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December 6, 2017 - January 2, 2018
Juche
Father’s men grew so fond of him that they renamed him “Kim Il Sung,” meaning “the sun to come.” His new name reflected the people’s desire that he become Korea’s savior, shining across the entire peninsula.
Korea. But due to the strict news blackout imposed by the Japs, his military successes were never established as the truth. In fact, the Japanese
censorship was so successful and pervasive that no contemporary accounts of General Kim Il Sung’s activities exist.
At the sound of his signal, the KPRA soldiers started their attack. In an instant, the police substation was destroyed and set ablaze. The raging fire quickly spread, consuming the Japanese edifices of oppression one after another. The subcounty office fell first, followed by the forest protection office, the fire station and the post office. Soon Pochonbo was a sea of flames.
This was war, and it was the first national-liberation war in colonial countries in world history.
Their dominant slogan was “Japan and Korea as one body!” The Japs forced every Korean to take a Japanese name, and introduced the alien religion of Shinto into the Korean nation. In a final humiliating attempt at
Though the worst was over, there was never a moment where danger was eliminated; it only differed in degree. No one felt this danger more than General Kim Il Sung, for the Japs and their lackeys knew that defeating him would end the revolution and crush the spirits of the Korean people, possibly for good. During one skirmish, the General suddenly found himself tackled by one of his own men. Then, a shot was fired in the direction behind where he’d been standing. General Kim Il Sung was stunned, for he knew that he’d been seconds away from death. He moved to thank the soldier and compliment him
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On the one hand, Mother was extremely traditional and deferred to Father in everything. She used to cut her hair, for example, and line Father’s shoes with it. Another time, she washed his clothes and found it far too cold for them to dry outside—so she put them on herself and walked around in an effort to dry them out.
Most newlyweds look forward to a peaceful beginning to the rest of their lives. But by the time they said their vows in the Paektusan Secret Camp, the war in Korea had spread to engulf the entire world. The Nazis and the Italian fascists were battling in Europe. In Asia, Mao’s revolutionaries were marching against both the nationalist Chinese and the Japanese forces. Russia and the United States were in the mix as well. It was truly a world at war—and this is the world into which I was born.
The world knew no one like me, bred on the field of fierce and grim battle, with so many family members devoted to the cause of the motherland and the revolution. I couldn’t have grown up otherwise, being born on patriotic and revolutionary soil without parallel in the world.
“General,” I said, “do you remember when you climbed the ash tree to catch the rainbow?”
As I ran into the house, I hugged General Kim Il Sung as hard as I could and buried my head in his strong, manly chest.
the US became the first Western state to establish diplomatic relations with the feudal Korean kingdom. The Korea-US Treaty stipulated that the two parties would assist one another if necessary, including each assuming the role of mediator should some third nation commit aggression against one of the signatories. What the Korean people didn’t realize is how easily the Yankee bastards threw their treaties in the rubbish bin when the matter suited them.
Finally, the US imperialists pulled one of their favorite tricks, one that they continue to use until this day. Whenever they conquered a nation and brought it into their empire, the Yanks installed some native figure as a strongman, presenting a facade of democracy and independence. This puppet would be exhibited as the duly chosen representative of his country, while at the same time being utterly and completely beholden to his American masters. In south Korea, that man was Syngman Rhee.
Rhee was not selected because he had a huge base of support in Korea; he did not. Rhee was not selected because he was known for his leadership skills; he was not. Rhee was not selected because he had a strong sense of loyalty and attachment to Korea; he had none. He was selected for one reason and one reason alone: He was the one man in all of Korea who would publicly proclaim, “We contemplate a political regime like that of the United States.”
As a result of such unrest, the south’s May 10, 1948 elections ended in failure. It was a “national” election only open to certain segments of the population living in the lower half of Korea. The Yankees only believed in democracy when the democratic process delivered a result that they approved of. In order to maintain their grip, the United States simply faked the election results to validate Syngman Rhee’s puppet regime. Faced with the danger of the country’s division, General Kim Il Sung convened a conference in Pyongyang on June 29. There, a decision was adopted to hold a general
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“Of course.” Then and there, I made a vow to hold the General in high esteem and devote everything for his sake, just as anti-Japanese heroine Kim Jong Suk would have wanted. Mother had died, but she wasn’t really gone. I was Mother now.
As they occupied areas of northern Korea, the Yankees perpetrated the most brutal, largest-scale slaughter of people ever known in human history. As General Kim Il Sung put it, “Engels once called the British army the most brutal army. During World War II, the German fascist army outdid the British army in its savagery. The human brain could not imagine more diabolical and horrible barbarities than those committed by the Hitlerite villains. But in Korea, the Yankees surpassed the Hitlerites by far.”
The American murderers did not hesitate to skin the heads of patriots and, following the examples of their Yankee ancestors, took the scalps away as “souvenirs.”
Bewildered by their string of defeats, the US imperialists racked their brains for a loophole. Unfortunately for them but luckily for Korea, they did not have the mind of General Kim Il Sung to call on. Stuck with the psychotic ravings of Harry Truman, war maniac, they were compelled to propose ceasefire negotiations.
about my little show. After all, he was busy trying to win a war! Then I realized this was further evidence that the General knew everything that was going on in Korea at all times.
wish I could claim that incidents like this were isolated occurrences. But in fact such stories were hardly uncommon for me. My boyhood abounds in anecdotes that are beautiful like jewels and brilliant like the stars. Each of them is so deeply stirring that even
now they fill people with boundless admiration. Yes, I became an expert at fixing machinery. But what I was most proud of is how skilled I grew at fixing my fellow children.
“All merchants are liars. They make no bones of telling any kind of lie so as to make money. You should never do such a thing in the future. Should you ever rely on the luck of the marketplace, you’ll be no better than a merchant yourself!” “You’re right,” he said. “I can see that now. Thank you.”
Soon after, my Children’s Union sub-branch called a general membership meeting and unanimously elected me as chairman. I worked hard to make the organization a disciplined, active and lively one. I wanted our members to be true revolutionaries, boundlessly faithful to the General. Within a few months, a bright and sound atmosphere came to prevail at the school. The entire student body changed into a disciplined yet cheerful and amicable community by engaging in the activities that I’d suggested. But what had the greatest effect were the criticism sessions that I introduced. Week after week,
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Though achieving a great victory in the Fatherland Liberation War in 1953, the socialist world also suffered a tremendous loss that year: the death of Joseph Stalin, Premier of the Soviet Union, enemy of fascism and friend of democracy.
The public executions began immediately after the plenum. The Party put up posters throughout Pyongyang, announcing the wonderful events. I attended each and every one of them, and from the size of the crowds it seemed as if everybody in the city was there as well. Entire families made a day of it, with the youngsters even missing school. As the class enemies met their fates, the crowd erupted in huge cheers. The applause was so loud it was as if the people were competing to see who could make the most noise. After the villains were sent to their just graves, the children ran forward to grab
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In 1958, Prime Minister Kim Il Sung announced “Intensive Guidance by the Central Party.” Every Korean—every single one—was put through a series of background checks. Not one, not two, but eight such checks were held in total. Everything was taken into account—family origin, political activity, expressions of loyalty—and families were rated accordingly, down to the second cousins. The background checks the Party performed were so thorough that having a relative in south Korea or a landlord for a grandparent was enough to designate a given person was unreliable.
Then, everyone was declared to be a member of either the “core,” “wavering” or “hostile” classes in a classification known as songbun.
The songbun system was nothing like a caste system. Instead, it was a determination of an individual’s sociopolitical standing due to the circumstances of their heredity—the complete opposite of a caste.
When a nation is under assault from a plague, the first step is to localize the disease to make sure that it doesn’t spread. Thus came the Marshal’s Decree No. 149. According to this decree, hostile-class members were forbidden from residing by the border or the coastlines. They couldn’t live within 50 kilometers of Pyongyang or Kaesong, or within 20 kilometers of any other major city. As part of the songbun classification process, hundreds of thousands of Koreans were moved to the mountainous north, quarantined from the rest of the population. The worst of the hostiles were sent to the new
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These were not death camps at all. True, some chose to die in the camps while continuing their disloyalty. But Prime Minister Kim Il Sung recognized the ability of labor to reshaping the minds of the unreliable. Some were released from these camps after many years of hard work. They were the ones who had learned to love the Marshal.
In Korea there is a legend about Chollima, the winged horse that moves at the terrific speed of one thousand ri a day.
The first tractor manufactured in Korea ran perfectly—but only in reverse.
Selfishness was on the wane, and collectivism was on the ascension. When someone was sick, neighbors brought him food. Parents looked after neighborhood children, unasked. In one very famous incident, a family was terribly burned in a fire—so people gathered in front of the local hospital to offer their skin for grafts.
wasn’t only unusually keen on studies and reading but also on music, fine art and sports. I’d often be found on the school playground playing basketball, football, athletics or practicing heavy gymnastics, wet with perspiration. And as a lover of music, I was skilled in playing all types of instruments. I could memorize any given song instantly and managed to play it on the appropriate instrument.
“What about our compatriots abroad? Tens of thousands of Koreans have returned here after having been kidnapped by the Japs during the colonial era. They’ve even turned their goods over to the state because of their love for this country.
“The classics were written in the circumstances of their historical period. They were written in accordance with the actual situation in European countries, which are mainly multiracial states. They can’t give correct answers to problems arising in Korea’s contemporary revolution and construction. I’m more interested in what Marshal Kim Il Sung has to say than ‘Marx and even Stalin’!”
In a sense, I needed to become an intellectual detective, tracking down solutions while ignoring dead ends and misdirection. It was urgently important to select and read all the books which were of special importance in their respective fields. To do this I developed a new method of reading. Once I began to read a book, I read it through at one sitting no matter what the length. I also read very quickly, mastering a speed-reading method of digesting several lines at a time.
Hoping for victory in a revolution without a leader is like looking for flowers without the sun.
Since a living organism separated from its brain is inconceivable, so the masses cannot be separated from the leader. And just as a living organism protects its own brain, the people must defend their leader from the attacks of all types of enemies. This isn’t a “personality cult.” This is nature.
The increase of corporate American power after World War II led to deepening economic crisis, as well as increasing antagonism between capitalist plunderers and the working class. The fascist American regime had launched a fraudulent “threat of communism” hysteria so as to better justify their suppression of democracy in America. As a result, the US imperialists needed to maintain a state of constant war, both to crush dissent at home and to justify plunder abroad—all under the slogans of “peace” and “cooperation.”
I then spoke to several prominent archaeologists, giving them explicit instructions as to where to look for remains that predated those that had been uncovered in North Hamgyong. In 1966, my prediction came true. Relics that were a million years old were excavated inside the Komunmoru Cave in Pyongyang—exactly where I’d said they’d be found. In quick succession, similar relics—including fossils of Paleolithic men—were dug up wherever I said they’d be.
I so overturned the field of archaeology on an international scale that to this day many prominent Western scientists can’t understand it. They literally can’t believe the facts that I unearthed—but those same facts speak for themselves.
I wasn’t interested in fixing mistakes and cleaning up messes—janitors are incompatible with socialism.
After a casual survey of the contemporary arts, I found remnants of many outdated ideas
wrong. Because of my kind-hearted and benevolent nature, I tend to see the best in people. 99 times out of 100, people corrected mistakes after I pointed them out, and were careful not to repeat them. But there still came that 100th time.
This autobiographical play was based on the most decadent bourgeois concept imaginable: the egoistic desire for “self-expression.” One need only think of a factory where, instead of everyone working together to ever-greater feats of production, all the factory workers were “expressing themselves.” Production would soon grind to a halt. Morale would be utterly destroyed, as the workers’ frustration reached a maximum level.
following day, I went to Pak Kum Chol’s office to see if he himself could give me some answers. Amazingly, his secretary ushered me right in to speak with him. Here I was, working until all hours to relieve the Prime Minister as much as I could, and our vice-premier had time for a young comrade’s impromptu visit! This wasn’t a good sign, but I held my tongue in deference to his position. Oh, how hard it was to keep quiet!
