Quotes from Kim Jong Il

Overall relations between the North and the South have developed in favor of national reconciliation, unity and reunification.

The liquidation of colonialism is a trend of the times which no force can hold back.

National defense is the sacred duty of the young and all other people.

I'm an Internet expert too. It's all right to wire the industrial zone only, but there are many problems if other regions of the North are wired.

We oppose the reactionary policies of the U.S. government but we do not oppose the American people. We want to have many good friends in the United States.

Man is a social being with independence, creativity and consciousness.

What is opposed to communism is not nationalism in general but bourgeois nationalism, national egoism, and national chauvinism, which subordinates the common interests of the nation to the interests of a handful of the exploiting class, in the guise of nationalism.

A struggle in the sphere of ideology is the prelude to a political struggle, and naturally develops into a struggle for power.

As the history of revolutionary wars shows, a revolutionary army which is in firm politico-ideological readiness, though armed with inferior weapons, can fight and defeat an enemy equipped with the latest arms.

The manoeuvres of the US imperialists for 'globalization' and 'integration' are aimed at turning the world into what they call a 'free' and 'democratic' world styled after the United States, and thus bringing all countries and nations under their domination and subordination.

Man is a social being who works independently, creatively and consciously.

Unlike in capitalist society where every realm of social life is based on individualism, a socialist society is a collective society where all the people work together sharing a common goal and common interests.

The class nature of the imperialists and reactionaries makes them antagonistic to the masses of the people. Accordingly they are afraid of the word people itself. Frequently using, the word nation, they try to cover the class confrontation and conflict of capitalist society.

Whether one has a correct outlook on the revolution or not is revealed particularly at a time of severe trials. People reveal their true nature in adverse circumstances.

In capitalist society, where the future of the younger generations depends on their parents' purse, they cannot avoid falling victim to social inequality and social evils. Due to the aggression and intervention of the imperialists and the plunder of the exploiter class, many of the young generation throughout the world lose their lives or are maimed by war, social conflict, disease and hunger or they wander about the streets, committing crimes and degenerating.

The fact that a brush is depicted in the Party emblem together with a hammer and sickle clearly shows that our party defines intellectuals as an integral part along with workers and peasants. It was our Party alone which regarded intellectuals as a part of the main revolutionary force from the first days of revolution and depicted a brush in its emblem along with a hammer and a sickle.

As capitalism developed and the bourgeoisie became the reactionary ruling class after victorious bourgeois revolutions in various countries, nationalism was used as a means of defending the interests of the bourgeois class. The bourgeoisie disguised their class interests as national interests, and used nationalism as an ideological instrument for solidifying their class domination.

Fundamentally speaking, the working-class party is a party of the popular masses themselves, which fights in defense of their interests. Therefore, if the working masses oppose the working-class party, it means they are opposing themselves.

According to the religious, idealist view, which regards man as a purely spiritual being, man is a product of a certain supernatural, mysterious being and his destiny is also decided by the latter. By means of their religious, idealist view of man, the reactionary ruling class and its spokesmen preached that the miserable lot of the working masses who suffered exploitation and oppression was their unavoidable fate and therefore, they had to submit to their predestined lot.

History shows that socialism first triumphed in relatively backwards countries, not in the countries where capitalism had developed.

The imperialists now violently interfere in other countries' affairs and trample upon other nations' sovereignty. They try to justify these acts under the excuse of 'defense of human rights'. Human rights cannot be conceived separately from the independence of countries and nations.

No production of high ideological and artistic value can evolve out of a creative group whose members are not united ideologically and in which discipline and order have not been established.

The revolution is carried out by means of one's thought, not through one's family background.

Nothing is impossible for a man with a strong will. The possible is in store only for a man who loves the future. There is no word "impossible" in the Korean language.