New year message from North Korea: “Make a higher leap full of great ambition and confidence”
On the occasion of the New Year Juche 95 (2006), Rodong Sinmun, the official organ of the Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee, Josoninmingun and Chongnyonjonwi issued the following joint editorial in their papers.
Last year Juche 94 (2005) was a year of fruitful efforts and a year of great creation and change replete with epochal events and outstanding feats in the history of our Party and the nation.
Last year we splendidly celebrated the 60th anniversaries of the Party and of the country’s liberation as a great festival of victors in the Songun revolution and fully demonstrated the political and ideological might of our revolutionary ranks. The grand military parade and other celebrations, including the mass gymnastic and artistic performance Arirang, were epic scenes showing the solidness of single-minded unity, the might of the People’s Army and the dignity of our nation.
Fresh progress was made in agricultural production by concentrating and mobilising nationwide efforts in farming. The Taean Friendship Glass Factory, the Paekma-Cholsan Waterway and other structures of lasting value in the Songun era were built in all parts of the country and a large number of projects of great importance in the economic construction and the improvement of the people’s living standard were reconstructed or updated. We resolutely foiled the U.S. moves to isolate and stifle the country by maintaining a tougher stance and firmly defended our ideology, system and cause. The proud victory and achievements made memorable last year are the brilliant fruition of leader Kim Jong Il’s outstanding Songun revolutionary leadership.
Building a powerful socialist nation
New Year Juche 95 (2006) is a year of general offensive that will make a great leap forward in the building of a great prosperous powerful socialist nation on the basis of the proud victory and achievements in the Songun revolution.
“Make another leap forward in building a great prosperous powerful socialist nation on the strength of Songun!”–this is the militant slogan that we have to hold high.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Down-with-Imperialism Union (DIU) formed by President Kim Il Sung.
The DIU’s 80th anniversary will be an important occasion to show the faith and will of the army and people to add glory to the great feats performed by the President who made the history and tradition of being ever-victorious under the banner of the Juche idea and complete the cause of socialism solidly united around the leadership of the revolution
To give fullest play to the superiority of Korean-style socialism in political, military, economic, cultural and all other fields by putting spurs to the general advance of the Songun revolution once again – this is the general fighting task for us at the present stage.
We must fully display the might of the political and ideological position of Korean-style socialism.
The unshakeable creed and the revolutionary mettle of our people who regard socialism as the lifeblood should be demonstrated to the full. It is necessary to have transparent anti-U.S. class awareness and consolidate the working-class position of socialism as an iron wall and eternally glorify the gains of revolution defended in a do-or-die spirit on the road of Songun.
It is necessary to prepare all the Party members and the working people into staunch revolutionary fighters who are thoroughly equipped with the Songun philosophy and the Songun revolutionary line of our Party and who have acquired the revolutionary soldier spirit as their lifeblood by decisively strengthening education in the Juche idea and the Songun idea.
People’s Army – core of self-reliance
We must strengthen the military might of Korean-style socialism in every way.
Ours is invincible socialism with a strong military foundation, and national defence is the most important matter in building a great prosperous powerful nation. Whatever the situation is the principled stand of our Party and state to give top priority to the military remains unchanged. The People’s Army is the core of the self-reliant defence capability and the pillar of socialism.
The People’s Army must become the first adherents to the Songun idea and must be the first to defend and implement Songun politics. All the service persons should become fighters of the Ri Su Bok and Kang Ho Yong-type in the era of Songun who readily dedicate their precious lives to the fight for the only motherland in the staunch spirit of defending socialism and ardent patriotism.
They should be in perfect combat preparedness to destroy the aggressors at a stroke if the enemy troops invade an inch of the airspace, land and waters of our country.
The habit of attaching importance to military affairs should be thoroughly established throughout the society. Top priority should be given to ensuring everything necessary for the national defence industry as required by the line of economic construction in the Songun era. The proud traits of Songun Korea that the people assist the army and vice versa should be brought into fuller bloom.
Socialist economic construction
A radical turn should be brought about in socialist economic construction and the improvement of the people’s living standard. It is the intention of the Party and our fighting objective to revitalise all the economic sectors and get the people to benefit from our economic foundations in the near future.
We should confidently build an economic power in the 21st century through a high-pitched drive for effecting a great Songun revolutionary surge just as we brought about the great Chollima upswing in hearty response to the decision of the December plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee 50 years ago to advance toward a socialist power.
Agriculture should be put forward as the main front of the economic construction this year, too and all the forces be mobilised and concentrated on farming once again.
The whole country must turn out as one on the agricultural front, true to the vital instructions of President Kim Il Sung who said that “Rice means socialism”. Labour forces, equipment and materials needed in the agricultural sector should be provided preferentially without any reservation. It is important to buckle down to a job in a revolutionary way, as the People’s Army does, so as to make fresh progress in implementing the Party’s policies of bringing about innovations in seed production, potato and soya bean cultivation and two-crop-a-year farming.
The officials and other working people in the field of agriculture should do the farm work tenaciously as befitting the master responsible for the nation’s rice supply while all helpers should sincerely assist the countryside just as they did last year.
Workers in the power industry should ease the shortage of electricity, fully conscious of the heavy responsibility they have assumed in the building of a great prosperous powerful nation. Nationwide efforts should be put into the coal industry and efforts be concentrated on major coal mines with rich deposits and favourable mining conditions so as to boost coal output. The metal industry should positively apply the Juche-oriented steel production method and bring about a turn in the production of iron and steel. The railway transport sector should organise and manage transportation scrupulously and in a revolutionary manner and establish strict discipline and order, like in the army, so as to satisfy the growing demands for transport. All the sectors of the national economy such as the mining, machine-building, chemical and building-materials industries and forestry should first solve basic problems while consolidating material and technological foundations to effect a fresh upsurge in production.
Light industry should positively update production processes to turn out quality consumer goods en masse. All the people should turn out in land and environment conservation to turn our country into a socialist land of beautiful scenery which is good to live in.
All the sectors and units of the national economy should push ahead with modernisation work audaciously and in a big and innovative way, proceeding from the standpoint that they start anew by setting the work as an important economic strategy. It is needed to speed up updating on the principle of self-reliance and in such a way as to give priority to the projects that are of weighty importance and profitable and complete them one by one. It is necessary to establish a well-regulated system and order whereby economic work is left to the Cabinet and it is handled under its uniform command. The guiding officials in the economic field should have scientific management and business strategies to ensure profitability and plan and command the economic work in a responsible manner on their own initiative.
It is one of the major targets in the building of a great prosperous powerful nation to develop socialist culture in the Songun era by boldly bringing about innovation in all fields of cultural construction.
The joint editorial refers to the tasks facing the fields of education, science and technology, public health and literature and art. It goes on: The young people should exalt infinitely the idea of the youth movement and achievements of President Kim Il Sung and display greater stamina of the young vanguard who builds the future of the Songun cause in this significant year of the 60th anniversary of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League. The key to sure victory lies in steadily maintaining the socialist principles.
It is the steadfast stand of our Party that all work should be done in a creative and innovative manner as required by the developing reality and, at the same time there should be not the slightest deviation in observing the revolutionary principle. It is necessary to continue to strictly abide by the revolutionary principles maintained by us with all consistency including the issue of ensuring the Party’s unitary leadership and the state’s uniform guidance.
All the problems arising in the economic management and social life should be solved strictly in line with the collectivist nature of socialism. All the fellow countrymen in the north and the south and abroad should more vigorously push the cause of national reunification that has entered a new phase.
“Let us vigorously forward the patriotic movement for independent reunification, peace against war and great national unity under the banner of ‘by our nation itself!” –this is the slogan to be held up in this year’s movement for national reunification.
We should solve all the problems arising in accomplishing the cause of reunification by placing the dignity and interests of the nation above anything else in line with requirements of the idea of “by our nation itself.” The spirit of giving top priority to the nation and the nation-first manner should prevail and the hurricane of independent reunification should sweep everywhere Koreans live. The grand celebration of June 15, the day of the publication of the North-South Joint Declaration, as the “day of by our nation itself” should be made a tradition.
All the Koreans in the north and the south and abroad must resolutely reject U.S. intervention and domination with inter-Korean cooperation and must never tolerate treacherous acts of anti-reunification forces who are conspiring with foreign forces.
Against war and for peace on the Korean peninsula
We should launch a dynamic campaign against war and for peace.
The entire nation should firmly defend peace and security on the Korean Peninsula by turning out in the struggle to resolutely foil the U.S. attempt to launch another war. We must remove the root cause of war completely from this land by launching a nationwide campaign for driving out the U.S. troops. An atmosphere of promoting national reconciliation and unity should be heightened continuously and solidarity be promoted further between reunification-oriented organisations.
The pro-U.S. conservatives in south Korea are now making last-ditch efforts to reverse the era of June 15 reunification to that of confrontation in the past and achieve their ambition for power. The people from all walks of life in south Korea should destroy the tie-up and challenge of “neo-conservatives” by dint of a great alliance of progressives and push the group of traitors to final ruin.
This year all the Koreans in the north and the south and abroad should wage a vigorous struggle with the basic tasks of the patriotic movement for independent reunification, peace against war and overall national unity, thus demonstrating once again the might of the Koreans who are closely united under the banner of the June 15 Joint Declaration and setting up a new milestone in the cause of national reunification. The cause of our revolution is the cause of justice and invincibility for successfully shaping the destiny of the motherland and the nation and realising global independence. We will, in the future, too, make a positive contribution to building a new world, independent, peaceful and friendly, holding aloft the banner of anti-imperialist independence and socialism.
[Pyongyang, 1 January, KCNA]