LET US EMBODY THE REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE, SELF-SUSTENANCE AND SELF-DEFENCE MORE THOROUGHLY IN ALL BRANCHES OF STATE ACTIVITY-KIM IL SUNG
Political Programme of the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Announced at the First Session of the Fourth Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK
December 16, 1967
Comrade Deputies,
The elections of deputies to the Fourth Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea have successfully taken place, with a great new revolutionary devotion, and the political and work enthusiasm of the entire people running exceptionally high in all fields of socialist economic construction and the augmentation of our defences, to carry out the decisions of the historic Conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
All the citizens of our country took part in the elections, as one man, with high patriotic zeal, thereby showing their firm determination to defend the people’s power and the revolutionary gains and further consolidate and develop them, carry out the building of socialism in the northern half of the Republic successfully, and accomplish the revolutionary cause of reunification of the country whatever the cost.
The results of the elections clearly demonstrated our people’s unreserved support for and profound trust in our Party and the Government of the Republic and again showed the world the monolithic political and ideological unity of all our people.
On behalf of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, I wish to extend my warm thanks to you deputies who have been elected to this Supreme People’s Assembly and to all the people of our country for trusting and authorizing us once again to form the Cabinet of the Republic.
Comrades,
The elections of deputies to the Supreme People’s Assembly have been held on four occasions in our country in the 19 years since the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a genuine people’s state, in accordance with the unanimous will of the entire Korean people, and the Cabinet of the Republic has been formed today for the fourth time.
During this period great strides have been made along the road of social progress and civilization in our country, thanks to the correct policies of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the invincible vitality of the people’s power and to the heroic struggle of our people, who, as masters of the state, have taken their destiny into their own hands. In this land, where harsh exploitation and oppression, centuries-old underdevelopment and poverty once prevailed, an advanced, socialist system has now been established under which all of us help each other, work together and live happily; our country has become a socialist state with a strong independent national economy and brilliant national culture.
Since the elections of deputies to the Third Supreme People’s Assembly held in 1962, the Cabinet of the Republic has exerted all its efforts to carry through the decisions of the Fourth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and has, especially, concentrated its efforts on the implementation of our Party’s new revolutionary line of carrying out economic construction in parallel with the building up of our defences, which was set out at the Conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea held in October 1966. As a result, tremendous successes have been made in all political, economic, cultural and military fields and the might of our country has been further increased.
The alliance of the workers and peasants on a socialist basis has been further cemented, and the political and ideological unity of all the people has become stronger than ever. Our people have been tempered still more in the hard-fought struggle for revolution and construction; through practical experience, they have acquired boundless confidence in the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of the Republic, around which they are firmly united. Our people accept the policies and lines of our Party and the Government of the Republic as their vital cause and devote all their talents and energies to the struggle for the cause of the revolution and for the prosperity and progress of the Republic. This rock-firm unity and cohesion of our people is the solid foundation of our state and social system and the source of our invincible might.
Our people are now in a position to enter the international arena under the glorious banner of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, equal in rights to the peoples of both the large and small countries of the world, and the international position of the Republic continues to rise.
The correct economic policy of our Party and the Government of the Republic has brought about giant strides forward in all fields of the national economy.
In 1966, industrial production was 1.4 times greater than in 1962 and 41 times that of 1946, the year immediately after liberation.
The foundations of the independent national economy of the country have been further consolidated as a result of the vigorous campaign organized and carried forward by the Government of the Republic to implement the decisions of the Fourth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea on the accomplishment of socialist industrialization and the all-round promotion of the technical revolution in every field of the national economy.
The foundations of our heavy industry, with the machine-building industry as its core, have been further improved and strengthened, and the production of diverse heavy industrial goods has grown conspicuously. Our heavy industry is now showing still greater strength and making a better contribution to the progress of light industry and agriculture, as a solid base for increasing the economic independence of the country and for accelerating the technical reconstruction of our national economy.
Great progress has also been made in the field of light industry. In our country the people’s consumer demands are met with locally produced goods, although these are not yet abundant, and in light industry firm foundations have been laid for producing diverse high-quality consumer goods in larger quantities in future.
Our socialist agriculture has also made good headway. The technical, cultural and ideological revolutions have been promoted successfully in the countryside, the direction and management of cooperative farms improved and assistance to the rural areas further increased; the farmers’ political and work enthusiasm has increased greatly. Our country was hit hard by repeated natural disasters in recent years, but their effects were completely overcome in all sectors of our agricultural production.
With the successful acceleration of socialist economic construction and the rapid growth of production, the people’s material and cultural standards of living have risen markedly.
The per-capita national income was 500 won in 1966, or a 1.2-fold increase as against 1962, and it is expected to rise to 580 won this year.
The Government of the Republic increased the real incomes of the workers, office employees and farmers considerably, while also steadily accumulating development funds for expanded production and allocating a large part of the national income to the building up of defences to meet the present situation. In particular, the Government of the Republic, in keeping with the line set forth in the Theses on the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country, introduced a series of radical measures for increasing the farmers’ income: total elimination of agricultural tax in kind, capital construction in the rural areas with state investment, construction of farmers’ homes at state expense, and so on.
Housing conditions for the working people improved considerably as a result of extensive dwelling construction. During the period from 1963 to 1966, homes with a total floor space of 10,210,000 square metres were built in towns and the country areas for the working people.
Not only were the basic problems of food, clothing and housing solved, but the supply of commodities to the working people was generally improved. In our country today the working people can buy whatever goods are needed at uniform prices everywhere, not merely in towns but even in remote mountain areas where merchandise was seldom seen before.
Further progress has also been made in education, culture and public health.
In our country, thanks to the correct educational policy of our Party and the Government of the Republic, 2,600,000 pupils and students, or one-fourth of the population, are now studying free of charge at more than 9,260 schools at all levels, including 98 institutes of higher learning. In particular, universal compulsory nine-year technical education which has been introduced this year, combining general education with polytechnic training, will make it possible for us to raise all the coming generation as a reserve of versatile builders of socialism and communism, reliable heirs to our revolutionary cause, and further raise the technical and cultural levels of all the working people. This will contribute greatly to the further development of public education and the acceleration of the technical and cultural revolutions in our country.
In 1966 the number of university graduates was 1.2 times that of 1962, and that of the graduates from higher technical schools and specialized secondary schools, 3.2 times the 1962 figure. At present, over 425,700 engineers, assistant engineers and specialists—2.3 times as many as in 1962—are working in all fields of the national economy. Thanks to the wisdom and energy of our technicians and specialists, all branches of our national economy are managed and operated efficiently, and new, up-to-date factories and enterprises are going up one after another in our country today. This is one of the biggest successes achieved by our Party and the Government of the Republic in the building of a new country.
The correct policy of our Party and the Government of the Republic with regard to health services has enabled our working people to enjoy greater benefits from the system of universal free medical care. In the field of health services, the number of medical workers has increased considerably, medical facilities have been expanded and medical service for the working people has been further improved over the past four years. As a result of these improved public health services and the raising of the people’s living standards as a whole, the mortality of the population dropped in 1966 to half that of the pre-liberation years, and the people’s average life-span has been lengthened by 20 years. This is possible only under the socialist system, where the masses are the true masters of the country.
Large numbers of nurseries and kindergartens, run at state and community expense, have been established in order to raise and educate our children well and to provide women with suitable conditions for social labour.
All this is a clear manifestation of the popular policies of our Party and the Government of the Republic, the supreme principle of whose activities is the promotion of the well-being of the working people.
Our Party and the Government of the Republic have in recent years directed special attention to strengthening the country’s defence capabilities to counter the intensified aggressive manoeuvres of the imperialists. The US imperialists created the Caribbean crisis against the Republic of Cuba in 1962 and later provoked the Gulf of Bac Bo incident against the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and embarked on a course of escalating the war of aggression in South Viet Nam on a large scale. In the face of this situation, our Party and Government put forward the line of carrying out economic construction and the building up of our defences in parallel, and introduced a number of important measures to increase our defence capabilities while reorganizing the national economy. We are thus fully able to repulse any hostile invasions and defend the security of our country more effectively.
All these successes scored in the revolutionary struggle and work of construction in recent years proclaim the splendid victory of the lines and policies of our Party and the Government of the Republic which have creatively applied and developed the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism in line with existing conditions in our country, the clear manifestation of the indomitable vitality and great superiority of the state and social system of our Republic, and the fulfilment of the patriotic struggle and creative labour of our people, closely united around our Party and Government.
We cannot rest content with the successes which have already been achieved; our revolutionary cause has not yet been completed. So that we can continue to advance the revolution and construction of the country we still have much to do, and we must keep on striving to overcome difficulties and hardships.
Basing itself strictly on the lines and policies of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the General Staff of our revolution and organizer of all the victories of the Korean people, the newly formed Cabinet of the Republic will, in the future, as in the past, organize and carry out all its work in the interests of the entire Korean people, and it will fight steadfastly to accelerate socialist construction in the northern half of the Republic and the accomplishment of the sacred cause of liberating the south Korean people and reunifying the country.
The Government of the Republic, bearing in mind the general tasks of our revolution, will concentrate all its efforts on carrying out the following immediate political, economic, cultural and military tasks:
First. The Government of the Republic will thoroughly implement the line of independence, self-sustenance and self-defence to consolidate the political Chajusong of the country, strengthen the foundations of an independent national economy capable of ensuring the complete reunification, independence and prosperity of our nation, and increase the defence capabilities of the country so as to protect its security on the basis of our own forces, by establishing our Party’s idea of Juche in all fields.
Our Party’s idea of Juche represents the most correct Marxist-Leninist idea of leadership for the successful accomplishment of our revolution and construction and is the constant guiding principle of the Government of the Republic in all its policies and activities.
Only by establishing firmly Juche can each country repudiate flunkeyism towards great powers as well as dogmatism, and creatively apply the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism and the experience of other countries in line with its historical conditions and national characteristics; always solve its own problems by itself on its own responsibility, eliminating reliance on others through showing a spirit of self-reliance; and, accordingly, carry on its revolutionary cause and construction work with success.
Establishing Juehe is a matter of particular importance for us in the light of our country’s geographical situation and environment, the circumstances of its historical development and the complex and arduous character of our revolution. The establishment of Juche is a matter of key importance on which the success of our revolution depends, a vital question which will determine the future of our nation.
The Government of the Republic has been able to achieve great victories and successes in the revolutionary struggle and construction work, because it has persistently tried to solve all problems independently, in conformity with the particular requirements of our country and mainly through its own efforts, consistently guided in its activities by the Juche idea of the Workers’ Party of Korea and strictly maintaining the principles of Marxism-Leninism.
As a result of our efforts to establish Juche in the ideological field, the national pride of our workers and their sense of independence have grown enormously, and they have acquired the revolutionary characteristics of not following others blindly, appraising foreign ideas critically instead of unreservedly copying or accepting them without question; and striving to solve all problems according to the conditions which exist in our country and on the basis of their own wisdom and strength.
Thanks to the fact that our Party’s spirit of independence, self-sustenance and self-defence is finding full expression in all fields of national construction, the political Chajusong of the Republic has been consolidated and the economic independence and military power of our country have grown considerably.
As a full-fledged, independent state, our country now sets its own lines and policies independently and exercises complete equality and sovereignty in its foreign relations.
Under the leadership of our Party and the Government of the Republic, our people have laid firm foundations for an independent national economy in keeping with the revolutionary principle of self-reliance and have thus eliminated the centuries-old backwardness and poverty, further increased the economic might of the Republic and radically improved their standard of living. The establishment of Juche in science and culture has accelerated scientific and technological progress, brought about a great change in the quality of education and in the work of training cadres, and led to the blossoming and advancement of a new, socialist national culture agreeable to the life and sentiments of our people.
In the field of defence construction we have also strengthened our capabilities to such an extent that we are in a position to defend the security of our country and our socialist gains strongly, on the basis of our own strength, even in the complex situation existing today.
The great victories and successes we have attained in our socialist revolution and construction over the past years are, indeed, the brilliant consequence of the great vitality of our Party’s idea of Juche and of our line of independence, self-sustenance and self-defence—the embodiment of that idea in all fields. We formulated our policies independently by creatively applying the principles of Marxism-Leninism to the prevailing conditions in Korea and enlisted the inexhaustible creative potential of our industrious and talented people and our rich national resources to carry out these policies. This has enabled us to build a socialist state in a short time, which possesses political independence, economic self-sustenance and national self-defence.
Our Party’s line of strengthening the political, economic and military might of the country in every way with all our efforts is the most correct way of expediting the victory of the Korean revolution.
The Government of the Republic will continue to adhere firmly to the principle of settling all the problems that arise in revolution and construction independently, studying and analysing the needs of Korea in strict accordance with the Juche idea of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
All nations are equal and have the sacred right of national self-determination, of deciding their own destinies for themselves. A nation can secure independence and freedom and attain happiness and prosperity only if it achieves complete political self-determination and exercises its rights by keeping them firmly in its own hands.
Under the leadership of our Party, the Government of the Republic will follow its own course in formulating all our policies for socialist construction in the fields of industry, agriculture, education, literature and art, judicial administration, and so on, in conformity with our conditions, and carry them out by its own efforts. We must not act on the orders and instructions of others but, on the basis of the interests of our revolution and construction, settle all problems from the standpoint of Juche, using our own judgment and making our own decisions. It is true that we should unite with allies who are fighting for a common goal and learn from their experience if it accords with the principles of Marxism-Leninism and it is worth learning. But, even so, we must always approach such experience critically, strenuously opposing any tendency to accept foreign ideas indiscriminately or imitate them unreservedly; we must not blindly copy what does not suit our actual conditions.
In the struggle for our country’s reunification, too, the Government of the Republic will always hold fast to its independent position. We regard all attempts to effect the country’s reunification by relying on outside forces as treacheries against the country and the nation aimed at placing the whole of Korea in the hands of foreign aggressors. The question of Korean reunification is an internal affair of the Korean people, one which cannot be settled by any outside forces. Ours is a wise and civilized nation, fully capable of settling its national problems for itself. We consistently hold that the question of reunifying our country must be settled through the efforts of our people themselves, without interference from any outside forces, under conditions where the aggressive army of US imperialism is withdrawn from south Korea.
In the sphere of foreign policy, too, we should continue to work to establish political and economic relations with other countries on the principles of complete equality and mutual respect. We must always rely on our own judgment and conviction in fighting against imperialism and Right and “Left” opportunism, in conformity with our own conditions, and let no one violate or offend the rights and dignity of our nation.
The Government of the Republic will faithfully continue to carry out our Party’s line of building an independent national economy by applying the principle of self-reliance to the full in the economic sphere, while, at the same time, consolidating political Chajusong.
Today we are confronted with the heavy task of carrying on economic construction and the building up of our defences in parallel so as to lay a firm material foundation for the prosperity of the generations to come and establish a sound economic base which will enable us to cope readily with the great revolutionary event of the reunification of our country. All this can be achieved successfully only if the principle of self-reliance, the line of building an independent national economy, is adhered to consistently and implemented more thoroughly.
Self-reliance is a completely revolutionary stand for a people to accomplish the revolution in their country relying mainly on their own forces; it is an independent stand of building up their country through their own labour and with their own national resources.
Only by firmly maintaining such a revolutionary stand and revolutionary principle can we carry on the struggle without abandoning revolutionary constancy, no matter what complex and difficult situation may confront us, and ensure victory in the revolutionary struggle and success in our work of construction, bravely overcoming any difficulties and hardships which stand in the way of our advance. If you lack the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance, you may lose faith in your own strength, neglect efforts to tap the inner resources of your country, grow indolent and idle, and fall into a state of inactivity and conservatism.
Only when a nation builds an independent national economy can it secure political independence, make its country rich, strong and progressive and achieve national prosperity.
Economic independence is the material foundation for political independence. A country which is economically dependent on outside forces becomes a political satellite of other countries; an economically subject nation cannot free itself from colonial slavery politically.
Without building an independent national economy it is impossible to establish material and technological foundations for socialism, and build socialism and communism successfully.
To build socialism, it is essential to create a powerful base of heavy industry with the machine-building industry as its core, and, on this basis, equip light industry, agriculture, transport and all other branches of the national economy with modern techniques, thus laying the powerful material and technological foundations for socialism—needed to improve the welfare of the working people as a whole—as the laws of socialism require. As long as national distinctions remain and states exist, these material and technological foundations of socialism must be built by each national state as a unit. Therefore, it can only be said that firm material and technological foundations of socialism have been laid in each country when it has built a comprehensive, independent national economy diversified in its development, equipped with the latest technology and run by its own national cadres, using its own natural resources, raw materials and other supplies so that its domestic products can fully meet the varied and ever-growing requirements of economic and defence construction and the people’s consumption, for heavy and light industrial goods and farm produce.
Only if the material and technological foundations of socialism are established in this way within the boundaries of each national state as a comprehensive, independent economic unit, can the country’s natural resources be tapped and utilized to the fullest extent and a high rate of growth in production be maintained together with a correct and flexible balance between all branches of the national economy. Moreover, only in this way is it possible to develop science, technology and culture rapidly, steadily raise the technological and cultural standards of the working people, and turn them into people of a new type, developed in a comprehensive way.
The building of an independent national economy is also the basic guarantee that nations can eliminate the economic backwardness which constitutes the real basis of inequalities between them, achieve national prosperity and build a socialist and communist society successfully.
The building of socialism and communism, as you know, requires the eradication of inequalities between nations as well as of class distinctions.
Such inequalities, however, do not disappear immediately when the socialist revolution triumphs in each country, nor do they vanish through the amalgamation of nations in one way or another.
The era of capitalism is an era in which national oppression prevails side by side with class exploitation, an era in which the free development of the great majority of nations is held back by a few nations and inequalities between nations exist. It is, therefore, necessary for the nations liberated from capitalist exploitation and oppression not only to become labouring socialist nations but also to build highly developed, independent national economies for their fullest free development and all-round growth. Only by this means can all inequalities among nations be done away with and all nations build socialism with success, and gradually advance to communism.
All this testifies to the fact that the line of building an independent national economy, consistently followed by our Party and the Government of the Republic, is a thoroughly revolutionary line of economic construction which conforms with the laws which govern the building of socialism and communism.
We will apply the revolutionary principle of self-reliance in building up our national defences as well, and thus increase our country’s capabilities for self-defence still further.
Needless to say, the international unity of the proletariat of all countries and the friendly alliance of the socialist countries in the revolutionary struggle against imperialist aggression and against the pressures of international capital are an important guarantee for safeguarding the revolutionary gains which have already been achieved and winning new victories. It is the sacred internationalist duty of communists to do all that they can to help and give support and encouragement to each other in the battle against imperialism, their common enemy, and each country should strive to strengthen this international solidarity in the struggle against imperialist forces of aggression from without.
The decisive factor for victory in the struggle against imperialist reaction, however, is the internal forces of the country concerned. Although foreign support is important in a war against foreign aggressors, to all intents and purposes it plays no more than a secondary role. When the internal forces of a country are not prepared, its revolutionary struggle cannot emerge victorious, no matter how great its foreign support may be. If the communists pin their hopes solely on foreign support and aid, without developing their own revolutionary forces, they cannot be certain of defending the security of their country and their revolutionary gains against imperialist aggression.
The Government of the Republic will give substance to our Party’s spirit of self-defence, thoroughly preparing our people and soldiers for war, politically and ideologically; it will make full preparations to defend our country, relying on the solid foundations of the independent national economy which we have already established and, at the same time, continue to increase our military power.
In particular, by carrying out the decisions of the Conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea in full, we shall concentrate all our efforts on reorganizing the whole work of building our socialist economy to fit the requirements of the present situation and also on reinforcing our defence capabilities to meet the undisguised aggressive actions by the enemy. In this way we shall make ours an ever more solid, viable and independent economy to meet the material needs of both the front line and the rear fully in case of emergency, and we shall make our country’s military power impregnable in order to repel the enemy by ourselves, no matter when he might launch a surprise attack against us.
Establishing the Juche idea of the Workers’ Party of Korea successfully in all fields, we shall build an ever richer, stronger and mightier socialist state—independent in politics, self-sustaining in the economy and self-reliant in national defence.
Second. In order to end the present misfortunes of our people caused by the artificial division of our territory and nation as soon as possible, liberate the people in south Korea and reunify our country, the Government of the Republic will firmly equip the people in the northern half of the Republic both morally and materially to support the south Korean people in their sacred anti-US struggle for national salvation and to deal readily with the great revolutionary event.
Because of the occupation of south Korea by the US imperialists, our country is still divided into north and south, and the reunification of the country, the heartfelt desire of the nation, has not yet been achieved although a new generation has grown up; and our people have been suffering from the national partition for more than 20 years. As time passes, the gulf between north and south Korea is widening in all spheres—political, economic and cultural—and the national community of our people, formed in the course of a long period of history, is gradually being eroded. Territorial partition and national division make it impossible to coordinate our efforts to enlist and utilize our country’s wealth and national wisdom and talents to promote the prosperity of the country and the welfare of the people.
The division of Korea into north and south has caused immeasurable misery and distress, particularly to the south Korean people. South Korea today has been completely turned into a colony of the US imperialists, into their aggressive military base. The national industry of south Korea has been reduced to dependency on foreign capital, and its agriculture is also in a serious state of crisis. The national culture and the beautiful customs inherent in the Korean people have been utterly trampled underfoot, and all kinds of immorality and depravity prevail everywhere in south Korea. The south Korean people are going hungry and are in rags, doubly and triply exploited and oppressed, many of them roaming the streets in quest of work and living in a state of constant anxiety with all their hopes blighted. They are subjected to unbearable racial insults and contempt, and even their right to existence is constantly threatened by the US imperialist aggressors.
Where there are exploitation and oppression, there will always be revolutionary struggle on the part of the people. Ever since the first days of the occupation of the south by the US imperialist aggressors, the south Korean people have been fighting tenaciously against their policies of colonial enslavement and military aggression. The October Popular Resistance Struggle in 1946, the April Uprising in 1960 which toppled the puppet regime of Syngman Rhee, and many other struggles carried on by the south Korean people against the “south Korea-Japan talks” and for the abrogation of the “south Korea-Japan agreements”, struck telling blows to the colonial rule of US imperialism.
On every occasion, the US imperialists and their stooges harshly repressed the people’s righteous patriotic struggle at bayonet point. The policy of military fascist dictatorship pursued in south Korea today has assumed unprecedented ferocity and barbarity and has become a prototype of vicious fascist rule by the imperialists over their colonies. The US imperialist aggressors and their puppets, by enforcing many wicked fascist laws, greatly increased their instruments of repression, and covered the whole of south Korea with military, police, intelligence and special agent networks, thereby turning it into a living hell of terrorism and murder.
In south Korea today the US imperialists and the Pak Jung Hi clique are intensifying their fascist repression to the utmost limits. Everywhere they are engaging in all kinds of frenzied attempts to repress the south Korean people, who are fighting harder than ever for the right to live, for democratic liberties and for the reunification of their country. According to south Korean press reports, this year alone ten or more divisions, including US imperialist troops, the south Korean puppet army, police forces, and reserve divisions, were mobilized to crush the armed groups of south Korean revolutionaries in action and the mass revolutionary struggles, breaking out one after another all over south Korea. A total of more than six million US imperialist troops, south Korean puppet troops and police took a direct part in the so-called “mopping-up operations”. The US imperialists and the Pak Jung Hi clique cruelly suppressed the revolutionary organization formed around Dr. Kim Dae Su, professor at Kyongbuk University, arresting and imprisoning more than ten patriotic intellectuals, and last autumn they arrested many young people in and around Pusan on charges of involvement in the alleged “case of the People’s Revolutionary Party”, Again, they recently used trumped-up charges in what they called the “case of the operative group for the communization of south Korea” in Seoul and also arrested and imprisoned many university professors, other intellectuals and patriotic figures, branding the Society for Comparative Studies on Nationalism— an academic organization—as a “seditious organization”, and tried the victims in a kangaroo court. They have thus committed the heinous crime of demanding the death penalty or life imprisonment for many innocent persons.
They are raising an ever louder “anti-communist” hue and cry under the nonsensical allegation that all the fierce revolutionary struggles of the patriotic people which are breaking out all over south Korea today are the work of “spies” sent from north Korea, and they are trying hard to take the minds of the south Korean people off their troubles and to deceive the peoples of the world.
But no amount of brutal repression and “anti-communist” campaigning by the US imperialists and the Pak Jung Hi puppet clique can ever dampen the indomitable revolutionary fighting spirit of the south Korean people or block their sweeping revolutionary advance. Today broad sections of the south Korean people are carrying on an intensive struggle in all fields, raising still higher the banner of the anti-US resistance campaign for national salvation. A people can win freedom and liberation only through their own struggle. When the masses rise as one against their oppressors, they can destroy any imperialist bulwark. If the workers and peasants, young people and students, intellectuals and other broad sectors of the people in south Korea unite firmly and come out courageously for the revolutionary struggle, they will be able to inflict a crushing defeat on the US imperialists and the Pak Jung Hi clique and accomplish the cause of the south Korean revolution.
On behalf of all the people in the northern half of the Republic, I send warm revolutionary greetings to the revolutionaries and democratic figures, to all the patriotic people who are putting up a valiant resistance in various parts of south Korea, underground, in the mountains and even in prison.
All the people in the northern half of the Republic carry the great responsibility of bringing the south Korean revolution to a conclusion, giving active support to the struggle of the south Korean people and matching their high fighting spirit.
As long as the US imperialists continue to occupy south Korea and our country remains divided, the Korean people cannot live in peace for even a moment and the people in south Korea cannot extricate themselves from their present misery and pain. The occupation of south Korea by US imperialism and its policy of aggression are the source of all the misfortunes of our nation and the main obstacle to the reunification of our country.
We cannot simply stand by and watch the miserable plight of our south Korean compatriots and we cannot bequeath a divided country to our children. As long as this wretched situation continues in which the country and the nation are divided and our compatriots, blood brothers and sisters, are subjected to all sorts of racial insults and illtreatment by the foreign aggressors, no Korean communist or conscientious Korean nationalist can say that he has fulfilled his duty.
We must accomplish the south Korean revolution and reunify the country in our generation and bequeath a unified country to the new generation. We must prepare all what is necessary for the reunification of our country as soon as possible.
The accomplishment of the great cause of liberating south Korea and reunifying the country at the earliest possible date depends not only on how the revolutionary organizations and revolutionaries in south Korea expand and strengthen the revolutionary forces and how they fight the enemy but also, to a large extent, on how the people in the northern half of the Republic prepare themselves to deal with the great revolutionary event.
The most important thing in completing the south Korean revolution and hastening the reunification of the country is to prepare all our people politically and ideologically and, at the same time, create all the necessary material conditions.
We should always give active material and moral support and encouragement to the south Korean people in their anti-US, national salvation struggle and consider the south Korean revolution and the reunification of the country to be our first and foremost revolutionary task. We can not allow ourselves to become complacent about the achievements wrought in the northern half of the country and become lax and indolent. How can we sit idly by at a time when the south Korean people, suffering from hunger, are fighting at the cost of their blood? It is our lofty national duty and the supreme task of the nation to force the US imperialist aggressors out of our territory, liberate south Korea and reunify our country by combining our strength with that of the south Korean people.
The people in the northern half of the Republic should always remember their brothers in the south and maintain their revolutionary determination to liberate them at all costs; they should be firmly prepared ideologically to be mobilized for a decisive struggle to accomplish the cause of the reunification of the country by joining forces with the south Korean people whenever called upon to go to their aid as the people’s struggle surges forward and the revolutionary situation matures in south Korea.
Meanwhile, socialist economic construction, the principal guarantee for strengthening the material forces of our revolutionary base, should be successfully carried on to consolidate the economic foundations of our country still further, so that the necessary material preparations can be made to support the revolutionary struggle of the south Korean people and to deal with the great revolutionary event of achieving the reunification of our country.
The present situation requires us to conduct all our work in a more enterprising, more revolutionary manner and subordinate everything to the struggle to accomplish the south Korean revolution by giving support to the south Korean people in their fight and to reunify our country.
The northern half of the Republic is the revolutionary base for accomplishing the great cause of nationwide liberation, and its revolutionary forces are the most important motive power for the Korean revolution as a whole. All the working people should fully understand that, unless the revolutionary base of the northern half of the Republic is built up and its revolutionary forces are strengthened still more, it will be impossible to give positive support to the south Korean revolution and achieve the reunification of our country; they must continue to wage a tenacious struggle on all fronts of socialist economic construction and produce and build more, better and cheaper, with our existing manpower, equipment and materials by discovering and using reserves and potentials to the utmost. All officials and working people, as masters in their country, should manage all aspects of economic life, both national and individual, diligently, and make every effort not to waste a single grain of rice, a single gramme of iron or a single drop of gasoline.
Only when our country’s economic foundations are more consolidated and the necessary material conditions are created in sufficient quantities, can we cope with the great event in a state of full preparedness, bring the superiority of the socialist system home to the fighting people of south Korea and give powerful support to their revolutionary struggle. Only then will it be possible to create assets with which to put the devastated south Korean economy back on its feet and rapidly improve the debased living conditions of the people in the south, after the reunification of the country.
All our officials and working people must work like masters and live frugally with great revolutionary zeal, in the lofty spirit of supporting the south Korean people more effectively in their anti-US, national salvation struggle and of expediting the revolutionary cause of the reunification of the country. We must never become complacent and lax nor countenance the slightest laziness, immorality or luxury. We are making a revolution and we should work and live in a revolutionary way, alert and ready at all times.
In this way all our people will be prepared to cope with the great revolutionary event of national reunification. We should all be ready and willing to take part in the revolutionary struggle whenever called upon to do so by the Party.
Third. The Government of the Republic, under the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea, will carry on a vigorous campaign to revolutionize and working-classize the peasants, intellectuals and all other members of society by further stepping up the ideological and cultural revolutions and enhancing the leading role of the working class.
By steadily strengthening the state’s functions of proletarian dictatorship, we shall not only crush the hostile elements which are infiltrating from outside with the aim of disorganizing our revolutionary base and put down the resistance offered by the remnants of the overthrown exploiter classes, but also revolutionize and working-classize all members of society by forcefully advancing the ideological and cultural revolutions.
To educate and remould the entire people and thereby revolutionize and working-classize the whole of society is an important task of the dictatorship of the proletariat in our society, in which the exploiter classes have been liquidated and the socialist system has triumphed. The process of building socialism and communism is one of revolutionizing all the members of society—workers, peasants and intellectuals—a process of doing away with all class distinctions by remodelling the whole of society on the working-class pattern.
In order to build socialism and communism, we must develop our productive forces and eliminate the distinctions between the working class and the peasantry in working conditions and forms of ownership of the means of production, and step by step, we must also eliminate disparities in ideological, moral, cultural and technical standards between all members of society. To this end, the ideological revolution has to be intensified so as to root out all the remnants of outmoded bourgeois ideology which still exist in the minds of the people, and firmly arm all our working people with the revolutionary ideas of the working class, with the Marxist-Leninist world outlook, so that they can fight devotedly, through good times and bad, in the interests of the collective and the whole of society, for our country and people; in addition, the cultural revolution must be carried out at the same time, so as to bring them up to high cultural and technical levels.
Today, more than ever before, the task of further revolutionizing and working-classizing all members of society—workers, peasants and intellectuals—urgently calls for our attention. We should accelerate socialist construction further by our own efforts under the difficult conditions facing the country, now divided into north and south, and must force the US imperialist aggressors, the chieftain of world reaction, out of our territory, liberate south Korea and accomplish the revolutionary cause of reunifying the country. This is a revolutionary task which requires a very arduous and difficult, protracted and intense struggle. Only when all the working people are revolutionized and working-classized through the promotion of the ideological and cultural revolutions will it be possible to bring their revolutionary enthusiasm and creative initiative into full play and raise their technical and cultural levels, and thus bravely overcome the difficulties which arise in the course of progress, solve economic and technical problems with credit and also successfully expedite the building of socialism in the northern half of the Republic, complete the revolution in south Korea and accomplish the revolutionary cause of reunifying the country.
We must work strenuously to revolutionize and working-classize all members of society by further raising the leading role of the working class.
Our working class is young, and it needs a great deal of revolutionary training. The ranks of the working class swelled suddenly in our country as industry was given a large boost in a short time following liberation. Our working class includes many people who have never personally experienced exploitation and oppression by the capitalists, as well as a considerable number of former small traders and handicraftsmen who became workers after the socialist transformation of production relations.
We must also improve the ideology, organization and culture of the working class so as to turn it into a still more revolutionary, progressive and cultured class and to enable it to perform its historical mission of transforming the whole of society and educating and remoulding all the working people well.
Revolutionizing and working-classizing the peasantry, the most reliable ally of the working class in the building of socialism and communism, is an important guarantee of victory for our revolution. The Government of the Republic, in keeping with the line set forth in the Theses on the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country, should energetically press forward the ideological and cultural revolutions in the countryside and continue to strengthen the working class’s political leadership and cultural influence among the peasantry. In this way, the peasants must be thoroughly equipped with the revolutionary ideas of the working class and their cultural level must be brought up to that of the working class.
The revolutionization of the intellectuals occupies the most important place in the working-classization of the whole of society. We should eradicate all remnants of obsolete ideologies from the minds of our intellectuals, arm them with communist ideas and so lead them to become revolutionaries loyal to the Party, to the working class, to the country and to the people.
The most important thing in revolutionizing and working-classizing all the members of society through the ideological revolution is to firmly arm the working people with the policies of the Workers’ Party of Korea and thoroughly establish the Party’s monolithic ideological system among them. We should explain and bring the Party’s lines and policies home to the working people fully, and make sure that they acquire a clear understanding of their essentials and correctness. In this way, we should see to it that they resist all unsound, counter-revolutionary ideological elements vehemently—such as revisionism, “Left” opportunism, flunkeyism to great powers, bourgeois ideas, feudal Confucian ideas, factionalism, parochialism, and nepotism; that they think and act in accord with the ideas of the Workers’ Party of Korea at all times and places and advance confidently along the only path indicated by the Party, without the slightest vacillation in any storm or stress.
We should improve our political and ideological work among the masses so as to stimulate the class awakening of the working people still further and lead them to fight uncompromisingly against their class enemies.
The primary targets of our struggle in revolutionizing people are individualism and egoism, a legacy from the exploiter classes. We should tirelessly strive to cultivate among the working people the collectivist spirit of placing the interests of the organization and the collective above personal interests and helping and leading each other forward and the lofty revolutionary spirit of valuing political life, and we must train all the people to attain a communist way of life, living and working in a revolutionary way.
The great vitality of the socialist system lies, above all, in the fact that the working people, freed from exploitation and oppression, show conscientious enthusiasm and creative initiative, and work devotedly for their homeland, for the people and for their own happiness as masters of their country and their future. In order to bring this superiority into play and demonstrate the might of the socialist system to the full, education in socialist patriotism should be resolutely increased among the working people.
We must clearly show our working people the essential nature and superiority of the socialist system and persuade them to fight resolutely in defence of this system and fight for the prosperity and development of their homeland and for the well-being of our people. In particular, serious attention should be directed to educating the working people to take loving care of everything we have already created and to make more effective use of the valuable assets we have already built up. All the working people should clearly understand that all our wealth is for the prosperity and progress of our country, for the happiness of our people and for their own good and must adopt the attitude proper to masters with regard to the economic life of the country, carry out their revolutionary duties in an efficient, responsible way, and do their utmost to benefit the country and the people. Everyone should sincerely take part in collective labour to increase the wealth of the country and the people and to manage it with care; system and order should be established and revolutionary work discipline voluntarily observed in all branches, in all units of work.
Education in the revolutionary traditions is one of the most powerful means of revolutionizing people. Experience has shown that education in the revolutionary traditions has an incomparable influence in revolutionizing those who have never personally undergone the ordeals of revolutionary struggle and the younger generation which has never experienced exploitation and oppression by landlords and capitalists. We should improve training in the revolutionary traditions among the working people so that everyone can model himself on the indomitable lofty revolutionary spirit of the forerunners of our revolution and their noble revolutionary traits.
At the same time as the ideological revolution, the cultural revolution must also be energetically promoted.
Without the cultural revolution, the cultural and technical levels of our working people cannot be raised, nor can the ideological revolution be carried out successfully.
The habit of studying should be firmly established among the working people so that everyone will use all his efforts to raise his level of general knowledge, and so that everybody can master more than one skill. We must also strive to build a large contingent of steadfast, competent working-class intellectuals, able to skilfully solve the problems arising in all areas of our revolution and construction.
We must accelerate the ideological and cultural revolutions and thus further revolutionize and working-classize people so as to transform the whole country into one big Red family, make the whole of society seethe with revolutionary enthusiasm and ensure that all our working people make continuous improvements and advance at the speed of Chollima, always ready and alert, working new miracles and bringing about a great leap forward in revolutionary struggle and in the work of construction.
Fourth. The Government of the Republic will see to it that officials of me state and economic bodies eliminate bureaucracy and establish a revolutionary mass viewpoint so as to improve the functions and role of the people’s power and mobilize the masses for revolution and construction.
To carry out our huge tasks successfully at present, we must enhance the functions and role of the people’s power as the executor of the policies of the Workers’ Party of Korea and as a powerful weapon for socialist construction; we must also improve the guidance of the revolution and construction. This requires that the officials of state and economic bodies maintain closer ties with the popular masses, rid themselves of their bureaucratic style of work and adopt the revolutionary mass viewpoint.
When the Party’s lines and policies are correct and proper ways and means have been adopted for their execution, success in carrying forward the revolutionary tasks depends entirely on the method and style of work of those who directly organize and carry them out, and on how they organize and mobilize the masses for the work.
Our Party and the Government of the Republic have constantly paid close attention to reorganizing the system of work in the state and economic bodies and to improving the method and style of work of their officials, in conformity with new circumstances and conditions. As a result, great success has been achieved in this respect. In particular, a great change has taken place in the activities of state and economic bodies in the course of spreading the experience of the guidance given at Chongsan-ri in February 1960.
However, our officials still fall short of the standards required by our Party in their method and style of work, failing to organize and mobilize the masses of the people skilfully so as to give full play to their exalted revolutionary spirit in the fulfilment of revolutionary tasks.
So that our people’s power can stoutly defend the interests of people from all walks of life, rally them around itself and bring their enthusiasm and activity into full play, the officials of state and economic bodies have to make drastic changes in their method and style of work.
All the officials of our state and economic bodies are workers selected by the people; they are the servants of the people. They should never forget that their job is to protect the interests of the workers, peasants and the rest of the working people and serve them; they should work heart and soul for the Party, the working class and the people.
In order to be faithful to the Party and the revolution and be true servants of the people, our officials must have Party spirit, working-class spirit and popular spirit, which should be manifested in their practical work to implement our Party’s lines and policies and in their practical activities on behalf of the workers, peasants and other working people. Only those who carry our Party’s policies through to completion can be considered revolutionaries who are faithful to our Party and revolution, faithful to the working class and the people. All our officials must become ardent defenders, active propagandists and staunch executors of our Party’s policies. They should study our Party’s policies in depth, and understand their essential nature, adhere to them strictly in their work, weigh all problems in terms of our Party’s policies and launch a prompt and uncompromising attack against any practices which run counter to the Party’s intentions. Our officials should be energetic in explaining and spreading our Party’s policies among the masses and strive persistently to carry them through correctly. The officials of our state and economic bodies should carry out any work which is in the interests of the people with devotion, no matter what difficulties there may be.
In order to eliminate bureaucracy and establish the revolutionary mass viewpoint, all our officials should acquire the revolutionary work method of mixing widely amongst the masses, consulting them and enlisting them in the fulfilment of the tasks in hand. These officials must strictly follow the Chongsanri method, our Party’s traditional revolutionary method of work, in their activities.
First of all, political work should be given priority in all matters so as to increase the political and ideological preparedness of the masses constantly and encourage the masses of the people to volunteer for revolutionary tasks. When undertaking a revolutionary task, senior officials should, above all, explain the Party’s aim with regard to the task correctly, bring it home to the masses and see that they collectively discuss ways and means for the implementation of the Party policy and persist in carrying it out with a high degree of revolutionary enthusiasm.
In addition, more direct guidance must be given to subsidiary organs, and the method of guidance must be radically improved. The principal aim of guiding these organs is to help the workers there correct their shortcomings quickly and obtain good results in their work. Officials in state and economic bodies should not just issue orders and directives when they visit these organs, but should give practical assistance to their subordinates, teaching them in a kindly way, cooperating with them in solving difficult problems and helping them do their work well.
Officials of our state and economic bodies should not only equip themselves with our Party’s revolutionary method of work, but should have the popular trait of always being the first to implement the laws, decisions and directives of the state, setting an example by their own conduct in all that they do and being modest, unassuming and courteous, thereby becoming models for the masses in their actions. Only then will the people really trust and follow our officials, and the bonds of kinship between the people’s power and the masses will be further strengthened.
Work style is not a question of the professional ability of the officials or of their personal character; rather it is a manifestation of their ideology as expressed in their work. We should intensify ideological education for our officials so that they can rid themselves of their bureaucratic work style—the expression of surviving obsolete ideologies—and acquire a truly popular work style and the noble characteristics of infinite loyalty to the Party and the revolution and of resolutely fighting for the interests of our country and people.
While acquiring the class and mass point of view, these officials should continually improve their technical and professional levels. This is absolutely necessary if they are to do away with their bureaucratic work style and fulfil their great responsibilities to the Party, the state and the people. All these officials must establish the revolutionary habit of studying to master economic theory and technical expertise and the practical aspects of their work.
All our state and economic officials must be revolutionaries who thoroughly defend and implement our Party’s lines and policies, and devote themselves to the struggle for the interests of the people, becoming their sincere, faithful servants, deeply loved and respected by the masses of the people.
Fifth. The Government of the Republic will consolidate the foundations of the independent national economy of the country, further improve the people’s standard of living and fulfil the solemn duty of freeing the working people from tiring labour by keeping the policy of the Workers’ Party of Korea for socialist industrialization and by striving to carry out the technical revolution in all fields of our national economy.
Following the basic course for the economic development of our country in the present stage, as set by the Conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea, we must put the main emphasis on making effective use of the already established economic foundations through their improvement and extension and on normalizing production in all spheres, and at the same time, we must undertake new capital construction on a large scale in order to increase the economic foundations of our country further. In this way, the productive forces of our country as a whole will be further developed, and industrial production more than doubled, in a few years.
1. Industry
Giving priority to the electric power and mining industries is the basic prerequisite for normalizing production in all branches of industry and for further advancing our national economy. We shall develop our power and mining industries rapidly to satisfy the demands of our national economy for raw materials, fuel and power.
In developing the power industry, we shall follow the policy of combining the construction of hydroelectric power stations and thermal power stations and of constructing large, medium and small-scale power stations at the same time. Making use of the rich water and coal resources of our country, we should accelerate the construction of large-scale hydroelectric and thermal power plants and build many medium and small-scale hydroelectric power stations and factory thermal power stations everywhere, thus further reinforcing the country’s power base. In this way, seasonal fluctuations in power production caused by natural conditions should be done away with entirely, and it should be possible to increase production steadily in all branches of the national economy, unhampered by a limited power supply.
In developing the mining industry, it is important to adhere to three principles: give preference to geological prospecting work, carry out the technical revolution and effectively promote scientific research work.
The ranks of our prospectors should be increased and their technical equipment augmented in order to develop preliminary prospecting and, in particular, detailed and service prospecting radically; and the tempo and efficiency of prospecting work has to be stepped up through the comprehensive introduction of advanced prospecting methods.
It is absolutely necessary that we promote the technical revolution energetically in the mining industry, where much of the work is more difficult and exhausting than in any other branch of the national economy. In coal and ore mines, we should work hard to introduce the mechanization and automation of drilling, hauling and all other arduous, labour-consuming operations. We should also introduce advanced mining methods extensively and, in particular, undertake open-cast mining on a large scale.
Meanwhile, scientific research work has to be carried out more efficiently in all sectors of the mining industry—surveys of underground resources and studies on their proper exploitation, research on the enhancement of the technical equipment and the improvement of mining methods, studies on the comprehensive processing of ore and so on.
We have to keep the mining industry well ahead of the development of the processing industries and further consolidate our country’s raw material and fuel bases by carrying through our Party’s line.
The development of the metal industry—and particularly the steel industry—is a major criterion of the level of industrialization of a country and its economic power. In our country, with its inexhaustible resources of iron ore, the steel industry is one of our most promising industrial branches. We must meet the steel requirement set in the Seven-Year Plan by concentrating our efforts on developing ferrous metallurgy.
Our capacity for processing raw materials and products will be augmented, auxiliary facilities will be improved and advanced technical processes, including oxygen-blast blow, will be extensively introduced in our existing iron and steel works to raise the production capacity of our metallurgical installations as much as possible. At the same time, reconstruction and expansion projects will be carried out in our metallurgical plants, including the building of new steel and rolling shops in the Kim Chaek Iron Works, to expand and consolidate the bases of our country’s metal industry.
With the development of technology, the demand for higher-quality steel in greater varieties is rising steadily. We should sharply increase the kinds of steel we produce, and develop the production of alloy steels. Greater attention will be paid to increasing the kinds and gauges of rolled steel and, in particular, to developing the production of thin plate and cold-rolled products and raising the output of second-stage processing.
An especially important task for this industry in the present stage is to introduce the use of locally-produced fuel on a large scale so as to consolidate the independence of this branch. In order to develop our iron industry, using the anthracite coal which abounds in our country, we should build the necessary material foundations, and, at the same time, keep promoting scientific research work for perfecting the reduced pellet process, the process of continuous steel making from granulated iron, and so on.
Nonferrous metallurgy should be developed further in order to produce greater quantities of various nonferrous metals and rare metals. The proportion of finished products should be raised in the production of nonferrous metals, through extensive rolling, and work should be energetically carried forward to build up the base of our light metal production.
The engineering industry is the core of heavy industry and is the basis for the development of all branches of the national economy and for technical progress. Without advancing the engineering industry, we cannot hope for the development of our heavy and light industries and agriculture, nor can we perform the tasks of easing the strain on transport and increasing our defence capabilities satisfactorily. It can be said that, in carrying out the task of building up our economy and national defences in parallel set forth at the Conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea, or m fulfilling the Seven-Year Plan as a whole, everything depends, in the long run, on the development of our engineering industry.
Our country has abundant sources of the ferrous and nonferrous metals needed for the development of the engineering industry and has solid metallurgical bases, as well. We should turn these favourable conditions to good account and speed up the development of our engineering industry, thus bringing about the industrialization of the country and overall technical improvements in our national economy through our own efforts.
The efficient and economical machinery and equipment that are needed in the mining, metal, chemical, light and fishing industries, in agriculture, transport and all other branches of the national economy have to be produced in larger quantities by expanding and fully equipping our existing machine plants as soon as possible, building up many medium and small-sized machine factories and promoting specialization and cooperation in production.
In view of the future needs of the development of our national economy, the major equipment production bases for manufacturing large excavators, heavy-duty trucks, large tractors, large vessels, large machine tools, and so on, should be further expanded and strengthened and solid production bases should be built up for turning out high-speed precision machines, thereby raising our engineering industry to a higher level.
The extensive use of chemistry in all fields of the national economy is a major trend in the development of science and technology in recent times and a powerful factor in accelerating the development of the productive forces. By continuously directing great efforts to the development of the chemical industry, we should further expand and consolidate our raw material bases for light industry, and promote the greater use of chemicals in agriculture in order to increase production and lighten the toil of the farmers.
A firm foundation has been laid in our country for developing the chemical industry with local raw materials. Following from this, we ought to develop the inorganic and organic chemical industries and create such new branches as petroleum processing and synthetic rubber industries to develop and diversify the chemical industry in our country even further.
In the chemical industry, the output and quality of chemical fibres must be raised; new kinds of chemical fibres should be manufactured and the production of vinyl chloride and various other synthetic resins must be increased. As well as nitrogen fertilizer, phosphorus and potassic fertilizer should be produced using domestic raw materials, and weed killers and various other agricultural chemicals should be produced and supplied in great quantities. At the same time, we should increase our efforts to produce the raw and other materials necessary for the building-materials industry, synthetic chemicals and various other new chemical products which are needed for the economic development of the country and the improvement of our people’s standard of living.
The huge task of capital construction facing us in the parallel building up of our economy and national defences and in the fulfilment of the Seven-Year Plan, cannot be carried out successfully without increasing the production of building materials.
In the building-materials industry, the production of cement, metal and chemical building materials should be developed on a large scale. In developing this industry, we shall implement the Party’s line of improving and expanding the existing building-materials factories and combining this with the construction of new building-materials factories, and of simultaneously developing our large-scale central building-materials industry and our medium and small-scale, local building-materials industry.
In forestry, we must introduce the rotation cutting method to increase timber production and, at the same time, raise the rate of sawmill lumber output and the production of wood shavings and fibreboard to use timber comprehensively and efficiently, thus easing our country’s shortage of timber.
We should pay particular attention to the development of light industry and achieve marked progress in the production of consumer goods in a few years.
The central tasks of light industry are those of raising the quality of consumer goods, increasing their variety and lowering their production costs. We should raise the quality of consumer goods to meet world standards as quickly as we can by increasing our workers’ sense of responsibility in the field of light industry, perfecting the production processes, strictly observing technical procedure and standard operation regulations and raising the technical knowledge and skills of the producers. We must improve the quality of fabrics and increase their variety, and further develop the production of consumer goods and foodstuffs. At the same time, we have to produce greater quantities of different kinds of inexpensive consumer goods by working hard to reduce production costs in light industry.
For our country, bounded by the sea on three sides, the efficient development and exploitation of marine resources is of great importance in promoting the well-being of the people.
We must increase our catch of fish by improving the material-technical foundations of the fishing industry, making wide use of advanced fishing methods and developing inshore and deep-sea fishing on a large scale. As well as increasing our catch, we must also improve fish-processing drastically. We should work hard to process all the fish we catch without any waste and raise the quality of processed fish by eliminating backward methods and widely introducing refrigeration, canning and other up-to-date methods of fish processing.
In order to achieve a normalization of production and a rapid advance of the national economy, the strain on transport must first be eased.
We should continue to direct great efforts towards developing transport—particularly railway transport. The electrification of the railways must be tackled energetically and largely completed within a few years, and diesel engines ought to be introduced in some sections, to increase rail haulage capacity by a considerable amount. The production of electric locomotives, goods wagons and passenger coaches should be further expanded. Maximum use must be made of the existing railway lines and, at the same time, new lines have to be built, with a view to satisfying our fast-growing demands for transport.
At the same time, river and ocean transport should be improved and automotive transport should continue to be expanded and developed.
2. Agriculture
In agriculture, all our efforts should be concentrated on giving effect to the Theses on the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country.
First of all, the technical revolution has to be carried out in the countryside to ease the labour of the farmers and increase agricultural production.
To expand and consolidate the successes already scored in irrigation, we must improve and make more effective use of the existing irrigation facilities and, at the same time, continue to undertake irrigation construction, afforestation and water conservation projects on a wide scale. Afforestation and water conservation projects should be well executed after adequate surveys have been made and designs worked out in detail.
For the speedy mechanization of agriculture, various kinds of trailer implements and spare parts should be manufactured so that sufficient supplies are made available, and repair and maintenance work on farm machinery must be improved.
We should introduce the use of agricultural chemicals on a wide scale, while continuing to work on irrigation and mechanization in the country areas. A scientific system of fertilizing must be established according to soil conditions and the special characteristics of the crops in order to raise the effectiveness of chemical fertilizer, and crops should be thoroughly protected from all damage by blight and harmful insects through the effective applications of agricultural chemicals. In particular, the tendency to concentrate on nitrogen fertilizer alone should be discarded, and we should produce phosphorous, potassic and microelement fertilizers for ourselves and supply them in large quantities to raise the per-unit-area yields markedly. At the same time, weed killers and other highly effective agricultural chemicals should be produced and applied in quantity.
Without electrification in the rural areas, it is impossible to carry out irrigation and mechanization successfully or modernize the farm villages. In accordance with the line of our Party and the Government of the Republic for electrification, electricity has already been installed in 98.2 per cent of all the rural ri and 86.1 per cent of all the farmhouses in our country. Only distant, isolated houses in the mountain areas have yet to be supplied with electricity. While concentrating the scattered farmhouses together as much as possible, we must carry on with our programme to supply electricity to all our villages and farmhouses within a few years.
In order to carry out the huge tasks of the technical revolution in the countryside successfully, productive construction should be undertaken on a large scale.
For this purpose, the size and direction of capital investment should be correctly fixed according to the individual needs of each farm village. In construction, designing should be done ahead of other work, and its quality must be improved. Building work should be done meticulously.
While productive construction is going ahead, many new modern houses should be built and older ones rebuilt on modern lines in country areas. In this way the straw-thatched houses, our rural inheritance of backwardness and poverty through the ages, will be completely eliminated in the next few years.
We must adopt all these economic and technical measures for the speedy development of all sectors of agricultural production—grain growing, cultivation of industrial crops and vegetables and so on.
While giving priority to boosting grain output, great attention should also be paid to the development of stockbreeding. A great deal of hard work must be done to consolidate its existing foundations and put stockbreeding on a modern basis so that our backwardness in this field—a vestige of the past—can be eliminated and the output of animal products be greatly increased. The most important task in developing stockbreeding is to create dependable fodder bases. To achieve this, double cropping should be introduced extensively in rice paddies and dry fields and, in addition, high-yield fodder crops should be widely cultivated and mixed feed factories built in many places. Measures should be taken to introduce a system of breeding high-quality pedigreed stock, and the care of the animals must be improved so that the productivity of our livestock can be raised and the production costs of animal products systematically lowered.
In our country, nearly 80 per cent of whose area is mountainous, large-scale fruit growing using the mountains is of great importance for the development of the national economy and for raising our people’s living standards.
We should set greater store by the 133,000-odd hectares of orchards and 100,000 hectares of chestnut groves we already have, and take good care of them so that all of them will be productive, thus markedly increasing the output of fruit and chestnuts. Also, in keeping with the decision of the Pukchong Enlarged Meeting of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the work of planting orchards should be continued, and the total area under fruit trees be increased to 200,000 hectares in the next few years in order to supply the people with delicious fruit in greater quantity. Forceful measures should also be taken for storing and processing the fruit as the output increases from year to year.
3. The people’s living conditions
Interest in promoting the people’s well-being is the supreme principle governing the activities of the Government of the Republic. Our battle to build socialism and communism is aimed, in the final analysis, at fully satisfying the material and cultural demands of all our people and providing them with a rich and cultured life.
The source of the continuing increase in the well-being of the working people lies in the systematic growth of the national income.
The Government of the Republic will do everything possible to increase the national income substantially, by rapidly developing industry, agriculture and all other branches of the national economy. At the same time, great attention will be given to the proper distribution of the national income on the principle of rationally adjusting the balance between accumulation and consumption and raising the people’s standard of living markedly while ensuring a high rate of expanded reproduction and the successful building up of our defences.
In the future, we shall take the necessary measures to raise the monetary payments and real incomes of the working people on the basis of increased socialist production and labour productivity.
The Government of the Republic will make greater state investments in various social and cultural services in order to satisfy the demands of the entire working people more fully.
In particular, close attention will be paid to improving trade and the public health services in order to raise the general living standards of the people.
Commerce is the supply service of the working people in our country and an important means of meeting their material and cultural needs.
In the field of trade, greater quantities of foodstuffs, clothes and various articles which make up cultural needs should be supplied to the working people and, in particular, the sales of winter goods should be greatly increased.
To improve commodity supply, commercial networks must be properly distributed and further expanded, trading facilities have to be modernized and commodities be distributed properly to meet the demands of the different regions and social groups according to the season of the year. Trade should be better organized and a better service must be provided by greater efficiency in packaging and delivery, night sales and sales made on the road.
The number of restaurants of various kinds ought to be increased and the quality of public catering improved, offering greater convenience to the working people in their everyday life. Service establishments should be increased in number and so furnished as to give better service to the working people. In this way, conditions will be provided to make it possible for large numbers of housewives to participate in social labour and thus working-classize and revolutionize themselves.
In our system, nothing is more precious than the people. We have to develop our public health services to protect the lives of the people and promote the health of the working people.
In the public health sector, more hospitals and clinics should be built and many medical workers assigned to them, and our doctors’ qualifications should be raised considerably so as to continue improving medical services for the working people. The policy on preventive medicine must be firmly maintained and work in hygiene and in the prevention of epidemics must be carried out regularly in urban and rural areas. Attention should also be given to the development of traditional Korean medicine as well as modern medicine, and to the development of the theory of folk medicine. The production of medicines should be improved so as to increase the variety of synthetic pharmaceutical products and boost the production of antibiotics.
4. Labour administration
The working masses are the makers of history. Socialism and communism can be built only by the creative labour of the working millions. The labour force is the most active and important factor in production. Technology is developed by man, and machines are made and operated by man. All the material and cultural wealth of the world, precious and fine, is created by the labour of the working people.
We can say that whether or not we can build socialism aild communism faster and better depends, in the long run, on how we bring the creative ability and talents of the working people into play, how we organize and use social labour and how speedily we raise labour productivity.
The improvement of labour administration is a very important task throughout the course of socialist construction.
It involves a problem of particular importance in our country.
Under present conditions, where arable land is scarce, intensive farming methods should be employed in order to keep agriculture in step with our developing industry, and because of the special characteristics of our agricultural production, it will take a long time to complete the mechanization of agriculture. We do not, therefore, have a large rural population which can be enlisted in industry, as other countries do, even after the mechanization of agriculture has been carried out.
Furthermore, because we have to continue with our high level of economic construction while constantly increasing our defence capabilities, in direct confrontation with the US imperialists, the ringleader of world reaction, we must exercise maximum economy in using the labour resources of our country and use them sensibly if we are to successfully carry out the political and military tasks which face us and continue accelerating our socialist construction.
At present, the improvement in labour administration is one of the most important ways to implement our Party’s line of building up our economy and national defences in parallel and to promote defence construction, while at the same time successfully carrying out the gigantic tasks of the Seven-Year Plan.
It is of primary importance in improving labour administration constantly to increase the politico-ideological consciousness of the working masses and lead them to display their labour enthusiasm and creative activity to the full in socialist construction.
Work is not only the sacred duty of every citizen but also the most honourable contribution to the good of the state and society. Love of work is one of the most important traits of the new man in socialist and communist society. We must cultivate respect for and love of work among the working people, so that they will feel repugnance for the idea of being idle or shying away from work as an exploiter-class idea, and participate in collective labour with the responsibility of masters, for the sake of the collective and society, and for their own happiness.
The most important task in labour administration at present is to ensure the full use of the 480-minute workday, doing away with all wastage of labour.
In socialist production in which cooperative production and the division of labour are highly developed and which grows steadily on the basis of advanced techniques, the 480-minute workday can be fully utilized only when each production unit and each worker observes established discipline to the letter. We must understand that the eight-hour workday is established by a state regulation under the Labour Law, which no one is allowed to violate, and we must strenuously combat any practices which lead to the slightest waste of manpower or violation of work discipline, making the best possible use of every minute and every second and doing our utmost to attain maximum productivity within working hours.
Moreover, to eliminate wastage of labour and ensure the full use of the 480-minute workday, fluctuations in production should be eliminated and work stoppages be kept to a minimum by providing our working people with good working conditions in factories and enterprises. In all fields of our national economy, in all enterprises, the production of raw and other materials and semi-finished goods should be given priority over other work, and cooperative production should be correctly organized so as to ensure that all the participating units observe strict discipline in the fulfilment of contracts. To ensure a regular supply of raw and other materials, detailed planning should be carried out and a materials supply system must be established according to which senior organs take responsibility for delivering materials to the subordinate units, in keeping with the Taean work system. In addition, top priority should be given to technical preparations in all factories and enterprises.
Primary attention in labour administration must be given to promoting the technical innovation movement. Technical innovations are the most important factor in easing our present manpower shortage and raising per-capita output rapidly. In all branches and all units, awe of and inactivity towards technology should be done away with completely and the technical innovation movement be extensively promoted, so as to save every single man-day of work possible and produce more with less expenditure of labour.
To improve labour administration, it is also important to maintain a proper manpower balance between the productive and nonproductive branches and between the basic and auxiliary sectors of production within the productive branches and to allocate our working people sensibly.
Under socialism, balanced distribution of all the working people among the productive and nonproductive branches is of great importance in expediting socialist construction and the development of the national economy as a whole. The more working people there are in the productive branches, the more goods will be manufactured by heavy and light industry and agriculture—goods which are needed for economic and defence construction and for the people’s consumption—thus making it possible to raise output per head of the population, steadily increase state accumulation and promote the people’s well-being. In the distribution of manpower, therefore, it is important to give priority to expanding the number of employees in the productive branches while, at the same time, fixing the number of workers in the nonproductive branches according to the level of economic development. In future we must also continue to adhere firmly to this principle in distributing the labour resources of the country on a rational basis.
In order to do this, the proportion of manpower in the indirectly productive branches should also be lowered and that in the basic productive sectors, especially the directly productive branches, should be resolutely raised.
Whilst this is being done, the officials in our labour administration bodies should pay particular attention to allocating manpower correctly, taking into account the sexes, ages, physical conditions, and the technical skills of the working people, so that all may make the greatest use of their abilities.
Implementing the socialist principle of distribution correctly, while constantly raising the politico-ideological consciousness of the masses, is an important factor in ensuring the further development of socialist production. In socialism, the development of the productive forces has not yet attained a level where distribution can be carried out according to need; fundamental differences remain between different kinds of labour, and the working people have not yet completely eradicated the vestiges of outmoded ideologies. Under these circumstances, it is only through the correct implementation of the principle of distribution according to work done that we can eliminate the outdated idea of trying to live off the work of others, stimulate the working people’s enthusiasm to raise production and raise their technical knowledge and skill, and thus promote the development of the productive forces. The necessary measures should be taken in all branches and units of the national economy to distribute shares fairly, according to the quantity and quality of work performed.
We must act positively to improve manpower planning. This is the basis for the rational organization and effective use of the labour force; good manpower planning, therefore, is fundamental to the improvement of labour administration. The senior officials in state and economic bodies must improve their manpower planning so as to make the best possible use of the manpower resources of the country, distribute the labour force sensibly and raise labour productivity.
The Government of the Republic will further strengthen the economic power of the country and its economic independence and raise the people’s standard of living radically by carrying out all these tasks of socialist economic construction in full.
Sixth. The Government of the Republic, firmly following the Juche idea of the Workers’ Party of Korea, will continue to work determinedly to improve the development of the country’s science and technology and build a socialist culture.
The fulfilment of the all-round technical revolution, which is the most important central task for socialist economic construction in our country at the present stage, urgently calls for the thoroughgoing advancement of science and technology.
We must make a determined effort to conquer science and make significant progress in this field, which will enable us to carry out immediate technical reconstruction in all sectors of the national economy.
The fundamental question in scientific research is to keep developing science and technology in the direction required by our Party and our revolution, holding fast to the Juche stand. Only when Juche is firmly established in scientific research is it possible to bring the creativity and talents of scientists into full play so as to accelerate the progress of science and technology and develop our economy more rapidly by relying on our country’s resources and our own technology. Scientists and technicians should concentrate their efforts on research work designed to promote industrial production using domestic raw materials, look for those raw materials which are scarce in our country and produce substitutes for the ones we lack, and they must expedite the technical revolution in keeping with prevailing conditions so as to relieve the working people of arduous toil as soon as possible.
While solving for ourselves those scientific and technical problems which are vital to us, we should also consider the scientific and technological achievements and experiences of other countries with a view to adapting them to the existing conditions of economic development of our country.
The immediate task confronting our scientists and technicians is to find solutions to the problems which arise in connection with making the fullest use of our existing economic foundations while, at the same time, constantly exploring those new realms of science and technology which have a bearing on the future tasks for the development of our national economy.
The rapid development of technology, particularly mechanical engineering and electronics, is most important at present.
Unless we develop mechanical engineering, we cannot carry out the task of building up-to-date factories or turning out machinery and equipment of the latest types, the task of increasing the capacities of our existing factories and equipment, or the task of rapidly introducing the achievements of scientific research in our national economy. We must concentrate our scientific forces on developing mechanical engineering to set this branch of science on its feet as soon as possible.
In view of the technical revolution and of the prospects for the development of the national economy, it is a matter of pressing urgency that we develop electronics. The importance of electronics and its uses continue to grow, and its sphere of application is constantly expanding as science and technology develop and automation is introduced widely in all fields of the national economy. We must intensify research in all branches of electronics.
Scientists and technicians should also pay close attention to the development of chemistry, biology, agricultural science, forestry and oceanography in order to tap and use the natural resources of our country effectively and gain dominion over nature successfully.
For great success in scientific research, contact and cooperation should be strengthened between scientists and scientific research organizations, and creative collaboration promoted between scientists and producers. Also, instead of taking up new ones at random, efforts should be focussed on the solution of those problems which are urgent and important for the national economy and those on which research work has already been begun or has not yet been completed, thereby solving one problem at a time by completing them in order.
To increase the development of our country’s science and technology, the qualifications of those who are engaged in this field must be determinedly raised. All our scientists and technicians should study hard to become workers who have a good understanding of scientific theory and a wealth of practical experience and are familiar with the trends in the development of modern science and technology, to become able workers who can skilfully solve scientific and technical problems as they arise in practice.
We will see to it that scientific research centres are improved and that better conditions are provided for successful scientific research.
In the building of socialist culture, it is important to make education available to all the working people and raise their general cultural and technical standards to a higher level.
The most important task confronting us in this field is to provide compulsory nine-year technical education. By carrying this out efficiently, we ought to bring the training of our technical personnel into step with the rapid pace of development of our country’s productive forces and the technical revolution.
In addition to our regular full-time educational system, our system of studying while working has to be developed further so that all the working people will be provided with better conditions for learning.
Success in the education of the younger generation and the training of cadres depends largely on the role of the teachers who are directly engaged in this work. Our teachers must acquire the habit of studying and positively increase their knowledge of political theory, and of their own subjects, so that the quality of teaching and training can be improved. At the same time, the entire state, all of society, must take an interest in consolidating the material foundations of our educational establishments properly, so as to improve education.
We must continue to work for the development of socialist literature and art, upholding the literary and art policy of the Party. Workers in this field must make a better contribution to the working-classization and revolutionization of the whole of society by creating many revolutionary works representing the glorious anti-Japanese armed struggle, and the great present-day struggle of our people, who are heirs to that tradition, and the seething activity in our country today.
Seventh. The Government of the Republic will do all in its power to increase the defence capabilities of our country and build up the nationwide, all-people defence system, so as to meet the prevailing situation.
One of the basic functions of a socialist state is to keep increasing its defence capabilities while going ahead with economic construction. The imperialists continue to perpetrate acts of aggression and plunder and, as long as imperialism exists, the threat of war will not disappear. Under these circumstances, we can only protect the gains of the revolution against imperialist aggression and preserve the security of our people by reinforcing our defence power and being ready for action at all times.
Increasing our defence capabilities is an urgent task for us, particularly in view of our present national situation—our territory is divided and we are building socialism in direct confrontation with the aggressive forces of US imperialism.
Since the first days of their occupation of south Korea, the US imperialists have pursued the sinister aim of committing aggression against the whole of Korea and Asia and have completely converted south Korea into a military base for aggression. They have stationed tens of thousands of their aggressor troops there and maintain a huge puppet army of more than 600,000 men at all times.
In recent years, the US imperialists have taken the course of intensifying their war preparations in south Korea. To carry out their war policy there, they are reinforcing the puppet armed forces and keep bringing tactical nuclear weapons, guided missiles and other weapons of mass destruction into south Korea, as well as military vessels, aircraft and other combat equipment. They have set up a system of wartime mobilization aimed at driving the innocent south Korean people into an aggressive war and perpetrate frequent provocations against the northern half of the Republic along the Military Demarcation Line, in flagrant violation of the Armistice Agreement.
In an attempt to make better use of south Korea in their Asian aggression, the US imperialists are planning to align the south Korean puppets militarily with the Japanese and other reactionaries in Asia and are working feverishly to establish a new military alliance in Asia, using the “south Korea-Japan treaty” as bait. They are trying to unleash another war in Korea, using south Korea as an advanced base and the forces of Japanese militarism as “shock troops”, and to mobilize the south Korean armed forces easily for their war of aggression in Asia. The US imperialists have already dragged south Korean puppet troops into the aggressive war against Viet Nam, and the traitorous Pak Jung Hi clique sent more troops than any other vassal country to the battlefields of South Viet Nam, making them arrive first there.
The situation is becoming more strained and the danger of war becomes ever greater in our country and throughout Asia.
The prevailing situation requires that we make our country’s defences as strong as steel and that we make full military preparations for any surprise attack by the enemy.
National defence means defending the socialist gains of our people and our revolutionary base; it is the most sacred duty and honourable task of all our people. The People’s Army should serve the country and the people, and the entire people should love and aid the People’s Army; our soldiers and the people should develop the traditional spirit of unity between them, and, in case of emergency, should unite in a body as true revolutionary comrades and fight with single-hearted devotion, to safeguard our country and our socialist gains, sharing life and death, joys and sorrows.
Our people and the men and officers of the People’s Army must never be lulled into a pacifist mood but should remain ever watchful and alert, maintaining the sharpest revolutionary vigilance, and they should be ready to meet and fight the enemy bravely without the slightest panic, no matter when he may launch a sneak-attack.
To make our defences invincible, the People’s Army must follow the policy of turning the whole army into a cadre army and making the whole army a modern army, and the people should implement the policy of arming all our people and fortifying the whole country, thoroughly, in keeping with the military line of the Party.
We have to temper the ranks of the People’s Army politically and ideologically, and train them in military technique and prepare all the men and officers for the duties of higher-ranking commanders, thereby further increasing its fighting efficiency and enabling all our people to fight with the standing forces of the People’s Army as the core in case of emergency.
The People’s Army has to be armed with up-to-date weapons and other combat and technical equipment, and our military science and technology should be rapidly improved to meet the demands of modern warfare. Combat training should be intensified for all our soldiers so that they will be completely familiar with their weapons and will master modern military science and technology.
In this way, our People’s Army should be built up into a revolutionary force with the indefatigable spirit of fighting through fire and water for the Party, the working class, our country and people, into an iron force each member of which is a match for a hundred, fully capable of frustrating any reckless adventure the enemy might undertake.
The arming of all our people and the fortification of the entire country constitute the most powerful defence system, based on the unshakable political and ideological unity of all the people and on the solid foundations of our country’s independent economy. We must arm the workers, peasants and all other people so that they can intensify their efforts in socialist construction while defending our country, with a hammer or a sickle in one hand and a rifle in the other, and that, in case of emergency, they may not only continue with production but also fight well. At the same time, we should build impregnable defence installations in all parts of the country and turn the whole country into a fortress so that we can repel the enemy with one blow, no matter when or where he may attack us.
All this is aimed at giving practical expression to our Party’s line of self-defence in national defence. Only by doing so can we crush the enemy’s constant subversive activities at every step, and smash armed invasion in any form.
Eighth. The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, while continuing to hold fast to the line of building an independent national economy by enlisting its own potentials and domestic resources to the fullest under the banner of self-reliance, will also establish economic relations and develop trade with other countries, based on the principles of proletarian internationalism, complete equality and mutual benefit.
The development of an independent, comprehensive economy in our country through our own efforts does not imply that we reject international economic ties or that we produce everything we need for ourselves. Each country differs from every other in its natural and economic conditions, in the levels of development of its productive forces and science and technology at a given stage, and, accordingly, in the variety and quantity of raw materials and products which it manufactures. Under these circumstances, each country should produce the essentials and those products which are in great demand, and obtain, through trade with foreign countries, those things for which there is little demand or which are in short supply, or which cannot be produced at home, on the principle of meeting each other’s needs.
In developing our foreign trade we attach primary importance to the world socialist market.
As is well known, the world socialist market came into being as an economic consequence of the emergence of socialism beyond the boundaries of a single country and its transformation into a world system after World War II, when our country and a number of others broke away from the capitalist system.
The formation of the world socialist market promoted economic and technical exchanges between the socialist countries, thereby making a great contribution to the development of the national economy, the building of the material and technical foundations of socialism and the improvement of the people’s living conditions in each of those countries. This made it possible to frustrate the sinister designs of the US-led imperialist powers of the world to establish an economic blockade around the socialist countries, impede their economic development and, further, strangle the world socialist economic system.
The socialist market provides favourable conditions not only for the socialist countries but also for the newly independent states to meet each other’s needs for the development of their own national economies. Unlike the capitalist market, in which the economic law of taking monopolistic high profits through unequal exchange and the plunder of backward countries holds sway, the socialist market enables the newly independent states to sell their surplus industrial goods and farm produce and purchase foreign industrial equipment, raw materials and other supplies essential to the development of their economies, on the principle of complete equality and mutual benefit.
In this way, economically backward countries are no longer held in bondage to the capitalist market, where they were mercilessly robbed of their natural resources and the priceless fruits of their people’s labour; now they can follow the path of economic independence, casting off the economic yoke of imperialism.
The formation of the socialist market dealt a serious blow to the imperialist monopolies and the multi-millionaires who had held a stranglehold on the world economy through their vast market; in particular, it completely shattered the expansionist policy of US imperialism, the ringleader of modern imperialism, which had sought to monopolize overseas markets, plunder the world of its raw material resources at will and dominate the world; and it aggravated the general economic crisis of the imperialist powers.
If all socialist countries, meeting each other’s economic needs, consolidate and develop the socialist market, the development of the national economy of each socialist country will be further promoted and more favourable conditions will be created for the economic independence of the newly independent states. In addition, the capitalist market can be driven into an unstable position and the general crisis of the world capitalist economic system be aggravated even more.
Needless to say, consolidating and developing the socialist market and strengthening and developing economic ties among the socialist countries do not mean that the socialist countries should not establish economic relations with capitalist countries.
We shall develop the relations of trade and commercial exchange with all countries which have different social systems if they respect our sovereignty and want to have economic ties with us. The economic business relations of socialist countries with capitalist countries, however, should always be of secondary importance in foreign trade and should not be made the basis of their economic relations with foreign countries. Our first concern should be that of promoting economic and technical exchanges with the fraternal countries and consolidating and developing the socialist market.
In consolidating and developing the socialist market it is most important that each fraternal country, on the basis of its political interest in the victory of the common cause of building socialism and communism against imperialism and colonialism, displays the lofty spirit of proletarian internationalism and totally renounces hidebound national selfishness in mutual economic relations. The developed socialist countries, in particular, should give more material assistance—with no political strings attached and with no selfish motives behind it—to the economically backward countries which aspire to socialism, against imperialism. In this way, conditions should be created for these countries to be able not only to frustrate the economic blockade of the imperialist powers successfully but also to have fewer transactions with the capitalist market, relying on the socialist market. In our foreign trade relations, as in all else, we must never depart from our class stand or neglect communist ethics and comradely obligation.
We will do everything possible to promote close economic ties with the brother countries and consolidate and develop the world socialist market for the victory of the common cause of building socialism and communism, against imperialism, for the unity of national and international interests in revolution and construction.
While developing economic ties with other socialist countries on a preferential basis, the Government of the Republic will endeavour to establish economic relations and develop commercial exchanges with the newly independent states of Asia and Africa which have broken the chains of imperialism and achieved political independence, on the principle of complete equality and mutual benefit.
The peoples of many newly independent states who have gained political freedom are now faced with urgent tasks of eradicating the aftereffects of the colonial rule of imperialism, of building an independent national economy, and of improving their living standards radically.
However, the imperialists are working to bring these states under the yoke of neocolonialism, the old colonialism in a new guise, in order to dominate the peoples of the liberated countries again. The imperialists pursue a policy of enslaving other countries economically by offering “aid” as bait and, further, of riding roughshod over the sovereignty of those countries. The “European Common Market”, the “integration of the world economy” and the like, loudly advertised by the imperialist powers today, all pursue the heinous, aggressive aims of strangling the economic independence of the newly independent states and subordinating these countries to their rule.
By developing economic relations with the newly independent states on the principle of meeting each other’s needs without any political or economic strings attached, we should sincerely help them secure complete political and economic independence from the imperialists and assist their peoples in achieving national prosperity.
Ninth. The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will actively fight to defend the interests and national rights of all the Korean compatriots abroad.
In the past, as a result of the occupation of Korea by the Japanese imperialists, large numbers of our fellow countrymen left their homeland and wandered abroad. As a people without a country, they were subjected to chauvinistic discrimination and all kinds of humiliations, were deprived of all their rights and suffered from extreme hardships in strange lands for a long time.
Today, however, as proud overseas citizens of their beloved fatherland, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, they have boundless confidence and pride in their nation, and foresee their happy future in the prosperity and development of the Republic. The overseas citizens of Korea support all the policies of the Republic and are working positively to perform their duties as citizens of the Republic.
Our 600,000 Korean compatriots in Japan, solidly united around the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of the Republic, and guided by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, are now fighting bravely for their democratic, national rights against the unwarranted, chauvinistic persecution and contempt to which they are subjected by the Japanese authorities; and they are keeping up a staunch struggle for the reunification of their country and the prosperity of the nation.
At present, there is a widespread movement among our fellow countrymen in Japan to continue their repatriation. To return to their homeland is a legitimate national right of the Korean citizens in Japan, which no one is allowed to violate; there are still large numbers of them who want to come back to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which is their homeland.
Nevertheless, the Japanese authorities have deliberately placed obstacles in the way of the repatriation of the Korean citizens in Japan and are taking measures to interrupt it, in gross violation of international law, international practice and humanitarian principles. This is proof that the Japanese government is trampling on the democratic, national rights of the Korean citizens in Japan and is openly defying impartial public opinion in Japan and throughout the world.
The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the entire Korean people resolutely denounce the unjustified attempts of the Japanese authorities to frustrate the repatriation of the Korean citizens in Japan.
The Government of the Republic maintains that Korean citizens in Japan should be fully guaranteed freedom of travel to their homeland and of democratic, national education and all other democratic, national rights. We demand that the Japanese government should treat and protect the Korean citizens in Japan as foreign residents and cease all its acts of persecution and repression against them immediately.
No repression and persecution by the Japanese authorities can ever halt the just struggle of the Korean citizens in Japan for their democratic, national rights and for the reunification of their country. The constantly intensified persecution and repression of the Korean citizens in Japan by the Japanese authorities will only arouse still greater national indignation on the part of all the Korean people, and, sooner or later, an end will be put to this injustice.
The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea considers it a sacred duty to protect our 600,000 Korean compatriots in Japan and all other Korean citizens overseas, and defend their national rights. We will continue to fight doggedly against any unjustified acts of infringing on the national rights of the Korean citizens overseas, humiliating and persecuting them, and will always resolutely support and encourage our overseas compatriots in their just struggle.
Tenth. Ever since the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, we have consistently affirmed that we shall promote friendly relations with all countries which oppose imperialist aggression, respect the freedom and independence of our people and desire to establish diplomatic relations with our country on an equal footing, and in future, we shall continue to hold fast to this principle in our foreign policy.
The foreign policy of the Government of the Republic is derived from the nature of our state and social system free from all exploitation and oppression, and reflects the noble aspiration of our people to ensure peace, democracy, national independence and the victory of the common cause of socialism. Our independent, principled foreign policy is supported by an increasing number of countries in the world and has consolidated the international position of our country as never before.
Today our country maintains friendly relations with the fraternal socialist nations and scores of other countries in the world. Since 1962, alone, when the third Cabinet of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was formed, our country has established diplomatic relations with many countries in Asia and Africa, and our friendly relations with these countries are developing steadily. Economic and cultural exchanges between our country and other countries have also been further expanded and developed. Our country now maintains trade and cultural relations with many countries. Mutual exchanges are daily becoming more active between a large number of peace-loving peoples of the world and our people, and our friendly ties with them are expanding further. We have thus many revolutionary comrades and friends in all parts of the world, and international solidarity with our revolution continues to strengthen.
The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Korean people will continue to strengthen and develop these relations of friendship with foreign countries and strive to make more friends throughout the world.
The international situation confronting our revolution is very complex and tense today.
The US-led imperialists continue to carry out invasions and subversive activities against the socialist and newly independent countries. They are brutally suppressing the liberation struggles of the peoples of Asian, African and Latin-American countries, and disturbing the peace and threatening the security of the peoples throughout the world.
US imperialism is the chief enemy of peace, democracy, national independence and socialism. It is disintegrating, but, far from giving up its aggressive ambitions, it is revealing its piratical nature more brazenly than ever.
The basic strategy of the US imperialists for aggression against the socialist countries and the progressive countries of the world at the present stage is to swallow up, one by one, mainly the divided and small countries, while refraining from worsening their relations with the large countries and avoiding confrontation with them as far as possible. In this, the US imperialists are directing their spearhead of aggression particularly against Viet Nam and other Asian countries. These aggressive actions on the part of the US imperialists aggravate tensions in our country and all other parts of Asia to the utmost and seriously endanger peace throughout the world.
The most urgent task confronting the peoples of the socialist countries and peace-loving peoples throughout the world today is to check and frustrate the US imperialists’ policy of aggression and war. There is no use in talking about any kind of victory for the revolutionary cause or about world peace and the progress of mankind without waging an anti-US struggle.
The attitude which the socialist countries take towards US imperialism is the proof of whether they are really fighting for the development of the international revolutionary movement at the present time or not. Their attitude towards US imperialism is a touchstone which distinguishes between the revolutionary position and the opportunist position. The socialist countries should do away with all deviations in the anti-US struggle and maintain an unswerving revolutionary position against US imperialism.
To carry on a forceful campaign against US imperialism, joint anti-US action must be achieved and an anti-US united front be formed on an international scale. Division within the anti-imperialist forces only benefits the imperialists headed by the United States and harms the revolutionary peoples. All the socialist countries and anti-imperialist forces the world over should form the broadest possible anti-US united front, thoroughly isolate US imperialism and strike a united blow against it in all areas and on all fronts where US imperialism has stretched its tentacles of aggression. Only by doing this is it possible to disperse and weaken the forces of US imperialism to the maximum, destroy it everywhere and successfully smash its global strategy of defeating the socialist countries and other international revolutionary forces one by one.
The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Korean people will fight resolutely against the US-led imperialist forces of aggression, and will continue to wage a stubborn fight to drive the US imperialist aggressors out of south Korea and accomplish the revolutionary cause of reunification of the country.
The Government of the Republic and the Korean people, regarding the strengthening of their solidarity with the international revolutionary forces opposing US imperialism as an important factor in the victory of the Korean revolution, will unite with all the anti-imperialist, anti-US forces the world over and support and encourage the struggles of all peoples against US imperialism.
The primary task of the anti-imperialist, anti-US struggle at present is to check and foil US imperialist aggression in Viet Nam and support the Vietnamese people in every way in their just war of resistance against US imperialism and for national salvation.
Viet Nam has now become the front where the anti-US struggle is fiercest. A bitter war is being waged on the very soil of indomitable Viet Nam between socialism and imperialism, between the anti-imperialist, peace-loving forces of the world and the aggressive forces of US imperialism. The Vietnamese people, bearing the brunt of this struggle, are fighting valiantly not only to safeguard the independence and freedom of their country, but also to defend socialist countries and peace in Asia and the world. The heroic Vietnamese people are inflicting repeated serious military and political defeats on the US imperialist aggressors and are driving them into a corner.
On behalf of the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and all the Korean people, I should like to extend, from this rostrum of the Supreme People’s Assembly, warmest militant greetings to the Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, the Central Committee of the South Viet Nam National Front for Liberation and all the heroic people of North and South Viet Nam who have risen as one in the just war of resistance against US imperialism and for national salvation.
The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Korean people consider the US imperialist aggression against Viet Nam to be an aggression against themselves and are doing everything in their power to support the fraternal Vietnamese people. The Government of the Republic and our people solemnly declare once again that we are fully prepared to fight side by side with the Vietnamese people whenever requested to do so by the Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam. We fully support the position of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and the political programme of the South Viet Nam National Front for Liberation with regard to the solution of the Vietnamese question.
The socialist countries and the revolutionary peoples throughout the world have a solemn internationalist duty to defend the Cuban revolution and actively support and encourage the revolutionary struggle of the Cuban people. The triumph of the Cuban revolution and the existence of the Republic of Cuba struck a heavy blow at the US imperialists and they have a great revolutionary influence on the liberation struggles of the peoples of Latin America and the oppressed peoples of the world. Today the Republic of Cuba represents the hope and revolutionary future of the Latin-American peoples.
This is why the US imperialists stop at nothing in their nefarious attempts to stifle the Republic of Cuba and engage in constant plots of aggression against it, whipping up reactionaries in Latin America.
No manoeuvre on the part of US imperialism, however, will be able to stop the heroic Cuban people, who are advancing steadily in the forefront of the anti-imperialist struggle, bearing aloft the banner of revolution.
The Korean people resolutely support the heroic Cuban people in their struggle to protect their revolutionary gains and build socialism under the difficult conditions of direct confrontation with US imperialism in the Western Hemisphere, and firmly denounce the US imperialists for their aggressions and all other subversive activities against the Republic of Cuba. Our people will, in the future, continue to exert every effort to strengthen their militant solidarity with the fraternal Cuban people.
The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Korean people will endeavour to cement their solidarity with the peoples of all the countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America who are fighting for freedom and national independence, and will give positive support to their liberation struggles. In particular, our people will fight in close unity with all the Asian peoples to drive the aggressive forces of US imperialism out of all parts of Asia. We shall unite solidly with all the anti-imperialist forces in Asia, including the democratic forces in Japan, and battle stoutly against the revival of Japanese militarism, “shock troops” of the US imperialists for Asian aggression, and its aggressive acts.
The Korean people express firm solidarity with the working classes and labouring peoples of capitalist countries who are fighting against capitalist exploitation and oppression, and for their basic rights, for democracy and socialism, and offer warm support and encouragement to their revolutionary struggles. We shall always stand firm by the peoples of all countries fighting for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress and shall work unceasingly to strengthen our solidarity with them.
Despite the frenzied efforts of the imperialists, the general international situation today continues to develop in favour of the forces of peace and socialism. The ranks of the peoples fighting against imperialism are growing ever more in Asia, Africa and Latin America and throughout the world.
Imperialism and reactionaries of all shades will eventually be destroyed, and the peoples who have risen in the anti-imperialist struggle for the just cause of revolution will certainly emerge victorious.
Holding high the banner of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism and the revolutionary banner of the anti-imperialist, anti-US struggle, the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Korean people will, in the future, as in the past, unite with the peoples of the socialist countries, with the revolutionary peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and with all the progressive peoples of the world and fight on determinedly for peace, democracy, national independence and the triumph of the common cause of socialism.
Comrade deputies,
The Political Programme of the Government of the Republic embodies our Party’s idea of Juche and its revolutionary line of independence, self-sustenance and self-defence—a creative application of Marxism-Leninism to conditions in Korea.
The attainment of this political programme will turn our country into a richer, stronger and more advanced socialist nation, independent in politics and self-sustaining in the economy and self-reliant in national defence, and will ensure a still happier life for our people. It will powerfully inspire and encourage the south Korean people in their struggle against US imperialism and its stooges and afford a firm guarantee for the reunification of our country.
The Government of the Republic will carry out this political programme faithfully and thereby advance revolution and construction in our country further and fulfil the expectations which all our people and you deputies have placed in it.
The entire people, upholding the policies of the Party and the Government, should advance faster, overcoming all difficulties with great uninterrupted revolutionary enthusiasm and patriotic devotion. It is the revolutionary mettle of our heroic people that they do not buckle under when faced with difficulties nor rest on their laurels, but make a continuous advance and continuous innovations for fresh victories. There will be a great new leap forward in our revolutionary struggle and work of construction as all our working people keep advancing dynamically with the speed of Chollima in order to carry out the policies of the Party and the Government.
No force on earth can stop the advance of our people, who, with the seasoned Marxist-Leninist leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea, hold power firmly in their hands. Our revolutionary cause is a just one, and victory is on the side of the Korean people who are fighting for justice.
Let us all march forward bravely towards the final victory of our revolution and a bright future of socialism and communism, united closely around the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of the Republic.