KIM JONG UN
Let
Us March Forward Dynamically Towards Final Victory, Holding Higher the Banner
of Songun
Speech delivered at the military parade
held in celebration of
the centenary of the birth of Generalissimo
Kim Il Sung
April 15, Juche 101 (2012)
Officers and men of the
three services and strategic rocket force of the heroic Korean People’s Army
and officers and men of the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces,
Members of the
Worker-Peasant Red Guards and Young Red Guards,
Working people from across
the country and Pyongyang
citizens,
Compatriots in south Korea
and abroad,
Comrades and friends,
Today, with great national
pride and dignity, we are holding a military parade in celebration of the
centenary of the birth of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung.
This military parade,
unprecedented in scale in the history of the KPA, is a grand festival of
victors, arranged according to the noble intention and personal proposal of the
great Comrade Kim Jong Il to glorify
the immortal exploits of the great Comrade Kim
Il Sung in building the army and to demonstrate to the whole world the
might of socialist Korea.
Availing myself of this
significant opportunity, I would like to extend, reflecting the boundless
feelings of all the service personnel and people, the highest respect and
greatest glory to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the banners of all our
victories, who founded and built up our revolutionary armed forces.
My respect also goes to the
fighters of the anti-Japanese revolution and soldiers of the DPRK who dedicated
their precious lives to the independence and sovereignty of their country and
the freedom of their fellow people.
I warmly congratulate the
officers and men of the DPRK and KPISF, members of the Worker-Peasant Red
Guards and Young Red Guards and all other people who have greeted the meaningful
anniversaries of this year with proud achievements in strengthening our combat
capability and bringing about a great revolutionary upsurge by displaying an
unexcelled heroic spirit and devotion at their posts of national defence and
the construction sites of a thriving country.
I extend warm greetings to
our compatriots in south
Korea and abroad who are devoting their all
to the patriotic cause of reunification and the prosperity of their motherland,
and express gratitude to the foreign friends who are rendering active support
and encouragement to the just cause of our people.
Comrades,
The 100-year history of the
great Kim Il Sung’s nation is a
history that clearly proves the iron truth that an outstanding leader
guarantees the self-respect and prosperity of a country and nation.
The Korean nation, though
proud of its 5 000-year history and brilliant culture, was forced to regard
sycophancy to big countries and national ruin as its fate because it did not
have a proper leader and did not have the strength to defend itself. This was
the image of our nation a century ago, the image of a miserable colonial
country.
However, the 100-year
history of Kim Il Sung’s nation
brought the curtain down on the history full of vicissitudes, and has raised
the dignity of our country and nation to the highest level in their history.
The geopolitical position of
our country is the same as ever, but the weak country of yesterday which was
trodden underfoot as a theatre where the big powers fought to expand the sphere
of their influence, has now been turned into a proud political and military
power and our people are demonstrating their dignity as an independent people
whom no one dares to provoke.
This
miraculous transformation in the destiny of our nation is no fortuitous event
which resulted from the passage of time but an inevitable historical outcome
brought about by the great President Kim
Il Sung and General Kim Jong Il,
who pioneered and led the Songun revolution.
Our country and people,
because they were led by their peerlessly great leaders who built up the elite revolutionary
armed forces, regarding giving priority to arms as fundamental to the revolution,
have been able to bring about radical changes in their destiny and see today’s
grand festival which will demonstrate to the whole world the strength of Son
gun Korea.
President Kim Il Sung, having clarified in his
early years the iron truth that arms are the lifeline of a nation and the
source of the victory of the revolution, founded in the forests of Paektu 80
years ago the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army formed of the fine sons and
daughters of the people, the first Juche-type revolutionary armed force in
Korea.
With the founding of the KPRA,
our people had their own genuine army for the first time in their history, and
this marked the beginning of the glorious history of the Korean revolution
which would advance based on strength of arms.
Comrade Kim Il Sung, who gave priority to strengthening the revolutionary armed
forces throughout his revolutionary career, worked a military miracle of the 20th
century by defeating two imperialist powers, the most ferocious forces in the
world, developed KPA into a match-for-a-hundred revolutionary army and
accomplished the aims of arming all the people and fortifying the whole
country. Thus he provided a solid military guarantee for ensuring the
sovereignty of the country and everlasting prosperity of the nation.
General Kim Jong Il regarded carrying forward and accomplishing the
Juche-oriented revolutionary cause of Songun pioneered by Comrade Kim Il Sung as his life-long mission,
and ushered in the golden age of the development of our revolutionary armed
forces by dint of his uncommon wisdom, outstanding military leadership and
matchless courage.
In the grimmest period ever
witnessed in our revolution, he developed the KPA into an elite force, ensured
successive victories in the unprecedented struggle to defend socialism and
performed the huge historic exploit of raising the status of our country to
that of a world-class military power by enforcing the ever-victorious Songun
politics.
Under
the leadership of President Kim Il Sung
and General Kim Jong Il, our armed
forces gave full play to their dignity as an army with a distinct revolutionary
character and unparalleled militant temperament and might.
The course of proud struggle
traveled by our revolutionary armed forces has been marked by do-or-die
showdowns with the imperialist powers and grand construction campaigns for
laying the lasting foundations of the country’s prosperity.
In the course of this, our
revolutionary armed forces have remained boundlessly faithful to their first
and foremost mission as a genuine army of the leader and the Party, and lived
up to the expectations of the country and people with credit.
The noble spirit of
defending the leader unto death created by the anti-Japanese guerrillas has
been the enduring motto of our army and the fundamental source of its mental
strength and combat efficiency, as well as a precious tradition for later
generations to inherit.
The KPA is at the forefront
in holding up the banner of death-defying defence of the leaders and has taken
the lead in staunchly safeguarding the lifeline of the Juche revolution in the
days of both glory and trials; this constitutes the greatest exploit it has performed
for the revolution.
The history of our army,
which started out with two pistols and has developed into a matchless force
that strikes terror in the hearts of the imperialist aggressors, is
unprecedented in the world history of army building.
In the long period from its
founding to the present day, it has fought a guerrilla war, a regular war and a
showdown without gunshot; in the course of this, it has embraced all-powerful,
Juche-oriented combat methods and accumulated experience in winning victories,
and it has developed into a powerful armed force equipped with our unique means
of both attack and defence so that it is fully capable of coping with modern
warfare of any type.
The military and
technological edge is no longer the monopoly of the imperialists, and the era
is gone forever when the enemy would threaten us with atomic bombs. Today’s
grand military parade will provide clear proof of this.
Since the very day when it
was named after the people, the KPA, as the defender of the country and creator
of people’s happiness, has left an outstanding mark on the building of a
prosperous and powerful country.
The monumental edifices that
have sprung up in all parts of the country and the numerous socialist assets
that contribute to people’s livelihoods are all permeated with the precious
blood and sweat of our service personnel.
Powerful revolutionary army
of Mt. Paektu, with great pride in
being the army of the leader, the Party and the people and with its invincible
might, is the most important legacy bequeathed by the great generalissimos to their
beloved country, and to have such a valuable inheritance is a great blessing
and a source of pride for our Party and people.
The heroic and ever-victorious
KPA has guaranteed the glorious 100-year history of Juche Korea, and this constitutes a sure guarantee for
the everlasting history of Kim Il Sung’s
nation, Kim Jong Il’s Korea.
The sacred revolutionary
careers and immortal exploits of President Kim
Il Sung and General Kim Jong Il,
who opened the new history of national independence by blazing a trail fraught
with hardship for the sake of the Songun revolution and laid a solid basis for
the prosperity of the country and the happiness of all the generations to come,
will shine for all eternity in the history of our motherland.
Comrades,
Today we are at a historic
watershed marking the start of a new century of Juche era.
This is an important time
when those of us who learned the revolution from General Kim Jong Il are required to be more energetic than at any time
before.
The 4th
Conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the 5th Session of the
12th Supreme People’s Assembly, historic meetings held a few days
ago, acclaimed General Kim Jong Il as
the eternal leader of our revolution, as the eternal General Secretary of the
Workers’ Party of Korea and the eternal Chairman of the National Defence
Commission of our Republic.
This is an expression of the
unshakeable will of our Party, army and people to inherit and accomplish the
revolutionary cause of Juche pioneered on Mt.
Paektu without any deviation and without any concession, as the President and
the General did, holding aloft the great banner of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism.
The permanent strategy of
our revolution and its final victory lie in marching straight along the road of
independence, the road of Songun and the road of socialism, as indicated by
President Kim Il Sung and General Kim Jong Il.
If we are to add eternal
glory to the dignity of Songun Korea
and bring the cause of building a thriving socialist country to a successful
conclusion, we should, above all else, comprehensively strengthen the KPA.
The KPA should remain the
reliable vanguard and solid cornerstone of the Songun revolution, ready to
blaze a trail under the leadership of the Party and firmly guarantee its cause
by force of arms.
What can
never change even though time may change and one generation may be replaced by
another, is the original revolutionary form of our army which bears the
characteristics of President Kim Il Sung
and General Kim Jong Il and the
fighting spirit of the revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu which advances, holding
high the red flog of the Workers’ Party as its leading banner.
The KPA should intensify the
movement for winning the title of O Jung Hup-led 7th Regiment, as
required by the developing situation, so as to turn itself into today’s 7th
Regiment which is fully equipped with the spirit of becoming human rifles and
bombs, the spirit cherished by the anti-Japanese guerrillas.
It should thoroughly apply
our Party’s Juche-oriented military ideas and lines in its military and
political work and establish more firmly the revolutionary command system, so
as to become an integral whole which is ideologically pure and highly organized
and which shares the Party’s ideology, draws breath with it and keeps pace with
it.
It
should make its training more intensive, as the anti-Japanese guerrillas did on
Mt. Paektu, so as to ready all its
officers and men as fully-prepared combatants who have acquired the
ever-victorious Kim Il Sung’s and Kim Jong Il’s strategies and tactics,
spirit of bold attack and all-round practical abilities, and perfect its
regularized features as befits an elite revolutionary force which is strong in
discipline and outstanding both internally and externally.
The entire army as an entity
of comrades-in-arms, and all the service personnel and people as a harmonious
whole around the Party—this is the real might of the KPA, and herein lies the
key to strengthening its military strength.
Upholding the slogan “Let
all service personnel become true comrades-in-arms!” the KPA should give fuller
scope to the traditional trait of unity between officers and men, and the
entire army should become a unit of comrades-in-arms, who share their life and
blood on the road of the Son gun revolution.
The officers and men are al
priceless comrades-in-arms of the Supreme Commander. What I believe in is not
the modern military hardware, like guns or rockets, but the dear rank-and-file
soldiers; the Supreme Commander, as well as the officers, exists for them.
All officers should take
warm care of their men with the feeling of being their eldest brothers and
sisters and as their true comrades-in-arms, and make it their habit to work
with devotion for them until their shoes are worn out.
Army-people unity is the
root of our society and the great foundation of the Songun revolution.
By inheriting the traditions
of the anti-Japanese guerrilla army, the KPA should always take the lead and be
a forerunner in consolidating great army-people unity.
It should continue to hold
high the slogan “Help the people!” presented by General Kim Jong Il.
The officers and men of the
KPA should fulfil their duty as the army of the people by doing many more
things for the benefit of the people with the feeling that they are doing them
for their own parents and brothers and are taking care of their own homes.
It is the firm determination
of our Party to ensure that our people, who are the best in the world and who
have remained faithful to the Party in the face of all manner of difficulties,
do not have to tighten their belts again, but enjoy all the benefits of
socialism.
We should cultivate with
care the valuable seeds of an economic power and an improved life for the people,
which the great General sowed, and bring them to brilliant fruition.
Single-hearted unity and
invincible military might plus the industrial revolution in the new century
together make a thriving socialist country.
By making the flames of the
industrial revolution in the new century and the flames of Hamnam blaze more
fiercely, we should take the road of building an all-round economic power.
The officers and men of the
KPA should at all times display the might of a powerful revolutionary army,
which does not know the world impossible, on all the major fronts for building
an economic power and improving the people’s standard of living, and achieve
breakthroughs in the great upsurge.
All officials, Party members
and other working people should raise the wind of achieving great innovations
and an upsurge for leaping forward from one decade to the next on all fronts of
socialist construction, taking heir cue from the fighting mettle and creativity
of the KPA that never fails to see what it does through to the end.
Peace is very valuable for
our Party and the government of the DPRK as they work to attain the general
goal of building a thriving nation and improving the people’s living standards.
But, even more valuable to
us are the nation’s dignity and the country’s independence.
In order to safeguard the
dignity and independence of our Republic and assure genuine peace and the
country’s security, all the officers and men of the KPA should firmly defend,
by force of arms, our Party’s cause of building a thriving nation, always
preserving its revolutionary nature and maintaining full combat readiness.
It is, indeed, heartrending
that, having lived as a homogeneous nation on the same territory for thousands
of years, compatriots have suffered the pain of division for nearly 70 years.
Our Party and the government
of the DPRK will join hands with anyone who sincerely wishes the reunification
of the country and the peace and prosperity of the nation, and make responsible
and persevering efforts to realize the historic cause of the country’s
reunification.
Comrades,
Our cause is just, and the
strength of Korea
fostered by truth is inexhaustible.
President Kim Il Sung and General Kim Jong Il, who live in the hearts of
all the service personnel of the KPA and the people across the country, wish a
bright future for us and we have the matchless revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu, the invincible great army-people unity
and a faithful people who support the cause of the Party with conscience and a
sense of obligation, and because of all this we are sure to emerge victorious.
I will always stand
shoulder-to-shoulder with my comrades, sharing the same destiny with them on
the sacred road of the Son gun revolution and true to the behest of General Kim Jong Il, fulfilling the
responsibility I have assumed before the country and the revolution.
Let us all fight vigorously,
united firmly in one mind and one will as befits the descendants of President Kim Il Sung and the soldiers and
devoted followers of General Kim Jong Il.
The flags bearing the
smiling images of President Kim Il Sung
and General Kim Jong Il will flutter
forever in the vanguard of our revolutionary ranks that achieve only victory
and glory, always inspiring us to fresh victories.
Forward towards final
victory!