KIM IL
SUNG
ON OUR PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE FOR SOCIALIST
CONSTRUCTION
AND NATIONAL
REUNIFICATION
Talk to a Delegation from the
Communist Party of the United States of America
June 24, 1988
On
behalf of the Central Committee of the
Workers’ Party of Korea I should like to
warmly welcome the delegation from the
Communist Party of the United States
of America,
headed by Comrade General Secretary, to our
country.
I am
grateful to you. Comrade General Secretary,
for your detailed introduction of the
political situation in the United States and
of the activities of the US Communist Party as
well as for your admirable speech in strong
support of the struggle of our Party and our
people for socialist construction and national
reunification.
Our
Party and people are now implementing two
tasks: firstly, the complete victory of
socialism through accelerating the building of
socialism in the northern half of Korea and,
secondly, the independent, peaceful
reunification of our country as soon as
possible through joint efforts with the south
Korean people, who are fighting for
independence, democracy and national
reunification.
In
accordance with the policy advanced by the
Sixth Party Congress, we are now waging an
energetic struggle to achieve the complete
victory of socialism.
The
Sixth Congress of our Party defined imbuing
the whole of society with the Juche idea to be
the general task of our revolution and set the
attainment of the complete victory of
socialism as the immediate fighting task in modelling the
whole society on the Juche idea.
In
order to build a communist society by
transforming the whole of society in
accordance with the Juche idea, we must
capture two fortresses, in other words, the
ideological fortress and the material
fortress. We cannot build a communist society
if we take only the material fortress. We must
conquer the ideological fortress as well as
the material fortress, and we must give
priority to efforts to occupy the ideological
fortress. Unless we remould all
people along communist lines, we cannot seize
the material fortress of communism either.
However, this does not justify neglecting the
work to take the material fortress. If people
experience inconvenience in their daily life
because of a shortage of goods owing to
unsatisfactory work to scale the material
fortress, they may not support socialist and
communist society with all their heart, no
matter how fully they are prepared
ideologically.
The
basic means of achieving the complete victory
of socialism and building a communist society
is to vigorously promote the three
revolutions—ideological, technical and
cultural. This is essential for succeeding in
capturing both the ideological and material
fortresses of communism. Our Party has defined
the three revolutions as the basic content of
the revolution that must be carried out in a
socialist society, as the task of the
uninterrupted revolution that must be carried
out until communism is built, and is directing
great efforts into effecting these
revolutions.
Above
all else, our Party is giving strong impetus
to the ideological revolution.
The
ideological revolution aims to turn all
members of the society into communist-type
people through reeducation. In other words, it
works to revolutionize them and assimilate
them into the working class.
To
achieve the complete victory of socialism, it
is extremely important to intensify
educational work to remould people
into revolutionary and working-class
patterns. Only when ideological education is
increased among people, will it be possible to
establish in the whole of society the
communist tone of working and living—one for
all and all for one. If a working-class party
neglects ideological education after it has
carried out socialist revolution and
established a socialist system, obsolete ideas
lingering in the minds of people will grow. In
the end, people will become degenerate
ideologically and inclined to lead an easy
life, disliking work. If this happens, opium
addicts and drunken brawlers may appear, and,
in consequence, it will be impossible to build
a socialist and communist society
successfully.
The
revolutionary education of people must be
further intensified as the revolution advances
and life becomes prosperous. When people are
in need, their enthusiasm to make revolution
is high and they work in good faith. However,
when they have no worries about food, clothing
or housing, they will become contented, their
revolutionary zeal may gradually cool and
they may show no enthusiasm for their work.
Under
the Japanese imperialist colonial rule in the
past our people lived in extreme poverty. At
that time they were slaves, exploited and
oppressed not only by the Japanese
imperialists, but also by the landlords and
capitalists. However, at present our people
all lead a good life. It cannot be said as yet
that they enjoy a rich material life, but they
are leading a happy life, with no worries
about food, clothing and housing. In our
country everyone is entitled to be supplied
with provisions by the state from the moment
he or she is . Our
industrial and office workers are supplied
with provisions by the state at nominal
prices. The state buys rice from the peasants
for 60 jon per kilogramme and
supplies it to industrial and office workers
for 8 jon. In
fact, the money the state charges industrial
and office workers for provisions hardly
covers transport costs. In our country
the people are provided with housing free of
charge. The state builds housing not only for
industrial and office workers, but also for
coop erative
farmers. All our people enjoy the benefits of
free medical care. If anyone falls ill, he or
she can undergo medical examination and get
medicine gratis at a hospital. If necessary,
one may receive hospital treatment. Universal
eleven-year free and compulsory education is
in effect in our country. In order to ensure
that pupils and students have no difficulties
in their studies, the state supplies school
uniforms free of charge and sells school
requisites at considerably cheaper prices than
other goods. The state even provides
scholarships to university and college
students. Therefore, if we are to ensure that
our people enjoy more prosperous and cultured
lives, we must step up ideological education,
so that they will work with great enthusiasm,
displaying creativity and highly conscious of
being masters of the revolution.
The
most important thing in carrying out
ideological revolution is to induce the
members of society to strengthen their life in
a revolutionary organization. In our country
all members of society belong to a political
organization and receive ideological training
through their life in the organization.
Schoolchildren lead their life in the
Children’s Union,
young people in the League of Socialist
Working Youth, and Party members in the Party
organization. Furthermore, workers lead their
life in the trade unions, cooperative farmers
in the Union of Agricultural Working People,
and women in the Women’s Union.
In our
country the entire Party, the whole nation and
all the army study. Everyone raises his or her
political and ideological level by belonging
to a study and lecture network, according to
his or her intellectual level and to the
characteristics of his or her profession. In
our country people study regularly, cadres in
the study group for cadres and Party members
and other working people in the study group
for Party members and other working people.
All people attend public lectures twice a
month. In our country even the members of the
Children’s Union,
to say nothing of the cadres. Party members
and other working people, arm themselves with
the ideas and policies of our Party and
receive communist education regularly.
We have
achieved great success in revolutionizing
people and assimilating them into the working
class by pressing ahead with the ideological
revolution, giving definite priority to it
over all other work. Today the ideological and
mental state of our people is very good.
We are
also vigorously promoting the technical and
cultural revolutions.
Our
technical revolution aims at freeing the
working people from difficult and arduous labour. We
intend to free our working people, who have
been emancipated from the exploitation and
oppression of the imperialists, landlords and
capitalists, even from difficult and
backbreaking work.
In
order to free the working people from
difficult and arduous labour, in
all sectors of the national economy outdated
techniques must be replaced by new techniques,
and mechanization, semiautomation,
automation and robots must be introduced into
work. In this sense the technical revolution
is essentially a mechanical revolution. In
the United States,
a developed capitalist country, it will not be
so difficult to lay the material foundation
commensurate with a socialist society once the
capitalists are overthrown and the people
seize power. However, it is not at all easy
for our country, which has taken over a
backward colonial economy, to introduce
mechanization, semiautomation,
automation and robots into all production
processes. To attain this in our country, we
still have to do a lot of work, and this will
require considerable time.
We are
channelling great
efforts into stepping up the rural technical
revolution.
The
basic task we have set forth for the rural
technical revolution is to attain irrigation,
electrification, mechanization and the use of
chemicals in agriculture. Only when this is
achieved, can agricultural production be
increased and peasants freed from difficult
work, working eight hours a day like workers.
We have already accomplished the tasks of
irrigation and electrification of agriculture.
We are now working to complete comprehensive
mechanization and the use of chemicals.
We are
developing the socialist rural economy
strictly in our own way. It is said that some
socialist countries are effecting a
system of individual responsibility for
production or a household piecework system in
rural areas. However, we are not doing so. We
are steadily consolidating and developing a
socialist cooperative economy in accordance
with the policy set forth in Theses
on the Socialist Rural Question in Our
Country. I published these
theses a long time ago. They clearly expound
the principles and ways to develop agriculture
in a socialist society. Our country, which is
thoroughly implementing the socialist rural
theses, raises good crops every year. We are
not yet able to sell grain to other countries,
but we have attained self-sufficiency in food.
It is not easy to attain self-sufficiency in
food for our country that has a small crop
area in comparison with its population. Our
real life clearly shows the validity and
vitality of the Theses
on the Socialist Rural Question in Our
Country. Some socialist
countries are said to be introducing reform
and restructuring, but our country is not
doing so. In the course of building socialism
we have already reformed and restructured what
was wrong. Therefore there is nothing more to
be reformed and restructured.
We
intend to turn cooperative ownership into
all-people ownership and develop the
cooperative farms into large socialist farms
in future. Our country has been managing large
socialist farms on a trial basis for a long
time. We have provided sufficient modern farm
machines to a state farm that has 8,000
hectares of arable land, enabling it to do all
farm work with the help of machines. On that
farm each worker is now cultivating 30
hectares of crops. This shows that in
socialist countries turning farms into large
state farms is an absolutely correct way of
developing the agricultural productive forces
and freeing the peasants from difficult and
arduous labour.
Agriculture
is developed in the United States
and the level of mechanization is high. At
present the United States
produces a large amount of grain and exports
some of it. According to publications, the
developed state of agriculture in the US
is attributable to large farms having been
organized and crops raised on a
scientific and technical basis. In the US
the owners of large farms are agricultural
capitalists, and the products of the farms are
mostly owned by them. Therefore the
agricultural labourers hired
by the farms cannot display creativity.
However, because the level of mechanization is
high on these farms, they achieve a success in
agricultural production that cannot be
attained by a small-scale farm economy.
The
large farms we intend to form in our country
in future are fundamentally different in
character from those of the United States.
The owners of our large farms will be
agricultural workers and the products of the
farms will be entirely owned by them. For this
reason the agricultural workers will display
all their creative initiative for society and
themselves. In future, when we develop our
cooperative farms into large state farms,
they will display incomparably great
superiority and vitality than large capitalist
farms.
We are
now working to carry out the Third Seven-Year
Plan for Development of the National Economy.
This plan ends in 1993. By that time we shall
annually produce 10 million tons of steel,
100,000 million kwh of
electricity, 120 million tons of coal, 22
million tons of cement, 7.2 million tons of
chemical fertilizers, 1,500 million metres of
fabric, 1.7 million tons of nonferrous metals,
15 million tons of grain and 11 million tons
of seafood. We shall also have reclaimed
300,000 hectares of tidal flats by that time.
When all this is achieved, our country will
rank among the developed countries.
Along
with the ideological revolution, the cultural
revolution aims
at turning people into communist types. The cultural
revolution is
closely related to the ideological revolution.
People can become genuine communist types when
they have not only revolutionized themselves
and assimilated themselves into the working
class, but also attained a high cultural and
intellectual level. Only when people have
attained a high cultural and intellectual
level, will they not commit misdemeanours and
work more conscientiously. Only then will it
be possible to successfully take the material
fortress of communism.
Promoting
the cultural revolution
vigorously was particularly important for our
country, which was a colony of Japanese
imperialism for 36 years in the past. When we
regained our fatherland by fighting the
Japanese imperialists, there were a large
number of illiterates in our country.
However, as a result of our vigorous
promotion of the cultural
revolution, all
the working people in our country have now
received general secondary schooling and
attained a high level of cultural and
technical knowledge.
An
important policy put forward by our Party in
carrying out the cultural
revolution is to
raise the cultural and intellectual level of
all the people to that of a college graduate.
In other words, it is to assimilate the whole
society into the intelligentsia.
There
were not many intellectuals in our country in
the past. Occupying our country and enforcing
their colonial rule here for a long time, the
Japanese imperialists prevented Koreans from
receiving higher education. In the days of
the Japanese imperialist, colonial rule
Koreans had to change their names to Japanese
names if they wanted to receive higher
education. Even those who received higher
education before liberation studied mainly law
and literature instead of natural sciences,
including engineering. In those days Koreans
could not hold important posts even after
graduating from university, but merely worked
as scriveners or novelists. Nevertheless, at
that time they could not write novels in
praise of their country.
The
greatest problem in building a new society
after we liberated the country was the
shortage of Korean technicians. The men of the
Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, who had
fought the Japanese imperialists shoulder to
shoulder with us, were good at making speeches
and shooting, but they lacked technology. In
those days the correct solution of the problem
of the intellectuals was a very serious
problem, affecting the success in building a
new society. Although the main motive force of
the revolution is the working class and the
peasantry, we cannot succeed in the revolution
and construction with the working class and
peasants alone. In the revolutionary struggle
and construction work the intellectuals play
no less important a role than the workers and
peasants. Therefore, when we were founding our
Party, we defined the intellectuals as an
important component along with the workers and
peasants. The emblem of our Party has a
hammer, a sickle and a writing brush,
symbolizing the workers. peasants and
working intellectuals that comprise the Party.
After
we liberated the country, we sent letters to
the intellectuals scattered in various parts
of the country and ensured that they were
brought to us. In those days intellectuals
came to us from south Korea,
too. Nevertheless, very few had scientific and
technological knowledge. We regarded the small
number of intellectuals as priceless assets.
We did not take issue with the intellectuals,
although they had been into rich
families and received education at Japanese
universities and colleges. We regarded them as
“brood hens” for training our own cadres. The
intellectuals who played the role of “brood
hens” in those days have become doctors and
academicians and are now working at
universities, colleges and scientific
research institutes. Their hair has turned
grey. They have hatched a large number of
“chicks”. We are now rich in intellectuals. We
have a huge army of 1.3 million intellectuals.
Our new intellectuals do not find it hard even
if they sit up all night working.
When
the three-year-long Fatherland Liberation War
was over in our country, we had to build many
houses. However, at that time there were very
few people who were able to lay bricks
properly, so we sent over 600 workers abroad
to learn brick-laying skills. Now our
officials are good at building houses. Because
our technicians and workers are efficient at
construction, other countries request us to
build deluxe buildings such as theatres and
hotels.
Today
our people are firmly armed with the Juche
idea of our Party and are stepping up the
great project of socialist construction, fully
confident of victory. Judging by their present
fighting spirit, I believe that the task of
achieving the complete victory of socialism
will be accomplished before long in our
country.
If you
personally witness our people working for
grand socialist construction during your visit
to our country, you will have a better
understanding of our country’s socialist
construction.
At the
same time as stepping up socialist
construction in the northern half of Korea,
we are working to reunify the country.
At the
Sixth Congress of our Party we put forward a
proposal for reunifying the country by
founding the Democratic Federal
Republic of Koryo and a
ten-point policy to be carried out by this
republic.
The
proposal for founding the Democratic Federal
Republic of Koryo is to
reunify the country by forming a federal
state, leaving the ideas and social systems
existing in the north and south of Korea
as they are. For a long time different ideas
and social systems have existed in the north
and south of our country. Therefore, if we are
to reunify the country, no side should try to
force its ideas and social system on the other
side. The north should not try to force the
socialist system on the south or to swallow it
up, and the south should not try to force the
capitalist system on the north or to invade
it. If each side tries to force its ideas and
social system on the other side, it will be
impossible to reunify the country peacefully.
In the
ten-point policy to be carried out by the
Democratic Federal
Republic of Koryo we
clarified that this republic should be a fully
independent and sovereign state and a
non-aligned nation that is not a satellite of
any other nation and does not depend on any
foreign forces. In the ten-point policy we
also made it clear that we would leave the
capital invested by other nations in south Korea
prior to reunification of the country intact
and continue to guarantee the concessions of
these countries. Capital from not only the United States
but also from many other countries, including
Japan,
France
and West
Germany, has made
inroads into south Korea.
Those who have invested capital in south Korea
fear they will be deprived of it when our
country is reunified.
It
would be a good idea for you. Comrade General
Secretary, to read the report to the Sixth
Congress of our Party if you can find the
time. If you read this report, you will
clearly understand the stand of our Party with
regard to national reunification, including
the proposal to found the Democratic Federal
Republic of Koryo.
At
present the general internal and external
situation is changing in favour of our
people’s struggle for national reunification.
The south Korean
people are gradually gaining a correct
understanding of our Republic and are getting
rid of their idea of worshipping and
kowtowing to the United States.
With a view to concealing their crimes as
stooges of the US
imperialists, the south Korean
reactionaries have conducted a lot of false
propaganda against the northern half of Korea
among the south Korean people, labelling us
communists someone’s lackeys. However, now the
south Korean
people know well that we set store by
independence more than anyone else and
consistently follow an independent policy in
our state activities. In the past they
regarded the US
imperialists as their “benefactors”, believing
them to be their “liberators” and “helpers”.
Nevertheless, seeing with their own eyes how
the US imperialists have turned south Korea
into an advance nuclear base for their
aggression, occupying south Korea and pursuing
a colonial enslavement policy there for a long
time, they have gradually come to see the true
colours of the
United States. The south Korean
people have come to realize that the US
imperialists are not “liberators” but
aggressors, not “helpers” but predators. They
have also come to realize that it is none
other than the US
imperialists who obstruct the reunification of
our country. They have come to realize all
this not by hearing anyone else’s propaganda,
but through their own protracted experience.
The south Korean
youth and students have now turned out for
national independence, social democracy and
the reunification of the country. Their spirit
is soaring. On June 10 this year they called
for holding talks with their counterparts from
the northern half of Korea in Panmunjom and
rose up in the struggle to put this into
effect. The south Korean
reactionaries mobilized over 60,000 policemen
to repress their struggle. We recorded on
videotape the struggle of the south Korean
youth and students. If you have some spare
time, you will be able to see it.
The
situation in south Korea
is now developing favourably.
However, we still must solve many problems if
we are to drive the US
imperialists out of south Korea
and reunify our country.
There
are also many international problems that must
be resolved in order to settle the Korean
question. Needless to say, the masters of Korea
are the Korean people, and the Korean question
must be solved by the efforts of the Korean
people themselves in all circumstances.
However, it is difficult to solve the Korean
question in isolation from international
relations, because it is closely connected
with these relations. The US
imperialists are holding on to south Korea
as a military base in order to check and
invade the Soviet Union
and other socialist countries. They have
deployed over 1,000 nuclear weapons in south Korea.
If they intended to invade only the DPRK,
three small nuclear bornbs would
be sufficient. In deploying more than 1,000
nuclear weapons in south Korea,
the US
imperialists aim at checking and invading not
only the DPRK, but also the Soviet Union, China
and other socialist countries. For a speedy
solution of the Korean question problems
related to it must be resolved, and we must
also get help from progressive people
throughout the world.
At the
Sixth Congress of our Party we made it clear
that independence, friendship and peace
represent the underlying theme of our Party’s
foreign policy. In accordance with this theme,
we are developing friendly and cooperative
relations with the political parties,
organizations and progressive people of
various countries that advocate independence
and love peace.
Our
Party has been hoping for a long time to
further develop its relations with the
Communist Party of the United States
of America.
I think that developing these relations is
important for both the Workers’ Party of Korea
and the Communist Party of the United States of America,
because US
imperialism is the target of struggle not only
of the US Communist Party but also of our
Party. US
imperialism is guilty of the division of our
country; it is the sworn enemy of the Korean
people, obstructing the reunification of our
country. The Workers’ Party of Korea and the
Communist Party of the United States of America
must wage a dynamic joint struggle against US
imperialism.
The
Workers’ Party of Korea and the Communist
Party of the United States of America
can wage a joint struggle against the US
imperialists’ armaments race and their manoeuvres for
arms buildup. At present the Soviet Union is
holding talks with the United States
on the problem of reducing nuclear weapons and
discontinuing their production. We support
the discussion of the problem of nuclear
disarmament at the USSR-US summit talks, for
these talks benefit the peace and security of
the world and the solution of the
reunification question of our country. The
arms drive must be stopped. The US government
must agree to the proposal of the Soviet Union to
reduce strategic offensive weapons by 50 per
cent and must discontinue the production of
nuclear weapons.
Now
that the Soviet Union and the United States
are holding talks on nuclear disarmament, we
intend to fight more dynamically to have the
nuclear weapons and the US troops
withdrawn from south Korea
and to reunify our country in a peaceful way.
I think
that you and the Communist Party of the United States
of America
can do many things conducive to the struggle
of our people for national reunification. If
you give the American people, including the
progressives, as well as our compatriots
living in your country, full information of
our Party’s policy for national reunification
and of the south Korean people’s struggle for
national independence, social democracy and
national reunification, this will greatly
contribute to the reunification of our
country. It is said that more than 800,000
Koreans are residing in the United States.
If they are given full information of our
Party’s policy for national reunification,
they will extend active support for our
country’s reunification. We are not now
working with our compatriots in the United States
as efficiently as with those in Japan.
We hope that the Communist Party of the United States of America
will help us by exerting a positive influence
on the Koreans residing in America,
so that they will support our cause and commit
themselves to the struggle for national
reunification.
We also
believe that you can help us in promoting
talks between the DPRK and the United States.
We hope
to hold talks between the DPRK and the United States
or tripartite talks with the participation of
the DPRK, the US
and south Korea
to replace the Korean Armistice Agreement with
a peace agreement and adopt a nonaggression
declaration between the DPRK and south Korea.
However, the US
government opposes tripartite talks because
of its misunderstanding of us. The US
government misunderstands us because it has
heard only the south Korean
reactionaries or the misguided words of some
foreigners who have nothing to do with the
Korean question. The south Korean
reactionaries cannot convey the earnest
desire of the Korean people to the US
government. To improve relations between the
DPRK and the United
States, the US
government’s misunderstanding of our country
must be dispelled. To this end, we and the US
government must have face-to-face talks.
Unless both sides sit down together, the
misunderstanding cannot be removed.
I hope
you will strive to hew a channel for talks
between the DPRK and the United States.
We can have both open and closed talks with
the US
government. In any case we want to create an
opportunity to tell the US
government directly of our Party’s just stand
for national reunification. We want to remove
the distrust between the DPRK and the United States
and ease tension in the Korean peninsula by
all possible means.
I am
extremely pleased to have the opportunity to
talk with you today. I should like to meet you
again and have more talks with you, but I
cannot afford to do so, because I have to
leave soon for a visit to Mongolia.
I regret this. My visit to Mongolia
will take about ten days. You plan to stay in
our country for about one week, but it would
seem advisable for you to stay here a week
longer than scheduled and rest. If you do so,
I shall be able to meet you again, have more
talks with you and accompany you to inspect
some places upon my return from Mongolia.
I hope
you will spend joyful days during your stay in
our country, relaxing and visiting various
places.