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]
