February 26, 2003

Summary of Documents

On March 21, 2003, Nodong Sinmun published a special article “Military-First Ideology Is an Ever-Victorious, Invincible Banner for Our Era’s Cause of Independence,” which declared that the Army is the basis of North Korea’s revolutionary strategy. This strategy “calls for giving priority to military issues over everything, and it is a line, strategy, and tactics of putting the Army before the working class” to the point that the KPA is “the most pivotal group” in North Korean society-“the gun barrel should be placed over the hammer and sickle” say the authors (not to mention the intellectual’s pen which appears on the DPRK flag next to these proletarian icons).

According to the March 21st statement, the military-first line derives from chuch’e philosophy and is demonstrated best in the military-first line. The army is held to be decisive in achieving and protecting sovereignty, in economic construction. “Nothing is more urgent and important than beefing up the ranks of the armed forces” with goal being “to build an invincible revolutionary army.”

The statement argues that such a strategy must be wholly self-reliant: “Laying and ceaselessly consolidating the foundations of a self-reliant defense industry under which everything needed for beefing up the military might can be supplied on our own is the basic way to beefing up the military might.”

Merely having a powerful economy is not sufficient for the DPRK’s security. “If the barrel of a gun were weak, a country would be eventually swallowed by outside force, no matter how powerful its economic might may be and no matter how advanced its science and technology may be,” they assert.

On April 3, Nodong Sinmun carried another Editorial Bureau Special Article, “Military-First Politics Is a Precious Sword of Sure Victory for National Sovereignty” which begins with the assertion that: “The strong pluck [courage] to face the imperialists’ high-handed and outrageous threat and blackmail head- on, and the high national dignity that solves every problem according to independent decisions and judgments by resolutely driving away all sorts of pressure and interference from outside forces, come from the mighty gun-barrel.”

The essay admits that a mighty gun-barrel requires a modern economy. But it argues that “What takes the leading position in the correlation between the army and economy is, however, still the army. It is the new principle illuminated by the military-first idea that only when we place importance on the gun barrel can we build an economically powerful state. If economic power is based on military power, military power is a guarantee for economic power and impetus for economic development. We cannot defend national industries nor ensure a peaceful environment for economy-building without strong military power.”

Military industry, especially heavy industry, comes first. “Once we lay the foundation for a powerful self-supporting national defense industry, we will be able to rejuvenate all economic fields, to include light industry and agriculture, and enhance the quality of the people’s lives.”

The DPRK, it suggests, will meet an American hardline with a DPRK “ultra- hardline.” The authors attribute the United States not attacking the DPRK to fear of its military power. Consequently, they conclude, “Today’s stark reality is that any issue of the Korean peninsula cannot be resolved without attaching importance to us and respecting our position.”

On April 6, 2003, KCNA published a statement that declared: “Only the physical deterrent force, tremendous military deterrent force powerful enough to decisively beat back an attack supported by any ultra-modern weapons” The “tremendous military deterrent force” possibly “only” refers to the DPRK’s military-first doctrine (see documents 1 and 2). Or, it might hint at potential nuclear weapons (or both).

Document 1

On March 21, 2003, an Editorial Bureau Special Article in the DPRK newspaper Nodong Sinmun, “Military-First Ideology Is an Ever-Victorious, Invincible Banner for Our Era’s Cause of Independence,” was broadcast on P’yongyang Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) in Korean 2300 GMT on 20 March, 2003. It was broadcast again at 0400 GMT and 1000 GMT on 21 March and at 0200 GMT and 0700 GMT on 22 March.

Military-First Ideology Is an Ever-Victorious, Invincible Banner for Our Era’s Cause of Independence

Today, the popular masses’ struggle for independence and socialism has entered a new stage. Aspects of the world have undergone a dramatic change and the circumstances and conditions for the revolutionary struggle have also changed in the new century. New theoretical and practical issues, which could never be foreseen in the past and which cannot be resolved with the revolutionary theory of the past, are being raised.

The great Comrade Kim Chong-il’s military-first ideology is a guiding principle for our era’s revolution that illuminates the future path of the struggle for independence and socialism. The military-first ideology whose correctness was proven through the practice of the arduous and severe Korean revolution in the 1990s of the 20th century is the banner of the 21st century’s struggle that advances and prevails by invincible military might, and that has opened a new phase in the development of the independent cause, and it is a sacred sword that enables us to correctly resolve the theoretical and practical issues that arise from today’s reality. Today, military-first ideology has become a publicly recognized trend of the era, and it has now become an irresistible current of history to advance along the military-first path.

It is the greatest feat of the respected and beloved Comrade Kim Chong-il that he has rescued the destinies of the fatherland, the nation, and socialism by breaking through the fierce storms of the revolution, and that, with extraordinary prescience and creative thought, he has put forth the great revolutionary ideology and line that will lead the new era of history.

Military-first ideology is the great guiding principle of the 21st century’s revolution that reflects the demands of the current era.

The great leader, Comrade Kim Chong-il, pointed out the following:

“The military-first revolutionary line and military-first politics are the scientific revolutionary line and political method that most accurately reflect the demands of the era and the revolution.”

The popular masses’ cause of independence advances and is consummated through many historic stages. The future of the cause of independence hinges on how the task of the era for each stage of the development of history is accomplished.

The scope and depth of the changes that occur in each era of the development of social history is determined by the attraction and vitality of a revolutionary ideology.

In the history of humankind, the 20th century was a century of revolutionary storms during which great transformations were achieved in the popular masses’ position and destiny. Apart from the creation of the chuch’e idea and from the course of its embodiment, it is impossible to put into thought the great changes and the historic events that added luster to such a turbulent century. The 20th century during which the greatest progress was made and the greatest changes occurred in the humankind’s history under the guidance of a scientific revolutionary ideology bears vivid testimony to the truth that a great ideology opens up a great era.

It is the 21st century. The drastic changes that occurred in the world’s political arena during the 1990s of the 20th century and the international political situation developed ever since showed that the popular masses’ struggle for independence was being waged in the environments of a new era.

The current era is one in which a life-or-death struggle is waged between socialism and imperialism and between the force of independence and the force of domination.

Since its inception, the popular masses’ struggle for independence and socialism has continued to advance through severe confrontations with all sorts of reactionaries in history, particularly, with the imperialists. However, never before has the struggle been as acute as it is today. Today, the imperialist, reactionary forces, especially the US imperialists, are exercising high- handedness and despotism in the international community and more viciously clinging to maneuvers of aggression and war while wildly violating other countries’ sovereignty to achieve their ambition to dominate the world. Due to the imperialists’ interventions in other countries’ internal affairs and due to their policy of aggression, the world’s political and economic order and the international security system are being destroyed, and the peoples’ struggle for independent development and prosperity is confronted with a serious challenge.

The imperialists’ highhandedness and outrageousness, which incurs the wrath of humankind today, lays bare the bestial, true color of the imperialists. As monopolistic capital expands with each passing day and its confrontation with the force of independence becomes more acute, the imperialists are becoming more reactionary and more militarized. In particular, since the balance of power has changed on a global scale since the Cold War, the US imperialists have come to leave no means untried in attempting to dominate the world. Today, militarism has become a tool for the existence of the imperialists who have become as fat as they can get and who have become militarized as far as they can become.

Military might must be powerful if people are to achieve a victory for the cause of independence in countering the bloodthirsty imperialists who are falling upon them while wielding cannons and nuclear weapons. The militarized imperialists can only be conquered with military might.

Reality shows today that the fundamental issue on which the victory of the revolution hinges is how military issues are viewed and how the issue of strengthening military might is resolved.

The current era is one in which important changes occur also in the positions and roles of the social groups that push ahead with history and the revolution.

Diverse social and political groups engage in the struggle waged for the popular masses’ independence on each historic stage, and the positions and roles these groups take and play also vary in each era. Which class or which social group plays a main role in the development of the social revolution in a certain era in history is determined which group is most powerful in revolutionary spirit and combat capability.

In the past, the working class, as a revolutionary class that had come to realize its class situation and mission, played an important role in promoting the social and class liberation of the oppressed working popular masses and in steering the course of changes in the world. There is no doubt that the working class is the one that is immediately responsible for social production, and it is the primary force of the revolution that pushes ahead with the forward movement of history.

In the revolution and construction of our era, the position and role the army takes and plays are being markedly enhanced. Due to its nature as an armed group that regards organizational spirit and discipline as its integrity and due to the fact that the army is in charge of the foremost line in the anti- imperialist, class struggle, which becomes even severer, the revolutionary army plays a special role in the revolutionary struggle — a role which no other class or group can substitute. As the society develops and the nature of labor changes, changes can occur in the social and class situations of many classes and circles as well as in the conditions of their living, but there can be absolutely no change in the army’s revolutionary spirit. It is inevitable to further enhance the revolutionary army’s position and role, as the revolution advances and the class struggle becomes more intense. History and reality show that, in today’s condition in which there is no one to plead with, even if the strong swallows the weak, it is impossible to adequately resolve the issues that arise from the revolution and construction nor is it possible to defend the destiny of the country and the nation, if the army’s role is not correctly assessed.

The current era is one in which countries and nations regard it as a vital goal of their struggle to build a powerful and prosperous state on their lands.

Today, the peoples’ struggle for their nations’ independent development and prosperity is waged in an environment different from that of the last century.

Today’s reality is that people should be more and more dependent on their own strength and technology, if they are to build up a powerful economic might for the future of their nation, and they should build up their own strength, if they are to fight the imperialists head on. In building a state in our era, it is essential to beef up the main force of the nation and fortify the revolutionary base, and, in this regard, it is most important to build up powerful military might. In today’s world, without powerful military might, no country can defend its dignity and sovereignty nor can it achieve development and prosperity.

Such reality in our era’s revolutionary practice urgently demands that the theory of the revolution and its strategy and tactics be redefined in line with the transformed conditions and circumstances, and that we struggle based on the new definition.

New revolutionary ideology and theory is derived from the great revolutionary practice of an extraordinarily great man who breaks through the storms of the era.

In the course of leading our revolution and the anti-imperialism cause for independence to victory during the last decade of the last century, the respected and beloved Comrade Kim Chong-il originated the new methodology of military-first politics and comprehensively systematized military-first ideology and theory.

In the 1990s of the 20th century, the struggle to make a choice between independence and subjugation and between socialism and capitalism was more fiercely waged than ever before in the international arena, and our country had become a miniaturized ground of the struggle and a most acute, decisive battle site. In the midst of the imperialists’ unheard-of maneuvers aimed at isolating and crushing us and amid the indescribable trials, we had to wage a life-or- death struggle while staking the destinies of the nation and socialism.

During that period, which was called “the Arduous March” in our history, great Comrade Kim Chong-il firmly believed that the destiny of the people and the future of the revolution hinged on the barrel of a gun, and that we could break through the difficulties and lead the revolution to victory only by depending on the Army, and he took the first step of military-first leadership with his historic on-the-spot guidance to the outpost under young pine trees. Through the arduous practice in which the Army was put to the fore and the unheard-of trials were overcome, the revolutionary philosophy that the barrel of a gun was precisely the revolution and the barrel of a gun was precisely the victory of socialism was originated, the military-first principle that the popular masses’ cause of independence could prevail only through the Army’s essential and leading role was clarified, and military-first politics was perfected as our era’s systematized methodology of politics.

The great Comrade Kim Chong-il’s military-first revolutionary ideology is a new revolutionary guiding principle that takes a special position in the history of humankind’s ideology.

In short, military-first ideology is an ideology of giving priority to military issues that calls for giving priority to military issues over everything, and it is a line, strategy, and tactics of putting the Army before the working class in order to depend on the Army by putting it to the fore as a pillar and as a main force for the revolution. It is a revolutionary ideology of the era of the fierce anti-imperialism struggle at a time when the imperialists have become extremely reactionary and militarized, and it is a revolutionary theory on a new, high stage of the development of humankind’s society where all countries and all nations are building independent powerful states. The special position of military-first ideology as a guiding principle in the 21st century is that it illuminates a scientific revolutionary theory, strategy, and tactics for victoriously advancing the popular masses’ cause of independence in line with the transformed conditions and circumstances.

Military-first ideology is an ideology that is based on the proud history and tradition of our revolution, which was initiated and has been advanced under the chuch’e banner.

Military-first ideology has a long, historical tradition in our country.

In the early days, the great leader, Comrade Kim Il-song, launched our revolution by embarking on an armed struggle and led the arduous Korean revolution to victory by depending on the revolutionary army. In our country, the party, the state, and socialism are all rooted in the Army, and priority has been firmly given to the work of strengthening the military might over all other work of the revolution and construction. The great leader’s ideology of placing importance on military issues; the feats and experiences he performed and gained in exercising the military-first revolutionary leadership; and the noble tradition of all of these things have become the bedrock of our party’s military-first politics.

Our military-first history is brilliantly embroidered with the revolutionary chronicle of the respected and beloved Comrade Kim Chong-il who has led the revolution while holding a firm grip on the Army [kundaerul t’urojwigo] along with the great leader [suryongnim] over the past decades. The respected and beloved Comrade Kim Chong-il’s revolutionary history is the glorious history of a general-type statesman who was born as a son of the Mt. Paektu partisan in the flames of the severe war against imperialism and who has broken through the furious storms of the revolution along with the barrel of a gun. The respected and beloved Comrade Kim Chong-il has been able to put forth an entirely new and unique military-first theory, which was unheard of in the revolutionary theory of the past, for he has experienced all the revolutionary struggles waged on every stage of the Korean revolution — which has advanced while countering the most atrocious imperialist enemies — and for he has more keenly realized than anyone else about the Army’s decisive role through the prolonged practice of leading the struggles to victory.

Military-first ideology illuminates anew the path to consummating the popular masses’ cause of independence.

The revolutionary ideologies and theories of the past elucidated the general revolutionary principles for achieving the popular masses’ independence as well as the theories and methods to be universally put into practice on the various stages of the revolution. The revolutionary theories, which elucidated the cause and objective of the revolution and the key to its victory, played an important role in advancing the cause of independence.

Military-first ideology is the reflection of the era of a new history, which is for the ultimate consummation of the popular masses’ cause of independence. Military-first ideology — which is the embodiment of the general law of the revolution as well as the basic principles that should be maintained in advancing the history and the revolution — comprehensively explains the issue of the most powerful political force on which people should depend in advancing the cause of independence in the current era as well as the issue of enhancing the role of the force.

Military-first ideology is an ideology that has inherited the theoretical and practical achievements of the chuch’e idea and that has developed and enriched them with new theories, and it is a militant banner that firmly guarantees the final victory of the chuch’e idea. The chuch’e idea is the root of Military- first ideology, it is the base of an outlook on the world, and it is a methodological guideline that makes it possible to comprehensively formulate military-first ideology and military-first politics consistent with the demands of the new century. Military-first ideology — which regards the Army as the pillar of the revolution and its main force and which considers the revolutionary army’s ideology and spirit to be a main driving force for our era’s revolution — illuminates the way to strengthen the main force of the revolution consistent with the demands of the chuch’e idea and to markedly enhance its role, and it also illuminates the path to the final victory of the revolution. Military-first ideology is the theoretical and practical summation of the Korean revolution that has constantly prevailed under the banner of the chuch’e idea in the severe confrontation with the imperialists and the class enemies, and it is a great ideology that represents the current era. The initiation of military-first ideology was possible, for there was the chuch’e idea, and the demonstration of the great vitality of the chuch’e idea has been possible, for there has been military-first ideology.

The military-first era is a new era of the chuch’e revolution, and it is a new, high stage for the consummation of the humankind’s cause of independence. Pioneering and leading such a great era is precisely the historical position and extraordinary attraction of the respected and beloved Comrade Kim Chong-il’s revolutionary ideology and his military-first ideology.

2.

Military-first ideology is the most scientific and revolutionary ideology, which is based on a new viewpoint and attitude toward the position and role of the revolutionary army.

The great leader, Comrade Kim Chong-il, pointed out the following:

“That our party, as it implements military-first politics, puts the People’s Army, not the working class, to the fore as the main force of the revolution, is a start that is made with a new viewpoint and attitude toward the issue of the main force of the revolution and toward the issue of the role the revolutionary army plays in the revolution and construction.”

Military-first ideology starts from the new comprehension that the army is the most powerful force in the development of the social history and in the development of the revolution.

When viewed from an historic point of view, armies emerge along with the class society and play a key role in establishing, maintaining, and replacing national states and social systems.

An army, in short, is an organized group of armed people. An army’s trait, mission, and role could fundamentally vary, depending on who has founded the army and what it was founded for. In a hostile class society, the army serves the exploiting classes for the implementation of their politics at home and abroad as a tool for class domination and as an organized means of violence.

In the history of humankind, the emergence of a revolutionary army organized by the leader [suryong] of the revolution and led by the leader was an enormously significant event for the popular masses’ cause of independence as well as for the development of the social revolution. Since then, armies have ceased to be armed groups hostile to the people, and have become a powerful political force that serves the popular masses’ independence.

Apart from the role of the revolutionary armed forces, it is impossible to put into thought the serious social and political changes that destroyed the obsolete social system in a revolutionary manner and that have brought about a fundamental transformation in the popular masses’ position and destiny, and it is also impossible to put into thought the proud history in which the gains of the revolution have been defended from the challenges and hampering maneuvers of the imperialists and all sorts of enemies. It is a truth shown by the revolutionary history of the past that the revolutionary army is indeed the advance guard of social changes and the most powerful defender of the people’s interests, and that the destiny of the revolution is linked to the barrel of a gun as one.

Our party’s military-first ideology clearly explains the army’s position and role in the development of social history and in the development of the revolution based on the new perception of the revolutionary army.

An army can become a powerful political force of the society and the revolution only through the great revolution led by a leader [suryong]. In the course of leading the bloodstained revolutionary struggle at the fore under the leadership of a great leader [suryong] and a great commander, the revolutionary army’s position and role has been markedly enhanced. In our country, the Army has been constantly strengthened and developed into a powerful political force under the wise leadership of the great leader Comrade Kim Il-song, who was a pioneer in founding the revolutionary army of the independent era, and Comrade Kim Chong- il, who is a peerless commander of Mt. Paektu. Our People’s Army has always played a leading role as a forerunner on every stage of and in all types of struggles in the revolution and construction. Our revolutionary practice shows that the revolutionary army founded and led by a leader [suryong] can play a decisive role in pushing ahead with the revolution and construction.

Our People’s Army is the most pivotal group among our revolutionary ranks.

The revolutionary army is composed of the most brilliant advance warriors among the working classes and circles, who are ready to lay down their lives in the revolution, and, for this reason, the revolutionary army is the most revolutionary group that does not hesitate to go through fire and water in the struggle to safeguard and realize the popular masses’ interests. Our army is a unit of armed revolutionaries who are from the working people; thus, no other group is as firm as it is in ideology and faith, no other group is as merciless to the class enemies as it is, and no other group is as uncompromising as it is in defending the revolutionary principle.

The revolutionary army is in charge of the most serious, fiercest anti- imperialism military front in the revolution. The final victory of the anti- imperialism class struggle hinges on the barrel of a gun, and it is the revolutionary army that leads this struggle. The combat capability of the army as an elite corps, which is in charge of the frontline of the bloody class struggle and which regards discipline as its integrity, is incomparably more powerful than that of other groups of the society. It is the army that has made the organizational spirit and self-consciousness — the basic characteristics of the revolutionary movement — its own spirit, it is the army that displays these traits in its daily life, and it is also the army that has excellently embodies the collective nature of socialism. The revolutionary army is indeed a model and a key unit for all other classes and circles of the revolution and construction in terms of revolutionary and organizational spirit, the power of unity, and combat capability.

Our People’s Army plays a leading role in pushing ahead with the revolution and construction.

There is no doubt that the army plays a decisive role in achieving sovereignty, in defending the gains of the revolution, and in the revolutionary war against the imperialists. And, these are not all of the roles played by the revolutionary army. The army is the most powerful revolutionary group also in pushing ahead with the overall socialist construction and in breaking through difficulties.

The thoroughgoing sense of mission toward the destiny of the revolution as well as the indomitable ideology and spirit, which has been instilled and hardened through the arduous struggle during which a bloodstained path was blazed with the barrel of a gun; all these are an ideological and spiritual source that enables the army to play a leading and active role in all areas.

In the socialist society, the revolutionary army plays a special role.

Socialism is a cause that is pioneered, advanced, and consummated by the barrel of a gun. It is inevitable that the revolutionary army’s position and role is enhanced, as the socialist society develops.

In our socialist society, the Army is a pillar for the party and the state.

If the party and the regime can be seen as a guide or as a political tool for consummating the socialist cause, the Army can be seen as the pillar of the revolution on which the party and the regime depend. Without guarantee by the barrel of a gun, it is impossible to maintain the party and the regime or to put into thought the destinies of the socialist state and the people. This is the reason we say that the Army is precisely the party, the state, and the people. Only the party and the regime founded by the barrel of a gun and supported by the powerful military might can become the headquarters of the revolution and the representatives of the people’s interests and can victoriously advance the socialist cause, no matter what may happen.

In our socialist society, the Army serves as a model of reforming people for nurturing all the members of the society as true revolutionaries.

The course of the development of a socialist society is a course of improving human beings and social relationships. The revolutionary army is instilled with collectivism, which is the inherent nature of socialism, and it excellently possesses the ideological and spiritual ethos — ideology, spirit, and morality — that should be possessed by independent human beings. Precisely for this reason, the revolutionary army plays a leading role in hastening the socialist ideological reform and in improving the social relationships based on revolutionary comradeship and responsibility.

The advance and victory of the popular masses’ cause of independence is, after all, attainable by the results of the enhancement of the revolutionary army’s leading and key position and role.

Our party’s military-first ideology explains the need to push ahead with the revolution and construction through the constant enhancement of the revolutionary army’s position and role. By comprehensively embodying the demands of military-first ideology, great Comrade Kim Chong-il is wisely leading the advance of the 21st century in order to achieve the victory of the independent cause.

In the socialist construction, our party firmly maintains the position of putting its prime effort into beefing up the Army, which is the main force of the revolution.

For the revolution, nothing is more urgent and important than beefing up the ranks of the armed forces. If we are to organize and beef up the revolutionary ranks, the armed ranks should be put to the fore as a core, and, if we are to awaken and organize the masses, the armed group, which is firm in ideology and faith and which is powerful in combat capability, should be put to the fore as a model.

From its inception up to the present, our revolution has continued to give firm priority to the work of beefing up the Army over all other things. Although there have always been complex and huge social, political, and economic tasks in the course of our people’s revolutionary struggle and socialist construction, the principle that has been maintained with priority throughout all the periods is the one of strengthening the military might. It is our party’s unswerving position that the ideology of placing importance on military issues is the thing that we can never give up, no matter how difficult the situation may be, and that military buildup is the thing that we must carry out at any price. The experience of our revolution shows that the basic direction of the socialist politics must be placing importance on the barrel of a gun and beefing up the army.

Where our party puts its prime effort in carrying out the work of beefing up our revolutionary armed forces is the work of firmly preparing the army politically and ideologically.

The ethos and quality of the army as the core of the revolution are not spontaneously acquired, even if it engages in the revolution and even if it is the army of a socialist country. Only the army that is trained under the leadership of the party and the leader [suryong] and hardened through an arduous struggle can play a role as a powerful political force in the revolution. Our party has constantly intensified the discipline through the political and ideological indoctrination and through revolutionary practice so that our Army may highly demonstrate its inherent ideological and spiritual qualities — the boundless loyalty to the party and the revolution, the indomitable revolutionary spirit, the firm organizational spirit and discipline, the noble revolutionary comradeship, and the spirit of patriotic devotion.

It is the fruit of the consistent leadership exercised by our party that has put its prime effort into beefing up the political and ideological might of the revolutionary armed forces that, today, our People’s Army has been nurtured as a powerful army of ideology and faith and as an army whose entire members have formed a complete whole around the supreme commander under a firm revolutionary military command system and firm military discipline.

Our party is putting its prime effort into national defense while regarding military issues as the most important issues among all the issues of the state.

The national defense is a life-or-death matter linked to the destiny of the revolution. The position that our party invariably maintains in the revolution and construction is that military issues are the most important issues, and that the work of national defense is a top priority. Maintaining an unwavering viewpoint and position toward placing importance on the military is the way to build an invincible revolutionary army, which is firmly prepared militarily and technically.

In carrying out the work of national defense that is linked to the nation’s existence, dependence on others can never be allowed. Laying and ceaselessly consolidating the foundations of a self-reliant defense industry under which everything needed for beefing up the military might can be supplied on our own is the basic way to beefing up the military might. The future of the country and the nation hinges on an invincible military might. Today, in our society, the ethos of placing importance on military issues is firmly established, it has become a trend of the whole society to love the barrel of a gun and faithfully study military issues, and the whole country has turned into an impregnable fortress that no enemy can dare to touch.

Today, in strengthening the main force of the revolution as well, our party doggedly maintains the position of regarding the People’s Army as a core and as a model.

In the past, the working class was put to the fore as the main force of the revolution, for the working class was immediately responsible for social production, and for it was an advanced class that was entrusted with a mission to liberate all the oppressed classes. In the revolution of our era, the army plays a special role that cannot be substituted by any other social group, and the anti-imperialism military frontline has become the major frontline of the revolution on which the existence of the country, the nation, and socialism depends. It is the inevitability of history and the demand of the era that the revolutionary army has become a main force to lead all other political forces. When the working class and all others of the revolutionary ranks emulate the People’s Army in all areas of ideology, spirit, culture, and morality, the main force of the revolution can be markedly beefed up.

Today, in further strengthening the main force of the revolution consistent with the demand of the military-first era, our party regards it as an important task to make the revolutionary ranks an elite corps and a powerful army. No one in the world can match the might of our revolutionary ranks, which have become an elite corps and have single-heartedly united with the revolutionary army’s ideology and spirit and with its noble morality and ethos as models.

In our country, the revolution and construction is stepped up to the maximum extent with the revolutionary army’s revolutionary spirit as a basic driving force.

The theory of the past believed that, taking into consideration the working class’s most difficult living conditions in the era of the industrial capitalism as well as the nature of the machine-manufacturing industry, the working class was most revolutionary and it possessed a high spirit of collectivism, and, from this point of view, the theory of the past placed importance on the revolutionary spirit of the working class. Today, when the society develops and the nature of labor changes, with such a viewpoint and position, it has become impossible to correctly define the issue of where the basic spiritual power of pushing ahead with the revolution lies.

In our society, today, the People’s Army is the most revolutionary, most militant, and most powerful revolutionary group. The revolutionary military spirit whose basic contents are the spirit of death-defying defense of the leader, the spirit of death-defying implementation, and the spirit of heroic sacrifice is the epitome of the ideological and spiritual ethos to be possessed by the revolutionary army. No other revolutionary spirit is more powerful than our revolutionary military spirit that is rooted in a death-defying resolve and determination.

It is a precious truth proved by our revolution that we could constantly prevail only when we ceaselessly enhance the army’s position and role in the revolution and construction consistent with the demands of military-first ideology.

In our revolution, we waged the two revolutionary wars against the imperialist forces of aggression and carried out the socialist revolution and the socialist construction all based on the principle of putting the army to the fore and enhancing its role. While giving firm priority to military issues and always relying on the army, we have never yielded to difficulties, but we have performed miracles and we have been able to constantly prevail by bracing ourselves even more powerfully as we were faced with adversities, although the path of struggle was matchlessly complex and there were so many difficulties.

v The truth that we can become a final victor only when we firmly adhere to the military-first principle was fully proved during “the Arduous March,” the forced march, which was the most arduous period in the history of our revolution. By putting the army to the fore as the pillar of the revolution and as the main force of the revolution and through his energetic on-the-spot guidance to People’s Army units, the respected and beloved Comrade Kim Chong-il beefed up our military might as an invincible one and, with this might, he has turned the worst adversity to a favorable situation and opened up a phase of a turnaround for the revolution. By the military-first politics of our party that resolves everything by putting the Mt. Paektu gun barrel to the fore and by relying on the invincible might of the revolutionary army, the maneuvers of aggression perpetrated by the allied forces of the imperialists as well as their encirclement of isolation and blockade have been completely destroyed, and a path of advance for the construction of a powerful state has opened up. The earthshaking, great victory in the war of defending socialism was precisely the victory of military-first ideology and politics.

It is an event to be specially recorded in the history of the popular masses’ struggle for independence and socialism that the respected and beloved Comrade Kim Chong-il has opened up the new era of the development of history in which we advance by relying on the revolutionary army under the ever-victorious military- first banner.

3.

Military-first ideology is the banner of national prosperity that illuminates the correct path of building an ever-victorious, invincible, powerful state in line with the demands of the 21st century.

It is the century-old desire of the people to live an independent life in a distinguished, prosperous, and powerful state. It was a milestone in the history of humankind’s development that socialism was originated in the 20th century, and, thus, a path to the construction of an independent socialist state was opened up.

Today, when we have entered the 21st century, the people’s aspirations and desire to build a powerful and prosperous state have become even more intense. The current era is the one in which achieving independent development and prosperity with individual national states as a unit has become an irresistible trend, and it is an era in which the people of all countries regard it as a life-or-death goal of struggle to build a prosperous and powerful state on their lands.

The great military-first ideology comprehensively illuminates the path to the construction of a powerful and prosperous country — a powerful state — as demanded by the era.

The great leader, Comrade Kim Chong-il, pointed out the following:

“The military-first revolutionary line is the basic strategic line our party maintains for the construction of a powerful state and for the consummation of the chuch’e revolutionary cause.”

Our theory on the construction of a powerful state is the theory on building a state in the 21st century, which has embodied the military-first principle, and it is a unique theory that translates into reality the humankind’s long- cherished ideals and desire for building an independent powerful state. This theory is the embodiment of the profound truth that the base of national strength is military might, and the dignity and might of a country hinges on the barrel of a gun; and the theory also clearly shows the basic method of opening a period of full-fledged blossoming in all areas of economy, culture, and others based on the principle of giving priority to military issues.

The powerful barrel of a gun is a precondition for a powerful state. The existence of a state has been determined by the might of the barrel of a gun. It is a lesson from the long history of the development of state that, without the guarantee by military might, it is impossible to build a powerful and prosperous country.

Military issues become even more vital when the popular masses have seized the sovereignty of state. Today’s reality in which the imperialist, and dominating forces cling to military might in order to dominate the world even more clearly proves the importance of the barrel of a gun for the construction of a state in our era. The imperialists’ maneuvers of domination are precisely for military hegemony. If we are to build a powerful state in today’s world where the imperialists are unscrupulously applying reckless military pressure and perpetrating the maneuvers of aggression, we must tightly grasp the work of beefing up the military might as a principle for the construction of the state in advancing.

Military-first ideology clearly shows the characteristics of a powerful state, which relies on an invincible military might, as well as the inevitable course and basic method of building a powerful state.

As taught [karuch’isinbawa kach’I] by the great leader [yongdoja], Comrade Kim Chong-il, a powerful state is, in short, a powerful country with powerful national strength, where everything is prosperous and people have nothing to envy others in their lives. A powerful state we are building is precisely a powerful country with lofty dignity and authority that no one can dare to touch, and a prosperous country that is opening a period of full-fledged blossoming in all areas of politics, economy, military, culture, and others.

A powerful state is a country that has an invincible, ever-victorious military might that no imperialist enemy can ever touch, however formidable he may be.

The status of a power is guaranteed by national strength, and military strength is the nucleus of national strength. If the barrel of a gun were weak, a country would be eventually swallowed by outside force, no matter how powerful its economic might may be and no matter how advanced its science and technology may be. In today’s world where whether a country is powerful or weak is determined by military might, people must do their utmost to beef up their military might, if they truly desire their country’s prosperity and development.

A country that has an army, which is firmly prepared politically and ideologically and which is highly modernized in military technology; a country that has an invincible, ever-victorious, formidable army, which has thoroughly achieved army-people unity, unity between officers and men, and the combination of army and politics; and an impregnable fortress where placing importance on the barrel of a gun and on military issues has become a social trend and where the entire people have been armed, and the whole country has been fortified: these are precisely the important aspects of an invincible military power, a powerful state.

A powerful state is a socialist country of single-hearted unity where the entire people have firmly united in ideology and will around the nerve-center of the revolution.

The might of socialism lies in the unity of the entire people, and the nucleus of the unity is the nerve-center of the revolution. In this respect, it can be said the nerve-center of the revolution, the single-hearted unity, and socialism are a body of destinies. The socialist system can be markedly consolidated, and the country can prosper, when the entire people single-heartedly unite around the nerve-center of the revolution.

The guts and audacity to firmly maintain political self-determination and lay the base of independence in the international community comes from the might of the single-hearted unity. Military-first ideology illuminates a new path to achieving the firmest single-hearted unity with which the tens of million of soldiers and people will share the intent and destiny with the nerve-center of the revolution and to ceaselessly perform miracles and feats through the unanimity in ideology and fighting spirit between the Army and the people. As long as we have the firm single-hearted unity that has been achieved under the military-first banner, we will not fear the imperialists’ military, economic, ideological, and cultural offensives, and we can accomplish any task that arises from the revolution and construction on our own.

A powerful state is a country where economy develops rapidly based on modern science and technology, and the people’s independent and creative life flowers in full bloom.

A country can be regarded as a powerful state only when it has power that it can boast not only in the political and military areas but also in the economic and cultural fields. The developed economy and culture that enables people embrace a lifestyle that envies none other in the world, and that enables them live a distinguished and happy life is the source of the people’s national pride and patriotism that makes them believe that their country is the best in the world.

Economic prosperity and development must be wholly for the working people. If people cannot benefit from “prosperity,” such prosperity is not prosperity in the true sense of the word, no matter how much material wealth may be created through the development of production and technology. The imperialists loudly advertise “prosperity under the free market economy,” but, this is nothing more than the sophistry aimed at justifying the law of the jungle and “the rich growing richer and the poor growing poorer.” In the capitalist society, there is only “freedom” with which the strong exploits the weak, and there is only “prosperity” by which only the few live a rich and luxurious life, but the many suffer poverty. Prosperity in the true sense of the word, which is for one’s own country and people and which contributes to the people’s lofty and rewarding life, is possible only in a powerful socialist state.

A powerful socialist state in the true sense of the terms is one where economy develops dynamically based on modern science and technology and based on the self-reliant foundations that never swing in any global economic fluctuations, and where the popular masses enjoy a material and cultural life to their heart’s content consistent with their independent aspirations and demand.

The theory on the characteristics of a powerful state, which has been clarified by our party, gives the people faith in and optimism about the construction of an independent, powerful state, a utopia, which is the humankind’s century-old desire.

A powerful state is a high goal for the development of the humankind’s society and for the development of a state. The construction of a powerful state, which is a new phase of the construction of an independent state, is not achieved by a subjective desire. The great Comrade Kim Chong-il’s military-first revolutionary ideology shows the destined course of the construction of a powerful state, which is suitable with the popular masses’ aspirations and the demands of the current era.

Our party’s military-first ideology and theory show that the consummation of the cause of building a powerful state is possible only in a country where there is the party’s leadership, where the regime of the state is placed in the hands of the people, and where the power of the barrel of a gun is firmly ensured.

The party is a guiding political organization that awakens and organizes the popular masses, that augments the main force of the revolution, and that exercises the strategic and tactical leadership over the society and the revolution, and the regime of the state is a powerful tool for safeguarding the popular masses’ independent position and the nation’s supreme interests. Only by relying on the Army can the party unite the popular masses as one and seize, consolidate, and develop the regime, which is the symbol of the nation’s sovereignty. At the same time, only under the party’s leadership and under the support and guarantee from the barrel of a gun can the regime of the state properly fulfill its mission as the representative of the people’s interests.

If we are to ceaselessly consolidate the party’s leadership and the regime of the state, the barrel of a gun must be powerful, and, only then, the cause of building a powerful state be successfully consummated.

Our party’s military-first ideology shows that a precondition to the construction of a powerful state is to lay the political, ideological, and materials foundations under which the military strength can be ceaselessly beefed up.

The work of beefing up the military strength is the work of the entire people and the work of the whole country. Only when the masses of people regard military issues as a life-or-death demand and when the material conditions are provided for ceaselessly building national defense can a slogan for the construction of a powerful state be put forth and successfully implemented. Only a country that has the people equipped with the ideology of placing importance on military issues and that has a self-reliant economy — which can ensure a powerful military might materially and technologically — can fully step up the construction of a powerful state — the construction of an invincible country — in line with the demands of the era.

Today, under the great Comrade Kim Chong-il’s wise leadership, our Army and people are hastening the historic advance for the construction of a powerful state.

Our party regards it as a basic requirement for the construction of a powerful state to put forth the Army to the fore as a main force for the defense and construction of the fatherland and to enhance its role.

In consummating the cause of building a rich and powerful fatherland, no other force is more powerful than the Army. It is only commensurate with the military might and the role of the Army that the unity and cohesion of the whole society is consolidated, the economic construction is vigorously stepped up, and all the problems that arise from the construction of a powerful state are properly resolved.

Today, in our country, under the party’s wise leadership, the Army is leading the entire people and pushing ahead with the revolution and construction not only as the defender of the fatherland and but also as the creator of the people’s happiness. Our party’s wise leadership — which ensures that the People’s Army sets examples in all areas of ideology, spirit, the ethos of struggle, the way of doing things, cultural emotions, and lifestyles, and which ensures that all the people actively emulate the Army — serves as a basic source of vigorously stepping up the construction of a powerful state.

As a military-first principle, in advancing, our party tightly grasps it as an important task for the construction of a powerful state to consolidate the political system of the state.

Consolidating the political system of the state consistent with the military- first demand means to thoroughly apply in the construction of the state and in its activities the principle of placing importance on the barrel of a gun and subordinating everything to the military work. The state structural system in the era of building a powerful state must be a system focused on the defense of the nation. Today, in our country, a state’s political system, which is focused on the defense of the nation, has been firmly established for uniformly controlling the whole of the country’s political, military, and economic forces at any time and under all circumstances, for safeguarding the supreme interests of the nation and the destiny of the people, and for ceaselessly consolidating and developing the overall national strength of the country. The state structural system established in the military-first era constitutes a reliable political and military guarantee for the construction of a chuch’e-oriented powerful socialist state.

Tightly grasping the defense industry as a lifeline for the country and the nation in advancing is an important line that our party consistently maintains in building a powerful state.

In a powerful state, the defense industry takes a leading and key position in the economy. As long as the imperialists continue to exist, the defense industry is a lifeline for the country and the nation.

Today, by firmly adhering to the principle of putting prime effort into the defense industry and, based on this, by developing the overall economy ceaselessly, our party is brilliantly resolving the issue of consolidating the national strength of a powerful state. Reality shows that developing the defense industry with priority while developing the light industry and agriculture simultaneously is the best way to satisfactorily ensure the people’s independent and creative life while actively engaging in the fierce anti-imperialism struggle.

Instilling the revolutionary military spirit into the entire society is a strategic task our party has put forth for the construction of a powerful state.

The course of the development of a socialist society is a course of imbuing all the members of the society and all the areas of social life with a revolutionary ideology and spirit. Giving priority to the socialist ideological reform and to the work of reforming people is a correct path to hasten the construction of a powerful state.

Imbuing the whole society with the revolutionary military spirit is the highest stage of the work of reforming people in a socialist manner, and it is a powerful method of nurturing people as true revolutionaries and as ardent patriots. Today, in every aspect, our People’s Army has become a model of independent human beings to be followed by the members of the society.

Imbuing the whole society with the revolutionary military spirit means making all the members of the society the replicas of the chuch’e-type soldiers of the revolutionary army. Human beings who possess the ethos of the soldiers of the revolutionary army are the genuine aspects of new-type human beings who will live in a powerful state.

The basic thing in imbuing people with the revolutionary military spirit is the revolutionary discipline through service in the Army. Today, in our country, everyone regards it as a supreme honor to serve in the Army, and all people discipline themselves through the military service. It has become a social trend that all the people emulate the revolutionary fighting spirit and the revolutionary way of doing things established by the Army. As the discharged soldiers trained in the People’s Army excellently play a leading role, the work of revolutionizing the whole society and imbuing it with the military spirit is being actively stepped up, and the military-first era’s true human beings, who completely emulate the revolutionary army’s militant mettle and its way of doing things, are being nurtured through the magnificent practice of building a powerful state.

In our country, the cause of building a powerful state is a historic cause the foundation of which was already laid in early days by the great leader [suryongnim].

Our people’s struggle for the construction of a powerful state has entered a period of a new turnaround under the respected and beloved Comrade Kim Chong- il’s military-first leadership.

A guarantee for resounding the sound of the gunfire in the not distant future for the victory we have achieved in the construction of a powerful state has been firmly provided for us. We are persistently pushing ahead with the construction of a powerful state while raising the storms of leap, for military- first ideology — the revolutionary banner of the 21st century — illuminates the path of the future, for the respected and beloved Comrade Kim Chong-il’s military-first politics is great, and for we have the faithful Army and people that have formed a complete whole with the leader [yongdoja].

The theory on the construction of a powerful state, which is the embodiment of the military-first principle, is an everlasting banner that has opened up a new era for the development of an independent state. The theory on the construction of a powerful state is the new century’s program of independence that has put a final end to the era of flunkeyism and depending on outside forces during which small countries and weak nations depended on big countries while looking up at them. When people continue to tenaciously advance under the military-first banner with the pride and guts that small countries can also ably become powerful counties, a great turnaround will be achieved in the struggle to build an independent, equal, new world.

Military-first ideology is a great revolutionary ideology, which has been completed through the outstanding ideological and theoretical activities of the respected and beloved Comrade Kim Chong-il — the sun of the 21st century and the commander of Mt. Paektu — and through his heroic revolutionary practice, and it is the revolutionary banner of the new era in history that shines along with the name of Comrade Kim Chong-il.

Along the arduous and rugged road of adding luster to the new era of the chuch’e revolution under the great Comrade Kim Chong-il’s leadership, our Army and people have realized deep in their hearts that military-first ideology is indeed an invincible banner that leads the revolution to one victory to another, and it is an eternal sign post for the dignity of the Kim Il-song nation and for its prosperity and development.

While following General Kim Chong-il, the commander of Mt. Paektu, our Army and people, with a life-or-death resolve, will not step back even an inch on the road of the military-first revolution they have chosen, and they will consummate the chuch’e socialist cause through to the end as those who absolutely worship military-first ideology, as the staunch supporters of military-first politics, and as the thoroughgoing implementers of the military-first revolutionary line.

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Document 2

On April 3, 2003, Nodong Sinmun carried another Editorial Bureau Special Article, “Military-First Politics Is a Precious Sword of Sure Victory for National Sovereignty”; which was broadcast on Pyongyang Korean Central Broadcasting Station in Korean 2300 GMT, April 2, 2003

Military-First Politics Is a Precious Sword of Sure Victory for National Sovereignty

Our revolution victoriously advances today, weathering the dire tribulations of history, thanks to the great party’s military-first leadership.

Our party’s military-first politics is a precious sword of sure victory, which firmly guarantees the fatherland and nation’s sovereignty.

The beloved and respected Comrade Kim Chong-il is our nation’s great protector and leader who firmly safeguards the nation’s sovereignty and dignity and pioneers the future for the fatherland’s reunification and prosperity at the head with the might of military-first politics.

It is the greatest honor and pride of all the officers and men of the People’s Army and people to have the great brilliant military-first commander at the highest position of the party, the state, and the army and achieve victory after victory at the outpost line of anti-imperialist struggle in our times.

Following the great military-first banner, our people and the entire nation will resolutely crush the imperialists’ highhandedness and arbitrariness [kanggwongwa chonhoeng]; surely safeguard the nation’s sovereignty and dignity; and remarkably achieve the establishment of a powerful socialist state and the historic cause of reunifying the fatherland.

National sovereignty lies on the military-first road.

The legitimacy and vitality of a political style lie in firmly safeguarding the country and nation’s sovereignty. Nation is [positioned] over class and stratum, and the fatherland is over idea and ideology. Being separated from loving the country and nation, no political ideology or style can attain the entire nation’s support or empathy or display their invincibility.

Our party’s military-first politics is a noble politics of loving the country, nation, and people, which combines the love of people, country, and nation into one.

The great leader, Comrade Kim Chong-il, pointed out the following:

Our military-first politics — based on the invincible revolutionary armed forces — is the politics of principle, justice, anti-imperialism, and independence, which reliably protects and guarantees the popular masses’ independent demands and interests and the country and nation’s sovereignty and dignity from all kinds of encroachment by imperialist reactionaries. Our military-first politics is also a noble politics of loving the country, nation, and people.

In history, there were different political ideologies claiming to love one’s country and nation. Though bourgeois nationalism upheld the slogan of loving one’s country and nation, it submitted the common interest of a nation to that of a minority exploiting class. The history of bourgeois politics shows that the reactionary exploiting class clamors about nationalism one moment, but it is not hesitant at the next to sell off the interests of its country and nation for its own interest.

In any nation, popular masses compose the absolute majority of the nation. In any era, it is the popular masses that share their life and death with their fatherland and resolutely fight in protection of their country and their nation’s sovereignty. The most powerful political style is our party’s military- first politics, which will correctly reflect the desires and wishes of the popular masses who value their country and nation’s sovereignty in today’s era and enable them to brilliantly realize such desires and wishes.

The popular masses’ struggle for their country and nation’s sovereignty is accompanied by the confrontation of power with the imperialists. As such, the road to sure victory for protecting and guaranteeing their country and nation’s sovereignty lies in the military-first path, which considers the military the foremost priority in state affairs, puts forth the army as the main force of the revolution, and reinforces mighty military power on its own.

Military-first [politics] is a banner for protecting the nation, which leads the nation to safeguard its fate with its own efforts. All peoples’ first priority is to strongly protect the fate of their fatherland and nation from encroachment by imperialism and hegemonic forces.

In order for each nation to firmly safeguard its fate, it should believe in and strengthen its own power. Even a small country and nation can definitely defeat any large enemy if it has an extraordinary determination and unyielding will and strengthens its power. Looking back on the world history of nations, there were many peoples that appeared and disappeared in mankind’s historical arena. The reason does not lie elsewhere. If a nation has feeble determination and will for preserving its national character and protecting the nation’s fate and if its power is weak, it cannot but have its territory taken away, and then it will either be amalgamated or annihilated by a foreign enemy.

The life and death of each nation depends on the nation’s own power, and the best national power, which firmly guarantees the nation’s fate, is military power.

A strong army makes a strong country and an invincible nation. Even an economically and culturally strong country and nation cannot but be swallowed and annihilated by an external force of aggression if their military power is weak.

Moreover, today, in an environment in which the US imperialists, who have come to the fore as the sole superpower, are running amok frantically under the policy of strength to dominate the world, military power is the first lifeline guaranteeing the destiny of the country and nation.

Our party’s military-first politics puts forth military affairs as the foremost national affair among national affairs based on the view that military power is the basis for defending the nation’s fate and is a politics of putting priority on the military, exerting all the country’s efforts toward strengthening military power. This is a national self-defense politics of reliably defending the nation’s destiny through one’s own strength and a politics of farsightedness, which guarantees the far-reaching plan of the country and nation.

There is a proverb that states one can become a ruined country in an instance while a blessed country lasts 1,000 years. This proverb encapsulates history’s lesson that it is easy to lose the fatherland but it is difficult to find it again.

The road of ruining a country and nation is none other than neglecting military power. If [a country’s] military power is not firmly consolidated — by entrusting one’s security to a big power — and it falls into materialism attaching importance only to economic construction wrapped up in flunkeyism, then the country’s foundation will suddenly collapse and the nation’s destiny will come to an end.

For a small country and nation to check imperialist aggressive forces through its own strength and to defend the nation’s destiny is not easy by any means. However, if we highly build up a fortress of national defense that is possessed with the life-or-death determination that we can live without candy but not without bullets, even though there is no [word indistinct] and no one helps, we can easily and firmly defend the nation’s destiny.

Military-first is a banner of national independence that makes it possible to openly exercise the nation’s sovereignty. The nation’s sovereignty is the right of political self-determination in which all problems are resolved independently in accordance with the interests of its nation.

Each country and nation should exercise sovereignty in all aspects of domestic affairs and diplomacy and, in particular, an independent line should be firmly established in foreign relations.

A country that cannot exercise political sovereignty, even though it has a political regime, cannot be called an independent state.

If the road to exercising political sovereignty is the way of loving the nation and people, which safeguards the nation’s dignity and interest, and in achieving the country’s wealth and power, the road to depending on outside forces by passing along the baton of big powers is the way of selling the nation and betraying the people, leading the country and nation toward decay and ruin.

No one else can protect or offer political sovereignty. History tells us that although there are many nations that were robbed of their national sovereignty by asking big powers for protection, there are no big powers that have safeguarded the sovereignty of small and weak nations.

Sovereignty is what cannot be offered by any international organization, and the principle of political self-determination is what cannot be safeguarded by the mere sympathy of the international community.

The political sovereignty of each nation can be firmly protected only by the mighty military power of the nation itself.

Politics and the military are the two sides of one thing, and there is always an invincible, powerful army behind dignified independent politics. Military power is political strength and national power.

Today, when the imperialists are violently infringing upon the sovereignty of other countries and nations on the basis of military power, the revolutionary military becomes a powerful pillar that guarantees the country’s independence and the nation’s sovereignty.

The strong pluck to face the imperialists’ high-handed and outrageous threat and blackmail head-on, and the high national dignity that solves every problem according to independent decisions and judgments by resolutely driving away all sorts of pressure and interference from outside forces, come from the mighty gun-barrel.

Our party’s military-first idea is based on the military-first political principle that [says] a revolutionary regime separated from the gun-barrel and independent politics separated from the invincible strong army cannot exist. It puts forth the army as the main force of the revolution, and clarifies how all efforts must be concentrated on strengthening and developing the main force of the revolution.

The uniqueness and invincibility of military-first politics lies in putting forth the revolutionary army as the main force of leading politics. In the past, it was recognized as an unbreakable formula in socialist politics to put forth the working class.

However, the theory and formula that was generated one and a half centuries ago cannot be applicable to today’s reality. The issue of the main force of the revolution cannot be something fixed or unchangeable in any period or society and is also not something that can be resolved based only on class relationships.

The issue of which class or stratum in a society, or which social group becomes the main force of the revolution is determined by its status and its role in the revolution and construction.

Today, when imperialism’s logic of power is running rampant, neither the working class nor any other social groups can substitute the position and role of the revolutionary army. In today’s era, the gun barrel should be placed over the hammer and sickle and [we] must pool our energies into strengthening the revolutionary military from the principle of giving priority to the military over the workers [songun huroui wonch’ik]. This is an invincible road to resolutely rejecting the imperialists’ strong-arm [policies] [kanggwon] and high-handedness and safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty.

Military-first [politics] is a banner of national prosperity that will enable the nation to achieve prosperity, power, and advancement. Achieving national prosperity is a demand of independence common to all peoples. There are great and small nations in the world, but there is no nation that wishes to fall behind other nations. Economic development is a mandatory demand for national prosperity. Economic development and the people’s enjoyment of a prosperous material life are one indication that a nation is thriving. A country’s economic development and the placement of importance on the military are linked as one.

So far, the correlation between the economy and the military has been discussed mainly from the economic-centered angle, and it has been said that the strengthening of military power was impossible without economic development. Of course, it is true that economic power serves as the foundation and an asset for military power. What takes the leading position in the correlation between the army and economy is, however, still the army. It is the new principle illuminated by the military-first idea that only when we place importance on the gun barrel can we build an economically powerful state. If economic power is based on military power, military power is a guarantee for economic power and impetus for economic development. We cannot defend national industries nor ensure a peaceful environment for economy-building without strong military power.

Placing importance on the military enhances the revolutionary army’s revolutionary character, sense of organization, and combat capabilities and enables us to vigorously push forward with the overall socialist construction based on the military. The national defense industry is a field that deems state-of-the-art science and technology and strong heavy industries as essential demands. In as much as this is the case, placing importance on national defense, by corollary, enables us to vigorously promote the country’s science and technology development, accelerate the chuch’e-orientation, modernization, and scientization of heavy industries and the overall economic sector, to which heavy industries serve as the pillar, and achieve rapid progress.

Once we lay the foundation for a powerful self-supporting national defense industry, we will be able to rejuvenate all economic fields, to include light industry and agriculture, and enhance the quality of the people’s lives. If the nation is to prosper, full-scale development must be achieved not only in the economic field but also in the ideological, cultural, and all the other sectors. It is clear that an ideologically and culturally handicapped nation cannot thrive and prosper. Armies have been thought of as forces that are not that related to ideological and cultural development. They have even been regarded the destroyers of mankind’s civilizations. This logic is something that only applies to the imperialist armies of aggression, which are estranged from the people and would do anything for aggression and plunder.

The revolutionary army is the leader of revolutionary ideological and cultural development, and the nation’s ideological and cultural development cannot be thought of separate from the reinforcement and development of the revolutionary army. The nation’s sense of independence and a revolutionary and sound national culture come from the revolutionary gun barrel. If we strengthen the military from the military-first principle, the people’s sense of national independence, pride, and national dignity and honor are bound to increase. Once the revolutionary army’s solid ideologies, noble morals, civilized living styles, and an atmosphere of a healthy culture and emotions rule the society as a whole, all types of alien ideological elements and old conventions in everyday life will not be able to survive, and imperialism’s ideological and cultural infiltration will lose energy. This reveals that only when we place importance on the gun barrel will we be able to adhere to placing importance on ideologies and brilliantly bring into bloom and develop the socialist national culture. That military-first politics is an omnipotent, precious sword that makes possible full-scale development and prosperity in all sectors, to include the economic, science and technology, ideological and moral, and the cultural, is a law of nature attested to by our country’s reality.

A banner of national independence, the safeguarding of the nation, and national prosperity, military-first politics is the brethren’s banner that the entire Korean nation upholds with warm, patriotic hearts and a mighty weapon that progressive mankind concurs with and follows.

Military-first [politics] is a precious sword that has brought about invincibility.

The might of a political method is clearly verified where the anti-imperialism, pro-independence struggle is waged the most fiercely and when the revolution’s situation is at its harshest period. Today, military-first politics grips the hearts of our people and all brethren and arouses mankind’s sympathy because its legitimacy and superiority were fully verified in the course of our revolution’s implementation, which was the most difficult and complicated.

The entire history of the DPRK revolution is a glorious history that has displayed invincibility under the banner of the ideology of placing importance on the gun barrel and the military-first ideology. Earlier on, great leader [suryong] Comrade Kim Il-song set forth the ideology of placing importance on the gun barrel that the country and the nation’s sovereignty, independence, and prosperity are on the revolutionary gun barrel and made our revolution’s entire history shine as a unique military-first revolutionary history. Our people are a proud people who defeated the two most atrocious, formidable imperialist foes and attained the country and nation’s sovereignty and independence and have honorably safeguarded it along the military-first revolutionary road. Based on his wise grasp of the changed environment of the times and our revolution’s harsh situation in the last decade of the 20th century, the respected and beloved General Kim Chong-il presented the military-first principle that the army is the party, state, and people and established the unique military-first political method.

The establishment of the military-first political method; this was a direct inheritance of the great leader’s [suryongnimui] ideology of placing importance on the gun barrel, a deepening toward and development to a new, higher plane, and was a historic event that provided a strong and mighty political weapon, which enabled the fatherland and nation’s fate to be firmly defended. With the establishment of the military-first political method, the chuch’e revolution’s new era — the military-first era — which is advancing under the military-first banner, has come to majestically unfold.

The great leader, Comrade Kim Chong-il, has pointed out the following: The legitimacy, superiority, and great vitality of our party’s military-first idea and politics are proven by our revolution’s implementation and our reality and are more clearly displayed day by day.

Respected and beloved General Kim Chong-il’s military-first idea and politics — the basic wellspring of all miracles and feats of the modern DPRK that highly displays invincible might and dignity at the forefront of today’s anti- imperialism, pro-independence era — are an invincible banner.

Military-first politics is an invincible, precious sword that has enabled our nation to display its might as a highly dignified independent nation.

In order for one nation to become a highly dignified nation that nobody can provoke or belittle, it must staunchly grasp the gun barrel. There can be no independence without the gun barrel, and should the gun barrel become rusted, the nation’s dignity will lose its rays. Until as recently as the mid-20th century, our nation was an unfortunate nation that could not but have its sovereignty violated and suffer all kinds of national contempt and scorn because of its weak gun barrel.

However, our nation came to regain its dignity through the revolutionary gun barrel the great leader [suryongnim] held up high in the thick Paektu woods. And today, it is propped up high by the military-first gun barrel our party firmly grasps as it advances, and we are displaying to the entire world the nation’s dignity and honor.

The confidence of our fatherland, which is displaying to the world over the nation’s dignity, has been fully displayed in the severe [chunomhan] DPRK-US showdown [taegyolchon] that has spanned from the last decade of the 20th century until now. The DPRK-US confrontation, which has been fiercely staged in recent years amid international society’s undivided attention, was not born from our nuclear issue; it was generated by the conflict between our resolute position of trying to preserve the nation’s sovereignty and the US imperialists’ dominationist ambition to rule all of Korea and turn our people into slaves. It is the US imperialists’ true intent and disgusting actual intention to try to isolate and crush our Republic, and moreover, attain global hegemony by spreading lies about our so-called nuclear development program. Our Republic, which cannot be viewed as a big country in terms of territory or population, stood face to face with the US imperialists, who style themselves as the sole superpower, and resolutely safeguarded the country and nation’s sovereignty and dignity. This is something that is beyond imagination for those with ordinary common sense. This miracle in history could be created by none other than the military-first road.

Military-first politics fostered our People’s Army into a matchless, strong army of the Mt. Paektu revolution, armed our people with the revolutionary army’s thorough spirit of death-defyingly defending the leader, the spirit of safeguarding the fatherland, and anti-imperialist, class consciousness, and consolidated the absolutely perfect party-army-people harmony. It was because the gun barrel was strong and singe-hearted unity was iron clad that our party was able to handle the US imperialists’ appeasement tactics with a revolutionary principle and their hard line with an ultra-hard line and honorably safeguard the country and nation’s sovereignty and dignity amid unprecedented dark trials.

During the days of military-first [politics], our party came to the conclusion that we could firmly defend the country and nation’s sovereignty against great imperialist enemies who boast they are the most powerful in the world, if the army is strong and single-hearted unity is stout.

There are many instances in the history of international relations when those who boasted, standing against the imperialists, ended up standing bereft of rights holding a white flag. These are empty bluffs that result from not having actual strength and pluck.

Our ultra-hardline response toward the United States is not just empty words. These words are a resolute response based on our powerful political and military might, firm resolution that means business when one says one will do something, and a conviction of certain victory that believes in winning every fight.

If the US imperialists dare to set out in taking a rash challenge by misjudging our standpoint, will, and might, the enemies will only meet with a bitter, miserable defeat while we will achieve the complete reunification of Korea.

Our party’s military-first politics has been a powerful weapon that has secured peace on the Korean peninsula as well as our nation’s rights to exist during the worst adverse situations. Peace cannot be secured by means of one-sided concessions or pleading. The true brigandish color of the imperialists is that such character will be puffed up, the more we concede. The country’s peace can only be secured when its strength is strong.

There was not one calm day on the Korea peninsula over the past 50-odd years after the fatherland’s liberation war ended, due to the US imperialists’ maneuvers to provoke a new war. In particular, the US imperialists’ maneuvers to provoke a war of aggression reached the extreme and a second Korean War became an established fact after the Cold War ended, which led to breakdown in the balance of power in the international arena. The fact that [we have] secured peace on the Korean peninsula, which is the most dangerous flash point area [yolchom chiyok] in the world, for a long period spanning half a century, itself, is clear proof of the might of our party’s military-first ideology.

Our military-first politics is not used in threatening or attacking some one [uriui songun chongch’inun kyolk’o ku nugurul wihyophagona ch’imnyak hagi wihan kosi anida]. It is a principled and righteous anti-imperialism, pro-independence politics as well as a politics for national protection that aims to smash the imperialists’ maneuvers of aggression with an invincible bayonet as well as safeguard the country’s peace and the nations’ destiny. The baseness [piyolsong] of the US imperialists is something that is unmanly before the strong and violent against the weak.

The reason that the US imperialists have not dared to light the fuse of war, though they have occasionally led the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war in the past, was not because of being afraid of the standpoint of concerned nations or world opinion. The US imperialists smashed many countries with force while ignoring officially recognized international laws and opinion of concerned nations, if it was in their national interests. Therefore, the reason that they were unable to sound the firearms of war on the Korean peninsula, where their strategic interests have intensively relied, was totally due to our powerful military power.

The US imperialists dared not aim a clumsy blow [sonbulchil], although they recently branded our Republic as [part of] an axis of evil and overtly revealed their attempt to deal a preemptive strike against us. This is because they, as world public opinion recognizes, are afraid of the disastrous results that could be brought about through confrontation with us.

If our gun barrel had been weak, a war would have again broken out on this land and our nation would have also experienced an unimaginable, terrible disaster.

Our military-first politics serve as a lifeline that safeguards the destiny of the whole Korean nation from the imperialists’ aggression. A peace gained through a slave-like surrender is not peace. There were nations in history that pleaded for peace to the imperialists as well as countries that offered their territory to negotiate for peace [hwaui]. We have no choice if the gun barrel is weak [ch’ongdaega yakhamyon tallinun toel su opta]. Permeated in our military- first politics is the will to risk one’s life in never pleading [for peace], no matter how precious peace is.

We were able to honorably secure peace on the Korean peninsula and our nation’s right to exist without yielding a step to the imperialists, thanks to the powerful gun barrel of military first [politics]. Today, we are honorably safeguarding the country’s territorial integrity and the nation’s destiny while single-handedly standing against the imperialist coalition powers. Such an act is a very highly dignified and proud incident, which is unprecedented in the history of mankind.

Military-first politics was the driving force that extraordinarily enhanced our country’s international authority [kwonwi]. The people’s extreme pride and honor relies on the fatherland’s authority, whereas the fatherland’s authority relies on independence. The country’s authority is apt to grow higher, the more firm one’s independent standpoint is. Today, our fatherland possesses high international authority unprecedented in the 5,000-year national history.

Historically, the US imperialists have persistently plotted to isolate and crush our Republic. However, today, our Republic’s foreign relations are expanding day by day. Nowadays, the countries that kept a distance from us or disliked us and even the countries that followed the US imperialists’ isolating and crushing maneuvers are maintaining close relations with us. Amid such a trend of the time, the US imperialists’ anti-Republic isolating and crushing encircling net [p’owimang] is falling to pieces.

Our Republic’s high authority is fully manifested in our political capabilities, which are strengthened day by day, and in our foreign relations, which have rapidly expanded in recent years. The situation where the powers determined the DPRK issue by excluding us, as in the past century, can never be repeated again today.

The bitter history of begging the powers, making requests to big countries, and receiving the cold shoulder as a small and weak country has become the eternal past. Today’s stark reality is that any issue of the Korean peninsula cannot be resolved without attaching importance to us and respecting our position.

The high international status and great influential power of our fatherland, which leads world politics, are implied in mankind’s voice that praises our Republic as a small and big country. Our Republic says what it must say on the international stage without studying others’ feelings and being restricted by something. Our voice echoes, with heavy weight, as the voice of truth that slanders injustice and represents justice. Also, the people of a wide range of countries listen to our voice and coincide with it. This eloquently shows our Republic’s high international authority [taeoejok kwonwi].

Military power is state authority and dignity [kukkwonigo kukgwiida]. Independent politics based on powerful military power can heighten the country’s international authority. Today, our country’s international authority is being heightened more than ever before as a fruit of just and courageous independent politics and military-first diplomacy based on invincible military power.

In recent years, we are achieving dramatic political and diplomatic consecutive victories, which attract the world’s attention, and reinforcing the country’s international status and influential power more than ever before. We can never think about the aforementioned facts apart from military-first politics. Our DPRK is the fatherland of military-first idea and politics, which received the light of revival under the banner of military-first idea and wielded its dignity and majestic appearance in the entire world thanks to the might of military- first politics.

The great military-first politics, which created the heroic epic of the modern DPRK by linking century after century amid the gravest difficulties of history, will eternally wield dignity as the weapon of certain victory that forever symbolizes our nation’s independence.

Let us wield high the nation’s dignity and majestic appearance under the military-first banner.

Military-first politics is the mighty weapon of our era’s anti-imperialist struggle and the eternal lifeline of our fatherland and nation. Aggression and pillage is the pronoun [taemyongsa] of imperialism, and the imperialists do not stop a fire game before they die.

Military-first ideology and politics are strategic revolutionary lines and political methods that must be adhered to forever as long as imperialism remains on earth and maneuvers of aggression continue. It is the unbending faith and will of our party, army, and people to resolutely adhere to and glorify forever our nation’s sovereignty and dignity, which were retrieved through military- first [politics], with the military-first gun barrel.

However the situation may change in the future, there cannot be even one step of retreat or stagnation on the military-first road. The military-first banner means victory if we defend it and death if we throw it away.

The great leader, Comrade Kim Chong-il, pointed out the following:

Holding high the military-first banner, the entire party, army, and people must carry out a courageous struggle. By doing so, they must build a powerful socialist state, realize the fatherland’s reunification, and complete the revolutionary cause of chuch’e.

Under the great party’s leadership, we should more stubbornly adhere to the military-first banner and highly wield the nation’s dignity and majestic appearance. The entire People’s Army officers and men as well as people must become military-first revolutionary comrades who learn our party’s military- first idea as their faith.

Military-first idea is the lighthouse that enlightens the new era of chuch’e revolution and the basic cornerstone of the single-hearted unity of our party, army, and people. The entire army and people become comrades who keep our party’s military-first idea as a firm faith and uphold it with loyalty. Herein lies the road to pass down the tradition of military-first revolution and highly wield the DPRK nation’s dignity and majestic appearance in the entire world.

We must breathe with military-first idea and think and act according to the demands of this idea at all times and in all places. The nation’s sovereignty and dignity as well as the fatherland’s bright future lie on the invincible gun barrel. Such a firm viewpoint and the never-changing will to put the gun barrel on the vanguard and to eternally share our life, death, and destiny with the gun barrel – these are the thorough military-first beliefs our army and people must possess.

Today, the great Comrade Kim Chong-il is constantly developing and enriching the military-first idea with outstanding thinking and energetic ideological and theoretical activities. During these days, theoretical and practical problems for thoroughly implementing the military-first principle are being fully and profoundly elucidated in political and military, economic and cultural, and all other sectors.

We must deeply study the theory on strongly consolidating the ranks of the revolution with the People’s Army as a main force in the revolution, the idea requiring all people to learn from the People’s Army’s revolutionary soldier spirit and powerfully accelerate the task of building a powerful state, the economic construction line on giving priority to the defense industry, and other creative military-first revolutionary theories and lines presented by our party, and cherish them as their main lines.

The military-first revolutionary annals of the great general, who won victory in the rigorous battle for defending socialism in the last year of the 20th century with the invincible gun barrels at the vanguard, are national treasures incomparable to anything else.

We must endlessly deepen our study of the military-first revolutionary annals in compliance with the demand of the developing times and, thus, more keenly realize the justness and invincible strength of the military-first idea. We must uphold the party’s military-first politics and, thus, strengthen the country’s overall national strength by all means.

Our Republic is the symbol of the Korean nation’s independence, dignity, and honor. Our nation’s dignity and honor are brilliant because of the dignified spirit of the Republic, which display its majestic appearance as an independent fortress, and the bright future of the nation, which will prosper boundlessly, lies in the dignified spirit of the Republic.

The 55th anniversary of the Republic’s founding, which will be marked this year, is an historic occasion to endlessly glorify great leader Comrade Kim Il-song’s accomplishments in national founding and highly displaying the Republic’s dignified appearance and the nation’s dignity under the party’s military-first leadership. We must momentously enhance the country’s strength by launching bold offensive combat this year, which marks the 55th anniversary of the Republic’s founding.

Victory or defeat in the sacred cause of crushing imperialism’s strong arm and tyranny and establishing national independence nationwide, and the nation’s prosperity for all the posterity depend on our national strength. A way to strengthen our Republic’s overall national strength is to implement the great general’s plan to build a powerful state, and the force that powerfully drives the task of building a powerful state lies in military-first politics. We must thoroughly adhere to the military-first principle in all areas of party building and state activities and thoroughly orient all works in the revolution and the construction to implementing the military-first idea. Our revolution’s military fortresses, which have been consolidated into invincible fortresses thanks to the party’s military-first leadership, are a basic guarantee to attain victory in the cause of building a powerful state. We must consistently put forth the anti-imperialist military front as a basic front and the first lifeline for defending the fatherland and the nation, and give top priority to strengthening the People’s Army’s combat strength.

Today, our People’s Army and people are strongly consolidated into genuine comradely relations in which they share the same life and destiny along the single road of the military-first revolution under the party’s leadership. We must further consolidate the single-hearted unity of the military and people based on the military-first idea and, thus, incomparably strengthen the political and ideological might of our revolution.

The great victory in the fatherland liberation war was a noteworthy historic event in the honorable 55 years of our Republic, which won every sacred war against the imperialists and the United States on the strength of the military- first principle.

On the 50th anniversary of the victory in the war, we must inherit the proud history and tradition of victory in the sacred war against the imperialists and the United States, steadfastly defend the country’s independence and the nation’s dignity on the strength of the military-first principle, and march forward more powerfully.

Giving priority to military affairs and subjecting everything to strengthening national defense capabilities is an excellent trait that can only be found in our country, the fatherland of military-first politics. We must more highly display this proud trait during this year’s march. We must resolutely defend the strategic lines on socialist economic construction in the military-first era and, thus, develop the national defense industry on a priority basis and build a powerful national economic strength.

All people must inherit our revolution’s tradition of assisting the military, loving the People’s Army as their kindred, sincerely assisting it, and, thus, making hurrahs for unity between the military and people resound throughout the country. Our young people consider it to be the greatest honor and a sacred duty to serve in the People’s Army and positively volunteer to serve at guard posts for defending the fatherland. This trait is being highly displayed as time goes by.

A manifestation of their lofty true intention of holding high our party’s military-first politics; this is something that should be paraded before the world. When all our new-generation youth embroider the days of their youth with heroic feats along with the revolutionary gun barrel, our fatherland’s defense line will be further consolidated like an iron tub.

All brethren must struggle more vigorously to achieve the fatherland’s reunification. Our nation is a homogeneous nation that shares one bloodline, history, language, and culture. Connecting the nation’s divided blood veins and achieving the fatherland’s reunification are the supreme tasks that can no longer be delayed. Should our nation continue to remain divided into North and South and remain in a confrontational stage in a complex situation like today, we could once again become colonial slaves. It could also bring about the irrevocable consequence of alienating people from one another. Division weakens. Strength and reunification redoubles strength. With the fatherland’s reunification, our country will soar as a great power in the East that has a population of 70 million, invincible military power, and great economic potential, and our nation will display its might as a great nation that is wise and dignified.

The way to put an end to the tragedy of the national division and advance the fatherland’s reunification is to reject the foreign forces and materialize grand national unity. Right now, the imperialists and reactionaries are viciously maneuvering to breed antagonism and discord within the nation. The imperialists’ vicious slander of our military-first politics also starts from their attempt to fuel distrust and confrontation between compatriots and block our country’s reunification. Our military-first politics is open and aboveboard politics of anti-imperialism, pro-independence, and of loving the country and nation that nobody can dispute. Carrying out military-first [politics] does not by all means mean using force against compatriots. The target of our gun barrels is the imperialist forces that trample on the nation’s sovereignty and dignity and threaten brethren’s existence, not compatriots. Our military-first politics is combined into one with a great reunification plan of national sovereignty and grand national unity that tries to reject all kinds of foreign forces, joins forces among our people, and peacefully realizes the fatherland’s reunification. It was along the military-first path that the historic P’yongyang reunion [inter-Korean summit of 2000] was arranged, the 15 June North-South Joint Declaration was adopted, and a new chapter opened in national reconciliation and unity, and these recent realities themselves prove this.

Whether one supports or stymies military-first [politics] serves as a litmus test for discriminating independence from flunkeyism, patriotism from betrayal, and reunification from division today. Those who have the Korean nation’s blood and soul must all positively support military-first politics and uphold it with a passionate heart of patriotism. This is the way to reject cooperation with the flunkeyist, nation-selling foreign forces and advance the fatherland’s reunification via national cooperation of loving the country and nation and grand national unity.

Due to the US imperialists’ anachronistic ambition to dominate Korea today, there still remain many obstacles and difficulties before the road to the fatherland’s reunification. However, we are optimistic about the future of the fatherland’s reunification. Our nation will resolutely smash the US imperialists’ maneuvers to eternally divide [the Korean nation] and will, without fail, recover our national unity and sovereignty, which were handed down for 5,000 years.

The military-first road our party teaches is a road to independence, reunification, and happiness. The glorious history and tradition of the military-first revolution, which was pioneered in the thick woods of Mt. Paektu, is resolutely being firmly inherited century after century, and for this reason, an infinitely bright future lies ahead for our nation. As long as we have the outstanding military-first idea and politics of great General Kim Chong-il, who is a matchless patriot and the son of a guerrilla, the Korean nation’s dignity and might will be more highly displayed, and an independent, prosperous powerful state and reunified Korea will, without fail, be established over this 3,000-ri land.

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Document 3

Statement of fm [foreign ministry] spokesman blasts UNSC’s discussion of Korean nuclear issue

Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) — A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea issued the following statement today: The United States forced the UN Security Council to call a meeting on April 9 to discuss the DPRK’s withdrawal from the NPT.

As pointed out in the Jan. 10 statement of the DPRK government, its withdrawal from the NPT has already taken effect.

The U.S. and some countries insist on a “legal argument” that the DPRK’s withdrawal takes effect after April 10 but a scrutiny into the minutes of the UNSC meeting held in June 1993 would tell that such assertions are meaningless.

The DPRK has so far made every possible effort to ensure stability and peace in the Korean Peninsula and the region.

The projected discussion of the DPRK’s issue at the UNSC meeting in spite of this is undisguised pressure on the DPRK and a grave provocative act intended to scuttle all its efforts for dialogue and aggravate the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

The UNSC’s handling of the nuclear issue on the peninsula itself is precisely a prelude to war.

The UNSC’s discussion of the Iraqi issue was misused by the U.S. as an excuse for war.

The U.S. intends to force the DPRK to disarm itself.

The Iraqi war shows that to allow disarming through inspection does not help avert a war but rather sparks it.

Neither international public opinion nor the UN Charter could prevent the U.S. from mounting an attack on Iraq.

This suggests that even the signing of a non-aggression treaty with the U.S. would not help avert a war.

Only the physical deterrent force, tremendous military deterrent force powerful enough to decisively beat back an attack supported by any ultra-modern weapons, can avert a war and protect the security of the country and the nation. This is a lesson drawn from the Iraqi war.

The U.S is seriously mistaken if it thinks that the DPRK will accept the demand for disarming while watching one of the three countries the U.S. listed as part of an “axis of evil” already subject to the barbarous military attack.

The DPRK will not recognize any resolution to be adopted at the UNSC meeting to be called by the U.S. which launched the war defying the UN.

If the UNSC is abused for the U.S. hostile policy to stifle the DPRK, it will not bear any responsibility for the failure of all the efforts for dialogue and the extremely tense situation but will have no other option but to beef up the deterrent force for war by mobilizing all the potentials.