Ten years ago, on December 17, 2011, the highest representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, marshal (in memoriam generalissimo) Kim Jong Il, passed away at the age of 69.
The report on his death was published two days later and, unfortunately, in the Czech (or Slovak) ambient it was overshadowed by a noisy campaign regarding the death of the last president of Czechoslovakia and after the subsequent break-up the first president of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel.
Comparing Comrade Kim Jong Il to citizen Václav Havel may seem disrespectful, but it is perhaps no better example to present the difference between popular and anti-people politicians, between the revolutionary leader of socialist independence and the counter-revolutionary puppet of the imperialists.
The then Union of Young Communists of Czechoslovakia published on the cover of its magazine and on its website photographs of both politicians and a demonstration of their legacy - in the case of Kim Jong Il the flourishing homeland of the ruling working people, in the case of Václav Havel the ruins of devastated and broken national enterprises and agricultural cooperatives and the beggars and homeless.
Proponents of capitalism and other reactionary individualists ridiculed the real, sincere grief of the DPRK people, manifested in the days of parting with its top official. At the same time, crocodile tears shed on former President Havel, who certainly did not have mass support at the time and, on the contrary, faced growing problems after the restoration of capitalism with increasingly sharp criticism in the bourgeois camp as well.
Yes, Czechs and Slovaks and citizens of capitalist states in general could hardly understand the sincere grief of all Korean people (in the northern liberated part of the country, but also among progressive Koreans in the south and abroad) over the demise of their leader, because the bereavement of such a universally respected and important political leader almost no one remembered. However, witnesses noted how people in our towns and villages cried sincerely in March 1953 after the death of J. V. Stalin and Klement Gottwald.
In short, Comrade Kim Jong Il was at the forefront of building and defending socialism in the northern half of Korea in the most difficult period since the collapse of the world socialist system, in the extremely difficult times following the death of President Kim Il Sung and the sharpening of imperialist sanctions and threats, and severe natural disasters, when the country had to go through a period of arduous march at the cost of great sacrifices. It struggled with a severe shortage of food or electricity, which it does not deny, but defended its independence and did not become a vassal of the imperialists and great power chauvinists. In addition, it was in this era that it became the nuclear power, the most powerfully armed country that no enemy dares to attack. The experience of other countries facing imperialist aggression has clearly shown that this was the only right solution.
Comrade Kim Jong Il came from a revolutionary and patriotic family and was born during the height of the Korean guerrillas' armed struggle against the Japanese occupiers. Not only were both of his parents among the leading organizers of the guerrilla, national liberation, and communist movements, but his other ancestors were fearless revolutionaries. It is therefore not surprising that from an early age he studied the theory of scientific socialism and the practice of the international revolutionary movement and engaged in political work for the great cause of the communist future and to save and prosper his nation during his school years massacred by the war of extermination by American aggressors and minions and the south of the country then continues to be brutally held in their hands.
From an early age, he tirelessly studied the work of the classics of Marxism-Leninism and other revolutionary literature. As a result, he was able to defend and develop Korean-style socialism and deal with the revisionism and liberalism that dominated the world communist movement at the time of Kim Jong Il's youth, after the XX. Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and especially in the 60s - 80s. In 1962, for example, he met Albanian students in Pyongyang and supported the principled anti-revisionist stance of the People's Republic of Albania. After the fall of the Soviet bloc, he analyzed together with President Kim Il Sung the causes of the renewal of capitalism, prevented their penetration into the domestic ambient, and devoted considerable efforts to preserving and restoring the international progressive movement. At the same time, he has not lost sight of national reunification efforts and has made significant progress in this area, such as the release of political prisoners from south Korea and their extradition to the north, meetings of divided families or negotiations with the south Korean president. In addition, during its era, the DPRK established diplomatic relations with a number of capitalist states and personally negotiated not only traditional allies but also with representatives of the USA, the European Union and Japan.
Its fundamental contribution to the development of culture, its national form and socialist content cannot be overlooked either. Film and music production from that time not only became a popular classic within the DPRK, but despite hard censorship, it gained popularity in the south and abroad.
He was not a bureaucrat torn from the people. Already as a student he physically worked on the post-war reconstruction of the country, and later his field leadership throughout the country became legendary. He paid special attention especially and justifiably to the People's Army. During his travels throughout the country (and occasionally abroad), he did not spare his health, neglected his rest, and died in full service on the train on December 17, 2011. These guidance are carefully mapped in the mausoleum, Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where his body is preserved in his life form and exposed means of transport from the last years of his life.
If a descendant succeeds in taking over his or her parent's craft anywhere in the world, he or she enjoys the respect and respect of being as good as his or her father or mother. It is therefore an outrageous mockery of opponents of socialism and revisionists when they despise Comrade Kim Jong Il's succession at the head of the Korean Revolution. All the more so because in many countries of the world, including some so-called advanced Western democracies, non-elected monarchs still stand, fueled by huge resources from state budgets, without affecting the well-being of their people and even without having a major influence on their country's policies. On the other hand, Comrade Kim Jong Il was legitimately elected or appointed to all his positions.
Opponents of Korean socialism have many reservations about this succession at the forefront of the revolution, but the fact remains that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has remained independent in politics and economics and continues to be based on social ownership of the means of production and collectivism in base and superstructure. In contrast, in countries where revolutionary traditions and past revolutionary leaders have been dishonored, for example under the pretext of "fighting the cult of personality," and succession has not been ensured, capitalism has been restored with all its pernicious consequences.
Even ten years after his untimely passing away, Comrade Kim Jong Il enjoys genuine and immense respect in people's Korea. One of the proofs of the longevity of his legacy is the fact that his collected writings are currently being published. To date, over 40 volumes have been published, which so far map the work until the end of the 1980s. We can't even imagine anything like that in the case of Václav Havel's "work", not least because he didn't write that much.
While in the case of the 10th anniversary of the demise of Chairman Kim Jong Il we thus remember a truly popular politician, in whose work there was no contradiction between words and deeds, on Václav Havel's current anniversary we see the exact opposite and concentrated expression of the tragedy of defeated socialism destroyed by traitors and internal and external enemies, opportunism and revisionism. Under the leadership of the last president of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the country became an imperialist colony, its national wealth was stolen, hundreds of thousands of people became beggars and homeless, and it was illegally divided regardless of the people's opinion. The ruling Communist Party has become a tool for restoring capitalism. Instead of propagated truth and love, the exact opposite prevailed.
The heroic Democratic People's Republic of Korea will never follow this path. Led by the glorious Worker's Party of Korea, led by respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, it will walk with respect for revolutionary traditions and the consistent application of the revolutionary legacy of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, despite all difficulties, only from victory to victory.
Lukáš Vrobel,
1st Vice-Chairman
of the Paektusan Czech-Korean Friendship Association
and the Czech Group for the Study and Materialization of the Juche Idea
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