LET US CARRY OUT THE GREAT LEADER COMRADE KIM IL SUNG'S INSTRUCTIONS FOR NATIONAL REUNIFICATION
KIM JONG IL
KIM JONG IL
August 4, 1997
Reunifying the country in our generation without fail by carrying forward the cause of the country's reunification pioneered and guided by the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung is a firm decision of our Party and a revolutionary will of our people.
The territorial partition and the division of the nation lasting over half a century are obstructing the uniform development of our nation with a history of 5,000 years and causing immeasurable misfortunes and sufferings to all our nation.
If we fail to reunify the country in our generation, the new generations will also suffer the tragedy of national division, even the national community between the north and the south will disappear and the nation will remain divided forever. When the imperialist colonial system has collapsed and all the countries and nations that were once oppressed are advancing along the road of independence, it is an intolerable national shame that our nation that values its dignity and honor as lifeblood has to see its sovereignty trampled upon by foreign forces.
We must achieve the cause of the country's reunification, the lifelong will of respected Comrade Kim Il Sung and the vital demand of the nation. National reunification is the greatest national task that must not be delayed any longer.
We must reunify the country at all costs and put an end to the tragic history of national division, the history of disgrace. By reunifying the country, we must save the destiny of the nation from the crisis, hand down the reunified country to the coming generations and defend and exalt the dignity and honor of the nation.
In order to reunify the country, we must defend the imperishable achievements which the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung made for national reunification all his life and carry out the Juche-orientated line and policy for national reunification.
The three charters for the country's reunification set forth by the great leader are the programmatic guide which all our nation that desires reunification must support. The specific method may change in the struggle for the country's reunification with the change in the situation, but the basic principles and standpoint for the country's reunification can never change. In the future we must reunify the country on the basis of the three charters for the country's reunification no matter how the situation and circumstance may change. To maintain the Juche character and preserve the national character in shaping the destiny of the country and the nation is a principled requirement for the country's independence, sovereignty and growth in its wealth and strength and for the prosperity of the nation.
By adhering to the Juche character and the national character and brilliantly embodying them during the whole period of his leadership of our revolution, the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung achieved the historic cause of national liberation, established a powerful socialist state that is independent, self-sufficient and self-reliant in defense and ensured the display of our nation's unfathomable strength, talent and unbreakable spirit to the whole world.
The lines and charters for the country's reunification advanced by Comrade Kim Il Sung are motivated by the principled requirement for adhering to the Juche character and the national character and are permeated with them.
To thoroughly maintain and embody the Juche character and the national character in the struggle for the reunification and independence of the country is the basic guarantee for reunifying the country successfully in accordance with the interests and desire of our nation. The country must be reunified at all events on the principle of national independence. Maintenance of the principle of national independence is fundamental to adhering to the Juche character and the national character.
All nations have the right to shape their destiny by their own hands and independently according to their will.
Nobody can deprive a nation of its right to independence or infringe upon it. Since the reunification of our country is an affair of our nation and concerns its right to independence, our nation must achieve it by its own efforts as the master in accordance with its independent will and desire. In order to reunify the country on the principle of national independence, all the members of the nation must arm themselves firmly with the consciousness of national independence and thoroughly oppose and reject flunkeyism and the idea of dependence on foreign forces.
The consciousness of national independence is an ideological strength which makes the nation powerful and the country prosper, whereas flunkeyism and the idea of dependence on foreign forces are an ideological poison that makes a nation disgraceful and powerless.
That flunkeyism and the idea of dependence on foreign forces lead to the ruin of the nation is the serious and bitter lesson our nation learned through a long history of national suffering. Our country was occupied by the Japanese imperialists, the early communist movement failed, and the nationalist movement suffered frustration because, in the final analysis, of flunkeyism which meant disbelieving its own strength and grovel before big powers. Even after the liberation of the country, the successive rulers of south Korea committed anti-reunification treachery to the country and the nation, with the backing of the United States , following its aggressive policy.
Attempting to find a solution to the problem of national reunification and to win back the sovereignty of the nation by depending on foreign forces is a foolish act which is tantamount to putting one's neck into the noose of slavery of its own accord.
In order to keep the sovereignty and dignity of the nation and to reunify the country in accordance with the will and interests of the nation, we must reject flunkeyism and dependence on foreign forces and resolutely fight against the aggression and interference of foreign forces. We will never allow any attempt to realize an aggressive and dominationist ambition through interference in our country's reunification.
We must struggle more strongly for the country's reunification upholding the banner of national independence and thus achieve the complete independence and sovereignty of the country and the nation. In order to reunify the country independently, we must build up the force of our own nation. The great unity of the entire nation is the decisive guarantee for the independent and peaceful reunification of the country.
Our nation is directly responsible for national reunification, and no one can take our place in the struggle to reunify our country. Only when the entire nation is united firmly under the banner of great national unity and strengthens the driving force of national reunification can we defeat the attempts of the divisive forces at home and abroad and accomplish the cause of the country's reunification. In order to achieve great national unity we should put the common interests of the nation above all else, relegating the differences in thoughts, ideas and systems to the background, and hold fast to the principle of uniting on this basis. The country's reunification is not a matter of settling any class contradictions within our nation or antagonism between social systems; it is the national cause of establishing the nation's sovereignty all over the country. No class or stratum can exist outside the nation and no independence for the members of the nation can be ensured without the independence of the nation.
Today when reunifying the country is the supreme task of the nation, no class or stratum should place their interests above the common national interests. No matter how great the difference in ideologies and systems existing in the north and south may be, it cannot be greater than our national community which has been formed and consolidated and developed over a long period of history. When the north and the south put the national community and the common national interests to the fore and desire the country's reunification, they can achieve the great unity of the entire nation transcending differences in ideologies and social systems.
Love for the country and the nation is the common ideological feeling of all members of the nation and the ideological basis of national unity. To love ardently the country and the nation and value most the national dignity are our nation's proud tradition and the national characteristics. Anyone who has the blood and soul of the Korean nation must treasure and preserve the admirable national character of the Korean people.
Today the true value and worth of life for the Koreans lie in linking their destiny with the destiny of the nation and devoting themselves heart and soul to the noble cause of the country's reunification and independence and the prosperity of the nation. Everyone who loves the country and the nation and is concerned over their destiny whether he or she lives in the north, in the south or abroad, must unite firmly under the banner of national reunification, regardless of the differences in ideologies and ideas, religious beliefs and political views, class and stratum.
We maintain that the north and the south join their efforts to promote co-existence, co-prosperity and common interests and achieve the great cause of the country's reunification transcending the differences in ideologies and social systems.
We will join hands with those who take the road of national reunification with national conscience, regardless of their ideas and religious beliefs, and even if they are capitalists, army generals or high authorities. Even those who have committed crimes against the nation in the past, if they repent of their mistakes and come round to the side of the nation, we will cross off all their past, treat them with generosity and unite with them.
Our Party's line and policy for great national unity constitute all-embracing politics based on love for the country, nation and people. Our consistent policy is to pursue all-embracing politics invariably in the whole process of the struggle for the reunification, independence, and prosperity of the country. The line of great national unity which fully embodies the idea of love for the country, nation and people has fully demonstrated its validity and vitality in the long-drawn-out struggle for the restoration of the fatherland, for the building of a new society and for national reunification. We will respect the ideologies, ideas and religions of all parties, organizations and people that aspire after patriotism and turn out for the cause of reunification, and unite with them, thereby fulfilling our duty and remaining loyal to the nation.
Reunifying the country in a peaceful way without recourse to the armed forces is our principled position and the consistent line of our Party. There is no reason why we fellow countrymen should fight among ourselves on the question of national reunification. The difference in thoughts and systems existing in the north and the south is not a ground for the use of armed forces.
One cannot accept any idea and system under coercion and the difference in ideologies and systems between the north and the south cannot be abolished by a coercive method. If the north and the south fight against each other, our nation will suffer the ravages of war and the imperialists will profit from it. The peaceful reunification of Korea is not only the desire of our nation but also the aspiration of the peace-loving people of the world.
Everyone who loves the country and nation and values peace must exert all his or her efforts for the peaceful reunification of the country. In order to ensure peace in the Korean Peninsula and achieve the peaceful reunification of the country we must oppose the moves towards aggression and war and eliminate the danger of war. Without the struggle against the moves towards aggression and war, it would be impossible to ensure peace and think of peaceful reunification.
At present, the maneuvers of the United States and the south Korean rulers against socialism and our Republic have aggravated the tension and created the danger of war breaking out in the Korean Peninsula any minute.
The question of easing the tension and removing the danger of war in our country can be settled, before all else, when the United States gives up its hostile policy against our Republic and a peace treaty is concluded between the DPRK and the U.S. Our Republic and the United States are still in the state of temporary armistice and the danger of war has not been dispelled from our country. In order to remove the danger of war and ensure peace, a peace treaty must be concluded between DPRK and the United States and a new peace-keeping mechanism must be established.
In addition, it is imperative to reaffirm the nonaggression agreement between the north and the south already published to the world and implement it thoroughly.
Although the United States clamors about "the end of Cold War" and "easing of the tension", it is invariably resorting to the "policy of power", threatening us with ceaseless military exercises and aggressive maneuvers and instigating the south Korean rulers to war provocation hullabaloo. Trying to bring us to our knees by military threat or pressure is a foolish attempt and a dangerous act.
We will defend our socialism firmly and never tolerate anyone to infringe upon the sovereignty and dignity of our nation. Strengthening the revolutionary armed forces to defend the security of the country and people against the moves of the imperialists and the south Korean rulers to provoke a war is a natural step to self-defense. The imperialist war-maniacs should refrain from attempting to test our military power by means of their armed forces or to frighten or bring our people to their knees by military threat and provocations.
Such a reckless act will be a dangerous adventure which may end in inviting a terrible catastrophe to themselves. We never want war; we are making consistent efforts to reunify the country peacefully. The most reasonable way to settle the question of Korean reunification smoothly is to reunify the country on the basis of federation. Our nation wants to reunify the country as soon as possible in a reasonable way acceptable to everyone. Over half a century has passed since the different systems were established in the north and the south.
If, in these circumstances, one side tries to reunify the country under its system, it will further aggravate the state of division, let alone reunification, and end in an irretrievable national disaster. In view of the urgent requirement of our nation and the situation in the country, the best way to reunify the country as soon as possible is to establish a unified nation-state of federation based on one nation, one state, two systems and two governments. Reunification through federation is a fair and rational way for reunification which does not attach weight to the advantages or interests of only one side or harm any side. Federal reunification will also contribute to removing the danger of war always hanging over the Korean Peninsula and ensuring peace and security of the world.
If the country is reunified by federation, our nation will establish sovereignty throughout the country and achieve great unity as one nation; our country will become a unified nation-state, independent, peace-loving and neutral. The reunified federal state will not infringe upon the interests of neighboring countries and threaten them. We will advance dynamically along the road of national reunification under the banner of the three charters of national reunification set forth by the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung without a slightest vacillation in any difficulty and trial.
The territorial partition and the division of the nation lasting over half a century are obstructing the uniform development of our nation with a history of 5,000 years and causing immeasurable misfortunes and sufferings to all our nation.
If we fail to reunify the country in our generation, the new generations will also suffer the tragedy of national division, even the national community between the north and the south will disappear and the nation will remain divided forever. When the imperialist colonial system has collapsed and all the countries and nations that were once oppressed are advancing along the road of independence, it is an intolerable national shame that our nation that values its dignity and honor as lifeblood has to see its sovereignty trampled upon by foreign forces.
We must achieve the cause of the country's reunification, the lifelong will of respected Comrade Kim Il Sung and the vital demand of the nation. National reunification is the greatest national task that must not be delayed any longer.
We must reunify the country at all costs and put an end to the tragic history of national division, the history of disgrace. By reunifying the country, we must save the destiny of the nation from the crisis, hand down the reunified country to the coming generations and defend and exalt the dignity and honor of the nation.
In order to reunify the country, we must defend the imperishable achievements which the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung made for national reunification all his life and carry out the Juche-orientated line and policy for national reunification.
The three charters for the country's reunification set forth by the great leader are the programmatic guide which all our nation that desires reunification must support. The specific method may change in the struggle for the country's reunification with the change in the situation, but the basic principles and standpoint for the country's reunification can never change. In the future we must reunify the country on the basis of the three charters for the country's reunification no matter how the situation and circumstance may change. To maintain the Juche character and preserve the national character in shaping the destiny of the country and the nation is a principled requirement for the country's independence, sovereignty and growth in its wealth and strength and for the prosperity of the nation.
By adhering to the Juche character and the national character and brilliantly embodying them during the whole period of his leadership of our revolution, the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung achieved the historic cause of national liberation, established a powerful socialist state that is independent, self-sufficient and self-reliant in defense and ensured the display of our nation's unfathomable strength, talent and unbreakable spirit to the whole world.
The lines and charters for the country's reunification advanced by Comrade Kim Il Sung are motivated by the principled requirement for adhering to the Juche character and the national character and are permeated with them.
To thoroughly maintain and embody the Juche character and the national character in the struggle for the reunification and independence of the country is the basic guarantee for reunifying the country successfully in accordance with the interests and desire of our nation. The country must be reunified at all events on the principle of national independence. Maintenance of the principle of national independence is fundamental to adhering to the Juche character and the national character.
All nations have the right to shape their destiny by their own hands and independently according to their will.
Nobody can deprive a nation of its right to independence or infringe upon it. Since the reunification of our country is an affair of our nation and concerns its right to independence, our nation must achieve it by its own efforts as the master in accordance with its independent will and desire. In order to reunify the country on the principle of national independence, all the members of the nation must arm themselves firmly with the consciousness of national independence and thoroughly oppose and reject flunkeyism and the idea of dependence on foreign forces.
The consciousness of national independence is an ideological strength which makes the nation powerful and the country prosper, whereas flunkeyism and the idea of dependence on foreign forces are an ideological poison that makes a nation disgraceful and powerless.
That flunkeyism and the idea of dependence on foreign forces lead to the ruin of the nation is the serious and bitter lesson our nation learned through a long history of national suffering. Our country was occupied by the Japanese imperialists, the early communist movement failed, and the nationalist movement suffered frustration because, in the final analysis, of flunkeyism which meant disbelieving its own strength and grovel before big powers. Even after the liberation of the country, the successive rulers of south Korea committed anti-reunification treachery to the country and the nation, with the backing of the United States , following its aggressive policy.
Attempting to find a solution to the problem of national reunification and to win back the sovereignty of the nation by depending on foreign forces is a foolish act which is tantamount to putting one's neck into the noose of slavery of its own accord.
In order to keep the sovereignty and dignity of the nation and to reunify the country in accordance with the will and interests of the nation, we must reject flunkeyism and dependence on foreign forces and resolutely fight against the aggression and interference of foreign forces. We will never allow any attempt to realize an aggressive and dominationist ambition through interference in our country's reunification.
We must struggle more strongly for the country's reunification upholding the banner of national independence and thus achieve the complete independence and sovereignty of the country and the nation. In order to reunify the country independently, we must build up the force of our own nation. The great unity of the entire nation is the decisive guarantee for the independent and peaceful reunification of the country.
Our nation is directly responsible for national reunification, and no one can take our place in the struggle to reunify our country. Only when the entire nation is united firmly under the banner of great national unity and strengthens the driving force of national reunification can we defeat the attempts of the divisive forces at home and abroad and accomplish the cause of the country's reunification. In order to achieve great national unity we should put the common interests of the nation above all else, relegating the differences in thoughts, ideas and systems to the background, and hold fast to the principle of uniting on this basis. The country's reunification is not a matter of settling any class contradictions within our nation or antagonism between social systems; it is the national cause of establishing the nation's sovereignty all over the country. No class or stratum can exist outside the nation and no independence for the members of the nation can be ensured without the independence of the nation.
Today when reunifying the country is the supreme task of the nation, no class or stratum should place their interests above the common national interests. No matter how great the difference in ideologies and systems existing in the north and south may be, it cannot be greater than our national community which has been formed and consolidated and developed over a long period of history. When the north and the south put the national community and the common national interests to the fore and desire the country's reunification, they can achieve the great unity of the entire nation transcending differences in ideologies and social systems.
Love for the country and the nation is the common ideological feeling of all members of the nation and the ideological basis of national unity. To love ardently the country and the nation and value most the national dignity are our nation's proud tradition and the national characteristics. Anyone who has the blood and soul of the Korean nation must treasure and preserve the admirable national character of the Korean people.
Today the true value and worth of life for the Koreans lie in linking their destiny with the destiny of the nation and devoting themselves heart and soul to the noble cause of the country's reunification and independence and the prosperity of the nation. Everyone who loves the country and the nation and is concerned over their destiny whether he or she lives in the north, in the south or abroad, must unite firmly under the banner of national reunification, regardless of the differences in ideologies and ideas, religious beliefs and political views, class and stratum.
We maintain that the north and the south join their efforts to promote co-existence, co-prosperity and common interests and achieve the great cause of the country's reunification transcending the differences in ideologies and social systems.
We will join hands with those who take the road of national reunification with national conscience, regardless of their ideas and religious beliefs, and even if they are capitalists, army generals or high authorities. Even those who have committed crimes against the nation in the past, if they repent of their mistakes and come round to the side of the nation, we will cross off all their past, treat them with generosity and unite with them.
Our Party's line and policy for great national unity constitute all-embracing politics based on love for the country, nation and people. Our consistent policy is to pursue all-embracing politics invariably in the whole process of the struggle for the reunification, independence, and prosperity of the country. The line of great national unity which fully embodies the idea of love for the country, nation and people has fully demonstrated its validity and vitality in the long-drawn-out struggle for the restoration of the fatherland, for the building of a new society and for national reunification. We will respect the ideologies, ideas and religions of all parties, organizations and people that aspire after patriotism and turn out for the cause of reunification, and unite with them, thereby fulfilling our duty and remaining loyal to the nation.
Reunifying the country in a peaceful way without recourse to the armed forces is our principled position and the consistent line of our Party. There is no reason why we fellow countrymen should fight among ourselves on the question of national reunification. The difference in thoughts and systems existing in the north and the south is not a ground for the use of armed forces.
One cannot accept any idea and system under coercion and the difference in ideologies and systems between the north and the south cannot be abolished by a coercive method. If the north and the south fight against each other, our nation will suffer the ravages of war and the imperialists will profit from it. The peaceful reunification of Korea is not only the desire of our nation but also the aspiration of the peace-loving people of the world.
Everyone who loves the country and nation and values peace must exert all his or her efforts for the peaceful reunification of the country. In order to ensure peace in the Korean Peninsula and achieve the peaceful reunification of the country we must oppose the moves towards aggression and war and eliminate the danger of war. Without the struggle against the moves towards aggression and war, it would be impossible to ensure peace and think of peaceful reunification.
At present, the maneuvers of the United States and the south Korean rulers against socialism and our Republic have aggravated the tension and created the danger of war breaking out in the Korean Peninsula any minute.
The question of easing the tension and removing the danger of war in our country can be settled, before all else, when the United States gives up its hostile policy against our Republic and a peace treaty is concluded between the DPRK and the U.S. Our Republic and the United States are still in the state of temporary armistice and the danger of war has not been dispelled from our country. In order to remove the danger of war and ensure peace, a peace treaty must be concluded between DPRK and the United States and a new peace-keeping mechanism must be established.
In addition, it is imperative to reaffirm the nonaggression agreement between the north and the south already published to the world and implement it thoroughly.
Although the United States clamors about "the end of Cold War" and "easing of the tension", it is invariably resorting to the "policy of power", threatening us with ceaseless military exercises and aggressive maneuvers and instigating the south Korean rulers to war provocation hullabaloo. Trying to bring us to our knees by military threat or pressure is a foolish attempt and a dangerous act.
We will defend our socialism firmly and never tolerate anyone to infringe upon the sovereignty and dignity of our nation. Strengthening the revolutionary armed forces to defend the security of the country and people against the moves of the imperialists and the south Korean rulers to provoke a war is a natural step to self-defense. The imperialist war-maniacs should refrain from attempting to test our military power by means of their armed forces or to frighten or bring our people to their knees by military threat and provocations.
Such a reckless act will be a dangerous adventure which may end in inviting a terrible catastrophe to themselves. We never want war; we are making consistent efforts to reunify the country peacefully. The most reasonable way to settle the question of Korean reunification smoothly is to reunify the country on the basis of federation. Our nation wants to reunify the country as soon as possible in a reasonable way acceptable to everyone. Over half a century has passed since the different systems were established in the north and the south.
If, in these circumstances, one side tries to reunify the country under its system, it will further aggravate the state of division, let alone reunification, and end in an irretrievable national disaster. In view of the urgent requirement of our nation and the situation in the country, the best way to reunify the country as soon as possible is to establish a unified nation-state of federation based on one nation, one state, two systems and two governments. Reunification through federation is a fair and rational way for reunification which does not attach weight to the advantages or interests of only one side or harm any side. Federal reunification will also contribute to removing the danger of war always hanging over the Korean Peninsula and ensuring peace and security of the world.
If the country is reunified by federation, our nation will establish sovereignty throughout the country and achieve great unity as one nation; our country will become a unified nation-state, independent, peace-loving and neutral. The reunified federal state will not infringe upon the interests of neighboring countries and threaten them. We will advance dynamically along the road of national reunification under the banner of the three charters of national reunification set forth by the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung without a slightest vacillation in any difficulty and trial.
