Reverence for President Kim Il Sung: DPRK

Minju Joson Saturday says in an article that President Kim Il Sung of the DPRK is always remembers by world people as well as the Korean people for his personality as a great man on the occasion of his birthday (the Day of the Sun).

-History of the Great Leader Continues

Worldwide, a number of personages left their names in history for their exploits, noble virtues and excellent mode of politics. After their death, however, their aims and exploits were almost forgotten; few of them enjoy as much respect as they did in their lifetime. However laudable, their achievements are remembered merely as a historical story after they died. To put it briefly, memories of a famous person fade away with the passage of time.

But this is not the case with President Kim Il Sung.

In the first half of the 20^th century, when Korea was a colony of Japan, he waged a long, bloody struggle to win back its national sovereignty. After the country’s liberation on August 15, 1945, he founded the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and developed it into a genuine people’s country and independent power.

He was a world-renowned statesman who rendered both material and moral support to third-world countries in building new society and made a great contribution to the struggles for independence including the non-aligned movement.

He passed away on July 8, 1994, but his history still continues.

The Juche idea authored by him and his theories are still applied by the DPRK in its building and activities; his books are read by all the citizens.

His life-long motto was affection for the people and the spirit of independence.

Believing in the people as in heaven, he devoted his all to their wellbeing till the last moment of his life.

By adhering to the principle of independence in the building of the state and its activities, he repudiated dominationism and rendered an immortal contribution to building an independent, new world.

Today the DPRK does everything as intended by the President. The people-first principle is the state’s political ideal; the country maintains the principles of independence in politics, self-sufficiency in the economy and self-reliance in national defence.

He is held in high esteem as the eternal leader and benevolent father of the Korean people.

Mosaic murals depicting the smiling leader and the towers dedicated to his immortality are seen all over the country.

With boundless yearning for him, all the people visit his statues and murals on his birthday and other significant occasions.

They love singing songs in praise of him and telling stories about his devotion to the country.

Measures have been taken for handing down his exploits to posterity and preserving all the places associated with his activities to be used for the purpose of recollecting and learning from him.

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the political history of the world and of his internationalist activities, orders and medals have been conferred on him by many countries even after his death. Also, the April Spring Friendship Art Festival is held on a large scale on the occasion of his birthday, attended by artistes from around the world.

-Reverence of Alba Chavez

President Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), founding father of socialist Korea, enjoyed boundless respect from a great number of people the world over. Among them was Alba Chavez, a prominent social figure of Ecuador.

As the chairwoman of the Latin-American Institute of the Juche Idea, she wrote a book, titled, President Kim Il Sung and Korea’s Socialism in January 1991.

Part of it reads:

“I would like to say to social scientists. The one and only way to be followed by the world’s population numbering 5.4 billion today, 8.5 billion by 2025 and 10 billion by 2050 is Korean-style socialism led by President Kim Il Sung.”

What she asserted in this book was based on her conviction that humankind must follow one century after another the road of Korean-style socialism which embodies the man-centred ideology of Juche with the aim of realizing the aspirations and ideals of the masses.

In May 1990 she visited the DPRK for the fourth time, together with her husband and children. While looking round several places in the country, she could see how the working masses, once subjected to maltreatment in the lowest echelons of society, were regarded as the most valuable beings. The masses of the people are masters of the world and everything in society must serve them–this was the tenet of the DPRK’s ideology. Indeed, socialist Korea was a beacon of hope to humankind.

During her stay she was invited to the First Session of the Ninth Supreme People’s Assembly.

At the meeting President Kim Il Sung made a policy speech, titled, Let Us Bring the Advantages of Socialism in Our Country into Full Play.

In his speech he clarified that Korea’s socialism is a man-centred socialism, the embodiment of the Juche idea, and that its basic characteristic is that it is a truly people-oriented society whose genuine masters are the masses and in which everything serves them.

She was deeply moved by this speech which indicated specific ways for realizing the socialist cause.

Around that time, capitalism was reviving in several countries of Eastern Europe, and taking advantage of this tragic turn of events, the imperialists were clamouring about the “end” of socialism.

Many people in the world were apprehensive about the viability of socialism.

At this juncture, President Kim Il Sung shed light on the advantages of socialism and the inevitability of its triumph and the downfall of imperialism, and stressed the need to uphold the banner of socialism.

Alba Chavez’s grandfather founded the Ecuadoran Socialist Party and, as a strenuous advocate of socialism, worked with devotion for its realization. Her father was a labour movement leader who applied himself to the cause of building socialism in Ecuador. Influenced by them, she came to aspire after socialism.

Despite imprisonment and miserable experience as an exile, she continued her search for the true ideal of socialism and the ways for applying it.

What impressed her most in these days was the Juche idea authored by President Kim Il Sung. Based on an in-depth study of this idea, she came to a conclusion that the President’s inborn affection for human beings was the basis of his socialist theory and the social system established in the DPRK.

Later, she wrote in recollection of her meeting with the President:

He said that he carried on the revolution and construction, loving the people and enjoying love from them. As he wrote in his memoirs, the people are the teacher and doctor, and one can find philosophy and political economy among them. He emphasized that if he had neglected contact with the people just once and forgotten the existence of the people even for a moment, he would not have been able to maintain the pure and genuine love for the people. Then he reaffirmed, with a smiling face, his will to continue his journey on the train bounded for the people.