Gist of Kim Jong Un's New Year Address

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS)

Pyongyang, January 1 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un, first secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and first chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK, made a New Year Address.

He said in his New Year Address:

Reflecting the boundless yearning and high respect of all the service personnel and people for the great President Kim Il Sung and General Kim Jong Il, I would like first to pay the highest tribute and New Year greetings to them.

He noted that last year the entire Party, the whole army and all the people waged an all-out offensive in support of the Party's new line of developing the two fronts simultaneously and thus achieved brilliant successes in building a thriving socialist country and defending socialism.

He said that through last year's struggle we clearly demonstrated that our ideology, our strength and our way are the best and no force can check our sacred cause advancing to accomplish a far-reaching ideal and goal. He went on:

The new year 2014 will be a year of grandiose struggle, a year of sea changes, in which we will raise a fierce wind of making a fresh leap forward on all fronts of building a thriving socialist country and thus usher in a golden age of Songun Korea.

'Let us raise a fierce wind of making a fresh leap forward on all fronts of building a thriving country filled with confidence in victory!'–this is the militant slogan our Party and people should uphold this year.

This year we should ensure that the sectors of agriculture, construction and science and technology hold the torch of innovations in the van and the flames of the torch flare up as flames of a leap forward on all the fronts of socialist construction.

He indicated the tasks to do so.

He underscored the need to build up the country's defence capabilities.

The political and ideological position is a fortress that decides the victory and failure in the battle of defending socialism, and consolidating the revolutionary ranks politically and ideologically is the most important task facing us, he said, and continued:

In order to make the flames of a leap forward flare up on all fronts of building a thriving socialist country, it is necessary to give fullest play to the mental strength of the masses.

True to the behests of President Kim Il Sung and General Kim Jong Il, we should make fresh headway in the national reunification movement for this year, he noted, and went on:

We can never just sit back with folded arms and see the dark clouds of a nuclear war against us hovering over the Korean peninsula. We will defend our country's sovereignty, peace and dignity by relying on our powerful self-defensive strength.

Holding fast to the ideals of our foreign policy–independence, peace and friendship–our Party and the government of the DPRK will, in the future, too, strive to expand and develop relations of friendship and cooperation with all the countries that respect our sovereignty and are friendly to us, and safeguard global peace and security and promote common prosperity of mankind.

The tasks facing us are gigantic and difficulties stand in our way. However, our revolutionary cause is sure to emerge victorious as we advance under the great banner of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism. -0-