When we visited the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea(DPRK ) in April 2017 we visited the Migok Co-operative Farm on the outskirts of Sariwon city on our way back from the Sinchon Museum, we learned that Chairman KIM JONG IL had visited the farm several times .We actually visited the farmers house where he stopped by in 2006 . The house is marked with a red plaque with the date of the visit . It is the house of an ordinary farm worker, not a high official. I can also remember back in the 1990s visiting the Sunan farm and being told that Chairman KIM JONG IL had given guidance to the farm many times.
Chairman KIM JONG IL was a man of many great and varied talents which encompassed so many fields of human activity such as ideology , literature , art , cinema and military .Comrade KIM JONG IL wrote such classics as “ON THE JUCHE IDEA “ and “ On the Art of the Cinema “ . However, recalling his visits to the Migok farm and Sunan farm we will now look in detail at comrade KIM JONG IL ‘s activities for guiding agriculture and socialist rural development . This was an important aspect of comrade KIM JONG IL’s activity right from the early days.
When studying at the august KIM IL SUNG University comrade KIM JONG IL , where he studied political economy ,comrade KIM JONG IL wrote as his graduation thesis the work “The Status and Role of the County in Socialist Construction” which was published on the 18th of March 1964.This work postulated the line of building the county as the base for socialist rural construction, the modernization of the countryside and to assist in improving living standards. It was also a blueprint to finally eliminate the gap between the cities and the countryside . Earlier in 1962 Chairman KIM JONG IL had visited Changsong and Sakju counties to learn about conditions .
Comrade KIM JONG IL visited the famous Chongsan Ri Co-operative farm on many occasions. Chongsan Ri was the place where the famous Chongsan Ri method and Chongsan Ri were born in February 1960 when the great leader President KIM IL SUNG visited the farm .
In 1974 comrade KIM JONG IL launched the 70 Day Speed Battle campaign .Not only did industrial output value increase but agricultural production increased and despite unfavourable weather conditions a bumper harvest was reaped and the target of 7 million tons of grain was hit . The DPRK was able to export large quantities of grain.
During the mid 1990s the DPRK faced a very difficult situation which was known as the “Arduous March “ . Consecutive natural disasters hit agriculture in 1994 ,1995 and 1996 which wiped out large chunks of agricultural production . At the same time the DPRK had to face the blockade and sanctions of the imperialists plus the disappearance of the world socialist market due to the frustration of socialism in the USSR and elsewhere Chairman KIM JONG IL who now had the baton of leadership ensured that measures were taken one by one to alleviate the food shortage issue. In 1997 Chairman KIM JONG IL said that the entire army and all people must be mobilized for effective farming that year by all means, so as to solve the food problem decisively and bring the “Arduous March” to a successful conclusion. The People’s Army, he said, should give active, large-scale support to farming that year, organizing support to the countryside down to the last detail. Land rezoning was carried out on a massive scale so as to eliminate any residual vestiges of feudal landownership, making it impossible to restore capitalism in the DPRK countryside and boosting production by allowing the more widespread use of machinery.
In the 2000s the production of Juche fertiliser was revived and new farms such as the Taedongang Fruit Farm .
There can be no doubt that comrade KIM JONG IL laid the springboard for rapid socialist rural development . We remember comrade KIM JONG IL, a great pioneer of people-orientated socialist rural development on the day of his birth, February 16th .
Dr Dermot Hudson
Chairman Korean Friendship Association of UK
Chairman British Group For The Study of the Juche Idea
Hon General Secretary Global Farmy Study for KIM JONG UN’s People First Policies
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