Songun and Kim Jong Il

On August 25, 1960, Kim Jong Il, Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army, commenced his Songun-based leadership by inspecting the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su 105 Guards Tank Division of the KPA.

Since then he has led the Korean army and people along the road to victory under the unfurled banner of Songun. Kim Jong Il has developed in depth the Songun idea authored by President Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), founding father of socialist Korea and, on this basis, administered Songun politics, the first of its kind in the history of world politics.

Songun politics has been formulated into the basic political mode of socialism. The mode of Songun politics is the most powerful, for it provides the sure guarantee for victorious advance of the cause of socialism, cause of independence, amid the imperialists’ high-handedness and arbitrariness further aggravated than ever before in recent years.

As Kim Jong Il has put forth the KPA as the main force of the socialist cause and, by relying on it, developed the country’s military capabilities to the highest level, the Korean people could firmly adhere to the banner of socialism in the grimmest trials they had faced in the closing years of the last century and is now leaping forward the higher peak of a great, prosperous and powerful socialist nation.

The achievements the Korean people made in accomplishing the cause of socialism at a time when the imperialist forces were vociferously advertising the “end of socialism” on the planet was an inevitability of history offered by Songun. The Songun-based leadership of Kim Jong Il has elevated to a remarkably high level the independent prestige of the Korean nation.

In these days it has become a matter of frequent occurrence in every part of the globe that the sovereignty of a country is being infringed upon overnight and its peoples are subjected to distress because of its weak military capabilities. The Korean people, however, are able to safeguard their national sovereignty and dignity with honour thanks to the building up of the military capabilities of the country in every aspect, holding high the banner of Songun.

That the DPRK is maintaining its own terms in the confrontation with the United States, the self-acclaimed “victor in the Cold War” and “the World superpower,” is an eloquent proof that it is an impregnable power nobody dares attack.

Kim Jong Il’s Songun politics has also laid a solid foundation for achieving the independent and peaceful reunification of the nation. As he has attached top priority to strengthening the country’s military capabilities, attempts of the US and south Korean belligerent forces to start a new war on the Korean peninsula were frustrated at every step, and peace and stability in the region.

Even the south Korean people speak highly of Songun politics that has safeguarded peace in the Korean peninsula. Amid this, there was held in June2000 an inter-Korean summit, the first of its kind in the long history division. The summit produced the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration, a milestone in Korea’s reunification. The north and the south of Korea, which has been antagonistic with and hostile to each other for more that half a century, ushered in the June 15 reunification era in which both sides marched hand in hand toward unity and reunification, under the ideal of By National Itself. In 2007 the second inter-Korean summit was held, which produced the October 4 Declaration as the action programme of the June 15 Joint Declaration.

Now the right-wing conservative forces of south Korea are in hot pursuit of confrontation with the north, swimming against the strong current of the times, But what is stronger is the aspiration and will of the entire Korean nation to make the June 15 reunification era continue.

The DPRK has enhanced its international position and prestige to a higher level under the Songun-based leadership of Kim Jong Il. Its determined stand against the imperialist and conquering behaviour in a high-handed and arbitrary manner and in defence, peace and democratic international order is being felt on the global arena.

The predominant trend of the times is oriented toward the improvement of relationship with the DPRK making a great stride toward a thriving nation. Many Western countries, which gave a wide berth to it, have changed their stand. They are establishing diplomatic ties and improving relations with it.

Progressive figures of many countries are in loud praise of Kim Jong Il’s Songun politics, and a large number of statesmen are in this political mode.

Kim Il Sung and Korea’s Reunification

The Korean people are making vigorous headway in the efforts to achieve their national reunification in the face of the unscrupulous obstruction and challenges by the separatist forces within and without. Their progress is inconceivable apart from the exploits of President Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), father of socialist Korea, who dedicated all his life to achieving Korea’s reunification.

Thoroughgoing idea of great national unity

In his effort to reunify the country President Kim Il Sung always subordinated everything to achieving the great national unity, regarding it as a matter of priority concern. He considered the issue of Korea’s reunification as a matter of removing the mistrust and antagonism between the north and the south of Korea caused by the national division forced by foreign forces, and achieving the national unity.

He held that, in order to achieve the great national unity, it is important to put national interest above all else, transcending the differences in ideologies, ideals and social systems between the north and the south of Korea. He advanced the three principles of national reunification -independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity- the gist of the unity induced Choe Tok Sin, former foreign minister of south Korea, and many other people to bid farewell to their past stained with confrontation and make a U-turn in their life into working for the cause of reunification.

In April 1993 he put forward the “Ten-Point Programme of the Great Unity of the Whole Nation for the Reunification of the Country,” which serves as a key programme of the national unity for the Korean people aspiring to the country’s reunification. The programme calls for unity on the principle of promoting co-existence, co-prosperity and common interests on the basis of the love for the nation and spirit of national independence, and subordinating everything to the cause of reunification, for an end to all kinds of political strifes between the fellow countrymen, and promotion of mutual trust and unity, for protection of the material and spiritual assets possessed by individuals and organizations so that they are favourably used to promote the great national unity, and so on. It inspires the Korean people in the north, south and abroad to the struggle for the great national unity and reunification.

This programme, along with the three principles of national reunification and the plan for the establishment of the Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo, constitutes a part of the three charters for Korea’s reunification.

Blueprint for reunified state

The prevailing circumstances on the Korean peninsula confirm that the day is not distant when the Korean nation is reunified. Then, what would be the features of the reunified Korea? The answer to this question was given 30 years ago.

At the Sixth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea in October 1980, President Kim Il Sung proposed a plan to reunify the country and the nation by establishing a federal state on the basis of leaving the ideologies and social system in the north and south intact and recognizing and tolerating them. The reunified state in the form of federation will be based on the regional autonomy that is exercised in two different social systems, and will include the whole territory of the country and the entire nation.

In this reunified state, a supreme national assembly will be formed with an equal number of representatives from the north and the south and an appropriate number of representatives of overseas nationals; this assembly will form a federal standing committee to guide the regional governments of the north and the south and to administer all the affairs of the federal state. The President defined the nomenclature of the federal state to be the Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo (Koryo was the nomenclature of the first unified state of the Korean nation that existed between 918 and 1392) and stated that the federal state shall be a neutral country that does not join any political or military alliances or blocs.

Even in his last days

From time immemorial a legend about the stars Kerdsman Kyon U and Vega Jik Nyo has been handed down through generations in many countries in the East. According to the legend, the beautiful girl Jik Nyo and the diligent boy Kyon U loved each other but had to live separated with the Galaxy in between, and would meet on the Ojak Bridge every July 7 by the lunar calendar.

In the evening on July 6, 1994, President Kim Il Sung, all of a sudden, told this legend to the officials. About this time the attention of the world was drawn to a forthcoming summit meeting between the north and the south of Korea and the Korean people’s enthusiasm for reunification was reaching a crescendo. Therefore, his narrative bespoke his intention to arrange an emotional reunion for the Korean people that been suffering from national division for scores of years.

His office remained lit all through that night and the next. After he unexpectedly passed away early in the morning on July, 8, officials found on his table a document on the country’s reunification, bearing his signature “Kim Il Sung July 7, 1994.”

The signature was later inscribed on a granite monument at Panmunjom on the Military Demarcation Line that divides the Korean peninsula into north and south, to hand the exploits President Kim Il Sung had performed for Korea’s reunification, down through generations.

Report on Enlarged Meeting of Political Bureau of WPK

Pyongyang, June 6 (KCNA) -- An enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the C.C., the Workers' Party of Korea was held Monday.

The meeting discussed the results of the unofficial visit to the People's Republic of China paid by Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK.

Its participants were informed of his historic visit to China.

He paid an unofficial visit to the PRC from May 20 to 26 at the invitation of Hu Jintao, general secretary of the C.C., the Communist Party of China and president of the PRC.

The meeting highly appreciated the fact that his visit to China proved successful thanks to the particular attention and expectation of the two parties and two governments and expressed great satisfaction over it.

It expressed deep thanks to the collective leadership including the members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the C.C., the CPC for attaching special significance to his visit to the PRC and according him very cordial hospitality with utmost sincerity.

It said that his visit to China took place at a very appropriate time and yielded good fruits.

His recent visit to China was an epochal event of weighty significance in further consolidating the DPRK-China friendship generation after generation, putting strong impetus to the Korean people's cause of building a thriving nation, defending peace and stability in Northeast Asia and the rest of the world and more confidently advancing the socialist cause, the human cause of independence.

The meeting noted that his visit was a long journey for upholding and preserving the undying feats of President Kim Il Sung recorded in the history of the DPRK-China friendship and glorifying them generation after generation.

Kim Jong Il's visit to the historic places including anti-Japanese revolutionary battle zones of China where the tradition of the DPRK-China friendship was established by the President and which are associated with its shining history is of great significance in helping the younger generation deeply grasp the undying feats the President performed in strengthening the friendship and carrying forward and developing it down through generations.

During his visit to China Kim Jong Il had significant meetings with Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and other party and state leading officials of China and held sincere and fruitful talks and reached a full consensus of views on all the issues discussed.

The meeting highly appreciated this and was greatly satisfied with this.

At the meetings and talks held during his visit, the two sides informed each other of the achievements and experience gained in the party and state building and overall socialist construction of the two countries, expressed full support and solidarity for them and agreed to boost cooperation and exchange in all fields including economy, culture, science and technology in the bilateral interests.

The Chinese party and state leading officials congratulated the party, government and people of the DPRK on firmly adhering to the socialist principle and bringing about unprecedented changes in all fields in conformity with the aspiration and demand for independence and ideal of the popular masses. They wished them greater successes under the leadership of the WPK headed by Kim Jong Il.

They stressed that the firm unity and cohesion of the party, army and people are the basic factor which made it possible to successfully carry out the revolution and construction in the DPRK.

During his visit Kim Jong Il estimated the Chinese people's signal successes made in carrying out the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics and extended warm congratulations to all the members of the CPC and other Chinese people on the 90th anniversary of the CPC.

He expressed the expectation that the Chinese people would win steady new victories in the historic course of building a harmonious society by strengthening the construction of the party's governing ability and putting into practice a scientific outlook on development under the leadership of the CPC headed by Hu Jintao.

The meeting highly praised the leaders of the DPRK and China for expressing the firm will during the visit to China to defend and continue developing the socialist cause, the common cause, even under the complicated international situation and expressing mutual support and solidarity with the two parties and two peoples in their struggle for national reunification.

At the meetings and talks held this time the leaders of the two countries had an exhaustive and in-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues of mutual concern and on the situation in Northeast Asia, in particular, and expressed mutual understanding and support to the independent stands maintained by the two parties and governments in the external relations.

Both sides recognized that it is in line with the overall interests of Northeast Asia to adhere to the target of the denuclearization of the whole Korean Peninsula, seek a peaceful settlement through dialogue including the resumption of the six-party talks and remove the hurdles lying in their way and shared the view on promoting the understanding and coordination to this end.

The Chinese party and state leading officials fully supported the DPRK party and government which have firmly maintained the independent stand despite the complicated international situation and consistently held fast to the idea of independence, peace and friendship in external activities. They expressed their willingness to make a greater contribution to peace, stability and prosperity in Northeast Asia and, furthermore, in the rest of the world through joint efforts with the DPRK side.

Kim Jong Il praised the Chinese party and government for maintaining their sovereign and independent foreign policy under the uplifted banner of peace, development and cooperation. He reiterated the willingness to work together with the Chinese side to make a positive contribution to ensuring global peace and stability against high-handedness, hegemony, aggression and war.

Kim Jong Il and the Chinese party and state leading officials stressed the importance and significance of the DPRK-China friendship, in particular, in the whole courses of meetings and talks.

Boosting the unity between the two parties and the two countries and advancing the bilateral friendly relatioins along with the era is a requirement of the new period, the new situation, Hu Jintao said, adding that the CPC and the PRC government would discharge their historic responsibility in giving a steady continuity to the precious tradition of the Sino-DPRK friendship associated with the noble souls of the revolutionaries of the elder generation of the two countries.

Kim Jong Il said that it is a historic responsibility and important mission of the present generation to properly pass the baton of the bilateral friendship with a long history and tradition on the generations to come as it is the unbreakable one that stood the severe storm and tests. He reiterated the invariable will and determination of the WPK and the DPRK government to boost the bilateral relations of friendship and cooperation in line with the noble intentions of the leaders of the elder generation and the desire of the peoples of the two countries.

The meeting highly estimated the fact that the leaders of the two countries promised each other to set store by the traditional bilateral friendship from a perspective and strategic insight, consistently and firmly maintain it and develop and carry it forward on a new higher stage generation after generation.

The meeting hailed the fact that during his recent visit the two sides discussed various important and principled matters such as the present bilateral relations of friendship, shared the understanding of them and reached a unanimous agreement on them.

The meeting called for making sincere efforts to fully implement in various fields the matters agreed upon between the leaders of the two countries and stressed the need to strikingly demonstrate once again the peculiarities of the DPRK-China friendship this significant year, 50th anniversary of the DPRK-China treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance.

The meeting expressed warm approval of the results of Kim Jong Il's recent China visit and manifested a resolution to boost the bilateral friendship in all fields generation after generation.

The meeting stressed the need to consolidate and glorify the successes and undying exploits Kim Jong Il registered in his external activities by visiting China again for the country and people in the period of a landmark turn when the cause of building a great prosperous and powerful socialist nation has reached a decisive phase.

It expressed firm conviction that the party organisations at all levels, officials, all the party members, servicepersons and people under the leadership of the Party would make a greater contribution to the sacred struggle for building a thriving socialist nation and achieving the independent reunification of the country and the cause of global independence.

It also discussed an organizational matter.

It relieved Hong Sok Hyong of his post as secretary of the Party Central Committee in connection with his transfer to other post.

Korea: Kim Jong Il and Single-Hearted Unity

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a country in which the leader, the Party and the masses of the people are firmly united into one. Then what underlines this single-hearted unity and why is it so solid ?

Everything in the world is composed of and develops with a nucleus at its centre. The same goes to the unity of society. That centre is ,of course, the leader. All the people being rallied firmly around the leader, the center, as community with one ideology and with one purpose sharing the same destiny-this is single-hearted unity.

During nearly half a century since Kim Jong Il stated working at the Central Committee of the WPK ( June 19,1964) , the guiding force of the Korean society, the single –hearted unity has been consolidated to the maximum in Korea.

He conducted energetic ideological and theoretical activities, thus presenting outstanding ideologies and theories which gave answers to the questions raised by the era. He formulated the Juche idea, authored by President Kim Il Sung, the founding –father of socialist Korea, as the guiding ideology of the era.

His brilliant ideological and theoretical wisdom was demonstrated further during the worldwide political tempest at the end of the 20^th century. Socialism collapsed in several countries , and taking advantage of this turmoil, the imperialist directed all their energies to stifling socialist Korea. The this juncture, Kim Jong Il formulated Songun politics , a mode of politics unprecedented in the history of human politics, as the basic mode of socialist politics.

On the other hand, he made public a large number of works, such as Abuses of Socialism Are Intolerable, Socialism Is Science and Giving Priority to Ideological Work Is Essential for Accomplishing Socialism, encouraging the Korean people to turn out resolutely fro safeguarding socialism and building a socialist thriving nation even in the worst situation as they cherished the truthfulness and invincibility of socialism as their unchangeable conviction.

The Juche idea and the Songun idea, which he raised as the guiding ideals of the cause of independence, arouse great sympathy and support from the broad sections of people of the world.

The reason why the Korean people support Kim Jong Il with one mind and one will is because he is possessed of outstanding leadership ability.

Since he started working at the Central Committee of the WPK, Korea has witnessed epoch-making changes. Korea developed into a socialist industrial state, and the world-class West Sea Barrages was built across an 8-kilometre section of the West Sea of Korea. The Korean society is shining its brilliance as a socialist One, where people are masters of everything and everything serves them.

The world realized more keenly the prominent leadership ability of Kim Jong Il in the 1990s when Korea was suffering unprecedented difficulties.

In July 1994 President Kim Il Sung died, the US-led imperialist forces imposed sanctions and blockaded against the country, and natural calamities hit the country for several consecutive years.

In this worst situation, Kim Jong Il held higher the banner of Songun and overcame all the difficulties by raising the army as a pillar of the socialist cause and the main force of the revolution and enhancing its role. Under his Songun leadership, the KPA has become a matchless army, fully ready for both attack and defence, and the DPRK an invincible powerful state, which has acquired reliable war deterrent.

He led the service personnel to stand in the van of settling economic difficulties and the civilians to create innovation and perform feats of labour in all sectors and units by emulating the former’s indomitable spirit. As a result, even under the severe circumstance Korea has setup a springboard for the building of a thriving nation and opened a bright vista for the opening of the gates of the thriving nation in 2012, the year that marks the centenary of birth of President Kim Il Sung.

Thanks to Kim Jong Il’s outstanding political savvy and historic June 15 North-South Joint declaration(2000) and October 4 Declaration(2007), milestone of Korea’s reunification , were adopted, opening a bright vista for the reunification. With the international position and dignity of Songun Korea being raised day by day , the imperialist encroachment of the DPRK was smashed to pieces, and the world witnessed a surprising event of over 20 countries, including Western ones, establishing diplomatic relations with the country.

The people’s conviction and will that victory and glory are in store for them when they support his leadership single-heartedly have become immutable.

Kim Jong Il’s ennobling personalities and virtues have captured the hearts of Koreans. He consistently administers benevolent politics which moves everybody.

Affection between comrades is unity and the more genuine and ardent the affection is, the more unstained and solid the single-hearted unity becomes-this is his view.

Once he inspected a power station construction project in a northern mountainous area of the country. At that time he paid more attention to the dwelling houses in the part to be submerged that to the building of the power station. He had houses better that the original ones built for the local people, and when moving to the new houses , he sent daily necessities.

Most recently he ordered a helicopters to take off in order to rescue the ten people who had been thrown into danger in the west Sea of Korea while hunting seashells.

It is not accidental that Korean call their leader their father and entrust their destiny entirely to him.

Socialist Korea, where all the service personnel and people are rallied around their leader Kim Jong Il-there is no force in the world that can match the might of this single-hearted unity.

Image