Comrade Kim Jong Un , Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea(DPRK) visited the People’s Republic of China as his first political program of this year, followed by an official goodwill visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on March 1-2. Through his energetic external activities, he is writing another new chapter on the chronicles of friendship and unity among the socialist countries.

Strengthening unity and cooperation among the socialist countries constitutes an essential part of the foreign policy of the DPRK.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK issues this paper to articulate the stand of the DPRK government to defend and adhere to the ideas and immortal achievements of the preceding leaders and further strengthen and develop strategic communication and traditional ties of friendship and cooperation among the socialist countries in line with the new era.

In his historic 2019 New Year Address, Comrade Kim Jong Un , Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK clearly put forward the foreign policy of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the DPRK government.

The respected Supreme Leader Comrade Kim Jong Un said as follows.

“Our Party and the government of our Republic will continue to bolster up unity and cooperation with the socialist countries and develop relations with all countries that are friendly to us under the ideals of independence, peace and friendship.”

Today, humankind unanimously desires for a peaceful and independent world, free from aggression, war, domination and subordination, where all peoples across the world develop and prosper together.

This desire of humankind is realized through the independence of whole world and therefore, it is imperative to vigorously carry forward the struggle to defend and victoriously advance the cause of socialism.

Socialism is a common ideal of humankind and it is a law of historical development that humankind advances towards socialism.

People have long desired for a new independent society where everyone is equal and prosperous without exploitation and oppression, and the people’s demand for and ideal of independence can be genuinely realized only in a socialist society.

The collapse of socialism in some countries was in no way a failure of the socialist ideal. Socialism is endowed with eternal vitality, which flows from its scientific accuracy and veracity.

As the working people are eternal, so an ever victorious advance of socialism is eternal.

Socialism is a decisive factor of encouraging the struggle for achieving global independence because it takes the safeguarding and realizing of independence of the popular masses as its principal purpose and peace as its intrinsic requirement.

Socialist force is the most powerful and core force among all of anti-imperialist and independent forces, including international communist movement, working-class movement, national-liberation movement, Non-Aligned Movement and world peace-loving movement.

We cannot conceive of victories of the cause of socialism, the cause of anti-imperialism and independence and the cause of global independence without thorough preparation of core force.

During the past period, our Republic strongly built its own force and upheld the banner of socialism in any circumstances while firmly maintaining independence and thus made a contribution to strengthening socialist force.

Under the wise leadership of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung and the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il , we built socialism, upholding the banner of Juche, and therefore our Republic has been able to defend and advance the socialist cause, unaffected by any political upheavals.

During the whole period of revolutionary leadership, the great

Comrade Kim Il Sung and Comrade Kim Jong Il clarified the principled matters arising in achieving unity of the socialist countries and remained committed to strengthening the unity of socialist camp.

In his several immortal classic works including “Friendship and Solidarity Among Socialist Countries” the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung clarified that, for the sake of the strengthening of unity, the socialist countries should develop the state relations on the basis of complete equality and mutual benefit, respect for national independence and spirit of mutual assistance, regardless of the size of territory, and Communist Parties and Workers’ Parties should maintain the principle of respecting and cooperating with each other on equal footing.

Only when we are united on the principle of independence and equality, can we achieve a genuine unity and the socialist countries and the world socialist movement become a decisive force for propelling global independence.

During his lifetime, the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung visited several socialist countries in Asia and Europe, set forth the principled matters arising in frustrating the imperialists’ anti-socialist manoeuvers and safeguarding the cause of socialism and strengthened the ties of unity and friendship with the socialist countries.

He also invited to the DPRK many leading officials including heads of party and state, consulted in depth the issue of developing friendly and cooperative relations and other issues of mutual concern, and encouraged them to adhere to the anti-imperialist independence and the socialist principles to the end.

Between the late 1980s and the early 1990s, socialism collapsed one after another in several countries owing to the manoeuvers of the imperialists and the renegades of socialism. Taking advantage of this tragic turn of events, the imperialists focused all their anti-socialist offensive upon the DPRK, an invariable upholder of the banner of socialism.

From early 1990s till the last moment of his life, the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung met the delegations of political parties and social organizations and the leaders of party from several countries, explained to them in plain words the main reason behind the frustration of socialism and the experiences gained in socialist construction of our country and shed light on the invincibility of socialism.

The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il made public many classic works including “Socialism is a Science” , “Abuses of Socialism are Intolerable” and “On Preserving the Juche Character and National Character of the Revolution and Construction” , where he scientifically analyzed the main reason behind the frustration of socialism in some countries and perfectly proved with an irrefutable logic that the cause of socialism is a just one for realizing the independence of the popular masses and it will certainly achieve final victory for its scientific accuracy and veracity.

The confrontation between socialism and imperialism was not only one of ideology but also one of strength.

The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il made a decision to dynamically advance the socialist cause by strengthening the motive force of revolution with the Korean People’s Army as its core and main force and breaking through prevailing ordeals in reliance on the army, and he led to victory the unprecedented struggle for defending socialism with his outstanding leadership of the Songun revolution.

In the grim period when the world socialist movement was suffering serious setback, our Party and the government of our Republic proved the veracity and advantages of socialism in a theoretical and practical way, holding aloft the banner of Juche-oriented socialism, and thus gave an impetus to the advance of socialist movement of the world.

The Pyongyang Declaration, adopted by the initiative and proactive efforts of our Party, calls for defending and promoting the cause of socialism. As such, it has become a common program of struggle for the revolutionary parties over the world. It has also dealt a blow to the imperialists’ anti-socialist moves and encouraged the revolutionary peoples in their struggle to rebuild socialism.

Thanks to the energetic external activities of Comrade Kim Jong Un , Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK, the traditional relations of friendship which have been provided and developed by the great leader

Comrade Kim Il Sung and Comrade Kim Jong Il together with the preceding leaders of the socialist countries are being further strengthened and developed day by day.

The four-time historic visits to the People’s Republic of China by Comrade Chairman of the State Affairs Commission are an especially remarkable event in strengthening the strategic communication and traditional relations of friendship and cooperation among the socialist countries.

DPRK-China relations of friendship, which were formed through the course of sacred common struggles for the socialist cause and maintained their original features despite all kinds of ordeals of history, true to the noble intentions of the preceding leaders, are now steadily being elevated to an unprecedentedly special one beyond normal traditional ties thanks to Comrade Chairman of the State Affairs Commission.

The friendly relations between the DPRK and Cuba which firmly stand on the same front in their struggles for holding to the sovereignty and dignity of the countries and safeguarding international justice, are also strengthening and developing in line with the new era.

The meeting between Comrade Kim Jong Un , Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK and Comrade Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez has become a historic watershed in invariably carrying forward and developing the friendly relations between the two countries through generations and cementing the militant unity between the peoples of the DPRK and Cuba who are struggling for the common cause with an uplifted banner of socialism.

Comrade Chairman of the State Affairs Commission affirmed that no matter how the world changes, he and the Party and people of the DPRK will always stand by Comrade Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and the Cuban people and promised to dynamically push forward the socialist construction in both countries along the road of victory by never letting loose the hands which are together holding high the banner of socialism. His remarks speak clearly to the depth of ardent and enthusiastic sentiment of the supreme leaders and peoples of the socialist countries striving to achieve common goals and ideals.

The official goodwill visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam by Comrade Chairman of the State Affairs Commission has great significance in further strengthening and developing the ties of friendship between the peoples of two countries which were formed through the struggle for achieving common goals and ideals, upholding the banner of socialism.

Comrade Kim Jong Un , Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK underlined at the meeting and talks with Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam that it is imperative to promote mutual visits of Party-and government-level delegations and normalize and develop onto a new higher stage the cooperation and exchange in all fields including economy, science and technology, national defense, sports, culture, art, press and information, true to the intentions of the preceding leaders.

The stand of the government of our Republic to strengthen strategic communication and tactical coordination and develop cooperation and exchange in all fields is the most just one that conforms to the common interests of all socialist countries and peoples.

It is of very important significance that the socialist countries support each other, strengthen solidarity and expand and develop the ties of friendship and cooperation in the prevailing complex international environment.

The government of the DPRK will as ever actively contribute to the cause of global independence by defending and advancing the cause of socialism, taking the strengthening of friendship, solidarity and cooperative relations with the socialist countries as a cornerstone of its foreign policy and external activities.

 

March 19, Juche108(2019)