Self-reliance is a revolutionary spirit that makes people persistently overcome obstacles and difficulties in the ongoing building of a powerful socialist country.
The respected Comrade
"We should overcome the hardships and difficulties by displaying the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance bequeathed by the great Comrades
Self-reliance is not a royal road. It is an indomitable spirit of overcoming difficulties and a spirit of fortitude, and the course of struggle of the pioneers of self-reliance shines accordingly. Therefore, the word self-reliance is accompanied by fortitude.
In order to bravely overcome the obstacles and difficulties lying in the way of advance and open up a broad avenue to a powerful socialist country, we should hold high the banner of self-reliance. The fundamental guarantee for successfully paving our way ahead lies in developing by our efforts with the firm belief in our strength.
The revolutionary spirit of self-reliance is, above all, a revolutionary spirit that makes it possible to persistently surmount the difficulties and hardships on the strength of the spirit of national self-respect.
The revolution is an arduous course filled with trials. The revolutionary struggle does not allow us to hesitate or vacillate in the least in the face of all hardships, and the revolutionary work demands that we solve all problems by our own efforts and at our own discretion. On the untrodden path of revolution we should not be afraid of, yield to or vacillate in the face of the manifold difficulties and obstacles. Only when we solve all problems successfully by our own strength with the firm belief in our own strength at the hard time when everything is in short supply, can we advance on our own feet along the track of development of our own style with confidence in victory.
As history shows, dependence on foreign forces leads to subjugation and national ruin, and national self-respect alone enables us to adhere to national independence and achieve national prosperity. The circumstances and conditions of the revolution may change with the advance of the times and history, but the revolutionary principle that one should solve all problems by one's own efforts with the firm belief in one's own strength will never change.
The revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and fortitude is a spirit of national self-respect based on the consciousness and will to live by one's own efforts, holding one's destiny in one's own hands.
It is the truth proved in the past practice of the Korean revolution that obstacles and difficulties can be overcome only on the strength of the spirit of national self-respect.
The Korean revolution has made a victorious advance by the Koreans' own efforts under the difficult conditions where everything is in short supply. The Korean people defeated the brigandish Japanese imperialists single-handed to achieve the historic cause of national liberation, accomplished the cause of nation building from scratch, ushered in the Chollima era and successfully concluded the Arduous March under the worst conditions to lay an eternal foundation for building a powerful socialist country. This was the proud fruition of the steadfast will of national self-respect of the Korean people who have overcome all hardships by their own efforts with the firm belief in their strength.
What they believe is their own strength and what they rely on is the spirit of self-reliance based on the strength of the spirit of national self-respect.
They have the great tradition of self-reliance with which they rose up by their own efforts despite all hardships, and they are a dignified people who learned how to live and overcome difficulties by themselves in the protracted revolutionary struggle.
The spirit of national self-respect is the sole weapon that makes it possible to rise up unwaveringly whatever the situation in the surrounding countries and make a stubborn advance braving all difficulties and obstacles.
The revolutionary spirit of self-reliance encourages the people to redouble their efforts and become self-sufficient on the strength of the spirit of national self-respect without hesitating or wavering in the face of manifold difficulties or feeling disheartened by their backwardness.
As we scale high mountains, we get stronger in strength and confidence, and this provides us with a source of more miracles. Only on the track of self-reliance can the country and people increase the strength of the spirit of self-respect and give full play to the spirit, creating enormous wealth in the shortest possible time.
If the Koreans had looked up to others, hesitating and vacillating in the face of manifold difficulties, they would have been unable to achieve world-startling miraculous victories in succession in such a short span of time and even dream of the eye-opening events that have dramatically changed international relations.
Miracles are not the luck brought by others.
The spirit of national self-respect is, indeed, the mysterious strength that gets greater and produces fresh miracles, unaffected by the passage of time, and a great motive force for building a powerful country.
This clearly proves that self-reliance is an indomitable revolutionary spirit which enables us to overcome all difficulties and obstacles by our own efforts, on the strength of national self-respect and without the slightest hesitation or vacillation in the face of all hardships.
The revolutionary spirit of self-reliance is also a revolutionary spirit that enables us to overcome difficulties and ordeals by relying on the scientific and technological capabilities.
The present is an era of science and technology, and the revolution and construction advance by dint of science and technology today.
Self-reliance is the spirit of breaking through the cutting edge based on modern science and technology.
This spirit of breaking through the cutting edge requires us to pioneer latest science and technology by our own efforts, solve scientific and technological problems arising in the revolution and construction by dint of them and thereby create everything at the highest possible level.
Today the DPRK's cause of building a powerful country is a gigantic and noble cause of advancing towards the world's cutting edge, accompanied by ceaseless difficulties and ordeals.
In order to overcome all the hardships and dynamically step up the building of a powerful socialist country while steadily enhancing the strategic position and influence of the DPRK, we have to reach the peak of latest science and technology as soon as possible and give full play to the inexhaustible potentialities of Juche Korea's development by relying on them.
The revolutionary spirit of self-reliance is the only motive force for further accelerating the building of a powerful socialist country while braving difficulties and trials and firmly guaranteeing the overall national capabilities and status of the DPRK.
This spirit, above all, encourages us to make a stubborn advance, firmly guaranteeing the country's overall national capabilities and status on the strength of science and technology.
The "scientific and technological upper hand" of the imperialists is neither almighty nor immutable. The motive force of the development of science and technology is the people of the relevant countries, especially their scientists and technicians. Science and technology should not be degenerated by external factors. This is clearly evidenced by the dramatic reality of the DPRK which has made scientific and technological progress admired by the world and rapidly emerged as an invincible power.
National power is the total of strength of a country in all aspects—politics, military, the economy, culture and so on. Many countries of the world seek their own strategies for bolstering up their national power and make efforts to implement them. The overall national power and position of a country are not determined by the size of its territory, population, material wealth and geopolitical position, but by the level of sci-tech development. If a country is backward in science and technology, its vast territory and rich resources will be worthless and it will be unable to escape poverty, backwardness, subordination and submission. And if it neglects science and technology, the country will be unable to develop and finally perish.
To steadily increase the strength of Juche-oriented science and give full play to it by scaling the high peak of ultra-modern science and technology as soon as possible with our own efforts is the basic guarantee for demonstrating the overall national power and position of the DPRK to the whole world. Only then can we make a persistent advance with confidence in victory.
Under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea which has put forward science and technology as one of the three pillars in building a powerful socialist country, the climate of attaching importance to science and technology and the hot wind of breaking through the cutting edge prevail across the country and national efforts are concentrated on sci-tech development. The ranks of talented personnel equipped with revolutionary ideas have grown up and eye-opening sci-tech achievements are being made under the special concern of the Party. The DPRK which translates the Party's plans and determination into reality has tremendous sci-tech capabilities.
Only when we rely on the mysterious strength of Juche-oriented science and the latest science and technology, can we frustrate any insidious manoeuvres of hostile forces and make the strategic position and development trend of the DPRK irreversible and thereby further increase the national strength.
The revolutionary spirit of self-reliance also increases the speed of building a powerful socialist country on sci-tech strength and spurs the DPRK's persistent onrush.
What the Korean people believe are science and technology and what they rely on is the strength of them. If the sci-tech field fails to make progress, the building of a powerful socialist country will stagnate. The success in economic construction, defence buildup and the building of socialist civilization also depends on the leading role of science and technology. The sci-tech field is the forefront in the building of a powerful socialist country. Science and technology are precisely national self-respect and their rapid development just determines the speed of building such a country.
At present, the Workers' Party of Korea requires all sectors and units to create more valuable assets of self-reliance and self-sufficiency by fully relying on sci-tech capabilities.
The economic sector, for instance, has many problems to tackle, including the readjustment and reinforcement of the overall economy, the recovery of motive force of development, the effective use of the existing foundations and capacities, the establishment of energy-and labour-saving and technology-intensive production processes, the domestic production of raw materials, fuel and other materials, the recycling of waste, the exploitation and utilization of new energy resources and the cultivation of high-yielding crops. It is also necessary to keep building the strength to reliably defend the security of the state and the happiness of the people and give fuller play to the original features, advantages and image of socialism. These enormous tasks can be successfully carried out only on the strength of science and technology.
Of course, it is important to provide funds for creation and construction. But with money not every issue can be settled. It is science and technology that make it possible to obtain the maximum profit through minimum expenditure and solve even those problems which cannot be settled with money.
Those units in the DPRK which normalize and activate production at a high level at present have all great sci-tech forces and seek solutions to difficult problems by dint of science and technology. The strength of science and technology is bringing great benefits in the building of a powerful socialist country in practice. When all sectors and units solve their problems by dint of science and technology, the building of a powerful socialist country will be pushed forward more vigorously.
Today, the Korean people are faced with the heavy yet honourable task of building a people's paradise prospering and flourishing by dint of self-reliance on their land by carrying out the far-reaching plan of the Workers' Party of Korea for building a powerful socialist country as soon as possible.
They will fully typify and embody self-reliance, the proud tradition of the Korean revolution, to courageously overcome all obstacles and difficulties in their way and make a positive contribution to winning a brilliant victory in the cause of building a powerful socialist country.
