General Secretary Kim Jong Il said.

    "It(the Juche philosophy) is a philosophy which has been elaborated and systematized, focusing on man. ... This means that the Juche philosophy raises the fundamental question of philosophy by regarding man as the main factor, and elucidates an outlook on the world, a viewpoint and attitude towards the world, by focusing on man."

    The Juche idea, the Juche philosophy as a philosophical ideology has a peculiar characteristic that is fundamentally different from all preceding philosophies. The essential feature of the Juche philosophy which is fundamentally different from all philosophies in the past is that it is a man-centred philosophy that was evolved and systematized placing man at the centre.

    This means that the Juche philosophy raises the fundamental question of philosophy by regarding man as the main factor, and elucidates an outlook on the world, a viewpoint and attitude towards the world, by focusing on man.

    The Juche philosophy is the man-centred philosophy firstly because it newly raised the fundamental question of philosophy with man at the centre.

    The fundamental question of philosophy newly raised by the Juche idea is the question of man's position and role in the world.

    Man's position and role in the world is the question on the world outlook that is raised with man at the centre of philosophical study, and the principle which answered to the question is man- centred principle of the world outlook. It raised the fundamental question of philosophy with man at the centre and developed and systematized all principles and contents on the basis of the fundamental principle which gave answer to the fundamental question of philosophy. As a result, the Juche philosophy is fundamentally different from the previous philosophies like materialism and idealism that raised fundamental question of philosophy by regarding matter and spirit as the main factor and showed the origin of the world.

    Next, the Juche idea is characterized as man-centred philosophy because it is the philosophy that clarified the man-centred outlook on the world.

    Generally the features of the philosophy are decided by the fundamental question and by what is stressed in clarifying the contents of the world outlook.

    There had been many philosophies in human history but they were idealistic world outlook that centred on spirit or mysterious beings like "god" or the matter-centred materialist world outlook. Of course there were some philosophies that placed man in the fore, in the past. So did the human philosophy. Human philosophies originated long ago and had a various sects but they purely dealt with human problems. Human philosophy is no more than a philosophy of life that only discusses the problems of what human being is and what human life is.

    The Juche philosophy gave new viewpoints on the essence of the world and law of its development that the world is dominated and transformed by man and the world develops by man's active role and in the direction of serving man and in keeping with the development of man. It also clarified the new viewpoint and attitude that one should proceed from man's interest on the basis of Juche-oriented viewpoint on the world and that one should approach the world with his activities as a main.

    The Juche philosophy newly elucidated the viewpoint and attitude to the world, centreing on man and thus gives a great weapon that enables man to shape his destiny successfully by correctly understanding and transforming the world. Herein lies the essential feature of the Juche idea as the revolutionary world outlook of our times and its scientific accuracy, revolutionary character, originality and advantage.

    The Juche philosophy is the man-centred philosophy and also the most popular revolutionary philosophy, political philosophy. This is another aspect of the important character deriving from the fact that the Juche philosophy comes from the man-centred philosophy.

    The Juche philosophy is, first of all, the most thorough revolutionary philosophy which is created and developed on the basis of the revolutionary practice of our time.

    In studying the philosophical question, President Kim Il Sung always started from the requirement of the revolutionary practice and created the Juche idea in the course of giving scientific answers to the urgent ideological and theoretical questions arising in the revolutionary practice.

    The Juche era is the new historical era in which the popular masses emerge as the masters who dominate the world and shape their destiny independently and creatively.

    The Juche era requires a new world outlook that enables the people to heighten the consciousness of the masters of the world and their destiny. It was a particularly important matter for the Korean people to hew out the path of revolution in an independent and creative manner because of the peculiarities of historical development and the complexity and arduousness of the revolution.

    Reflecting the demands of the Juche era, President Kim Il Sung created the Juche philosophy that gives the people the truth that they are the masters of their own destiny, in the course of bloody struggle of smashing the Japanese imperialists and liberating Korea, with the result that he laid the great world outlook in the era of independence.

    By generalizing the experience of profound revolutionary practice, General Secretary Kim Jong Il comprehensively systematized and developed the Juche philosophy.

    With the development of the Juche era, the revolutionary practice of the era of independence developed onto a higher stage.

    General Secretary Kim Jong Il synthesized, systematized and developed the Juche philosophy created by the President Kim Il Sung with new contents reflecting the requirements of the revolutionary practice of our times in the course of wisely leading the Korean socialist construction and the cause of global independence.

    This shows that the Juche philosophy is originated and developed as the revolutionary philosophy.

    As it is thoroughly revolutionary philosophy, the Juche philosophy becomes the popular philosophy which totally meets the independent demands and aspirations of the popular masses and serves them.

    The revolutionary practice is the struggle to safeguard and realize independence of the popular masses, and the popular masses themselves are the performers of this struggle. Therefore, only the philosophy that meets the independent desire and demands of the popular masses and serves them can be the popular philosophy.

    The Juche philosophy is the popular philosophy that is formulated and developed, reflecting the independent desire and demands of the popular masses and generalizing experience of their struggle.

    It is the fundamental condition that guarantees the popularity of the philosophy to reflect the demands and aspiration of the popular masses and experience of their struggle.

    The philosophies of the reactionary exploiting classes are anti-popular philosophies because they ignored the demands and aspiration of the popular masses and were evolved according to the requirements and interests of the exploiting classes. But, all the principles and contents of the Juche philosophy contribute to safeguarding and realizing the independent demands and aspiration of the popular masses.

    The Juche philosophy therefore serves as a popular philosophy that everybody understands easily and accepts as his world outlook and considers as a weapon of struggle.

    The Juche philosophy is the political philosophy that clarifies the basic principles of politics that leads the social development along correct way.

    The people's destiny is shaped through social development, which is led by politics. Therefore, only the philosophy that clarifies scientific basic principles of politics can truly serve the shaping of the people's destiny.

    The Juche philosophy clarifies the basic principles of politics that leads the social development to the correct way.

    The man-centred fundamental principles elucidated by the Juche philosophy and the principles of the Juche-philosophical world outlook that were evolved on that basis are the principles of world outlook and also the basic principles of politics that lead the social development to the correct way. Even the principles of the outlook on social history and the fundamental principles of the revolution and also the principles of outlook on the revolution based on it are the basic principles of politics that leads the social development to the correct way.

    In this sense, the Juche philosophy is called a political philosophy.