Reading Reminiscences of President Kim Il Sung "With the Century"

Only Those Who Have Devoted Themselves Body and Soul to the Country Can Truly Realize How Dear Their Homeland Is to Them

It would be impossible to fully realize the preciousness of the country by words alone.

President Kim Il Sung, in Vol. １ of his reminiscences "With the Century", called to remembrance Ri Kwan Rin who decided to return to her homeland alone, leaving her dear family in the distant foreign country which it would be difficult for her to visit again once she had left it and wrote that if she had not devoted the prime of her life to the country, she could not have made such a courageous decision.

He taught that only those who have devoted themselves body and soul to the country, weeping, laughing and bleeding, can truly realize how dear their homeland is to them.

In the dark days of the Japanese imperialist colonial rule, the President was born in the low-roofed thatched house in Mangyongdae and keenly felt the preciousness of the country through his experience of stateless people’s misfortune and pain from his childhood.

Our President, keeping deep in mind the sorrow of a ruined nation, resolutely embarked on the road of bloody struggle for national liberation with the firm pledge not to return before Korea had become independent and liberated our country by devoting his all.

In the arduous days of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, he so keenly felt the preciousness of the country that he said, in his reminiscences, that only those who devoted their blood and lives to the liberation of the country can keenly feel how arduous and thorny the road to regaining the country is.

Only those who possess ardent love for the country can devote themselves to the country and shoulder full loads for the country, bearing deep in mind the preciousness of the country.

Share the destiny with the country!

This is the iron truth the new generations realize through the golden saying of the President.

One Who Loves His Birthplace Warmly Will Love His Country Ardently, and Such a Man Will Be Enthusiastic about Making Revolution

The President, in his reminiscences, recollected with deep emotion that although outwardly dry and cool-headed, Kang Kon could not control his emotion, like a poet, and became more talkative than usual once he started talking about his native place. He taught that those who love their native places as ardently as Kang Kon did his, will be enthusiastic in making revolution.

He added that one who loves his birthplace warmly will love his country ardently, and such a man will be enthusiastic about making revolution.

The anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters loved their native places more than anyone else.

They constantly thought about their beloved home and family and never forgot our people even for a moment despite the arduous struggle for annihilating the Japanese imperialist aggressors.

They vividly recalled their native places hearing the song "Nostalgia" sung by the President by the campfire at midnight in deep forest and redoubled their strength and courage through the story about beautiful Mangyongdae told by the President and hardened their determination to achieve the cause of national liberation at any cost.

As they loved their native places and family so ardently, they could possess ardent love for the country and display matchless bravery and self-sacrificing spirit in battles against the Japanese imperialists.

Patriotism is by no means abstract conception.

Patriotism is formed from the love for one’s own family and attachment to his village and worksite, and those feelings are elevated to the love for the country and people.

The President’s golden saying in his reminiscences brings home the truth that only those who value and love their villages and families ardently can truly love the country and throw themselves heart and soul into revolution.

Make Country More Prosperous and Collect Even One More Piece of Rubble to Build the Defences Higher

The President wrote in his reminiscences "With the Century" about his feelings when he visited his native home Mangyongdae after achieving the historic cause of national liberation through ２０-year struggle.

On October １４, １９４５, the President visited his beloved native home Mangyongdae.

When he was entering the yard of his old home, the President was full of emotions.

Only our President returned to the country among his family members who left home with an ambition to liberate the country.

That day, the President thought that the ４０ years it took to win back the lost country and the ２０ years it took him to regain his native home seemed too long.

Recollecting that day, he taught as follows:

That the sovereignty of a nation lost in a moment could only be recovered in a thousand years was an important lesson I had learned during the ２０ years of the revolution against the Japanese. I mean that it is easy to lose a country, but difficult to win it back. It is a grim reality of the world that it takes decades or even centuries to restore a country which was lost in an instant.

National liberation was, indeed, a precious patriotic asset gained in return for so costly self-sacrifice and blood.

So, the President wrote that he frequently told the young people that a ruined nation is as good as dead, that if they do not want to be a stateless people, they must go all out to defend the country, and that in order not to end up as slaves they must make the country more prosperous and collect even one more piece of rubble to build the defences higher.

His precious saying instill our people with the preciousness of the country and the truth that genuine patriotism lies in making devoted efforts to the prosperity of the country.

To Safeguard Families, It Is Necessary to Safeguard Country and To Safeguard Country, Everyone Must Faithfully Discharge His Duties as a Citizen

Vol. ２ of the President’s reminiscences "With the Century" describes in detail about the day when the President who had to go away leaving his sick mother returned to Antu after two months.

That night, the President talked with his grandmother all night long and deeply thought about the interrelation between family and revolution,

The President wrote, in his reminiscences, that he never thought of pure filial duty detached from the revolution and that was because he believed that the fate of a family and that of the country were inseparably interrelated with each other.

It is common knowledge that the peace of the country is a prerequisite to peace at home, he said and went on:

It is a rule that national tragedy will inevitably affect the millions of families that make up the nation. Therefore, to safeguard the peace and happiness of families it is necessary to safeguard the country; and to safeguard the country, everyone must faithfully discharge his duties as a citizen.

This saying carrying the truth of patriotism makes us keenly realize that family and revolution are inseparably related to each other and only when we fully discharge our duty as a citizen, can we defend our families and country.

Rodong Sinmun