Kim Jong Il, the Koreas and global peace Kim Jong Il
Kim Jong Il

Kim Jong Il

Special Correspondent
The Korean peninsula, which was the venue of the Korean war, the fiercest after the end of World War II, has continuously experienced the recurrent hair-trigger situations for over half a century after the war; these are entirely due to the United States that has tens of thousands of its troops stationed in south Korea and has staged military exercises and aggravated the situation wielding nuclear weapons.

If another war breaks out in the peninsula, it will go beyond the limits of the previous war; it will become the most catastrophic nuclear war mankind has yet unheard of.

It was none other than Chairman Kim Jong Il of the DPRK who safeguarded peace and security on the Korean peninsula that has direct bearings on the destiny of mankind.

The exploits Chairman Kim Jong Il (1942-2011) played a huge role in thwarting the imperialists’ moves of aggression, high-handedness and arbitrariness that prevailed on earth and defending peace and security by dint of his original Songun politics, will go down for generations in history.

He provided a sure guarantee for peace on the Korean peninsula by administering Songun politics for several decades.

Since his early years he had always kept in his mind that a country with weak military capabilities could defend neither its national security nor peace. And he started his Songun-based leadership with the inspection of a guard unit of the Korean People’s Army on August 25, 1960.

From that day on, he constantly pursued his Songun politics that attaches importance to military affairs and gives priority to them over all other affairs.

Thanks to his energetic Songun-based leadership, the KPA was strengthened into an invincible army that reliably defends peace at the outpost in the East of the world.

Kim Jong Il frustrated at every step military provocations and aggressive plots of the US by displaying his matchless courage and grit.

In January 1968 when a US armed spy ship Pueblo was captured within the territorial waters of the DPRK, the situation on the Korean peninsula was on the brink of war.

The whole world was very apprehensive of a possible outbreak of another Korean war and the former Soviet Union even advised the DPRK government that the latter should return the ship lest a war would break out.

At that time Kim Jong Il expressed his firm resolution that the captured crew could never be released unless the US made an apology to the Korean people and even if it made an apology, the ship, a booty of the DPRK, would not be returned.

He also put forward adroit operational plans to cope with the military moves of the US which had dispatched large-scale aggressive troops, including three aircraft carriers, to the areas around the Korean peninsula while clamouring for “retaliation.”

The service personnel and civilians of the DPRK prepared themselves fully for combat, firmly determined to retaliate against the “retaliation” of the US and return an all-out war for its all-out war. The US could not but present a letter of apology to the DPRK.

The same was the cases with the intrusion of a large espionage plane EC-121 into the air space of the DPRK in April 1969 and the Panmunjom Incident, or an “axe case,” in 1976.

Every time he brought the US to its knees and prevented a war from breaking out.

If the DPRK showed even a slightest sign of hesitating or retreating under those circumstances, the US would have taken it as weakness or vulnerability and started a war against the DPRK.

Kim Jong Il, after he was elected the Chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission, held higher the banner of Songun and achieved decisive victory in the DPRK-US nuclear showdown between the late 20th and early 21st centuries, thus providing a sure guarantee for defending peace not only in the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia but in the rest of the world.

After the end of the Cold War the US, posing itself as the “only superpower” of the world, provoked wars in many parts of the world in order to militarily stifle the countries that were going against the grain.

Typical are the wars in the Persian Gulf, Balkan peninsula, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Meanwhile, it has always kept its eyes on the DPRK, escalating the situation with a view to start another Korean war; declaring that the second Gulf War would be a Korean war, it worked out a “120-day war scenario,” and in 1998, insisting on the suspicion of “underground nuclear facilities,” schemed to stage a “surgical strike” by aircraft; afterwards it designated the DPRK as part of the “Axis of Evil” and adopted its national policy of “nuclear pre-emption.”

At the crossroads of war and peace, he comprehensively administered the Songun politics, that regards military affairs as the foremost of all affairs of the state and pushes ahead with national defence and the socialist cause as a whole with the KPA as the core, as the main force.

From 1995 until the last moment of his life, he inspected 2 492 units in the sector of the armed forces to strengthen in every way the combat efficiency of the army.

He also ensured that all people gave importance to military affairs and were well versed in them and that the whole country was turned into an impregnable fortress.

As the DPRK is possessed of a strong war deterrent, it brought an end to the era in which the imperialists blackmailed it with nuclear weapons.

Chairman Kim Jong Il’s exploits performed for the cause of global peace will always be remembered by mankind.

Every country and nation aspires after an independent life and national prosperity in a world free from domination and subordination, aggression and war.

Present reality, however, runs counter to this aspiration: the dominationist forces that seek world supremacy by strength trample on the sovereignty and dignity of nations.

Is there no way to lead the cause of independence to victory in confrontation with dominationism which is trying to turn back historic development against the ideal of humankind? The international community is closely watching the Songun politics administered in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Songun is a powerful weapon with which to shape one’s destiny in a strong spirit of national independence.

Today when the US is behaving arbitrarily and high-handedly everywhere in the world, the spirit of independence is required more than ever before.

Even a small country with a strong spirit of self-respect will not be conquered nor vacillate swimming with the current.

Strong spirit of independence does not come of its own accord but from the confidence in one’s own strength.

The mightiest guarantee for national independence is none other than military power.

Self-confidence that never yields to any pressure emanates from one’s gun, and courage and guts that brush aside any superpower’s threat and blackmail are based on strong military power.

Strong military power imbues the people with national dignity and pride and encourages them to fight unhesitatingly against any formidable enemy to defend their idea, system and destiny. This is a great spiritual wealth incomparable to arty material strength.

Songun is a politics that embodies the spirit of independence to shape one’s destiny by one’s own efforts and consolidates invincible military power to safeguard one’s own dignity. National spirit of independence strikes its root in Songun, a sure guarantee of national sovereignty.

Songun is a precious sword of justice, which prevents war and defends peace and security.

Now the US is overtly launching aggression and war under die signboard of “spreading democracy” and “anti-terror war”.

A concession and compromise can never ward off aggression and war by the US. Unprincipled pacifism in dealing with imperialism only invites a war. Only when political, military and material preparations are made to foil imperialist aggression by giving precedence to military affairs it is possible to defend the security and peace of the country and the nation.

Every nation must build up self-reliant defence force for world peace. Failure to defend one’s country from foreign aggression would menace regional peace and security and bring calamities on neighbouring countries as well as one’s own people.

Present serious world events clearly show that Songun is the only way to prevent war and aggression and defend peace and security.

Songun also guarantees the building of a prosperous nation.

The ideal of humankind to live independently in a prospering country with strong state power is becoming stronger in the new century. State power is none other than the strength of nation itself, and military power is its nucleus.

Strong military power ensures the political stability of the nation, unity of the people and general development of the national economy.

Attaching importance to military affairs and strengthening military power stimulates the people to be imbued with the spirit of national independence and thorough anti-imperialist fighting spirit and encourages them to struggle to build up state power with ardent patriotic zeal.

Directing efforts to military affairs makes it possible, to defend the national industry and resources from the invasion of the imperialists and create favourable conditions for economic construction.

Putting emphasis on the self-reliant defence industry is an important way to develop all other sectors of the economy. It is natural that the development of the defence industry which is based on heavy industry and integrates ultra-modern science and technology, promotes the general economic development.

The validity and effectiveness of Songun has been fully proved in the course of 80-year-long Korean revolution. Because it has always held up the banner of Songun since the beginning of revolution, the DPRK was able to win the two anti-imperialist revolutionary wars-anti-Japanese armed struggle from the early 1930s to the mid-1940s and anti-US Korean War (1950-1953), successfully accomplish the complex and difficult socio-economic transformation of different stages, and firmly defend national sovereignty and dignity, holding fast to socialist banner though several socialist countries collapsed.

Songun is, indeed, the basic guarantee for the dignity of the heroic Korean people who have always emerged victorious in the struggle against imperialism.

The world keenly feels that Songun is an invincible banner of the cause of independence through the reality of the DPRK which adds lustre to its sovereignty and dignity in confrontation with the US which threatens the world.

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