On the morning of Saturday 17th of December 2011 Chairman KIM JONG IL passed away suddenly on a train on his way to give on the spot guidance to the key economic sectors of the DPRK with a view to improving living standards . A few days before he had visited the Kwangbok Supermarket in south Pyongyang . The train that comrade KIM JONG IL passed away on in 2011 can be seen in Kumsusan Palace of the Sun and is kept in its original state with comrade KIM JONG IL’s papers ,glasses and computer on the desk , just as they were before he passed away .I remembering visiting the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun and my guide said with emotion that it was as if comrade KIM JONG IL had just gone to take a rest .
It is not easy to summarise the achievements of a leader who led his country for more than five decades beginning from when he first started work at the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea in 1964 . This presentation will focus very appropriately on comrade KIM JONG IL’s work as a people’s leader . Indeed comrade KIM JONG IL early on in his revolutionary activities was referred to by the people as the ‘dear leader ‘ because of his concern for the people.
Comrade KIM JONG IL was a leader who worked tirelessly for the people right to the very end .
From an early age , comrade KIM JONG IL was distinguished by modesty and humility .He was born in a simple log cabin on snow swept Mt Paektu in 1942 the son of guerillas and lived a humble life dressed in clothes made from old uniforms .
As a student comrade KIM JONG IL participated in the rebuilding of Pyongyang including the construction of a new road. Once an old woman came to the construction site hoping to find him but he declined to make himself known to her .He also worked at Lathe No 26 of the Pyongyang Textile Machinery Factory .Very few leaders if any at all in today’s world have ever worked at a factory .
Comrade KIM JONG IL was often dressed in the same simple clothes as Korean working people . He wore the same parka for many years . Respected Marshal KIM JONG UN wrote that ‘ The only parka he wore from the days of the “Arduous March” to the last days of his life is vivid evidence showing what a thorny path he had to traverse with patriotic devotion to defend his socialist country. One year, looking back on the days of the trying ordeals with deep emotion, he touched on the parka he was wearing. He said that he wore it at the onset of the “Arduous March” after President KIM IL SUNG had passed away, and that he kept wearing it because he could not forget the trials.”
Comrade KIM JONG IL several times declined awards and honours . Also during his own lifetime only 1 statue of him was constructed . It was not until he passed away that statues of comrade KIM JONG IL were constructed.
He was a true people’s leader who once said that flowers should be made to bloom on a rock if it was for the people. Comrade KIM JONG IL put forward the slogan "We Serve the People!" which reflected his profound people-oriented outlook.and also embodied the Juche idea which postulates that the masses are the masters of the revolution and construction and that everything should serve them .He always made sure that the people’s interests were put first . For example when we visited the Monument to Party Foundation on the eastern side of Pyongyang we were told that the comrade KIM JONG IL had personally instructed that that the flats by the monument should be for ordinary working people and not officials .
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Even during the ‘arduous march ‘ period in the DPRK during the late 1990s, when the DPRK faced extreme difficulties and severe challenges due to the imperialists blockade and suffocation tactics comrade KIM JONG IL made sure that soya milk was supplied to children and also as far as I know not a single hospital or school closed during that period . It was during this difficult period that comrade KIM JONG IL visited the far flung Jagang province covering a distance of 2 400 kilometers in extreme weather conditions including blizzards . From 1994 to the end of his life comrade KIM JONG IL covered a distance of 353 576 kilometres.
From his early days to December 2011 comrade KIM JONG IL visited more than 14 290 units across the country, travelling the incredible distance of 669 844 kilometres which is the equivalent of going round the earth 17 times. Comrade KIM JONG IL always went among the people visiting factories ,farms and army units.In 2017 our delegation saw the simple 2 storied farmers house at Migok Co-Operative Farm near Sariwon City which had been visited by Chairman KIM JONG IL in 2006 . It was the simple home of an ordinary farmer rather than a high level official or VIP . Comrade KIM JONG IL gave guidance in all weather ; in the blazing sun or in the depths of winter . He went down mines and other dangerous places .There is the famous picture of comrade KIM JONG IL descending into the Komdok mine in 1975.
Comrade KIM JONG IL also defended the people’s interests by upholding socialism and sticking to the road of Juche and self-reliance . In some countries at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s socialism was frustrated in some countries causing painful losses for the people in those countries . They experienced unemployment ,poverty , ethnic conflicts and mass emigration . In the DPRK after the great leader President KIM IL SUNG passed away in 1994 comrade KIM JONG IL declared “Expect No Change from Me “ . He wrote many works defending socialism ,explaining that the collapse was due to opportunism . He rallied the Korean people to defend socialism and to reject bourgeois liberalism saying as follows “In particular , we must educate the younger generation of the revolution effectively, so that they carry forward the revolution reliably with firm confidence and a strong will to achieve victory in our revolution. It is important to educate the third and fourth generations of the revolution effectively, because they have experienced neither trials nor suffering . We must get them to drink the syrup made from the blueberries of Mt Paektu , not Coca Cola. In other words , we must imbue them thoroughly with the revolutionary ideology of our Party so that they are not swayed in the slightest by the wind of bourgeois liberalisation "
The threat and military pressure of the imperialists were countered by the Army -first (Songun ) leadership which gave priority to the building of strong armed forces . Comrade KIM JONG IL also emphasised self-reliance which was vital to counter the sanctions of the imperialists .He cited the example of Jagang province which he had visited in 1998 pointing out that “ the people of Jagang province are giving full play to the spirit of self-reliance and fortitude , they are strong-willed and never seem to get pessimistic”
Under the leadership of comrade KIM JONG IL, self -reliant industries of the DPRK such as the Vinalon industry , the Juche steel industry and the Juche fertiliser industry were revitalised and built up . Self-reliant socialist construction surged ahead. The springboard for a thriving and prosperous socialist nation was laid. This was a great legacy bequeathed to the Korean people.
Although 14 years have passed since comrade KIM JONG IL passed away , the vitality of his ideas shines even brighter today and his work is carried forward by his successor, dear respected Marshal KIM JONG UN . People's Korea ,which is the legacy of comrade KIM JONG IL , today is prospering despite the extreme sanctions of the imperialists.
We join with the people of the DPRK , with KFA branches and organisations throughout the world and Juche idea study organisations in remembering comrade KIM JONG IL , the great leader of the Korean people and a great people’s leader.
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