• International E-seminar in Celebration of the 80th Birth Anniversary of General Kim Jong Il

SOON the Korean people and world progressive and revolutionary people will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the birth of the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL, the Day of the Shining Star.

The great leader Comrade KIM JONG IL was born the son of guerrillas on February 16th 1942.  Our  UK KFA  delegation visited his birthplace at Mt Paektu in August 2017. He did not come from a privileged background but was brought up in clothes made from old uniforms and spent his childhood in a simple log cabin. He witnessed the severe anti-Japanese war and later as a young boy also witnessed the Fatherland Liberation War against the US imperialist aggressors which saw not only the atrocities and devastation wrought by the US imperialists but also their defeat.

Comrade KIM JONG IL  lived a very simple and humble life. As a student he participated in the construction of Pyongyang. He also worked  at a textile machinery factory at lathe no 26. Thus comrade KIM JONG IL was a true people's leader, always with the people sharing both hardship and joy with them. Often comrade KIM JONG IL did not celebrate his own birthday. During his life no statue of comrade KIM JONG IL was built.He took simple meals in his car.

Comrade KIM JONG IL was dressed in an ordinary parka. Respected Marshal KIM JONG UN wrote that ‘ The only parka he wore from the days of the “Arduous March” to the last days of his life is vivid evidence showing what a thorny path he had to traverse with patriotic devotion to defend his socialist country. One year, looking back on the days of the trying ordeals with deep emotion, he touched on the parka he was wearing. He said that he wore it at the onset of the “Arduous March” after President KIM IL SUNGhad passed away, and that he kept wearing it because he could not forget the trials. He continued earnestly that the parka was symbolic of the Songun-based revolution.

Even a parka gets thin if one wears it long, and it cannot keep one warm in the cold. Though icy wind got through the old parka, he burned his heart with a sense of responsibility for the defence of his country. He held on to the parka for more than ten years, when he displayed strong will and superhuman energy going on with his inspection of the military units on the front line to train the soldiers into a-match-for-a-hundred combatants’.

At the beginning of the 1960s KIM JONG IL gave guidance to the historic Seoul Ryu  Kyong Su 105 Guards Tank Division of the KPA. In June 1964 he started work at the central committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. As well as  practical day to day leadership he developed the ideology and theory of the WPK. He systematised the Juche Idea and created Kimilsungism. Because of his skills as  a theoretician and ideologist plus his modest style as a people's leader he was acclaimed as the successor to the great leader President  KIM IL SUNG.

Comrade KIM JONG IL steered the DPRK through the difficult period of the "arduous march". Even though the DPRK faced difficulties he made sure that a high level of social benefits was maintained. Vans with soya milk for children were always seen on the streets of the DPRK in this period.

The ideas of the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNGon national reunification were thoroughly applied and developed in depth by comrade KIM JONG IL. He made a decisive breakthrough in the struggle for national reunification by having the June 15 Declaration signed with the then south Korean chief executive Kim Dae Jung in 2000.

Declaring "Expect No Change  from me!", comrade KIM JONG IL combated the pressure and machinations of US imperialism. He made sure that the DPRK continued firmly along the road of Juche charted by comrade KIM IL SUNG by  upholding  the banner of Juche  further supplemented it with the Songun idea and Songun politics  the treasured sword for defending independence.

Today the DPRK is the world's most independent country. It is seen as a country that does not take nonsense from any imperialists or big powers. This is the legacy of  comrade KIM JONG IL, a legacy that is today further developed and carried forward by the dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un, the one and only successor to the Juche cause.

Let us join with the Korean people and world progressive people in celebrating the Day of the Shining Star , the 80th anniversary of the birth of the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL.