KIM IL SUNG: Answers to the Questions Raised by the Iraqi Journalists' Delegation

Pyongyang, 1971

Date : 1971

Transcription/Source : Booklet published by FLPH, Pyongyang, 1971

HTML Markup : Salil Sen for MIA, 2008

Public Domain : Marxists Internet Archive (2008). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit "Marxists Internet Archive" as your source.

QUESTION: We express our admiration and wonder at the experiences gained by the Workers' Party of Korea under your wise leadership.

Would you please tell us what the most important experience of the fighting people of Korea is and what they have contributed to enriching the treasure of mankind in the struggle for socialism?

ANSWER : First of all, I would like to express thanks to you for your high appreciation of our experiences.

As you know, our country was a colonial, semi-feudal society in the past. Our people took over a backward economy and culture from the old society, and that was totally destroyed in the three-year war started by the U.S. imperialists. And we had to build a new society under the conditions where the country is bisected into the north and the south and we stand directly opposed to the U.S. imperialist aggressors. .

Though they met with many difficulties and ordeals in the course of their advance, the Korean people, always deeply convinced of the justness of their cause, unfolded an unyielding struggle and thus put an end to age-old backwardness and poverty and built a new, good socialist society in a brief time. Today, an advanced socialist system, under which all people work and live a happy life helping each other, has been established in our country where exploitation and oppression once prevailed, and our country has turned into a socialist industrial state with a modern industry and a developed agriculture. .

Our people owe all their victories and achievements in the socialist revolution and socialist construction to the wise leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea. .

The most important thing in the guidance by the Workers' Party of Korea of our people's revolutionary struggle and construction work is that it has thoroughly established Juche. .

We have always held fast to the principle of settling all problems of revolution and construction independently, in keeping with the actual conditions of our country and in reliance mainly on our own strength. We have creatively applied the universal principles of Marxism-Leninism and experiences of other countries to suit our country's historical conditions and national peculiarities, and have solved our problems on our own responsibility under all circumstances, opposing the spirit of reliance on others and displaying the spirit of self-reliance. The word Juche widely known to the world is a term expressing such a creative and independent principle and position adhered to by our Party in conducting revolutionary struggle and constructive work. .

Life has confirmed the correctness of the Juche idea to the full.

Through a struggle for establishing Juche in ideology we have brought about the complete spiritual emancipation of our people from the shackles of flunkeyism towards great powers, dogmatism and other old ideas which had long been corroding their consciousness of national independence. The tendency of making light of their own things thoughtlessly and swallowing foreign things whole has disappeared from among our people, their national pride and consciousness of independence have risen and the trait of relying on their own efforts has been given fuller scope. .

While establishing Juche in ideology, our Party has thoroughly embodied the Juche idea in all fields of revolution and construction. .

Our Party's line of independence is the embodiment of the Juche idea in the political field.

Our Party has opposed the tendency of clinging only to the existing formulas of Marxism-Leninism or swallowing whole the experiences of other countries in shaping the lines and policies of revolution and construction and used its brains and formulated the original lines and policies conforming to our specific conditions, and carried them through by organizing and mobilizing the masses of the people. In the question of the country's reunification, too, we hold fast to the independent position that it must be settled by the efforts of our people themselves without the interference of any outside forces under the condition that the aggressive army of U.S. imperialism is withdrawn from south Korea. .

Also in the sphere of external activity, our Party has steadfastly maintained independence. We have developed the relations of friendship and cooperation with other countries, big or small, on the principles of complete equality and mutual respect, and have also carried on the anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. struggle and the struggle against opportunism of all hues in conformity with the actual conditions of our country, basing ourselves strictly on our own judgment and faith. .

Our Party's line of building an independent national economy is the embodiment of the Juche idea in the domain of economic construction. .

We have held fast to the principle of developing our country's economy mainly by our own technique and resources and by the strength of our national cadres and our people, displaying the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance. Such line of building an independent national economy followed by our Party reflects the lofty aspiration of our people after complete national independence and the prosperity of the country. This line has brought about a brilliant victory in the socialist construction of our country.

Today the economy of our country has become an independent economy which is equipped with modern technique and comprehensively developed. As a result of the building of an independent national economy, we have become able to develop the national economy at a steady, high rate and further improve the people's living conditions by our own efforts. Our independent national economy serves as a reliable material basis for guaranteeing the political independence of the country and increasing its defence potential.

By establishing Juche and relying on our own efforts we do not mean on any account building .'Socialism in isolation. We fully recognize that it is necessary for states to supply each other's needs and cooperate with each other, and are striving to expand and develop it. Our position is that mutual cooperation between states should be conducted on the basis of the building of an independent national economy in each country. This alone makes it possible to expand and develop economic cooperation between states on the principles of complete equality and mutual benefit.

We have held fast to the line of self-defence in the field of the nation's defence upbuilding. As a result of the thorough implementation of the self-defensive military line of the Party, our country has today come to possess its own defence potential strong enough to crush any aggressors and enemies.

As seen above, all the lines and policies of our Party proceed from the Juche idea and are penetrated with the Juche idea. Juche in ideology, independence in politics, self-sustenance in the economy and self-defence in national defence represent the revolutionary stand consistently adhered to by our Party.

Under the revolutionary banner of the Juche idea, our country has become a developed socialist country which has complete political sovereignty, a powerful independent national economy, strong self-defence potential and a brilliant national culture. As a result of the establishment of Juche and] reliance on our own efforts, we have also become able to conduct cooperation with other countries on the principle of complete equality and make a better contribution to the cause of the international revolution.

In the guidance of revolution and construction, our Party has actively striven to carry through the revolutionary mass line, while establishing Juche.

Socialism can be built only by the voluntary and creative labour of millions of the masses of the people. Our Party, therefore, found the basic guarantee for the promotion of socialist construction in bringing the revolutionary zeal and creative activity of the masses of the people into the fullest play.

In our country, all sectors of revolutionary struggle and construction work have been conducted as an all-mass movement, all-people movement. We have been able to carry out successfully all the difficult and huge tasks of revolution and construction by relying on a high degree of revolutionary zeal and creative activity of the people. An important key to the rapid progress of our socialist construction lies precisely in the fact that we have solved all problems by the revolutionary method of relying on the masses and rousing the broad masses to action.

When we met with a grave difficulty and trial in socialist construction, we, placing faith in the masses of the people, went into the midst of the masses and consulted them directly and earnestly about ways for breaking bottlenecks and effecting innovations. In this course, the working masses grasped the Party's intention and launched into a collective innovation movement to carry through the Party's lines and policies, and it developed into the well-known Chollima movement in our country.

The Chollima movement is a mass innovation movement of our people for stepping up socialist construction to the maximum. The Chollima movement is the most brilliant embodiment of our Party's mass line in socialist construction, and through this very movement all the wisdom, enthusiasm and creative energy of our people have been brought into full play. With the wide spread of the Chollima movement, innovations have taken place in all spheres of our economy, culture, ideology and morality and resplendent achievements have been made in the socialist construction of our country.

All our victories are the great victories of the Juche idea of our Party and, at the same time, the brilliant victories of its revolutionary mass line.

Our experience shows that when Juche is firmly established in ideology and is thoroughly embodied in all domains of revolution and construction and the creative zeal and talents of the masses of the people are organized and mobilized properly, it is possible, in a country, however backward it was in the past, to build a new, rich and prosperous society in a short time, rout any imperialist aggressors and defend national independence and the dignity of the people and attain the prosperity of the country and the nation.

You have expressed your admiration for our experiences, and we consider it to be an encourage-l ment to our work.

We have already done a great deal of work, but have much to do in the future. We have not yet reunified the country. The U.S. imperialists keep occupying the southern half of our country, maintaining the brutal colonial fascist rule in south Korea.

The greatest national task confronting the Korean people is to drive the U.S. imperialist aggressors out of south Korea, accomplish the national liberation revolution and realize the reunification of the country. In order to accomplish the task, we are striving to build up more solidly the revolutionary base of the northern half of the Republic politically, economically and militarily, increase in every way the revolutionary forces in south Korea and, at the same time, strengthen solidarity with the international revolutionary forces.

QUESTION : The relations between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Iraq were established already long ago. However, it was only after the July 17, 1968 Revolution that the relations took a decisive turn.

What is your appraisal of the successes attained by the Iraqi people in two years after the Revolution and, particularly, the solution of the Kurd national problem on a peaceful and democratic basis and of its influence upon the strengthening of the anti-imperialist people's front?

ANSWER : The Iraqi people attained national independence through their protracted arduous struggle against the domination of foreign imperialism and took the road of new development particularly after the July 17, 1968 Revolution. This was not only a great victory of the Iraqi people but a common victory of the peoples who have risen in the anti-imperialist, national-liberation struggle and a heavy blow to the imperialists and colonialists.

Since the Revolution the Iraqi people, holding aloft the banner of anti-imperialism and independence, have unfolded a devoted struggle to consolidate national independence and build a new, prosperous Iraq and have achieved great successes in a short span of time.

Many difficulties confronted the Iraqi people who set out on the road of struggle for building a new life. The imperialists headed by U.S. imperialism and the Israeli aggressors and their accomplices, the reactionary forces at home, resorted to every underhand scheme to wrest the Iraqi people from the anti-imperialist front.

With no sinister machinations, however, could the imperialists and their lackeys break the fighting spirit of the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people have been developing the national economy and national culture with their creative labour, resolutely frustrating all the subversive plots and activities of the enemy and defending the revolutionary gains vigilantly.

As for the successful solution of the Kurd national problem in Iraq, we congratulate it as I one of the greatest achievements made by the Iraqi I people in bringing about national unity.

Antagonism and discord between nations, as a product of imperialist rule, are advantageous only to the imperialists and simply detrimental to the people.

The peaceful, democratic solution of the Kurd national problem is a telling blow to the imperialists and an important measure which makes it possible to strengthen the anti-imperialist people's front and further intensify the anti-U.S., anti-Israeli struggle in Iraq. It will also consolidate Iraq itself internally and provide favourable conditions for the progressive development of the country.

The Government and people of the Republic of Iraq stand firm in the ranks of struggle against imperialism and colonialism and actively support the Asian, African and Latin-American peoples in their struggle for freedom and liberation.

Such a righteous struggle of the Iraqi people contributes to the anti-imperialist revolutionary cause of the world people.

QUESTION : The aggressive manoeuvres of U.S. imperialism against the Indo-Chinese peoples have been further intensified through its military intervention in Cambodia.

What do you think of the consequences caused by a new aggression the United States committed in this inflamed region?

ANSWER : As is well known, the aggression of the U.S. imperialists against Cambodia is a link in the chains of their premeditated scheme to extend the war to even broader areas of Indo-China and Asia. By perpetrating an armed invasion against Cambodia, the U.S. imperialists have embarked upon the road of openly staging the criminal war of aggression not only in Viet Nam and Laos but also in the whole area of Indo-China.

Such war expansion policy of the U.S. imperialists has rendered the strained situation of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula still more acute and is gravely menacing peace in Asia and the world as a whole.

However, the expansion of the aggressive war by the U.S. imperialists in Indo-China places them in an ever more difficult position and hastens the defeat of the aggressors. The U.S. imperialists have stretched out their crooked hands of aggression to the whole area of Indo-China, thereby running up against the indignant denunciation and resistance on the part of the entire Indo-Chinese peoples and the peace-loving peoples throughout the world. The new aggression of U.S. imperialism against Indo-China bands all the peoples of Indo-China in a single common front against U.S. imperialism and draws more and more peoples into the anti-U.S. joint struggle.

Now the Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian peoples, united closely, are fighting courageously against the U.S. imperialist aggressors, the common enemy. They are inflicting serious political and military reverses in succession upon the aggressors and driving the U.S. imperialists into an inextricable quandary. Contrary to the calculation of the U.S. imperialists, the whole land of Indo-China has become a graveyard for the aggressors. With no I frantic manoeuvre can the U.S. imperialists bring the heroic Indo-Chinese peoples to their knees.

The U.S. imperialist aggressors will certainly drink the bitter cup of a crushing defeat consequent upon their expansion of the war in Indo-China. The complete defeat of the U.S. imperialists in Indo-China is inevitable. The militant solidarity of the Indo-Chinese peoples and the peoples of all the fighting countries in Asia is being strengthened day by day in the midst of the joint struggle against U.S. imperialist aggression. With the support of the Asian peoples and the progressive peoples of the whole world, the Indo-Chinese peoples will strike a harder blow at U.S. imperialism and its lackeys and thus will chase out the aggressors, win the liberation and independence of their countries and build their new prospering countries.

The Korean people deem the aggression of U.S. imperialism against the Indo-Chinese peoples an aggression against themselves and regard the struggle of the Indo-Chinese peoples as their own. Our people will fight more resolutely against U.S. imperialism, the common enemy, and will do everything in their power to support and assist the fighting peoples of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia.

QUESTION : There are many points of similarity between the experience in the revolutionary struggle of your people under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea and the experience of the Arab nation gained in the struggle for unity, freedom and socialism for more than 20 years now under the leadership of the Arab Baath Socialist Party.

Would you please tell us about the prospects of development of the relations between the two progressive experiences and the influence they will exert upon the world revolutionary movement.

ANSWER : The Korean people value the experience accumulated by the Iraqi people in the struggle against imperialism and the Israeli aggressors and for unity, freedom and socialism under the leadership of the Arab Baath Socialist Party.

The Korean and Iraqi peoples are close comrades-in-arms fighting against the common enemy. The peoples of our two countries understand each other's position well and sympathize with each other and closely cooperate with each other on the principle of genuine equality and mutual benefit, as they were both humiliated and oppressed in the past.

Today the relations of friendship and cooperation between our people and the Iraqi people, between the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Government of the Re-public of Iraq are being steadily expanded and developed and the ties between our Party and the Arab Baath Socialist Party are also being further strengthened. The parties and the peoples of our two countries make frequent mutual visits and exchange lots of useful experiences as well. This is a very good thing.

Such reciprocal support and encouragement and exchange of experiences between us are greatly helpful to deepening our mutual understanding and strengthening our unity and enable us to learn much from each other.

We feel satisfaction over the development of the relations between the Korean and Arab peoples, and in the future, too, we will strive to further strengthen and develop such unity and relations of cooperation. If we make concerted efforts, such unity and cooperation will strengthen and develop still further and display even greater vitality from day to day in all spheres of politics, economy and culture.

The friendship and solidarity of the Korean and Arab peoples is a part of the great unity of the Asian and African peoples against imperialism and colonialism. To strengthen the unity and cooperation between our two countries not only conforms to the interests of the peoples of our two countries but also greatly contributes to the unity of the progressive peoples of the whole world and to their common cause.

QUESTION :The armed revolution in our Arab fatherland is aimed at putting an end to the concessions of imperialism in this area and to the existence of Israel, a military base of U.S. imperialism.

What support and encouragement could you, who waged a similar struggle and gained a wealth of experience in the armed struggle of the people against imperialist aggression, give to the revolution of the Arab people?

ANSWER : The Arab people are vigorously fighting in arms against U.S. imperialism and the Israeli aggressors. It is quite natural that the gallant Arab people resist the armed aggressors with arms. As long as the imperialists plunder and oppress the people by violence, the oppressed peoples can win freedom and independence and regain their deprived rights only when they fight with arms in their hands against the aggressors. This is a plain truth of the anti-imperialist liberation struggle proved by history.

The armed struggle of the Arab people against U.S. imperialism and the Israeli aggressors is a just struggle to defend national independence and dignity, restore the occupied Arab territories and accomplish the cause of liberation of the Palestinian people. This revolutionary struggle of the Arab people enlists the active support and encouragement of the progressive peoples the world over.

Our people's solidarity with and support and encouragement to the Arab people's revolutionary struggle are constant. The Korean people will continue to resolutely support the valiant struggle of the Palestinian people for liberating their fatherland and the struggle of the entire Arab people against Zionism and imperialist aggression and will always remain a close comrade-in-arms of the Arab people in the struggle against the common enemy. Our people will render active support and encouragement to the righteous struggle of the Arab people at all times.

Availing myself of this opportunity, I sincerely wish the Arab people greater successes in their just struggle against U.S. imperialism and the Israeli aggressors.