Many foreigners who had visited the DPRK expressed their admiration at the fact that the country was stepping up socialist construction before the eyes of the world without any slightest hesitation and vacillation, even in the face of such pernicious sanctions moves unprecedented in history that others must have fallen to their knees.

The African regional committee for the study of the Juche idea on its website Juche Africa posted the following article: Chairman Kim Jong Il laid lasting foundations for building a socialist power on the strength of single-minded unity. The DPRK, though small in size of its territory and population, has achieved world-startling miraculous successes and brought about historic sea changes in the teeth of severe trials. Credit for this must go to the single-hearted unity, the most powerful weapon of the DPRK.

Single-minded unity literally means the unity based on a single heart.

To look back, the history of the Workers’ Party of Korea was precisely that of single-hearted unity with which it has emerged victorious and advanced.

The tradition of single-hearted unity in the DPRK was created by President Kim Il Sung at the dawn of the Korean revolution.

It was carried forward and developed by Kim Jong Il.

He started working at the WPK Central Committee from June 19 1964. In the whole period of leading the revolution spanning nearly half a century he developed the WPK into a party in which the unitary character of the leader’s ideology and leadership has been securely guaranteed and a motherly party which has struck its roots deep among the broad sections of the masses and formed close ties of kinship with them.

He worked out the WPK’s lines and policies with single-hearted unity as its starting point and administered politics based on the unity.

Regarding it as the nature of the WPK and its main characteristic to love and serve the people and form a harmonious whole with them, he raised the slogan “We serve the people!” and led officials to make selfless, devoted efforts for the good of the people with boundless affection for them.

One day scores of years ago, an official received a report that a region had run out of matches. Thinking that the matter was unimportant, he wrote down a few words about it in the last part of his daily report to be submitted to Kim Jong Il. He was cross that an official from a subordinate unit should have raised such a trivial matter.

Kim Jong Il summoned the official and rebuked him for having written it down in the last part of the report when such things as matches and salt were necessities essential for the people’s daily life.

He continued in a serious tone of voice in the following vein: Such matters relate to the people’s life and their interests, whether big or small, and they should be the first items in a daily report; we should give top priority to their interests before anything else and solve the problems related to them on a preferential basis; this should be the order in dealing with all work.

He administered benevolent politics to make all the people form a harmonious whole that shares ideology with their leader, breathes the same breath as him and keeps pace with him, and led the efforts to significantly strengthen single-hearted unity in the years of the Arduous March and forced march.

The hostile forces claimed that the DPRK would collapse in three days or three months, or three years as the Korean people, plunged into national mourning by sudden loss of Kim Il Sung, were undertaking the Arduous March and forced march in the face of natural calamities that hit their country in succession and the ever-increasing sanctions of the imperialists to isolate and stifle them.

But quite contrary to their expectations, socialist Korea grew stronger and made rapid progress under the leadership of Kim Jong Il.

Even though everything—materials, funds, manpower and technologies—was in short supply the Korean people created everything from scratch and turned impossibility into possibility with their unshakeable faith that they can do anything when the Party is determined.

The DPRK has now risen to the status of a fully-fledged satellite manufacturer and launcher and built up the foundations for building an economic giant with hi-tech industries as its strong pillar. Farmlands across the country have been realigned as befits the land of socialist Korea and a large number of monumental structures and modern bases for cultural and leisure activities representative of high ideals and standard of civilization of the Koreans mushroomed.

Today they are achieving brilliant successes in all aspects of politics, the economy, national defence and culture, closely united around Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

They significantly celebrate June 19 this year, looking back with deep emotion upon the immortal exploits Kim Jong Il performed in building and leading the Party.

Kim Hyang Suk