President Kim Il Sung (April 15, 1912-July 8, 1994) was always among the people throughout the whole period of his leadership of the Korean revolution and construction. He often went among the people and discussed with them to work out every line and policy to meet their wishes and demands.

In the 1930s when the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle was being waged, the people’s revolutionary government was being founded in the guerrilla zones. In those days he clarified a criterion for defining the form of the government. He said: We must draw the criterion from the character of our revolution at the present stage, laying emphasis on whether the government we are going to establish would be able to champion the interests of all sections of the population and whether it would enjoy their enthusiastic support. Then he met and talked with the peasants in Gayahe over the matter.

When he asked the peasants what kind of government they would like to set up, an elderly said that he would have nothing more to desire if he set up a government under which the people could live free from worries.

At this Kim Il Sung said that a people’s revolutionary government would be established in place of the Soviet government and elaborated on the people’s revolutionary government and the policies to be enforced by the government.

The locals were so impressed by what Kim Il Sung said that they showed active support to the idea. As is well known, after his visit to the village the first people’s revolutionary government was organized in the Gayahe guerrilla zone and such policies as agrarian reform, sex equality and free medical service were enforced to provide the locals with an independent and creative life.

Under the leadership of Kim Il Sung who made incessant visits to the people to awaken and organize them to motivate them to revolutionary struggle, the historic cause of Korea’s liberation was finally achieved in August 1945.

After the national liberation he was always on the road of field guidance, finding himself as ever among the people.

When he was making efforts to implement the land reform, he visited many rural villages, sometimes sitting knee to knee with the peasants and listening to their opinions in order to make their centuries-old desire come true.

When meeting workers, he would hold their grease-stained hands and in a rural village, he would have friendly talks with the peasants at the edge of a field; his speeches were often mixed with jokes and humorous and down-to-earth remarks.

In a factory compound, at the edge of a field and in a fishing village he sat together with the ordinary people to discuss with them the state affairs and listen to their innermost opinions.

In the last days of his life he said to officials: Nothing in the world is more powerful and resourceful than the masses of the people; if you learn from them and lead them onto the right track, you can break through any difficulty; if you believe in the people and rely on them at all times, you will always emerge victorious; if you do not rely on them and are forsaken by them, you will always fail; this should be the maxim for revolutionaries. These instructions are still etched in the minds of the Korean people.

Kim Song Chol