To All the Party Members, Service Personnel and People

All our Party members, service personnel and people,

The Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the Central Military Commission of the WPK, and the National Defence Commission, the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly and the Cabinet of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea report in the bitterest grief that the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il, General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army, passed away from a sudden attack of illness at 08:30 on December 17, Juche 100 (2011) during a trip for on-site guidance.

Our great Comrade Kim Jong Il, who devoted his whole life to the carrying forward and accomplishing of the revolutionary cause of Juche and conducted tireless and energetic activities for the prosperity of his socialist country and the welfare of his fellow people and for national reunification and global independence, left us too suddenly to our greatest sorrow.

It is the greatest loss for our Party and revolution and the deepest grief to our people and the whole nation that Comrade Kim Jong Il, the great leader of our Party and our people, passed away unexpectedly in this historic period, when a radical phase is being brought about in accomplishing the cause of building a thriving socialist country and when our revolution is winning one victory after another overcoming manifold difficulties and hardships.

Born as the son of guerrillas on Mt. Paektu, the sacred mountain of the revolution, Comrade Kim Jong Il grew up into a great revolutionary, and led our Party, our army and our people sagaciously for a long period of time, gaining imperishable revolutionary achievements for the country and people and for the times and history.

Having embodied on the highest level possible the perfect personalities and qualities that characterize a great man, the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il was an outstanding ideologist and theoretician, a peerless veteran statesman and a brilliant commander of the Songun-based revolution, who led the revolution and construction along the road filled with victory by dint of profound ideas and theories and unexcelled leadership, and a matchless patriot and the benevolent father of the people, who adorned the whole course of his revolutionary struggle with ardent love for and ennobling devotion to his country and fellow people.

Regarding it as his lifelong duty to inherit and accomplish the revolutionary cause of Juche pioneered by the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung, Comrade Kim Jong Il, as his closest and most faithful comrade, vigorously advanced the revolution and construction in accordance with Comrade Kim Il Sung’s ideas and intentions.

With far-sighted wisdom and through energetic ideological and theoretical activities, he enriched and developed in an all-round way the immortal Juche idea and the Songun idea, authored by Comrade Kim Il Sung, to make them ideas guiding the era of independence. He also staunchly safeguarded the revolutionary traditions of Paektu and inherited and developed them in a pure way, ensuring that the lifeline of the Korean revolution would continue invariably.

A genius of the revolution and construction, he held high the banner of modelling the whole society on the Juche idea, developing our Party, army and state into the party, army and state of Comrade Kim Il Sung, raised the nation’s dignity and strength to the highest level and ushered in a great age of prosperity never seen in the nation’s history spanning 5 000 years.

A perfect incarnation of the revolutionary sense of moral obligation, he set a great example in realizing the cause of immortalizing the leader, a cause never recorded in the political history of mankind, thus ensuring that the august name of Comrade Kim Il Sung and his immortal revolutionary career and exploits would go down for ever along with the infinite history of Juche Korea.

In the face of the breakdown of the world socialist system, the greatest loss for the nation, the vicious moves of the imperialist allied forces to suffocate the DPRK and the severe natural calamities, he, a great statesman and brilliant commander, administered Songun politics, defending with honour the socialist gains, the valuable heritage bequeathed by Comrade Kim Il Sung, and turning our country into an invincible political and ideological power based on single-hearted unity and into a nuclear state with unrivalled military strength no enemy would dare challenge.

True to the behests of Comrade Kim Il Sung, Comrade Kim Jong Il set the ambitious goal of building a great, prosperous and powerful country and led the general advance of all the people for attaining it, kindling the flames of a great revolutionary upsurge across the country and inspiring great innovations and leap forward on all fronts of socialist construction.

The father of the nation and lodestar of national reunification, Comrade Kim Jong Il, with an iron will to implement Comrade Kim Il Sung’s behest for the reunification of the country, led the whole nation along the road of independence and great national unity and opened the June 15 era of reunification for realizing the noble ideal of By Our Nation Itself.

A great guardian of socialism and justice, Comrade Kim Jong Il, upholding the banner of anti-imperialist independence, conducted energetic external activities for the victory of the socialist cause, global peace and stability, and friendship and solidarity among peoples, remarkably enhancing our country’s position and authority in the international arena and rendering immortal services to promoting the cause of independence of mankind.

Throughout the long period of his revolutionary leadership Comrade Kim Jong Il always shared joy and sorrow with the people, treasuring and loving them, and made tireless efforts to build a thriving country and improve their standard of living, continuing high-intensity forced march of on-site guidance, before passing away on train owing to the excessive mental and physical exertion.

His life was the most brilliant life of a great revolutionary who pioneered a thorny, untrodden path of the revolution by displaying an iron will and super-human energy, holding high the red banner of the revolution, and the life of a peerless patriot who devoted his all entirely to the good of his country and fellow people.

Although he died to our regret, not seeing the victory of the cause of building a prosperous and powerful country and the accomplishment of national reunification and the revolutionary cause of Juche which he had eagerly wanted to see, Comrade Kim Jong Il laid solid political and military basis on which our revolution could make an uninterrupted advance generation after generation and strong foundations for the eternal prosperity of our country and nation.

Today, at the head of our revolution is Comrade Kim Jong Un, the great successor to the revolutionary cause of Juche and the outstanding leader of our Party, our army and our people.

His leadership constitutes the decisive guarantee for successfully carrying forward the revolutionary cause of Juche down through generations, the cause which the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung started and the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il led victoriously.

We have the powerful and invincible revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu which stands in the van of implementing the cause of the Party, the great army-people unity behind the Party, the excellent people-centred socialist system of our own style and the strong basis of the independent national economy.

We must surmount today’s trying ordeals and work more vigorously for a new, great victory of the Juche revolution by turning sorrow into strength and courage under the leadership of Comrade Kim Jong Un.

Our service personnel and people, cherishing an absolute faith and a noble sense of moral obligation, will hold the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il in high esteem for ever, will never make the slightest concession or vacillation on the road of the Juche revolution and the Songun revolution, true to his lifetime instructions, and will staunchly defend his immortal revolutionary exploits and carry them forward for all ages and generations.

All the Party members, service personnel and people must firmly defend the single-hearted unity of the Party, the army and the people and cement it more solidly in faithful support of the leadership of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.

We must reliably defend our socialist system and revolutionary gains by holding the banner of Songun higher and increasing the country’s military capabilities to the maximum, and effect a decisive turn in the drive to build the country into an economic giant and improve the people’s standard of living by spreading the flames of the industrial revolution of the new century, the flames of Hamnam, across the country.

We will achieve the country’s independent reunification without fail through the concerted efforts of the entire nation by implementing the three charters for national reunification and the north-south joint declarations to the letter.

Based on the principles of independence, peace and friendship, our Party and people will make strenuous efforts to strengthen friendship and solidarity with peoples of many countries of the world and to build a new, independent and peaceful world, which is free from domination and subjugation and from aggression and war.

The road ahead of our revolution is arduous and the present situation is grave, but no force in the world can check the revolutionary advance our Party, army and people are making under the wise leadership of the great Comrade Kim Jong Un.

Although the heart of the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il stopped beating, the august name and benevolent image of the respected General will live for ever in the hearts of our service personnel and people, and the sacred history of his revolutionary activities and his imperishable revolutionary exploits will shine for ever along with the history of the country.

The Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea

The Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea

The National Defence Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

The Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

The Cabinet of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

December 17, Juche 100 (2011)

Source

Family Customs of Koreans

From olden times, the Korean nation regarded it as part of mores to make much of politeness and help each other. In particular, it became customary to respect seniors like parents, take care of juniors and live harmoniously. This can be known through history records.

Conjugal relations

The Koreans strove to ensure a harmonious family life, thinking that everything goes well with a harmonious family. From of old, in Korea, both man and wife managed their household together in unity. So they led a harmonious life—the man never treated his wife cruelly. Such way of life promoted the conjugal relations soundly and morally.

An old record of a foreign country says that in Ancient Korea (the early 30^th century B.C.–108 B.C.) women were well-behaved and trustworthy. The conjugal relations based on good behaviour and trust can be proved by the Story of Tomi and His Wife recorded in Samguksagi (the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms).

Tomi, a man of Paekje (the late 1st century B.C.–660), was faithful, and his wife was well known for her beauty, chastity and good behaviour. In spite of temptation and compulsion by King Kaeru, the head of Paekje’s feudal ruling class, the couple held fast to their conjugal trust and obligation so that they were held in affection by the people.

In Korea it is a custom for married man and woman to live together to the end of their life without swerving from the path of trust and obligation. So the saying “Until the hair turns grey” has long been handed down. It means that man and wife should live in harmony until their hair turns grey, that is, as long as they are alive. It shows that it is a custom of Korea for man and wife to hold fast to what they promise when they are married.

The conjugal relations are also based on mutual affection and respect.

Here is a short story. Kang Su, who was a famous writer in the 7^th century, married a daughter of a smith. His father, who was unpleased with their marriage, tried to marry him to a woman of a neighbouring village. Kang Su refused to do so, saying that according to the ancients, a man should not slight his wife who shared with him in his hardships while eating chaff, and that so he couldn’t discard his wife. Despite his father’s coercion, Kang Su remained faithful to his wife. This shows that in Korea men and women, once married, maintained their conjugal relations based on love, respect, trust and faith from olden times.

This is a traditional living custom of the Korean people who made much of truth and morals while hating dissipation. It enabled man and wife to manage their household in cooperation while supporting each other.

(To be continued )

Kim Won Nam

People's Father

President Kim Il Sung, who was endowed with love for the people, dedicated his whole life to the well-being of the people.

From the first days of building a new country the President, who had liberated the country from the Japanese imperialists’ military occupation (August 15, 1945), set up the people as the most dignified and powerful beings and worked hard to provide them with a happy life.

He made the Workers’ Party of Korea a genuine people’s guide and their protector which assumes responsibility for the people’s destiny and takes care of them. He also made the state power the people’s servant which formulates all lines and policies with top priority to the interests of the people and carries them out and the householder in charge of the people’s standard of living.

He made the people who had been maltreated and oppressed in the past the masters of land, factory and the country, went among the people to discuss state affairs with them and bring their wisdom and strength into action, thereby training them into the motive force of the revolution with independent ideological consciousness and creative ability.

In these days ordinary workers, farmers and intellectuals were elected deputies to the organs of power at all levels, including the Supreme People’s Assembly, and grew up into officials of the Party and state and into renowned scientists and artistes and Heroes.

The Korean people came to lead the most worthwhile life and attain the greatest honour in the world in the embrace of the President, who took responsibility for the destiny of all the people and took care of them.

The President raised the improvement of the people’s standard of living as the WPK’s supreme principle in its activities and took various measures to make the people lead an affluent and civilized life.

The President always paid deep attention to improving the people’s standard of living, ranging from the problems of food, clothing and housing to trifling daily necessaries, inquired into every detail of the families whenever he visited the factory, fishing and agrarian villages. He made sure that the problems of food and clothing were fully solved by increasing systematically the production of food, meat, seafoods, silk fabrics and other various consumer goods. He also ensured that a great number of modern apartment houses were built in the towns to distribute them free to factory and office workers and modern dwelling houses and welfare service amenities were built with state funds in the cooperative farms to make the farmers lead a happy life, feeling no envy at the urbanites. In the meantime, he took positive measures to systematically increase wages and reduce prices of commodities in keeping with the developing realities. In the 1970s he took an epochal step to free the people from all kinds of taxes.

The President saw to it that the universal 11-year compulsory education system was enforced, following the free compulsory primary and secondary education system, and that extracurricular educational centres, including the Grand People’s Study House and schoolchildren’s palaces, were built up for everyone to learn to their heart’s content.

He saw to it that the system of universal free medical service was enforced in the trying period of the Fatherland Liberation War (June 1950–July 1953) to make the people enjoy a long life in good health. Fine centres for cultural life were created and the production of goods for cultural use increased to make the people become the creators and enjoyers of socialist culture and enjoy to the full the benefits of modern civilization.

Indeed, President Kim Il Sung was the people’s father, who found his greatest joy in the joy of the people and accomplished his lifelong cause of providing the people with happy life.

Full of strong yearning for the President, the Korean people are pushing ahead with the advance of great leap forward to build a thriving nation, upholding the Songun-based revolutionary leadership of Kim Jong Il, who is working hard to carry the President’s wish into reality.

Article written by Ryu Jong Hyok.

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.