Report to the March 2013 Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea

KIM JONG UN

Report to the March 2013 Plenary Meeting

of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea

March 31, Juche 102 (2013)

Comrades,

Today we are holding a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea. At this meeting we will discuss and adopt an important strategic line for bringing closer the victory of the revolutionary cause of Juche pioneered on Mt. Paektu as required by the prevailing situation and the developing revolution.

Under the wise leadership of the great President Kim Il Sung and General Kim Jong Il, our revolution has travelled the glorious road of victory by bravely overcoming the worst difficulties and challenges in the protracted and severe struggle against the allied imperialist forces.

The enemy, frightened by the soaring mettle of our service personnel and other people who are charging forward full of confidence for final victory under the Party’s leadership, have enlisted all their political, economic and military forces to isolate and stifle our Republic; as a consequence, the situation in our country has reached such a grave level as that in a country on the brink of war.

Today we are faced with the important task to achieve the decisive victory in the all-out showdown with the United States for smashing its daily increasing schemes to stifle our Republic and to develop the Juche-based socialist country into a powerful Paektusan nation which no one in the world would dare provoke for ever.

Proceeding from the requirements of the prevailing situation and the developing revolution, the Central Committee of the Party puts forth the new strategic line of simultaneously carrying on the construction of the economy and upbuilding of the nuclear forces.

This line is a strategic line for directing greater efforts to economic construction while consolidating the country’s defence capabilities by developing the nuclear forces which the great General bequeathed to us, thus building a thriving country in which our people would enjoy all the benefits of socialism.

Carrying on the construction of the economy and upbuilding of the nuclear forces simultaneously is an indispensable requirement of the prevailing situation.

We intended to concentrate our efforts on economic construction by relying on the self-defensive war deterrents which the great Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il had created all their lives, so that the people would not tighten their belts any longer but enjoy the benefits of socialism. However, a great obstacle has been created in front of us.

The United States and its vassal forces, picking a quarrel with our successful launch in last December of a peaceful man-made satellite, railroaded a brigandish “resolution on sanctions” through at the UN Security Council. It was a hostile, outrageous act that illegalizes the legimate right of a sovereign state to launch a satellite.

To cope with this situation and as a link in the whole chain of substantial countermeasures to defend the country’s sovereignty and security, we were compelled to conduct the third underground nuclear test of a self-defensive nature.

The hostile forces, including the United States, grew crazier and adopted another “sanctions resolution,” which is harsher than the previous one. In the meantime, they have staged joint military exercises Key Resolve and Foal Eagle by enlisting vast aggressive forces to ignite a nuclear war.

Rallied solidly behind the Central Committee of the Party, our service personnel and other people have turned out as one in the anti-US, all-out showdown to respond to the enemy’s aggressive war with a righteous war for national reunification. Frightened by our harder line, the enemy dare not lash out at random, but have not given up their wild dream to stifle our Republic.

Our peaceful efforts for the economic construction and the improvement of the people’s standard of living are but to be accompanied by an acute struggle against the enemy, and the US schemes to stifle our Republic by means of sanctions and pressure and thus pull down our nuclear deterrents and our socialist system will persist for long.

The United States is most afraid of our nuclear deterrents, which are small-sized, light and diversified, and is making last-ditch efforts as they think that if we, possessed of nuclear weapons, achieve economic prosperity, its hostile policy towards the DPRK will come to naught.

That the hostile policy the United States pursues against the DPRK is getting more vicious in recent years is also related with the fact that it has moved the strategic centre for its hegemony in the world to the Asia-Pacific region and designated our country as the primary target of its attack.

Proceeding from this, the United States is artificially aggravating the tension, picking a quarrel with our launch of a peaceful satellite without any good reason, and taking this as an excuse, is conducting large-scale joint war exercises one after another by mobilizing enormous aggressive forces. It is intent on dismantling our nuclear armaments and overthrowing our system by all means and methods.

The tragic events that have taken place in several countries in recent years show that if the strength of a country is weak, it cannot defend its sovereignty and the dignity of its nation nor achieve the happiness and prosperity of its people.

We must never forget the lessons of the countries in the Balkan Peninsula and the Middle East which failed to possess powerful self-defensive capabilities, looking to big countries, or gave up even their existing war deterrents under the pressure and appeasement of the imperialists, ending up becoming victims of aggression.

The enemy are now blackmailing us, saying that we cannot achieve economic development unless we give up our nuclear weapons; at the same time, they are appeasing us, saying that if we choose another road, they would help us to be well-off.

The more they do so, the more firmly we must hold the treasured sword of nuclear weapons and the more widely we should open the gate to prosperity.

To carry on the economic construction and upbuilding of the nuclear forces simultaneously at present is the law-governed requirement of our developing revolution.

The cause of Songun revolution associated with the ennobling lives of the great Generalissimos has today greeted a new, historic turning-point.

We must consolidate the strength of Songun to the maximum and, by relying on it, build without fail a strongest country in the world, a people’s paradise, in which all the people live happily with nothing to envy in the world. Unshakable is our Party’s determination to enable our people, who have invariably followed it overcoming various hardships, to enjoy the happiest and most affluent life in the world on the strength of Songun.

The effort to develop the economy and improve the people’s standard of living can be successful only when it is backed by powerful military capabilities, nuclear forces. In the spirit with which we conquered outer space and with the mettle with which we succeeded in the nuclear test of a high level, we must push ahead simultaneously with the campaign to defend the country and the construction of an economic giant, and thus achieve the happiness of the people and the prosperity of the powerful Paektusan nation without fail.

Carrying on the economic construction and the upbuilding of the nuclear forces simultaneously is an urgent requirement for categorically rejecting the domination and intervention of foreign forces and accelerating the historic cause of national reunification, the supreme desire of our nation. The nuclear weapons we are possessed of are a precious asset of the entire nation which will guarantee for ever the prosperity of a reunified country.

The strategic line of simultaneously carrying on the economic construction and the upbuilding of the nuclear forces is a righteous line that will make it possible to brilliantly implement the cause of building a thriving socialist country by remarkably consolidating our war deterrents and putting spurs to the economic construction.

Our nuclear forces are reliable war deterrents and a guarantee for the defending of the sovereignty of the nation. For nearly 70 years after the appearance of the nuclear weapons, the worldwide Cold War lasted for long and many wars, large and small, have been fought in various regions, but it was only the nuclear states that have not experienced military aggression.

If a country is fully capable of dealing precise blows with nuclear weapons at aggressors and their bases wherever they may be on the earth, no aggressors will dare attack it; the more enormous and stronger its power of nuclear strike, the greater its effectiveness of deterring war. In particular, since our country is confronted with the United States which possesses the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world and the latter constantly threatens us with nuclear weapons, we must beef up our nuclear forces both in quantity and in quality. Peace, prosperity and people’s happy life all rest with powerful nuclear forces.

The strategic line of simultaneously carrying on the economic construction and the upbuilding of the nuclear forces is a realistic one which will bring about the maximum effect in the economic development and defence upbuilding in keeping with our actual conditions.

The United States and its vassal forces are now scheming to hamper our effort to build an economic giant and improve the people’s standard of living by dragging us into arms race. The new line will enable us to further strengthen our defence capabilities at small expense without increasing military expenditure and direct great efforts to the economic construction and the improving of the people’s standard of living.

We have strong atomic energy industry which the great Generalissimos established with keen foresight, outstanding leadership and iron courage and also inexhaustible uranium resources.

The Party’s line of simultaneously carrying on the economic construction and the upbuilding of the nuclear forces is a reasonable line which will enable us to ease the strain on electric power supply at the same time as strengthening the nuclear forces on the basis of the Juche-based atomic energy industry; it is also a just line which will make it possible to satisfactorily realize our Party’s plan and intention to enable the people to live a happy life free from any worry while coping with the prevailing situation on our own initiative.

This strategic line is a succession and development of the line of simultaneously carrying on the economic construction and defence upbuilding that was set forth by President Kim Il Sung and applied by General Kim Jong Il thoroughly.

At the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Fourth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea held in December 1962 Comrade Kim Il Sung advanced the line of simultaneously developing the economy and national defence capabilities, the first of its kind in history, and set forth the revolutionary slogan, “Rifle in one hand and hammer or sickle in the other!” As he advanced this line and created both the self-supporting national economy and the self-reliant national defence capabilities, we were able to firmly safeguard the gains of the revolution unperturbed in the upheavals in which socialism collapsed in several countries.

While leading the fierce anti-US nuclear showdown along the road of victory by dint of his distinguished Songun politics, General Kim Jong Il achieved the great cause of possessing nuclear weapons, thus defending Juche-based socialism and providing a strong springboard for building a thriving country.

We are now doing anything we are determined to do in accordance with our faith, will and mettle while resolutely frustrating the vicious moves of the United States and its vassal forces to isolate and stifle the DPRK. We owe this to the powerful nuclear deterrents, to the creation of which the great Generalissimos devoted all their lives. The exploits of the Generalissimos who made our country a dignified nuclear state in the world will shine for ever in the history of our nation.

The Party’s line of stepping up the building of an economic giant while consolidating the defence capabilities of the country with the nuclear forces as the backbone is a treasured sword for hastening the building of a thriving socialist country and national reunification, and it is a banner for our country to firmly defend the sovereignty and dignity of our nation for generation after generation.

The strategic line reflects our Party’s unshakable faith and will to carry the revolutionary cause of Juche through to completion along the road of independence, the road of Songun and the road of socialism, which the President pioneered and the General continued to follow.

We must thoroughly implement the Party’s line of simultaneously carrying on the economic construction and the upbuilding of the nuclear forces as we hold fast to the line.

To step up the building of an economic giant and drastically improve the people’s standard of living is the most important and urgent task facing our Party at present.

It was the General’s lifelong wish to build his beloved country into an economic giant and thus make the people live happily without anything to envy in the world. We must step up the building of an economic giant and improve the people’s standard of living at an early date as was intended by the General.

The success or failure in the effort to build an economic giant depends, first of all, on how we shore up the vanguard sectors and basic industry sectors of the national economy. When power, coal-mining and metallurgical industries and railway transport dynamically advance in the vanguard, the overall national economy can be revitalized and progress full of vigour. The vanguard sectors and basic industry sectors of the national economy should make breakthroughs for victory in the current grand onward march as befits the trailblazers and pioneers in the building of an economic giant.

We must bring about a fresh turn in the development of agriculture and light industry which are the main thrust areas in the building of an economic giant.

It is necessary to fulfil without fail the grain production plan advanced by the Party by increasing state investment in agriculture and doing farming scientifically and technically as required by the Juche farming method.

In hearty response to the Party’s call for making big strides in the grand onward march for improving the people’s standard of living, the light industry sector must run light industry factories at full capacity and mass-produce quality consumer goods favoured by the people.

By stoking up the flames of the industrial revolution in the new century, we must further raise the level of modernization and scientification of the national economy and definitely turn ours into a knowledge-based economy.

In the present era, when the height and speed of the economic and social development are determined by the development of science and technology, the economic giant we are building must be a knowledge-based one whose driving force is science and technology.

Great efforts must be channelled into locally obtaining the fuel and raw and other materials urgently needed in the building of an economic giant by relying on our resources and technology and particularly into putting the key industry sectors, including metallurgical and chemical industries, on a Juche-oriented footing.

By building up forces for developing new technologies and combining the economy organically with science and technology, all sectors of the national economy must equip factories and enterprises with modern technology.

And we must direct efforts to the development of space science and technology so as to develop and launch a greater number of communications satellite and various other kinds of application satellites.

In order to bring about a turn in the building of an economic giant, we must improve economic guidance and management.

State economic organs, including the Cabinet, must work out economic development strategy and set realistic objectives by sectors and stages in a substantial manner and thoroughly carry them out. They must also scrupulously organize and direct production so as to increase production by making the most of the already-built economic foundations.

We must study and perfect our style of economic management method as demanded by the developing reality.

The method, which embodies in it the Juche idea, must keep to the socialist ownership of the means of production and ensure that all enterprises conduct business activities independently and creatively under the unified leadership of the state. It must be a socialist method that encourages the producer masses to fulfil their responsibilities and roles as masters in the production and management.

We must expand and diversify foreign trade, thus frustrating the moves of the hostile forces for sanctions and blockade and bringing about a favourable turn in building an economic giant.

Tourist zones must be built in several places of the country, including the areas of Wonsan and Mt. Chilbo, to promote tourism; provinces must set up economic development zones that conform with their respective features and develop them characteristically.

As long as the imperialists’ nuclear threat exists, we must keep up simultaneously carrying on the economic construction and the upbuilding of the nuclear forces as an immutable line and further consolidate the nuclear deterrents.

Our nuclear deterrents represent the righteous means to defend the sovereignty of the country and nation, prevent war and safeguard peace. When we have strong nuclear deterrents, we will have nothing to fear even though a formidable enemy may pounce upon us and we can concentrate our efforts without any worry on the economic construction and the improving of the people’s standard of living.

The munitions industry sector must make another big stride in the struggle to make our country a most powerful nuclear state in the world.

It must produce precision and small-sized nuclear weapons and the means of their delivery in larger numbers, and constantly update the nuclear weapons technology in order to develop more powerful and more advanced nuclear weapons.

To put the atomic energy industry on an up-to-date, scientific footing is a major key to increasing the production of nuclear materials and the quality of its products and making the nuclear weapons small-sized and light on a higher standard. The atomic energy sector must actively conduct the campaign to break through the cutting-edge so as to introduce the CNC system and full automation to equipment and producing lines.

We must put the atomic energy industry firmly on the foundations of the cutting-edge science and technology as required by the new century, and develop the self-supporting nuclear power industry in order to ease the shortage of electricity in the country.

The People’s Army must enhance the backbone role of nuclear forces in all aspects of the war deterrent strategy and the war waging strategy and perfect the regular combat readiness of the nuclear forces.

We are going to fix by law the issue of holding fast consistently to the nuclear deterrents, the legacy of the great General.

We must be proactive in the external activities for creating a favourable environment for the implementation of the line of carrying on the economic construction and the upbuilding of the nuclear forces.

We must conduct the external activities courageously with the dignity and strength due to a nuclear state so as to further raise the international prestige of our Party. We must also create external conditions and environment while maintaining the principle of independence so as to forcefully promote the building of a thriving country.

We must conduct proactive external activities to disclose the reactionary nature and unjustness of the US hostile policy towards our Republic, the root cause that compels us to strengthen our nuclear forces, and give publicity to the justness and inevitability of our option and line. By so doing, we must increase the ranks of our supporters and sympathizers in the international arena.

As a responsible nuclear state, the DPRK will strive to ensure peace and security in Asia and the rest of the world, implement its commitment to nuclear non-proliferation it made to international society in good faith and contribute to the realization of global denuclearization.

All officials, Party members and other working people must dynamically turn out in the effort to carry out the Party’s line of simultaneously carrying on the economic construction and the upbuilding of the nuclear forces with confidence in sure victory and fighting spirit of implementing Party policy to the death. In this way they must step up the building of a thriving socialist country.

The revolutionary mettle and fighting tradition of our service personnel and other people trained by the great Generalissimos are that the more complicated the situation is and the more gigantic the tasks facing them are, the more staunchly they advance along the road they chose by themselves with firm confidence in the justness of their cause and in victory.

Let us all be firmly united around the Party Central Committee and bring closer final victory by energetically pushing forward with the economic construction and the upbuilding of the nuclear forces simultaneously as required by the prevailing situation and the developing revolution.

ON THE JUCHE IDEA

KIM JONG IL

ON THE JUCHE IDEA

Treatise Sent to the National Seminar on the Juche Idea Held to Mark the 70th Birthday of

the Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung

March 31, 1982

...

1. THE ORIGIN OF THE JUCHE IDEA

 A progressive idea plays an important role in socio-historical progress.

When the popular masses are guided by a progressive idea, they can be a powerful creator of history. Of course, it does not mean that all progressive ideas play the same role in socio-historical development. Their role is different according to how they represent the aspirations and interests of the popular masses and how correctly they show the path which must be followed in struggle. There were ideas which reflected the aspirations of progressive classes of society even before the emergence of the working class. But due to their historical and class limitations the trends of thought in the past age could not but be hampered in the role they played in social development. The revolutionary ideas of the working class alone can correctly reflect the demands of the time and the aspirations of the popular masses and give a powerful stimulus to socio-historical development by inspiring the people to wage the revolutionary struggle.

The revolutionary ideas of the working class are originated by distinguished leaders.

It can be said that the history of the communist movement spanning a hundred and scores of years is a history of working-class leaders creating and developing revolutionary ideas, a history in which these ideas have been applied to transform the world. In the mid-19th century Marx and Engels propounded Marxism. Thus they highlighted the historical mission and a path of liberation that had to be followed by the working class that appeared on the arena of struggle and stimulated the fight against capital, ushering in the rise of the international communist movement. Lenin developed Marxism and advanced Leninism in accordance with the new historical conditions whereby capitalism had entered the phase of imperialism, with the result that he inspired the working class and the rest of the people to the struggle to destroy imperialist strongholds and to achieve freedom and liberation. This marked the beginning of transition from capitalism to socialism.

Our leader created the great Juche idea after acquiring a deep insight into the requirements of a new era when the oppressed and humiliated masses of the people became masters of their own destiny. Thus he developed their struggle for independence onto a higher plane and opened up the age of Juche, a new era in the development of human history.

The revolutionary idea of the working class emerges as the reflection of the mature demand of history and the revolution in their development.

When the leader embarked on the road of revolution, a new development was taking place in the struggle of the working class and the popular masses against exploitation and oppression. On the world arena, the influence of socialism, which had won its first victory, grew strong, and the revolutionary struggle of the working class and the liberation struggle of the peoples in colonies and semi-colonies were intensified sharply. In an attempt to stop the revolutionary advance of the masses and weather the serious political and economic crises they were passing through, the imperialists further increased their plunder and oppression of the people. In many countries contradictions and antagonism between revolution and counter-revolution were intensified, and the masses of the people whose sovereign rights had been trampled down for a long time rose up in a struggle for their class and national liberation. A new age was approaching, in which the revolutionary movement made progress in a broad and diversified way on a worldwide scale.

In order to advance the revolution under the new historical conditions, the working class and the people of every country, conscious of being the masters, had to solve all problems in accordance with their actual situation. In our country, this was a particularly important matter because of the peculiarities of historical development and the complexity and arduousness of the revolution. The Korean revolution demanded more urgently that the popular masses hew out the path of revolution in an independent and creative manner.

The Juche idea was created on the basis of such a practical requirement of the Korean revolution.

The revolution is a struggle to meet the masses’ desire for independence by enlisting their strength. It is a struggle of the masses to free themselves. When they are armed with the revolutionary idea and united into an organized political force, the masses can emerge victorious in the revolution. The duty of revolutionaries is to go among the popular masses, masters of the revolution, to educate, organize, and inspire them to a struggle. The revolutionary forces, too. should be trained from among the masses, and all problems arising in the revolutionary struggle should likewise be resolved in reliance on their wisdom and strength.

However, the communists and nationalists who were allegedly engaged in the national-liberation movement in our country in the 1920’s gave no thought to the need to go among the masses to educate, organize, and arouse them into waging a revolutionary struggle. But divorced from the masses they were only engrossed in the scramble for hegemony and empty talks. They did not unite the masses but divided them by factional strife.

In the first years of his revolutionary struggle, the leader saw through their mistakes and took a road different from theirs, the genuinely revolutionary road which led him to be among the masses and to rely on them in the struggle. He elucidated the truth that the masters of the revolution are the masses of the people and that when one goes among them to educate and mobilize them one will be able to register victory in the revolution. This is one of the starting points of the Juche idea.

The revolution in each country should be carried out responsibly by its own people, the masters, in an independent manner, and in a creative way suitable to its specific conditions. Independence and creativeness are the inherent requirements of a revolutionary movement, the communist movement.

The Korean revolution which opened the age of Juche could not advance even a step forward unless it was conducted in an independent and creative way from the start. It was a difficult and complex revolution which had to deal with the tasks of the anti-imperialist, national-liberation revolution, with formidable Japanese imperialism as the target, and those of the anti-feudal, democratic revolution simultaneously. It was an arduous revolution which had to hew out an untrodden path.

What is worse, a strong tendency towards flunkeyism appeared in those days within our anti-Japanese national-liberation movement and communist movement to hamper the advance of the revolution. The nationalists and self-styled Marxists followed the evil practices of flunkeyism and factional strife which had resulted in the country’s ruin in the past. They did not try to carry out the revolution by their own initiative but dreamed of achieving independence by depending on foreign forces. At that time, those who were allegedly engaged in the communist movement formed their own party groups and called frequently at the Comintern to gain its recognition. And they endeavoured to imitate mechanically established theories and experience of others, without taking into consideration the historical conditions and specific realities in our country where a colonial and semi-feudal society was in existence. In this way, flunkeyism and dogmatism were very serious obstacles in the way of revolution.

Drawing on serious lessons derived from such flunkeyism and dogmatism, the leader clarified the truth that a revolution should be carried out not by anyone’s approval or instruction but by one’s own conviction and on one’s own responsibility and that all problems arising in the revolution should be solved in an independent and creative way. This is another starting point of the Juche idea.

As stated previously, the leader advanced the Juche idea, a new revolutionary idea, on the basis of practical experience and lessons gained in the revolutionary struggle.

The leader has conducted ideological and theoretical activities invariably based on the revolutionary practice, and developed and enriched the revolutionary idea and theories in the course of giving answers to problems arising in the revolutionary practice. Only on the basis of revolutionary practice can one apply existing theories in accordance with the interests of the revolution and actual conditions in one’s own country and search for new truths and create new ideas and theories.

In his early years of revolutionary activities, the leader was well versed in Marxism-Leninism. But he did not confine himself to applying Marxism-Leninism to the Korean revolution but pioneered a new phase of revolutionary theory from a steadfast Juche-based standpoint and resolved the problems arising in the revolutionary practice from a unique angle.

The leader discovered the truth of Juche idea in the course of the struggle against bigoted nationalists and bogus Marxists, flunkeyists and dogmatists, while hewing out a new path for the revolution. Finally, he explained the principles of the Juche idea at the Meeting of Leading Personnel of the Young Communist League and the Anti-Imperialist Youth League held at Kalun in June 1930 and put forward a Juche-oriented line for the Korean revolution. This was a historical event which heralded the creation of the Juche idea and the birth of the Juche-oriented revolutionary line.

At the time of disorder when national reformism, “Left” and Right opportunism and all other unsound ideas were prevailing, the leader still in his teens gained an insight into the trend of the times, the desire of the people and the law of historical development, expounded the truth of Juche and thus opened the road of independent development for our revolution.

The Juche idea has been perfected as the guiding idea of revolution in our age in the practice of the Korean revolution.

The guiding idea of revolution cannot be made perfect by one effort at a moment. It emerges through the generalization of experience in the revolutionary struggle, on the basis of the conditions of the times and history: it becomes perfect as an integrated ideological and theoretical system when its truthfulness is verified and its content is enriched during the protracted struggle.

The leader led to victory the revolutionary struggles at different stages and the work in all fields of politics, economy, culture and military affairs. In this course, he himself gained a wealth of precious experience and generalized it to steadily develop the Juche idea in a profound manner. The history of the leader who has led the arduous Korean revolution for more than 50 years, is a history in which he created the Juche idea and perfected it as a unique ideological and theoretical system in the great revolutionary practice.

As stated previously, the Juche idea emerged on the basis of the requirements of a new age when the masses of the people appeared as the masters of history and of a rich experience gained in the revolutionary struggle. So it has become the great guiding idea of revolution in our age.

Vor 40 Jahren: Abschaffung der Steuern in der DVRK

Vor 40 Jahren, am 21. März Juche 63 (1974), nahm die 3. Tagung der 5. Obersten Volksversammlung der Demokratischen Volksrepublik Korea (DVRK) das Gesetz Zur vollständigen Abschaffung des Steuersystems an.
Das Gesetz trat am 1. April des gleichen Jahres in Kraft.
Damit wurden im sozialistischen Korea alle Steuern abgeschafft. Das war ein einzigartiges Ereignis von grösster historischer Bedeutung.
Bereits im Lauf der 1960er-Jahre wurden schrittweise verschiedene Steuern, darunter die Naturalsteuer, abgeschafft.
Die vollständige Abschaffung des Steuersystems war der letzte Schritt zur totalen Befreiung des koreanischen Volkes von jeglicher Art von Steuern und Abgaben.
Die Abschaffung des Steuersystems ist dem grossen Präsidenten Kim Il Sung zu verdanken, der das Volk von sämtlichen Ueberbleibseln der alten Gesellschaft befreien wollte. Er sagte dazu Folgendes:

Die vollständige Beseitigung des Steuersystems ist eine Revolution; sie dient der Befreiung der Werktätigen von der Hinterlassenschaft der alten Gesellschaft und bedeutet eine grosse Wende bei der Erfüllung eines jahrhundertealten Wunsches des Volkes.
........
Somit ist der Traum des Volkes vom Leben in einer Welt ohne Steuern endlich in Erfüllung gegangen, und unser Land ist der erste Staat der Welt, in dem es keine Steuern mehr gibt.

Mit der Abschaffung der Steuern wurde das Paradies des Volkes vervollkommnet.
Die Abschaffung der Steuern übte auch auf die Landsleute im Süden, die in einer besonders korrupten kapitalistischen Ausbeutergesellschaft leben, eine grosse Anziehungskraft aus. Die Südkoreaner waren von der Abschaffung der Steuern im Norden begeistert.
Präsident Kim Il Sung, der die Landsleute im Süden genauso liebte wie jene im Norden, sagte dazu:

Die völlige Beseitigung des Steuersystems wird der südkoreanischen Bevölkerung, die ungeachtet der beispiellosen faschistischen Tyrannei beharrlich für demokratische Freiheiten, für ihr Lebensrecht und für die unabhängige und friedliche Wiedervereinigung der Heimat kämpft, noch grössere Hoffnung und Zuversicht verleihen.

Die Abschaffung der Steuern in der DVRK veranschaulicht die Ueberlegenheit des auf der Juche-Ideologie basierenden Sozialismus koreanischen Stils.
Die Menschen in der kapitalistischen Welt, in der die kleine Schicht der Reichen nur wenig Steuern zahlt und die grosse Masse des werktätigen Volkes von der Steuerlast erdrückt wird, können das koreanische Volk beneiden.
Die DVRK wird voller Bewunderung "Land ohne Steuern" genannt.
Das vom Führer Kim Jong Il gefestigte System der Steuerfreiheit wird vom Marschall Kim Jong Un im 21. Jahrhundert weiterentwickelt und perfektioniert.

KIM IL SUNG, Leitstern der nationalen Wiedervereinigung

Artikel des Schweizerischen Vorbereitungskomitees für die Feier des Geburtstages des Präsidenten Kim Il Sung, Tag der Sonne (15. April)


Präsident Kim Il Sung empfängt Pastor Mun Ik Hwan.


Nachdem Präsident Kim Il Sung Korea vom Kolonialjoch des japanischen Imperialismus befreit hatte (15. August 1945), litt er gemeinsam mit allen seinen Landsleuten im Norden und im Süden unter der von fremden Kräften vollzogenen Teilung Koreas.
Die Wiedervereinigung Koreas wurde von diesem Moment an zur obersten Priorität des Präsidenten Kim Il Sung und blieb es bis an sein Lebensende.
Bereits im April Juche 37 (1948) berief er in Pyongyang die gemeinsame Konferenz der politischen Parteien und gesellschaftlichen Organisationen Nord- und Südkoreas ein. Mit seinem Patriotismus und seiner grossen menschlichen Wärme und Ausstrahlung gelang es ihm an der Konferenz, auch einen langjährigen Antikommunisten aus dem Süden wie Kim Ku für den gemeinsamen Kampf für die nationale Wiedervereinigung in Zusammenarbeit mit den Kommunisten zu gewinnen.
Präsident Kim Il Sung unterbreitete zwischen 1945 und 1994 bei mehr als 200 Gelegenheiten Vorschläge für die nationale Wiedervereinigung. Seine drei bekanntesten Wiedervereinigungspläne sind folgende:

1.
Drei Prinzipien der Wiedervereinigung
Am 3. Mai Juche 61 (1972) verkündete Präsident Kim Il Sung die Drei Prinzipien der Wiedervereinigung - nämlich: unabhängige Wiedervereinigung ohne fremde Einmischung, friedliche Wiedervereinigung und grosse nationale Einheit. Auf diesen drei Prinzipien basiert die erste gemeinsame Nord-Süd-Erklärung vom 4. Juli 1972.

2.
Vorschlag für die Gründung der Demokratischen Föderativen Republik Koryo
In seinem Bericht vor dem 6. Parteitag der Partei der Arbeit Koreas (PdAK) im Oktober Juche 69 (1980) schlug Präsident Kim Il Sung vor, die Nation auf föderativer Basis zu vereinigen und die Demokratische Föderative Republik Koryo (DFRK) zu gründen. Er sagte dazu Folgendes:

Unsere Partei besteht darauf, eine föderative Republik zu schaffen und auf diese Weise die Heimat zu vereinigen, wobei Nord und Süd auf der Grundlage der gegenseitigen Anerkennung und Billigung der beiderseitigen Ideologien und Ordnungen eine nationale einheitliche Regierung schaffen, in der sie gleichberechtigt mitwirken und unter deren Leitung sie mit jeweils gleichen Befugnissen und Pflichten regionale Selbstverwaltungen ausüben sollten.

3.
10-Punkte-Programm zum grossen Zusammenschluss der ganzen Nation für die Wiedervereinigung des Vaterlandes
Am 6. April Juche 82 (1993) verkündete Präsident Kim Il Sung das 10-Punkte-Programm. Es basiert auf dem Plan eines föderativen Staates und auf der Unterordnung aller anderen Fragen unter das patriotische Ziel der nationalen Wiedervereinigung.
Das vereinigte Korea soll ein blockfreier neutraler Staat werden und zu keiner Grossmacht hin tendieren.

In der Zeit von den 1970er- bis zu den frühen 1990er-Jahren empfing Präsident Kim Il Sung viele südkoreanische Persönlichkeiten, die sich für die unabhängige Wiedervereinigung der Nation einsetzten - darunter den weltberühmten Musiker und Komponisten Yun I Sang (Isang Yun), den Pastor Mun Ik Hwan und die Studentin Rim Su Gyong.
Als Südkorea im Jahre 1984 von einer Ueberschwemmungskatastrophe heimgesucht wurde, organisierte Präsident Kim Il Sung gemeinsam mit dem Führer Kim Jong Il eine breitangelegte Hilfskampagne und liess benötigte Materialien wie Getreide, Nahrungsmittel, Medikamente, Zement u.a. per Schiff in den Süden transportieren.
Die Liebe des Präsidenten Kim Il Sung für die Landsleute im Süden kannte keine Grenzen.
Alle Koreaner im Norden, im Süden und im Ausland verehren den Präsidenten Kim Il Sung als den "Leitstern der nationalen Wiedervereinigung".
Nach dem Ableben des Präsidenten Kim Il Sung (8. Juli 1994) fasste der Führer Kim Jong Il die drei obengenannten zentralen Wiedervereinigungspläne zu den Drei Chartas der Wiedervereinigung zusammen. 
Aufgrund von deren loyalen Anwendung und Umsetzung durch den Vorsitzenden Kim Jong Il kamen zwei innerkoreanische Gipfeltreffen (Juni 2000 und Oktober 2007) zustande, als deren erfolgreiche Resultate die gemeinsame Nord-Süd-Erklärung vom 15. Juni 2000 und die Erklärung vom 4. Oktober 2007 unterzeichnet wurden.
Leider war es weder dem Präsidenten Kim Il Sung noch dem Vorsitzenden Kim Jong Il vergönnt, die nationale Wiedervereinigung, für die sie zeitlebens gekämpft hatten, zu erleben.
Doch unter der Führung des verehrten Marschalls Kim Jong Un, der mit den beiden grossen Führern absolut identisch ist und der ihr Werk loyal fortsetzt, wird Korea unter dem patriotischen Banner der Idee Durch unsere Nation selber vereinigt werden. Das ist gewiss.
Das koreanische Volk und die Freunde Koreas sowie die Anhänger der Juche-Ideologie und der Songun-Idee halten den Präsidenten Kim Il Sung ewig in höchsten Ehren und preisen ihn als den "Leitstern der nationalen Wiedervereinigung".

ON ABOLISHING THE TAX SYSTEM

KIM IL SUNG

ON ABOLISHING THE TAX SYSTEM

A Law Adopted by the Fifth Supreme People's Assembly of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea at Its Third Session

March 21, 1974

It is the noble revolutionary duty of communists and a fundamental principle which the working-class party and state must adhere to in the revolution and construction to free the people from every kind of exploitation and oppression for all time and provide them with material well-being and a cultured life.

The revolutionary struggle and construction work are undertakings for the people so that they can free themselves from all fetters and enjoy an independent and creative life as masters of nature and society.

After liberation, our Party which is guided solely by the great Juche idea, freed our people from exploitation and oppression for all time by leading the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution and socialist revolution to victory.

Thanks to the correct policy and wise leadership of our Party and the Government of our Republic, the three revolutions, ideological, technical and cultural, to free the working people from all natural and social fetters for ever, are developing in depth in our country, and the historic task of eliminating the vestiges of the former society is being carried out successfully.

To abolish the tax system is a revolution to free the working people from these vestiges and a great change to meet the centuries-old desire of the people.

The system of taxation which came into being with the emergence of the state, has been used in a class society for thousands of years as a means of preserving the ruling machine of the governing classes and plundering the working people.

In the old days it was an instrument for exploiting our people. In particular, the colonial tax system imposed upon them by the Japanese imperialists was the most brutal and murderous system, unprecedented in history. Our people cursed it and resented it.

Our people were opposed to heavy taxation for ages in the exploiter society. They fought ceaselessly, particularly against the predatory tax system under Japanese imperialist colonial rule. But their struggle did not succeed, in the final analysis, because it was not linked with the political struggle to seize power.

It was not until our revolution was guided by the Juche idea that this fight became a part of the revolutionary struggle against imperialism and the exploiting system and went on towards the radical solution of the tax problem.

During the glorious anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle the Korean communists fought in support of the revolutionary and people-oriented tax policy laid down in the Ten-Point Programme of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland, and they set a brilliant example in implementing the tax policy in the anti-Japanese guerrilla base, the liberated area.

Our Party and people's government abolished the predatory tax system of the Japanese imperialists and established a people-oriented, democratic tax system by implementing the Juche-oriented tax policy which was formulated in the days of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle and detailed in the Twenty-Point Platform after liberation.

The new, people-oriented taxation played a big role in laying the foundation of the independent national economy by rehabilitating and developing the destroyed economy, and also in accelerating the socialist reorganization of the relations of production in urban and rural communities and promoting the well-being of the people.

The Government of our Republic made effective use of the state tax revenue as a supplementary source of funds for economic construction and cultural development, while at the same time systematically lightening the tax burden on the people as the foundation of the independent national economy was consolidated.

As the socialist reorganization of the relations of production was completed and as the foundation of socialist industrialization was consolidated in our country, the question of abolishing the tax system became the order of the day.

As the conditions and possibilities for the abolition of taxation matured, the Government of our Republic first took measures to abolish the agricultural tax in kind during the period between 1964 and 1966.

This was a historic step to free our farmers from the tax burden completely in accordance with the Theses on the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country. It was also a radical step to strengthen the worker-peasant alliance and consolidate the economic foundations of cooperative farms and increase the farmers' real income quickly.

With the abolition of the agricultural tax in kind, only income tax and local self-government tax remained in our country, and these taxes accounted for a negligible portion of the state revenue.

Since the socialist system in our country has been further consolidated and developed, and since the strength of the independent national economy has increased incomparably, it is time to abolish all taxes.

In view of the urgent need for socio-economic progress, the Eighth Plenary Meeting of the Fifth Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea discussed the matter and decided to abolish the tax system, a vestige of the old society.

In this way the people's dream to live in a tax-free society has come true, and ours has become the first tax-free country in the world.

In a socialist society it accords with the law of social progress to abolish the tax system, a legacy of the old society.

Under the socialist system, the socialist state and cooperative economies constitute the economic foundations of the state, and the unity and cooperation of the working people is basic to social relations. The social and economic relations in a socialist society are the basis on which to reduce the tax burden on the people systematically and, finally, abolish it.

The tax system in a socialist society is no more than an auxiliary source of funds to meet the needs of the state and society for a certain period, and as such it is utilized as a supplementary means to adjust differences in the people's standards of living.

The abolition of taxation in our country is based on the advantages of our socialist system and accords completely with the law of development of this system.

The major advantage of our socialist system which fully incorporates the great idea of Juche in itself, lies in the fact that the state is completely responsible for the material and cultural lives of the workers, farmers and other working people.

Under our socialist system all the working people not only receive distributions according to the quality and quantity of work done but also enormous benefits from the state: they are provided with all basic living conditions ranging from food, clothing, housing, the education of their children, medical treatment and working conditions to recreation facilities.

The state benefits given to the working people are a bud of communist distribution which is developing in our country steadily. They ensure equal improvement in the working people's living standards and provide them with happy lives free from care.

Under our socialist system where the state can finance the revolution and construction on the strength of the income from the socialist economic sector and can afford to spend a large sum of money to look after the people in a responsible manner, it has become unnecessary to collect taxes from the people as an auxiliary means of meeting the needs of the state and society for funds.

Under our socialist system where the exploiting classes were liquidated a long time ago, and where all the working people are equally well-off without any great difference in their standards of living, it is unnecessary to keep the tax system any longer, the system which serves as a means to adjust the income of the people on an equitable basis.

Our socialist working people who armed themselves with the great idea of Juche and who have become masters of the revolution and construction under our socialist system, are taking part conscientiously in all state affairs, regarding them as their personal concern.

To our working people who are acquitting themselves well in their solemn duty to the socialist fatherland, as the masters of the state and society, displaying a high degree of revolutionary awareness and voluntary enthusiasm, it has become unnecessary to retain taxation, a legacy of the old society, as their civil duty to the state.

Our powerful socialist, independent, national economy is a solid material guarantee for abolishing the tax system.

Under the wise leadership of the Party, our people have built a powerful socialist, independent, national economy in a short period of their history by carrying out the policy of building an independent national economy successfully under the revolutionary banner of self-reliance.

Today our Juche-oriented industry has become a comprehensive, independent and modern industry which has been equipped with up-to-date techniques, and depends on solid raw-material production centres of its own. The irrigation and electrification of our agriculture have been completed, and our rural economy has become an advanced socialist agriculture which is run with the help of machines and chemicals.

Our independent national economy is standing on its own feet, developing steadily and rapidly, unaffected by worldwide economic fluctuations and crises, and our socialist state finance which is based on this economy is becoming more solid.

The powerful, independent national economy and solid financial basis in our country enabled us to take important measures to reduce prices of industrial goods sharply and even to abolish taxes for the well-being of the people, while carrying on the enormous projects for the building of socialism, continuing to make great efforts for social and cultural measures and strengthening national defence to make it more impregnable.

The abolition of the tax system in our country is the brilliant victory of the great Juche idea as well as a demonstration of the incomparable advantages of our socialist system which is the embodiment of the Juche idea and the great capability of our socialist independent national economy.

Thanks to the immortal Juche idea and its brilliant victory, our people are being provided with a richer, independent and creative life in the socialist land of happiness, where there is no exploitation, oppression or taxation.

The epochal, people-oriented measure taken by our Party and the Government of our Republic to abolish taxes for all time will further encourage our working class and the rest of the masses to the great struggle for the enormous socialist construction, the struggle to implement the magnificent programme of the Six-Year Plan ahead of schedule and to reach a higher eminence of socialism, and will inspire them to heroic feats.

The abolition of the tax system will give greater hope and confidence to the south Korean people who are fighting resolutely for democratic freedom, for the right to survive and for the country's independent and peaceful reunification, in spite of unprecedented fascist repression.

In accordance with the provisions of Article 33, the Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK decides:

1. The tax system, a vestige of the old society, shall be abolished completely,

2. The Administration Council of the DPRK shall take measures to implement this law, and

3. The law shall be effective from April 1, 1974.