Kim Jong Un speaks to the 9th Youth Congress in Pyongyang on August 28, 2016 in an image which appeared top-center on the front page of the August 29, 2016 edition of Rodong Sinmun (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
Kim Jong Un’s last observed appearance was his observation and guidance of the Pukgukso’ng SLBM
The 9th Youth Congress was held in Pyongyang on August 28 (Sunday). Kim Jong Un [Kim Cho’ng-u’n] attended along with Korean People’s Army [KPA] General Political Department Director and State Affairs Commission Vice Chairman Hwang Pyo’ng-so’ [Hwang Pyong So], Workers’ Party of Korean [WPK] Vice Chairman for Workers’ and Social Organizations and State Affairs Commission Vice Chairman Ch’oe Ryong-hae [Choe Ryong Hae], WPK Vice Chairman and Director of the WPK Propaganda and Agitation Department Kim Ki-nam [Kim Ki Nam], along with youth league officials, WPK, KPA and DPRK Government administrators and functionaries, youth league delegates along with representatives from the Korean Youth League in Japan and a delegation of the Federation of Young Korean Nationals in China.
Views of the venue, participants and activities at the 9th Youth Congress (Photos: KCNA/Rodong Sinmun)
After arriving at the congress’ venue, Jong Un was greeted with a salute and a presentation of silk banners from youth league delegations. Then, congress participants learned that floral baskets had been delivered to Jong Un by “by figures of political and social circles, representatives of the groups for the study of the Chuch’e idea and organizations for solidarity and friendship and youth organizations of various countries of the world” on the occasion of the 9th Youth Congress and that the youth league received floral baskets and messages from “political, social and economic circles and youth organizations of various countries of the world.”
Views of the venue, participants and activities at the 9th Youth Congress (Photos: KCNA/Rodong Sinmun)
The 9th Youth Congress then approved its agenda which was: 1. Reviewing the work of the Kim Il Sung Youth League Central Committee; 2. Reviewing the work of the youth league Central Auditing Commission; 3. election of the youth league central committee; 4. Renaming the youth league to the Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League; and, 5. on revising the rules of the youth league.
Youth League Central Committee Chairman Cho’n Yong-nam [Jon Yong Nam] delivered a report about the first agenda item, the work of the youth league central committee. According to KCNA he said:
The period from the 8th Congress of the League of Socialist Working Youth till today has been proud days when the youth league has been further cemented as the glorious youth league of the leaders and the Party thanks to the outstanding idea and leadership of the peerlessly great men of Mt. Paektu and when the youth league has dynamically advanced in the van of the all-people advance for ushering in the new era of the Chuch’e revolution, So’ngun (military-first) revolution, braving the grim tempest of history. The idea and politics of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) on prioritizing the youth are the great idea and politics which created the glorious history of victory of the Korean revolution and the youth movement and built a youth power, the reporter said. The WPK’s idea and politics on prioritizing the youth are associated with the warm loving care, trust and noble outlook on the future of President Kim Il Sung (Kim Il-so’ng), leader Kim Jong Il (Kim Cho’ng-il) and Marshal Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n). The great Comrade Kim Il Sung (Kim Il-so’ng), after starting his revolutionary activities with the work with youth and exploring the path of the Korean revolution with the youth movement, founded the unique idea of prioritizing the youth on the basis of the Chuch’e idea and clearly indicated the way to be followed by the youth movement in each period and at each stage of the developing revolution. It was thanks to him that the position and role of the youth were put on the highest level as the vanguard and main unit responsible for the most difficult and labor-consuming field of the revolutionary struggle and social movement and backbone unit which would shoulder upon itself the destiny of the future for the first time in history, and this unfolded the new history of the Chuch’e-oriented youth movement in which the young people dynamically push ahead with the revolutionary movement as vanguard. The great Comrade Kim Jong Il (Kim Cho’ng-il) who regarded it as the eternal strategic line of the WPK to prioritize the youth and put up the slogan “Love the Youth!” developed the youth league into the youth organization of the leader and trained the youth to be dependable vanguard fighters upholding the cause of the WPK in the van. He handed over the torch of the revolution to the youth and led the youth league and the youth with his deep trust and loving care so that they might creditably perform their mission and duty as the eternal companions of the Party, reserve combat unit and detached force of the supreme commander. The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) who is carrying forward the leaders’ noble intention of prioritizing and loving the youth, has made great efforts to prepare the youth league and the youth as reliable reserves, advancing group and wing of the Party. The most important achievement made by the youth league in its work during the period under review is that it has developed into the youth league of the great Comrades Kim Il Sung (Kim Il-so’ng) and Kim Jong Il (Kim Cho’ng-il) both in name and reality. Another achievement is that the youth league has fully prepared the young people as the young vanguard of the WPK, made sure that they created legendary stories about heroic youth in defending the country and in every worksite for building a socialist power and demonstrated the might of the youth power and prepared schoolchildren as dependable pillars of powerful Korea who are knowledgeable, virtuous and healthy. The youth league organizations and the youth should perform their role as the reserves, advancing group and wing of the Party in the drive for accomplishing the socialist cause of Chuch’e in hearty response to the important tasks set forth at the 7th Congress of the WPK. It is an important duty facing the youth league and the young Koreans to accomplish the historic cause of national reunification as early as possible. The youth league will steadily raise the position and influence of the Paektusan (Mt. Paektu) youth power, boost the solidarity and cooperation with world progressive youths and students aspiring after independence against imperialism and make a positive contribution to the development of the world youth and students movement and the realization of the world independence by firmly adhering to the Party’s idea and principle of foreign policy.Congress speakers said “the youth league has grown to be the reserves, advancing group and wing of the Party remaining boundlessly loyal to the idea and cause of the leaders under the wise guidance of the peerlessly great persons of Mt. Paektu” and they renewed their “determination to further enhance the fighting capability of organizations of the youth league and develop it into the Kim Il Sung’s and Kim Jong Il’s youth league forever.”
Views of the venue, participants and activities at the 9th Youth Congress (Photos: KCNA/Rodong Sinmun)
The first agenda item was adopted “with the unanimous approval of the delegates.” Representatives of the Korean Youth League in Japan and the Federation of Young Korean Nationals in China delivered speeches. Then, Kim Chu-il (Kim Ju Il), the head of the youth league Central Auditing Commission delivered a report. on the second agenda item on the youth league’s Central Auditing Commission.
Korean Children’s Union Members recite a congratulatory poem during the 9th Youth Congress in a photo which appears next to the poem’s text on page 8 of the August 29, 2016 edition of the WPK daily newspaper Rodong Sinmun (Photos: Rodong Sinmun)
After this, representatives of the Korean Children’s Union visited the 9th Congress and read the poem “We Offer Congratulations to Elder Brothers and Sisters of Young Vanguard.” The 9th Youth Congress then elected members and alternate (candidate) memberd of the youth league central committee “with unanimous approval of the delegates” as well as members of the Central Auditing Commission. Then, the minutes of the first plenary meeting of the youth league central committee were disseminated.
Views of the venue, participants and activities at the 9th Youth Congress (Photos: KCNA/Rodong Sinmun)
The youth league central committee’s Executive Committee was elected. Cho’n Yong-nam [Jon Yong Nam] was elected 1st Secretary and Pak Ch’o’l-min [Pak Chol Min], Chang Hyo’n-ch’o’l [Jang Hyon Chol], Pae Chung-il [Pae Chung Il], Kim Kyo’ng-chun [Kim Kyong Jun], Ri So’ng-ho [Ri Song Ho], Chang Yo’ng-wo’n [Jang Yong Won], Ham Kwang-ch’o’l [Ham Kwang Chol], Ri Ku’m-ch’o’l [Ri Kum Chol] were elected secretaries. Also members of the Youth League Organizing Committee, youth league department directors and the executive editor of Ch’o’ngnyo’n Jonwi were appointed. Also announced were members of the Youth League Central Auditing Commission.
View of the platform during the 9th Youth Congress in a photo on page 3 of the August 29, 2016 edition of the WPK daily newspaper Rodong Sinmun (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
The fourth agenda item was adopted unanimously. The youth league was renamed the Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League. According to the decision:Today when the greatest heyday is unfolding in the development of the Chuch’e-oriented youth movement it is the unanimous aspiration and ardent desire of all youths and youth league officials throughout the country to rename the youth league after the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the august names of the sun, and accomplish the cause of the Chuch’e revolution down through generations under the guidance of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, holding high the banner of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism. Kim Jong Un, with profound insight into the realistic requirement of the Korean revolution and the Chuch’e-oriented youth movement and the unanimous desire and will of the five million members of the young vanguard, made sure that the youth league was renamed Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League at its 9th congress, the highest honor and deepest trust shown for the youth. This reflects the noble intention of Kim Jong Un to see the youth league and the youth creditably fulfilling their mission and duty as reliable reserves, advancing group and wing of the Party in the struggle for hastening the final victory of the cause of the Chuch’e revolution under the unfurled banner of great Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism.After the name change, Jong Un passed along the youth league to Cho’n Yong-nam who “vowed to accomplish the cause of the Chuch’e revolution, the cause of the So’ngun (military-first) revolution down through generations under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, reflecting the loyalty of the members of the young vanguard across the country.” Kim Jong Un then delivered a speech. He noted that he was “very satisfied with the successful work done by the congress” and Jong Un extended “warm thanks and militant salute to all the young people across the country who have performed their honorable mission and duty as a young vanguard of the Party while working miracles and performing feats at the posts for defending the country and worksites for building a socialist power.” He also “extended warm compatriotic greetings to the Korean youth and students overseas including those in Japan and south Korea struggling for the independent reunification of the country and prosperity of the nation.” Jong Un noted that the youth league’s name was changed during the 9th Congress and said it “marks a great event that laid a solid foundation for developing the youth league into that of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il forever and serves as the highest glory and greatest happiness for the youth league organizations and youth.” He said that the “congress is the one of loyalty which demonstrated the faith and will of the young vanguard to carry forward and accomplish the revolutionary cause of Chuch’e under the guidance of the Party by inheriting the glorious history and tradition of struggle of the youth league, one of general advance which fully aroused the youth to the building of a socialist power and a historic one that laid a new milestone for the triumphant advance of the Chuch’e-based youth movement and development of the youth league.
Kim Jong Un speaks at the Ninth Youth Congress (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
Jong Un then recounted the youth league’s history:The above-said history is the one of the shining victory of President Kim Il Sung’s and leader Kim Jong Il’s unique idea of prioritizing the youth and their wise leadership and the one of ardent loyalty and patriotic devotion of the Korean youth upholding the Party, the leader, the country and its people. The President, who gave origin to the youth movement in the flames of the anti-Japanese revolution, set forth the idea of the youth movement of Chuch’e and led the work with youth, showing deep trust and love for them. Kim Jong Il developed the youth league into the youth organization intensely loyal to the Party and leader with the line of prioritizing the youth and outstanding and experienced leadership and ushered in a new heyday of the youth movement by training the youth as reliable successors who give steady continuity to the lineage of Mt. Paektu and staunch fighters for carrying out the cause of the Chuch’e revolution. The great leaders set forth the idea of prioritizing the youth as the most important state affair and the strategic line of revolution in the whole period of the revolutionary leadership and wisely led them, perfectly settled the issue of youth for the first time in history and built a youth power without an equal in the world. This is the outstanding feat performed by the leaders. The proud decades in which the youth movement of Chuch’e has victoriously advanced are associated with the precious blood and sweat and heroic feats of youth who have waged a self-sacrificing struggle for the Party, leader, country and its people. The youth of the first generation of the Korean revolution accomplished the historic cause of Korea’s liberation by making long journeys for bloody battles against the Japanese imperialists despite snow storms with arms in their hands under the command of the President. During the Fatherland Liberation War (Korean War) the youth fought by unhesitatingly dedicating their youth and lives to the beloved country true to the leadership of the President, thus creating legendary stories about the victory of heroic Korea in the war and honorably defending the country from the imperialists’ aggression. In the difficult period of postwar rehabilitation and construction, too, they performed shining labor feats and dashed ahead at the speed of Ch’o’llima, performing heroic Korea’s miracles of building a socialist state independent in politics, self-supporting in economy and self-reliant in defence, in a short span of time. The youth defended the lineage of the Chuch’e revolution and the socialist country at the cost of their lives by upholding the So’ngun revolutionary leadership of Kim Jong Il in the van during the grim period of stand-off with the imperialists and the US which was decisive of the destiny of socialism, and ushered in the era of turn in building a socialist power by weathering difficulties and trials. The youth have firmly defended the Party, leader and country and vigorously advanced the socialist construction in the sacred road of revolution generation after generation. Their heroic struggle and feats will go down in the history of the Workers’ Party of Korea and that of the building of the youth power of Chuch’e.
Kim Jong Un speaks at the Ninth Youth Congress (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
Also during his speech, Kim Jong Un “indicated the tasks and ways” of the youth league:The whole league should be modeled on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism in order to successfully fulfill its sacred mission and duty it assumed before the era and the revolution. Modeling the youth league on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism means that it should hold the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in high esteem as eternal leaders and victoriously advance the youth movement of Chuch’e, guided by the revolutionary ideology of the great leaders. Modeling the youth league on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism is the requirement of the Korean revolution and development of the youth movement that have reached a fresh high level and the militant banner to be held high by the league in its struggle for accomplishing the cause of the Chuch’e revolution. It is the path of the Korean revolution and fundamental guarantee for accomplishing the cause of the Chuch’e revolution to model the whole party and army and the youth league on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism. The youth league should uphold and preserve and add shine to the great leaders’ idea of the youth movement and their leadership exploits under the unfurled banner of modeling the whole league on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism and thoroughly establish the monolithic leadership system in the league. It should firmly prepare all young people as genuine Kimilsungists-Kimjongilists by grasping the ideological and educational work among the youth as the main task. The general goal of educating the youth is to train all the youth as genuine Kimilsungists-Kimjongilists. The organizations of the youth league and youth should become vanguard and shock brigade in building a socialist power. “Let us fully display wisdom and courage of heroic youth in general charge for building socialist power!” This is the militant slogan to be held high by the youth league and youth at present. The youth should become death-defying corps in defending the socialist country true to the Songun revolutionary leadership of the Party. They should steadily bring about fresh miracles and innovations in the bold attacking spirit and mettle of youth under the uplifted banner of the self-development-first principle in every worksite for building a socialist power. They should become pace-setters and pioneers in building a scientific and technological power. They should become creators of the socialist civilization and vanguard in building a highly civilized nation. It is necessary to wage a dynamic struggle for establishing moral traits among the young people. The youth should raise the hot wind of mass sports and defense sports to contribute to economic construction and national defense upbuilding with strong physical bodies and take the lead in turning the country into a fairyland of socialism. They should proactively struggle to achieve the independent reunification of the country and global independence. All the young Koreans in the north, the south and abroad should pool their will and intention and achieve solidarity and alliance in the patriotic struggle for reunification under the unfurled banner of national independence and great national unity and thus foil the obstructions of the U.S. imperialists and anti-reunification forces and pave a wide avenue to national reunification. The youth league should boost anti-imperialist solidarity, friendship and unity with the world progressive youth and proactively contribute to the strengthening and development of the world youth movement by adhering to the Workers’ Party of Korea’s foreign policy idea and principle. It should set an example and dynamically advance as vanguard in the struggle of the youth for independence and justice and thus fully demonstrate the might of the youth power of Chuch’e. There is a need for the youth league to strengthen its organizations and increase their militant function and role in every way. It is necessary to strengthen the primary organizations of the youth league, the basic organizations and main combat units of the youth league. The youth league should strengthen the organizations of the Korean Children’s Union, successor to the league, and direct big efforts to educating its members well. It is imperative to firmly build the ranks of officials of the youth league and further enhance their responsibility and role. It is necessary to further improve the Party guidance over the work of the youth league. The traits of prioritizing and loving the youth should prevail over the country. The work with school youth and children is an important work related to the prospect of the Party, state and Korean-style socialism and it is the all-state, all-people work to train school youth and children.
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