Kim Jong Il and the Workers’ Party of Korea

May 31, 2018

Kim Jong Il (1942-2011), eternal General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, started

working at its Central Committee on June 19, 1964. It was an event of great significance in strengthening and developing the WPK. Kim Jong Il developed the WPK into an integral whole steadfast in ideology and into the one which achieved definite unity and cohesion of its ranks.

He had the WPK hold aloft the Juche idea and Songun idea authored by President Kim Il Sung,

founder of the Party, and adhere to them as its guiding ideas. Modelling the whole Party on the Juche idea initiated by Kim Jong Il in the 1970s was significant in developing the Party into a Juche-type revolutionary party. With the publication of his classic work On the Juche Idea in March 1982, the Juche idea was further systematized and developed as the guiding ideology of the cause of independence.

 

After the death of Kim Il Sung, founding father of socialist Korea, in July 1994, he had the

Juche idea invariably upheld as the guiding ideology of the WPK and defined the Songun idea,

together with the Juche idea, as the eternal guiding idea of the WPK by developing the idea

rooted in the Juche idea as required by the times. He invariably maintained it as an important requirement of the WPK building to achieve its unity and cohesion. And he ensured all the WPK members equipped themselves with the Juche idea and Songun idea and their embodiment, the Party’s policies, and even a slightest element detrimental to the unity and cohesion of the Party was never tolerated. Thus the WPK achieved unity in ideology, will and moral obligation based on one ideology and one centre, and demonstrated to the full its ever-victorious might as the guiding force of the Korean society. Kim Jong Il developed the WPK into a motherly party which had formed a harmonious whole with the people and served them.

 

He emphasized now and then: In view of its goal and mission the WPK is a party which exists

and struggles to achieve the independence of the masses of the people; in order to satisfy their

demands for and interests in independence, it must not only rally the masses behind it but take

responsible care of the people’s destiny. He led officials to become true servants of the people by

going deep among them upholding the slogans “Let the whole Party go among the masses!” and

“We serve the people!” lending their ears to their opinions and serving them with devotion.

When working out and implementing all lines and policies of the WPK, he ensured that people’s opinions and demands were reflected in them and their interests were never infringed upon. Under his leadership, the WPK continued to enforce people-oriented policies such as the

universal free medical care and free compulsory education even in the closing years of the last

century when the country was going through worst trials and hardships owing to the intensive

anti-socialist offensives by imperialists.

 

The line of building a thriving socialist country put forward by Kim Jong Il is aimed at

making people enjoy an affluent and cultured life to the full by improving their standard of living

radically. To implement this line, he visited more than 14 290 units on his tour of field guidance

in the whole period of his life. He was seriously ill during the last days of his life, but he gave

field guidance at the units related with improving the people’s standard of living, including the

Kaeson Youth Park, Hana Music Information Centre and Kwangbok Area Supermarket.

He developed the WPK into the veteran and experienced political General Staff that leads the

cause of Songun.

 

In the closing years of the 20th century the US-led allied imperialist forces were dead set on

stifling socialist Korea taking advantage of the collapse of the world socialist system. In this

grim period Kim Jong Il, who had already set out on the Songun-based leadership, held higher

the banner of Songun and formulated Songun politics as the basic political mode of socialism,

the leadership mode of the WPK. Inspecting the units of the Korean People’s Army one after another, he had its political and ideological, military and technical strength increased in every way. He ensured that the KPA was equipped with powerful state-of-the-art means of attack and

defence by putting forward a new line of economic construction, the line of giving priority to

developing defence industry. Under his leadership, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

was turned into an impregnable fortress in which the climate of attaching importance to the force

of arms pervaded the whole society and the task of arming all the people and fortifying the whole

country was carried out on a higher level.

 

By administering Songun politics in a comprehensive way, Kim Jong Il led the DPRK to

attain on its own terms the status of a politico-ideological power and military power, and opened

up a new era of building a thriving socialist country. The dignity and pride of the WPK, which is guiding the cause of socialism along the road of victory enjoying people’s absolute trust and support, are the outcome of the leadership of Kim Jong Il. As a token of their respect to his achievements, the people of the DPRK celebrate June 19, the day when Kim Jong Il started working at the Central Committee of the WPK, together with October 10, the founding day of the WPK, as a meaningful holiday which will go down for ever in the history of the WPK.