G. P. Kulikhov, Master of Philosophy,

Vladivostok City

When he was asked of what is difference between Comrade Kim Il Sung’s idea and his, Comrade Kim Jong Il answered that there was no fundamental difference between them. Theirs cannot confront with each other as they are one doctrine developed in conformity with the challenge of the times and the changing situation.

Right. All the great doctrines (the Juche idea is one of them.) develop, aspiring for integrity. In the process, an idea that was set forth for the first time is proved and supplemented by practice and explains social parts that were not clarified before.

Kimilsungism and Kimjongilism are an ideology. According to our opinion, it is a philosophy, a socio-political doctrine, an economic view and conclusions reached by various cultural and natural sciences.

A new idea cannot be abstracted from the common development trend of worldwide scientific ideas. It includes and corrects them in accordance with programme of a party and situation of a society.

Present is an era in which capitalism is moribund, in other words, a stage in which the US imperialist idea of world hegemony, its most reactionary part, dies out. The modern times is also the era of a struggle for socialism being conducted in a form enriched by practices of mankind.World hegemony is an idea of practices to suffocate sovereignty and independence of the people who build their states and keep them.

That is why the struggle against world hegemony of imperialism becomes a part of the struggle of man, the entire people, in broader sense of concept, for independence, creation and collectivism.

The struggle against world hegemony is for a working man, the one who is the master of his destiny.

The Juche idea is a doctrine enriched by practical applications. It is enriched with the development of a society and proved by its profound value of humanitarianism.

Having founded, developed and enriched the Juche idea is an immortal exploit performed by the great leader Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and the WPK General Secretary Kim Jong Un.

Founder of the Juche idea is Comrade Kim Il Sung, the great leader of the DPRK people.

Comrade Kim Il Sung is recorded in the DPRK history as a dauntless revolutionary, a fighter who struggled for independence and sovereignty of Korea against the Japanese imperialist occupation and colonialism, a fighter who struggled against the US imperialists, a great state, political, military and party activist. As the founder of the DPRK, he led the Republic from 1948 to 1994.

We are not to consider all of his many-sided activities. It is because the activities are so huge and great that it is impossible to express in written language.

However, we are going to mention one of them, which is very important.

Comrade Kim Il Sung, the great leader of the DPRK people, is recorded in the history as the founder of the Juche idea, the idea of independence. We cannot find in any countries of the world today that an idea plays such an important and immortal role.

It was in the mid-1950s when the DPRK intensified the struggle to establish Juche thoroughly. Since then, the role and significance of this unique ideology has been bigger in the country.

We are going to divide them into the external and the internal conditions among all those that were prerequisite to a creative role of the Juche idea in the DPRK, but we are not going to discuss which one was bigger.

The external conditions are created outside of the country, and the internal ones are included by the course itself the DPRK experienced.

Colonial rule enforced by Japanese imperialism from 1905 and two times of war, i.e., the national liberation war that ended with liberation from the Japanese imperialists in 1945 and the war against the US imperialists that ended in 1953 with the DPRK people’s victory can be cited as the external conditions.

Sacrificing was inevitable in the armed struggle waged by the heroic Korean people against the invaders. In reality, they had sacrifices.

It was important, of course, but very complicated to rehabilitate the country’s productivity destroyed during the wartime, to be exact, not merely to rehabilitate but build it in conformity with the level of the 20th century.

After the war the US army stayed in south Korea. It stays still now remaining a constant source of tension and provocation.

The external situation has been complicated till now because a peace treaty that failed to be concluded disturbs the reunification.

Difficulties faced by the DPRK soon after liberation from occupation of the Japanese imperialists can be cited as the internal conditions.

One of them was to establish a state machinery and a ruling political party, i.e., the matter of establishing a general political sovereignty and system to prove its popular character. Another of them was to begin with carrying out all democratic tasks and to map out the correct strategy and tactics for the building of a socialist society.

It was necessary to give education and edification to the masses to build a large-scale industry and modern infrastructure, science and culture and to promote the rural culture to the level of modern requirement.

It was also necessary to find out a peculiar, national and historic mode of solving problems in consideration of the general law of socialist construction which had been clarified by practices of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.

It finally found it out. It was to draw up a line in reflection of interests of the working class, the entire DPRK people, on the basis of applying the Juche philosophy.

It was also necessary to pay attention to the strengthening of armed forces of the country due to the complicated external condition, that is, the threat caused by the US direct armed interference in internal affairs of the DPRK, a sovereign state. This was reflected in the line of attaching importance to arms, to military affairs.

Having authored the Juche idea and applied it is, in no doubt, the exploit performed by Comrade Kim Il Sung. It is because he found out a factor, which is ideology, among numbers of social ones needed for a modern society.

The internal conditions can be included also by theoretical, philosophical, political and ideological activities made by Comrade Kim Il Sung who was the great leader of the DPRK people, the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il and the WPK General Secretary Kim Jong Un who are his successors.

The DPRK did not choose the traditional way clarified in the theory of “Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism” that had been laid down in those days. The theory created in realities of the West and the Soviet Union was not suited to the reality of the DPRK people who had suffered from several-decade misery of being a nation under colony of the Japanese imperialists and interferences by the US military. The condition in which the national liberation was achieved required to adhere to the national tradition and apply it. The field of philosophy was also included.

Now we intend to pay attention to Socialism Is a Science, the treatise published on November 1, 1994 by Comrade Kim Jong Il, the successor to Comrade Kim Il Sung who is the eternal President of the DPRK, on newspaper Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the Central Committee of the WPK.

Producing a bomb-exploding effect, the work instantly became a matter of concerns not only of socialist thinkers in all countries over the world but of their betrayers.

We remember that at that time, countries and politicians gave up socialism one after another and communist parties were prohibited, dissolved under this or that pretext or other and party membership cards burnt up.

Just then, a calm and confident voice Socialism Is a Science resounded like fresh air, like fresh wind under oppressive and gloomy circumstances created by the sweeping betrayal, falsity and abuses of socialism.

Socialism remains still now in minds of millions of people. It is alive thanks to the labor of millions of people. It will not yield its position nor surrender to imperialism. No nuclear threat, blockade and boundary provocation will frighten socialism. There will be neither the “end of history” nor the end of socialism.

It is because socialism is the realities of the DPRK, China, Vietnam and Cuba, the protest of the European working class, the struggle of the US young people, the partisans of the Latin America and the resistance of the Arabic world.

Paragraphs of the work, as simple and clear-cut as the sunlight, gave confidence and peace.

“The crumbling of socialism in various countries does not mean the failure of socialism as science but the bankruptcy of opportunism which has corrupted socialism. Although socialism is temporarily experiencing a heart-rending setback because of opportunism, it will without fail be revived and win ultimate victory, for its scientific accuracy and truth.”

Socialism is aspiration of the popular masses for independence, liberty, sovereignty, social justice and peace.

It is true. No preceding historical stages but the 20th century recorded intensive, revolutionary and innovative advance of the popular masses, their peaceful and non-peaceful advance and massive advance!

The masses came out to the streets! They required changes! No one will drive them out to the corner of history anymore!

Let us live among the masses, stay with them, organize them and feel like them! Many socialist thinkers were aware of this. But they failed to draw a relevant conclusion from this.

However, masses of the working people aspired after independence and intended to shape their destiny on their own.

This is the conclusion drawn by the history for us.

Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the great leaders of the DPRK people, and Comrade Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the WPK, realized it ahead of others and gave answers to it. It was made public to the whole world!

This is their exploits to be immortal in history!