On the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the birth of Kim Jong Il, great leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission and Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, February 16, 1997, marks the 55th birthday of Comrade Kim Jong Il, the great leader of the Korean people. Comrade Kim Jong Il is carrying forward the revolutionary cause pioneered by President Kim Il Sung with honor as the distinguished leader of the Workers' Party of Korea and the Korean people. His great personality came to the fore when he so wisely led the Party, the army and the people in their sacred task of continuing the historical advance of revolution through the generations at a time when the Korean people were bitterly mourning the unexpected loss of their President. Comrade Kim Jong Il instilled in the people the deep faith that the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung would always be with them and that they could continue to venerate him as they had done in his lifetime. Modern political history shows that after the death of President Kim Il Sung, a veteran world politician, the present society has yet another veteran with the greatest political career: Comrade Kim Jong Il, the eminent leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea who has conducted his political activities for more than three decades to lead the Workers' Party of Korea in power, the state, national defence and other fields. In the past he joined the late President Kim Il Sung in conducting the affairs of state. He began to work in the Central Committee of the WPK on June 19, 1964, and has conducted Korean affairs of state ever since. He discussed and drew up the political lines and policies of the Party and the state with the late President Kim Il Sung and joined him in carrying them out, as well as visiting the people to give them advice firsthand. In studying the history of Kim Jong Il and other materials on his leadership, it is evident that he is a great leader of versatile talents who is at the same time a deep thinker, a veteran politician, a well-informed economist, a prodigious man of literature and art, an uncommon expert on military science and a skillful diplomat. Under his leadership, the WPK has been strengthened, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a strong country independent in politics, self-supporting in economy and self-reliant in national defence, and the Korean People's Army is an unrivalled, undefeated army. He is a political veteran who has taken the helm in an era full of ups and downs to steer a people-centred socialist ship with his astute political philosophy and art of leadership. Kim Jong Il comes from a fine patriotic revolutionary family who fought devotedly for national independence and the Korean revolution through several generations and on Mt. Paektu, where the revolution struck its roots. He is the son of General Kim Il Sung and General Kim Jong Suk, two of the great heroic leaders of the 20th century. The Korean people compare him to a guiding star that arose in the powder and smoke of World War II, at one with the great advent of the rapidly-changing age of independence and the dawn of national liberation. He took his first steps on Mt. Paektu amidst the gun reports of anti-Japanese warfare and grew up learning the strategies and tactics of his father at the operations table of the Supreme Headquarters. Later, he went with the President to do on-the-spot guidance, in the process acquiring his thoughts and theories of the democratic and socialist revolutions, as well as absorbing his experiences in leadership. When he was 11, Kim Jong Il formed the "Group for the Study of the Brief History of General Kim Il Sung". He impressed upon other schoolchildren the fact that the General was a great man and thus prepared them to be the future pillars of the Korean revolution. In his university days he distinguished himself as a prominent thinker, theoretician and writer. In his twenties he analyzed, reviewed and re-appraised the 100-year history of working-class thoughts in an all-round way, and on this basis clarified the position of the Juche idea anew. Well versed in the politics, economics, literature and history of all ages and countries, he wrote about many things, including the political economy of Juche and the theory of literature and art, and he corrected the distorted history of the nation. He also read countless books on ancient and modern war history and military science and published hundreds of discourses and treatises on army-building and military strategy. While actively helping the late President Kim Il Sung in his university days and working in the Party Central Committee, he embodied an unusual personality and qualities and rendered great revolutionary services to the Party and the country. For this reason he has been praised by the people as their "comrade dear leader." Chapter 4 of the Brief History of the Great Leader Comrade Kim Jong Il points out: "The 8th Plenary Meeting of the 5th Central Committee of the WPK, on February 13, 1974, elected Comrade Kim Jong Il to the Political Committee of the CC of the WPK, and adopted a historic decision to nominate him as the sole successor to President Kim Il Sung and put him at the head of our Party and revolution. This reflected the unanimous wish of all Party members and the people." After he was acclaimed as the supreme leader of the Korean people, full play was given to Comrade Kim Jong Il's leadership and organizing abilities. The WPK has grown stronger and developed into the leader's Party that has imbued itself with a single ideology and firmly assured its monolithic leadership. It has become a leading political organization that has won the confidence of the people. As a consequence, Korea has been able to put its independent politics in force with great courage, despite its small territory. More than two years have gone by since President Kim Il Sung passed away in July 1994, but political stability remains in the DPRK in the absence of the officially elected leading organ of the Party and the state. Today, the anti-socialist, anti-DPRK manoeuvres of the imperialists and reactionaries have become more frenetic. Despite such conditions, however, socialist Korea continues to advance vigorously. Credit for this is due to the great guidance of Comrade Kim Jong Il, who has turned the base of socialism into an impregnable fortress by displaying extraordinary military wisdom, unusual strategy and unrivalled courage. Shawgi Tell University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education [EMAIL PROTECTED]