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.