On July 27, 1953, the Korean people emerged victorious in the Korean war (1950-1953) by defeating the allied imperialist forces led by the US that had boasted of being the “strongest” in the world, and thus defended the freedom and independence of their country. Their victory thwarted the ambition of the United States for world domination by using the Korean peninsula as a springboard, and safeguarded global peace and security.
For the purpose of commemorating the day for ever, the Monument to the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War was built in July 1993 in Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of victory in the war.
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The monument consists of the gate, the main statue Victory at the end of the central axis opposite the front gate and ten group sculptures standing on both sides from the gate to the main statue. |
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A panoramic view of the monument |
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Gate to the monument |
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The statue Victory whose pedestal is inscribed with the autograph of Kim Jong Un, President of the State Affairs of the DPRK, which reads, Honour to the Great Years |
July 27, 2023 marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the Fatherland Liberation War (1950-1953). The victory is etched in the world history of war.
Legendary Tales of the Victorious War
In 1950 the Korean war, the fiercest war since the Second World War, broke out.
At that time no one ever thought that the DPRK, founded two years before, would defeat the United States, which had been boasting of being the “strongest” in the world with a history of victory in 110 wars since its founding.
As the world media described, the war was a confrontation between rifle and atomic bomb.
But the result of the war turned out to be the opposite. The DPRK, a small country in the East, created a miracle by defeating the multinational forces, which pounced upon a country in the name of the United Nations for the first time in the world.
After switching over to an immediate counteroffensive, the Korean People’s Amy drove the enemy to the end of south Korea within a little over a month.
On the other hand, the United States hurled into the Korean front its forces armed with the latest weapons–one-third of its ground force, one-fifth of its air force, most of its Pacific Fleet–as well as the troops of 15 of its vassal states, south Korean puppet army and even the remnants of the former Japanese army; the military budget during the war totalled USD164 billion. This notwithstanding, it sustained a loss nearly 2.3 times greater than that it had suffered in the four-year war in the Pacific, and signed an armistice agreement.
By defeating the enemy, who were superior in terms of number of troops and technical equipment, by dint of their ideological and spiritual, strategic and tactical superiority, the Korean people defended the freedom and independence of their country and frustrated the US attempt to dominate the world with the Korean peninsula as a springboard, defending global peace and security.
Mark Clark, commander of the US Far East Command who had signed the armistice agreement, said that the north Korean army could win victory thanks to outstanding command of General Kim Il Sung, who had achieved great exploits in the resistance of many years against the Japanese army until the defeat of Japan in the Second World War.
70 Years Later
Seventy years have elapsed since ceasefire was achieved on the Korean peninsula. But the peninsula still remains as one of the hottest spots in the world.
After the armistice agreement was reached, the United States implemented none of the items of the agreement and tenaciously pursued a hostile policy against the DPRK, driving the situation on the peninsula to the brink of war. It deployed nukes in south Korea, imposing undisguised and direct nuclear threat on the DPRK.
Entering the 21st century, it has put the DPRK on the list of targets of its preemptive nuclear strike, and staged nuclear war games every year in the areas near the country by mobilizing large forces including its strategic nuclear assets.
A country without an effective self-defence capability will inevitably be at the mercy of external military threats and, worse still, be unable to safeguard the existence of its own and of its people. This is an immutable law shown by the human history.
Over the past 70 years after the war, the DPRK had to overcome manifold difficulties in developing its economy and improving the living standards of its people because of the long-drawn-out military threat, sanctions and blockade.
The best option for the DPRK for both durable peace and further acceleration of building itself into a powerful socialist country was the line of simultaneously promoting economic construction and building up its nuclear forces.
The line of simultaneously promoting the two fronts was put forward at the March 2013 Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.
True to the new strategic line, the defence scientists displayed their indomitable will in developing strategic weapon systems of their own style.
Within a few years the DPRK manufactured innovative versions of ICBM, thus making its military strength irreversible.
In April last ICBM of Hwasongpho-18 type made its appearance, demonstrating the level of development of the country’s strategic forces.
Display of military equipment at military parades held every year in the country is a proof of its military strength which the others could not belittle.
With this, the DPRK could frustrate the machinations of the hostile forces, who were trying to drag it to their arms race by aggravating the situation on the Korean peninsula, and speed up its economic construction.
This can be testified by the demonstration of the potential of its self-supporting economy, like setting up structures that reflect its people’s dreams and ideals and opening a new era of rural rejuvenation amidst severe difficulties like harsh sanctions, global healthcare crisis and successive natural disasters.
In the present world, where confrontation of strength is the order of the day, the country’s sovereignty and dignity and genuine peace can be assured only by an overwhelming defence capability–this is the creed of Kim Jong Un, President of the State Affairs of the DPRK.
In April last year in the speech at the military parade held in celebration of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army, Kim Jong Un said: We should continuously grow stronger; there is no satisfaction or accomplishment in cultivating strength for defending ourselves, and, whoever we confront, our military supremacy should be more secure.
The 70-year-long postwar history of the DPRK, in which it defended its sovereignty and dignity and the safety and happiness of its people, further highlights the meaning of the 70th anniversary of victory in the war in the 1950s.
Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), the eternal President of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, created a model of national liberation struggle in colonies by defeating two imperialist powers in his generation.
Creating a Model of Guerrilla Warfare
Korea was under Japan’s military occupation from 1905 to 1945. Having declared an all-out war against Japan, a newly-emerging military power that was hell-bent on overseas expansion, Kim Il Sung advanced the line of armed struggle centred on guerrilla warfare.
There had been recorded many wars, large and small, in the human history, but none, in which guerrillas defeated regular armed forces. This being the case, there had been no theory for national liberation struggle in colonies centred on guerrilla warfare, nor any military commander who had earned fame through guerrilla warfare.
The original military strategic idea of launching an anti-Japanese armed struggle with guerrilla warfare as the major tactic was put forward at a meeting held in Mingyuegou, northeast China, in December 1931. Until then, regular warfare and guerrilla warfare had been known as two forms of armed struggle; the former had been recognized as the main mode and the latter as a temporary and auxiliary mode.
Proceeding from the concrete reality of his country, in which he could expect no state backing nor assistance from regular armed forces, Kim Il Sung defined guerrilla warfare by a standing revolutionary army as the major form of armed struggle, and organized the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, the first revolutionary armed force of the Korean people, on April 25, 1932, declaring a war against Japan to win back his country.
The major guarantee he regarded in achieving victory in the guerrilla warfare was a skilful application of guerrilla tactics.
In order to annihilate the Korean guerrillas, the Japanese imperialists enlisted huge armed forces, and employed all the experiences and tactics they had applied and accumulated, like violent attack and tenacious pursuit, combing, deployment at vantage points, and encircling and destroying.
Kim Il Sung, on his part, adroitly employed a variety of tactics and art of command, which could not be found in any military manual nor used in any previous wars, always putting the enemy, who had been boasting about their numerical and technical superiority, on the defensive and dealing fatal blows at them.
At last Korea was liberated on August 15, 1945. Recollecting those days, a policeman of the Longjing Police Station in Yanji County, Jiandao Province of the then Manchukuo, wrote, “At that time we called the guerrillas ‘a drop in the ocean,’ but they were everywhere, be it a mountain or a plain. It was not because they were large in number but because General Kim Il Sung employed such mysterious tactics.”
Creating a Miracle in the History of Modern Wars
The Korean war (1950-1953) was the largest in scale and the fiercest as a modern war fought for the first time after the Second World War.
A miracle was wrought in this war, a miracle noteworthy in the human history of war–the United States, which had never been defeated in its 100-year history of aggression and which had been boasting of being the “strongest” in the world, suffered an ignominious defeat, whereas the DPRK, which had been liberated from Japanese colonial rule five years before and which had its own regular armed forces only two years before, emerged victorious by destroying the allied imperialist forces, who had pounced upon a country as the UN forces for the first time in history.
That a small, newly-independent country could confront the allied imperialist forces led by the United States, a victor in the Second World War, was something that could never be imagined. That was why when the news about the outbreak of the Korean war was reported, many people in the world predicted the “clear end” of the war as they believed the United States’ haughty remarks that the fate of north Korea would “end in 72 hours.”
However, beyond all their expectations, the Korean people defeated them, and their country came to be called heroic Korea.
It was Kim Il Sung who led this heroic Korea. Through brilliant military wisdom, unexcelled pluck and outstanding art of military command, he led all the operations and battles on the overall front.
The war ended in the Korean people’s victory on July 27, 1953. The human history, spanning tthousands of years, has recorded many famous generals who left their names after defeating a strong enemy, but none like Kim Il Sung, who declared in his teens a war against the aggressors, and defeated two imperialist powers in his thirties and then in his early forties.
Many wars are recorded in the history of the world, but none had been so bloody and destructive as the Korean war in the 1950s.
Having occupied south Korea by force of arms, the United States stepped up preparations for a war against north Korea, which was following the road of independence, and at the dawn of June 25, 1950 started the aggressive war to make the whole of Korea its colony.
It hurled into the Korean front its huge forces as well as troops of 15 of its satellite countries, committing during the three-year war barbarities unprecedented in the human history of war.
It dropped an average of 18 bombs per square kilometre on the northern half of Korea, including about 428 000 on Pyongyang, a city 52km wide and with a population of 370 000, which meant more than one bomb per head of its population.
The carpet bombing destroyed all the urban and rural areas, factories, railways, schools, hospitals and cultural establishments in the northern half of Korea, and reduced it to ashes.
US troops killed 1 231 500 innocent people in the region, including women, children and the elderly, by resorting to the most cruel and brutal methods that surpassed by far those employed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
And in gross violation of international law, they committed such a crime against humanity as using weapons of mass destruction like germ and chemical weapons, and threatened that they would use atomic bombs, giving birth to many separated families. When June 25, the day of the start of the war, comes round every year,
the Korean people denounce the brutal atrocities the US committed
during the war and its schemes to ignite another war in their country,
vowing to take revenge on the enemy thousands of times.
1. US troops landing in Inchon
The United States landed its troops in Inchon, Pusan and Mokpho between September and October 1945, thus occupying the region south of the 38 degrees North Latitude in Korea.
2. The US forces in south Korea
3. The south Korean puppet army organized by the United States
4. A US military advisor training the south Korean soldiers
5. The US and south Korean warmongers in discussion for “northward expedition”
6. Plan of war drawn for the invasion of the northern half of Korea
7. Dulles, special envoy of the US president, making a final review of the preparations for a war against the north
8. US officers evacuating their families to Japan just before the start of the war
9. The south Korean soldiers starting an aggressive war against the northern half of Korea on June 25, 1950 under the manipulation of the United States
10. US bombers bombing the northern half of Korea Over 50 900 buildings of factories and enterprises, 28 600 buildings of schools of various levels, 4 500 buildings of hospitals, clinics and other healthcare institutions and 2 077 200 houses were destroyed in the northern half of Korea by the indiscriminate bombing and bombardment by the US army.
11. Pyongyang under indiscriminate bombing
12. Streets in downtown Pyongyang devastated by bombing
13. Part of Wonsan destroyed by bombing
14. A rural village destroyed by bombing
15. The Suphung Power Station under heavy bombing
16. A factory destroyed by bombing
17. Historical remains destroyed by bombing
18. A hospital building destroyed by bombing
19. A church destroyed by bombing
20. A foreign embassy destroyed by bombing
21. Children who lost their parents by bombing
22. A residential area on fire after the US army’s attack with napalm bombs
23. Victims of napalm bombs
24. US soldiers herding POWs to the testing ground of poisonous substances
25. Victims of poisonous substances
26. Germ bombs and shells used by the US army
27. A US army prisoner describing the dropping of germ bombs
28. Scientists of an international investigation commission surveying an area attacked by germ bombs
29. Civilians leaving their home places, frightened by the US threat of atomic strike
30. US soldiers finding fun in killing innocent people
31. A photo and a writing found in the handbook of a US soldier who was dispatched to the Korean front
The writing reads: I can’t sleep without killing people
32. Soldiers of the US 1st Cavalry Division killing innocent civilians en masse
33. Civilians and children killed en masse
34. Bodies of those killed in the air-raid shelter of the Sinchon County Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea
During their occupation of Sinchon County from October 17 to December 7, 1950, the US soldiers killed 35 380 civilians, or a quarter of the county’s population.
35. Bodies of over 800 people killed in a shaft of the Ragyon Mine
36. A girl buried alive with her three-year-old brother on her back
37. Members of the Commission of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers investigating the genocide committed by the US soldiers in Sinchon
38. Report of an international investigation commission on the atrocities by the US army
39. The Korean people denouncing the brutal atrocities the US committed during the war and its schemes to ignite another war in their country, vowing to take revenge on the enemy thousands of times
In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea children are called the kings of the
country.
Regarding the work of raising the rising generation as the most important of all
state affairs, President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il tried their best to
give all the excellent things in the world to the children.
Their affection is carried forward by the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.
When the laughter of children rings aloud, the whole country becomes bright–this
is Kim Jong Un’s view of the younger generation.
Regarding the work of bringing up healthily and stoutly the younger generation,
the future of the country, as the most important undertaking of the country,
Kim Jong Un shows great concern to creating better conditions for the upbringing of the children.
As he bestows warmer affection for the younger generation the more difficult the
times are and fosters the future of the country by dint of that affection, children in the DPRK grow up and learn to their heart’s content, receiving new school uniforms and school things according to season and various nutritious foodstuffs on a regular basis.
As the children are growing up as happily as anyone could be in this world under
the warm care and affection of Kim Jong Un, the future of Korea is brighter and
rosier.
1. Kim Jong Un visiting the Pyongyang Baby Home and Orphanage and
congratulating the orphans on New Year’s Day in January Juche 104 (2015)
2. Kim Jong Un visiting the Kyongsang Kindergarten in July Juche 101 (2012)
3. Kim Jong Un posing with children for a photograph while visiting the People’s
Open-Air Ice Rink in November Juche 101 (2012)
4. Kim Jong Un visiting the nursery at the Pyongyang Condiments Factory in June
Juche 102 (2013)
5. Kim Jong Un visiting the Okryu Children’s Hospital in March Juche 103 (2014)
6. Kim Jong Un visiting the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace in May Juche
103 (2014)
7. Kim Jong Un visiting the Pyongyang Children’s Foodstuff Factory in November
Juche 104 (2015)
8. Kim Jong Un visiting the Mindulle Notebook Factory in April Juche 105 (2016)
9. Kim Jong Un visiting the Pyongyang Bag Factory in January Juche 106 (2017)
10. At a lesson on mother tongue
11. Drawing pictures with new school articles supplied by the state
12. Playing at doctors
13. Time for intelligent games
14. Bringing their artistic talents into full bloom
15. Time for wading
16. Supplied with dairy produce on a regular basis thanks to the childcare
policy of the Workers’ Party of Korea
17. At an orphanage (Orphans grow up happily at baby homes and orphanages
built in various parts of the country)
18. Celebrating June 1, International Children’s Day
19. Playing folk games
20. At the Mangyongdae Amusement Park
21. At the Mirim Riding Club
22. Children who were highly appreciated at the Eighth Asian Children’s
Picture Exhibition in July Juche 111 (2022)
April 15 this year marks the 108th anniversary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung
(1912-1994), the founding father of socialist Korea.
Greeting this day, many people in the world recall the career of the greatest of the
great men in the 20th century.
Kim Il Sung devoted his whole life for the welfare of his country and people; his
on-site-guidance journey, covering a total distance of over 578 000km, can make 14 and a half rounds of the earth; he continued the journey on Sundays, holidays and even on his birth anniversary days.
One Sunday morning, he called an official, and said that he would visit with him some units in the western areas like Kangso, Ryonggang and Onchon. The official suggested taking a rest in the morning and leaving in the afternoon as it was Sunday.
Kim Il Sung insisted on going, saying: I have never been in my house on Sundays; I
would like to study the actual situations in the nearby areas and meet the local people; this is the most satisfactory rest for me on Sunday.
He gave on-site guidance to several units including Chongsan-ri, Kangso District in
the city of Nampho, and Okto-ri in Ryonggang County, all day long.
He often forgot his birthday. On his birthday one year, some officials working close to him visited his house and made a bow wishing him a good health. He wondered what day it was that day. The officials answered that day was his birthday, saying that they wanted him to take a rest at home that day. Realizing that it was his birthday, he thanked them, and said that it was not a special day for him. That day he spent busy time dealing with state affairs as he had done before.
The Sundays and holidays, on which he worked, number over 2 530.
In the world there have been many politicians who held the slogan “For the People,” but none of them has devoted their all for the welfare of their peoples, working even on Sundays, holidays and their birthdays as President Kim Il Sung did.
There cannot be a break in the work for the people and my greatest happiness is in the work for the welfare of the people–this was the view of happiness of President
Kim Il Sung.
Many people in the world think money is everything. But there is something that
cannot be bought or exchanged with money. It is noble ideology and spirit.
President Kim Il Sung (1912-1994) regarded noble ideology and spirit as the most
precious wealth of revolutionaries.
For him, money and material wealth are meaningful only for the people’s welfare. He never linked money or wealth with his life.
Although he devoted his all to the victory of the Korean revolution and the cause of global independence shouldering the heavy burden of state affairs, he refused all the proposals of the officials to raise his salary.
The following story is a good example.
In November 1993, a meeting for accounting and income distribution was held at the Wonhwa Cooperative Farm, Phyongwon County, South Phyongan Province.
The meeting adopted a resolution on presenting 102 485 won to Kim Il Sung who was an honorary member of the farm. It was the sum of the savings of the share of
Kim Il Sung who had worked for the farm since the time of the cooperativization of
socialist agriculture after the Korean war (1950-1953). He had striven to boost the farm since the day when he had sowed seeds together with the farmers during the war. It was an expression of their gratitude for his devoted efforts.
But Kim Il Sung ensured that tractors, trucks and farming machines were purchased
with the money for the farm.
There is the International Friendship Exhibition House in Mt Myohyang, which is
famous for its superb scenic beauty.
Displayed there are numerous precious gifts presented to President Kim Il Sung by
party leaders, personages, organizations and institutes of various countries of the world.
President Kim Il Sung never thought that the gifts were for him alone. He said that all the gifts for him belonged to the country, not to him and so they must be displayed in the exhibition house.
In general, politicians do not make public the gifts they received. Regarding them as an expression of their personalities and dignity, they keep and use them for themselves. It is common that they make them a source of pride in their personalities even when they show them to others.
But President Kim Il Sung turned all the gifts presented to him into the wealth of the country and the people which will be handed down generation after generation.
President Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), eternal leader of the Korean people, was a
peerlessly great man who attracted the world with his ennobling affection for mankind and virtues.
All his life he met over 70 000 foreigners including political and social figures. All
those who met him were attracted to him regardless of their ideologies, political views, nationalities and religious beliefs.
A former justice minister of Austria said: President Kim Il Sung is possessed of warm affection for man and humane feelings that make all follow him; just as beautiful flowers give out fragrance to attract bees and butterflies, so the warm affection for man, humane feelings and humane fragrance of President Kim Il Sung have attracted many people; indeed, he is a boundlessly polite, unceremonious and generous man before being a statesman.
With magnanimity, Kim Il Sung met figures from all social strata around the world,
including US evangelist Billy Graham, German authoress Luise Rinser and so on.
His humane feelings produced many anecdotes: When Emile Tompapa, general
director of a broadcasting station of Guinea, was at the jaw of death during his visit to the DPRK, he ensured that an emergency medical treatment was organized so as to bring him back to life; when Bruno Kreisky, former Austrian prime minister, suffered troubles in his legs, he sent a group of efficient doctors of the DPRK to the country to cure his disease.
There are many people who were brought back to life by his great generosity.
Based on the principle that man is the most precious and powerful being in the world, President Kim Il Sung authored the Juche idea that illumines the way for an independent man to shape his destiny, and indicated the road ahead for the progressive people.
Attracted by his ideology and humane feelings, Takagi Takeo, famous Japanese
journalist, Kanemaru Shin, a former Japanese deputy prime minister, and many other people made a dramatic U-turn in their life.
His ennobling sense of obligation reached beyond national boundaries.
He took care of the family of Zhang Weihua, his Chinese comrade-in-arms, and his
offspring even after dozens of years had passed since Zhang died; when Zhou Enlai, former Chinese prime minister, passed away, he ensured that a bronze statue of Zhou was set up in the DPRK for the first time as the one of a foreigner.
In the days of the anti-Japanese war for the liberation of his motherland, Kim Il Sung led the Korean revolutionaries to defend the Chinese revolution and the Soviet Union at the cost of their blood. During the period of the operations to liberate Northeast China, he saw to it that large quantities of war supplies were sent to China though his country was in a difficult situation as it had been liberated from Japanese colonial rule not long ago.
The Chinese leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai said that the five-star red flag of the People’s Republic of China was associated with the red blood shed by the Korean revolutionaries.
Many people across the world established unique friendship with him, and this
relationship produced many anecdotes about his love for mankind. Among those people were Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam, King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, Che Guevara, Chilean President Salvador Allende, Chairman of the International World Group of Italy Giancarlo Elia Valori, and Novichenko, a former army officer of the USSR. He rendered an outstanding contribution to the independent development of the countries in their building of a new society. When Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Algeria, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia and other countries were experiencing hardships in building a new society, he ensured that efficient experts and technicians were sent to these countries, so as to render sincere assistance to the development of various sectors, ranging from building a party, state and armed forces to developing industry, agriculture, education, public health, sports and so on.
For his ennobling sense of internationalist obligation, he enjoyed high respect and
trust of many political leaders across the world, including Stalin, Mao Zedong, Sukarno, Tito and other famous persons in the 20th century.
The attraction to his personalities and humane feelings pulled down even the barriers of hostile relations.
Former US President Jimmy Carter said that President Kim Il Sung was greater than
the three American presidents, who had represented nation building and destiny of the United States–George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln–put together.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Kanemaru Shin of Japan said that there was no other ennobling person equal to President Kim Il Sung in the world, and that he would dedicate the rest of his life to living up to his expectations. As the former Portuguese President Gomes said, Kim Il Sung was a great man who moved the world by his humanity.
As Christians revere God, Kim Il Sung, the founder of the socialist Korea,
respected the people throughout his life. For him, the people were the almighty beings and the wisest teachers.
From the first days when he embarked on the road of revolution to win back the
country from the Japanese military occupation (1905-1945), he keenly felt the greatness of the people many times.
It happened when he was waging the anti-Japanese armed struggle in a guerrilla base along the Tuman River on the side of Northeast China.
In 1934 the Japanese imperialists threw 5 000 troops, guns and even planes into the attack of the Xiaowangqing guerrilla base. However, the number of the guerrillas defending the base was smaller than one percent of the number of enemy and, moreover, they were scantily armed with rifles and light machine guns. In this critical time the people in the base helped Kim Il Sung to find a way to defend the base. They turned out in a do-or-die struggle against the Japanese troops. Encouraged by their will of resistance, he mobilized all the guerrillas and the people to the battle in defence of the base. The joint resistance struggle of the army and the people brought about a miracle of winning the battle.
As he firmly believed in the great strength of organized people, Kim Il Sung made a
plan for enlisting all the people in the final offensive to destroy Japanese imperialism which was boasting of being the “leader of Asia.” According to the plan, an all-people resistance was to be waged in step with the general offensive by the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army.
Victory in the Korean war (1950-1953) in which the DPRK repulsed aggression by
the imperialist allied forces can be called a miracle he created by mobilizing the strength of the people. The inexhaustible strength of the people single-mindedly united around Kim Il Sung realized the historic task of socialist industrialization in a short period of 14 years and turned the DPRK into a powerful socialist state, independent, self-sufficient and self-reliant in defence.
Kim Il Sung devoted his all to the people.
Kim Il Sung accepted the intentions and requirements of the people as the most
sacred. After the war an old man wrote a letter to him. The letter read in part: From
ancient times Pyongyang has been called Ryugyong in the sense that it is a city of
willows; I don’t understand why they are planting other species of trees than willows in the streets. After reading the letter, Kim Il Sung took measures of planting a large number of willows in the streets of Pyongyang.
Shortly after Korea was liberated, there was only a few steel works that were
operating. But he ordered to blow up a production process of a steel works because it was harmful to the lives and health of the workers.
When he visited the then Pyongyang Silk Mill, the workplace was full of steam as the workers were repairing pipes. Seeing this, he said: We should provide the workers with good working conditions; we will build a new factory for them. Then he convened a conference, saying that it was important to take account of the opinions of the workers, the masters of the factory. At the conference he said: We should not spare money for workers; the construction cost should be calculated after the construction of the factory was completed and everything that was needed for the workers was provided.
In order to resolve the food problem for the people, he did not mind looking round a tideland along a muddy road or visiting out-of-the-way mountainous villages.
He was always among the people and closely examined their voices, breath, eyes,
expressions, speeches and behaviours, so as to catch the sentiments of the times and demands of the people and formulate new policies by reflecting them.
All the state policies in the DPRK including the universal free medical care,
compulsory education system, recuperation and relaxation system and that of providing people with dwelling houses free of charge are fruits of his political ideal of regarding the people as his God.
Vladimir Tolstikov was a famous Russian journalist and a public figure. He did not
forget President Kim Il Sung until he got 90 years of age.
Being Fascinated
Tolstikov came to know about Kim Il Sung in the mid-20th century, when the
Soviet-German war was at its height.
At that time the Soviet publications used to carry articles about victorious battles
waged by the Korean anti-Japanese guerrilla units.
They wrote that the Korean guerrillas had started anti-Japanese armed resistance in the beginning of the 1930s, much earlier than the outbreak of the Soviet–German War, and were playing important role in frustrating the Japanese imperialists’ attempt to invade the Soviet Union by striking them from the rear.
The Commander of the guerrillas was General Kim Il Sung.
Kim Il Sung’s ennobling internationalist ideal of defending the Soviet Union, the
world’s first socialist state, with arms, and the self-sacrificing struggle of the Korean
guerrilla units moved Tolstikov and many other Russians.
A documentary film he saw in the base near Khabarovsk in the summer of 1942 left
an unforgettable impression upon him.
The scene of the ceremony commemorating the formation of the International Allied Forces (of Koreans, Chinese and Soviets), showed Kim Il Sung inspecting the march-past of the IAF together with Apanasenko, Commander of the Soviet Far East Forces and other military officers.
He was really surprised to know that such a famous legendary guerrilla hero of the
East was in his twenties.
What surprised him in particular was Kim Il Sung’s courage in declaring a war against the million-strong Japanese imperialist forces and his strategic initiative of forming an international allied forces.
He could have a better understanding of Kim Il Sung when he worked in Pyongyang from 1952 as the representative of the Press Bureau of the Soviet Union and the correspondent of the Russian newspaper Pravda He was deeply impressed by Kim Il Sung who went as far as the forefront at the risk of his life to encourage the soldiers and people and command the operations of the entire front.
The tactics Kim Il Sung applied during the Korean war including those in the battle
for liberation Taejon, a requisite for the students of the Frunze Military Academy as an example of modern encirclement warfare, and in the Jumunjin naval warfare where the KPA Navy achieved a worldwide military miracle of sinking the US heavy cruiser Baltimore with four torpedo boats, wee not found in the military textbooks of the East and the West.
Tolstikov was struck with admiration for Kim Il Sung who went over the master plan
for the reconstruction of Pyongyang with confidence in victory when the war was still going on.
During the days when he was recording the scenes of the ceasefire agreement of the Korean war being concluded in July 1953, he could take the historical picture of
Kim Il Sung, clad in the white marshal’s uniform, signing the ceasefire document.
True Image
Tolstikov wrote in his memoirs:
I can say that I was also attracted by Kim Il Sung’s clairvoyant wisdom, stratagem and
foresight, in other words, his greatness as a political leader.
Kim Il Sung seen by him as a witness of the 20th century full of events was a person
strong in anti-imperialist independent stand and political faith.
He met Kim Il Sung in early February, 1968, when he was working on the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. At that time the situation on the
Korean peninsula grew so tense following the capture of the US armed spy ship Pueblo by the KPA Navy that a war might break out at any moment.
The United States brought in huge forces including a nuclear aircraft carrier around
the Korean peninsula and demanded that the DPRK apologize and return the Pueblo.
They even threatened to use atomic bombs if the DPRK did not do so.
But Kim Il Sung responded with resolute declaration that his country would retaliate against any “retaliation” and return all-out war for an “all-out war.” The entire planet was shaken.
Driven into a tight corner by Kim Il Sung’s unexcelled pluck and ingenious
politico-military stratagem, the US had to kneel down and send a letter of apology to the DPRK.
And Pueblo became an everlasting “POW” of the DPRK.
The incident of US spy plane EC-121 and the Panmunjom incident that occurred
subsequently were also good examples which showed the international community how Kim Il Sung defended genuine peace and sovereignty.
Through these dramatic incidents Tolstikov saw the true image of Kim Il Sung as a
standard-bearer of the cause of global independence and defender of justice.
Eternal Life Kim Il Sung always warmly welcomed Tolstikov, an ordinary foreign correspondent,
and treated him as his friend for scores of years.
It is no wonder Tolstikov used to recall his special relations with Kim Il Sung with
pride.
He said that Kim Il Sung had protected him from the enemy bombs and shells during the Korean war and led him to become a spokesman of justice and truth.
In his memoirs he wrote that his last work he could do for President Kim Il Sung and the Korean people as well as many Russians who still kept the feelings of friendship and love of them would be to let the next generation know the achievements and personality of Kim Il Sung.
And he added that the bright image of Kim Il Sung would live in his heart and the
hearts of the mankind for ever.
In his letter to the inaugural meeting of the preparatory committee for celebrating the 100th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung held in 2010 in Copenhagen, Denmark, he wrote that Kim Il Sung was an outstanding politician produced in the 20th century and that the world people prayed for his immortality in acknowledgement of his great
exploits for the socialist cause and the cause of global independence.
At the end of December last year the entire world paid close attention to the Fifth
Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea held in Pyongyang.
In spite of the sincere efforts for peace made by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the extreme sanctions on the part of the hostile forces continued and got even worse. What on earth is the DPRK’s option going to be?
At that time in the DPRK the slogan “Let Us Smash Straight through All the Barriers
on the Way of Our Advance!” rang out. This was the expression of the will of the DPRK that it would not sell its dignity, which it has so far defended as valuable as its own life, in hope for brilliant transformation and with any expectation of the US lift of sanctions, that the “theory of all-mighty sanctions” cuts no ice with it, and that it will never derail from the road of building a powerful socialist country.
The firm determination of the DPRK is a frontal blow against the “theory of
all-mighty sanctions” of the hostile forces.
The international community was once again surprised at their recognition of the
reality of the DPRK.
The DPRK is determined to build an independent power overcoming all the obstacles by dint of self-reliance in the face of the severest difficulties in which daily survival alone is an achievement.
Frontal attack of the DPRK for a breakthrough is a wise option based on a scientific
analysis of its reality and the current situation.
In retrospect, the DPRK had set the time limit to the end of last year and waited with patience for the US to take a fair and constructive stand on the basis of the spirit of the Singapore DPRK-US Joint Declaration.
However, the true intention of the US did not change; it attempted to seek its own
political and diplomatic interests while wasting time under the signboard of dialogue and negotiations and at the same time keep sanctions upon the latter so as to weaken it. On the other hand, it openly revealed its provocative political, military and economic manoeuvres to completely strangle and stifle the DPRK. The deadlocked DPRK-US relations led to the conclusion that if there were not the nuclear issue the US, out of deep-seated prejudice against the DPRK, would find fault with it under other issue to stifle it without fail. If the DPRK did not put spur to the struggle for bolstering the power for self-development while waiting for the lift of sanctions, the hostile forces’ offensive to check its advance would get fiercer. The more the DPRK bolsters its own strength and creates valuable wealth by dint of the spirit of self-reliance and self-sufficiency, the deeper the hostile forces will be driven into agony and the earlier the day of the victory of socialism will come. That is why the DPRK opted for a frontal attack for a breakthrough to neutralize the sanctions and pressure of the hostile forces and open up an avenue for building a powerful socialist country. The DPRK is taking the road of further strengthening its self-defensive military power in the face of the aggravating military threat by the hostile forces.
In the past two years alone, for confidence building with the US the DPRK took
crucial measures first to stop nuclear test and ICBM test fire and shut down the nuclear testing ground. But the US, far from responding to the DPRK with appropriate measures, conducted tens of big and small joint military drills, which its president personally promised to stop, and threatened the latter militarily by shipping latest war equipment into south Korea. The US also adopted more than ten independent sanctions measures, only to show before the world that its ambition to stifle the DPRK remained unchanged.
Under such circumstances, the DPRK had found no grounds to be unilaterally bound by the commitment with no other party to honour.
This situation has thrown wet blanket on the DPRK’s efforts for reduction and
non-proliferation of nuclear weapons across the world.
The DPRK felt more keenly that the road of defending itself by bolstering up its
strength sufficiently enough to keep the hostile forces at bay so that they would not dare threaten its sovereignty and security was the only one it should follow without
suspension and hesitation.
It is the DPRK’s steady goal in defence upbuilding to possess a matchless military
capability no one dares to challenge and steadily bolster it, and it is its core idea and firm will in defence upbuilding to make no forces dare use its armed force against it.
Consolidation of the military capability for self-defence will serve as the surest
guarantee for the frontal attack for a breakthrough.
A new strategic weapon which the DPRK declared to show in the near future will
clearly indicate to the international community where the truth of defending
independence and peace resides.
The frontal attack by the DPRK is never a temporary measure against a crisis.
Under the circumstances warning a protracted confrontation with the US the DPRK
made it a fait accompli that it has to live under the sanctions by the hostile forces in the future, too, and adopted scientific policies for overcoming all difficulties on the strength of self-reliance by strengthening the internal power in all aspects.
It is the invariable faith of the DPRK to defend its dignity and defeat the imperialists
by overcoming all the difficulties and achieving prosperity without fail by its own efforts.
The Korean People’s Army, the regular armed force of the DPRK, was founded on
February 8, 1948.
The founding of the Korean People’s Army provided the country with military
guarantee for following the road of independent development.
The Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, the KPA’s predecessor, was founded on
April 25, 1932 by Kim Il Sung, eternal President of the DPRK, when Korea was under
the Japanese military occupation (1905-1945). Under his command, the KPRA, though it enjoyed no backing of a state and support of a regular army, waged a bloody guerrilla warfare against the one-million-strong Kwantung Army of Japan, which had been claiming to be the leader of Asia, and liberated the country on August 15, 1945.
After liberation, Kim Il Sung stepped up building a regular armed force by the efforts of the country itself on the basis of the rich experiences in army building created in the flames of the anti-Japanese armed struggle.
Building a regular army of the nation was essential at that time for the establishment of a fully independent and sovereign state after liberation; it also emerged as an urgent task in view of the fact that the US stationed its aggressor troops in the southern half in
an attempt to occupy the whole territory of Korea.
As the personnel who could command a regular army were in short supply,
Kim Il Sung enlisted most of the anti-Japanese war veterans in building the army, and saw to it that they not only became the backbone of the army to be built but played apivotal role in training military cadres.
In order to train the military and political cadres indispensable in the establishment of regular armed forces, he ensured that regular military educational institutes were built and expanded.
As a result, the Pyongyang Institute was established as the first regular institute of
military education and the first base for training political and military officers for the
building of a modern regular army. Later its function of training military cadres was transferred to the Central Security Officers School set up to train military cadres of different arms and corps.
He gave field guidance at this school on several occasions, giving instructions on
conducting military education not in any other’s way but in the Korean way.
At that time opinions varied at the school concerning the contents of military
education, some people saying this country’s were good and others saying that country’s were good.
Defining these contents at this school was the core in training cadres for the regular
armed forces to be organized later.
But some people were trying to mechanically adopt others’.
Kim Il Sung said to them: You must never copy others’ mechanically, but educate the cadets in line with the actual conditions in our country based on your own opinions. We are going to found a new type of regular army, so education must be conducted in our own way.
At another time after inquiring about the state of school education, he said to teachers of the KPRA origin that they should impart military techniques in our own way and play the role of backbone in school education, and that only when the cadets were given proper education can they train our army in our own way after their graduation.
And saying that the cadres who would form the backbone of the regular army should be trained by ourselves and that this was the only way of training the core personnel faithful to the Korean revolution and founding a genuine army of the new Korea, he paid close attention to organizing the navy and air force.
After its founding, the Korean People’s Army defended the country’s sovereignty and dignity with honour against the aggression of the allied imperialist forces in the early 1950s, and since then it has demonstrated to the whole world its might while foiling the military threats and provocations by the hostile forces at every step and defending peace on the Korean peninsula creditably.
Kim Il Sung’s achievements will shine for ever along with the founding of the regular armed force of the DPRK.
Historically, Koreans are a most kind-hearted and righteous as well as peaceful nation which has never provoked another nation. Peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula, which has been constant threat of nuclear war from one century into the next owing to national division in the state of armistice forced by outside forces, has been the long-cherished desire and earnest aspiration of the Korean nation transcending differences in ideology, political view and system.
As national division becomes drawn out, the contrasting strategic interests of north
and south of Korea, its neighbouring countries and the United States is making peace on the peninsula some of the distant future.
However, in recent years one event after another took place, changing the course of
history from war to peace, transforming the unrest and apprehension of tens of millions of people into hope and admiration and paving a broad avenue for reconciliation and reunification by pulling down the barrier of mistrust and confrontation;
Heads of north and south of Korea met in Panmunjom and Pyongyang, and discussed the important issues for achieving peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and reached agreement.
The supreme leaders of the DPRK and US that had been hostile to each other over 70 years, met in Singapore, Vietnam and Panmunjom and had positive talks.
Praising the positive developments on the Korean peninsula, the hottest spot in the
world, the world people hoped for the advent of era of peace and stability at the earliest possible date.
However, the several rounds of inter-Korean and DPRK-US summit meetings over the past two years bore no fruit.
Demanding the DPRK’s “nuclear abandonment,” the US has so far been maintaining its stand to lift sanctions against the country only after it gave up its nuclear programme.
The south Korean authorities, reading the face of the US, refuse to implement the
Panmunjom Declaration and the September Pyongyang Joint Declaration.
In violation of the agreement on the military field appendixed to the Panmunjom
Declaration, the south Korean military authorities have introduced a great number of up-to-date weaponry and staged dangerous military rehearsals one after another.
Having completely destroyed the northern unclear test site, the DPRK solemnly
declared that it would not produce, test, use nor proliferate nuclear weapons. And it
expressed its willing to take practical measures corresponding to how the US and south Korea act.
Recently an international meeting, Global Intelligence Summit 2019, was held in
south Korea, participated by those who had been involved in intelligence agencies in 16 countries including China, Russia and Japan and relevant members of the National Intelligence Service and reunification, diplomatic and security affairs of south Korea.
The very core issue of the summit was the situation of the Korean peninsula, which is in stalmate. What is of noteworthy is that some asserted simultaneous and stage-by-stage implementation corresponding to the crucial and measures taken by the DPRK. Those who specialized in handling the DPRK information at the CIA and State Department of the US unanimously stressed that the realistic way-out is to set up a liaison office, establish diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level, declare the end of the Korean war, conclude a peace treaty and pursue denuclearization between the DPRK and the US, all simultaneously, and in the course of it, both parties should adhere to the principle of “action for action” and “promise for promise.” Those who had been involved in the Chinese and Russian intelligence agencies said that the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula is the product of the hostile relationship between the DPRK and the US and the approach to pressuring and succumbing the DPRK would rather aggravate the situation.
It would be advisable for the US not to stubbornly cling to its stand but to listen
attentively to the positive and meaningful proposals of the DPRK.
The peace and security on the Korean peninsula depend entirely on the futures moves by the US and south Korea.
In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the
Seventh Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea was held amid the
great interest of the world.
At this meeting, Kim Jong Un, chairman of the WPK, said that the DPRK-US
stand-off which has lasted from one century into the next has now boiled down to a clear stand-off between self-reliance and sanctions.
The summit meeting and talks between the DPRK and the US were held on three
occasions and June 12 Joint Statement was adopted at the Singapore Summit, aimed at establishing a new relationship between the two countries. However, the present DPRK-US relations are still in deadlock. The US is intensifying comprehensive sanctions and military threat upon its dialogue partner while wasting time away under the signboard of peaceful dialogue and negotiations. The US double-dealing behaviour reveals the true nature of the “peace strategy” of the US style. In a nutshell, the US real intention is to capitalize on the DPRK-US talks, which reflect the aspiration of the DPRK and the world after peace, for achieving its ulterior political and diplomatic purposes for the upcoming presidential election and the stability of state affairs, and completely stifle and crush the country through harsher sanctions.
Under the prevailing situation, Kim Jong Un called the meeting, the main spirit of
which is to make a breakthrough head-on in order to defend the sovereignty, right to existence and security of the country and open a pivotal phase. This is why the present DPRK-US relation has turned into a full-scale stand-off between self-reliance and sanctions.
Under the worst-ever sanctions and blockade, the DPRK has accomplished one
achievement of self-reliance after another. This fact tells much about the prospect of this acute stand-off.
In the end of last year, the country completed the construction projects of the city of Samjiyon, Yangdok Hot Spring Resort, Jungphyong Vegetable Greenhouse Farm and Tree Nursery and Phalhyang Dam of the Orangchon Power Station. The agricultural
sector exceeded the peak-year level even under unfavourable weather conditions.
Construction of the Wonsan Kalma coast resort, Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory,
Tanchon Power Station and other major projects were pushed ahead, and multiple
successes were achieved in all the sectors of the national economy, including the metal, coal-mining, building materials and light industries. All these are a deadly blow to the sanctions-almighty theory.
Since the emergence of the word sanctions in the present world, no other country has been suffering from and overcoming such stubbornly harsh sanctions and blockade as the DPRK has been. The development course of the DPRK aspiring to building a thriving socialist country proves that the country will never yield to the sanctions, and the more intensified the sanctions are, the firmer its people’s spirit of self-reliance and will to build an independent power grow.
Kim Jong Un is making breaches in the chain of sanctions and opening up a pivotal
phase of building a powerful state of independence through mass campaigns for
increased production and practising economy and by putting the national economy on a Juche-oriented, modern, IT and scientific footing, recycling, and attaching importance to science and technology and talents. His outstanding leadership and the single-hearted unity of the Korean people rallied firmly behind their leader are the source of the strength with which to work miracles in the full-scale stand-off between self-reliance and sanctions.
At the plenary meeting, Kim Jong Un said that the Korean people learned how to live on their own, deal with enemies and difficulties and defend their dignity and rights in the protracted and harsh environment unprecedented in history, and clarified that it is their firm revolutionary faith that they will defend the dignity of their country and defeat imperialism by achieving prosperity by dint of self-reliance and even by tightening their belts.
Upholding the slogan “Let us break through head-on all the barriers to our advance!” set forth by Kim Jong Un, the Korean people will surely achieve final victory by frustrating the sanctions by the hostile forces on the strength of self-reliance
The expression self-reliance is in vogue in the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea.
The Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea held in December last year called on the people for self-reliance and to strengthen their internal power.
Why is the DPRK emphasizing self-reliance?
Dependence and Brilliant Transformation
The DPRK needs external environment favourable for its economic construction,
which is its main task. The hostile forces including the US are saying that they would
help the DPRK achieve economic development while demanding that the latter give up its nuclear deterrent.
Suppose they keep their promise and the DPRK opt for a brilliant transformation. The core part of the economic development will be controlled by the big powers, and the developed countries will never give up their monopoly of the cutting-edge technology and development of equipment; they will offer equipment and related technical service to the DPRK, and very expensively at that, but not their core technology. The foreign forces will control the factories that constitute the lifeblood of the national economy even though the factories are situated in the DPRK. The financial system based on the dollars will tightly control the DPRK: if the DPRK would not listen to what the foreign forces have to say, they will drive its economy to ruin in a moment like Soros did to the Thai economy in the 1990s.
The same will be true of national defence. Geopolitically, the DPRK is situated in a
place where interests of big powers are acutely intertwined.
If the DPRK continues to take the road of independence after giving up nuclear
deterrent, it cannot escape the fate of Libya. The DPRK will have no other choice but to live as a slave of big powers.
Self-Reliance and Dignity
The people of the DPRK want to live as masters even though they may go hungry rather than to live as slaves.
From the historical point of view, the outside forces persistently tried to control the
country. The imperialists started to impose sanctions on it already in the early days of its founding. The great-power chauvinists inside the socialist camp put unfair economic pressure on it. The slogan the DPRK put forward at that time was self-reliance. It realized socialist industrialization in only 14 years by dint of self-reliance. And by the 1980s it achieved a comparatively high standard of economic development by building an independent national economy.
It provided all the people with jobs and houses free of charge. Free education and free medical care systems were introduced well before the developed countries in the West did. Its people enjoyed a dignified life even though not luxurious. No big power could dare to provoke the country.
Self-Reliance and Its Destination
Today when the integration of the world economy has been realized, many people are sceptical that they could achieve prosperity by their own efforts only. The DPRK proved with the successes it achieved in the year 2019 that it is possible.
The Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea called on to take a bigger stride with the spirit of achieving prosperity by the country’s efforts. The possibility is that all the Korean people unanimously support the determination of the WPK and the government. They call it single-hearted unity. The foundation of their independent national economy is continuing to get stronger even under the sanctions. They have the strong power of science and technology. Their country has possessed ultra-modern weapons system which only the countries with advanced defence science and technology have. And all the sectors of the national economy are showing the sign of growth.
Everyone knows that the hostile forces have no more bargaining chips in their
relations with the DPRK. The sanctions to check the advance of the DPRK is limited but not the potential of its self-reliance. The successes the DPRK has achieved in building up its defence capability prove this. The DPRK would prove it in its economic development, too.
According to the DPRK’s mass media, several people from a provincial pharmaceutical factory were rushed to the Hospital at Pyongyang University of Medical Sciences for terrible burns in June last year.
A large area of derma was required for their treatment.
Upon learning this fact, many people, ranging from medical workers to inpatients in the hospital gathered before an operation room, saying that they would donate their derma. Among them were girl nurses who had worked at the hospital only for a week after leaving school.
No extra bonus would be given to them in reward for their donation. And nobody forced them to do so.
After donation, they all said, “I felt glad to offer help.”
Such deeds are commonplace in the DPRK. It is its unique social climate to help and lead one another forward and devote oneself to the good of society and other people under the slogan, “One for all and all for one!”
Worthy of special note is the fact that the young people of this country regard it as the most honourable thing to work for the sake of society and the collective. Last year countless young volunteers worked for the construction of 10 000 flats in Pyongyang, which drew the attention of the international community.
They were not end-users of the new houses under construction, but they would come to the construction site in the evening after work at their workplaces in daytime. They formed a youth shock brigade of volunteers and worked devotedly
till late at night. For them, every one of those who would live there, was a member
of their large socialist family and helping the construction of their houses was
helping their own kith and kin.
In this context, it would not be so difficult for those in other countries to understand the astounding reality of the country in which young people volunteer to work at the most difficult and challenging sectors true to the call of the Workers’ Party of Korea. According to a report, more than 10 000 young people volunteered to work at major construction sites and labour-consuming sectors including coal and other mines and farms in 2021 alone. In response to the call of Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, to achieve a fresh progress in the socialist
construction, they made up their mind to devote themselves to the prosperity of the
country at other strange places away from their dear towns, workplaces and homes.
After glorifying the year 2021, the first year in implementing the five-year plan advanced by the Eighth Congress of the WPK, as a year of triumph to be etched in history, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea greeted the New Year 2022, filled with confidence in a fresh victory and optimism. Then, which direction will the country take?
State Development and Improvement of the People’s Living Standards
Analysts comment that in the New Year, the DPRK will direct its greater efforts to ensuring the state’s development and improving the people’s livelihood. What attracts attention is the conclusion General Secretary Kim Jong Un made at the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth WPK Central Committee last year.
Kim Jong Un said that the main task facing the WPK and the Korean people this year was to provide a sure guarantee for the implementation of the five-year plan and bring about a remarkable change in the state’s development and the people’s standard of living so as to record a noteworthy page in the history of the country. The economic sector, the main front of socialist construction, will focus an all-out effort on putting the country’s economy on the growth orbit and providing stabilized and improved living to the people by reenergizing production and pushing ahead with the readjustment and reinforcement.
To this end, Kim Jong Un put forward major tasks to be attained by the country this year.
Major Political Tasks
The conclusion advanced in detail the major political tasks for the sector of key industries to carry out this year.
According to it, the metallurgical industrial sector should technologically refine the Korean-style iron-producing method, produce iron and steel as scheduled by supplying fuel and raw materials in time and, at the same time, push ahead with
the expansion of capacity and modernization.
The chemical industrial sector should give full play to the newly-created fertilizer production capacity and boost the production of materials for light and pharmaceutical industries by reenergizing major chemical factories, while accelerating the projects for establishing a new structure of the chemical industry.
The power industrial sector should strive to raise the electric-power
production to a high level while satisfactorily meeting the immediate demand for
electric power. And it should reduce the loss of power in transmission, step up the
building of new power stations and increase the capacity of generating electricity
by diverse natural energy sources.
The coal industrial sector should give precedence to prospecting and continue
waging a high-speed tunnelling campaign to find more coalfields. And it should
increase coal production by introducing advanced mining methods and machines
and pay attention to helping the bituminous coal mines increase the production.
The railway transport sector should enhance the safety of the railways,
accelerate its modernization and establish the state’s unified system of controlling
the overall transport so as to develop the country’s transport work by stages.
The machine-building industrial sector should responsibly provide the
equipment needed for implementing the readjustment and reinforcement plans of
several economic sectors and units, and boost the production of vehicles, electric
machines and construction machines and improve their quality.
This year the DPRK will give a strong push to the effort to improve the
people’s living standards.
The conclusion advanced important tasks for making a radical progress in solving the food, clothing and housing problems for the people.
To this end, it stressed that the entire WPK and the whole country should concentrate efforts on farming and give manpower and material support to the rural communities, and the agricultural sector should increase grain production by doing all the farm work in a sci-tech way and positively use farming machines as the area to grow wheat and barley are to be expanded.
In the economic work, the capital construction sector should be prioritized and
a new revolution in construction should be made for fundamentally changing the
living environment of the people so as to continue to usher in the heyday of the
capital city construction including the building of 10 000 flats planned for 2022 and
open up an era when the local areas change.
The light industrial sector should set it as an important task to reenergize the
production of consumer goods and push ahead with it. And it should put the
foodstuff processing technology on a higher scientific basis.
This year, too, the country will continue to direct great efforts to education.
Saying that the supply of school uniforms and things to all the students across
the country at the state expense is a consistent policy of the WPK and the state, the
General Secretary set forth a task for supplying all the students with quality
uniforms and bags of new types without exception and took an important measure
of the WPK Central Committee for implementing it.
He stressed the need for the fishing industrial sector to conduct work for
catching more fish, do fish breeding and other kinds of aquiculture well and
increase marine resources in an effective way.
Also mentioned in the conclusion were tasks for the sectors of mining
industry, forestry, IT industry, land administration, city management, scientific
research, education, public health, the art and literature and other fields in giving
impetus to the comprehensive development of socialist construction.
The major political tasks advanced by the DPRK gives a glimpse of the
definite structure of development which the country aspires after now.
People were always deeply seated in the heart of Chairman Kim Jong Il of
the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
who, regarding the people as his God, devoted all his life to them. Their demands
and interests were the criteria and starting-point of all his thinking and practice
and he made no compromise with regard to them. He considered their aspiration
and demand first when formulating a line or policy and regarded it as an iron rule
to resolve them.
Following is a story that proves it.
One very cold and windy day in March 2006 he visited the construction site of
the Samsu Power Station in a northern alpine area of the country.
While inquiring into the progress of its construction, he asked the officials
what measures they had taken concerning the dwelling houses of the residents in
the area to be submerged.
They replied that no measures had been taken yet as the project of the power
station was still under way.
He said with a serious expression on his face: I came not only to get a
firsthand knowledge of the progress of the dam construction of the Samsu Power
Station but also to inquire into the construction of the houses for the residents who
would be relocate from the area to be inundated; in the Samsu Power Station
project, importance should be given to two fronts, in other words, the construction
of the power station and new houses for the families to be relocated, with priority
given to the latter; we should build their houses before we complete the
construction of the power station and start producing electricity.
He learned that if the power station was brought to completion, nine ris would be submerged in water and that if the residents of 4 900 households, who lived there, were relocated, the number would be 15 000 people in total when each household was assumed to have three members. Now he told the officials to take immediate measures for solving the housing problem for them. Then he stressed that as the state was duty-bound to provide the people with houses in the DPRK, the Cabinet should take full responsibility for this work.
In this way over 150 villages were newly built in a short span of time and the local people were provided with houses which were better than their previous ones. When the relocated families moved to new houses, Kim Jong Il had a colour TV set, duvets, blankets, winter coats, various other kinds of clothes and daily necessities sent to each household.
There are many similar stories which show his affection for the people. It is not accidental that Pulikovski, former chief presidential delegate to the Far Eastern Federal District, Russia, wrote in his memoirs that he was convinced that all the activities of Chairman Kim Jong Il of the DPRK National Defence Commission were geared to attaining a single objective, that is, to bring happiness and prosperity to his people.
Every year the Korean people celebrate February 16, Kim Jong Il’s birthday,
as the greatest national holiday. This year is very significant for them as it is the
80th anniversary of his birth.
Mt Paektu is the native home of Chairman Kim Jong Il (1942-2011).
Called the ancestral mountain of the Korean nation and the sacred mountain of
the Korean revolution, it is the highest mountain in Korea, and had been
uninhabited from time immemorial because of the rugged terrain features and
rough weather. The “first residents” appeared in the primeval forests in the late
1930s, when Korea was under military occupation by Japan (1905-1945).
As the leadership base of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, which was being
waged fiercely in the vast Manchurian plain under the leadership of Kim Il Sung,
was to move to Mt Paektu, secret camps and the headquarters of the Korean
People’s Revolutionary Army were built in the Sobaeksu Valley.
In this nameless place, which was surrounded by high mountains and dense
forests and where the Sobaek Stream meanders, a log cabin with a roe-hoof door
handle, which was smaller than other log cabins, was set up.
In this small log cabin Chairman Kim Jong Il, who left indelible imprints in
the political history of the world, was born on February 16, 1942.
Born to the guerrillas, his life was extraordinary from the beginning; he grew
up wearing clothes permeated with powder smoke, eating army rations and hearing
the charge sound.
The first human reflected in his eyes was his mother in military uniform, and
he grew up among the guerrillas. His first playing ground was Mt Paektu.
Recollecting his uncommon birth and growth with deep emotion, President
Kim Il Sung wrote: That Kim Jong Il is a son of Mt Paektu means that he was born
of the anti-Japanese revolution as a son of the nation. He is a son of Korea who
started his life and rose as a lodestar of our revolution in the embrace of the anti-
Japanese revolutionary fighters.
In the days when a new democratic society was being built in the country,
where backwardness, poverty and colonial survivals were prevalent after its
liberation on August 15, 1945, in the days of the Korean war between 1950 and
1953, when he learned at the table of the Supreme Headquarters the mysterious
tactics of defeating the allied imperialist forces, and in the days when many
factories and beautiful streets were being built from the debris after the war under
the leadership of President Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il cherished a grand ambition to
lead Korea to the bright future by inheriting the cause of Kim Il Sung. The poem, O,
Korea, I Will Add Glory to Thee, which he wrote when entering Kim Il Sung
University in the early 1960s, depicts how great his ambition was.
The period of over half a century since June 1964, when he started working at
the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea after graduating from the
university, was the days when he implemented the ambition.
He developed the Juche idea, authored by Kim Il Sung, as the guiding
ideology of the Korean people and the era of independence, and applied it to all the
realms of his country, turning it into a country united single-heartedly, a powerful
socialist country. He ushered in a golden age of art and literature, called
Renaissance in the 20th Century by the world, and opened up a heyday of
construction by having numerous architectural structures built to the surprise of the
world.
In the end of last century the DPRK had to experience unprecedented
economic hardships and trials owing to the harsh economic sanctions and blockade
the allied imperialist forces imposed upon it by taking advantage of the collapse of
several socialist countries and to the consecutive natural disasters.
During the period, which would have brought others to their knees more than
one hundred times, Chairman Kim Jong Il was always with people and soldiers. On
his field guidance tours he encouraged them, sharing weal and woe with them.
Thanks to his original Songun politics, the DPRK became a military giant,
equipped not only with the state-of-the-art means of attack and defence but also
war deterrent that no powerful enemy could belittle, defended its own style of
socialism and made a firm springboard for building a powerful socialist country by
reversing the tide.
Kim Jong Il worked heart and soul to remove the pain of national division.
Thanks to his will and decision, an inter-Korean summit meeting was held for
the first time in the history of national division in Pyongyang in 2000, and the June
15 North-South Joint Declaration, a milestone for national reunification, was
adopted.
His external activities aspiring to independence, peace and friendship proved
their justice and vitality in practice.
Many countries established diplomatic relations with the DPRK, transcending
differences in ideology and social system. The DPRK contributed to encouraging
the international trend to aspire to independence, peace and friendship by
expanding and developing economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation with
many countries and strengthening solidarity with the progressive peoples, who
aspired after independence and justice.
The achievements of the great man, who contributed to the progress of
mankind and society, will be handed down to all generations to come.
The past ten years witnessed a boom in housing construction in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Regarding housing construction as an important undertaking in providing the people with more civilized and stabler living conditions, the country channels great efforts into building dwelling houses in the capital and provinces.
Modern streets and residential districts were built one after another from 2012. They include Changjon Street in the central part of Pyongyang, Unha Scientists Street, apartment buildings for lecturers at Kim Il Sung University and Kim Chaek University of Technology, Wisong Scientists Residential District, Mirae Scientists Street and Ryomyong Street.
From then onwards, a modern street sprang up every year in Pyongyang.
Housing construction was undertaken on an unprecedented scale also in towns and rural communities in provinces. The renovation project of the city of Samjiyon in northern Korea which had been carried out in three stages was brought to completion in 2021, four years after its start. As a model of perfect harmony of
modern, national and alpine features, the city attracted the attention of the international community.
As a result of the construction of low-rise and multi-storeyed apartment houses for thousands of households and many excellent facilities, the mountainous town, 1 300 metres above sea level on average, was completely changed in the true sense of the word. Modern houses were built one after another in many other places
like Onjong-ri, Yangdok County in the middle part of the country and Sangso-ri, Poptong County in the eastern part. In the Jungphyong area in the northeastern part, hundreds of modern houses were built for the employees of a large-scale
greenhouse vegetable farm and a tree nursery.
Precedence was given to housing construction in building the Tanchon Power Station which is of great importance in the country’s power production. This clearly showed the considerate intention of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the government of the DPRK to prevent inconveniences in the life of the residents who would have to be relocated when important construction projects were undertaken.
Also worthy of note is the fact that prompt measures are taken for disaster victims.
In 2015, 2016, 2020 and 2021 many parts of the country were severely affected by flooding, heavy rains and typhoons, resulting in a number of factories, enterprises and farmland as well as houses being destroyed or inundated.
Many people around the world were concerned and pessimistic about the flood victims in the DPRK as it was suffering harsh difficulties and hardships owing to persisting blockade and sanctions by the forces hostile towards it.
However, the WPK and the government of the DPRK promptly rose to the occasion. With a view that the sufferings of the people were the biggest emergency and there was no more important work than the undertaking to relieve the people of their misfortune, they defined the construction of houses for the victims as the first priority in the rehabilitation project and mobilized all the human, material and
technical potentials of the country. Thus, nice streets and villages were built in a very short span of time and the flood victims were provided with new houses.
The people around the world were surprised to see the flood victims, who they thought must be in despair, moving to new houses. What is more surprising is the fact that the houses are built with state investment and given to them free of charge. The scale of the country’s housing construction is getting larger and larger with the passage of time.
In March 2021 the ground-breaking ceremony for the project to build 10 000 flats was held in Pyongyang in the presence of Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs of the DPRK. A big architectural group composed of 10 000 flats was formed in the Songsin and Songhwa districts and 800 luxurious houses in the Pothong riverside terraced houses district was near to completion. The Komdok area, the country’s leading non-ferrous minerals producer, is being renovated into an unprecedentedly large mountain gorge town; 25 000 new houses are planned to be built in the miners’ town by 2025, which marks the 80th founding anniversary of the WPK. This is not because the country has a surplus of funds in its coffer or it has good conditions; it is because the state regards it as the supreme principle of its activities to make everything serve the people and work for their wellbeing.
To be more specific, all this is thanks to the politics of love for the people, which is administered by Kim Jong Un who always pays close attention to providing a stabler and more civilized life to the people. What he said in his speech at the above-mentioned ground-breaking ceremony is quite impressive: The Party and the government, having made themselves aware of the number of families that were in need of new houses, conducted in-depth research to determine the measures for
solving the problem; they regarded this project as their most important task; and nothing is more worthwhile, honourable, or happier, for us than to dedicate our sweat and passion, without hesitation, to building an ideal street that will be a warm home for our people.
The appearances of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are changing
beyond recognition.
Last year, North Phyongan and South Hwanghae provinces on the west coast of the
country obtained 13 000 hectares of land by finishing the reclamation of the
Honggondo tideland and two sections of the Ryongmaedo tideland, projects
unprecedented in the history of reclamation of tideland in the country. Ring roads run
along the banks, linking many islands and rural villages in the provinces, and crop
fields and offshore farms of standard shapes have been created.
The transformation of the city of Samjiyon in the northernmost part of the
country, which is called the first village at the foot of Mt Paektu, the ancestral
mountain of the country, is a good example.
The construction of the city was completed in four years, divided into three
stages.
Thousands of low- and high-rise apartment houses, a hospital, a hall of culture, a
schoolchildren’s palace, a gymnasium, hotels and other public and industrial
buildings and their signboards and illuminations go well with the natural and
topographical features of the alpine area; landscaping has been completed on a high
standard. The country calls it a model cultured mountain city, a standard regional
city, and is trying to build all the regional cities on its level.
A man engaged in tourism in Europe, after visiting the city, said: I have visited
many countries, whose economy and culture have developed, but I have never seen
such a nice mountain city as this; what is more surprising is that all these wonderful
houses and service facilities are for the ordinary people.
The Yangdok Hot Spring Resort is another example.
It has outstanding scenery and a number of hot springs, which are good for the
promotion of people’s health and their medical treatment. Built two years ago there is a comprehensive multi-functional medical treatment, sports and cultural complex of 1 660000m2 that blends well with the regional characteristics and natural surroundings. Indoor and outdoor spa baths, ski slopes, a riding park, hotels, medical treatment and sanatorium areas, sports and cultural facilities, public catering and welfare facilities, low- and high-rise apartment houses go well with one another and are applied with practicality and formative and artistic beauty. The resort is now evaluated as a “characteristic service base that has opened a new chapter of civilization” and a “resort of a high level that can represent spa culture of the DPRK.”
A ski resort was built in an area of 1 412 hectares on Masik Pass, which links the eastern and western middle areas of the Korean peninsula.
There are ten ski slopes, 1700m long on average and over 5000m at the longest.
Buildings for large-scale skiing contests and administration, such as
hotel and skiing and skating service and other buildings, have been built
in conformity with the mountain surroundings and their utility.
There are also a helipad, ski slope watch tower, cable ways of various
lengths, ranging from 600m to over 2 000m, and snow canon.
A few years ago, a large-sized greenhouse vegetable farm was built in the
Jungphyong area in the northeastern coastal region to provide the people there with fresh vegetables all the year round even in unfavourable weather conditions; the 320 blocks of greenhouses and tree nursery occupying an area of 200 hectares and hundreds of houses for their employees are regarded as models of their kinds to be built across the country.
In recent years several areas in the northern, eastern and western parts of the
country were hit by unprecedented flooding and typhoons; the disaster-stricken
areas were renovated beyond recognition.
Now, a project of building 50 000 flats in five years is in full swing in
Pyongyang, the capital city of the DPRK, and 25 000 flats for miners are being
built in the mountain valley of Komdok in an eastern part of the country.
Unimaginable separated from the leadership of Kim Jong Un, president of the
State Affairs, is the appearance of the DPRK, which is changing day by day; all the
structures built for the wellbeing of the people are associated with his deep
thinking, devotion and painstaking efforts. He aspires to the best thing possible,
saying: Every structure should be built with an eye to 50 years, nay, 100 years, so
that it can represent the present era.
His energetic leadership is bringing about the new appearance of his country to
the admiration of the international community.
The Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers’
Party of Korea, held in the end of last year, discussed the agenda item of providing
all the students across the country with school uniforms and school things at state
expense.
Before that meeting, the Third Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central
Committee of the WPK held in June discussed it as a major agenda item to improve
the Party’s childcare policy. The meeting adopted it as a Party policy to supply all
the children across the country with nourishing foods including dairy products at
state expense as their days in nursery and kindergarten are most important in their
growth and development.
The DPRK pays unsparing care to children so that they can grow up in a good
environment from their early days.
All the things including Pyongyang Children’s Department Store, the Okryu
Children’s Hospital, school bags, notebooks and school things tell the state’s love
for the future of the country.
The state investment for the rising generation totals an astronomical amount
every year. This is not because this country is rich in everything or has lots of
money. It still lacks in many things, and is experiencing difficulties; it is under the
sanctions and blockade, the harshest-ever of their kinds in history, and the
sufferings from the global health crisis and natural disasters are not minimal.
However, irrespective of whether the conditions are favourable or not, it
regards the work for the rising generation as the most important of its affairs.
The more difficult the situation is, the greater care the state pays to the
children, and by dint of this strength, the country advances toward the communist
future; this is the mode of advance and development unique to this country.
All these are inconceivable separated from the affection for the rising
generations cherished by Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs.
He views that the loss of the state incurred for the benefit of the rising
generations is nothing and the more the state invests for them, the brighter the
future of the country is.
At the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the WPK
Kim Jong Un, saying that it is a consistent policy of the Party and the state to
provide all the students across the country with school uniforms and school things
at state expense, put forward the tasks for supplying all of them with uniforms and
bags of new types and high quality, and took important Party Central Committee
measures for its implementation.
It is obvious that the Korean society will become more and more vibrant and
vigorous and its national strength will be far more enormous after 20 or 30 years as
the country is now making devoted efforts for the rising generation.
Rearing healthy and sound children is an issue that has a bearing on the prospect
and future of all countries.
Especially, the period of nursery and kindergarten covers the most important part of human development, and thus it is highly important to pay attention to nutrition and health management of those in this age group. November 20 is Children’s Health Day. On the occasion of the day, childcare in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is introduced here.
The DPRK has established a socialist system of nursing and upbringing of children, in which all the pre-school children are enrolled and reared in nurseries and kindergartens at state and social expense. This system is legally guaranteed by law.
The Law of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on the Nursing and Upbringing of Children was adopted in April 1976 and amended and supplemented
in March 1999. Comprised of sixty articles in six chapters, the law comprehensively stipulates numerous benefits for children, including construction of nurseries and kindergartens, supply of grains and other foodstuffs, clothes, footwear and other daily necessities, special protection of mothers with children, nutritional and medical service for children, treatment of nursery and kindergarten teachers, organization and operation of nurseries, kindergartens, baby homes and orphanages, and guidance, management and supply systems for them, etc.
Every city and county has a foodstuff supply station which is in charge of the provision for the local nurseries and kindergartens with such nutritional foods as milk, meat, eggs, fruits, vegetables and confectionery.
In recent years baby homes and orphanages in the capital city and the seats of provinces have been renovated, and the orphans across the country are provided with quality nutritional foods on a special and preferential basis.
Worthy of special note is that the Third Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea held in June this year established it as the Party’s childcare policy to supply all the children across the country with nutritional foods including dairy products at state expense.
It is an inherent part of wishes of parents to feed and dress their children well and take pride in them in front of the others. A Korean saying goes that it takes fifty thousand man-days to raise a child, implying how demanding and challenging it is. Worse still, it is by no means easy for the country to adopt such a resolution in the light of the fact that the country is experiencing quite a hard time due to the prolonged sanctions by the hostile forces coupled by the global health crisis.
It is a courageous decision that can be made only by General Secretary Kim Jong Un of the WPK, who regards it as a source of happiness, not a challenge, to spare nothing for the children across the country, saying that it is a blessing for the WPK to be in charge of raising millions of them. Also, it is a moving story unique to the WPK that cherishes as an ennobling ideal the spirit of making selfless, devoted efforts for the good of the people. Thanks to the benevolent care of the head of state and ruling party, the DPRK is well advanced in its pursuit of good health of the children. One of the examples is the activities of the Korean Association for Supporting the Children founded in 2013 with a mission to assist the government in this regard.
The association trains the professionals in the fields of children’s healthcare, nourishment, intellectual development and day care, and plays the role of a communications office and a channel of assistance for children. Outreach programs
are briskly underway and hygienic information work is being energetically undertaken among the local people so as to lower the children’s morbidity rate and
rate of missing in inoculation. Its production bases make a variety of traditional medicines including anti-virus liquid medicine made from burdock, contributing to
the treatment of pediatric diseases. It is also engaged in the major evaluation of medical supplies and appliances needed for the children’s healthcare at the nurseries, kindergartens and pediatric hospitals designated as targets of assistance
and reinforcing the trial production processes of nutritional foods for the children.
It also hosts photo exhibitions and forums on child healthcare on the occasion of
the International Children’s Day, World Health Day and Children’s Health Day,
fostering the climate of social support for the children.
November 16 is Mother’s Day in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Choe Yong Ae is the headmistress of Toksong Primary School in the city of Phyongsong, South Phyongan Province, in a western region of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Even though she has a lot of things to do in her family, she has devoted herself to training not only her children but also the students of her school as pillars of the country. The history of her school tells her exploits–first place in a national quiz contest for primary school students and a city computer competition, hundreds of students enrolled at schools of higher education of the national and provincial level including Pyongyang Middle School No 1, gold medals in the events of rhythmic gymnastics and swimming at the National Juvenile Sports Games …
In high appreciation of her exploits, the Party and the government invited her to national conferences including the Seventh Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea and National Conference of Educational Workers and conferred on her the title of People’s Teacher.
She also brought up her daughters so that they would repay the warm care shown by the socialist system, which taught them to respect their seniors and love their comrades and brought their hopes into bloom. The two daughters, after graduating from university,
are working in a power organ and the educational sector, respectively.
In celebration of Mother’s Day, her daughters and students extended warm
congratulations to her.
“Happy Mother’s Day!”
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea exerts great efforts in further developing
the universal free medical care system, regarding public health service as an image of its socialist system and a major symbol which demonstrates the tangible benefits of the system enjoyed by its people.
This is inconceivable separated from the devoted and tireless efforts made by
Kim Jong Un, President of the State Affairs, who prioritizes the protection of the people’s lives and their health promotion over anything else.
Since he began to lead the country and people, he paid close attention to public health. In summer 2012 he visited the construction site of the Breast Tumour Institute of the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital. Despite sultry weather, he looked around it in detail and said: It is pointless to build a fancy building if the patients fail to get proper treatment; what counts more than the construction is to appoint competent doctors and researchers with rich clinical experience in mastopathy and breast cancer and to equip the institute with state-of-the-art facilities. Thanks to the meticulous care of the state leader, the institute was built on the Taedong riverside in the capital city of Pyongyang as a centre of medical service and scientific research that specializes in the prevention and treatment of mammary gland diseases including mastopathy and breast cancer and is equipped with modern medical equipment for galactography, ablation of mammary gland tissues, and even for multifunctional X-ray, CT, ultrasonographic and, electrocardiographic examinations, which can be seen only in some developed countries.
The Ryugyong Dental Hospital, inaugurated in October 2013, also tells a moving
story of Kim Jong Un’s devotion. In March the following year he visited the hospital and looked around the examination room and several treatment rooms, giving detailed guidance over the management and operation of the hospital. He felt very pleased, saying that a great number of people visiting the hospital meant that the medical service was briskly underway, and that the new hospital proved
its worth. Then he continued: Construction of the hospital was not aimed at giving publicity to the fact that we were building a world-class dental hospital, but at ensuring that the people can enjoy all the benefits of socialism in good health; the hospital should not become a site for visit but a site of devoted service for the people through effective treatment.
The Okryu Children’s Hospital, which was named by Kim Jong Un, also embodies his scrupulous care.
It is a characteristic hospital that combines healthcare service and education. It is
equipped with all the facilities for the treatment and health promotion of children of different ages–treatment rooms of different purposes, surgical procedure rooms,
operating theatres, in-patient rooms and even a helipad. The artworks inside, which cater to the juvenile psychology, are associated with Kim Jong Un’s considerate measure to relieve the children of pain while under treatment. The classrooms here give the young in-patients lessons, which are missing.
In 2016 the Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital opened to the public in the
hospital village on the Taedong riverside of Pyongyang.
With a site area of over 5 950 sq m and a total floor space of 11 800 sq m, the hospital is made up of a four-storeyed out-patient ward and an eight-storeyed in-patient ward. It is a multi-functional and comprehensive medical care facility with a shop that calibrates and manufactures various kinds of spectacles.
It has more than ten out-patient treatment rooms, 13 optometry rooms, 5 operating theatres, 27 in-patient rooms and up-to-date equipment for excimer laser treatment, vitrectomy, laser-scanning tomography, cornal endothelial examination and so on.
Kim Jong Un, who proposed its construction and designated its site, gave his opinions on its design several times and paid close attention to its construction, personally visiting the construction site.
During his on-site guidance, he said: The rumour must have spread that a general
ophthalmic hospital is under construction here; the people prefer the construction of hospitals to the construction of theatres; many more hospitals should be built so that the people can enjoy the substantial benefits of the socialist public health system.
When he visited the completed hospital, he expressed his satisfaction, saying that it
was really what he had wanted to do for the people.
Such stories are not confined to the hospitals in the capital city.
In October 2020, the Samjiyon City People’s Hospital in Ryanggang Province in the
northernmost part of the country was newly built into a model of the regional hospitals.
While looking around the construction sites in Samjiyon, Kim Jong Un acquainted
himself with the conditions of the hospital’s staff and saw to it that the green area was increased, trees of fine species were planted around the hospital and resting areas were laid out properly for the patients.
Samjiyon is a city in the mountainous area, 1 300 metres above sea level. But the local People’s Hospital is very modern and has specialist departments such as emergency, internal, surgical, pediatric, obstetrical and gynecological ones and a dental branch hospital which are well-appointed with state-of-the-art equipment and appliances.
Multifunctional telemedicine system is established and the healthcare service is put on a high level of IT basis. It also has well-furnished in-patient rooms, physical exercise room, rehabilitation room, children’s playing area and indoor park.
Kim Jong Un paid close attention to strengthening the material and technical
foundations of the public health sector, too.
In 2019 while on a visit to the Myohyangsan Medical Appliances Factory, he said that in order for people to enjoy sufficient and modern healthcare service, it was necessary to radically improve the material and technical foundations of the public health sector, and took highly significant measures aimed at renovating the factory into a model and iconic factory that would play the vanguard role in the medical appliances industry. When he visited the renovated factory, he highly praised it for having developed into a cutting-edge one capable of mass-producing modern operating tables, delivery beds, examination tables, hospital trolleys, universal chairs for ENT treatment, multifunctional dentist’s chairs and other quality medical appliances. Under his wise leadership, over the past ten years medical oxygen factories in the capital city and provinces, the Pyongyang Dental Hygiene Goods Factory and Huic hon Hospital Beds Factory have been built in a modern style, further consolidating the material and technical foundations of the public health sector. In October last year a grand military parade was held in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang to celebrate the 75th founding anniversary of the WPK. In his speech
Kim Jong Un warmly thanked the people across the country for being healthy and free from illness, without a single person having fallen victim to the malignant virus.
Phungsan is the national dog of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The dog is very clever. In ordinary days it is docile and obedient to its master, but it is very fierce when faced with enemies. Usually dogs bite their enemy’s neck and other parts, but Phungsan makes a frontal attack and bites the enemy’s throat.
It is also easy to be kept. It is highly resistant to cold and viable; it is especially resistant to diseases; as it is omnivorous and grows well even in harsh conditions, it can be raised in any places.
From olden times many interesting stories have been told about this animal.
In the days of Koryo (918-1392) it was told that a dog saved its drunken master’s life from a forest fire before being killed, a dog in a northeastern area took care of a blind orphan by always guiding him and a dog saved a drowning man’s life before being drowned itself in a midwestern area, so people built monuments to the faithful and virtuous dogs. Today the Korean people protect and propagate the dog by preserving its foundation stock and sustaining its excellent characters.
Many families keep the dog, exchanging their experiences with one another.
In the National Dog Show-2019 which was held in the Central Zoo in Pyongyang in November 2019, before the outbreak of global health crisis, Yuwol, raised by a couple, named Hong Yong Il and Ri Hyang Rim, living in a suburb of Pyongyang, won the first place. The wife, Ri Hyang Rim, said that if the other’s goats were seen among hers when she was driving them into their shed, the dog would snarl, and it does not follow the people other than her family members even though they give it
something to eat or tempt it with other things; it strictly guards everything in her
house and lets no one put their hands on them.
Once when the husband, Hong Yong Il, was playing ssirum, a Korean type of wrestling, it was sitting silently nearby, but when Hong was thrown off and was under the opponent’s body, the dog caught the opponent by his clothes, snarling,
making spectators surprised.
The people call this couple “walking dictionaries of the national dog” as they are
well-versed in keeping Phungsan. After the show was over, the people vied with one another for Yuwol’s puppies. Phungsan is registered as a natural living monument of the state and Kwangdok-ri, Kim Hyong Gwon County, Ryanggang Province, as the dog reserve.
How come is the Workers’ Party of Korea advancing victoriously enjoying the absolute support and trust of the Korean people?
The answer could be found in the idea of party building of Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the WPK.
Spirit of Making Selfless, Devoted Efforts for the People In August last year extensive flooding hit Taechong-ri, Unpha County, North Hwanghae Province in the western region of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, demolishing many houses. It was Kim Jong Un, who was the first to visit the flood-stricken area; on receiving the report, he went there, personally driving his car. While taking detailed measures on the spot for rehabilitating the village, he asked the local people whether they liked a house for one family or two families. When they said they preferred a house for one family, he saw to it that such houses were built as the farmers wanted. The leader of the state and the ruling party accepted the request of the farmers as an absolute one.
It was not just in Taechong-ri alone. When several places were stricken by flood simultaneously, he immediately convened important meetings of the WPK to discuss the measures for stabilizing the life of the victims.
And when he was visiting the east coastal areas hit by tsunami, he sent an open letter to the WPK members in the capital city to turn out in the rehabilitation of the damaged areas.
While seeing the new houses built better than the former ones on his way of on-the-spot guidance at the flood-stricken areas, he looked round them in detail and asked whether the people liked the houses, saying that the houses should first be convenient for living by the people and inquiring into the layout of the rooms, the height of the ceilings and the kitchen utensils.
It was indeed a vivid scene showing that it is the principle of activities of the WPK and the mode of its existence to solve all the problems raised in the living of the people, take responsible care of their destiny and make selfless, devoted efforts for them.
It is no wonder that the Korean people support the WPK, calling it motherly party.
Building a “Servant Party” for the People Mothers call themselves servants for their children before being seniors to them. They satisfy the requests, whatever they are, if their children make them, but do not claim any reward.
Kim Jong Un’s idea of the Party building is that the WPK should be built into a “servant party” for the people, which does not mind to do anything if it is for the sake of the people in order to live up to the great trust of the people who call it motherly Party.
When the flood victims in Taechong-ri were staying in the office building of the county Party committee until new houses were built for them, the county Party committee officials worked in tents, and looked after the life of the victims. It was not because there were no other buildings in which the victims could stay nor other people who could take care of their life.
It was because the main principle of the WPK is to show concern first for the people, who have suffered misfortune, and take warm care of their life. Kim Jong Un does his utmost to satisfy the people’s demands and defend their interests.
Even though the country is experiencing difficulties, he saw to it that modern bases for cultural and leisure activities, including a ski resort, a water park and hot spring resort, and specialist hospitals furnished with up-to-date facilities were built so that the people could enjoy the benefits of modern civilization and free medical care.
Now in various places of the DPRK large-scale construction is under way to build 50 000 flats in the capital city and 25 000 houses in a leading nonferrous metals mining area in five years from this year.
Worthy of note is that these projects are being conducted under unfavourable conditions–the continuing global health crisis and the persistent sanctions by the hostile forces. However, the will of the WPK to implement these projects without fail for the people is invariable.
It is quite natural that the WPK is advancing victoriously enjoying absolute support of the people whatever the adversity.
In the middle of the 1920s, the imperialists’ colonial enslavement policy toward other countries and nations was at its height.
Almost all the countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America were reduced to their colonies.
The Korean people were suffering under the colonial yoke as their country was occupied militarily by Japan (1905-1945).
The Japanese imperialists, while rearranging their colonial ruling machinery in order to stamp out the anti-Japanese struggle of the Korean people, enacted and enforced various evil laws such as the Maintenance of Public Order Act. Meanwhile, the Korean communist movement and national liberation struggle were experiencing complicated difficulties.
At this time, Kim Il Sung (1912-1994) embarked on the road of revolutionary struggle to save his country and fellow people. It was 1926.
The innocent psychology of young Kim Il Sung, who had just been awakened to social consciousness, encountered agony and anguish.
In those days the nationalist movement was existing, and a socialist movement was on the rise.
After making an analysis of these two social movements, he came to a conclusion that national liberation could never be achieved by fighting without any correct political slogans and without relying on the strength of the masses.
He believed that in order for the Korean revolution to be developed in a fresh way, it should be carried out independently through the efforts of all the people of the country.
Noteworthy is that Kim Il Sung had struck others with wonder by dint of his extraordinary personality and intelligent insight into social phenomena from his early age.
A man who was teaching at Fusong Primary School No. 1 recollected, “As the days went by, we felt Kim Song Ju (Kim Il Sung’s childhood name) was not an ordinary person though he was young.
“At that time, he was not only a pupil with intelligence and integrity but also a political activist with a high ambition and political view.
“To be frank, he was better than us teachers in understanding and analyzing things.”
In order to realize his long-conceived plan for forming a militant and revolutionary organization, he convened a preparatory meeting at Hwasong Uisuk School in Huadian, northeast China.
Young revolutionaries sharing the same will as his attended the meeting.
At the meeting he clarified the necessity of the revolutionary organization and its mission, name and character, fighting programme and the regulations of its activity.
All the participants unanimously supported his proposal.
On October 17, 1926, a week later, he founded the Down-with-Imperialism Union (DIU).
As its name implies, it was an organization for overthrowing imperialism in general.
The immediate task of the DIU was to defeat Japanese imperialism and achieve the liberation and independence of Korea, and its final objective was to build socialism and communism in Korea and, further, destroy all imperialism and build communism throughout the world.
A Short History of Korean Revolutionary Movement Overseas, a book published in Seoul after Korea’s liberation, reads: “Expectations of Kim Il Sung were high and the activities of these organizations were brisk.
“The support of the public for Kim Il Sung, a man of passion and justice, was great.
“It was more than support… Kim Il Sung, a boy revolutionary, enjoyed the undivided love from the people as their beloved son or younger brother, and he made a pledge to serve them in good faith.
“He always breathed the same air with the people and his comrades, too, found themselves among the people. “Firmly based on the masses, he struggled to remove various existing social maladies so as to awaken them and enhance their awareness and took measures to gradually reform various fields of society.
“He focused on the elimination of remnants of persistent feudalism, resolution of dispute between native landlords and Korean tenants, development of peasants’ knowledge and movements of youth and women and recorded a remarkable success in this effort.”
The Korean revolution which dawned with the formation of the DIU started to develop in full steam under the leadership of Kim Il Sung.
Kim Il Sung liberated Korea and built a people’s country through a 20-year-long anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle and consolidated the country into a people-centred socialist state by leading his people to win one victory after another in its decades-long confrontation with imperialist allied forces including the Korean war (1950-1953).
The history of the Korean revolution can be said to be the one in which the fighting programme of the DIU was realized. The significance of the DIU in the Korean revolution is profound, indeed.
This year is a meaningful year which marks the 95th anniversary of the formation of the DIU.
We have recently observed the 5th anniversary of the publication of the Ten-Point Programme of the Great Unity of the Whole Nation for the Reunification of the Country and soon will greet the 50th anniversary of the historic Joint Conference of Representatives of Political Parties and Public Organizations in North and South Korea. The north-south joint conference, which was proposed by the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung and held under his guidance in Pyongyang in April Juche 37 (1948), was a historic national event to secure the destiny of the country and nation, by realizing the great unity of the entire nation under the banner of reunification and patriotism. At that time there was the danger that the division of the nation would be perpetuated because of the machinations of the US imperialists and their stooges who were trying to hold a "separate election" and establish a "separate government" in south Korea. The great Comrade Kim Il Sung convened the north-south joint conference, succeeded in uniting different political parties and groups as well as the patriotic forces of different sections of the population in the north and the south, rendering remarkable services to the noble cause of realizing the sovereignty, independence and reunification of the country.
In the extremely complex political situation in the years immediately after liberation, the representatives of nearly all the political parties and public organizations and even die-hard anti-communist nationalists in south Korea with the exception of a
handful of traitors to the nation participated in the broad national conference. They reached a unanimous agreement and launched a nationwide patriotic struggle. This was a brilliant fruition of the great leader's policy of independent national reunification and of his idea of great national unity as well as the first historic victory of the patriotic forces of reunification. The April north-south joint
conference clearly showed that communists, nationalists and various other political forces and different sections of the population could get united in the struggle for the common cause of the nation, regardless of difference in ideology, ideals, political views and religious beliefs. It also demonstrated that the independent and
peaceful reunification of the country could be realized through north-south harmony and the unity of the entire nation. The north-south joint conference became a reality thanks to the great leader's painstaking efforts and his guidance. It will continue to be remembered for ever as a patriotic conference that demonstrated the great unity of our nation. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the conference and all its achievements shall inspire all the Koreans in the north, south and abroad to work harder for national unity and reunification with enthusiasm, confidence and courage. The great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung clarified the question of nation in a fresh light on the basis of the Juche idea in his early years, advanced the original idea of great national unity and brilliantly applying it throughout the history of the struggle for national liberation, the building of a new state and the reunification of the country, set a noble example of great national unity.
The great leader's idea of great national unity encourages all classes of society to unite solidly to safeguard and realize national independence by placing the common desire and interests of the nation above everything else regardless of difference in ideology and ideals, political views and religious beliefs, property status and social positions.
The Juche idea scientifically elucidated for the first time the law of the development of the nation and the basis of national unity. The country and nation are the home of people as well as the basic unit for the people to shape their destiny. Since the people live and shape their destiny within the unit of the nation-state, the destiny of the members of the nation is inseparably linked with the destiny of the nation, and the basic question in shaping the nation's destiny boils down to safeguarding and realizing national independence. Nobody can live separately from his country and nation, and no class and no section of the nation can shape its destiny properly unless the independence of the nation is ensured. A nation has its traits that
have been shaped and consolidated historically as well as its common desire and interests that transcend the difference of classes and strata. The national traits and common interests constitute the basis of national unity on which to bind different classes and strata of the nation in a broad spectru