THE SUN IS ALWAYS WITH US -PRESIDENT KIM IL SUNG -ROMESH CHANDRA
THE SUN IS ALWAYS WITH US
PRESIDENT KIM IL SUNG
Romesh Chandra
President of Honour of the World Peace Council
The memory of the several occasions when I had the joy and the honor of being received by President Kim Il Sung will always remain with me.
I recall the support President Kim Il Sung gave to the World Peace Council for which I have had the privilege of working for over five decades, ever since its foundation in 1950.
President Kim Il Sung told me again and again how the fight for peace and national independence, against imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism is vital for the building of a new world of happiness and prosperity for all humankind.
During my first meeting with President Kim Il Sung, the Great Leader of the Korean people, he asked me about the Peace Movement’s activities and growth in the different regions and continents. He had a deep knowledge of and sympathy with the people’s aspirations and goals in scores of countries and explained to me in detail how the struggle of each people strengthens the struggles of all other peoples.
The very first international peace conferences, in which I participated in 1952, highlighted the glorious war of the Korean people, led by President Kim Il Sung, against the United States aggression.
At both the Asian Pacific Countries’ Peace Conference in Beijing (October 1952) and at the World People’s Peace Conference in Vienna (December 1952), delegates from all countries spoke forcefully in support of the unparalleled courage of the Korean people.
The delegates to these conferences from Korea told us, in their speeches and in the personal talks which I could have with them, of the great leadership which President Kim Il Sung gave to his people in their war to defend themselves against the onslaught of the US army.
And then, again and again, till victory came in 1953 and in the decades that followed, the name Kim Il Sung was always associated in the minds and hearts of millions of women and men the world over, with the movements for peace and national independence, with all the best causes of humankind, with the determination to reunify the Korean nation.
I learnt more and more about the outstanding contribution which President Kim Il Sung was making towards the building of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the reunification of Korea.
Wherever I went, I called for solidarity with the Korean people’s tireless efforts for peace and reunification.
Division of Korea by US Imperialism and the Korean War
The World Peace Council and the national peace movements, which were its member organizations, understood well that the Korean nation is a homogeneous nation, which had lived, for thousands of years, on the same land, sharing a single language and customs.
The reason for the division of such a nation was brought about totally by outside forces, not by an internal factor of the nation. It was US imperialism which was responsible for the division.
At the end of the Second World War, the Korean problem was discussed at the talks held between the former Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom.
The then US President Roosevelt, at the Teheran talks, held in November 1943, insisted that Korea had to be put under “trust rule”.
After that, at the Yalta talks, held in February 1945, he also insisted upon the need to put Korea under “trust rule” for 20 or 30 years.
The USA, following the defeat of Japan on August 15, 1945, finally confirmed that it would occupy the area of Korea, south of the 38th parallel. It entered south Korea on September 8, under the pretext of “disarming” the Japanese forces.
Concerning this, the then US President Truman also confessed that the US had proposed to make the 38th parallel as the line dividing Korea.
Although the US agreed to the decision, made at the conference of foreign ministers from three countries (former Soviet Union, the USA and the UK), held in Moscow in December 1945, on the establishment of a unified democratic provisional government in Korea, it deliberately dissolved the former USSR-USA Joint Commission formed to put the decision into practice.
In September 1947, the US illegally brought the Korean issue for discussion in the United Nations and in November that year, at the second General Assembly of the United Nations, used its voting machine to adopt a “plan for reunifying Korea through the UN-supervised north-south general election” and to dispatch the “United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea”.
Pressed by the increasing struggle conducted by the Korean people, in the north and south, to oppose and reject the illegal UN decision, the US forced the Assembly in February 1948, to adopt a “resolution” for establishing a separate government, by holding an election in south Korea alone, under the supervision of the “United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea”.
Despite the strong opposition of the entire Korean people, the US, in May 1948, forced a “separate election” in south Korea and set up the pro-US Syngman Rhee puppet government. The fundamental reason for the division of Korea and the emergence of the issue of Korea’s reunification lie totally in the occupation of south Korea by the US.
The occupation of south Korea by the US and its policy of aggression continues to prevent all moves for peace in the Korean peninsula.
The US imperialists regarded Korea as a foothold to invade Asia. And from the first day of their occupation of south Korea, they pursued a policy of military aggression and colonization, running amok to abolish the system of people’s democracy established in the DPRK, and to dominate the whole of Korea.
The US, with detailed preparations, launched its war of aggression against the DPR of Korea on June 25, 1950.
The war enforced by the US was a severe trial for the Korean people. At that time, the DPRK was still in its infancy, its economic power was not so strong and the Korean People’s Army was only two years old.
The Korean people were full of confidence that, under the leadership of President Kim Il Sung, they would be able to defeat the US imperialists.
The Korean people attacked the US aggressors in the front and in the rear, and finally, on July 27, 1953, won a historic victory in the three-year-long liberation war.
The US had turned Pyongyang and other cities and the countryside into debris, by dropping an average of 18 bombs on each square kilometer.
After the war, the DPR of Korea faced a very difficult situation. There were so many tasks to be undertaken that people did not know how to do all of them, and from where to start.
However, President Kim Il Sung was convinced that a new life could and would be created, as long as there were people, territory, the Party and the Government. And he encouraged the entire people in their great struggle for postwar reconstruction.
The Korean people, who were tempered in the war and firmly united around President Kim Il Sung, conducted a heroic struggle with devotion.
They overcame manifold difficulties, to build factories, cities, making new innovations in production and construction.
As a result, the DPR of Korea became a successful socialist country.
President Kim Il Sung and the Peace Movement
During my unforgettable meeting with him on May 11, 1988, President Kim Il Sung particularly emphasized the problems related to the movement of peace and security in the Asian and Pacific Region.
The popular masses are the masters of everything and decide everything. The people have the power and the capability to defend world peace.
President Kim Il Sung said that those, who were making huge profits through the arms race, were attempting to weaken and destroy the peoples’ movement for world peace. He added that it would be impossible for them to prevent the movement from growing.
Extending my total support to the DPRK’s proposal for turning the Korean peninsula into a non-nuclear, peace zone, I recalled the activities conducted by the World Peace Council.
In those days, many American nuclear weapons were deployed in south Korea, posing a great threat to the peace-loving peoples of the world.
Therefore, the struggle to remove the American nuclear weapons from south Korea took an important place in the struggle to denuclearize the world.
That was why our Council conducted massive peace actions in support of the Korean people’s struggle for their country’s independent and peaceful reunification.
I expressed my sincere gratitude to the President for his proposals concerning the strengthening and development of the world peace movement, and assured him that I would inform the national peace organizations regarding all his valuable views.
President Kim Il Sung told me to come to the DPRK frequently. Some forces in Europe, he said, looked down upon Asia. It is necessary to wage a powerful struggle to prevent the US imperialists and Japanese militarists from carrying out their plans to dominate Asia. We must unite the Asian peoples and establish good relations with all of them.
His frank and friendly words gave me great encouragement.
Peace Conference in Pyongyang
I felt that he was speaking to me, as he would to a member of his family. I told him that I had discussed with the Korean National Committee for Defending Peace about the possibility of holding a peace conference in Pyongyang and that I would be most thankful to him if he would express his opinion about this proposal.
President Kim Il Sung said that if the World Peace Council organized a peace conference in Pyongyang, he would take measures to ensure that all the necessary conditions would be provided. He added that when I would come to Pyongyang to participate in the conference, he would meet me again.
He pointed out that October would be the best month for holding the conference from the point of view of the climate and weather in Korea.
I requested him to honour us by making the key address at the conference.
President Kim Il Sung’s proposal to hold the Pyongyang peace conference in October was gratefully received by the World Peace Council and we worked actively to prepare for the conference.
And as the conference dates came near, I left for the DPRK together with members of the Secretariat of the World Peace Council.
During the day after I had arrived in Pyongyang, I thought of the immense contributions, which the DPRK had made under the leadership of President Kim Il Sung.
The Juche idea, created in Korea, elucidated that man is the most valuable and strongest being and plays a decisive role in developing the world and shaping his own destiny.
The DPR of Korea, in which such a great idea has been successfully embodied, has been rightly called a place of great happiness. Happiness can be enjoyed only when there is peace.
I recalled again my last meeting with President Kim Il Sung. That night, I was involved in the final preparations for the success of the conference. It was agreed to call the conference “The International Conference for the Denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and for Peace in the Asian and Pacific Region”. It was planned that delegates of more than 40 peace movements and organizations from 33 countries in the Asian and Pacific region and other regions of the world, as well as delegates from five international organizations, would participate in the conference.
In the morning of October 17, 1988, we were holding a discussion about the agenda of the conference and about the important documents to be adopted at the conference. In the afternoon of that day, we were told that President Kim Il Sung would receive the organizers of the conference. As we arrived, he shook hands with each of us, saying that he was very happy to meet us and posed for a photograph with us.
He told us that he hoped that the conference would be a great success, and that the holding of the conference was an expression of support to the Korean people in their struggle for the country’s reunification. From May that year, President Kim Il Sung had taken steps to ensure that the conference could be held in Pyongyang successfully.
I told President Kim Il Sung about the proposed programme of the conference, which opened on October 18.
On the day after the opening of the conference, the participants received a letter of congratulations from President Kim Il Sung.
In those days, humanity was entering a new era, on the road to the building of a peaceful and prosperous new world.
Thanks to the energetic struggle of the peace-loving forces of the world, a phase of detente was gradually being opened in international relations, in which confrontation and cold war had existed for a long time. And this enabled the people to hope for a peaceful future.
However, the forces of imperialism, going against the trend of the times when the common prosperity of humankind was being sought, were clinging, as ever, to their policy of force, accelerating the militarization of the economy and an arms race, as well as further intensifying their manoeuvres of aggression and plunder, in order to oppress and exploit the peoples of other countries.
The US, in particular, with a wild ambition to ensure the domination and control of the Asian and Pacific Region, deployed huge nuclear forces in the region, threatening the peoples militarily. And, as a result, the sovereignty of the countries and nations in the region was being violated, and a complicated situation was being created, endangering world peace and security.
The USA, in accordance with its strategy to invade the Asian and Pacific Region, was making schemes to create “two Koreas”, aimed at making south Korea its permanent military base for aggression, introducing nuclear weapons and other modern means of making war into south Korea, frequently conducting large-scale military exercises such as the so-called “Team Spirit” joint military exercises in south Korea and in the area around it.
Owing to the schemes of aggression and war, made by the US, a tense situation was being created in Korea.
The deployment of a huge amount of nuclear weapons in south Korea made it possible for a nuclear war to break out in the Korean peninsula, and if a nuclear war would break out, it would extend to the Asian and Pacific region and other parts of the world, with the resultant deaths of millions of people.
In his letter to the conference, President Kim Il Sung said that, in order to remove the danger of a nuclear war and maintain peace in Korea, the US army and its nuclear weapons must be withdrawn from south Korea, the Korean peninsula denuclearized and the problem of Korea’s reunification solved in a peaceful way.
DPRK’s Peace Proposals
The Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of the DPR of Korea, starting from their mission for the destiny of the Korea nation and the cause of world peace, put forward reasonable proposals for removing the tension created on the Korean peninsula and for a peaceful solution of the issue of Korea’s reunification, and made sincere efforts to put the proposals into practice.
President Kim Il Sung made the proposal of founding the Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo, which would be neutral and non-aligned, as a practical method for the solution of the issue of Korea’s reunification, based upon the three principles, the main contents of which were independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity.
The Government of the DPR of Korea put forward a number of proposals for peace: the proposal for the conclusion of a peace agreement between the DPR of Korea and the USA and for the adoption of a non-aggression declaration between the north and south of Korea; the proposal for turning the Korean peninsula into a non-nuclear and peace zone; the proposal for holding multinational talks for disarmament, and the proposal for convening a parliamentary consultative meeting of the north and south of Korea.
However, these just and reasonable proposals could not be put into practice, owing to the schemes of the USA and the separatists.
As long as the domination and interference of the USA continue to exist, the people’s desire for peace, democracy and social change cannot be met.
The USA has no reason or pretext for keeping its large aggressive forces in south Korea.
And, furthermore, it has no reason for bringing nuclear weapons into south Korea, making it a nuclear base threatening the DPRK.
The problem of withdrawing the US army and its nuclear weapons from south Korea and of maintaining peace on the Korean peninsula will be solved successfully, only when the entire Korean people and other peace-loving forces of the world struggle jointly.
President Kim Il Sung said that the struggle to prevent war and ensure peace is a sacred cause for saving mankind from a nuclear catastrophe and for building an independent and peaceful new world; modern imperialism, which is going against the development of history, is the common enemy of the world peoples who wanted peace and independence.
The imperialists’ policy of aggression and war would be frustrated and world peace and security maintained, if the progressive peoples and broad peace-loving forces of the world form strong international bonds and conduct a joint anti-war, anti-nuclear and peace movement in all parts of the world, under the banner of anti-imperialism and independence.
President Kim Il Sung’s letter, in which he said it would be important in the struggle for peace to stop the arms race, achieve disarmament, withdraw the aggressive army and military bases stationed in many countries and to create non-nuclear and peace zones in many regions of the world, was received with great enthusiasm and a positive response by the participants in the conference. President Kim Il Sung’s message was adopted unanimously as an official document of the conference.
The conference, which lasted for four days, ended in full success and gave all delegates new inspiration for the work ahead. Immediately after the end of the conference we received news that President Kim Il Sung would meet us again. We were all delighted at this unexpected news. It would be the second time within one week’s stay in the DPRK that I would have the privilege of meeting him.
President Kim Il Sung congratulated us on the success of the conference.
He also expressed his gratitude to us as the conference had given new encouragement to the Korean people in their struggle for achieving their country’s reunification.
He guided us to a hall to join him for a dinner-party. We took our seats around him.
President Kim Il Sung said he would not make a speech, because he had already indicated what he had wanted to say in his message of congratulations sent to the participants in the conference, adding that the world peoples highly valued peace and that socialism meant peace and peace precisely meant socialism.
I have on many occasions recalled his meaningful remark that socialism meant peace and peace precisely meant socialism.
All humankind desire to live in peace to enjoy an independent and creative life. There is no nation, no people who do not want peace. Peace cannot exist apart from independence.
The Korean peninsula, which covers an area of 220,000 square kilometers situated at a corner of the East, had historically been a place in which the imperialist powers had vied for supremacy.
In former times, Korea had made a major contribution to human civilization, with its unique culture. But it had been invaded and plundered and, finally, became a victim to imperialist forces.
To put an end to such a history of disgrace and to make Korea independent, a fierce and bloody struggle had to be waged.
The Korean communists, headed by President Kim Il Sung, advanced bravely along the road chosen by themselves.
The purpose of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle, which had lasted for more than 20 years, was Korea’s liberation and the Korean nation’s independence. They advanced, with courage and without vacillation, along the lines chosen by themselves, conforming to the requirements of the Korean revolution and also to the realities of Korea. The Korean people, under the wise guidance of President Kim Il Sung, defeated the Japanese imperialists and liberated their country. They also defeated the US imperialists in the three-yearlong Korean war.
The Korean people shaped their destiny through their own efforts, establishing the socialist system.
President Kim Il Sung, from the early days of his revolutionary struggle, held high the banner of independence and conducted the arduous revolutionary struggle, making great successes on the road to independence. As a result, the Korean people have become an independent people, enjoying a happy life in the socialist system. They also have become a nation who highly value peace.
As we sat down to dinner, President Kim Il Sung helped each of us to delicious Korean dishes. He also expressed his appreciation of the struggle against the schemes of aggression of the US imperialists, carried out in New Zealand and other countries, the representatives of whose peace movements were present, adding that the arrogance of the imperialist powers in many parts of the world, must be humbled.
His remarks gave us still further encouragement. I asked the President for permission to make a short speech, and stood up.
He thanked me and told me to keep seated while I spoke.
I began by expressing my thanks to him, saying that it was a great pleasure and honour for us, that he, despite his many tasks, had arranged to meet us again and had invited us to a dinner-party.
I went on to say that at the closing meeting of the conference, I had told the participants that President Kim Il Sung had been present at the conference on a daily basis.
The simultaneous interpreters might have been puzzled at this remark. But by saying that President Kim Il Sung daily participated in the conference, I meant to emphasize that he had paid deep attention to the conference.
President Kim Il Sung expressed his thanks again and again to me for this statement.
I also told him about various aspects of the conference and the way in which issues, though often complicated, were discussed.
I said I had never been worried about such complications and even differences because I knew that President Kim Il Sung himself had taken measures to ensure that the conference could be held in the DPRK and, on the day before the opening of the conference, he had met all the participants, and sent a very detailed message of congratulations to the participants.
In my speech at the dinner-party, I once again thanked President Kim Il Sung for his precious support for the World Peace Council and for me, personally. I also told him that we would do more effective work for peace, strengthened by the successes achieved at the conference.
Lastly, I proposed a toast to the President’s long life in good health as well as to greater successes in his responsible work.
The representatives from Madagascar, New Zealand, Romania, Nicaragua, Nepal and other countries, who were present at the dinner-party, also expressed their gratitude to President Kim Il Sung, requesting him to visit their respective countries.
President Kim Il Sung accepted their requests, with pleasure, and said that the problem of creating the denuclearized zones had already been proposed by the government of India and by other governments in the Indian Ocean region such as that of Madagascar. He again underlined his view that the World Peace Council was carrying out activities of the highest importance, which corresponded to the wishes of the peoples of the world.
He also invited us all to visit Pyongyang frequently, not only to hold an international conference, but also for a vacation for rest, choosing the best season for our visits.
At the dinner-party, which was held in an amiable atmosphere, the delegate from Madagascar told President Kim Il Sung about his impressions about the May Day Stadium and the Gwangbok Street, adding that he had thought that, if we had been about 20 years old, we would be able to take part in the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students, to be held in Pyongyang the next year.
After hearing him, President Kim Il Sung told us that he would invite us all irrespective of our ages, to the festival as guests.
Anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea
I visited the DPRK again in October 1990 to participate in the celebrations on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the foundation of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
On that occasion, too, I had the honour of meeting President Kim Il Sung and was photographed with him.
On October 10, the foundation day of the Workers’ Party of Korea, I took part in a grand banquet, participated in by President Kim Il Sung.
Present at the banquet were 276 delegations and other representatives from 126 countries, including renowned social activists and other guests from across the world.
At the banquet, President Kim Il Sung delivered a speech, the main content of which was that strengthening the Party and raising its leading role would constitute the main guarantee for achieving victory in the revolution.
In his speech, President Kim Il Sung emphasized that, in spite of conspiracies of all kinds, made by the imperialists and reactionaries, the world was advancing, as ever, along the road of independence.
He continued that the peoples’ desire to live in a free and peaceful new world would be met, without fail, although there were turns and twists on the road to progress.
Today the DPRK holds its own in the world, existing together with other countries, showing its dignity as an independent sovereign state.
That is why today, it has become a country which has many friends and many guests. Every day, Korea receives the heads of state of foreign countries, leaders of foreign parties and governments, famous social activists and numerous others.
The DPRK gives to those who visit it, confidence in the peaceful future of humankind, in the building of a new and different world in which peace and national independence shall prevail.
90th Birth Anniversary of President Kim Il Sung
When I was invited to attend the President’s 90th birth anniversary in Pyongyang, I was filled with great emotion.
I would be able to visit the DPRK again but I would not be able to hear again the kindly voice and see the friendly visage of one who meant so much in my life and in the lives of so many others.
The passing away of President Kim Il Sung on July 8, 1994 was so sudden and unexpected that it seemed impossible to believe that the creator of the Juche idea and defender of world peace and national independence, the great leader of the Korean people was no more.
But as I took part in the various events to honour his memory, I understood more and more why the Korean people will always call President Kim Il Sung the great sun of all the peoples; under the rays of the sun, they say the era of independence continues on the globe, and the number of the independent and peace-loving people continues to increase; the sun removes the darkness and brings about daylight, growing and protecting everything.
The Korean people consider that, as the natural world exists thanks to the sun, there exists the present and the future of the peace-loving peoples of the world thanks above all to President Kim Il Sung, who saved and protected the Korean people, who had been oppressed throughout their history, by creating the Juche idea, which shines as brilliantly as the light of the sun, and by turning their dreams of happiness into reality, with his life, which was as warm as the sun.
It is said that the passage of time wipes out our memories. However, the people feel greater yearning for President Kim Il Sung as days and years go by. July 8 this year marks the tenth anniversary of his passing away.
And his memory remains stronger than ever, the feeling of admiration for him grows ever deeper.