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Liberation of Korea: A Turning Point in Its History
H.E KIM IL SUNG
On August 15, Korea was liberated from military occupation by imperialist Japan (1905-1945).
This marked a turning point in the history of the Korean people.
With the liberation of their country, Koreans could lead an independent and dignified life as masters of their own destiny, the state and societ y.
Before liberation Japan schemed to obliterate not only the country itself but also the Korean nation by enforcing a medieval oppressive rule. They did not allow Koreans to use their own mother tongue, both written and spoken, and forced them to change their names into Japanese style.
Spiritual and cultural treasures which had been created in the course of their 5 000-year history were destroyed and plundered. More than 8.4 million young and middle-aged men were kidnapped or commandeered to serve as cannon fodders of the Japanese army or to work like beasts of burden, and 200 000 women were forced to serve as sexual slaves as comfort women for the Japanese soldiers. One million people were killed.
Liberation did not mean merely the revival of the nation for Koreans who had been at the crossroad of life or death. It was a historic event which brought about a change in their destiny from that of a slave to that of a master.
After achieving the historic cause of national liberation by leading the 15-year anti-Japanese armed struggle to victory, President Kim Il Sung (1912-1994) founded the Workers’ Party of Korea, which would organize and guide all victories of the Korean people, on October 10, 1945. Under the leadership of the WPK, a people’s power organ was established in a short span of time and such democratic reforms as agrarian reform, nationalization of major industries and sexual equality were carried out with success, making people masters of the government, workers masters of factories and peasants masters of land and freeing women from the centuries-long feudal fetters.
Based on these successes the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the first people-oriented democratic country in the East, was founded on September 9, 1948; this enabled Korea, which had been eclipsed in the map of the world, to emerge in the international arena as a dignified independent and sovereign state.
Thanks to the people-oriented policies of the state, the Korean people could lead an independent and creative life as genuine masters of the state and society, and the whole society became a great harmonious socialist family whose members help and lead one another forward in firm unity.
In this way, the liberation of the country led to the building of a socialist society centred on the masses and an invincible socialist state unaffected by any upheavals.
Socialist Korea has been built according to its own original guiding ideology?the Juche idea and Songun idea advanced by President Kim Il Sung and developed by Chairman Kim Jong Il?and guiding theories and principles clarified by those ideas.
It has given definite precedence to military affairs while holding fast to the line of establishing Juche in ideology, independence in politics, self-sufficiency in the economy, and self-reliance in defence as demanded by the Juche idea and Songun idea.
As a result, the WPK has developed into a motherly party that takes care of and leads the destiny of the masses, the, government into a master responsible for the livelihood of the people and servant for them, and the army into a defender of people’s freedom and happiness.
To look back socialism expanded on a worldwide scale after WWII, but it experienced twists and turns. Amid intensified anti-socialist schemes committed by imperialists, opportunism appeared in several socialist countries, and this resulted in their tragic collapse in succession.
However, the banner of socialism has remained fluttering as ever in the DPRK. It is out of question that the international society admires the DPRK which has followed consistently the road of socialism of its own choice and held fast to its ideology, system and cause for nearly 70 years.
The reality of the DPRK which is achieving fresh leap and innovations in the building of a thriving socialist nation along with its history of dozens of years is a good testimony to the historic significance of the liberation of Korea which brought about a turning point in shaping the destiny of its people in an independent way and achieving the prosperity of the country.
The Korean people will mark 70th anniversary of the liberation of their country on August 15, 2015.
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