Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un elucidated in New Year Address of 2019 that the Korean people achieved the proud victory last year under the leadership of the WPK.
The year 2018 was a historic year, in which remarkable changes took place in the internal and external situations and the DPRK’s socialist construction entered a new stage thanks to the WPK’s line of independence and strategic decision.
The proud victory achieved last year is that the Korean revolution was developed onto a new stage and continued to speed up the advance of socialism on the occasion of the Third Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Party Central Committee held in April 2018.
Following the road of arduous struggle with faith in certain victory of socialism, the Korean people provided by their own efforts a sure guarantee for defending their sovereignty and achieving peace and prosperity, and became able to set out on a grand revolutionary advance to attain still higher goals for the construction of a prosperous country.
The proud victory achieved last year is also that the Korean people celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the glorious DPRK in splendor with great dignity and self-confidence.
Through the celebratory events held in September last year, the might of the DPRK, which achieved the ideological oneness of the whole society and the single-hearted unity of the Party and the people and which possesses a reliable self-supporting economy and self-reliant defense capabilities, and the ardent will of the heroic Korean people to fight to the end for the victory of the socialist cause were fully demonstrated in front of the eyes of the world.
The proud victory achieved last year is that all the people further consolidated the foundations of the self-supporting economy by turning out in the struggle for carrying out the Party’s new strategic line of concentrating all efforts on economic construction.
Last year the DPRK made meaningful and valuable advances in the struggle for implementing the line of making the national economy Juche-oriented.
The generation capacity of the Pukchang Thermal Power Complex was increased remarkably, the Kim Chaek and Hwanghae iron and steel complexes and other metallurgical works built on their successes in establishing the Juche orientation in production, and dynamic efforts were made to strengthen the independent foundations of the chemical industry.
The quality of various vehicles and light-industry products that give us pleasure at sight as they were made by their efforts, technology and resources was raised to a higher level and their mass production was realized, bringing delight to the Korean people.
The working class in the coal-mining industry, in defense of the lifeline of the self-supporting economy, conducted a do-or-die campaign for production when everything was in difficulty. The agricultural sector waged an unremitting struggle for increased cereal production, and as a result, a large number of units and farmers became high-yielders even in adverse weather conditions.
The munitions industry, in hearty response to the Party’s militant call for concentrating all efforts on economic construction, produced a variety of farm machinery, construction equipment, cooperative products and consumer goods, thereby giving an impetus to economic development and the improvement of the people’s living standards.
Gigantic construction projects, geared to adding glory to the era of the Workers’ Party according to the Party’s long-term plan and operations, proceeded in a three-dimensional way and on a grand scale. This demonstrated in reality the stout mettle of socialist Korea that never flinches in the face of any adversity but achieves victory after victory by surging forward more forcefully, as well as the inexhaustible potentials of its independent economy.
The proud victory achieved last year is also that, true to the decision of the April Plenary Meeting of the Party Central Committee on bringing about a revolutionary turn in science and education, the sector of science and technology presented valuable research findings conducive to accelerating the growth of hi-tech industries and revitalizing the national economy and, as a result of the efforts to make education modern and scientific gained momentum, the teaching conditions and environment were updated at many universities, colleges, middle and primary schools across the country.
The proud victory achieved last year is that the sector of art and culture produced and staged a grand mass gymnastics and artistic performance, evoking positive response from at home and abroad and vividly showing the advanced level of Juche-oriented art and its peculiar features and advantages.
