On the occasion of the Day of Shining Star (February 16), the nation’s greatest and most auspicious holiday which marks the 82 nd birth anniversary of Chairman Kim Jong Il , our people are looking back with deep emotion on the sacred revolutionary lifetime and achievements of Comrade Kim Jong Il , the peerless great patriot who gave the eternal vitality to the glorious history of building a socialist power and laid a firm foundation for ever-lasting prosperity for our motherland and people with the exceptional ideological and theoretical wisdom and outstanding leadership.

In retrospect, the revolutionary optimism of Chairman Kim Jong Il runs through the history of building a great power of Juche Korea which has won victory after victory without any slightest vacillation or frustration even in the face of the serious challenges of the U.S. and allied imperialist forces and tribulations of history.

Among many stories which tell the revolutionary optimism of Chairman Kim Jong Il , the peerless great man, there are also the following ones.

“Let’s live today for tomorrow”

One day in January 1996, Chairman Kim Jong Il had met some officials. At that time, their faces were clouded by the difficult situation of the country compounded by severe shortage of food and electricity.

However, he said with full confidence and passion.

I face any difficult situation with a light heart, just picturing our socialist motherland which will thrive forever as well as our people enjoying more worthwhile and happy life in it. “Let’s live not merely for today but for tomorrow.” This is my outlook on life.

This instruction illustrates Chairman Kim Jong Il ’s unshakable will to bring a happier future for our people and prosperity for all generations to come.

“Let us always be cheerful!”

One day while giving field guidance to a factory in 1998, Chairman Kim Jong Il saw a large slogan carved into the wall of the factory building on the other side.

In an excited tone, he told his accompanying officials to look at it too. “Let us always be cheerful”; “What a great slogan.” he would say, adding that it is a slogan of faith which can be carried only by those who have firm confidence in final victory.

He then laughed heartily saying that he and his officials were looking round the factory together with the working people cheerfully as the slogan says and called on everyone to be always be cheerful, come what may.

That period was a time when the country was under the worst situation due to the extreme anti-DPRK racket of the imperialists.

While appreciating symphony “Leningrad”

In February 2005, Chairman Kim Jong Il watched a performance staged by the National Symphony Orchestra of the DPRK.

The orchestra played Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 “Leningrad”, Movement I.

After the performance, he said that symphony “Leningrad” is a world-famous composition depicting the heroic fighting spirit of the Soviet people who fought valiantly against fascist German aggressors.

He continued that he could visualize the situation of Leningrad and the appearance of the fighting defenders at that time while appreciating this symphony with his eyes closed.

While I was listening to that symphony, I thought not only about the struggle of the people of the Soviet Union who fought against the Hitler clique during the war between the Soviet Union and Germany, but also imagined the heroic spirit of our army and people who would crush the imperialist aggressors if they dare invade our land.

Many foreign friends were deeply impressed by the great revolutionary optimism of the great peerless man, and said that Chairman Kim Jong Il is the model of revolutionary optimism.

And they are raising their voice of admiration saying that the historic victory Korea achieved in building a powerful socialist country and in the showdown with imperialism and the U.S. is unthinkable apart from the great revolutionary optimism of Chairman Kim Jong Il .

Today, as our people hold in high esteem the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un at the highest post who has embodied the revolutionary optimism of Chairman Kim Jong Il as his natural disposition, they are dynamically pushing forward the new era of overall national prosperity under his wise leadership with full confidence in victory and optimism.

Now, even in the face of the frantic anti-DPRK nuclear war provocation and the harshest sanctions and blockade of the U.S. and its stooges who persist in their attempts to take away our right to existence and development, our people are full of happiness and fresh confidence after having received the “regional development 20×10 policy”, the grand program set forth by respected Comrade Kim Jong Un . They have proudly taken a big stride of regional development revolution for a socialist paradise.

In his lifetime, Chairman Kim Jong Il went through all sorts of difficulties he could go through as a revolutionary, as a leader and as a human being. He firmly defended our motherland of Juche and laid an eternal cornerstone for the building of a socialist paradise of today with the revolutionary optimism, and his immortal revolutionary feats will shine for all ages.