Kim Jong Un’s Speech①

[Interview :"North Korea's First Hydrogen Bomb Test, A Complete Success"]

In January 2016, when North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution imposing extremely strong sanctions on North Korea in early March.

The day after the sanctions resolution was adopted, Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the test firing of a new large-caliber multiple rocket launcher.

[Interview: "Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un guided the test firing of the new large-caliber rocket launcher.“]

Soon after, on March 6, Kim Jong-un summoned the party and military leaders.
A speech containing Kim Jong-un's instructions at the time was published on April 10, 2017, about a year later.

This publication came a month after South Korean President Park Geun-hye's impeachment and a month before the inauguration of President Moon Jae-in.

"Let's make the entire party and the entire society Kim Il-sung-Kim Jong-il ideology!" "We must implement the principle of self-reliance first and strengthen the power of the Juche national defense industry."

The core message of the 13-page speech is, "Even in the difficult situation of sanctions against the North, let us inherit the spirit of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il and not compromise with foreign powers, but rather build up our national defense capabilities to counter foreign powers."

Kim Jong-un mentioned several examples of how Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il overcame the temptation of reform and openness and overcame hardships through self-reliance.

In particular, he emphasized, "We must forever hold on to the 'self-reliance first principle' based on the revolutionary ideology of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il."

[Interview: Lee Yoon-geol / CEO of North Korea Strategy Information Service Center]:
"We will continue this way forever until we perfect our nuclear weapons.
We have once again declared that we will prioritize self-reliance, that is, we will never give up our nuclear weapons."

The speech also revealed Kim’s attention to public opinion, a departure from his predecessors.

"We diverted funds to national defense at the expense of feeding our people adequately and even failed to provide children with proper treats like candies," he admitted.

"When I oversaw the test firing of the new large-caliber rocket launcher, ordered that a detailed report on its power be released to inform the people of North Korea's capabilities," Kim said.

"The propaganda sector should aggressively promote and publicize the achievements made in the defense industry sector."

Kim Jong-un's speech contains the will that "nuclear weapons are the only way to survive" and a strategy to "strengthen propaganda and publicity activities to appease the public sentiment suffering from economic difficulties" in the process.