For Development of Non-Aligned Movement: Kim Il Sung’s Work

President Kim Il Sung delivered the speech “Non-Aligned Information Services Must Contribute to the People’s Cause of Independence”at the Fourth Conference of the Ministers of Information of Non-Aligned Countries on June 15, 1993.

Esteemed delegates,

Comrade and friends,

I am delighted that the Fourth Conference of the Ministers of Information of the Non-aligned Countries is being held in our country and would like to bid a warm welcome to the Ministers and delegates from various countries and to the delegates from international organizations.

It is very important for the Information Ministers of the non-aligned countries that aspire to independence to sit together, share their successes and experience in public information and work out a common strategy for the further development of exchange and cooperation.

I strongly believe that this conference, through your strenuous efforts, will produce excellent results and thus contribute to developing national information work in the non-aligned and developing countries, establishing a new international information order, strengthening the Non-aligned Movement and making the whole world independent.

Esteemed delegates,

Today humanity is living in a new age of historic change, and the progressive people throughout the world are faced with the common tasks of giving stronger impetus to the trend of the times towards independence and of building an independent new world.

It is the common aspiration of the world’s people and a historic task of the present times to build a free and peaceful new world where there is neither domination nor subjugation, aggression nor war.

The cold war, which hindered historical progress, has come to an end, but the old force which tried to dominate the world by means of its strength, contrary to the trend of independence, still remains. The contradictions inherent in imperialism, which had been temporarily hidden by the confrontation between the superpowers during the years of the cold war, have come to the fore with the end of the cold war and are producing a variety of problems. Now in the Western world movements to form new blocs have appeared in the complex relations of mutual rejection and alignment, motivated by self-interest, and the manoeuvres to expand spheres of political, economic and military domination are becoming more blatant. In addition, the imbalance between the rich developed capitalist countries and the poor developing nations is daily increasing. We must remember that the nuclear weapons, military blocs, money, reactionary bourgeois culture and all other means in the hands of the old forces are being used as an instrument of domination and plunder, aggression and intervention mainly against the non-aligned and developing countries, to make a victim of them.

In order to build the independent new world which is aspired to by humanity, it is imperative to sweep away the remnants of the age of the cold war, which was negated by history, to thwart any attempt at turning back the tide of history and to make the international community democratic so that all countries and nations exercise their rights to independence on an equal basis in the international arena.

The Non-aligned Movement is a movement to oppose domination and subjugation and safeguard independence from aggressive blocs and to strengthen international solidarity among independent countries. It is, in essence, a movement to make the whole world democratic and independent. As long as there exists on the globe a force that seeks domination and intervention, aggression and plunder, the Non-aligned Movement must be continuously developed and further expanded and strengthened as the leading force in the building of an independent new world. The process of developing the Non-aligned Movement is the process of making the whole world democratic and independent.

The governments and peoples of all the non-aligned countries must unite solidly under the banner of independence, peace and friendship and struggle forcefully to develop the Non-aligned Movement and achieve global independence.

Information services play a very important role in developing the Non-aligned Movement and in building an independent new world.

At the present time when the popular masses have emerged in the historical arena and are shaping their destiny independently, information services form an important front in the acute confrontation and struggle between the new and the outmoded, between progress and reaction.

Today the imperialists, with a monopoly of modern mass media, pour out torrents of reactionary ideas and culture as well as distorted information to meet their own needs and interests. They suppress the people’s voice of justice, deliberately mislead public opinion, invent lies, embellish their anti-popular societies and fan aggression and war. It will be impossible to defend the independence of the peoples of the progressive countries and implement the principles of justice in international relations so long as the present international information order, which allows the imperialists to act arbitrarily because of their position of monopoly, remains unchanged.

The present situation requires that the non-aligned and developing countries rapidly develop information work and radically enhance the role of the progressive information services.

The basic mission of non-aligned public information services is to make an active contribution to the people’s just cause of independence, peace and social progress. Non-aligned information services must be the genuine mouthpieces of the progressive countries and peoples who champion independence, and must take the lead in encouraging the people to carry out the cause of independence. They must also become the fair judges of history that defend justice and condemn injustice.

If non-aligned public information services are to discharge the mission and role they have assumed before the times, the non-aligned countries must firmly maintain the anti-imperialist, independent stand and fully apply the principles of justice in information work.

Anti-imperialist independence is the basic ideal of the Non-aligned Movement. The information services of the non-aligned countries must fully expose with their sharp pens the aggressive and predatory nature of imperialism and its neo-colonialist methods; they must resolutely oppose the infiltration of narcotic bourgeois ideas and culture which poison the sound minds of the people, and must smash the reactionary information offensive by the imperialists through progressive information. Public information from the non-aligned countries must give wide publicity to the just struggle of the people for independence, sovereignty and social progress and raise a strong voice of international solidarity. It must denounce all forms of domination, interference and aggression which trample upon the people’s freedom and rights, infringe on the sovereignty of the countries and nations and threaten world peace.

In order to develop public information in the non-aligned countries and enhance the role of progressive information service, it is necessary to develop international exchange and cooperation in the field of information.

Doing so is a major guarantee for the non-aligned countries to develop their national information services and make louder the just voice of the progressive people of the world.

Thanks to a joint effort by the non-aligned countries, a common strategy and resolutions on developing exchange and cooperation in the field of public information have been adopted at the Conference of the Heads of State or Government of the Non-aligned Countries and many other international meetings. In accordance with them an international system of cooperation in information among the non-aligned countries and the international information organizations have been established and put into operation. This is a great success and an important condition for successful South-South cooperation in the field of information services.

The non-aligned countries must, on the basis of this success, share their successes and experience and cooperate closely with one another in the spirit of collective self-reliance and on the principles of equality, mutual benefit and mutual accommodation. This will make it possible to expand and improve the national media in each country, train information workers, ensure the variety and rapidity of information services, and bring other benefits for the development of public information.

Strengthening international information organizations and the international system of cooperation in information services and enhancing their functions and role is important in establishing a new international information order which accords with the principles of justice. Through a joint effort the non-aligned countries must improve the function and role of international information organizations such as the inter-governmental council for the coordination of information and communications among the non-aligned countries and the Non-aligned News Agencies Pool, and adopt measures for further strengthening the international system of cooperation in information. At present, a just demand is being raised by the governments, progressive organizations and people of many countries to set up new international information centres which are capable of the fair reporting of the voices of justice and independence. If these international information centres are established in appropriate places on the different continents, they will be able to play an important role in eliminating the outmoded international information order and establishing a new one, thus making an effective contribution to promoting the cause of global independence.

Ever since the initial period of the building of a new society, the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of our Republic have worked hard to establish a Juche system of national information and develop it. By establishing Juche firmly in public information work we have ensured that all our information organizations are in the hands of the popular masses, the masters of the state and society, and that public information helps towards our people’s effort to accomplish the just cause of independence, sovereignty and socialism.

In our country public information plays the role of leading the masses: it increases the people’s revolutionary consciousness and their creative enthusiasm and encourages everyone to carry out his or her role and responsibility as a master in the struggle to build socialism, displaying solid unity in ideology and purpose. The rapid social progress and development and all the brilliant achievements made by our people in the revolution and construction in our country would be inconceivable without the role of public information. The information organizations in our country are making an active contribution to the world people’s cause of independence through various news reports and propaganda activities promoting friendly and cooperative relations with the non-aligned and other developing countries and through a forceful telecommunications offensive against imperialism and every manner of injustice.

Today our people are struggling to defend and develop people-centred socialism, the embodiment of the Juche idea, and to reunify the country on the principle of national independence, in the challenging situation in which the imperialists are resorting to ceaseless manoeuvres for aggression and intervention.

For the purpose of isolating and stifling our Republic which is advancing in the East under the unfurled banner of socialism, the international reactionary forces are complicating the situation on the Korean peninsula by raising a clamour against our Republic. Using their reactionary media they are stepping up their propaganda to distort the situation in our country and slander our socialist system and our people’s just cause. But falsehood cannot conceal truth, and no obstructive moves can ever check the forward movement of our people who are advancing with the conviction that their cause is just and in solid unity behind the Party. With the unshakable belief that they are the masters of their own destiny and that they are capable of shaping their own destiny, our people have worked consistently in single-hearted unity and built a fine socialist country which is independent, self-sufficient and self-reliant in defence. They value more than their own lives the people-centred socialism which they have established by shedding their sweat and blood. They will never yield to intimidation or slander, nor will their belief falter in the face of a difficult situation. No matter how the situation may change, favourably or unfavourably, they will continue to advance vigorously along the road of independence, the road of socialism, indicated by the Juche idea.

Availing myself of this opportunity, I express my deep gratitude to the governments and mass media of the various non-aligned countries and to the non-aligned information organizations for their support and encouragement to our people in their just struggle, and I express my hope that they will voice their solidarity louder in the future.

It is the unwavering foreign policy of the Government of our Republic to fight to realize the noble ideals of the Non-aligned Movement and develop and strengthen it. In the future, too, our people and the Government of our Republic will unite and cooperate closely with all the non-aligned countries under the banner of independence, peace and friendship and strive for the development of the Non-aligned Movement and for the victory of the cause of global independence. The Government of our Republic will make every effort to develop exchange and cooperation with the non-aligned and developing countries in the field of public information, and will discharge its responsibility and duties faithfully.

You delegates are social pioneers who are devoted to realizing the noble ideals of the Non-aligned Movement, and the distinguished guests of our people. Our people will receive you cordially and welcome you warmly everywhere you go.

I hope that you will enjoy a pleasant and valuable time during your stay in our country and wish you from the bottom of my heart great success in your just work.