ARF, root of national united front

May 5 this year marks the 72^nd anniversary of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland.

The Korean people recall the revolutionary exploits performed by President Kim Il Sung who formed the ARF during the anti-Japanese armed struggle to ensure the unity of the whole nation under the banner of anti-Japanese struggle and prepare the powerful prime mover for the revolution, thus achieving the historic cause of national liberation.

The developments in and around Korea in the mid-1930s presented an urgent need for developing the movement of the anti-Japanese national united front onto a fresh stage.

In quick response to it, Kim Il Sung put forward the policy of inaugurating a permanent united front organization and expanding it on a nationwide scale at Nanhutou Meeting.

Throughout the arduous march from Nanhutou to Nanpaizai accompanied by trying ordeals and fierce battles with the pursuing Japanese troops, he made full preparations for forming a united front by working out its program, statute and inaugural declaration. On May 5, 1936, he declared the inauguration of the ARF at Donggang Meeting.

His speech, the 10-point program and the inaugural declaration of the ARF expounded the goal of the Korean revolution and instilled confidence in victory into the people. It was a landmark event that made public the Koreans’ will to wage more vigorous campaigns against the Japanese imperialists and develop the Korean revolution centered on the anti-Japanese armed struggle onto a new higher phase.

The seasoned leadership of Commander Kim Il Sung and the magnetic attraction of the ARF resulted in the expansion of the ARF into a pan-national organization with hundreds and thousands of members from all walks of life and from all parts of Korea including the northern tip around Mt. Paektu, Northeast China and even Japan in a short span of time. The ARF made a great contribution to the victory on the anti-Japanese war by fulfilling its role as a permanent united front organization.

The precious gains made in the united front movement and the brilliant traditions of great national unity established by Kim Il Sung made it possible for the Korean people to successfully carry out the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution. Despite the complicated situation after the country’s liberation, those with strength devoted strength, those with knowledge contributed knowledge and those with money donated money. The Koreans worked political and military miracles by defeating the US invaders through all–people resistance in the Korean War. The President encouraged the Korean people to pave the way towards national reunification with concerted efforts of the entire nation by arranging the April Joint Conference of Representatives of Political Parties and Public Organizations in North and South Korea in 1948, adopting the July 4, 1972 Joint Statement with three principles for national reunification as the core and publishing the 10-point Program of the Great Unity of the Whole Nation for the Reunification of the Country.

His idea of national independence and great national unity has been inherited and enriched by leader Kim Jong Il, who has rallied all the people round the party by dint of his politics of love and trust and all-embracing politics, thus consolidating the main force of the Korean revolution.

With the declaration of the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration motivated by the love of the country and nation and Juche-oriented approach to the nation, he has guided the people in their efforts too reunify the country with united efforts on the principle of national independence.

Now the Koreans in the north, south and abroad renew their belief that national existence and prosperity lie in unity, which can be achieved only when they are blessed with outstanding leader.

The Monument to the United Front

The Ssuk Islet among many islets on the River Taedong flowing through Pyongyang, though small, is famous for the Monument to the United Front on it.

The monument was built on the place to commemorate May 2, 1948, the day when President Kim Il Sung had a consultation with south Korean politicians who took part in the Joint Conference of Representatives of Political Parties and Public Organizations in North and South Korea held in Pyongyang between April 19 and 23 that year, a pan-national meeting for preventing division of Korea. It tells about the program of grand national unity at that time.

The monument, 13. 5 meters high, consists of 56 pieces of granite, symbolizing the number of the political parties and public organizations that took part in the April Conference and were united firmly under the banner of reunification for national salvation put forth by Kim Il Sung.

Forty-two magnolia blossoms (the national flower of the DPRK) in relief on its upper part signifies that the monument was built in 1990, the year of the 42^nd anniversary of the meeting on the islet.

The façade of the monument is embossed with Kim Il Sung’s handwriting, “The Monument to the United Front”, in a bold stroke, and on the lower part is carved his proposition on the historic significance of the Joint Conference. It says:

“There has never been in the history of our nation that many political parties and public organizations with different political views gathered together to discuss on the destiny of the country and the nation and reached an agreement in views.

The North-South Joint Conference will be recorded in our national history as a great meeting that united the patriotic figures of all strata under the banner of territorial integrity and national reunification.”

On the back of the monument are engraved the names of the political parties and public organizations that participated in the joint conference. It was attended by so many patriotic figures that even a publication of the United States reported as follows: “The struggle of the Korean people against the separate election in south Korea backed by the US has reached the climax by holding the North-South Joint Conference in April 1948. All the political parties and public organizations, ranging from the ultra rightists to the leftists, took part in it, except Syngman Rhee’s and Kim Song Su’s pro-American groups.”

Below them are also written the names and the official posts of eleven representatives who joined the meeting on Ssuk Islet in the presence of Kim Il Sung.

After the April Joint Conference was over, the south Korean politicians were eager to meet the President once more and learn his opinions on substantial measures and ways for implementation of the resolution adopted in the conference. Reading their thoughts, the President held a meeting on May 2 on Ssuk Islet with eleven heads of leading political parties and public organizations in south Korea, including Kim Ku, a famous ultra right anti-communist figure.

On the day, Kim Il Sung illuminated the ways and prospect of the withdrawal of the troops of the former Soviet Union and the US, which were staying respectively in the north and the south of Korea, and the matter of establishment of an independent and democratic unified state and the central unified government. He gave instructions on the formation of the anti-US unified front for national salvation in south Korea.

The meeting on Ssuk Islet had a historic significance. It proved truth that there can be parties, ideals and principles only when there exist the country and the nation. It also confirmed that those with different political views and religious beliefs can form a united front for national salvation and make contribution to the cause of reunification if they get together and hold a open-minded discussion with patriotic mind.

The south Korean representatives were completely fascinated by Kim Il Sung’s firm patriotic idea and outstanding stratagem, broad magnanimity and noble personality, and spoke out their minds to entrust him with the destiny of the nation and themselves, calling him the supreme leader of the nation. Later they devoted their whole life to the reunification cause for national salvation in alliance with communism.

Sixty years have passed since then, but the time has not in the least weakened the significance of the great program of the grand national unity made that day.

Today the Korean Peninsula is witnessing the unprecedentedly strong tendency towards national unity and reunification under the ideal of “by our nation itself”, which has been clarified in the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration in 2000 and reconfirmed in the October 4 Declaration in 2007.

The exploits of President Kim Il Sung accomplished in the movement to unite the Korean nation and reunify the country will be remembered for ever along with the Monument to the United Front.