Study Group's Congratulatory Message

The Juche Philosophy and Songun Policy Study Group (Malta) extends cordially the warmest greetings of congratulations to H.E. Kim Jong Il, the great leader of the Korean people on the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of his start of Songun-based leadership.

Today, the DPR Korea is displaying its might as a politically and militarily powerful state under the Songun-based leadership of H.E. Kim Jong Il. Songun-based politics are the most just politics having enabled the army and people of the DPRK to be single-heartedly united behind their leader.

Faced with ceaseless maneuvers of aggression from the US imperialists, the DPRK has held fast to the banner of socialism despite any severe wind and this was only possible thanks to the single-hearted unity of the army and people of the DPRK behind H.E. Kim Jong Il.

The DPRK has fortified its defensive capabilities all over the country coping with the hostile forces’ ceaseless maneuvers against the DPRK and has reliably safeguarded socialism by dint of a single-hearted unity and most powerful military capabilities with nuclear deterrent.

The US should ,at once, stop all the military drills of aggression including the largest-ever Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military exercises staging with the South Korean conservative group from August 16.

We are fully convinced that the army and people of the DPRK under the wise Songun-based leadership of H.E. Kim Jong Il will surely defeat the hostile forces’ maneuvers of aggression that should be stopped at once. We believe that the army and the people of the DPRK will achieve the cause of building a great , powerful and prosperous nation.

50th Anniversary of Songun-based Leadership

The following statement was issued by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Malta on the occasion of Comrade Kim Jong Il's start of the Songun-based leadership:

On behalf of the Communist Party of Malta, I warmly congratulate the 50^th anniversary of Chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission H.E. Kim Jong Il’s start of Songun-based leadership.

H.E. Kim Jong Il is the great brilliant commander who has performed immortal feats in strengthening and developing the DPRK with his Songun-based leadership.

The Songun policy of the WPK is a source of the invincible might which has resulted in that the army and people in the DPRK have decisively defeated the US imperialists’ maneuvers to stifle the DPRK and have safeguarded socialism to the end.

The present realities , under which the East European socialist countries collapsed and imperialists’ ceaseless maneuvers to stifle the DPRK have intensified, demonstrate expressly the justness and vitality of the Songun policy.

The US and the South Korean authorities should strain their ears to the warning of the DPRK to counter physically and stop at once all nuclear war exercises of aggression including the Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military exercises being staged in the East and West waters of Korea from August 16 ,2010 and to take a practical approach.

We are sure that there will always be victory and glory before the army and people of the DPRK under the Songun-based leadership of H.E. Kim Jong Il.

Tourism in the DPRK

Of late, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is under the limelight of sightseeing enthusiasts around the world.

Abundant tourist resources

The DPRK, located in the central part to the east of Asia and called from long ago the “land of morning calm” and “a country of scenic beauties”, is rich in natural resources for tourism.

In the northern tip of Korea stands Mt. Paektu, which is 2,750 m high and capped with snow all the year round, boasting of its grandeur spectacle. On its top is Lake Chon, a famous crater lake which is 384 m deep and 9.16㎢ in area and has huge volume of water of 1 955 million㎥. It is known as the world’s largest lake found in mountains. Mysterious and supernatural phenomena can be found in Mt. Paektu from time to time. Sometimes, sudden waterspouts take place on the placid Lake Chon. Sometimes, heavy rains and snowfalls pour down the Lake but, in an instant, the sky gets clear, a rainbow hanging there.

The Mt. Paektu area is registered as an international biosphere reserve for fantastic rocks of myriad shapes and wide varieties of fauna and flora in primeval forests. While Mt. Paektu is noted for its strong and majestic “masculinity,” Mts. Kumgan and Chilbo on the east coast of Korea show off their beautiful and elegant “femininity.”

Mt. Kumgan presents waterfalls with cascading crystal-clear water, 12,000 peaks of fantastic shapes and Upper Phal (eight) Pools with a legend that fairies charmed by its picturesque scenery descended from Heaven to take a bath and have a pleasant time there.

Mt.Chilbo, too, is no less than Mt Kumgan as it has many scenic spots including natural lakes, hot springs, myriad-shaped peaks, seascapes and the like.

Mts. Myohyang and Kuwol in the western area of Korea are also tourist destinations. All scenic places and spots in the DPRK preserve their natural beauty and are free from any environmental pollution, thus thrusting themselves into the limelight of tourists.

Korea with a 5,000-year-long history and cultural traditions has lots of ancient historic remains and relics. Pyongyang has many ruins of castles, royal mausoleums, gatehouses and other relics as it had been the capital of Ancient Korea, the first state of the Korean nation established 5,000 years ago and Koguryo (277 BC-AD 668), “a l 000-year powerful state in the East.”

On the outskirts of Pyongyang are the Mausoleum of King Tangun, father of the Korean nation over 5,000 years ago and the Mausoleum of King Tongmyong, founder of Koguryo. Many tomb murals in the period of Koguryo, including the Three Tombs in Kangso in the vicinity of Pyongyang which have been put on the UNESCO World Heritage list, remain fadeless even after thousands of years, arousing the curiosity of tourists.

The Complete Collection of Buddhist Scriptures, the world’s oldest one, and 80,000 wooden blocks used in printing them are kept in the History Museum in Mt Myohyang. Kaesong which was the capital city of Koguryo (918-1392), the first unified state of the Korean nation has many historic remains.

Manwoltae, site of the royal palace, Koryo Songgyungwan ,one of the oldest universities in the world, Mausoleum of King Wang Kon, founder of Koryo, Mausoleum of King Kongmin, resembling a museum of stone sculptures, Ryongthong Temple, once reputed as a mecca of Buddhism, and residential quarters preserving shapes of dwelling houses of Koreans in the Middle Ages.

There are many monumental structures showing the development of modern Korea. In Nampho area, not far from Pyongyang is the West Sea Barrage, outmeasuring four times the dam of the world-famous Rance Power Plant in France. In Pyongyang there are many spectacular and magnificent structures rare to be seen in the world, including the Tower of the Juche Idea (170 m), the highest stone tower in the world, the Arch of Triumph, the Party Founding Memorial Tower and the Chollima Statue.

The May Day Stadium built on an islet in the centre of the Taedong River is attracting tourists for its shape resembling a large flower or a parachute. Such unique Korean-style buildings as the Grand People’s Study House, the People’s Palace of Culture, the Pyongyang Grand Theatre and Okryu Restaurant are drawing the attention of tourists.

Perfect conditions for tourism

Tourism is actively encouraged in the DPRK.

Of late, the Kaeson Youth Park has been splendidly reconstructed in Pyongyang, known as “a city in a park” and “a city free from pollution.” At present, the construction of the Pyongyang Folklore Park which will present both the past and the present of the Korean nation is under way.

The Okryu Restaurant on the bank of the Taedong River serves not only famous Korean dishes including Pyongyang cold noodles but other famous dishes prepared from sturgeon and terrapin . Restaurants serving Italian and other foreign foods are enjoying growing popularity in several parts of Pyongyang. One can taste Pyongyangju, a famous liquor of Korea with suave and unique flavour.

Korean leader Kim Jong Il pays deep attention to the development of tourism. Going round the updated pleasure grounds in Mt Myohyang, the Kaeson Youth Park at the foot of scenic Moran Hill, Majon Hotel and Hyangsan Hotel and other places last year and this year, he took measures to facelift the scenic spots of the country more beautifully and provide best conveniences to tourists.

The long-standing unstable situation prevailing in the region, an issue of apprehension for many tourists, has also been removed. The DPRK has provided itself with a strong and reliable war deterrent, thus fully securing peace and stability in this region.

The DPRK, which has been regarded by the world community as a country in the East veiled in mystery, always opens its door to everyone for free sightseeing.

Image: Pagyon Falls

Kim Jong Il: 50th Anniversary of Songun–based Leadership

The term “Songun-based leadership” is a word quite new to the world political history.

The Songun-based leadership of Kim Jong Il, Chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission, can be said to be a basic factor which enables such a small country to defend its sovereignty and dignity and emerge victorious, facing down the US styling itself “ a sole superpower” in the world.

His Songun-based leadership started on August 25,1960, 50 years ago, when he visited the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su 105 Guards Tank Division of the Korean People’s Army.

Attention should be paid to the fact that he gave his guidance first to the military affairs before starting his official activities( he began to work at the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea on June 19, 1964). It literally means his Songun-based leadership.

The Songun-based leadership can be said to be a traditional mode of leadership in socialist Korea. President Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), father of socialist Korea, first founded a guerrilla army and waged the anti-Japanese war to liberate Korea and then achieved the cause of founding the Party and the state.

Kim Jong Il has defended the sovereignty and dignity of the country and reliably secured the peace and security of the Korean peninsula and the region in Northeast Asia by dint of Songun-based leadership.

Always paying a primary attention to enhancing the politico-ideological might of the People’s Army, he ensured that political and ideological education has been intensified among service personnel so that they can fulfil their mission as the defenders of the socialist country. He has made ceaseless inspections of army units in order to boost the military and technical might of the People’s Army in every way. He advanced the line of economic construction of developing the defence on a preferential basis in order for People’s Army to be fully equipped with modern and powerful offensive and defensive means.

He also made sure that a sound habit of attaching importance to the military affairs has been fully established in the whole society and that arming all the people and fortifying the whole land have been realized more thoroughly.

Thanks to his Songun-based leadership, the DPRK has been turned into a more impregnable fortress. Through his Songun-based leadership Kim Jong Il has further cemented the single-minded unity of the Korean society and brought about an eye-opening reality that this country is making a leap forward in order to build a thriving nation.

In the closing years of the last century the Korean people suffered the severest ordeals and difficulties due to the extreme blockade and sanctions on the part of the US-led imperialist allied forces who took advantage of the collapse of socialism in East European countries and the demise of President Kim Il Sung and the natural calamities that hit the DPRK for several consecutive years.

At such a time Kim Jong Il, holding higher the banner of Songun, led the KPA soldiers to make a breakthrough in socialist construction. The service personnel in charge of the construction of the Anbyon Youth Power Station gave full play to the “revolutionary soldier spirit” which is characterized by the spirit of defending their Supreme Commander at the cost of their lives and carrying out his orders and instructions unconditionally and the heroic self-sacrificing spirit of devoting their lives for the country, the people and their comrades, giving a great encouragement to the people. Emulating the “revolutionary soldier spirit”, the people have built medium- and small-sized power stations by their own efforts in different parts of the country and began to revitalise the operation of industrial establishments that had been out of business. The service personnel and the people realigned the land of the whole country into large-sized standard fields by pooling their efforts. The former inspired the latter to vigorously turn out in the drive to push back the frontiers of science and technology by building a large number of model factories provided with state-of-the-art technology. The drive for attaining the cutting-edge technology has swept the whole country, with the result that, last year alone, many industrial establishments have put their production lines on a CNC basis and a new steel-making system of using no scrap iron and coking coal has been established. At the outset of this year, vinalon began to be mass-produced, thus providing the DPRK with a more solid foundation to fling open the gate to a great, prosperous and powerful nation in 2012 that marks the centenary of birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung.

The army and the people of the DPRK have rallied more solidly around their leader thanks to Kim Jong Il’s Songun-based leadership.

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Kim Jong Il Inspects Construction Site of Power Station

Pyongyang, August 4 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il provided field guidance to the construction site of the Kumyagang Army-People Power Station nearing completion. He was accompanied by Kwak Pom Gi, chief secretary of the South Hamgyong Provincial Committee of the WPK, Jang Song Thaek, vice-chairman of the NDC of the DPRK and department director of the WPK Central Committee, Kim Ki Nam, secretary of the C.C., the WPK, and Hong Sok Hyong and Thae Jong Su, department directors of the C.C., the WPK, and Hyon Chol Hae and Ri Myong Su, department directors of the NDC.

The appearance of a vast man-made lake as a result of the building of a gigantic dam in the upper reaches of the River Kumya made it possible not only to produce a large volume of electricity but to sufficiently water a large area of farmland and protect the Kumya Plain from flood damage.

After being briefed on the construction of the power station before a huge map showing its panoramic view, he went round various places of the power station nearing completion to learn in detail about the progress made in the project.

The soldiers and civilian builders have successfully completed the construction of a large-scale power station, a huge nature-transforming project, on their own by working hard under difficult conditions, he said, adding that this astonishing miracle amounts to a striking demonstration of the might of the unbreakable unity between the army and people in the DPRK who have formed a harmonious whole with the Party and the leader and the tremendous potential of the independent national economy and one more great victory won by the Korean people in the struggle to courageously frustrate the imperialists' moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK and glorify Korean-style socialism centered on the popular masses.

Looking at paintings and works done by the soldier-builders and members of a shock brigade, he heard a lot of stories about the beautiful traits displayed among them in the course of construction.

Noting that a lot of monumental structures are now under construction in different parts of the country to go down long in history along with the era of Songun thanks to the devoted struggle of soldiers and people, he stressed that this eye-opening change represents the great dynamism of the country dashing ahead like the wind towards the peak of a great prosperous and powerful nation.

He set forth tasks to be fulfilled to wind up the construction of the power station earlier than scheduled, pointing out that the power station is of great importance in realizing the nation's electrification.

In order to finish as quickly as possible the construction of the power station progressing at the final phase it is necessary for such relevant units as the Taean Heavy Machine Complex to preferentially supply in good time custom-built equipment needed for the construction, he said.

It is quite possible to complete the remaining project as scheduled to honor the promise made to the Party if the builders push forward the construction in the "Huichon Speed," a new Chollima speed, he said, underscoring the need to continue displaying the revolutionary soldier spirit, the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance as required by the era of a great revolutionary surge.

He had a photo session with the builders of the power station.

Significance of Korea’s Liberation Over 60 Years Ago

Tagore’s Prophecy

The Golden Age of Asia,
Korea was a country raising its lamps,
Again the lamp will be lit,
We are waiting for it
To illuminate the East

This is a poem written by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) of India.

Korea had long ago been famous as a land of morning calm, a country with a time-honoured history of 5,000 years and outstanding cultural traditions. The “lamp,” however, was put out by the Japanese imperialists’ occupation. It was reduced to a colony in 1905.

Under the imperialist occupation of Japan, Korea was turned literally into a land of the Middle Ages, its people finding themselves at a crossroads of life and death. The name of the country was removed from the world map.

Kim Il Sung(1912-1994), who was born at the time of national distress, set out on the road of Revolutionary struggle to reduce his country and people from misery. Having crossed the Amnok River at the young age of thirteen with a firm determination never to return home before the country was liberated, he set about waging the revolution. Convinced from the first days of his revolutionary struggle that the masters of the Korean revolution were none other than the Korean people themselves and that when all of them rose up and fought in unity, they would defeat the Japanese imperialists and realize the country’s liberation, he closely rallied enthusiastic young people and started an anti-Japanese armed struggle.

During the 15-year struggle against Japanese imperialism, he put forward outstanding politics and lines and applied original strategies and tactics, thus leading the Korean people’s struggle for national liberation to victory. The anti-Japanese armed struggle he organized and led occupies a prominent position in the history of national liberation struggle of the colonial countries of the world.

The Korean people had to fight had to fight against Japanese imperialism that had been boasting of being the “leader of Asia” and vying with fascist Germany to bring the world under its control, they had neither backing of a state nor support from a regular armed force: they also had to obtain everything-weapons, ammunition, clothes, food and others by themselves. It was, indeed, an arduous struggle beyond imagination.

The anti-Japanese guerrilla fighter, however ,under the leadership of their commander
Kim Il Sung endowed with ardent love for the country and nation, waged a bloody struggle and devoted their all, life and blood, to the sacred war of national liberation.

Many battles, including the Pochonbo Battle in June 1937 and the Musan Area Battle in May 1939, inflicted telling blows on the ruling structure of Japanese imperialism and instilled in the hearts of the Korean people the hope of national resurrection.

At last. The Japanese imperialist were defeated and historic cause of national liberation was accomplished on August 15,1945. as Tagore prophesied, the “lamp” was lit again.

This significant day over years ago brought about a fundamental change in the destiny of the Korean people. They ,who had been suffering colonial slavery for decades, regained their freedom and liberation, and embarked on the broad road of building a new society, independent and creative. After liberation such democratic reforms as land reform, nationalization of major industries and so on were carried out in the northern half of Korea ,followed by the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on September 9, 1948, the first of its kind in the East.

The DPRK has developed into a people-centred socialist state where the people have become the masters of everything serves them, a state independent in politics, self-supporting in the economy and self-reliant in defence.

Korea is now demonstrating its might as an impregnable fortress of socialism , an independent power, under the leadership of Kim Jong Il who is successfully carrying forward Kim Il Sung’s cause.

Korea ,guided by his Songun politics, has in recent years been in the limelight of the international community as a small, but big country, which fully displays its sovereignty and dignity against the highhandedness of the imperialist superpower. The Korean people are now attracting the attention of the world again as they are making endeavours to effect a new revolutionary surge to widely open the gate of great, prosperous and powerful socialist state in 2012,when they will be greeting the centennial birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung.

The progressive people across the world admire and respect Korea, in which people have become its masters, which is strong in the principle of independence, and which is achieving prosperity.

Tagore’s prophecy has come true-Korea has become a light “to illuminate the East.”

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No More Sanctions!

The US government has recently added more sanctions against the DPRK. No matter what various US politicans say, such sanctions clearly constitute a type of economic warfare against the brave people of the DPRK. In view of the considerable number of sanctions heaped against the DPRK, it would not be surprising to find out that the DPRK is the most heavily sanctioned place in the world.

As more sanctions were announced, Amnesty International published a report which was supposed to shed some light about the healthcare situation in North Korea. This report appeared to be fairly one-sided. As stated by Stephen Gowans in a recent article posted on his site, "Not a word of the escalating sanctions regime against North Korea is mentioned in the Amnesty report..." Furthermore, in a separate article written by Gowans, he wrote that "While the Western media lighted on Amnesty International’s portrayal of North Korea’s healthcare system as a horror show with the eagerness of flies on road-kill, the World Health Organization had a more sober assessment of the rights organization’s Cold War-era hatchet job. WHO spokesman Paul Garwood faulted the report for being 'mainly anecdotal, with stories dating back to 2001, and not up to the UN agency’s scientific approach to evaluating healthcare.' 'All the facts are from people who aren’t in the country,' Garwood said. 'There’s no science in the research.'"

The Communist Party of Malta demands that the US government should revoke all the sanctions against the DPRK. The citizens of the DPRK do not deserve to be punished for having chosen to live in a country that prefers socialism instead of the neoliberal economic model.

The Communist Party of Malta pledges its support to the people of the DPRK. The Party believes that with the guidance of the Workers' Party of Korea and under the seasoned leadership of Comrade Kim Jong Il, the people of the DPRK will eventually be victorious.