editorial

In the DPRK, people have greeted the congresses of the Workers’ Party of Korea with proud labour achievements since its inaugural congress which declared the founding of the Party.

They greeted the Second Party Congress in March 1948 with the successful fulfilment of the national economic plan for 1947, the first one in the history of the DPRK.

The general ideological mobilization movement for nation building initiated by President Kim Il Sung became the first torch of mass movement involving all people in the country and the emulation drive for increased production and labour struggle of working people led to the overfulfilment of the national economic plan for 1947. Thus the Korean people could greet the Second Party Congress with pride and dignity of having demonstrated that they could build a prosperous independent state by their own efforts.

Since the reconstruction began on the crumbling ruins after the Fatherland Liberation War (1950-1953), they conducted the emulation drive for increased production to complete the three-year plan for national economic restoration and development in the post-war period. The plan, which was aimed at not just restoration but rebuilding the ruined economy in the direction of eliminating the colonial lopsidedness of industry and laying the foundations for industrialization of the country, was the first gigantic and long-term economic plan in the history of the country.

The Korean people greeted the Third Congress of the WPK in April 1956 after creating a wonderful speed of economic construction by hastening the vigorous advance toward the Party congress.

Their indomitable revolutionary spirit and trait of struggle were also displayed in the run-up to the Fourth Party Congress.

As the first five-year national economic plan was completed in the fierce flames of the great Chollima upsurge, the DPRK turned into a socialist industrial-agricultural state with solid foundations of an independent national economy and the task of building the foundations of socialism was successfully carried out, ushering in the period of overall socialist construction in the country.

In the stirring era when the number of frontrunners in the Chollima Workteam Movement was increasing at factories and other work places, the rank of workers who fulfilled their annual plans grew, a large-scale chemical fibre factory was inaugurated and a large blast furnace was newly built.

At that time, the working class of the DPRK built a 3 000-ton press, which had been an exclusive product of a few countries, and manufactured electric locomotives.

Under the wise leadership of the President, the people built up a socialist paradise from scratch although the enemies claimed that they would not rise up again even in a hundred years and greeted the Fourth Party Congress in September 1961, singing the song “We Are the Happiest in the World”.

The Korean people’s tradition continued in their advance towards the fifth and sixth congresses of the WPK held in November 1970 and in October 1980.

In order to accomplish the goals of the first seven-year plan before the Fifth Party Congress, all Party members and other working people created the Kangson speed, a new Chollima speed, and the work style of farmers in Chongsan-ri pervaded the agricultural sector to bring about an upsurge in production in all fields. A number of regional-industry factories were built in a little over six months, resulting in a sharp increase in the output of consumer goods.

The historic task of socialist industrialization was accomplished through the successful fulfilment of the seven-year plan and the DPRK turned into a socialist industrial state in only 14 years.

This enabled the Korean people to attain the goal set by the historic Fourth Congress of the WPK and make a greater leap towards the new milestone indicated by the Fifth Congress.

In the period before the Sixth Party Congress held in October 1980, a meaningful year greeting the 35th founding anniversary of the Party, the country’s leading steel and iron works and coal and other mines raised their outputs and the rail transport sector increased transport as the three revolutions—ideological, technological and cultural—were vigorously conducted.

Such grand monumental structures as the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, Changgwang Health Complex and Changgwang Street rose up adding lustre to the era of the Workers’ Party and bumper harvests were reaped in every field despite the unfavourable natural and climatic conditions with the help of mechanization.

All people fulfilled their national economic plans for 1980 ahead of schedule, raised the country’s industrial output value onto the prospective level of 1982 and greeted the Sixth Congress of the WPK.

In the course of the advance for achieving the complete victory of socialism true to the grand programme put forward at the Sixth Party Congress, the Party and people had to wage an unprecedented struggle to defend socialism.

All the Party members and other people made innovations to greet the Seventh Congress of the WPK with the memory and pride of having performed feats with indomitable mental power and struggle.

Paektusan Hero Youth Power Station Unit 3 was splendidly built as a grand monument to the youth in less than half a year, many projects were completed ahead of schedule across the country and the construction of Ryomyong Street was dynamically pushed ahead, thereby demonstrating the indomitable spirit and will of the Korean people advancing along the path for achieving prosperity by dint of self-reliance before greeting the Seventh Congress of the WPK in May 2016.

The country was in a difficult situation with the approach of the Eighth Congress of the Party.

Under the Party’s leadership, all people turned out into the 80-day campaign with confidence in the absolute truth that their country would make a historic leap again and built new villages of the people in the flood-hit northern areas of the country and created new records in the overall economy before the Eighth Party Congress held in January 2021.

During the term of the Eighth Party Central Committee, the single-minded unity of the DPRK has been further consolidated, the appearance of the country has undergone great changes, and many tasks which were decided by the Eighth Party Congress and detailed through plenary meetings of the Party Central Committee have been completed.

The successes made in different fields and regions, including the completion of the Hoeyang Army-people Power Station, the construction of the first district of the Aedo reclaimed tideland in North Phyongan Province, the inauguration of the Onpho Working People’s Holiday Camp and the Yombunjin Coastal Park and the happy events of moving into new houses in rural villages across the country, clearly show the enthusiasm of the Korean people marching towards the Ninth Congress of the WPK.