implement universal 11-year compulsory education at a high qualitative level and further improve adult and higher education. All the members of the younger generation should thus be brought up as communist revolutionaries of a Juche type, knowledgeable, morally impeccable and physically strong; all the working people should be made to acquire the general knowledge of a senior middle school leaver and master more than one modern technical skill at an early date; and the training of cadres should be improved.
It is an important task of the cultural revolution to establish thoroughly cultured habits in production and living, as well as a socialist way of life. This is indispensable for providing the working people with comfortable working and living conditions and for introducing a revolutionary way of life in the whole of society. The officials of people’s government bodies and all the working people should strive to make the factories, rural communities, towns and villages beautiful and keep them clean and tidy and to raise the quality of goods produced and make them more presentable. The strict observance of the socialist code of living and rules of conduct is required in all spheres of state activity and social life, as is the establishment in the whole of society of a more sound habit of working and living in a revolutionary way.
Success in the cultural revolution calls for the thorough implementation of the line of building a socialist national culture. In all areas of building culture, we should firmly establish Juche, fully embody Party loyalty and the working-class spirit, and strongly reject capitalist and feudalistic elements and the corrupt Western way of life.
In order to promote the ideological, technical and cultural revolutions more energetically, our Party initiated the three-revolution team movement and took active measures to form three-revolution teams with politically and practically qualified Party hard-cores and young intellectuals and dispatch them to different branches of the national economy, such as factories, other enterprises and cooperative farms.
The three-revolution team movement is a contemporary method of guiding the revolution, which incorporates the Chongsanri method. In other words, this movement is a new method of revolutionary guidance that combines politico-ideological guidance with scientific-technological guidance, and encourages superiors to help their subordinates and rouses the masses to step up the ideological, technical and cultural revolutions.
One result of the three-revolution team movement that has been conducted briskly under the guidance of Party organizations is that the struggle for the three revolutions has become ever more organized and dynamic and great success has been achieved in all fields of socialist construction. Actual experience has shown that the three-revolution team movement is a most superior and viable method of revolutionary guidance which increases the fighting efficiency and leadership role of Party organizations, gives full scope to the functions of the state and economic agencies, and motivates the officials and working people to promote the ideological, technical and cultural revolutions vigorously.
We should continue to develop the three-revolution team movement, the advantages and vitality of which have been confirmed in practice.
In order to develop this movement, the members of the three-revolution teams should enhance their role and sense of responsibility. They are the advance guards of the three revolutions and standard-bearers in battle. They should arm themselves closely with the Juche idea, always maintain a noble revolutionary spirit and go among the masses to bring their revolutionary enthusiasm and creative initiative into full play, so that the three revolutions are stepped up still further.
In order to ensure success in the ideological, technical and cultural revolutions, the three-revolution red flag movement should be developed energetically. This movement is a movement of the entire people that aims to give strong impetus to the ideological, technical and cultural revolutions to speed up socialist construction. This movement should be further stepped up in all fields of socialist construction to give a strong spur to the ideological, technical and cultural revolutions and to advance our revolution at a greater speed.
Today, the thorough implementation of the line of the three revolutions is the basic revolutionary task confronting the Government of the Republic in the struggle to build socialism and communism. Holding aloft the red banner of the three revolutions, the Government of the Republic should vigorously promote the ideological, technical and cultural revolutions and hasten the historic cause of the building of socialism and communism.
2. Let Us Smash the “Two Koreas” Plot and Peacefully Reunify the Country
Comrades,
Even now, 30 years after the foundation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, our nation remains divided and the country’s reunification is still the greatest national task facing all the people of Korea.
Reflecting the unanimous will and desire of all the Korean people, the Government of the Republic has made every possible effort to solve the question of national reunification independently by peaceful means, according to democratic principles. But owing to the “two Koreas” plot of the separatists at home and abroad, the question of reunifying our country has run up against serious obstacles and the danger of perpetual national division is increasing all the time.
The American imperialists have set the “two Koreas” policy as the basis of their current strategy towards Korea and are resorting to all manner of plots and intrigue in order to realize it. The Japanese reactionaries, too, following the policy of American imperialism, are obstructing the reunification of our country in many ways. Under the aegis of the American imperialists and Japanese reactionaries, the south Korean puppet clique has overtly made national partition their policy and, raving about “simultaneous UN membership” and “cross recognition”, are making frantic efforts to create “two Koreas”.
The American imperialists are seeking to continue their occupation of south Korea and their rule over it by perpetuating the division of our country and rigging up “two Koreas”, and the Japanese reactionaries are trying to regain their old position as colonial rulers there. The south Korean puppet clique are trying to keep the present state of north-south partition intact in their efforts to secure an easy and comfortable life for themselves and realize their wild design to remain in office permanently.
On no account can we tolerate any plot of the separatists to rig up “two Koreas”; it should be smashed by the united strength of the entire Korean people.
Korea must, by all means, be reunified. The Korean nation is historically one nation and our people are unanimous in their longing for reunification. The forces opposed to Korea’s reunification are the external forces that are keen to invade and dominate Korea and, as for the corresponding internal forces, they are only a handful of quislings who are selling out the country and the people to foreign powers.
The Korean question is fundamentally different in nature from the question of a country that was divided as a consequence of a war it started and lost. Our country was neither a party to a war of aggression nor was it defeated. Ours is a nation which had been oppressed under the colonial yoke of imperialism and won its liberation by fighting the imperialist aggressors. And even if our country is reunified, it will neither attack nor threaten other countries. On the contrary, if Korea remains divided, this will be a constant menace to peace in Asia and throughout the rest of the world. Therefore, Korea must not be divided into “two Koreas”, but must, by all means, be reunified, not only for the vital interests of the Korean nation but also for lasting peace in Asia and the world.
The question of Korean reunification should be solved in a peaceful way through dialogue, as our people demand and the people the world over desire.
The Government of the Republic is making every effort in all sincerity to start dialogue for the peaceful settlement of the reunification question and keeps the door to dialogue open at all times. We are keeping the door open to discussion with the United States and with the south Korean authorities and political parties there, too.
If dialogue about the reunification of Korea is to take place and make a practical contribution to solving the reunification question, both parties to the dialogue should proceed from the right position, that of sincerely desiring reunification. If one side pursues an ulterior objective behind the screen of the talks or tries to use the talks as a means to rig up “two Koreas”, instead of proceeding from the position of seeking a solution to the reunification question through mutual understanding and cooperation, the dialogue will not go well and will be a sheer nonsense. We can by no means hold talks about division; we should hold discussions only for reunification.
A dialogue and collaboration between north and south are an important way of hastening the peaceful reunification of the country.
The north-south dialogue, opened to the satisfaction of all concerned thanks to the sincere efforts of the Government of the Republic, was broken off due to the mean perfidy of the south Korean authorities and remains in abeyance to this day. The south Korean authorities are talking loudly about “dialogue” and “collaboration” between north and south, but, in fact, they are pushing for confrontation and division all the time. They insist that we are seeking reunification under the banner of communism and stir up anti-communist feelings and ignite a war atmosphere in south Korea on the pretext of a fictitious “threat of southward invasion”, shouting for “reunification through prevailing over communism”. If they uphold the banner of “opposing communism” and “prevailing over communism”, how can they hope for dialogue and collaboration with communists? Of late, the south Korean authorities have put forward what they call “a plan for north-south economic cooperation”. But it does not stand to reason that they want to promote “economic cooperation” with communists at the same time as clamoring about “prevailing over communism”. This is nothing but a clumsy trick of the separatists to hide their true colors. If the south Korean authorities sincerely want dialogue and collaboration with us, they should change their policy of national division for a reunification policy and their anti-communist policy for a policy of alliance with communists.
The fundamental guarantee for independent and peaceful reunification lies in great national unity. Since different ideologies and social systems actually exist in the north and the south of our country, peaceful reunification is unthinkable apart from the idea and principle of great national unity. The struggle of our nation for reunification is by no means a struggle between communism and capitalism; it is a struggle between the invading and the invaded and between patriotism and treachery. In other words, our struggle for national reunification is a liberation struggle for national sovereignty and a patriotic struggle for national unity. In order to reunify the country, therefore, the north and the south should refrain from advancing communist and capitalist ideas respectively, and should put forward a common idea—the national idea—and, on the basis of this, achieve the great unity of the whole nation.
We will not impose our socialist system and communist ideology on south Korea. We are ready to promote unity with any political party in south Korea in accordance with the idea of great national unity, without regard to the present institutions in south Korea and the ideologies cherished by its people. Furthermore, should some political party in south Korea want to come and operate in the northern half of the Republic, we will welcome it. The south Korean authorities and political parties, too, should be willing to join hands with different political parties in the north, and should not oppose any political party from the north operating in south Korea. The cause of national reunification can be expedited only when the north and the south, proceeding thus from the idea of great national unity, fully open their societies to one another and realize diverse collaboration in all the political, economic, cultural and military fields.
With a view to achieving the great unity of the whole nation and the peaceful reunification of the country, south Korean society should become democratic.
It is in south Korea today that the most despotic and infamous fascist rule ever seen in history is maintained. Having established the fascist “Yusin system”, the south Korean puppet clique has brought in a number of wicked fascist laws and a huge apparatus of suppression to trample mercilessly upon the fundamental rights of the popular masses and repress brutally the patriotic people and democrats who demand democracy and national reunification. Unless south Korean society is made democratic, its people cannot free themselves from their present plight in which they enjoy no rights and, moreover, national union cannot be achieved, nor can the way to peaceful reunification be sought.
In order to make south Korean society democratic, it is necessary, first of all, to abolish the “Yusin Constitution” and repeal the “anti-communist law”, “national security law” and other fascist laws. The unwarranted penalties inflicted on patriotic people and democrats under the “emergency measures” and the fascist laws should be revoked, and freedom of speech and of the press and the freedom of political parties and public organizations to conduct activities must be ensured. The activities of the Revolutionary Party for Reunification and other underground political parties should be legalized, and the Korean organizations and patriotic people struggling abroad for democracy in south Korean society and for the independent, peaceful reunification of the country should be permitted to return to south Korea as they wish and engage in free political activities.
To guarantee freedom of activity for political parties and public organizations is the most fundamental requirement of democracy. In the northern half of the Republic different political parties and public organizations are now operating freely, enjoying legal rights. In most of the world’s countries today freedom of activity is guaranteed for political parties and public organizations, and even in imperialist nations progressive parties, including Communist Parties, and public organizations have legal status. In south Korea, too, all the political parties and public organizations should naturally be granted the freedom and right to conduct lawful activities.
Even under the difficult circumstances in south Korea, where such harsh fascist suppression persists, people of all social strata and democrats are waging an unyielding struggle against fascism and for democracy to win democratic freedom and rights. The Korean nationals in Japan, the United States and other countries are also taking an active part in the righteous patriotic struggle for democracy in south Korean society and the independent, peaceful reunification of the country from a high sense of their national mission. The south Korean people should fight against the fascist forces of dictatorship with their own united and organized strength by forming a broad united front of all the democratic forces at home and abroad, irrespective of any differences in ideology, religious belief, party affiliation and political view. By doing this they will make south Korean society democratic and hasten the independent, peaceful reunification of the country.
In order to reunify the country independently by peaceful means, the interference of the United States and all other external forces must be rejected out of hand.
To our people, national sovereignty is their life and they will never tolerate interference from any external powers in the solution of the question of national reunification. It is high time that the United States stopped interfering in the internal affairs of our nation and left the Korean question well alone.
The United States should not protect the puppet regime that is strangling democracy and brutally repressing the people in south Korea, nor should it stand in the way of the south Korean people’s struggle for democracy and national reunification. If it fails to renounce its misguided policy of the past and continues to take the south Korean fascists, who are totally isolated at home and abroad, under its wing, the United States will be unable to avoid the strong condemnation of our people and people the world over as an accomplice in the suppression of human rights.
Furthermore, the United States should abandon its aggressive design to create “two Koreas” to continue its colonial rule in south Korea and then gobble up the whole of Korea; it should withdraw all its troops from south Korea as soon as possible in accordance with the UN resolution and its own “commitment”.
If the United States truly wants peace and the peaceful reunification of Korea, it should naturally contact the Government of the DPRK to seek a way of solving the Korean question peacefully. We have already made a proposal to hold negotiations with the United States and are making efforts to this end. The question is whether the United States sincerely wants to hold negotiations with us or not and, should it want to, whether it means to negotiate for a single Korea or for “two Koreas”. If it abandons its wrong stand of dividing our country into “two Koreas” and assumes a correct attitude to bring about the reunification of Korea, we will start talks at any time and settle all the outstanding problems. Then the United States will be able to leave the Korean question alone without damaging its own honor, and this will accord with the interests of both our people and the people of the United States.
The people in the northern half of the Republic and in south Korea will become ever more firmly united on the principle of great national unity and surely smash the “two Koreas” plot of the separatists at home and abroad and accomplish the historic cause of national reunification without fail.
3. Newly-Emerging Powers, Unite And Fight against Imperialism and All Other Forms of Dominationism
Comrades,
Today a fierce struggle is being conducted in the international arena between the forces of independence and those of dominationism, and between the forces of revolution and those of counter-revolution.
Alarmed at the daily expansion of the revolutionary forces in the world, the old and new dominationists are making desperate efforts to maintain their supremacy.
In pursuance of their in variable wild design to bring the whole world under their domination, the American imperialists are stepping up their preparations for war while fooling the people of the world by putting up the specious sign of “peace”. They continue to build up their armaments under the sign of “disarmament”, to conduct nuclear tests under the sign of “restrictions on nuclear weapons” and to make military intervention under the sign of “easing tension”. As their economic crisis deepens and their position gets more untenable, the imperialists intensify their maneuvers for aggression and war.
The imperialists are turning the spearhead of aggression against the newly-emerging countries. The principal method they employ in their aggression against the non-aligned states, the countries of the third world, is to divide and alienate them and destroy them one by one. The imperialists are seeking to pit the non-aligned states, the countries of the third world, against one another and fish in troubled waters by shrewdly taking advantage of border disputes—the aftermath of colonial rule—and a variety of other delicate problems so as to drive wedges between these countries, sow discord and cause disputes and conflicts among them.
The imperialists and dominationists are making vicious attempts to establish their political and economic control over the newly-emerging countries. They are trying to subordinate the newly independent states politically through a variety of devious and wicked methods such as threats, blackmail, appeasement, cheating, subversion and sabotage and are attempting to seize the lever of control over the economies of the developing countries in the name of so-called “aid” and “joint development of backward countries”.
The imperialists and dominationists, intent on extending their sphere of influence, are scrambling feverishly to bring the third world countries under their control. On the plea of “assistance” and “protection” they are vying with each other to poke their noses into the disputes between third world countries, interfering openly in them, and are contending to bring these countries under their thumb.
The current international situation is extremely tense and complicated due to the machinations of the imperialists and dominationists. Owing to their manipulation and intrigue, cases of subversion, sabotage and assassination take place every day, disputes arise in every part of the world, and even such a tragic situation develops as friendly countries fighting, exchanging gunfire. Consequently, the countries of the third world face many difficulties and the non-aligned movement is undergoing ordeals.
The present situation urgently demands that the socialist countries, non-aligned states, third world countries and all the oppressed nations of the world unite firmly and intensify their struggle against imperialism and all other forms of dominationism.
Dominationism is a counter-revolutionary trend that runs against the contemporary move towards Chajusong; it is a common target of the struggle of the revolutionary peoples of the world. It is in the nature of dominationism to override the Chajusong of other countries and oppress and control other nations and peoples.
Dominationism means, in one way, openly colonizing other countries and overtly oppressing and exploiting them and, in another way, dominating and controlling other countries by using various devious methods to put them under the yoke of slavery. Dominationism is practiced by the large, comparatively small, capitalist and other countries. In short, all those countries which seek to control other countries represent the dominationist forces, irrespective of their size and social system, and it is all dominationism to control others overtly or covertly.
All the people of the newly-emerging countries should concentrate the spearhead of their attack on imperialism and dominationism. It is only by waging a resolute struggle against imperialism and dominationism that the peoples of the newly-emerging powers can consolidate their national independence, assure the independent development of their countries and build a new world free from every form of domination and subordination.
In order to fight resolutely against imperialism and the other forms of dominationism, it is imperative to form a broad united front of the newly-emerging countries.
This united front will be a decisive guarantee for the victory of the struggle against imperialism and dominationism. The formation of such a united front acquires still greater importance particularly because the imperialists and other dominationists are now increasing their schemes to divide and estrange the newly independent states and win them over to their side.
The newly-emerging countries should counter the maneuvers of the dominationists to divide, alienate and win them over to their side by adhering to a strategy of unity. The non-aligned countries, the third world countries, should form a broad united front and make a concerted effort to smash these maneuvers of all the dominationists.
To fight against their common enemy, the newly-emerging countries should attach prime importance to unity and subordinate everything else to it, and should closely band together, transcending any differences in social system, political view and religious belief. Differences in the social system, political view and religious belief must in no way be a barrier to the unity of the newly-emerging countries. The common ground shared by the newly-emerging countries is greater than their differences and the force knitting them together is stronger than the force that estranges them from one another.
The non-aligned countries should not be fussy about which countries are progressive and which not, but endeavor to find some common ground and unite with each other. Classifying the non-aligned states into this or that side contradicts the essential character and idea of the non-aligned movement. This will lead, in the long run, to forming new blocs within the movement and splitting it. As for the progressive nature of a country, its criterion is Chajusong, and a nation which maintains its Chajusong is automatically a progressive nation. Since the non-aligned states are all opposed to domination and subordination and aspire after Chajusong, they can unite on the basis of this common feature—their aspiration for Chajusong.
The non-aligned states should base themselves on the principle of unity in settling any differences or disputes that arise between them. However serious they may be, differences and disputes between non-aligned states are the internal affairs of brothers who are advancing shoulder to shoulder towards a common goal; they are not matters to be settled by fighting or by bringing in outside forces. They should be settled through negotiations by the parties concerned, in keeping with their national interests and the interests of the non-aligned movement as a whole, free from any interference from outside. Should non-aligned states antagonize or fight each other, trapped by the intrigues of the dominationists, they will play into the hands of the latter, and this will simply make them the losers.
For the newly-emerging countries to fight in unity against imperialism and all other forms of dominationism, they should maintain their Chajusong.
The non-aligned states, the third world countries, must categorically reject all forms of interference from abroad and not follow other countries blindly or as their henchmen. And the newly-emerging countries should respect each other’s Chajusong and refrain from picking holes or meddling in the affairs of other countries. This will preclude any dominationist forces from gaining a foothold in the non-aligned movement, render whatever nation’s baton impotent and enable the newly-emerging countries to strengthen their unity and wage a determined struggle against dominationism.
A country’s Chajusong must be guaranteed by an independent national economy. Without a powerful independent national economy a nation cannot exercise its sovereign rights, nor can it have its say, nor do as it likes.
If the non-aligned countries, the developing countries, are to build an independent national economy successfully, they should tap their own potentialities to the maximum and, at the same time, strengthen economic and technical cooperation with the other newly-emerging countries. The territories of the third world countries are vast and these countries are rich in natural resources and have acquired a variety of good experience and skills in the course of creating a new life. They should exchange raw materials and technical skills on the principle of fulfilling one another’s needs and, in particular, sincerely help and teach one another by exchanging technical personnel. Then, they will be able, without any need to turn to the imperialists and dominationists for help, to shake off their economic and technical backwardness, to lay the solid foundations of an independent national economy and to build a prosperous independent and sovereign state.
The old international economic order is a product of the colonialist system and the lever used by the imperialists to dominate, control, exploit and plunder other countries. As long as the old international economic order remains intact, the developing countries cannot emerge from destitution nor build an independent national economy successfully. They should strive to abolish the absurd old international economic order that favors only the imperialists and dominationists and to establish a new, fairer international economic order that suits the interests of the peoples of the newly-emerging powers.
The most pressing aspect of the struggle against imperialism and dominationism at the present time is to check and frustrate the imperialists’ moves for aggression and war.
The peoples of the newly-emerging powers should mercilessly expose and denounce the crafty maneuvers of imperialism for aggression and war, and bring pressure to bear on and administer blows to the imperialists in all the places where they have stretched their tentacles of aggression. The peoples of the newly-emerging powers should struggle energetically to put a stop to the imperialists’ arms race, achieve general disarmament and make the imperialists withdraw all their aggressive troops from and dismantle their military bases in foreign territories.
There are still many colonies on the globe, and the imperialists and dominationists are maneuvering craftily to bring the newly independent states once again under their domination and control. The peoples of the newly-emerging countries and all the oppressed peoples should fight still more resolutely to clear all the continents of colonialism, neo-colonialism and all other forms of dominationism completely and for good. Only when Asia, Africa and Latin America are clear from colonialism and all other forms of dominationism will the liberation of the nations be complete and final.
The Government of the DPRK and the Korean people make it an important aspect of their foreign policy to fight against imperialism and dominationism in unity with the peoples of the socialist countries, non-aligned countries, developing countries and all the other newly-emerging countries of the world.
As before, so in the future too, the Government of the Republic will make unabated efforts to strengthen the unity and cohesion of the socialist forces and develop the relations of friendship and cooperation with the peoples of socialist countries.
The Government of the Republic and the Korean people will make every effort to strengthen unity and cooperation with the peoples of the non-aligned states, the peoples of the third world countries, and will always stand shoulder to shoulder with them in the common struggle against imperialism and dominationism and for social progress and national prosperity.
The Korean people actively support the Asian, African and Latin-American peoples in their struggle for freedom and independence and express firm solidarity with all the oppressed peoples of the world in their liberation struggle.
The Government of the DPRK and the Korean people will continue to fight strenuously against imperialism and all other forms of dominationism and for peace, democracy, national independence and the building of a new society, in unity with all the revolutionary peoples of the world who advocate Chajusong.
* * *
Comrades,
The DPRK is the genuine homeland of all the people of Korea. To strengthen and develop the Republic constitutes the true source of welfare for our people and the decisive guarantee for victory in the revolution and construction.
The entire people should make strong efforts to strengthen and develop the Republic. We should increase the might of the Republic in every way by consolidating our revolutionary government and thoroughly embodying the Juche idea in all spheres of state activity.
Today our people are confronted with the heavy yet honorable task of fulfilling the Second Seven-Year Plan. By energetically conducting the ideological, technical and cultural revolutions on all fronts of socialist construction, we should bring about a new upswing in production and construction and thus fulfill the Second Seven-Year Plan ahead of schedule.
The revolutionary cause of our people is just and the future for our Republic is bright. Victory and glory are always in store for our people who are fighting on for a just revolutionary cause under the banner of the Republic.
Holding high the revolutionary banner of the Juche idea and the red banner of the three revolutions, let us all unite closely around the Government of the Republic and advance vigorously for the reunification of the country, for the nationwide victory of the revolution and for the cause of socialism and communism.
Long live the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, our glorious homeland, which celebrates today the 30th anniversary of its foundation!
