KIM IL SUNG
PREVENTING WAR AND
PRESERVING PEACE ARE THE BURNING TASKS OF MANKIND
Speech at a Banquet
Given in Honour of the Participants
in the Pyongyang International
Conference
for
Denuclearization
and Peace on the
Korean
Peninsula
September 6,
1986
Esteemed delegates,
Comrades and friends,
At this time when it is
the burning task of mankind to prevent a new world war, a thermonuclear war, and
preserve peace, an international conference for denuclearization and peace on
the Korean peninsula is being held in Pyongyang, the capital of our country, as
an expression of the common aspiration and desire of the Korean people and
peace-loving people throughout the world.
I am very pleased to see
this conference being held in our country in the International Year of Peace,
and I should like to express my warm welcome to you, the delegates to the
conference, who have come with a high sense of duty to the cause of world peace
and with feelings of firm solidarity with our people.
Easing tensions and
removing the danger of nuclear war on the Korean peninsula are burning
questions that await solution in the international political
arena.
The present situation on
the Korean peninsula is very tense, and the danger of nuclear war is growing
with every passing day. Armed soldiers in the north and the south of our country
are aiming their guns at each other from both sides of the Military Demarcation
Line. To the south of this line there are more than 40,000 US troops
equipped with nuclear weapons and nearly one million south Korean soldiers. They are prepared to attack the north
at any minute.
US nuclear warheads are
constantly levelled at Pyongyang, where you are now holding a
conference. It is precisely here that the delegates, champions of peace and
preeminent figures from many countries, are meeting in behalf of
denuclearization and peace; this fact arouses a keen awareness of the danger of
nuclear war and the need to fight for peace and stresses the great importance of
this meeting. This Pyongyang international conference, which is
attracting attention from the world’s public, will be a severe blow to the
imperialist nuclear maniacs and warlike elements. It will give the Korean people
and peace lovers throughout the world great strength and inspiration in their
struggle for peace.
The tension and the
danger of nuclear war on the Korean peninsula are the direct products of the
United
States’ Korean policy and Asian
strategy.
The aim of the United
States with regard to Korea is to maintain its domination over south Korea as
its colony by keeping Korea divided forever through the creation of “two Koreas”
and, with south Korea as its stepping-stone, to invade the northern half of
Korea, the socialist countries in Asia and, further, the whole of the Asian
continent.
In order to achieve
their aggressive aims the US
imperialists are strengthening their aggressive armed forces, including nuclear
weapons, on a large scale in south Korea
and making frantic efforts to provoke another war. As you well know, the
United States has introduced
into the small land of south Korea a vast number of
nuclear weapons, a number four times greater than it has in the NATO area in
terms of density of nuclear deployment. Not satisfied with this, the
United States is going to
ship more new types of nuclear and chemical weapons into south
Korea in the future and build scores of special
nuclear armouries there. The US imperialists are growing more enthusiastic
about their manoeuvres to provoke a nuclear war from
south Korea. Because of
this, not a day passes without the rumble of gunfire and the air is thick with
fumes of gunpowder in south
Korea.
The US imperialists are more blatantly conspiring to
form a tripartite military alliance among the United States, Japan and south
Korea for the purpose of drawing Japanese
militarists into implementing their aggressive Asian strategy. This shows that
the United States’ actions
for aggression and war in the Far East are
progressing at a more dangerous stage as the days go by.
In view of the
aggressive policy of the United States, our Party and the
Government of our Republic are working hard to ease the tension and preserve
peace on the Korean peninsula and to settle the Korean question by peaceful
means.
Holding fast to the
basic policy of achieving national reunification in an independent and peaceful
way true to our heavy responsibility to the Korean nation and with a noble
sense of duty to the cause of world peace, we have put forward many reasonable
and constructive proposals for peace and made most sincere efforts to put them
into effect.
Our fair and reasonable
peace proposals, including the proposal for tripartite talks to replace the
Korean Armistice Agreement with a peace agreement and adopt a nonaggression
declaration between the north and the south, have already been widely publicized
to the people of the world. This year alone we made an important proposal for
talks between military authorities to remove the tension and military
confrontation on the Korean peninsula and, through a statement by the Government
of our Republic, also made a positive peace proposal to convert the Korean
peninsula to a nuclear-free peace zone.
But none of our peace
proposals has been put into effect so far, and the situation on the Korean
peninsula is becoming more and more acute. This is entirely because the United
States and the south Korean authorities do not want detente and peace, but are
continuing to pursue the policy of aggression and war, So long as the United
States’ Korean policy and Asian strategy remain unchanged and so long as US
troops are stationed in south Korea, resorting to manoeuvres for aggression, it is impossible to guarantee
lasting peace on the Korean peninsula and settle the question of the
reunification of our country. If we are to ease the tension and guarantee peace
on the Korean peninsula and settle Korea’s reunification question in a peaceful way,
we must get all the nuclear arms and the US troops withdrawn from south
Korea.
The issue of keeping
peace and security on the Korean peninsula is directly related to the question
of preserving peace and security in the world, and
without peace and security on the Korean peninsula, world peace and security are
unthinkable.
Because
south
Korea has become a forward nuclear base, the largest of its
kind in the Far East, and because the acute
situation continues on the Korean peninsula, war may break out at any minute in
our country. If war breaks out in Korea, it can immediately develop
into a global nuclear war. Therefore, the present situation on the Korean
peninsula can only be a grave threat not only to our people, but to our neighbours and people in the rest of the
world.
Today peace-loving
governments and peoples of many countries are watching and showing deep concern
for the critical situation on the Korean peninsula and giving active support and
encouragement to our people in their struggle to prevent war, preserve peace and
achieve the independent and peaceful reunification of the
country.
If the US troops are
compelled to withdraw from south Korea and a nuclear-free peace zone is
established on the Korean peninsula by the joint struggle of our people and
progressive people throughout the world, one of the most dangerous sources of
nuclear war in the world will be removed and great progress will be made in
preserving peace in Asia and the world.
On behalf of the Central
Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of our Republic, I
take advantage of this opportunity to express my deep thanks to the fraternal
socialist countries, non-aligned countries, and all the other progressive
countries and peace-loving people in the world for their positive support and
encouragement for our people’s struggle for peace on the Korean peninsula and
the peaceful reunification of the country and for their active support for and
solidarity with our proposal to convert the Korean peninsula into a nuclear-free
peace zone.
Delegates,
Dominating the world by
force is an immutable world strategy of US imperialism. Its strategy for
world domination is now all the more dangerous because of the adventurous
attempt of the US rulers to carry it out through
nuclear superiority.
With the evil aim of
gaining a nuclear advantage, the US imperialists are now increasing
nuclear armament, accelerating the large-scale development, renewal, production
and deployment of nuclear weapons, and stepping up their acts of aggression
against progressive countries in all parts of the world. In particular, they
are trying to extend the nuclear arms race to outer space by putting forward an
adventurous “Star Wars” programme. They are producing
binary chemical weapons, new mass destruction weapons, in an attempt to deploy
them in many parts of the world.
Because of their war
policy and stratagems to increase nuclear weapons, the black cloud of nuclear
war is now hanging heavily over the world and mankind is being threatened with
this war. Unless nuclear war is prevented, humankind will have to suffer
irretrievable calamities and holocaust. Nuclear war, which threatens the
existence and civilization of humanity, must be prevented in every possible way,
and peace must be preserved.
In order to prevent
another world war, a thermonuclear war, and preserve peace, we must develop a
powerful worldwide struggle to check the imperialists’ nuclear arms race and
their plans for a nuclear war.
The imperialists are
subservient to the strong and violent toward the weak. If people who love peace
and justice throughout the world are closely united, they can be invincible and,
by their united efforts, frustrate the imperialists’ plans for a nuclear war and
defend peace.
By forming a broad
united front and spiritedly carrying on the anti-war, anti-nuclear peace
movement, all the peace-loving people of the world can check the imperialists’
reckless manoeuvres to build up nuclear arms and
militarize outer space, bring about complete nuclear disarmament and frustrate
their plans for aggression and war, which are daily becoming more
blatant.
As long as nuclear
weapons exist on our planet, the danger of nuclear war will not disappear and
mankind cannot be free from constant nuclear threat. Therefore, the testing,
production and deployment of nuclear weapons must be banned, existing weapons of
different kinds reduced and, further, all nuclear weapons abolished. This is
the only way mankind can free itself once and for all from the danger of nuclear
holocaust and maintain lasting world peace.
At present, the call for
denuclearization and peace is ringing out loudly from Asia, Europe and many other parts of the world, and the
anti-war, anti-nuclear peace movement is developing
strongly.
The Communist Party and
Government of the Soviet Union made positive
peace proposals to ban nuclear tests, reduce nuclear armaments, prevent the
militarization of outer space and abolish all nuclear and chemical weapons by
the end of this century. Recently, they also took a step on their own initiative
to extend the period of the unilateral freezing of nuclear tests to January 1,
1987. This clearly shows the responsible attitude and peace-loving foreign
policy of the Communist Party and Government of the Soviet
Union to remove the danger of nuclear war and defend world peace and
security.
We firmly support the
peace proposals of the Soviet Union to preserve
universal peace and security and extend solidarity to the Soviet people in their
struggle to implement them.
Establishing
nuclear-free peace zones and expanding them are important ways to bring about
nuclear arms’ reduction, prevent nuclear war and defend
peace.
We fully support the
socialist countries and peoples in Europe and the Balkans in their struggle to
create nuclear-free peace zones on the Balkan Peninsula and in many parts of
Europe and express our firm solidarity with
them in the struggle.
We also strongly support
the peace-loving people of the world in their struggle to establish nuclear-free
peace zones in different parts of the world, including Africa, the Middle East,
the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific
Ocean.
Our people love peace,
and working for peace is a consistent foreign policy of the Workers’ Party of
Korea and the Government of the Republic. Our Party and Government will, in
future as well, resolutely fight to prevent nuclear war and preserve peace in
firm unity with the peoples of socialist countries, non-aligned countries and
all peace-loving people throughout the world, under the unfurled banner of
independence, friendship and peace.
In the hope that the
Pyongyang International Conference for Denuclearization and Peace on the
Korean
Peninsula will proceed
satisfactorily and achieve excellent results and that you delegates will win a
new victory in your future efforts for peace against imperialism, I should like
to propose a toast:
To militant friendship
and solidarity between the Korean people and the peoples of socialist countries,
non-aligned countries and other peace-loving people the world
over,
To denuclearization and
peace on the Korean peninsula,
To world peace and the
prosperity of mankind,
To the health of all the
delegates, representatives of international organizations and all the other
foreign guests taking part in the conference, and
To the health of all the
comrades and friends present here.
THE DPRK REPRESENTS GENUINE PEOPLE’S POWER AND IS A BANNER OF THE UNITY AND SOLIDARITY OF THE MASSES
KIM IL SUNG
THE DPRK REPRESENTS GENUINE
PEOPLE’S POWER AND
IS A BANNER OF THE
UNITY AND SOLIDARITY OF THE MASSES
A Speech at a Banquet to Celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the
Foundation of the DPRK
September 9, 1983
Dear comrades,
Esteemed foreign guests,
Today
we are holding grand celebrations for the 35th anniversary of the foundation of
the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea, with feelings
of great national pride and amidst the warm wishes of the world’s people, at a
time when the whole country is boiling with high revolutionary enthusiasm.
On
the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK, the
glorious motherland of our people, allow me to offer my heartfelt
congratulations to our heroic working class, cooperative farmers, valiant
officers and men of the People’s Army and the People’s Security Forces,
working intellectuals and all the rest of the people who, under the unfurled
banner of the Juche idea, have struggled with complete devotion for the
prosperity and development of the country and for the victory of our
revolution.
I
would like also to extend militant greetings to the patriots, young people,
students and all the other people in south Korea who, in the face of the harsh
repression and persecution by the US imperialists and their stooges, are
fighting courageously for national sovereignty, democracy and the reunification
of the country, under the slogan of independence against America
and democracy against fascism.
On
this significant national holiday my warm greetings go also to the 700,000
Koreans in Japan
and to all our other overseas compatriots who, with a sense of honour and
pride in being citizens of the Republic, are struggling vigorously for the
prosperity and progress of the nation and the independent and peaceful
reunification of the country.
On
the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK,
high-ranking leaders, party and government delegations, delegates from
friendship organizations and prominent figures from many lands have come to our
country with feelings of deep friendship and are warmly congratulating our
people. Allow me to express a warm welcome and my deep gratitude to the members
of delegations from various countries and to all our foreign guests for coming
to our country to join us in celebrating our national holiday.
Comrades,
The
DPRK is our great revolutionary achievement.
Through
a long and arduous revolutionary struggle the genuine communists and patriots
of Korea achieved the
historic cause of national liberation and established the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in their freed country.
With
the establishment of the Republic our people, for the first time in their
history, became a dignified people able independently to hew out their destiny
as the true masters of the state and society, and our country appeared in the
international arena with pride as a fully-fledged independent and sovereign
state.
For
the last 35 years the DPRK has followed a proud path resplendent with
victories and glories and made tremendous achievements which will go down in
our nation’s history.
Under
the correct leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea the Government of the
Republic carried out the socialist revolution and set up in our country the
most superior of socialist systems free from exploitation and oppression and,
by forcefully stepping up socialist construction, converted our country into a
powerful socialist state with a solid independent national economy, brilliant
national culture and self-reliant defence.
The
DPRK is a cradle of happiness for our people.
Today,
in the embrace of the Republic, our people are fully guaranteed all political
rights and freedoms and enjoy blissful material and cultural lives. Under the
socialist system of the Republic the workers, farmers and all the rest of the
people participate freely in state and social activities enjoying equal rights
and they all live happily without any worries or cares. From the very moment of
their birth all our people without exception are guaranteed by the state and
society the right to adequate food, clothing and housing and, thanks to
universal compulsory free education and free medical care in our country, they
have the full opportunity to learn and receive medical treatment without paying
a penny. Our people’s material and cultural standards have now reached a very
high level, and the communist ideal is already blossoming into reality in
different spheres here.
We
are justified in taking great pride in the fact that, under the banner of the
Republic, we have, in the past 35 years, brought about the greatest
transformation of the century that is without precedent in our nation’s history
and built up the independent socialist country, the people’s land of bliss,
that we see in our beautiful country today.
The
DPRK represents genuine people’s power and is a banner of the unity and
solidarity of the masses.
The
Government of the Republic has served the people faithfully, regarding the
protection of their interests as the basic principle guiding its activities.
It has carried out all its policies to meet the will and demands of the people
and has striven to guarantee a happy life for them. For its devoted service to
them the Government of the Republic enjoys the unreserved support and
confidence of all the Korean people today.
Our
people have always loved the Republic dearly and actively supported and
defended it; they have devoted their all to the struggle for the Republic.
Through their own experience our people have become fully convinced that the
state power of the Republic represents genuine people’s power fighting for the
interests of the popular masses and that only when the Republic is firmly
safeguarded and constantly strengthened and developed can they enjoy a happy
life and eternal prosperity. Today our people entrust their destiny entirely to
our Party and the Government of the Republic and are solidly united with one
idea and will around them.
The
state power of the Republic serves the people and the people support the
Republic, the Party, the Government and the people are inseparably united with
one idea and purpose. This is the source of our invincibility and the sure
guarantee for all our victories.
The
DPRK is now enjoying great prosperity.
The
political, economic and military might of our Republic is greater than ever
before and the socialist construction of the country is progressing at a rapid
pace. The whole country is now seething with the gigantic labour efforts of the
working people to attain the ten long-term objectives of socialist economic
construction put forward by our Party at its Sixth Congress. All the working
people are working hard to reclaim 300,000 hectares of tideland, construct the
Nampho Barrage (now the West Sea Barrage—Tr.) and complete other challenging
nature-harnessing projects to renew the nation’s look; in all the spheres of
the national economy they are undertaking large-scale construction works to
expand production capacity on a huge scale and conducting a powerful
mass campaign to increase output radically.
In full support of the decision of
the historic Hamhung Plenary Meeting of the Party Central Committee, the
builders of Komdok, displaying boundless loyalty to the Party and the
revolution, miraculously completed in only one year the enormous project to
create an ore-dressing capacity of 10 million tons. With the construction of
the huge ore-dressing plant at the Komdok General Mining Enterprise, one of the
nation’s leading centres for producing nonferrous minerals, a breakthrough was
made for hitting the production target of 1.5 million tons of nonferrous
metals and radical changes were brought about in many fields of economic
construction.
Thanks
to the correct leadership of our Party and the Government of the Republic and
the heroic struggle of the working people, the “speed of the 80s”, an amazing
new speed of socialist construction, is being created everywhere in the country
and clear prospects have been opened up before us now for the successful
achievement of the ten long-term goals of socialist economic construction.
On
this auspicious national holiday, I would like to extend my warm thanks to the
heroic builders of Komdok who were forerunners in the effort to create the
“speed of the 80s” and to all the rest of the working people throughout the
country who are performing brilliant labour feats on every front of socialist
construction.
We
should continue to accelerate socialist construction without ever slackening
our present high rate and so increase the might of the Republic and achieve the
eternal prosperity of the nation.
The
Government of the Republic should hold the Juche idea as its invariable guiding
principle and firmly adhere to independent and creative stands in state
activities; it should also dynamically conduct the ideological, technical and
cultural revolutions to hasten the complete victory of socialism and
accomplish the historic cause of modelling the whole society on the Juche
idea.
The
most important task facing us for the present in socialist economic
construction to model the whole society on the Juche idea is to fulfil the
Second Seven-Year Plan and reach the ten long-term objectives of socialist
economic construction for the 1980s.
It is only when these objectives,
proposed at the Sixth Party Congress, have been attained that we will be able
to consolidate the material and technical foundations of the country and
radically improve the people’s material and cultural standards, and thus open
up a broad avenue for the complete victory of socialism.
In
reaching these ten long-term objectives we should give priority to the efforts
to provide enough food and clothing, the most important and urgent problems in
the life of the people.
Our
Party and the Government of the Republic are strongly resolved to enforce a
communist policy first with regard to these matters. We should forcefully push
ahead with the magnificent projects to transform nature, including the
reclamation of 300,000 hectares of tideland, implement the decision of the
Seventh Plenary Meeting of the Sixth Party Central Committee to attain the
annual production goals of 15 million tons of grain and 1,500 million metres of
fabrics ahead of schedule, and exert great efforts to develop the fishing
industry to hit the target of 5 million tons of marine products annually.
By
doing so we will be able to meet in full the people’s great demands for food
and clothing at the earliest possible date.
In
order decisively to reinforce the material and technical foundations of socialism
and rapidly to develop all the branches of the national economy, fresh
innovations should be made in the key industries.
The
key industries, such as the mining, power and metal industries, must
significantly increase production capacity at existing factories and
enterprises, modernize equipment and build many more factories and enterprises,
so as to reach the production goals set for coal, electric power, steel,
nonferrous metals, cement and chemical fertilizers.
The
effort to reach the ten long-term objectives of socialist economic
construction is an honourable and worthwhile struggle to reach new heights of
socialist construction by stepping up economic construction at an extremely
high speed.
All
Party members and working people should arm themselves with the Juche idea and
give full play to the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and strenuous
effort, continue the vigorous struggle to create the “speed of the 80s”, and so
bring about a fresh upswing on all fronts of socialist construction.
To
match the high spirits of the working people, all leading officials should be
bold in planning operations for economic construction and command them
skilfully, and meticulously organize economic work so that the tremendous tasks
of economic construction can be carried out satisfactorily.
Strengthening
the state power of the Republic, a powerful weapon of the revolution and
construction, and enhancing its function and role is an important guarantee for
the accomplishment of the cause of modelling the whole society on the Juche
idea.
The
Government of the Republic should apply the Juche idea to the letter in state
activities, properly implement democracy, continue to improve the work method
and style of government officials, and so fulfil its mission and role as a
weapon of the revolution and the servant of the people. All the people should
ardently love and positively defend the state power of the Republic and fight
devotedly to strengthen and develop it.
Comrades,
The
DPRK was founded by the general will of the north and south Korean people; it
is a political power that fights for the interests of the entire Korean nation.
In
the 35 years since its foundation, our Republic has struggled energetically for
the prosperity and progress of the nation and the reunification of the country.
But we have as yet failed to achieve reunification, the long-cherished desire
of the nation, because of the colonial enslavement policy of the US imperialists occupying south Korea and
their manoeuvres to divide the nation. The US
imperialists have trampled upon the sacred right of our people to
self-determination and made south
Korea their colony and a military base of
aggression. They persist in their scheme to perpetuate the division of our
country by fabricating “two Koreas”.
Preventing
the permanent partition of the nation and reunifying the country is the most
urgent, the noble and the supreme task facing the Government of our Republic
and all the Korean people.
Our country must be reunified on
the three principles of independence, peaceful reunification and great
national unity set out in the historic North-South Joint Statement, principles
which reflect the unanimous will and desire of the Korean people.
In
order to achieve national reunification in an independent and peaceful way, it
is necessary to put an end to the military occupation of south Korea by US
imperialism and its colonial rule, realize the independence of Korean nation
and ease the tension being created in our country by the activities of the US
imperialists and their stooges to unleash another war. It is also necessary to
end the fascist policy of repressing the south Korean people and the
anti-communist rackets aimed at antagonizing people of the same blood, and to
make south Korean society democratic, so that practical conditions will be
created for national reconciliation and unity.
The
most reasonable way to reunify the country on the three principles of
independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity is to form a
Confederation of the north and south.
At
its Sixth Congress the Workers’ Party of Korea made the historic proposal to
reunify the country by establishing the Democratic Confederal Republic of
Koryo, a confederal state covering the whole territory of Korea.
This proposal envisages the north and south retaining their ideologies and
systems as they are and, on this basis, establishing a supreme national
confederal assembly and a confederal standing committee, its permanent body, in
which both sides are represented on an equal footing and under which they
exercise regional autonomy.
It
would be reasonable that, as the unified government of the con-federal state,
the supreme national confederal assembly and the con-federal standing committee
elect their respective co-chairmen, one from the north and one from the south,
who will run these bodies alternately.
We
firmly believe that the proposal to establish the Democratic Confederal
Republic of Koryo is a most fair and realistic one which can bring about
national reunification in an independent and peaceful way in the present
situation in our country and, therefore, we maintain that Korea must be
reunified according to this proposal as early as practicable.
If
national reunification is achieved through the establishment of the Democratic
Confederal Republic of Koryo, our people will realize their earnest desire for
national reunion, achieve the coordinated development of the country and the
prosperity of the nation, and demonstrate externally their dignity and grandeur
as a single, unified nation.
All
the Korean people aspire for reunification and the DPRK Government will do all
it can to achieve the genuine unity of the entire Korean nation and set up the
Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo.
Comrades,
The
DPRK is an independent and peace-loving non-aligned country.
The
DPRK Government has invariably pursued an independent and peace-loving foreign
policy and has striven to strengthen friendship and solidarity among the
world’s progressive people who advocate independence. Today our Republic, as a
dignified, independent and sovereign state, is making an active contribution in
the international arena to humanity’s noble common cause of making the whole
world independent and has numerous supporters and close friends in every continent
and all parts of the world. Never, indeed, in our nation’s history of 5,000
years has our country exalted the dignity and honour of the Korean nation
before the whole world, enjoying such high international authority and great
influence, as today. This is a source of great pride and honour for our people.
Our
people’s revolutionary cause is advancing with the active support and
encouragement of the world’s progressive people. I would like to take this
opportunity to offer my warm thanks and greetings to the governments, political
parties and social organizations of the socialist, non-aligned and many other
countries, and to the international democratic organizations, world
organizations and the progressive people throughout the world that actively
support and encourage our people in their struggle for socialist construction
and national reunification.
A
fierce struggle is now going on in the international arena between the
anti-imperialist forces of independence and the forces of imperialism and
domination, and in this struggle the desire of the world’s people to advance
along the road to independence is growing with each passing day. The situation
in the world is extremely strained and complicated due to the US and other
imperialists’ moves for aggression and war, but the march of history is
continuing vigorously towards independence.
Realizing
global independence is the common aspiration and noble fighting
task of the world’s progressive people.
The peoples of all countries
should join the powerful stream of the times towards independence and against
imperialism, strongly combat imperialism and domination, reject all forms of
foreign interference, and hold fast to their independence. In this way they
will realize independence throughout the world.
An
important task at the moment in the struggle for global independence is for
the non-aligned and all other developing countries to effect South-South
cooperation to achieve their economic self-reliance and consolidate their
national independence.
The
developing countries can completely throw off the shackles of neocolonialism
and consolidate their national independence only when they have built strong
independent national economies. In order to build such economies they should
conduct exchange and cooperate with each other on the principle of collective
self-reliance. The imperialists and the developed Western countries will not
present them with a new international economic order or self-reliant economies
on a plate. The developing countries should not expect favours of others and
pin their hopes on the so-called “South-North cooperation”; they should believe
in their own strength and strive to realize South-South cooperation. If they
realize South-South cooperation successfully in accordance with the noble idea
of independence and the principle of mutual aid, they will be able to build
independent national economies by their own efforts, become rich, strong and
developed and bring prosperity to their peoples.
As
in the past, so also in the future, the DPRK will, under the banner of
independence, friendship and peace, strive to oppose imperialism, defend world
peace and security and promote friendly and cooperative relations among the
peoples of the socialist, non-aligned and all other countries in the world.
The
Government of the Republic strongly supports the Asian, African, Latin-American
and all other peoples who fight against the imperialists’ aggressive and
war-like actions and for peace, national independence and the building of new
societies, and expresses its firm solidarity with the working classes and
peoples in the capitalist countries battling against oppression and
exploitation by capital.
The
Government of the Republic and the Korean people will continue to fight
staunchly for global independence in close unity with the people of the world
who advocate independence.
The
35 years of the DPRK is a history of great change and creation, a proud
history of victory.
Our
Republic has a brighter future before it, and all our people are alive with renewed
fighting spirit and firm confidence. Our people will always be victorious in
their struggle for a just cause under the correct leadership of the Workers’
Party of Korea.
Let
all of us march forward boldly towards the prosperity and development of the DPRK
and the final triumph of our revolution, under the unfurled revolutionary
banner of the Juche idea, closely united behind the Party Central Committee and
the Government of the Republic.
Comrades
and friends,
Availing
myself of the opportunity presented by this significant occasion when the 35th
anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK is being celebrated, I propose a
toast:
To
the independent and peaceful reunification of the country and the lasting
prosperity of our Republic,
To
the health of the esteemed high-ranking leaders, the members of party and
government delegations and all the guests from various countries visiting us to
congratulate us on our national holiday, as well as the diplomatic envoys here,
To the health of our revolutionary
veterans and leading officials who have fought with complete devotion for the
independence and sovereignty of the country and the happiness of the people,
To the health of our heroic
working class, cooperative farmers and working intellectuals, who are
distinguishing themselves on all fronts of socialist construction,
To the health of the valiant
officers and men of our People’s Army and People’s Security Forces and the
public security personnel, who are firmly safeguarding the security of the
Republic and our revolutionary achievements,
To the health of the members of
the congratulatory group from the Revolutionary Party for Reunification who are
with us here now to celebrate our national holiday, and of all other south
Korean revolutionaries and patriots,
To the health of the members
of the congratulatory group of the Koreans in Japan and many other
congratulatory groups of overseas Koreans who are on a visit to their socialist
homeland, and of all our fellow countrymen abroad, and
To the health of all our comrades and friends present
here.