Kim Hyon Chol, Faculty of History, Kim Il Sung University
2024.2.15.
In those days of the fierce war decisive of the destiny of the country, Chairman Kim Jong Il personally formed the Group for the Study of Short Biography of General Kim Il Sung for the rising generations and people so as to hold only President Kim Il Sung in high esteem and follow him.
It was one day in December Juche 41 (1952), when the whole of the country was covered with the fierce war clouds. Chairman Kim Jong Il visited a teacher at the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School where he was studying and said that he wished he had organized a study group to learn from General Kim Il Sung, putting out "Short Biography of General Kim Il Sung" which he had read when he had been at the Supreme Headquarters.
His initiative was warmly supported and approved by all teachers and students at this school.
Before forming the group, Chairman Kim Jong Il energetically led the preparations for it, doing such work as explaining to the students the contents of the biography and illuminating the need of forming the group, its mission and main task and activities they had to do in the group.
Meanwhile, Chairman Kim Jong Il received the encouraging news that the President was conferred the title of Marshal of the DPRK by the unanimous will and desire of all the Korean people.
At that time, Chairman Kim Jong Il felt highly honored and took it as a great happiness to hold in high esteem President Kim Il Sung, the peerlessly illustrious commander who is ever-victorious iron-willed brilliant commander and outstanding military strategist, and so he held a meeting of a subbranch of the Children's Union of the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School on February 10, Juche 42 (1953) to solemnly declare the formation of the Group for the Study of Short Biography of General Kim Il Sung.
That day, Chairman Kim Jong Il clarified the objective of forming the study group and its task.
Chairman Kim Jong Il said:
"The objective of our forming the Group for the Study of Short Biography of General Kim Il Sung today is to intensify the studying of the book so as to prepare all the students to be pillars of the Korean revolution faithful to the fatherly Marshal."
At the meeting Chairman Kim Jong Il put forward the slogan "Let us equip ourselves firmly with the revolutionary idea of Marshal Kim Il Sung!" as the main slogan of the group and set it as the primary task to equip themselves with the revolutionary idea of President Kim Il Sung.
He stressed that all members of the circle had to study hard so that they could fully grasp the content of the biography of General Kim Il Sung with the pride of being members of the study group while giving wide publicity to other students and adults.
The formation of the group was of great historic significance as it was the first group for collectively studying the glorious revolutionary history of the President in our country.
This flame kindled by Chairman Kim Jong Il at the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School spread to other schools in Pyongyang to many others across the country including those in Anju, South Phyongan Province, Anak, South Hwanghae Province and Anbyon, Kangwon Province, where the groups for the studying of the biography of General Kim Il Sung were formed and various activities were actively conducted.
How energetic they were could be clearly seen in "Rodong Sinmun", then the organ of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, which said that under the heading of "Students in the Pyongyang Area Studying the Short Biography of the Leader" "The students at all levels of schools in Pyongyang are studying very hard the short biography of the respected leader Marshal Kim Il Sung with boundless reverence for and firm determination to be loyal to Marshal Kim Il Sung".
In Juche 48 (1959) Chairman Kim Jong Il recalled with deep emotion the time when he had been working at the then Namsan Senior Middle School in Pyongyang amid the gunfire of the war, saying as follows:
It is by no means the issue raised today for the first time that we should study the revolutionary history of President Kim Il Sung. Even during the war, we attached importance to this issue and formed a group for studying the short biography of General Kim Il Sung including members of the KCU so as to study hard the revolutionary history of the President. At that time the KCU members were very keen to learn the revolutionary idea, wise leadership and noble virtues from the President. …
The Group for the Study of Short Biography of General Kim Il Sung formed by Chairman Kim Jong Il in the grim days of the war was not a simple study group but a crystal of absolute loyalty to the leader of the revolution and immutable faith in and iron will to the revolutionary idea of the leader. And it was beginning of studying the glorious revolutionary idea of the President organizationally and systematically, and a great event that brought about a radical turn in defending and glorifying the revolutionary idea and undying exploits of the President.
The great personality of Chairman Kim Jong Il as a great man who established a system of studying the revolutionary idea, theory and exploits of the President among the students with his remarkable intelligence and endowments at the early age of a teenager is still deep in the minds of the Korean people.
