THE EMBASSY OF THE DEMOCRATIC
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA TO SWITZERLAND
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No 97/23 December 17, 2023
1. Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Visits Kumsusan Palace of Sun
4. Peerless Great Man Held High Red Flag of Socialism
Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Visits Kumsusan Palace of Sun
Pyongyang, December 17 (KCNA) -- All the people in the DPRK are ardently yearning for Chairman Kim Jong Il, who is always alive as their sun, giving inexhaustible vitality to their all-out drive for the victorious advance and accomplishment of the cause of building a powerful socialist country, with their deepest reverence oriented to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the sacred temple of Juche, on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of his demise.
Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on December 16.
Accompanying him were Kim Tok Hun, Jo Yong Won and Choe Ryong Hae, members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee, other senior Party and government officials, leading officials of the Party Central Committee and officials of ministries, national institutions and armed forces organs.
The Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il, the sacred images of dignified and powerful socialist Korea and eternal leaders of our Party and revolution, lie in state, was wrapped in the solemnest atmosphere.
A floral basket from the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un was laid before the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
Also laid before the statues were floral baskets in the names of the Central Committee of the WPK, the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK, the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK and the Cabinet of the DPRK.
Kim Jong Un paid high tribute to the statues of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il.
At the hall where Kim Jong Il lies in state, Kim Jong Un made a deep bow of best wishes for immortality to Kim Jong Il who performed the exploits of great significance in human history, waging a heroic struggle under the uplifted red flag of Juche during his long revolutionary guidance, and thus laid a solid foundation of dignity and prosperity for the WPK and the DPRK to win a victory after another forever.
All the visitors made a solemn pledge to surely achieve a new victory of the revolutionary cause of Juche with redoubled fortitude and resolute executive power in the van of the sacred struggle for the overall prosperity and epoch-making development of their socialist state, remaining single-mindedly loyal to the idea and leadership of Kim Jong Un.
With the 12th anniversary of the demise of Chairman Kim Jong Il approaching, our people are having a deep yearning and great reverence for him who devoted everything to bring the people’s happiness and the prosperity of the future generations during his lifetime, experiencing all the hardships a revolutionary, a leader and a human can.
From the beginning of his revolutionary career until the last moment of his sacred revolutionary lifetime, Chairman Kim Jong Il was on a train for people sounding a whistle of love for them.
His field guidance filled with love for people was endless. Wherever he went, whoever he met, whatever he saw on his field guidance, the first question he asked was if they are to the people’s liking and he would only be at ease after hearing the answer “yes”.
He was determined even to pick a star from the sky or grow a flower upon hard rock if it was what the people wanted. This was just the noble idea and will of his love for the people.
He used to earnestly say that he wants to do as many things as possible for our people who are the best in the world but it is regrettable that time flies and that as there is nothing more valuable than the time, we should save every second of time to do more things for the people.
That is why he cared so much and devoted his all for the people’s happiness, even during the last days of his life.
In December 2011, Chairman Kim Jong Il visited the Kwangbok Area Supermarket in spite of the bitter cold weather of winter and his extreme discomfort. Looking around the supermarket, he said that the sight of excellently-built shopping center full of stock that will contribute to further improving the people’s livelihood made his heart warm though it is a cold day and expressed his great satisfaction over it.
Even on December 16th, the last day of his life, he read the papers on supplying the people with fish on the occasion of the new year till midnight and once again he got aboard a field train on that very night to continue his field guidance for people.
In history, there is no such a great man as Chairman Kim Jong Il who passed away on a running train, while restlessly carrying on a round-the-clock field guidance for the people.
That is why the world’s progressive people are highly admiring Chairman Kim Jong Il as the “prominent leader of people”, “incarnation of love for the people”, and “eternal sun of the people”.
The sound of endless whistles blown from Chairman Kim Jong Il’s train trip to meet the people during his revolutionary lifetime is resounding much loudly across our motherland along with the immortal field guidance of respected Comrade Kim Jong Un who is hastening the tomorrow of the great nation and a socialist paradise where people’s dreams come true.
For respected Comrade Kim Jong Un is with us, the eternal sun of the people, Chairman Kim Jong Il’s history of love for the people, will go down forever.
In 2015, a European personage wrote an article titled “Sun Shines Forever” in praise of Chairman Kim Jong Il, saying that “H.E. Kim Jong Il made unparalleled exploits in his 70-year-long glorious life. What he left in the hearts of humanity is the image of eternal sun”.
The author of a book titled “World Veteran Statesman” wrote that the gigantic solar system of socialism which is centered on Chairman Kim Jong Il had been long since formed in the hearts of humanity. He expressed his true feelings, saying that the planets in this solar system will invariably orbit the Sun-Chairman Kim Jong Il-with great youthful zest for independence.
Today, the progressive humanity is holding Chairman Kim Jong Il in high regard, praising him as “the most outstanding ideological theoretician”, “peerlessly great man” and “great sun of humanity”. This tells us how great his ideology and exploits were.
But few might know how modest Chairman Kim Jong Il was, even though he was highly revered by the world people.
From old times, modesty and simplicity was regarded as virtue and nobility of a human being. The history, however, has never known such a great man as Chairman Kim Jong Il who had the noblest personality.
Chairman Kim Jong Il led a humble life like ordinary people. He regarded himself less important than people who are, he said, the heaven. There is a story of a plain parka that tells of his revolutionary life.
In February 2006, he told officials that he had been wearing his parka since he embarked on the arduous march after the demise of President Kim Il Sung and that he didn’t take it off for more than 10 years because he couldn’t forget those harsh days.
The Chairman always wore the old discolored parka. But when he visited soldiers at their posts, he would personally feel their parkas and say they were not thick enough and it would be better not to quilt soldiers’ parkas.
Then he would earnestly say that soldiers should always be kept warm.
And whenever the officials tried to make a new nice parka for him, he said that he liked his old field parka best which our people were well acquainted with and stressed that he would, in the future, too, continue the road of revolution to the end in his old field parka.
Human history does not know of any leader who devoted his everything to his fatherland and people wearing the same field parka for over 10 years.
Thanks to the benevolent love of the Chairman who brought only warm spring days to our people against all the cold winds of this land till the very last moment of his life, an eye-opening change bringing people’s dreams and ideals into reality could be made.
Indeed, Chairman Kim Jong Il was a great man of such lofty personality and for this, he still remains as an eternal sun of Juche in the hearts of our people and the humanity.
Peerless Great Man Held High Red Flag of Socialism
Now when the whole land of our country is resounding with a great yearning for Chairman Kim Jong Il, our people are recollecting his immortal exploits with deep emotion. In the 1990s, when the Korean revolution was undergoing the most difficult time, Chairman Kim Jong Il carried forward the will of the preceding leader to defend the destiny of the country and people by holding high the red flag of socialism.
On July 8, 1994, President Kim Il Sung, the founding father of socialist Korea passed away, whom our people held in high esteem for the first time in the 5,000-year-long history of the Korean nation. After his demise, the attention of the world political circle has been shifted to our country and the world people held their own different views on the policy to be followed by Korea.
At that time, world media indulged in speculation that Korea would formulate a policy that have “some difference from the preceding line” and that Korea would shift into a “policy of perestroika and glasnost”. And reactionary imperialists let loose unreasonable sophistry that the red flag of socialist Korea would be soon pulled down.
However, Chairman Kim Jong Il who had absolute loyalty to President Kim Il Sung gave a crushing blow to such a sophistry of the enemies holding firm socialism as science as well as his revolutionary faith.
“Don’t expect any change from me!”
This was a strong condemnation to the reactionary imperialists attempting to subdue us by all means and methods. This was also a declaration in flection of the immutable faith and iron will of Chairman Kim Jong Il to definitely accomplish the cause of Juche revolution by vigorously advancing it, true to the intention of President Kim Il Sung.
In several of his works including the immortal classic work “Socialism is a Science” published on 1 November 1994, the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il proved the scientific accuracy, truth and traction of socialism and solemnly clarified his immutable faith in completion of the revolutionary cause of Juche, the cause of socialism pioneered by Comrade Kim Il Sung.
As the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il had kept in his mind an invariable revolutionary faith in the red flag of socialism, our socialist homeland could make victorious advance frustrating all kinds of trials and challenges including the vicious sanctions and suffocations by the imperialist reactionaries plus the harsh economic difficulties entailed and subsequent natural disasters in the 1990s.
The cause of socialism pioneered by the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung and succeeded and developed by the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il is now greeting its heyday under the leadership of respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, another man of great sun.
This is why so many politicians from different parts of the world admire the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il as “the great man who invariably embodies the lofty personality of Comrade Kim Il Sung”, “An outstanding leader who has a strong political faith and has firmly defended the sovereignty of the country”, “the savior of socialism and destiny of humankind”, “an outstanding, veteran statesman”.
The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il is indeed the eternal leader of the people and a peerless patriot who had laid firm foundations for the construction of a socialist power on this land.
Chairman Kim Jong Il’s train office is preserved as it is in the Kumsusan Palace of Sun, the sacred place of the eternal sun of our people, where he passed away from the mental and physical overwork while continuing with his revolutionary guidance to ensure happiness of our people.
His field train ran through thick and thin, recording the mileage as high as going around the earth several times. The train ran throughout the 1990s when our country and nation were standing at the crossroads of life and death and eventually brought about today’s miracle of happiness and prosperity. Every story it tells is touching the hearts of the Korean and the world people.
In the 1990s, all kinds of reactionary ideological trend clamoring for the “end” of socialism were prevailing globally. Our country, too, was put to an unprecedentedly harsh situation. During this period, Chairman Kim Jong Il continued the self-sacrificing and arduous journey by train, visiting every corner of the country to defend the socialism and ensure happy life of people.
He worked on the running train for months, not a few days, reviewing piles of documents on his desk. He had to get up with great difficulty and walked around the narrow compartment again and again as his knees became stiff. It was even difficult to remember how many of his birthdays and holidays were spent on the train.
He spent so much time on the train to give field guidance that he said that he rather felt at home on the train and uncomfortable at home, and that he would not have a good night’s sleep until the needs of people’s livelihood are fully met.
When he visited Siberia and Far Eastern Region of Russia in August 2011, a high-ranking official of Russia accompanying the Chairman was very surprised to see for himself that the Chairman, after having travelled thousands of miles on a bumpy train, continued his visit without stopping the train even for his sleep.
The Chairman smiled and said to the Russian official that he felt no inconvenience as he was accustomed to sleeping on the train. Running train was indeed the Chairman’s office and home.
The great Chairman Kim Jong Il’s train which travelled to give happiness to the people throughout his life was, is and will be sounding the whistle in the hearts of our people as an epic of love for the people.