He reared the Korean People’s Army into a-match-for-a-hundred revolutionary force fully equipped not only politically and ideologically but also militarily and technically. He then built up Korea into a formidable socialist power by founding a self-sustaining modern defence industry. The invariable creed he adhered to in economic construction was that an attempt to build a powerful prosperous nation without economic independence was as good as trying to build a castle in the air, and that it was nothing but a daydream. The selfsupporting national economy he had conceived and built up was a self-sufficient economy and a national economy in the service of the people.
The economy the Korean people took over after liberation was marked by colonial lopsidedness and deformity and, moreover, it had been wrecked out of shape by the defeated Japanese imperialists before running away, and the treasury they left behind was empty. Kim Il Sung set out on the path of building an independent national economy in spite of the unprecedentedly stern ordeals and difficulties, and pioneered the untrodden path by relying on the people’s unlimited strength. He perceived scientifically the specific features of the economy and the lawgoverned process of the economic development and correctly laid down the strategic stages of building the material foundations, and wisely led the work of building the economy in Korea’s own way according to the requirements of the Korean revolution and the will of the Korean people.
Giving priority to the growth of heavy industry while simultaneously developing light industry and agriculture was the fundamental principle President Kim Il Sung kept to all his life in the building of an independent national economy. In the mid-1970s, he met the editor-in-chief of French newspaper Le Monde on a visit to Korea. Answering his question, the President said that his greatest pride during the more than 30-year-long socialist construction was that an independent national economy was built in Korea, so the country was able to maintain independence and follow independent policies. Today independence is the maxim of Juche Korea representing the lifelong exploits of the President, and the epitome of his great personality.
An article by Ri Jong Nam
