111th Anniversary of the Birth of President Kim Il Sung
April 15, 1912

Exploits in Nation-Building

President Kim Il Sung reviews contruction plans for Pyongyang, November 1982.

The founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is inextricably tied to the legendary leadership of its President Kim Il Sung. In the DPRK, the commemoration of the birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung necessarily recounts his vital contributions to the defence of the Korean people from foreign aggression, the DPRK’s socialist nation-building project and the reunification of Korea.

Among other things, the founding of the DPRK was a considerable feat, made possible by the prolonged and ultimately victorious struggle against the brutal Japanese military occupation (1905-1945).

Of particular importance in his leadership to set up a people’s government is that he established a people’s revolutionary government at the guerrilla base during the anti-Japanese armed struggle. Based on its historical roots, he advanced a line of nation-building suited to the country’s situation and established the Provisional People’s Committee of North Korea in February 1946 right after Korea’s liberation, a democratic people’s power to perform the pressing task of the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution.

The people-centred character that defines the DPRK today was an integral part of Kim Il Sung’s leadership. With the Japanese imperialist oppressors vanquished, he lost no time in implementing policies to meet the needs of the people. Agrarian reform was implemented in March 1946, to meet the centuries-old desire of the peasants for their own land. The Law on Gender Equality was proclaimed in July 1946 to permit women their full flourishing as human beings, free from humiliation, social denigration and deprivation of rights. The Labour Law stipulating an eight-hour workday, prohibition of child labour and other ills, and the Law on Nationalization of Major Industries were promulgated in June and August 1946, respectively.

By February 1947, Kim Il Sung had developed the Provisional People’s Committee of North Korea into the People’s Committee of North Korea to execute its responsibility to carry out a socialist revolution.

Kim Il Sung addresses the first session of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the newly founded DPRK, September 10, 1948.

These human-centred and democratic reforms set the stage for the next step – the historic decision to further vest ultimate decision-making power in the Korean people by founding the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on September 9, 1948.

The framework for the DPRK’s vibrant nation-building project that began at that time has been the aim of empowering the people to be self-reliant and in full control of their destiny, known as the Juche idea. It was brought into being by Kim Il Sung as the summation of the Korean people’s experience in building their nation.

On the basis of the Juche idea, whose essence is that the masses of the people are the masters and motive force of the revolution and construction, Kim Il Sung put forward an idea of building a people-centred, independent country which realizes the independence of the people, and specified the means, ways and concrete tasks for building such a state. This elucidated all the theoretical and practical problems arising in state building and in its activities, ranging from the essence and mission of state power and the fundamentals and principles of building a socialist state to the functions and role of organs of state power, the mode of their activities and their working systems and methods.

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