A Writing Brush along with a Hammer and a Sickle

 

The emblem of the Workers’ Party of Korea is emblazoned with a writing brush, together with a hammer and a sickle. This is different from those of other communist parties, most of which consist of a hammer and a sickle.

Then, is the WPK different from them only in terms of the emblem? In some sense herein lies a secret to the victories the Party has won one after another through its history of nearly 80 years of rule.

In the DPRK all the people, including intellectuals, to say nothing of workers and peasants, share destiny with the Party. In the closing years of the last century, when socialism collapsed in one Eastern European country after another, a public opinion spread over the world that the socialist system would crumble soon in the DPRK, too. However, the Korean intellectuals declared that there is no border in science, but they have their socialist motherland.

In recent years, too, the DPRK has been experiencing difficulties due to the hostile forces’ extreme sanctions and other moves to stifle it and natural disasters that hit it for several consecutive years. But the Korean intellectuals, filled with confidence, show no sign of pessimism and vacillation. On the contrary, they, resolved to share destiny with the WPK and state and closely rallied around the Party, devoting all their knowledge and talents to the building of a powerful socialist country.

Their ardent love of their country and staunch spirit of defending socialism are unthinkable apart from the emblem of the Party.

When the work of designing the WPK’s emblem was under way, Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), founder of the Party, personally drew a writing brush in a design, saying that the emblem must include a symbol representing the intellectual, in addition to a hammer and a sickle that symbolize the worker and the farmer. His doing so was based on his recognition of the important role played by the intellectuals in the revolution and construction and his conviction that only when the workers and peasants pool their efforts with the intellectuals, can they successfully build a new society. This conviction of his has served as a consistent policy of the WPK.

As the Korean saying goes, “Trust produces loyalty, mistrust betrayal.” The intellectuals of this country accepted the trust of the WPK in them as something more precious than any wealth.

This is why they have breathed the same air with the Party through the whole course of social reforms for the past 78 years, including the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution, Korean war (1950-1953) started with the armed invasion of the US imperialists, postwar reconstruction, socialist revolution and socialist construction.

Among the intellectuals still remembered by the Korean people are Jong Jun Thaek, Kang Yong Chang and many others of propertied class origin. They decided to devote themselves to implementing the WPK’s policies out of their aspiration to truth and justice and sympathy with the WPK’s politics, and made a tangible contribution to developing their country, once a colonial, semi-feudal one, into a developed and powerful socialist country. The eye-opening reality that the DPRK completed its industrialization in only 14 years (1957-1970) is inconceivable apart from the role of its intellectuals.

Now the Korean intellectuals continue to follow the WPK with invariable faith under the leadership Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Party.

Kim Jong Un calls the Korean intellectuals the WPK’s eternal companions and genuine patriots. Saying that he wanted to pluck even a star from the sky for scientists, he ensured that modern houses and cultural resorts including Unha Scientists Street, Wisong Scientists Residential District, Mirae Scientists Street, and Yonphung Scientists Holiday Camp were built for them. He has great expectations from them, an expression of which is the fact that he put forward the idea and line of attaching importance to science and talented people. With a resolve to live up to his trust and expectation, the Korean intellectuals are now achieving one noteworthy success after another in all fields including the economy, national defence and culture.

The WPK will always emerge victorious along with its original emblem which includes a writing brush, together with a hammer and a sickle.