Today our people are turning out as one in implementing the Five-Year Plan for the New Development of the National Economy, true to the basic idea and basic spirit of the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea.
The aim of the economic strategy, set forth at the 8th Congress of the Party, is to push ahead with the work to consolidate the self-supporting foundation and put our economy on a normal track running smoothly regardless of any external influence.
Chairman
"The socialist economy which serves the people is not a market economy but a planned economy; it is not a dependent but an independent economy."
The respected Comrade
This instruction defines the essential features, character, mission and duty of our national economy.
First of all, our national economy is the independent one.
This means that it is not dependent on the others, but self-supporting, that is, it serves the people and relies on the strength and technology of our people and resources of our country.
Firstly, it is because it has a versatile and comprehensive economic structure.
The versatility and comprehension of economic structure are the main contents, representing the feature of the independent economy. A versatile and comprehensive economic structure is the one which has the production sectors, capable of producing and supplying the diverse material needs of the people by themselves and its production cycle from the production of raw materials to the processing of finished goods is completed in the scope of the country. The versatile and comprehensive economic structure is the basic guarantee for building an independent economy as it is the basic condition to secure a country and to meet the diverse material needs of the people by themselves.
Thanks to the wise leadership of the Party, the structures of heavy industry with machine industry as its core and light industry were built to establish the versatile and comprehensive economic structure in our country, removing the colonial bias and distortion of the previous economic structure.
Secondly, it is because it has been built by relying on modern technology, resources of our country and our technicians.
If the country's economy is not equipped with modern technology, it cannot meet the ever-increasing material needs of the people both in quality and quantity and cannot improve the economic structure further. And if the economy does not rely on the resources of its own country, it is impossible to develop the country's economy safely and continuously, regardless of the economic blockade and sanctions of the imperialists and their vassal forces. If the country's economy is not operated by its own technicians, it cannot develop the economy independently in keeping with the interests of its people and the actual conditions of its own country.
Under the wise leadership of our Party, the economy of our country has now been equipped with modern technology by relying on our technicians, the foundations of the self-supporting national economy relying on our raw materials, fuel and power resources have been laid, and a firm guarantee has been provided to steadily develop the economy and improve the people's living standard.
Next, our national economy is the planned economy.
It is because all economic sectors and units conduct economic activities under the unified guidance of the state and keep productive and consumer relations with each other under the unified plan.
The type of economy must be chosen to suit the nature of the society.
The planned economy is the one which suits to the nature of society based on collectivism.
Our national economy is a planned economy because, first, all the sectors and units that make up the economy are operated under the unified guidance and plan of the state.
In a planned economy, the owners of the economy are social groups, not individuals, and the economy is operated by the state in a unified way. In a planned economy, the state controls the country's economy in a unified way, uses all social products on the principle of closely combining the common interests of society with individual interests, and division of labour and cooperation between economic units are also organized on the principle of collectivism.
Our national economy is based on collectivist ownership of the production means and is based on collectivism as its life. In the capitalist economy based on private ownership, all economic activities are conducted targeting the market, while the socialist economy based on social ownership can develop the country's economy safely and continuously only when the state controls all economic sectors and units in a unified way under a single plan.
Today in our country, all the means of production are owned by the state and collective, and the Cabinet has become an economic headquarters, controlling all economic activities in a unified way, and the State Planning Commission is practicing the unification of the plan as an economic operational state.
Next, it is because all economic sectors and units give priority to the implementation of the state plan.
In our country, where all economic sectors and units have socialist ownership and collectivist ownership, they are all the units of the country's economic plan and implementation and the units of management that produce and operate their activities under the state plan. In our country, the state plan is the state law and obligation to be carried out unconditionally and above all, it is the most important and absolute one. All economic sectors and units in our country operate economic work and conduct management activities in order to carry out the plan received by the state on a priority basis.
Our national economy is also people-oriented economy.
This means that all the results of economic activities serve the people's masses.
Firstly, it is because the working people are the owners of the production means in our country.
In order for the economy to become the one serving oneself, he must, first of all, be the master of the economy, that is the production means.
Being the owner of the production means is a prerequisite for all economic activities, that is, production, distribution, exchange and consumption to meet one's demands and interests. The class or collective, the masters of a given society, can become the true masters of the country only when they become the masters of the government and the owners of the production means, and can ensure that all economic activities serve them in accordance with their demands and interests. In capitalist society, capitalists, the exploiting class, become masters of production means and conduct all economic activities in accordance with their demands and interests. However, in our socialist society, the working masses become the true masters of production means and all economic activities are conducted in accordance with their demands and interests.
Next, it is because the results of production are given entirely to the working masses in our country.
This means that our national economy is the one that has a popular character and serves the people. In our country, jobs are given according to the working people's talents and so is material wealth. And production is for the promotion of the people's well-being and various measures are being taken to improve the people's living standards. This clearly shows that our economy is the one serving the people.
As you have seen above, our national economy is an independent economy, a planned economy and an economy serving the people.
