Our country came within an ace of being stricken off from the world map in the past. Worse still, it was reduced to a lesser nation whose people were forcibly deprived even of their names. But it has now been a great socialist state independent in politics, self-sufficient in the economy and self-reliant in national defense, and its people have developed into the great people of unfathomable strength. What is the key to this?

President Kim Il Sung unfurled the banner of Juche in the whole course of the history of our revolution with matchless ideological and theoretical wisdom, extraordinary leadership and undying devotion. Consequently, our people have been able to surmount severe trials and hardships and win the greatest and most honorable victories alone in their revolutionary struggle.

Kim Il Sung accomplished the historic cause of national liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 with the great force of the Juche idea. He always galvanized the people into action and achieved victories in the revolution and construction with their power throughout the whole course of his leadership.

After liberation our people were quite at a loss what to do and where to go. Worse still, obsessed with flunkeyism and subservience to foreign forces “revolutionaries” of all hues voiced their various ideas of the path of Korea. But Kim Il Sung firmly trusted in our people and relied on their enormous power.

He resolved all the problems of the building of a new country in our style in the interest of our people according to the demand of our revolution and actual conditions and thus splendidly founded the Party, the state and the armed forces.

In the course of this he constantly solved all the problems of national construction on the principle of the Juche idea.

Under the invariable banner of Juche our country could legitimately be an independent sovereign state of the world and win three years of the hard-fought Fatherland Liberation War.

After the war our people started their reconstruction from scratch and then proceeded to develop the country at the speed of Chollima (the legendary winged horse of Korea). The result was that they industrialized it in 14 years although it took other countries hundreds of years to do so. This was unthinkable without the banner of Juche upheld by Kim Il Sung.

Indeed, Kim Il Sung is the peerless man of great charisma who has ensured that the banner of Juche is the eternal banner of struggle and the symbol of victory to our socialist country.

Only victory and glory will always be in store for our country thanks to the banner of Juche bequeathed by Kim Il Sung.

Rodong Sinmun