Speech made to 'Friends of Korea ' meeting February 11th 2012

I was deeply shocked by the news of the passing away of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il , general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army. It was literally a bolt from the blue which no one expected , even the enemies of the DPRK admitted they did not expect it and were unaware of it until the DPRK announced it to the world. On the morning of December 19th I received a cellphone text message from a good friend which said " Very sad news. Condolences to All". I was puzzled , who could have died ?I thought . I found a radio on and switched it to Radio 4 suddenly I heard them say "death of Kim Jong Il " , what this is impossible ! , this can't be true ? I remembered that only recently the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il gave guidance to the new Kwangbok supermarket. It seemed impossible that he could die. I struggled to switch my computer on(it is quite antiquated or so I am told by the younger generation) , finally it came on and I went on to the KCNA website. There was the official announcement with a portrait of a smiling great leader comrade Kim Jong Il. Juche idea and Songun idea followers had been preparing earnestly to mark the 20th anniversary of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il's accession to the position of supreme commander of the KPA.(and also the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung in April 2012 and the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People's Army also in April) Why had he passed away so near the anniversary ?

I recalled my visit to the DPRK in April 2002 when I attended a rally at the People's Palace of Culture to mark the 90th anniversary of the birth of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung. I was with a Korean lady who was my guide for the visit. We were waiting for the meeting to start. Suddenly , a striking figure in light green strode on the stage at a very brisk pace . He looked strong , with a straight back . He not only walked briskly but with purpose ,determination and control. "leader Kim Jong il " shouted my guide sounding much younger than she was . The great leader comrade Kim Jong Il was 60 years old at the time but looked like he was in his 40s. Those present burst into spontaneous and rapturous applause which lasted for over five minutes . I had never witnessed anything like it before in my life.
The people of the DPRK and many people in south Korea had a deep love and reverence for the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il , indeed this goes beyond the boundaries of Korea , it is shared by all Juche idea followers and friends of Korea throughout the world. These feelings are due to the qualities of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il as a leader, as a theorist , as a teacher and as a man .
The great leader comrade Kim Jong Il was a modest man . He declined to have a statue of himself
built.
Comrade Kim Jong Il was born the son of guerrillas on snow-swept Mt Paektu in a humble log cabin .At an early age he distinguished himself as a student and thinker . He pledged to glorify Korea on Mt Ryongnam during his university days. Indeed he has glorified Korea . He built Korea up as a mighty socialist military power which terrified the US and other imperialists . Juche Korea now has its own independent nuclear deterrent and has long range missiles which can strike the US mainland . The Korean People's Army is united steel-strong on the basis of Songun , its soldiers are a match for a hundred Yankee soldiers as taught by the great leader President Kim Il Sung The KPA struck back hard at the south Korean puppets when they foolishly provoked the Yongphyong incident in November 2010. I am convinced that if the US and south Korean puppets provoked a war the KPA could not only honourably defend the DPRK but could also liberate south Korea and reunify the country. The overseas Korean writer M C Kim wrote about this his best selling book "Kim Jong Il Day of Having Korea Reunified". The strength of the KPA was down to the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il's Songun revolutionary leadership that began on the 25th of August 1960 at the Guard Ryu Kyong Su no 105 tank division of the Korean People's Army
The great leader comrade Kim Jong Il was a humble follower of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung , he ensured that his ideology , the Juche idea , prevailed throughout the WPK and the whole society . When modern revisionism raised its ugly head in the early 60s comrade Kim Jong Il wrote voluminous works exposing it Later he systematised and enriched the Juche idea , the guiding idea for human liberation , particularly in his work "ON THE JUCHE IDEA ". The Juche idea gripped the minds of the world's people aspiring for independence. Later Juche came to be both supplemented and enhanced by the Songun idea and Songun politics which the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il elaborated.
When socialism was frustrated in many countries and the international communist movement was at a loss as to which forward the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il wrote works such as " Abuses of Socialism is Intolerable" "Socialism Is A Science " and " Giving Priority to Ideological Work Is Essential for Accomplishing Socialism ". which showed the way forward for socialism . Also the work " He declared 'Expect No change from me' confounded the expectations of the imperialists
that the DPRK would in some way changes its policies, that it would 'open up ' or 'reform'. Later he authored On Preserving the Juche and National Character in the Revolution and Construction " which was a brilliant manifesto against imperialist globalisation and cosmopolitanism . Leader comrade Kim Jong Il built up Juche-orientated socialism a true model of socialism , a real alternative to the madness of capitalism , a country which shows that a different world is possible.
Let us just reflect on one or two things . The imperialists and their paid propagandists even now during this moment of grief and mourning find fault with the DPRK and its socialist system . However it is not the DPRK that has a crazy system , it is the capitalist world where billions is spent on advertising useless products , where billions are spent on propping up banks, where 70,000 children are homeless at Christmas but a million homes are empty and where drugs are taken openly on the streets is seen as normal.
The great leader comrade Kim Jong Il strove so hard to build a better world for both the Korean people and by creating an example of authentic living socialism a better world for all people of the world . He believed in making a flower bloom on a rock if it was for the good of the people's living standards. He passed away while not at rest but whilst on a trip to give guidance to the economy and people's living standards. Many people in his position would have retired and seeked an easy life but not the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il he kept going , working every day for the people. He was a true people's leader. We remember the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il for this.
Today the people of Korea are following the course charted by the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il under the leadership of dear respected general Kim Jong Un.