Kim Il Sung

President Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), father of socialist Democratic People's Republic of Korea, founded the Juche idea and ushered in a new era of independence.

In the day when he started his revolutionary activities the imperialists worldwide were frantically engaged in wars of aggression in an attempt to gain more colonies and redistribute them. The grave question posed to the oppressed peoples the world over was how to achieve their national liberation. Kim Il Sung gave a correct answer to it by founding the Juche idea in 1930, the gist of which is that man is the very master of his own destiny and also capable of carving it out on his own, and then leading the Korean revolution as a practical version of the idea.

For the nations under oppression, the Juche idea was tantamount to an oasis, the working masses at last became aware of their inexhaustible strength and emerged as the master of the world. National liberation struggles in colonies were waged throughout the world, and most of them shook off the colonial fetters of imperialism. With the emergence of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), opposing all forms of domination and subordination and aspiring after independent development the political landscape of the planet underwent a dramatic change.

Over 80 years have passed since the founding of the Juche idea, but even those years can neither discolour nor weaken its historic significance and vitality. The era of independence opened up by the Juche idea still rolls on.

Brilliant Commander

Kim Il Sung defeated two imperialist powers.

He waged a 15 year-long anti-Japanese armed struggle and achieved Korea's liberation (August, 1945) by defeating Japanese imperialism, one of the world's five military powers at that time. He founded the Anti-Japanese People's Guerrilla Army on April 25, 1932, with neither the backing of the state nor support from a regular army, and dealt tremendous blows to the Japanese imperialists by employing adroit and unique guerrilla tacties. He had the broad sections of the masses closely railied behind the anti-Japanese national united front, and led an all-people resistance in response to the general offensive of the AJPGA, thus plunging the Japanese imperialists into the depth of defeat.

He also led to victory the Korean war (1950-1953) the United States had started against the DPRK. Into the war against the DPRK, which was short of two years after founding, the US hurled a large force over two million strong including one-third of its ground force, one-fifth of its air force, most of the Pacific Fleet, the troops of its 15 vassal states, and the south Korean and former Japanese soldiers. Outstanding stratagem and tacties and brilliant command of Kim Il Sung led the Korean army and people to inflict an ignominious military, political and moral defeat upon the US for the first time in its history.

After signing the Korean Armistice Agreement, a document of the US surrender, on July 27, 1953, Mark Clark, commander of the UN Forces, confessed that the north Korean army could emerge victorious thanks to General Kim Il Sung's efficient command, Former Portuguese President Gomes spoke highly of President Kim Il Sung saying, "The operations plan employed by the US in the war were all formulated after several rounds of discussion by dozens of generals, like chiefs of staff and military specialists, of the Western countries on the US side. But General Kim Il Sung frustrated them all single-handed. Witnessing it, I learned that General Kim Il Sung was the one and only genius of military strategy and a great general."

Leader of Two Successful Social Revolutions

President Kim Il Sung led Korea, a colony and semi-feudal state in the past, to be a developed socialist country.

Immediately after the country's liberation from the Japanese military occupation, he encouraged the Korean people to carry out the tasks for anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution. Defining the road new Korea should take to be progressive democracy, he first had the historic land reform enforced. On March 15, 1946, the Law on Agrarian Reform was made public, thus making peasants masters of the land and abolishing for good and all the feudal exploitative system that had been handed down for thousands of years. He promulgated in succession the laws on nationalization of major industries, on sex equality and on labour. On this basis, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the first people-oriented democratic state in the East, was founded on September 9, 1948.

In the 1950s, after the Korean war, Kim Il Sung inspired his people to carry out another social revolution. The main task was to establish a socialist ownership of means of production. To its end, Kim Il Sung firmly rallied all the people around the Workers' Party of Korea and the government, and remoulded them ideologically, so that they could carry out the social revolution by the dint of unity.

He put forth the original policy of accomplishing the socialist transformation of the economic form of agriculture prior to its technological reconstruction. He ensured that peasants were educated by factual presentation of the superiority of agricultural cooperativization and that the agricultural cooperativization was carried out by strictly adhering to the voluntary principle and in conformity with the level of peasants' preparedness.

Along with this, he pushed ahead with the socialist transformation in urban areas by remoulding those engaged in private-run, capitalist commerce and industry into socialist workers and increasing the productivity of state-run enterprises.

As a result, the socialist revolution was successfully completed in the DPRK by August 1958.

Benevolent father of people

Kim Il Sung devoted his all to the happiness of the people.

He established in the DPRK a people-centred socialist system, where people are masters of everything and everything serves them. The Korean people live happily and harmoniously enjoying the benefits of the 11-year free compulsory education – the highest standard of its kind in the world – universal free medical service, and the abolition of tax.

The President, even at his advanced age of eighty, visited every nook and corner of the country for the people's well-being. When he visited the houses of people, he would look into the rice-pots and wok to acquaint himself with their living as their real father would do. He never tolerated whatever would be of inconvenience for people's life.

His benevolent personality was not limited within the boundary of his country.

Norodom Sihanouk, great king of Cambodia, still calls Kim Il Sung his elder brother, a benefactor, Luiser Rinser, German writer, praised that the Korean President was a man to whom anybody would open his or her heart at first meeting.

Source: Consulate General of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Hong Kong

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