KIM IL SUNG
LET US SHATTER IMPERIALIST
MOVES TOWARDS AGGRESSION AND WAR
AND
SAFEGUARD PEACE AND INDEPENDENCE
A Speech at a
Banquet in Honour of Delegates to the
World Conference of Journalists against
Imperialism and
for Friendship and Peace
July 3, 1983
Esteemed
Delegates,
Comrades
and Friends,
The
World Conference of Journalists against
Imperialism and for Friendship and Peace
which opened amid great expectations and
intense interest from progressive
journalists and people the world over, is
working successfully thanks to the exalted
spirit of cooperation and sincere efforts
of all of you delegates.
Our
people are very happy that here in our
capital city of Pyongyang, where the
Anti-US World Journalists’ Conference was
held 14 years ago, another global meeting of
progressive journalists has convened to
oppose imperialism, safeguard peace and
strengthen friendship and solidarity among
peoples.
Allow
me to welcome warmly all of you delegates
who have come from the various continents,
bringing with you the noble ideas of
anti-imperialism, friendship and peace and
warm feelings of friendship for our people.
It is
highly significant that progressive men and
women of the world’s press have gathered
together here to promote fraternity,
exchange experience and discuss their tasks
and action programme.
This
world conference of journalists will mark an
important stage in destroying imperialist manoeuvres
aimed at aggression and war, defending
global peace and security and achieving the
people’s cause of independence.
All
you journalists and people of the press from
various countries attending this World
Conference of Journalists against
Imperialism and for Friendship and Peace, are
the close friends and dependable
comrades-in-arms of our people. Progressive
people of the press throughout the world
have stood in the ranks with our people in
the fight against imperialism and for
independence, and have worked actively in
support of our people’s struggle for the
independent, peaceful reunification of our
country and the building of socialism.
During this Month of Joint Struggle against
US Imperialism, when our people are marking
the 30th anniversary of the historic victory
in the Fatherland Liberation War, numerous
foreign journalist delegates and people of
the press have come to our country to
condemn US imperialism and raise the call
for justice, peace and independence. This
support brings tremendous encouragement to
our people.
I
would like to express my deep gratitude to
the justice- and peace-loving progressive
people of the world press for their positive
support and encouragement for our people’s
revolutionary cause.
Comrades
and friends,
The
world situation is more complex and tense
now than ever before. Owing to the
aggressive imperialist move to provoke war
peace is being disturbed in many parts of
the globe, the danger of a new war has
increased and the sovereignty of countries
and nations is being violated.
The
US imperialists, who seek world hegemony,
are openly resorting to “power politics”;
they are increasing their armaments and
reinforcing their forces of aggression on a
large scale, while at the same time scheming
to strengthen the aggressive military bloc
of NATO, deploy new types of nuclear weapons
in Europe and expand their aggressive
military bases in many parts of the world,
including the Indian Ocean. The US
and other imperialists are intensifying
their aggressive activities intended to
unleash a new war in various areas of the
world. In the Middle East and Southern
Africa the imperialists are instigating
Zionists and South African racists to
increased aggression and intervention, and
in Central America
they are perpetrating heinous armed
interventions and subversive activities
against countries which have achieved
national independence and chosen the road to
independence against imperialism.
The
US imperialists’ moves to provoke a new war
are assuming a very grave and dangerous
character in the Far
East, which includes our
country. In accordance with their aggressive
Asian strategy, they are expanding their
military bases in and around south
Korea and shipping in a huge amount of
nuclear weapons and other sophisticated
means of war, while accelerating the
formation of a US-Japan-south Korea
triangular military alliance. The US
imperialists, who have stationed armed
forces of aggression numbering more than
40,000 men in south Korea and shipped in
over 1,000 nuclear weapons and many other
weapons of mass destruction, are now staging
one large-scale war exercise after another
directed against our Republic. Recently they
have even been trying to deploy neutron
weapons in south
Korea, which has provoked the unanimous
protest and denunciation of the peoples of
the world. South
Korea has thus now
become a most dangerous powder keg and a US
nuclear war base. In our country an
extremely tense situation has been created
which may spark off a war at any moment.
Because
of the US-led imperialists’ activities, the
world’s people now stand at the crossroads
of war or peace, enslavement or
independence. The most urgent and solemn
task now confronting the progressive people
throughout the world is to oppose aggression
and war and safeguard peace and
independence.
It is
the unanimous desire of the world’s people
to live peacefully in a world free from
aggression and war, subjugation and
oppression. Only when peace is secured can
the peoples of all countries successfully
apply their creative labour to
building a new and happy society.
Averting
war and safeguarding peace is a particularly
urgent problem for the peoples of the
newly-emerging countries. The political
independence already achieved by these
peoples is only the first step towards
complete national independence and the
building of a new society. Political
independence can be securely safeguarded and
consolidated only when it is guaranteed by
economic independence. For the
newly-emerging peoples to consolidate their
national independence and build a new and
happy society, they
must eliminate the famine and poverty left
behind by the colonialists and build a
sound, independent national economy. The
people need peace, not war, in building a
new society. When a lasting world peace is
guaranteed, the newly-emerging peoples will
be successful in their struggle for the
complete independence of their countries and
the building of a new society.
World
peace can be ensured and safeguarded only
through the struggle against imperialism.
All
the peace-loving people of the world should
unite closely under the banner of
independence against imperialism and wage a
resolute struggle against the aggressive
imperialist moves aimed at war. They should
direct a particularly intense attack against
the US
imperialists, that main force of aggression
and war, and heinous strangler of peace and
independence, in order to prevent the US
from recklessly invading other countries and
sparking off wars. The world’s people should
strive to check and frustrate the manoeuvres of
the US
and other imperialists to expand their
stocks of armaments and reinforce their
armed forces, and should compel them to
withdraw their aggressive military bases
and armed forces from the territory of
other countries. They should also strive to
break up all military blocs, to establish
and expand nuclear-free peace zones in many
areas of the world, and achieve general and
complete disarmament.domination-ism
The
world’s people should fight vigorously for
freedom and independence,
strive to liquidate all forms of colonialism
and dominationism, achieve the ultimate and
complete liberation of the nations, and
cling fast to independence, thus making the
whole world independent. Not until the
independence of the whole world is
established will the danger of war be
completely banished and a durable peace
guaranteed throughout the globe, and only
then will humanity be able to live in
happiness and contentment in a safe and
prosperous world.
The
progressive people of the press are
righteous warriors striving to oppose all
social evils and injustices and to realize
the people’s aspirations and desires. They
should fight determinedly against aggressive
imperialist moves aimed at war and in defence of
peace and independence, in order to fulfil the
lofty mission and role assigned to them by
history and the people at the present time.
In
the hands of progressive people of the press
the pen should be a mighty weapon wielded
against the imperialists, and their writings
should serve as denunciations of the enemies
of peace. Progressive people of the press
the world over should sharply expose
imperialists’ activities aimed at expanding
armaments and reinforcing armed forces and
should scathingly condemn the unpardonable
crimes of US imperialists who are bent on
driving mankind into nuclear holocaust.
They should expose the aggressive nature and
crafty neocolonialist methods of
imperialism, forcefully oppose its
ideological and cultural infiltration and
all manner of reactionary propaganda and
decisively repel the enemy’s reactionary
ideological offensive with a revolutionary
counteroffensive.
They
should inform the whole world of the just
struggles of the peoples fighting against
imperialism for peace and independence, they
should raise the cry of international
solidarity and make every possible effort to
render positive support and encouragement to
the embattled peoples.
Friendship
and solidarity are the common aspirations of
the peoples who are fighting for peace and
independence, and a sure guarantee of
victory. The progressive people of the world
can fully realize their desires and ideals
only when they firmly unite politically and
develop close economic and technological
cooperation by strengthening their bonds of
friendship under the banner of
anti-imperialism and independence.
Through
their activities, the progressive people of
the press should create favourable
international conditions for the unity and
cooperation of the world’s progressive
peoples and give extensive publicity to the
achievements and experiences of the people
in the anti-imperialist struggle and the
building of a new society.
The
newly-emerging peoples are now achieving
great successes in their endeavours to
build a new society and have acquired a lot
of experience and many techniques which they
can exchange as they cooperate with each
other. The progressive men of the press
should give wide publicity to the experience
gained by the people and their successes in
building a new society, and thus contribute
actively to the development of economic and
technological interchange and cooperation
among the newly-emerging nations and the
establishment of a prosperous new world.
If
the progressive men and women of the press
in all countries are to discharge their
noble mission and responsibility, they
should further increase their unity and
cooperation. In line with their lofty ideas
of friendship, solidarity and cooperation,
they should visit each other, share their
experiences, strengthen their solidarity,
cooperate closely and keep pace with each
other in their professional activities.
It
has been the consistent foreign policy of
the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea
to fight against imperialism, safeguard
peace and independence and strengthen the
ties of friendship and solidarity with the
peoples of all countries.
As in
the past, so in the future, the Korean
people will firmly adhere to their steadfast
anti-imperialist stand and fight positively
to oppose aggressive US
imperialist activities aimed at war and to
safeguard world peace and security.
Our
people will actively support and encourage
all the peoples who are fighting for a
common goal on the anti-imperialist front.
We strongly support the peoples of all
countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America,
including those in the Middle East, Southern
Africa and Central America, who are fighting
to oppose imperialism and domination by all
forces, to attain national independence and
build a new society; we proclaim our firm
solidarity with the European peoples in
their struggle to ease tension and
strengthen peace and security in Europe.
The
struggle of the Korean people for the
country’s reunification is a major link in
the chain of the struggle to check and
frustrate aggressive US
imperialist manoeuvres
aimed at war and to safeguard world peace
and security. The withdrawal of US troops
from south
Korea and the reunification of Korea is
the only way to eliminate this source of war
and maintain the peace in Korea and
the Far East
and, in addition, bolster global peace and
security.
The
main obstacle to Korea’s
independent, peaceful reunification at
present is the occupation of south
Korea by the US
imperialist army of aggression and
interference by the US
in our internal affairs. If the US
imperialists were to pull out of south
Korea and stop meddling in our affairs, the
people of north and south Korea
would join hands and reunify the country
peacefully through their own efforts. With
the active support and encouragement of the
progressive people of the world, we will
drive the US
imperialist army of aggression out of south
Korea and achieve the independent, peaceful
reunification of the country, thus realizing
our national aspiration and, at the same
time, fulfilling our important duty to the
international cause of independence against
imperialism.
The
DPRK Government and the Korean people will
strive to strengthen their unity with the
peoples of the socialist and nonaligned
countries and other progressive people of
the world and to promote friendly and
cooperative relations with all countries
which are friendly towards our country.
In
firm unity with their progressive foreign
colleagues, the Korean people of the press
will wage a resolute struggle and contribute
actively to humanity’s sacred common cause
of building a new world, free of
imperialism, colonialism, aggression and
war.
The
progressive people of the press are the
proud pioneers of our times, brave public
and political figures. The progressive
people of the world press should unite
firmly under the banner of
anti-imperialism, friendship and peace and
vigorously pursue their revolutionary
writing activities, so that the voice of
justice may ring out more loudly throughout
the globe.
My
hearty wishes to you delegates and the
progressive men and women of the press
throughout the world for great success in
your work, and here at this gathering
overflowing with revolutionary ardour and
friendship, allow me to propose a toast:
To
the triumph of the cause of independence
against imperialism, To the lasting peace
and security of the world, To the friendship
and solidarity of the world’s peace-lovers,
To the health of you delegates and the
world’s progressive people of the press,
and:
To
the health of all comrades and friends
present here.