The August Name of the Sun Given by the People

President Kim Il Sung was a great leader who received the sacred august name of the sun reflecting the desire and expectation of the Korean people in his teens for his peerlessly noble personality.

Chairman Kim Jong Il said:

"For many years, our people have regarded the respected Comrade Kim Il Sung as a legendary hero, the sun of the nation, a great leader and the nation`s father. They have considered it their greatest honour and noblest moral duty to be single-heartedly loyal and dutiful to him."

From olden times, names have been given reflecting the will of parents and family history, and recognized as one of the criteria for judging their personality and dignity.

When President Kim Il Sung was born in Mangyongdae, his great-grandfather used to call him by the pet name, "Jungson" as a witness to his long life.

His father Kim Hyong Jik named him Kim Song Ju, hoping that he would be the pillar of the country.

The young communists who were boundlessly faithful to President Kim Il Sung composed the immortal revolutionary hymn "Star of Korea" and began spreading it among the masses from the autumn of Juche 17(1928), with the struggle of youth and students in Jilin against the Jilin-Hoeryong railway project by the Japanese imperialists.

This song, written and composed by the revolutionary poet Kim Hyok, warmly shook the hearts of the masses and was widely spread.

Kim Il Sung got to know this and one day wanted Comrade Cha Kwang Su to give him strict orders not to sing this song ever again, for they praised him too highly in the song.

But the song was spread ever faster like irresistible tides through the masses.

In the vanguard were the Young Communists including Comrade Cha Kwang Su.

"...we have never disobeyed Comrade Hanbyol's orders. This is because we have decided to acclaim him as the leader of the revolution and the only heart of unity by ourselves. But we cannot accept his order not to sing "the Star of Korea" Comrades, have a think.

Why have the previous communists and patriots of Korea always been failing in spite of the fact that they had ensanguined the whole country?

That's because they didn't have a wise leader to lead the revolution to the victory by revealing the righteous path of revolution and uniting the masses to be one powerful force.

They could neither unite without a center nor advance without a correct path.

Then finally broke the dawn in the groaning land of the dark. We have a leader as bright as a shining star in the night sky.

That is none other than Comrade Kim Song Ju who we are faithfully following."

Comrade Cha Kwang Su's speech won great applause from the comrades.

Therefore the young communists made a firm decision to acclaim Comrade Kim Song Ju meaning "one star" as the eternal center of unity and call him "Hanbyol".

They also confirmed to widely spread the song as the decision of the organization.

Our people were completely fascinated by the noble love for the country, the nation and the people of Kim Il Sung since his early years, so they followed him as a genuine leader of the nation.

He was a beacon and sun as he brightly indicated the way to save the Korean nation groaning under the rule of the Japanese imperialists.

The fundamental attribute of the sun lies in the bright light illuminating the dark, and the light that illuminates the road ahead of the country and nation is the idea indicating the road to be followed by the nation.

Comrade Kim Il Sung was a brilliant sun of the nation as he indicated the road ahead of the Korean nation in his teens.

He was a peerlessly great man like the sun as he provided the Korean nation who had been groaning under the bayonet of the Japanese imperialists with a powerful weapon for carving out its destiny.

He was the sun of the nation as he led the country and nation with the great attraction of drawing all Koreans into his arms with his noble benevolence.

He was possessed of broad magnanimity and noble love for the nation and warm affection for the people who could take warm care of all the fellow countrymen, and the personality of a great man to whom everyone could entrust all their heart, destiny and future without hesitation in a moment. So the young communists of the new generation and the genuine nationalists presented him with the august name of the sun-"日" meaning "sun" instead of "一" meaning "one" and "成" meaning "become" instead of "星" meaning "star".

Like this, our people gave the sun's sacred and precious august name to President in the early 1930s and acclaimed him as outstanding leader to guide our nation and followed his leadership.

In the past, there were some leaders of other countries and nations who had once changed their names, which was only for the purpose of revolutionary struggle.

But none of them were given such a name of the sun reflecting the national expectation and great desire of the people.

Though many revolutionaries and great men participated in the struggle and many others named after several names in the past, no such great leader of people as President Kim Il Sung can be found who granted the the sacred Sun's name with great expectation and hope of the nation.

The cheers and happiness of the Korean nation holding President in high esteem as the sun of Korea were heard in the whole course of the anti-Japanese armed struggle.

Though there are many legends praises, slogans and songs speaking highly of great men in the world, the Korean people were the best to their leader in high esteem as the sun and vividly depict their hope and expectation, emotion and joy.

The expectation and desire of the Korean people to save them from the crossroads of their destiny thanks to the bright sun of the nation were not in vain, and it was brilliantly realized by President Kim Il Sung.

He victoriously led the Korean revolution anchored by the "DIU"(Down-with Imperialism Union) to accomplish the historic cause of national liberation and led the Korean nation with his warm loving care of the sun to become the proud one envied by the world people.

In April Juche 35(1946), Ri Chan, a revolutionary poet, recited "Song in praise of General Kim Il Sung" in his impassioned tone, which showed a passion of all our people to greet the great sun who liberated the country. It resounded high in the homeland as a solemn echo of the "Song of General Kim Il Sung".

"Kim Il Sung"-the august name of the sun given by the Korean people to the President-was an immortal name of the Korean people who greeted the genuine leader of the nation in the history of the country, reflecting their boundless reverence and praise for him. It was an expression of the ardent desire and expectation of all the Korean people who ardently wished him to be the savior of the Korean nation and the eternal sun.

The Korean people will hold President Kim Il Sung in high esteem as the eternal sun of the nation generation after generation, cherishing deep in their hearts the pride and honor of the nation who devoted the sun's august name to the peerless leader for the first time in the world, thus enjoying the benefits of the sun's nation thanks to his leadership.