Joint New Year Editorial Calls for Ushering in a DPRK full of confidence
Last year, 2006, was a year of great victory …
The army and people of Korea, under the unfurled banner of Songun, won victory after victory in the showdown with the United States and in safeguarding socialism, and have consolidated their self-defensive capabilities.
The DPRK’s access to a nuclear deterrent was an auspicious event as it meant the realisation of the Korean people’s centuries-old desire to have unchallengeable national strength. …
Last year Korean scientists and technicians broke fresh ground. They are at the cutting-edge of science and technology. Korea’s sportspersons achieved outstanding successes in women’s football and other international sports, displaying to the full the mettle of our nation and bringing a great joy and encouragement to the people. Masterpieces of art and literature were created, and national traditions and customs flowered.
The successes of 2006 demonstrate the sagacity of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s leadership. The Party steadfastly maintained its independent and principled stand even in the difficult security situation now prevailing, and it confidently led the whole country to a general advance. The outstanding and inspired correct leadership of respected Kim Jong Il coped with the challenges encountered and turned unfavourable circumstances into favourable ones, and was a decisive factor in all Korea’s miraculous successes.
The celebration last year of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Down-with-Imperialism Union proudly demonstrated that the continuity of the Korean revolution is safe with Kim Jong Il at the helm.
The year 2007 will be a year of great changes, a year which will usher in a new era of prosperity of Songun Korea.
This year the 95th birth anniversary of President Kim II Sung will be celebrated as a grand national event.
Kim II Sung is the founder of socialist Korea. The glorious history of the victorious advance of our socialist Korea and today’s prosperity of Songun Korea are associated with his august name.
Kim II Sung devoted his greatest efforts to strengthening the country’s military capabilities. The DPRK will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army to demonstrate the invincibility and bright future of the Songun revolution.
The present situation, in which all conditions for advancing further and faster have been created, demands that we step up the revolutionary advance to achieve the high objectives of the building of a great, prosperous and powerful socialist nation.
The main task at the present time is rapidly to improve living standards and to step up technological modernization.
The DPRK will, as in the past, focus on farming as a means of solving the food problem.
The DPRK will decisively improve the production of consumer goods. The editorial calls for the operation of light-industrial and local-industrial factories at full capacity in order steadily to increase the variety and quality of consumer goods. It calls for efforts to extend stockbreeding, fish farming, etc. The public health sector should implement the Party’s policy on public health to ensure that the people enjoy greater benefit from the socialist health care system.
The energy, coal-mining and metal industries and rail transport, the four pillars of the national economy, must take the lead in building up Korea’s economic power. The metal industry sector should increase the production of iron and steel through accelerating technological updating. The rail transport sector should strive fully to meet the ever-growing demand for transport through efficient organization and iron discipline. The whole country should engage in giving active assistance in the building up of these four key industries.
With an eye to the future, the DPRK will give priority to geological prospecting, developing energy and other resources long-term, and treasuring and protecting the country’s resources.
The mining, machine-building, chemical, building-materials and forestry sectors should make steady efforts to enhance their productive capacity.
Monumental edifices and other major projects of the Songun era should be built on the quality-first principle.
The DPRK is determined to run its economy independently, using its own technology and its own resources.
In doing so it will overcome altogether the imperialists’ despicable sanctions and blockades.
Efforts should also be channelled into education, so as to train a great number of talented people who will shoulder the building of a great, prosperous and powerful nation.
The People’s Army that constitutes the key force in maintaining the DPRK’s independent defence capabilities should be steadily strengthened politically and ideologically, militarily and technically.
It is important to develop on the firmest foundations the great unity between the army and the people. The climate of people supporting the army and the latter helping the former and the oneness of army and people in terms of ideology and fighting spirit should be promoted Constant importance should be attached to the military affairs so that all the people will acquire military knowledge and the entire country is turned into an impregnable fortress. Primary efforts should be concentrated on the development of munitions industry for steady consolidation of the material foundations of our military capabilities.
The unity of revolutionary ranks in ideology and purpose must be strengthened, to preserve the might of our country as a political and ideological power.
The whole Party, the entire army and all the people should loyally uphold the leadership, cherishing the unshakable spirit of defending their leader at all costs. Socialist construction advances amidst sharp class struggle. We should deal a merciless blow at the enemy’s psychological warfare and their attempt at ideological and cultural poisoning aimed at destabilizing the DPRK’s socialism.
Present conditions demand that there be radical innovation in ideological education.
We should get rid of formalism and stereotype, and conduct all types of ideological work in a novel manner. Positive examples manifested among Party members and other working people should be given wide publicity. Art and literary works, mass media and all other information and motivational means should be enlisted for dynamic ideological education.
It is important to develop a higher sense of responsibility among the officials of economic institutions, including the Cabinet, and enhance their role in bringing about a fresh turn in the building of a great, prosperous and powerful socialist nation.
This year’s general advance is calling on young people to make unprecedentedly heroic efforts.
They are masters of a great, prosperous and powerful nation of the future and are the most vital combat unit in implementing the cause of the Party.
Youth should volunteer to work on labour-intensive projects. They should render distinguished services to the Party and motherland and become young heroes honoured by the people.
The trade unions, the agricultural workers’ union and the women’s union should intensify the ideological education of their members in line with present-day requirements and inspire them to the general march for the building of a great, prosperous and powerful nation.
The dawn of reunification is breaking on this land that has been divided for over six-decades.
Last year witnessed the might of the June 15 reunification era. Holding aloft the banner of the North-South Joint Declaration, and under the slogan of independent reunification, peace against war and great national unity, all Koreans unswervingly followed the road to national reunification, foiling the frantic warmongering anti-reunification moves of bellicose forces inside and outside of Korea. Last year’s events reaffirmed that the Korean people are a dignified nation with a strong sense of national self-respect and no force on earth can check the move towards reunification in a great and powerful Korean nation.
All Koreans should categorically reject US interference in the internal affairs of the nation and its obstruction of reunification.
The banner of defending peace should be upheld.
Peace is a key to the reunification of the country and common prosperity of the nation. Today the United States is desperately clinging to war moves against the DPRK and Korean reunification in an attempt to realize its ambition to dominate the whole of Korea. As a result of the vicious schemes of the United States, peace and security on the Korean peninsula are under grave threat.
All Korean people should join the struggle for peace in order to thwart military threats against the nation. They should recognise the US’s hegemonic and aggressive nature, and launch a dynamic campaign to drive the US’s occupation troops, the root cause of war, out of south Korea.
The entire nation should unite.
Koreans in the north, south and abroad should promote the atmosphere of reconciliation and unity to forward the cause of independent reunification, and encourage alliance among different pro-reunification organisations under the umbrella of the June 15 All-Korean Committee.
Opposition to conservatives in south Korea is part of the effort for realising great national unity. The “Grand National Party” and other reactionary conservatives are making desperate efforts to regain power. Broad segments of the south Korean people should create a broad anti-conservative alliance to campaign in this year’s “presidential elections” decisively to destroy these treacherous pro-US conservative forces.
The June 15 North-South Joint Declaration has paved the way for national prosperity. All the Koreans in the north, south and abroad should strive to implement it, and smash every attempt to emasculate and obliterate it.
The present trend of the global situation shows that the strong-arm policy and high-handedness of the imperialists are doomed to failure and that the people’s struggle for independence can never be checked. We will remain faithful to the safeguarding of global peace and security and advancing the cause of independence of humanity, and continue to intensify international solidarity with progressive peoples.