On the Occasion of the 113th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung
Thanks to the firm revolutionary will of the Workers’ Party of Korea to bring about shining efflorescence of socialist civilization on our land in our own way and with our own resources, entities for a new life and for new wellbeing are being created one after another in different parts of the country. In these days of rejuvenation, a modern coastal resort has been developed on the Kalma peninsula, famous for its beautiful coastal scenery, greeting the auspicious moment of its inauguration.
In the Wonsan Kalma area hundreds of buildings of modern beauty and in various forms have been built in harmony with the scenery of the coastal area widely known for its outstanding landscape from olden times, achieving a perfect artistic compatibility and connectivity. The area is a coastal resort town of our own style without an equal in the world both in name and reality.
From among the hotels that can accommodate nearly 20 000 persons, the tourists from home and abroad can choose any one to stay according to their tastes. The tourist area has sea-bathing service facilities and various sports, amusement, commercial and public catering facilities fully equipped with all the necessary conditions, as well as facilities for other cultural and leisure activities, which can offer all year round the real taste of the east coast, presenting a wonderful picture of a 4km-long stretch of beach to be crowded with the people every year.
The transformation of the Wonsan Kalma area, a great auspicious event of the whole country, is a brilliant fruition of the profound thinking and inexhaustible efforts of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, who unfolded a grand blueprint for building a world- class cultural resort and saw to it that all the architectural structures were perfectly built staking the dignity of our state and the honour of our generation. It is also a prelude to a new era of our country’s tourism that was ushered in by the great spirit of service of the Workers’ Party of Korea which is steadily carving out new spheres of socialist civilization and important cultural progress that set up an epochal milestone in the building of the tourist industry of our own style.
The inaugural ceremony of the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area, a proud and inspiring creation that redoubles the patriotic enthusiasm of our people to lead the world, was held with splendour on June 24.
The venue of the inaugural ceremony was full of pride of the builders, who triumphantly built a wonderful tourist resort for the people by upholding the noble intention of the great Party Central Committee with a vigorous struggle and extraordinary mettle of creation, and the joy of the working people, who were to witness the birth of the proud coastal resort town of national value.
The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un attended the inaugural ceremony.When Kim Jong Un arrived, stormy cheers of “Hurrah!” resounded far and wide.All the participants paid the highest tribute to Kim Jong Un, the great artist of creation and construction and the dear father, who is ushering in a new era of prosperity and development, filled with happy laughter of the people, with an ardent desire to provide his beloved people with a brighter and richer new life and civilization and with his brilliant wisdom and energetic leadership practice.
Present at the ceremony were members of the central leadership of the WPK including leading cadres of the Party and the government, officials of ministries and national agencies, military and civilian builders, officials and employees of the units in charge of construction and operation and officials, working people and youth and students in Kangwon Province and the city of Wonsan.
The ambassador and staff members of the Russian embassy in the DPRK were invited as special guests.
The national anthem of the DPRK was played.
Pak Thae Song, premier of the DPRK Cabinet, made an inaugural address.
The inauguration of the coastal resort, which has emerged on the beautiful Kalma peninsula as a masterpiece of Korean-style tourism, demonstrating the tremendous might and rapid development of our state, is clear proof of the inexhaustible creative and vigorous executive abilities of socialist Korea which steadily writes new chapters of history of gigantic transformations and civilization, the premier said, extending warm militant tribute on behalf of the Central Committee of the WPK and the government of the DPRK to all the builders who have powerfully demonstrated the mettle of the country that proudly paves the way for an eye-opening development towards the future with such a precious asset.
He went on:
The Kalma peninsula, which can be called a coastal scenic spot with the best ecological environment, has assumed a new elegant and modern appearance–this is an epochal transformation that can be brought about only by our Party. It is a symbol of the great dignity and wellbeing of the people, created thanks to the people-first politics of our Party and the socialist system of our own style. Herein lies the true meaning of the coastal resort and charm peculiar to it and the noble height no other tourist attractions can reach.
He said that Kim Jong Un energetically led the work of making sure that the worthwhile grand construction project for providing our people with the most civilized resort in the world was dynamically pushed ahead with as a Party-wide and national drive.
The speaker noted that Kim Jong Un broadened the vision of the officials while giving meticulous guidance for thousands of designs, saw to it that all the structures in the resort were completed at the highest level and gave detailed solutions to all the problems including those of developing unique service methods and capabilities, stressing that his important instructions are a great encyclopedia that comprehensively encapsulates the orientation and ways for building a tourist industry in the new era, and he continued:
The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un visited the windy construction site several times a year, calling upon the builders to present a tourist attraction without an equal in the world to the people by building it into a cultural recreation ground. His ardent appeal redoubled the loyalty and patriotic faith of all the builders and powerfully encouraged them to a heroic labour struggle. Taking to heart their sacred mission of implementing the intention of the great Party Central Committee on the road of opening a new realm of tourist culture, the builders successfully set up grand miraculous edifices, creating an amazing construction speed, advanced building methods and exemplary experiences one after another.
The erection of the world-level coastal resort town, the most wonderful maritime park, by our own efforts is a source of valuable honour and worth of our generation holding in high esteem the great leader who is writing a new chapter of history of rejuvenation and prosperity in which men, mountains, rivers and times are undergoing change beyond recognition through a dynamic construction revolution. The Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area will shine as a monument to the people-first idea and leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
The eye-opening transformation in the Kalma peninsula made with an indomitable pioneering spirit and fortitude represents a new watershed for comprehensive rejuvenation to be surely reached by our state and people despite all difficulties. The premier then called upon all the people to make a dynamic advance with higher ideals and dreams for the future of our state which will be turned into a paradise for the people along the road indicated by the Party Central Committee. Kim Jong Un cut the inaugural tape.
Enthusiastic cheers were raised, fireworks of celebrations set off and balloons released, beautifully decorating the clear and blue sky over Myongsasimni.
Together with leading officials of the Party and the government, Kim Jong Un went round various places of the resort including the Myongsasimni Water Park, Kalma Moranbong Hotel and Myongsasimni Hotel.
Enjoying a bird’s-eye view of the coastal tourist town presenting a wonderful scene, he said with great satisfaction that what he most wanted to do for the people and to which the Party devoted a great deal of effort for a long time with cherished desire were translated into a brilliant reality, and that our inexhaustible pioneering spirit was fully demonstrated once again through the gigantic construction project.
Noting that all the structures in the Wonsan Kalma area are monumental edifices that comprehensively represent the mature phase of our architecture which has made a rapid leap forward with each passing year, he expressed his deep emotion over the building of an eye-opening entity to be recorded as one of the greatest successes for this year of rounding off the implementation of the decisions of the Eighth Congress of the WPK.
Saying that the coastal resort should play a leading role in establishing our tourist culture, he stressed the need for all the units in charge of its operation to provide all tourists to the scenic spot on the east coast with the highest level of convenience and leisure space in order to help them spend pleasant and satisfactory days.
Noting that in our country with diverse and rich tourism resources and political stability and institutional durability peculiar to it, its tourist industry is of great prospective significance as a motive power promoting the efflorescence and development of the cultural field and the advancement of the relevant regions and contributing to the overall economic growth of the state, he indicated an important orientation for expanding and developing our style of tourism on a large scale.
He said that development of the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area is the proud first step on the road of implementing the policy of the Party and the government on the development of cultural tourism and the Ninth Congress of the WPK will confirm an important plan for developing large promising tourist resorts of various types in different regions in the shortest time possible on the basis of the successes and experiences gained in the development of the Kalma peninsula.
An art performance was given to celebrate the inauguration of the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area.
The night of celebration was full of jubilation with famous songs portraying the stirring spirit of the prosperous times, in which every dream and ideal are being translated into a brilliant reality along with the efflorescing socialist civilization, the fervent hope for the future and the burning patriotic enthusiasm, as well as with gorgeous fireworks.
Kim Jong Un expressed belief that the wave of happiness to be raised in the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area will shine its attractive name as a world-level tourist resort, heralding the future of paradises to be built in different parts of the country.
The eye-opening landscape of civilization and sea change on the beautiful beach on the east coast, unveiled thanks to the most people-oriented view of the WPK on the development of the state, will shine long as a cultural treasure that brings the people’s laughter into full bloom year after year, demonstrating the inexhaustible development potential and valiant pioneering spirit peculiar to our state that is confidently ushering in a promising new era of prosperity.
The Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area will start service for the domestic tourists on July 1.
KCNA
Shown here are children at Kyongsang Kindergarten of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, who are playing at being doctors.
Shown here are frolicking primary school children of the DPRK. Their uniforms, bags plus school things and shoes are all supplied to them at state expense.
The nurses and teachers of the baby homes and orphanages in the DPRK work devotedly and take parental care of the children, who call them mother with good grace.
It is a consistent policy of the DPRK to set a great store by children and to ensure their rights and interests on a preferential basis.
True to Article 8 of the Law of the DPRK on Children’s Rights, the country provides every possible thing, best and special, necessary for the children’s health, education and life on the principle of “Best Things to Children!”
Article 23 of the law stipulates that a child has the right to receive the universal 12-year compulsory education that is given free of charge. This education system covers a systematic period from pre-school course to primary and middle school courses. Under this system, the Korean children learn to their heart’s content provided by the state with uniforms, satchels, footwear, school things and others.
Every child is entitled to universal 12-year compulsory education in the DPRK.
Children’s palaces, halls and camps are seen in good places and scenic spots across the DPRK. There is the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace in the capital city of Pyongyang. After school children go to such facilities to conduct extracurricular activities according to their tastes and hopes. The Songdowon International Children’s Camp on the east coast of the country and other camps elsewhere are good centres for children.
Songdowon International Children’s Camp
A flock of Korean and Russian children had a good time at the Songdowon International Children’s Camp in July last year. Everything in the camp is arranged in such a way that it suits our mind and it is not so much a camp but a palace, said a member of the Russian camping group. At the camp we came to know more clearly that the DPRK is a children’s paradise, said another member.
Russian children enjoy at the Songdowon International Children’s Camp in the DPRK.
Along with the right to receive education, the right to receive medical care is part of the vital children’s rights that have direct influence on their growth and development.
According to the Law of the DPRK on Children’s Rights, a child has the right to receive free medical care. The state bears all the expenses for the prevention and treatment of diseases and this benefit goes to the children across the country. For example, there is Okryu Children’s Hospital in Pyongyang which is equipped with expensive latest medical facilities.
Okryu Children’s Hospital in the DPRK’s capital city of Pyongyang
It is not that the DPRK is so rich that it unsparingly invests a huge amount of money for the children. The Workers’ Party of Korea and the DPRK government are determined to exert more sincerity to the children even if the condition becomes worse and to take dynamic steps forward towards the future of communism by dint of that love.
The Law of the DPRK on Childcare stipulates that the state shall establish a well-knit system for the production and supply of nutritious foods to the children, supply them dairy products and other nutritious foods for free and on a regular basis, and provide them with the best conditions for their upbringing.
Accordingly, the DPRK attaches importance to the provision of dairy products to the children as a state affair. According to a well-established national system, dairy goods and other nutritious foods are supplied even to those in the most remote areas every day.
Article 31 of the Law of the DPRK on Children’s Rights specifies that the children without parental or guardian’s support shall be brought up at baby homes, orphanages and schools for orphans at state expense.
Facilities for orphans can be found in scenic places not only in the capital city but also in different parts of the country. So impressive are the bright looks of orphans who are frolicking free from any worries under the state’s unusual care.
While in the DPRK, foreign visitors sometimes have an opportunity to visit a baby home or orphanage. They will be surprised to know that what looks like the best building either in Pyongyang or in local areas is just a baby home or orphanage, and they will also find themselves misled by the Western media at the sight of the unbelievably happy orphans, the tender-hearted teachers looking after them as good as their own parents, and modern upbringing and educational facilities.
In conclusion, the DPRK’s childcare-related laws serve as rich soil for upbringing all the children healthily and with nothing to envy.
Ju Su Hyang, a girl with disabilities, has learned dancing in the dance group at the Korea Art Association of Persons with Disabilities since she was 14.
Ju plays a leading role in one of her successful dance pieces.
Ju recites a poem in sign language.
Ju Su Hyang, a girl with hearing impairment, brings her dream of becoming a dance star into full bloom at the Korea Art Association of Persons with Disabilities.
Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace in the DPRK’s capital city of Pyongyang.
Members of the janggo group at the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace.
Group members are often awarded prizes at national art festivals.
Children prepare themselves to be players of kayagum, janggo (hourglass drum) and other traditional musical instruments at the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace in Pyongyang, the capital city of the DPRK.
Children at Pyongyang Orphanage have fun making dolls and animals with coloured clay. This is one of the most-awaited activities for the orphans.
A school-opening ceremony held on April 1 at the Korean Rehabilitation Centre for Children with Disabilities.
Under the state care children with disabilities are fully provided with conditions for rehabilitation treatment and education.
In the DPRK children with disabilities are provided with satisfactory conditions for their rehabilitation, upbringing and education at the Korean Rehabilitation Centre for Children with Disabilities and other facilities.
Foreigners who have visited baby homes, orphanages, primary and middle schools for orphans in the capital city of Pyongyang and local areas during their stay in the DPRK say that the orphans in the country are blessed children.
Best Homes
Orphans in the DPRK live in palatial houses. Typical examples are Pyongyang Baby Home and Pyongyang Orphanage on the bank of the Taedong River. Built in 2014, they are equipped with all necessary facilities for the upbringing and education of orphans. After visiting them, members of diplomatic missions in the DPRK and their spouses said that they would like to grow their children there. Following the baby home and orphanage in Pyongyang, similar buildings have been newly built in Wonsan and other parts of the country. Besides, modern primary and middle schools for orphans have also been built in different regions. These facilities provide orphans with splendid living conditions.
State Provides Everything
In the DPRK the state takes full responsibility for providing all living conditions for orphans. A fishery station dedicated to orphans was organized, and a well-knit system is in place for providing them with new clothes, shoes and school things according to seasons, as well as foods, non-staple foods and confectionery. Even fresh and dried persimmons are regularly provided to them. On June 1, the International Children’s Day, and June 6, the founding day of the Korean Children’s Union, and other holidays, they are supplied with special foodstuffs so that they can spend the holidays happily.
All the facilities for orphans have medical workers who take care of them.
The primary and middle schools for orphans are more advanced than any other schools in the country in terms of educational conditions and environment.
They Are Not Parentless
It is none other than General Secretary Kim Jong Un who proposed building new and admirable baby homes, orphanages, primary and middle schools for orphans across the country and solved all problems arising in their construction during his several visits to the Pyongyang Baby Home and the Pyongyang Orphanage under construction. On New Year’s Day in 2015, he went straight to see orphans to spend the holiday with them just after delivering his new year address. He showed parental affection for the children, kissing them on the cheek, seeing them having meal and listening to their singing.
He made sure that a fishery station was built exclusively for orphans across the country and that a well-regulated system was established for looking after them. That’s why orphans in the country call Kim Jong Un their father and the Workers’ Party of Korea their mother.
Foreign visitors unexceptionally express their admiration for the DPRK in which ordinary working people are enjoying life to their heart’s content.
No one is unemployed in the country. Everyone who is able to work is entitled to choose a job according to their desires and aptitudes, and is provided with a stable job by the state. The sanatoriums and holiday camps built across the country are contributing to the promotion of the public health. It is especially helpful for working mothers that nurseries, kindergartens, children’s hospitals and other relevant public amenities are in place.
Dwelling houses built at state expense are provided to working people for free.
In recent years alone, ordinary teachers, scientists, technicians, workers and farmers have moved to modern houses in attractive streets in the capital city and new villages around the country.
A flock of people are happy to move into new houses after the completion of the third-stage 10 000 flats construction project in the Hwasong area in April 2025.
The country is dotted by modern bases for leisure activities like Munsu Water Park and advanced medical facilities such as Okryu Children’s Hospital and Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital.
It is worth noting that ordinary working people have free access to such modern buildings and latest facilities in which a huge sum of money was invested.
Of particular note is that the DPRK is pushing forward with the Regional Development 20×10 Policy to build industrial factories, healthcare facilities, leisure complexes and grain storage facilities, which will boost the basic material and cultural living standards of the regional people making up the overwhelming majority of its population.
Korean media say that everything serves the working people in the DPRK and it is the supreme principle of its state activities to promote their wellbeing. The international community needs to think what it really means.
Munsu Water Park
Working people receive treatment at a dental hospital equipped with modern facilities.
The 17-ton-class torpedo boat (No. 21) in the photo took part as command ship in a naval battle in the waters off Jumunjin during the Korean war (1950-1953), sinking the US Navy’s 17 300-ton-class heavy cruiser Baltimore and damaging a 14 000-ton-class light cruiser.
The boat which was awarded the title of DPRK Hero is on display at the open-air weapons exhibition section of the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in the capital city of Pyongyang.
Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, is revered as a genuine leader of the people, who loves them infinitely and devotes his all to them.
There is neither famous man in the world who does not speak about the people nor statesman who does not raise a slogan for their good. However, they are probably nowhere near as noble as Kim Jong Un in the outlook on the people.
The Most Sacred Being
To see the personality traits of Kim Jong Un as the leader of the people, it is needed to know above anything else what outlook he has on the people.
People are the most sacred and almighty. Everything can be worthwhile only when it serves them, and nothing can be placed above them. This is what he thinks in regard to the people.
Once Kim Jong Un said to the officials that he seemed to see Chairman Kim Jong Il in the people, whom the Chairman had entrusted to him, and that it was his earnest intention to hold them in high esteem just as he did the Chairman and to work wholeheartedly for the sake of them.
On another occasion he said: It was the noble outlook on the people of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il and their lifetime motto that the people should be regarded as Heaven and that even a star should be plucked from the sky and flowers be brought into bloom even on a rock if the people want them. And he added that it is the Workers’ Party of Korea’s view on the people that it should hold them, whom the President and the Chairman regarded as Heaven, in high esteem as it did the President and the Chairman, with the people in mind as the images of the great leaders.
That is why he makes sure that top and absolute priority is given to the rights and convenience of the people when putting forward a single line or policy and carrying it out.
He formulated the essence of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism, the guiding ideology of the WPK, as the people-first principle, came up with the idea of embodying the people-first principle in the whole society, and ensured that the WPK and the government further commit themselves to devotedly serving the people in all their activities.
Most Sagacious Mentors
President Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs of the DPRK believes people are his most sagacious mentor.
In this country there is a slogan “Everything for the people and everything by relying on them!” Coined by Kim Jong Un in the days when he started to lead the country, the slogan serves as the fundamental principle and mode of activities of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea and the state.
He undertakes everything by relying entirely on masses of the people.
In his speech delivered at the military parade held in celebration of the 75th founding anniversary of the WPK in October 2020, he said that the Korean people are an omnipotent creator of history who have always provided the WPK with wisdom and resourcefulness as a wise mentor, infused it with inexhaustible strength and courage, defended its plans and lines at the cost of their lives, supported them sincerely and turned them into brilliant reality.
The source of all miracles is not any mysterious power given by the heaven, but the inexhaustible strength of the people and nothing is impossible if one relies on it—this is the political creed of the Korean leader.
As a man of such political creed, he always visits the people first to have a heart-to-heart talk with them and works out a strategy to overcome hardships whenever enormous and difficult tasks crop up. And the people accept his trust as the most valuable thing and support his leadership with one mind and will.
Today the single-hearted unity of the leader and the people is being further consolidated and world-startling successes are being achieved one after another in the DPRK. This is, in the final analysis, a fruition of his politics of trust in the people.
Most Precious Wealth
Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, sees the people’s trust in him as his most precious wealth.
The people’s absolute trust in their leader is a unique social phenomenon prevailing the whole Korean society. That trust is the most ardent and sincere as it is something they have cherished as their faith while they are supporting his idea and leadership.
Kim Jong Un regards such trust as the most valuable wealth, which he would not barter for any fame and millions of tons of gold, and as a source of inexhaustible strength with which to overcome any fear and impossibility.
Addressing the military parade held in celebration of the 75th founding anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, he said that he solemnly swears once again that he will live up to the people’s trust without fail even if his body is torn and crushed to pieces on the way of defending their great trust and that he will remain faithful to that trust. And he ended his speech with “Long live our great people!”
This being the case, he has braved a number of great challenges without hesitation to live up to the trust.
Today the wonderful structures springing up in the country, various strategic weapons demonstrating its inexhaustible national defence capabilities, and all other achievements can be described as miracles Kim Jong Un has brought about with the people’s trust as a source of unlimited strength.
Devoted Service
Making selfless, devoted efforts for the good of the people is the core of the politics of Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs of the DPRK. Even a star should be plucked from the sky if the people want it; there cannot be satisfaction in the work for them; I must work harder and harder for their happiness until my shoes are worn out; and the trouble for the sake of them is just my duty and highest honour—this represents his spirit of selfless devotion to the people.
With this spirit, Kim Jong Un continues his people-bound journey. On this road, he does not care about his own safety.
The world people probably saw Kim Jong Un visiting pharmacies to take necessary measures to protect the lives of his people from the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, he, on a small rubber boat, inspected the flood-hit areas on the northwestern border of the country and took relevant measures for their rehabilitation on the spot.
Saying that he would feel relieved when he himself visited the stricken areas, he crossed a makeshift railway bridge by train, a bridge whose piers had been built with logs. And he guided the rescue work, staying in the afflicted area prone to danger till he confirmed every flood victim was evacuated.
Such deeds found an echo in the hearts of many around the world, who said as follows:
“There has been no state leader who personally commanded the rescue operation in the flood-hit areas,” “It was an unheard-of story that a head of state visited such a dangerous place on a rubber boat,” “The genuine head of state regarding the pain of the people as his own!” “The true leader of the people who stays with them at a critical moment!” and “Homage to the Korean leader who has firmly defended the people’s lives and security!”
Kim Jong Un has an inborn disposition of devoting his all to the people and cultivates a large flower garden of love for them. Indeed, he is a benevolent father of the people.
Embassy in Pyongyang to Mark Russia’s Great V-Day
Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, paid a congratulatory visit to the Russian embassy in Pyongyang on May 9 on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Russia’s victory in the Great Patriotic War.
He was accompanied by his dear daughter.
He was also accompanied by Choe Son Hui, foreign minister of the DPRK, Jo Yong Won, Pak Jong Chon and Ri Hi Yong, secretaries of the Central Committee of the WPK, No Kwang Chol, minister of National Defence of the DPRK, and other leading Party, government and military officials.
The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un was courteously greeted by Alexandr Matsegora, Russian ambassador to the DPRK, and major members of the embassy.
Lovely Russian children presented fragrant bouquets to Kim Jong Un who was visiting the embassy with the warm feelings and comradeship of the Korean people for the fraternal Russian people.
Saying that he was visiting the embassy to convey the best wishes of our Party, government and people to the leadership of the Russian Federation and fraternal Russian people through the ambassador on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of victory in the war, he warmly congratulated the embassy staff on greeting the most sacred and auspicious holiday of their country, and continued:
May 9 is the day of the precious victory won by the Russian people at the cost of their blood for the destiny of their motherland and mankind and for justice, and the day which etched immortal dignity and glory in the history of Russia and recorded great epochal significance in the world history of struggle against fascism and aggression. Our state and people regard this day as a holiday common to their country and Russia and share joy with the friends of the ally.
The ambassador and his embassy staff extended their heartfelt thanks to Kim Jong Un who visited the embassy on their great V-day to express his sincere congratulations and full support and encouragement to their country, Russia, and its people.
A flower basket of best wishes sent by Kim Jong Un to the Russian people on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War was conveyed.
Written on the ribbon of the flower basket were the letters, reading “I pay the highest tribute and best wishes to the Russian people on the occasion of the great V-day. On behalf of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Kim Jong Un”
Kim Jong Un made a congratulatory speech.
He expressed his impression of having an opportunity to personally convey the tender feeling and intention of the Korean people running towards the Russian people on the occasion of Russia’s great V-day. And on behalf of the Party and government, armed forces of the Republic and all the Korean people, he extended warm congratulations to the president of the Russian Federation, the leadership of Russia, the courageous Russian army, all the Russian people, war veterans and others who performed meritorious wartime service.
He mentioned the historic traditions of relationship between the two countries that have written countless and indelible chapters of friendship and solidarity over the past more than 80 years, the immortal feats of the Soviet army and people who saved peace of the planet and destiny and civilization of mankind, the historic meaning of the May 9 holiday immutable along with those feats and the firmness of the DPRK-Russia alliance proved at the cost of blood. He expressed the belief that Russia will surely achieve the great cause of building a great power and wholeheartedly wished the Russian people lasting prosperity and happiness.
Amid the enthusiastic applause, Kim Jong Un personally conveyed to the Russian ambassador a joint congratulatory message sent by the Central Committee of the WPK, the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK, the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK and the Cabinet of the DPRK to the leadership of the Russian Federation and all the Russian people.
The ambassador, on behalf of the leadership of the Russian Federation and all the Russian people, paid the highest tribute to the head of state of the DPRK, who is adding lustre to the historic significance of Russia’s victory in the Great Patriotic War with his speech of enthusiastic and meaningful congratulations and encouragement for further consolidating the DPRK-Russia alliance.
A flower basket in the name of Kim Jong Un was laid before The Eternal Flame, symbolic of the heroic lives and feats of the unknown soldiers.
Kim Jong Un paid high tribute to the martyrs, respectfully recollecting them who defended the dignity and sovereignty of their country and global peace and security at the cost of their lives in the grimmest years.
With boundless reverence all the Russian embassy staff warmly saw off
Kim Jong Un who left a sacred footprint to be specially recorded in the history of the DPRK-Russia friendship and solidarity with a long history and good traditions.
The sacred common cause of the peoples of the two countries for building powerful states and achieving international justice is sure to emerge victorious, and the great DPRK-Russia friendship that has been put on the basis of the most wonderful alliance will be everlasting.
KCNA
Over the whole period of his leadership over the revolution, Kim Il Sung, eternal president of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, made sure that all policies and lines of the state were adopted in accordance with the actual conditions of the country and the desires of the people, and implemented them on the strength of the people’s exertions. In economic construction, too, he led the country to build an independent economy based on domestic resources and technology, not a one that is dependent on foreign support.
He advanced the basic line of socialist economic construction on giving priority to the development of heavy industry while developing light industry and agriculture simultaneously. In accordance with the line, heavy-industry bases were laid in different parts of the country, making it possible to produce most of the materials, fuels, power and machinery needed in the country by using domestic natural resources.
The light industry sector pushed ahead with the technical renovation of regional industry factories as well as large-sized centrally-run ones; meanwhile, the agricultural sector effected a great change in production by carrying out the programme of socialist rural construction put forward by the President. As it has relied on the foundations of the independent national economy provided by the President, the DPRK could indefatigably follow the road of independence, self sufficiency and self-reliant defence over the whole period of socialist construction, in defiance of manifold trials and obstacles.
Now the Korean people, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, are opening a new era of comprehensive socialist development by exerting the invincible might of self-respect and self-reliance.
Women teachers in the DPRK receive warm congratulations from their disciples
and students on the March 8 International Women’s Day.
Gifts are given to women in token of warm love and respect for them.
Korean women are held in respect as flowers of their families and society.
At the Sci-Tech Complex
At the Natural History Museum
At the Masikryong Ski Resort
The Korean school children spend their winter vacation with a variety of activities.
Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital
Medical workers engaged in a discussion on ophthalmic diseases
There is Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital in the Munsu area in Pyongyang, the capital city of the DPRK.
The hospital conducts a range of operations and treatment for different ophthalmic diseases including vitreoretinopathy regarded worldwide as a refractory disease, bringing sight back to many patients.
Newly Added Three Construction Tasks
The DPRK’s regional development policy in the new era can be said to be the outcome of the constant thinking and devotion of Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, who is determined to provide the people across the country with a more civilized living environment.
In August last year he took new important measures to bring earlier the radical development of regions and the overall prosperity of the country.
As regards the effort to push for the Regional Development 20×10 Policy geared to effect a remarkable change in the development of the regional economy and the improvement of the people’s living standards, he indicated a new orientation to further speed up the regional rejuvenation by promoting the construction of healthcare and grain storage facilities and sci-tech dissemination bases in parallel with the ongoing construction of regional-industry factories.
Several days later he convened a consultative meeting in a simple tent on the spot where he clarified the principles to be adhered to in building advanced hospitals, sci-tech dissemination bases and grain storage facilities in cities and counties.
He thought that the policy for regional development in the new era should not be confined to the construction of light-industry factories but should be a comprehensive policy dealing with public health, science and education and that only then can it make a genuine contribution to the improvement of regional people’s material and cultural life and radically improve the efficiency of regional development.
That day he said that it is his first and foremost cherished desire to have city and county hospitals built, which will greatly contribute to improving the regional public health situation, which is relatively inferior, and protecting the lives of the regional people and promoting their health.
He made an important speech, titled, Let Us Make Redoubled Efforts for the Prosperity of Our Great State, on September 9, 2024, to mark the 76th founding anniversary of the DPRK. In the speech he referred once again to the importance and significance of the three construction projects newly added to the Regional Development 20×10 Policy.
Later he underlined the need to build the sci-tech dissemination centres, part of the newly added construction projects, not only as sci-tech learning bases equipped with latest IT means but also as multi-functional leisure complexes furnished with facilities for the people to watch films and enjoy sports and cultural activities, commercial outlets, as well as various other welfare service facilities.
True to his intention, the construction of advanced healthcare and grain storage facilities and leisure complexes in addition to regional-industry factories goes full steam ahead.
Thanks to the devoted service of Kim Jong Un, the foundations of light industry are being consolidated in the country and a new era of regional rejuvenation is being unfolded, in which the environment for sustainable development based on modern civilization and technology will be created and an improved livelihood will be provided to the people.
Today the DPRK has greeted a new era of change, an era of prosperity. The country is achieving rapid change and development under the leadership of General Secretary Kim Jong Un of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
Creations Embodying People’s Dream and Ideal
The people-first principle constitutes the core of the idea and leadership of Kim Jong Un. All the creations made under his guidance embody the people’s dream and ideal to lead a happier and more civilized life.
This is well evidenced by the structures built across the country in 2024. The 10 000 flats in the Hwasong area in the capital city of Pyongyang, tens of thousands of rural houses in different parts of the country, the Kangdong Combined Greenhouse Farm and the Kwangchon Chicken Farm are the fruition of the energetic leadership of Kim Jong Un to realize the ideal of the people to lead a more civilized and happier life as early as possible. In particular, the construction of regional-industry factories aimed at improving the material and cultural life of the people across the country in ten years went full steam ahead, with the result that modern regional-industry factories were built in 20 cities and counties last year.
Once Kim Jong Un visited the Paektusan Institute of Architecture, a model and standard of the designing sector. There he stressed that designers should reflect the socialist civilization in the era of the Workers’ Party, the ideal and dream of the people, in every dot and line placed on a blueprint.
50 or 100 Years...
Kim Jong Un gave field guidance in the city of Samjiyon of Ryanggang Province in November 2021. The renovation of the city, he said, is just the first step and the beginning of the effort to realize the strategic plan of the WPK to develop over 200 cities and counties throughout the country simultaneously. And he emphasized that in the development of cities and counties, designing should be done in such a way as to embody the grand plan of the WPK looking forward to 50 or 100 years, the idea of the WPK and the sentiments of the people so that we can feel proud before coming generations. Thanks to his far-reaching attitude towards creation, the city was transformed into a prototype of a modern mountain city. Now it is developing into a unique all-season mountainous tourist complex.
Whenever he presides over important meetings and visits construction sites, he calls upon officials to carry out any task, not seeing immediate reality but looking far into the future, so that it can meet the people’s ideal and can be impeccable even in the distant future.
Original and Unremitting Creation
The DPRK comes under global spotlight with large-scale political events including peculiar midnight military parade, each showing novel and original aspects, as well as the new modern streets in the capital city and other edifices built across the country.
It is said that Kim Jong Un examines the designs of many structures and emphasizes the necessity to avoid repetition and preserve unique qualities in all buildings.
At the Eleventh Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the WPK in December 2024, Kim Jong Un saw to it that the construction of advanced healthcare and grain management facilities and leisure complex essential for regional development in parallel with that of regional-industry factories was formally included in the Party’s new Regional Development 20×10 Policy which is powerfully promoted under its leadership. As a result, the construction drive for regional rejuvenation is now making headway on a wider scale in the country.
The DPRK is a state where the people are the masters of everything and everything serves them. Under the socialist system free from exploitation and oppression, the Koreans live in harmony, helping and leading each other forward. It is self-evident that such a country will have a peace-loving character and such people will love peace more than anyone else.
In the mid-20th century, the Korean people suffered a three-year war (1950-1953) ignited by the US. And over the subsequent decades, they have been subjected to constant war threats and nuclear blackmail amid acute military confrontation with the US. In the course of this, they have keenly realized how precious peace is.
In retrospect, they have consistently made sincere efforts to ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and beyond, taking peace as one of the basic ideals of their foreign policy and one of the fundamental principles of their external activities since the founding of the DPRK on September 9, 1948. It is noteworthy that the DPRK is the first to propose establishing a nuclear-free peace zone in the world before such an issue came to the fore.
However, the DPRK’s peace initiatives and efforts, and its people’s desire for peace, have always faced grave challenges.
With its military presence in the ROK for almost eight decades, the US has committed huge armed forces and many nuclear weapons to the Korean peninsula and its vicinity and constantly brought political and diplomatic pressure to bear upon the DPRK and perpetrated military provocations against the country. This is proved by the ROK-US joint military drills that have been intensified year on year.
Such being the case, peace has been maintained on the Korean peninsula. This owes much to the DPRK’s consistent peace-loving efforts and its reliable war deterrent. It is, therefore, quite natural that the DPRK asserted that building a nuclear deterrent is the best way to safeguard its security and regional peace from the escalating nuclear blackmail.
In recent years the country has possessed all the absolute weapons monopolized by the nuclear powers and has steadily implemented practical measures to provide for the long-term nuclear confrontation with the US. For example, it conducted a test-fire of the new-type ICBM Hwasongpho-18, a prospective core pivotal means of its strategic forces and a powerful war deterrent, in April 2023, and it successfully test-fired Hwasongpho-19, the latest ICBM of ultimate version and a new ultra-powerful offensive means, in October 2024.
In January, it declared it succeeded in the test-fire of new-type intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile in a special event that would bolster up its capabilities for self-defence. The local media said that this hypersonic missile system will be able to deter any enemies in the Pacific region from affecting its security.
The world community knows well that as long as nuclear weapons are in the hands of the peace-loving Korean people, they will guarantee global peace.
It is needed to cite a line of the speech made by General Secretary Kim Jong Un in the military parade held to celebrate the 75th founding anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, in which he said that our war deterrent is being developed definitely not for aiming at others but for defending ourselves.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea held a groundbreaking ceremony for a hospital and a leisure complex in Kangdong County on February 6. Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, dug the first spadeful of earth at the ceremony.
For Opening Up New Realm and Stage of Rural Development
As is known, the DPRK is pushing ahead with the building of modern regional-industry factories in cities and counties across the country according to the Regional Development Policy 20 x 10 Policy advanced by Kim Jong Un. Last year such factories sprang up successively in 20 cities and counties including Songchon County in no less than one year. Similar factories will be built in another 20 cities and counties.
However, Kim Jong Un thought that the signs of underdeveloped character of the regions can be found more largely in the sphere of cultural life than in that of material life and that therefore, building several regional-industry factories in cities and counties is not sufficient to accelerate regional rejuvenation. Thus the Workers’ Party of Korea, at the Eleventh Plenary Meeting of its Eighth Central Committee, officially included in this regional development policy the additional construction of a public health facility, a multifunctional leisure complex and a grain management facility in every city and county across the country.
Stepping Up Building of Prosperous Country with New Qualitative
Change
The leisure complex to be built in Kangdong County will not be merely a sci-tech learning base furnished with high-performance IT means and databases of various up-to-date sci-tech achievements, it will also be a multifunctional cultural base which consists of spaces where the people can see films and enjoy sports and cultural activities, as well as commercial outlets and various other welfare service facilities. The hospital, too, will be a modern public health institution with all its elements meeting the specialized technical requirements.
In the speech he made at the groundbreaking ceremony, Kim Jong Un said: The new hospitals to be built in cities and counties will be divided into four categories according to the population of each region. This year hospitals will be built in Kangdong County, Ryonggang County and the city of Kusong, one in each region and all these three of different sizes, on a trial basis. This year we should build these hospitals as model facilities and accumulate experience in doing so. Then, starting next year, we are planning to set up hospitals in 20 cities and counties simultaneously, one in each region, on an annual basis.
This plan, when executed, will bring about a substantial and qualitative change in regional rejuvenation.
The groundbreaking ceremony imbues all the Korean people with conviction and optimism that they can enjoy civilized life, receiving advanced medical treatment in their relevant regions.
The grand construction struggle in 2025 to implement the regional development policy in the new era started thanks to the grand intention of the Central Committee of the great Workers’ Party of Korea to steadily carry forward the era of great rejuvenation when 20 cities and counties across the country undergo change every year, while making greater and more correct and responsible strides for epochal transformation aimed at dynamically rejuvenating the whole country to be a paradise of the people commensurate with the status and prestige of a powerful country.
The WPK, which made a breakthrough in accomplishing the historic cause of restoring the regional economy on a completely new foundation all across the country, determined the policy orientation and action plan which have been expanded and intensified to ensure the more extensive and practical development of regions and accelerate the building of a highly civilized and powerful country. On the basis of this, it unfolded an ambitious blueprint for building public health facilities, leisure complexes and grain storage stations in parallel with the construction of regional-industry factories.
The WPK intends not only to lay modern light industry foundations in all regions, but also to create a development environment, whose motive force is the progress of science, education and public health and which blooms with advanced civilization, so as to promote faster and more dynamically the rejuvenation and development of the country and the well-being of the people. This great ambition of the WPK is imposingly creating a proud chronicle of revolutionary turn to be specially kept in the history of the DPRK.
A groundbreaking ceremony of a hospital and leisure complex in Kangdong County for the Regional Development 20×10 Policy whose construction will be powerfully propelled opening up a new realm and stage of overall development was held with splendour on February 6.
The venue of the ceremony was filled with the militant enthusiasm of soldier-builders, who are determined to keep achieving leaping successes this year, too, in the same spirit and mettle they displayed to glorify with precious entities of great change the first-year struggle for implementing the great strategic programme for regional development of the WPK, and with the great excitement of the working people in Kangdong County, who are optimistic about the hope-filled future when they will be highly civilized and rich day after day along with the assets of rejuvenation to be built soon.
The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un attended the groundbreaking ceremony. When he arrived at the venue of the ceremony, all the participants raised stormy cheers.
They paid the highest tribute and glory to Kim Jong Un, the great pioneer of socialist civilization and great master of creation who set the realization of the people’s ideals as the supreme principle of activities of our Party and state and is ushering in a new era of transformation unprecedented in the history of the country when the whole country changes and prospers, in the spirit of passionate service and with the steadfast revolutionary will.
Present at the ceremony were Pak Thae Song, premier of the Cabinet of the DPRK, and other senior Party, government and military officials, members of the non-permanent committees at all levels for promoting the Regional Development 20×10 Policy, service personnel of the Korean People’s Army involved in the construction and officials and working people in Pyongyang Municipality and Kangdong County.
Kim Jong Un made a significant speech in celebration of the ceremony. Noting that the construction work for the meaningful year 2025 starts with the construction of the hospital and leisure complex in Kangdong County, he said he felt happy and was gratified that the sincerity of our Party and government would bring another wealth to the regional people and that the eye-opening changes in the new era would take place in another part of the country.
Referring to the urgency of the improvement of regional people’s cultural living environment in fundamentally and permanently removing the urban-rural gaps, he said it is the ideal result of the regional development policy to put the whole country on an even cultural level.
He said that it is the top priority of the Party and the government to make the public health sector modern and advanced, clarifying the WPK’s plan and absolute will to newly develop the sector into the soil for cultivating the strength of the life of the country and into the strong roots of regional rejuvenation and thus make the year 2025 recorded in the country’s history as the first year of the public health revolution.
Building modern public health facilities and multifunctional bases for cultural activities in cities and counties is a crucial and most pressing task that is of great strategic significance and which brooks no delay in accelerating the simultaneous and balanced development of all fields and all regions and bringing forward the complete victory of socialism, he said, affirming that the eternal prosperity of the regions precisely means the permanent future of the state and Korean-style socialism.
Saying that today’s groundbreaking ceremony marks the starting point of the great road, a decisive step forward and a major watershed for the future, he ardently called for fighting more courageously and more vigorously to achieve the great ideal of our people and the victory of our cause.
All the participants broke into cheers in great excitement, looking up to the great father who has outlined a new world of socialist civilization and enlightenment, where all the long-cherished desires and ideals of the people are translated into life and reality, and the future changes that will surely be effected through the Korean-style creative struggle. The commander of the construction regiment made a speech of pledge on behalf of the builders.
Referring to the excitement of soldier-builders to be involved in the construction of essential objects which marks the meaningful start of substantial and qualitative change in accomplishing the grand epochal cause of regional transformation, he said that they are filled with confidence as they have cultivated the genuine outlook on the people, developed the indomitable pioneering spirit and acquired great creative ability under the care of the respected Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un.
He solemnly pledged to build splendid monumental structures symbolic of the new era of regional development in Kangdong County, where a large-scale greenhouse farm had been built thanks to the great loving care of the Party, as a model for the whole country and thus glorify this year marking the 80th birthday of the WPK with great victory and glory.
Kim Jong Un dug the first spadeful of earth to signal the start of the construction project.
The venue for the groundbreaking ceremony seethed with unbridled joy as the historic scene unfolded to be specially etched in the history of victorious development of the dignified DPRK.
When Kim Jong Un pressed the button for blasting, there was a loud sound of detonation signalling the start of the project.
Fireworks were displayed amid the vivid manifestation of boundless reverence for and trust in the great Party Central Committee, which is cultivating the flower garden of all blessings to be enjoyed by all generations to come on this land, based on the idea of “The people are God”, regarding it as its absolute mission to achieve national prosperity and promote the people’s well-being.
Kim Jong Un extended warm encouragement to the soldier-builders replete with the militant morale with which to more courageously display the spirit of unconditional implementation and high executive faculty, peculiar to the KPA, in the great revolutionary work to promote the overall rejuvenation of the country.
He expressed expectation and belief that they would remain intensely loyal to their honourable duty as pioneers of transformation for the country and the people and defenders of happiness in the outpost of the struggle for realizing the cherished desire of the Party.
The splendid groundbreaking of the construction of the hospital and leisure complex in Kangdong County is a clear proof of the WPK’s firm will and matchless executive capability to most thoroughly and perfectly achieve the epochal regional transformation, the most sacred and just change demanded by the times and expected by the people, the validity and bright prospects of our cause and unwavering confidence in it.
KCNA
Comrades,
Dear residents of Kangdong County, who have turned out as one in the first stage of struggle of the new year with soaring confidence and patriotic enthusiasm,
Officers and men of the Guards hero construction unit and the 124th Regiment and members of the non-permanent promotion committee, who will open the prelude to the heroic struggle of 2025 that should be etched as another year of great victory in history,
The construction work for 2025, a meaningful year that will further enrich the successes of the first-stage pioneering struggle for the comprehensive development of socialism, is now beginning with the construction of a hospital and leisure complex here in Kangdong County.
This can be called a starting point of our efforts to achieve the ideals and ambition of the Party and government to guarantee the people their rights and interests, promote their health and build a brighter and rosier future for them. But as I have greeted the moment when the construction of the projects, which we have long aspired to implement for the precious people of this country and their vibrant beautiful life, has finally been put on the stage of execution, my heart beats with delight at the thought that we have decided on and made preparations for a truly worthwhile and proud task.
I feel happiest that the sincerity of our Party and government will bring another wealth to the regional people. It is also gratifying that the eye-opening changes in the new era will take place in another part of our country.
Through this historic groundbreaking ceremony, we are making a meaningful start to accelerate the building of a civilized and prosperous country by instilling hope and optimism in the people across the country that they will receive advanced medical services and enjoy a civilized material and cultural life in their own regions, as well as by bringing about substantial and new qualitative changes in the regions.
At this moment, when we are taking another giant step towards great changes, I extend great encouragement and warm militant greetings to the officers and men of the Guards unit and the 124th Regiment of the Capital City Defence Corps, who have advanced to the new construction sites by carrying forward their tradition of standing faithfully in the vanguard of the struggle for bringing about the prosperity of the country and wellbeing of the people.
I also extend militant greetings to the members of the design sector at all levels and the non-permanent promotion committee for regional development, who have contributed to making us launch into these projects in a short span of time through a strenuous struggle, as well as to the officials and working people in the building materials industry and other relevant sectors, who are firmly supporting the vast construction projects with unprecedented increased production, true to the decisions of the plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee for more expansive and substantial rejuvenation of the regions.
Comrades,
The first process of all our work has always been like this, but I want to make clear first what an important and great meaning we attach to the projects to be launched soon.
This is because herein lies the answer to why we must build them at a time when vast construction projects are underway and it is hard to enlist spare manpower and why we must complete them in a wonderful way in time and without fail at that.
Our Party’s plan for regional development is to ensure that the regional people not only enjoy a material life that is enjoyed by the citizens of the capital city but also lead a life in good health and without any worry in an environment that is as cultured and hygienic as in the capital city.
In other words, it can be said that the ideal result of the regional development policy is that the whole country should be put on an even cultural level, too, by building up the regions to be as wonderful as the capital city is and transforming the environment of the regional people for a cultured life.
Now it has almost become a fait accompli that with modern light-industry factories to be built in every city and county in ten years to come, the regional people will surely be able to attain the level of urbanites in material and economic life. Yet it is more than obvious that this is not all that can eliminate the ingrained cultural lag and backwardness of the regions.
At present, cities and counties are not equipped with adequate facilities for providing proper medical services to the inhabitants, nor do they have any decent welfare service facilities; so they hardly befit the cultural centres in the respective regions and the cultural standards of the regional people are far lower than those of the citizens of the capital city.
The signs of backward and underdeveloped character of the regions can be found more largely in the sphere of cultural life than in that of material life, and the most serious of the gaps between the urban communities and the rural ones is to be seen in the sectors of public health, hygienic arrangement, science and education.
As it is impossible ever to eliminate this cultural backwardness of the regions if we put off the necessary endeavour for this or that reason while refusing to accept this stark reality and simply discussing the feasibilities, the Party Central Committee made an unusual, revolutionary determination to carry out a decisive action of injecting advanced science, technology and civilization into all cities, counties and even mountain regions across the country and thus advancing forward without letup towards the already-defined goals of regional development.
There is another important point worth mentioning in our proposal for setting it as one of our immediate tasks to build modern public health facilities and multifunctional cultural amenities in cities and counties.
The principal method we should employ in developing the regions in a comprehensive way is to help them build up their own self-sustaining capability in every way while providing state guidance and assistance to them.
In other words, the state should provide sufficient material and technical foundations and conditions to the regions so that they can stand on their own feet and, on this basis, let them build up their own forces and potentials strong enough to achieve steady and sustainable development.
In view of both the lessons we have drawn from the annals of regional development which has been stagnant over the past decades, and the prospective requirements that regional development should be a powerful motive force for the development of our state, the issue of each region building their own self supporting development capability is the key to success.
The most important factor of regional transformation is to be identified in the forces of their own, which can lead their economic and cultural rejuvenation, that is, the spiritual and cultural preparedness of the regional people.
It is necessary to have well-qualified economic and technical forces in order to ensure good operation of the modern regional-industry factories which are now under construction in full swing; it is also necessary to train talented personnel systematically in order for each city or county to make effective use of their own characteristics to pave varied and unique roads for their development.
The faster the regional development gets nationwide, the higher such a demand will be; what is essential and inevitable to this end is the leisure complex whose construction we are just going to launch.
We can say that the multifunctional leisure complex will, by providing the regional people with latest science and nourishment of civilization without interruption, serve as a fertile land and a cradle for training them to be proud masters capable of running modern industry on their own and for identifying and training talented people.
I am sure that when the sci-tech learning base is furnished with high performance IT means and databases of various up-to-date sci-tech achievements, it will be of great help to the regional population, young people and children in particular, in approaching closer to modern science and civilization and acquiring the insight and qualifications needed to lead their regional economic and cultural development.
The new leisure complex will be furnished with facilities for the people to see films and enjoy sports and cultural activities, commercial outlets with a clean sanitary environment, as well as various other welfare service facilities. Needless to say, such a cultural base will be very efficient in further enlightening the people, developing richer emotional feelings in them and training them to be pioneers and creators of a new culture.
If cities and counties are to function effectively not merely as a comprehensive unit of regional development but also as a regional base leading the cultural revolution in the countryside and maintaining economic and cultural ties between urban and rural communities, they must have the means and conditions necessary for expediting the process of assimilating the peasantry to the working class and the rural areas to the urban ones by helping promptly absorb modern science and technology and actively disseminating advanced urban culture.
Should they not have such means and conditions, our rural communities will lag far behind modern civilization, and they will not be able to come closer to the threshold of the new era of the socialist countryside.
The conclusion we can draw from this is obvious.
Only when we eliminate the differences in the cultural and intellectual levels between the citizens of the capital city and regional people and between the urban and rural dwellers, can our new regional development policy fully display its validity and vitality as a policy designed for ensuring the eternal prosperity of our regions both in name and in reality and removing the urban-rural gaps fundamentally and permanently.
Building modern public health facilities and multifunctional bases for cultural activities in cities and counties is a crucial and most pressing task that is of great strategic significance in accelerating the simultaneous and balanced development of all fields and all regions and bringing forward the complete victory of socialism.
This is a task that brooks no further delay.
We are facing a decisive period when we should develop cities and counties strategically, proactively and consciously.
What we should bear in mind is that our generation has shouldered the responsibility for this great cause of historic significance, which is what we must undertake now.
The eternal prosperity of our regions precisely means the permanent future of our state and our style of socialism.
Comrades,
The leisure complexes we are planning to set up in cities and counties are something that has never been conceived of in regional construction, and we should almost blaze a trail in building modern hospitals.
In particular, a hospital is a functional building that requires technical compatibility from the lowest units of infrastructure to every one of its medical equipment and devices. Building it is dozens of times as costly as erecting an apartment block or an industrial facility. Setting up an adequately-equipped hospital is not so easy, because it requires advanced building techniques, expensive materials and large funds.
Despite this difficulty, we should build excellent hospitals in cities and counties as symbols of socialist public health in our era, which embody the Party’s plan for modernizing public health and its Juche-based idea of architectural aesthetic beauty.
The fact is that hospital construction in cities and counties is an important project we conceived of and worked out much earlier than when we planned the construction of industrial factories in the regions.
As a project for guaranteeing our people’s life and safety and promoting their health, this naturally takes the first priority among all other projects which our Party has planned and is pushing forward to transform our regions and build a cultured, prosperous state.
It is nonsensical to talk about the strength and development of a state and argue over the advantages of its system, if that state is unwilling and unable to take responsibility for its people’s life and health.
To take as an example, the public health situation in a country affords a glimpse into its political climate and level of civilization and the quality of life for its citizens. In this sense, public health can be said to represent the absolute values of a nation.
In the present era, laying solid foundations for the public health sector has presented itself as a matter that has a direct bearing on the security of a country and its future, and the demand for life protection and health promotion has grown rapidly. This being the case, our view and stand is that public health should naturally develop well ahead of the sectors related to the material and economic life.
Making our public health sector modern and advanced is the top priority of our Party and government.
Setting up modern hospitals in all cities and counties to bring advanced medical service facilities closer to the regional people and enable all of them freely to enjoy the benefits of modern medicine, at the same time as building a first-class general hospital in the capital city as befits the pivot and hub of our country’s public health sector so that its techniques, experiences and exemplary practices can spread across the country–this is the Party’s plan for the modernization of public health.
To put the reconstruction of hospitals in cities and counties in parallel with the construction of the general hospital in the capital city is in keeping with the mission of the socialist public health to take responsibility for the life and health of the entire population; it is also in full accord with the new regional development policy, and this is just the road to the fastest development based on the advantages of our system.
Today’s groundbreaking ceremony marks the starting point of this great road, a decisive step forward and a major watershed for the future.
So, this time I entrusted the country’s best group of designers with drawing up designs for city and county hospitals; I pointed to the necessity of meeting the specialized technical requirements in designing all the elements, ranging from the selection of sites, structural layout and distribution of buildings to arrangement of the line of flow, in ways that will be convenient for such medical services as diagnosis and treatment of patients and will preclude the occurrence of abnormalities including in-hospital infection.
I would like to add that the new hospitals to be built in cities and counties will be divided into four categories according to the population of each region. This year hospitals will be built here in Kangdong County and in Ryonggang County and the city of Kusong, one in each region and all these three of different sizes, on a trial basis.
This year we should build these hospitals as model facilities and accumulate experience in doing so. Then, starting next year, we are planning to set up hospitals in 20 cities and counties simultaneously, one in each region, on an annual basis.
By the close of this year a modern hospital will go up here, and in the coming ten years, excellent medical service facilities will appear in all cities and counties. To think of this, I feel infinitely proud of our really worthwhile and valuable struggle.
The Party Central Committee will do its best to ensure that the regional population can receive advanced treatment at modern hospitals.
Kangdong County, ministries, national agencies and other relevant units should work in a responsible manner under a detailed plan to build up the ranks of medical workers and service staffs and enable new facilities to render a substantial contribution to promoting the residents’ health and wellbeing and developing the regional culture.
Responsibly making preparations for operation to ensure advanced services for the regional people should be done in parallel with the building work.
The most serious problem is that our public health workers have a limited understanding of a comprehensive modern medical facility and lack experience in operating its equipment, and that their academic qualifications and medical skills are not adequate enough.
It is important to organize technical sessions for medical workers so effectively that they can work properly after the inauguration of hospitals and ensure that technicians and skilled workers are well versed in their specialist fields.
In particular, it is necessary to make a strong demand on medical workers so that they stay up to date on diagnostic and therapeutic methods that are in keeping with the modern trends in medical development, improve their technical skills and qualifications, and increase their knowledge of foreign languages.
All officials, including leading cadres of the Party and government, should take a creative stand and attitude befitting masters in the effort to cement the foundations of the country’s public health sector, clearly find what they are obliged to do and play their due role in this regard.
Comrades,
We are faced with an important task of breathing a fresh life into our socialist public health.
The rapids of a new revolution in public health have risen to join the waves of the regional industry revolution which will soon sweep the whole of the country.
I affirm that our public health sector will newly develop as the soil for cultivating the strength of life of this country and as the strong roots of regional rejuvenation.
This year 2025 should be recorded in our country’s history as the first year of the public health revolution.
Let us remember this moment of today when our socialist public health has set sail for the new horizon of development.
Dear soldier-builders, who are courageously advancing in the vanguard of the construction revolution in our era,
The Party has always placed unshakable trust in the People’s Army’s outstanding revolutionary character and creative spirit.
Officers and men of the Guards hero construction unit have built wonderful monumental edifices representative of the era, supporting our Party’s sincerity for the people through their heroic and resourceful labour. In the same spirit as they displayed in doing so, they should fully demonstrate the mode of creation and versatile skills unique to them also in building the Kangdong County Hospital.
The commanding officers of the 124th Regiment should work in a sweeping way and with scrupulous care in the course of planning and directing the construction processes, so that the soaring morale of the soldier-masses can bring about great successes in construction. Then they can dynamically push ahead with the whole construction work according to the schedule.
Your unyielding offensive spirit and militant work style will encourage all the people to display patriotism and strive for increased production to glorify the 80th anniversary of the Party and its Ninth Congress.
I hope that all the soldier-builders, highly conscious that they are responsible for the frontline posts of the regional revolution, will work with utmost sincerity to ensure perfect quality of building work, and thus complete all the structures as excellent creations whose levels of specialization and functional qualities are fully guaranteed.
Let us never forget that the heavier burden our army bears, the earlier the new era of regional transformation will come and the greater benefits our beloved parents, brothers and sisters will enjoy.
My beloved comrades-in-arms,
Generals, officers and men of the People’s Army,
Let us all fight more courageously and more vigorously to achieve the great ideals of our people and the victory of our cause!
Chairman Kim Jong Il (1942-2011) of the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, was an outstanding leader of the era of independence who, with his profound ideas and theories and uncommon leadership, made undying contributions to the cause of socialism and global independence.
Unexcelled Ideas and Theories
Kim Jong Il was an outstanding thinker and theoretician who illuminated the path for mankind to follow and enriched the treasure house of human ideology through his unique ideo-theoretical activities.
As he carried on and developed in depth the revolutionary idea of President Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), he authored the world-famous masterpiece On the Juche Idea.
Those who have read the work unanimously say that the Juche idea is the idea that all should follow, no matter who they are, and it is the idea representative of mankind and the world, and that the idea is a great philosophy, a great idea and a great outlook on the world inspiring the masses of the people to the struggle for global independence and the liberation of mankind.
When socialism collapsed one after another in several countries at the end of the last century, the DPRK remained unperturbed thanks to the staunch independent line of Chairman Kim Jong Il based on the Juche idea. When the imperialist allied forces trumpeted the “end of socialism,” he made public several works including The Historical Lesson in Building Socialism and the General Line of Our Party, Abuses of Socialism Are Intolerable and Socialism Is a Science.
His works proved the scientific accuracy and truth of socialism and inevitability of its victory and dealt a telling blow to the imperialists and reactionaries.
His ideas and theories are still a compass to those aspiring to justice and progress.
Songun Politics
Songun politics was an advantageous mode of politics established by Chairman Kim Jong Il to defend the sovereignty of the country and people from the imperialists’ moves for aggression.
Since the mid-1990s, the US-led imperialist allied forces intensified their military pressure on socialist Korea to stifle it. They openly let out belligerent remarks such as “preemptive nuclear strike” to the country.
At this juncture, Kim Jong Il fully established the political mode of giving precedence to military affairs above anything else on the principle of attaching importance to arms, the principle of prioritizing military affairs, of strengthening the motive force of the revolution with the Korean People’s Army as the core and main force, and of advancing the socialist cause victoriously by relying on it. In order to defend the sovereignty of the country from the imperialist allied forces’ threat of war, he gave ceaseless field guidance to the front-line posts, thereby consolidating the might of the KPA in every way. He also saw to it that the service personnel were dispatched to major sectors of socialist construction to make a breakthrough for economic development.
Thanks to his Songun politics, the DPRK became one of the world’s few satellite manufacturers and launchers and nuclear states in the hardest period for it, and opened up a broad avenue for building a powerful socialist country and laid a solid foundation for it.
Later, the reality in which several countries and nations had their sovereignty trampled underfoot by foreign aggressive forces and were driven into a vortex of upheavals clearly proved that the Songun politics of the DPRK is a model of independent politics.
Still the world progressives highly praise the exploits of Kim Jong Il who defended peace and security on the Korean peninsula, prevented a new world war and laid a foundation for the prosperity of his country with his Songun politics.
Important Decisions
It was in January last year that the term Regional Development 20×10 Policy began to appear in the DPRK’s media. The policy is geared towards drastically improving the people’s material and cultural living standards in all cities and counties across the country, namely the entire population within 10 years by building modern regional-industry factories in 20 counties every year.
At the 10th Session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK he said: An important issue arising in improving the people’s living standards at present is to tackle the differences between the capital city and the provinces and the imbalance between regions. Although provinces may differ in geological environment, resources, economic potentials and living environment, there should not be any backward region in terms of people’s living standards in the territory of the Republic. He then set forth the Regional Development 20×10 Policy aimed to develop onto a higher stage the material and cultural living standards of regional people across the country at the earliest possible date by vigorously pushing forward with the regional industrial development.
As is already known, the country is steadily building up the self-defence capabilities to safeguard the national sovereignty and people’s safety and striving for structural reforms and development of all economic sectors while pushing ahead with unprecedentedly huge housing construction projects in all rural areas as well as in the capital city every year. In this context, launching another massive project to open up a fresh phase of development for the country’s regional industries is evidently an ambitious plan that cannot be put forward with usual decision.
Over the recent years the large-scale Jungphyong Greenhouse Farm and the Ryonpho Greenhouse Farm have been built and the ceremonies to celebrate the construction of new houses in rural areas took place almost every day. All these achievements are the outcome of his grand plan to improve the living standards of the regional people.
Yet, he thought this was insufficient to improve the living conditions of the regional people. It was his firm intention that the Party and the state should bear heavier burden to bring about a substantial transformation in the people’s living and that they are not allowed to wait for favourable conditions and environment to be provided.
Later, the 19th Enlarged Meeting of the Political Bureau of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea was held to confirm the Regional Development 20×10 Policy, a milestone for regional industrial development, to achieve a sure and rapid development of the regional economy and give an impetus to the comprehensive national rejuvenation.
Journey of Devotion
In late February last year a groundbreaking ceremony signalling the start of the implementation of the Regional Development 20×10 Policy was held in the presence of Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, in Songchon County of South Phyongan Province which is a typical intermediate, mountainous area of the DPRK.
Addressing the ceremony, he said: Though this is a gathering held on an empty place with only an artist’s impression unfolded, it will proclaim the beginning of an important revolutionary undertaking aimed at promoting the well-being of the regional people, and this amply proves the historic weight of the undertaking; anyone who is born on this land should lead an abundant and civilized life under the socialist policy of the state, whether they live in the capital city or regions, in towns or mountain villages, and it is the core of the new policy of regional development to see to it that they do so without fail.
The event was followed by similar ceremonies in 19 cities and counties.
After the event the efforts to implement the regional development policy made vigorous strides. Kim Jong Un convened on-site consultative meetings where he advanced the strategies for the successful promotion of the policy and the transformative development of regions and took relevant measures for implementing them. In addition, he gave field guidance at the construction sites of regional-industry factories in Hamju County of South Hamgyong Province, North Phyongan Province and Jaeryong County of South Hwanghae Province so that they could be built at the highest levels.
A consultative meeting for regional economic development held in July last year on the shore in Sinpho of South Hamgyong Province marked a milestone in the drive for the Korean-style development of regional economy. At the meeting he explained the importance of the effective use and development of the economic potentials and resources of the seas in coastal cities and counties and clarified the practical ways and tasks to that end. Right after the end of the meeting he toured the offshore farming ground aboard a small boat despite the sultry mid-summer heat.
As an outcome of his devoted efforts, in only 290-odd days since the beginning of the construction, modern regional-industry factories equipped with highly automated and scientific production lines and suited to regional features were built.
On December 20, 2024 an inauguration ceremony of regional-industry factories in Songchon County took place with splendour in his presence. It was followed by similar events in other cities and counties with the beginning of this year.
A show of national-dog Phungsan takes place every year in the DPRK. At the show authoritative experts strictly evaluate the pure breed, appearance, special abilities and other aspects. It is said that diplomas are conferred on those who have trained excellent Phungsan dogs.
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