60th Founding Anniversary of the DPRK

by

Vladimir Tolstikov,
Chairman, the Russian Association for Friendship
and Cultural Cooperation with DPRK

Chairman, the East European Center for Support to and Solidarity with DPRK
Academician, the Russian People's Academy

January 10th, 2008, Moscow

 

Many friends of Korea living in Russia are now making preparations to celebrate splendidly the 60th founding anniversary of the DPRK (September 9th 1948).
The foundation of the DPRK marked an exciting milestone in the development of the history not only for Korea itself but for the rest of Asia.

DPRK was the first country in Asia to enter into the development of people's democracy and socialism. However, it had to go through a long and untrodden path in order to win a victory.

Korea, an agrarian state which was weak in national power and underdeveloped in economy, fell victims to the aggression of the foreign invaders many times and was occupied by the Japanese imperialist for 40 years to be plundered brutally until its liberation.

After the occupation of Korea, the Japanese imperialist brought Korea under its full domination and subjection and turned Korea into its supply base for the food and raw material.

The Japanese monopolists took more than two thirds of the Korean enterprises and factories under their control and the Korean labors had to work around 13-14 hours per day on a small and low salary.
The Japanese occupied over 60% of the entire farmland and 80% of all the forest in its whole territory. And they shipped one million and eight hundred tons of rice from Korea to Japan every year.

Due to the Japanese deformed and predatory policy, the Korean economy was deteriorated, and the popular masses became impoverished.
Such a poverty-stricken socio-economic situation gave a rise to the mass protest of the people. From the first year of the Japanese colonial rule over Korea, Korean people bravely turned out in the struggle against the colonialist.

This struggle continued during the whole period of Japanese colonial occupation. General strikes and mass demonstrations of popular masses took place across the country. We can take the March First Popular Uprising in 1919 as its typical example.

The guerilla struggle was widely waged against the Japanese colonialist and it turned into an organized and extensive armed struggle after the President Kim Il Sung united the scattered partisan units as one to form the anti-Japanese people's guerrilla unit.

The genuine people's guerilla unit covered the path of glorious victory under the command of the General Kim Il Sung by defeating the Japanese aggressors in 1930's and in the beginning of 1940's.

Even the Japanese aggressors themselves could not but recognize that the guerrilla struggle was intensely waged. According to their record, the Korean partisan units had already had around 24 thousands battles in the beginning of 1930's.

Korean partisan units headed by the Comrade Kim Il Sung actively waged the political and ideological work among the people at the same time.
The Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland, the first unique and nationwide organization, was formed in 1936. In the Ten-Point Program of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland, the specific and detailed tasks to establish the people's government were set forth. On the basis of this program, the experience of the autonomous guerilla zones has been created already at that time.

This experience became the foundation to establish the people's committee (political power organs) throughout the country within 2-3 months soon after the liberation of the country. These people's local power organs, elected by the people used to serve them and to decide the imminent issues for the interest of the people.

In the beginning of October 1945, President Kim Il Sung made a historic speech titled "On the progressive democracy". In his speech, he clearly mentioned that the Korean people really would like to choose the road of progressive democracy which will guarantee the people's status as the master of the country and ensure the freedom and happiness of the people, and thus it was imperative to build an independent sovereign state, the people's democratic republic depending on the progressive democracy.

On the 10th of October 1945, President Kim Il Sung founded the Workers' Party of Korea, the revolutionary vanguard of the popular masses.

Early in February 1946, the Provisional People's Committee was set up in the northern part of Korea which enforced the land reform, nationalized the key industrial establishments, proclaimed the labor law and put other democratic reforms into practice. While cementing the successes of the democratic reforms, the political consciousness and zeal of the people were enhanced. A lot of national cadres were trained and the foundation of the national economy was laid, and the regular army was founded.

The Workers' Party of Korea headed by Comrade Kim Il Sung launched the great cause of building the people's democratic state in the northern part of Korea.
The draft constitution was examined all over the country and the nation-wide election for the Supreme People's Assembly, the unique supreme legislative body, the first of its kind in this country, has been carried out both in north and south Korea.

The election was successfully done in the north and the south (the south Korean regime which was under the pressure of the US rejected the recognition of election).

On September 2, 1948 the first session of the Supreme People's Assembly was held and its constitution was discussed and approved there and the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly was elected as a standing organ.

On September 8, the Supreme People's Assembly elected Comrade Kim Il Sung the premier of the cabinet of the DPRK and on September 9 Comrade Kim Il Sung promulgated its foundation and constituted the state of the Republic. Next day public was made the political programme of the state of the DPRK for the complete reunification of the country and the building of the democratic independent country determined in the Supreme People's Assembly.

The foundation of the DPRK was the meaningful event to let know the emergence of the new independent people and the birth of the new Korea. The constitution of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK fully proved that in the DPRK the people was the very master of the state and the policy enforced in the DPRK was the Juche based policy and the genuine people's policy which regarded people as the most valuable being.

President Kim Il Sung authored Juche idea and leader Kim Jong IL enriches and develops it into the guide line of the Party and the state.

The policy enforced in the DPRK is said that the political power of the DPRK regards it as the supreme principle of its activity to protect the interests of the people and holds it as its goal to increase the material and cultural living standard of the people. The power organs are householders responsible for providing realistic rights and conditions for the people to live without worries about food and clothes and houses. 30 years ago in the DPRK the tax system was abolished and the word ·Ètax·É was erased on the dictionary of the common vocabulary. The universal 11 year compulsory education system and free medical care system had already been enforced in this land. The cultural pleasure grounds were established in the capital and the other cities.

The 60 years long history of the DPRK after its foundation is less than even one century in the Korean history but during this period, big changes unprecedented in the history have been achieved on this land. I am an eyewitness of these facts
They built not only beautiful cities with powerful industry and culture, but also socialism, the brightest future of the humankind, completely the new and the most advanced social system.

The Korean people heroically struggled and devoted their efforts to achieve all these wonderful successes under the wise and right leadership of the Worker's Party of Korea headed by the General Kim Il Sung, the most outstanding leader of the Party and the State in this century who constantly guided the Korean revolution for over 70 years.

The great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung encouraged the people to the feats of labor and raised the spirit of national independence and its pride to the highest level. He made the Korean people to be highly respected by the whole world as a powerful and superior nation in the international community.

A leader is great by the immortality of his ideology and cause.

His ideology and cause remain in the consciousness of the mankind generation after generation.

Comrade Kim Il Sung will always be alive and he handed down the most precious wealth to the people. That is the well organized system of the Korean style socialism which is called as Juche Idea as well as the 10 point program of the great unity of the whole nation for the reunification of the country.
It is a well-known fact that this program is the only right way for the reunification of Korea in present situation.

It is the exploits of Comrade Kim Il Sung that he perceived the harmfulness of the political line of Gorbachov and Yeltin and their followers in its early stage.
He visited Moscow twice in the 1980s to give warnings to the danger of the line of the traitors.

But nevertheless, the traitors eventually committed their dirty act.

Comrade Kim Il Sung comprehensively analyzed the tragic lesson in USSR and some socialist countries and perfectly solved the issue of the continuity of the political power in the DPRK.

After demise of Comrade Kim Il Sung, the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il took the helm of the party and state and confidently led people with plenty of experience of leading the party and state true to the lifetime intention of Comrade Kim Il Sung.

The Korean people highly praise the exploits achieved by Comrade Kim Jong Il and exclaim with delight that "Comrade Kim Jong Il is just Comrade Kim Il Sung of today".

The successes made by the Korean people within 60 years history of the socialist construction in the DPRK are great impulse to the world public and are inspiring examples teaching the oppressed people the world over what to do for social transformation in conformity with the interest of the working people.
Ushering in the New Year, 2008, the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il inspired the whole party and people to the struggle to glorify this year of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK as a year of historical turn which will go down in the history of the country and strengthen the country politically and militarily in a comprehensive way and create a new miracle.

DPRK declared the economic field as an important front.

The main orientation in the building of an economic power is to steadily strengthen the Juche character of the national economy and update it on the basis of latest science and technology.

The principle of the technological reconstruction of the national economy for improving the people's standard of living and the development of the external economic relations will be applied in the building of an economic power.

The entire Korean nation in the north and the south and abroad is full of determination to energetically conduct the movement for the national reunification under the slogan "Open up a new era of independent reunification and peace and prosperity by pooling the efforts of our whole nation".

DPRK makes every effort to ensure stability in the Korean peninsula and peace in the world and further develop relations of friendship and cooperation with all the countries the world over under the banner of independence, peace and friendship.

In the history of the DPRK there has never been such a time as now when its dignity and power have reached the highest stage.

A great prosperous and powerful country will surely be built up in Korea thanks to the outstanding and seasoned leadership of the Worker's Party of Korea led by the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il of the Korean people.