Deel 2 - LA36 KB articles 1988 98 and cuttings 006 002

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29 inflation, hunger, drug addiction, pover- ty or prostitution. Whilst a great deal re- mains to be done in the realm of econo- mic construction, its economy is one of the few in the world that is advancing free from crisis. In particular, the ten long-range goals of socialist economic construction which are expected to be realized by the end of the 1980s will take the Korean people's standard of liv- ing to a level of the developed countries in the world. It is only natural that as the achieve- ments of the DPRK become more widely known there should also develop a great- er interest in the ideology that has inspir- ed and moulded all those achievement. This ideology-the Juche idea-is a new philosophical thought which centres on man. Comrade Kim Jong Il explained: "As the leader said, the Juche idea is based on the philosophical principle that man is the master of everything and de- cides everything. The Juche idea raised the fundamental question of philosophy by regarding man as the main factor, and elucidated the philosophical principle that man is the master of everything and decides every thing. "That man is the master of everything means that he is the master of the world and of his own destiny; that man decides everything means that he plays the deci- sive role in transforming the world and in shaping his destiny." (Study of the Juche Idea, Vol.V, No.4, p.5) In this way, the Juche idea raises the position and role of man in the world as the fundamental question of philosophy, placed man in the position of dominator and transformer of the world and gave answers to all the philosophical ques- tions by regarding him as the main factor. Whilst the Juche idea represents a very profound philosophical thought it can never be forgotten that it was created not amidst a sedate academic atmos- phere but in the crucible of a difficult re- volutionary struggle. Internationally, as Comrade Kim Jong Il has explained, it was created after socialism had won its first victory and the contradiction bet- ween imperialism and the people had be- come particularly acute. As Comrade Kim Jong Il had clearly stated a new age was approaching in which the revolution- ary movement made progress in a broad and diversified way on a worldwide scale. In this new situation it was particular- ly important that each people explored the road to revolution in an independent way-a way that accorded both with the concrete conditions of the country and the traditions and sentiments of its peo- ple. Comrade Kim Jong Il pointed out. "In our country, this was a particular- ly important matter because of the pecu- liarities of historical development and the complexity and arduousness of the revolution. The Korean revolution de- manded more urgently that the popular masses hew out the path of revolution in an independent and creative manner. "The Juche idea was created on the basis of such a practical requirement of the Korean revolution." (Ibid. p.3) From this starting point of the neces- sity to wage the Korean revolution in an independent and creative way the Juche idea has developed into an all-round ideological system in which independ- ence occupies the central place the in- dependence of the country, of its revo- lutionary movement, and the independ- ence of man as a social being. In particu- lar, it has established the concept of Chajusong. Whilst this is generally trans- lated as independence it has a somewhat richer meaning than this, encompassing man's desire and need to live as a social being and as master of the world. Chajusong is an essential attribute of

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