Kim Jong Il, Hero of the DPRK
From the documentary "Respected Comrade Kim Jong Il is a Great Thinker and Theoretician"
Korean title: 경애하는 김정일동지는 위대한 사상리론가이시다
Year of production: 2000
The People’s Wish
(Continued from last chapter ...)
The honorific title “dear leader” gained wider use among the people as the days went by. At a sports meeting of officials and workers in the fields of art, literature and the mass media held at the Moranbong Stadium (the present Kim Il Sung Stadium) in April 1971, the tens of thousands of participants shouted in chorus "dear leader”. The workers of the Kangson Steel Plant and Hwanghae Iron Works, and the peasants in Chongsan-ri-all units associated with Kim Jong Il’s activities-highly praised him too.
In these days Party and State officials called Kim Jong Il “dear leader” in and out of work hours. From 1972 the words “dear leader” were written on the official documents of the Party and government. Regarding it as an honour to place themselves under Kim Jong Il’s guidance, the officials of the Party Central Committee tried on their own to get his instructions.
In 1971 the Organizational Leadership Department of the Party Central Committee, upon inspecting the performance of a ministry, submitted a report for inspection by Kim Il Sung. After studying the report, Kim Il Sung spoke highly of it. The senior official of the department called the vice-heads of the department and conveyed Kim Il Sung’s appraisal to them. And he said,
“The report appreciated by Comrade Kim Il Sung was given the final touches by Comrade Kim Jong Il. In future, too, we shall deal with any problem only after asking Comrade Kim Jong Il for his opinion.”
Around those days the word “guidance” in connection with Kim Jong Il was prevalent in the Party Central Committee. Many units asked Kim Jong Il for his guidance for their work, and hung his portrait on the walls of their offices.
In March 1973 the workers of the Munchon Machine Factory, who rose up to undertake the ideological, technological and cultural revolutions, sent a letter of their pledge to Kim Jong Il. Upon receiving the news in September that year that Kim Jong Il had been appointed Secretary of the Party Central Committee, the workers of the Munphyong Smeltery sent a letter of congratulations to him. In the letter they wrote that they were extending warmest congratulations and glory to the “brilliant leader” who had taken charge of the future of the Korean revolution, stressing that the “dear leader” was the only successor who would carry forward Kim Il Sung’s revolutionary ideology and expedite the victory of the Korean revolution.
In reflection of the people’s reverence for Kim Jong Il, the Political Committee of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea discussed on several occasions the matter of entrusting him with the overall work of the Party Central Committee.
Thus he was appointed as director of the Information Department of the Party Central Committee at the Political Committee Meeting held in July 1973, and as Secretary of the Party Central Committee at the Seventh Plenum of the Fifth Party Central Committee held in September the same year.
The senior officials of the Party and State referred to Kim Jong Il “dear leader” even in the presence of Kim Il Sung. One October day in 1973, a senior official of the Party Central Committee, while reporting to Kim Il Sung on the result of the work of automating production at the Hwanghae Iron Works, said that the success was attributable entirely to the guidance of the “dear leader”.
In this way calling Kim Jong Il “dear leader" became a “habit” among officials. Despite the people’s respect for and trust in him as the recognized leader of the Party and State, Kim Jong Il still checked them when they used this honorific title. In spite of their repeated requests, he did not change his mind. So, the Members of the Political Committee of the Party Central Committee held a meeting and, reflecting the demands of the epoch and history and the unanimous desire of the Korean people, decided to call Kim Jong Il “dear leader”.
Calling him “dear leader’’ and acclaiming him on their own as successor to Kim Il Sung was an expression of the Korean people’s attraction to him and their unshakable conviction on the inheritance of the revolutionary cause of Juche.
(Great Leader Kim Jong Il’s Biography 2)