Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un's Policy Speech at First Session of 15th Supreme People’s Assembly of DPRK

Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un's Policy
Speech at First Session of 15th Supreme People’s Assembly of DPRK Pyongyang, March 24 (KCNA) — Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea, made an important policy speech, titled, "On the
Tasks Facing the Government of the Republic at the Present Stage of
Socialist Construction", at the First Session of the 15th Supreme People’s
Assembly of the DPRK on March 23.
Dear comrade Deputies,
And comrade observers,
First, I would like to take this opportunity to offer my warm congratulations to
all Deputies who have been elected as members of the supreme power organ
of our dignified State, the fifteenth of its kind, thanks to the great trust and
support and approval of the people throughout the country.
I also congratulate you on your election as members of the new-term State
leadership according to the recommendation of the Central Committee of the
Workers’ Party of Korea and the deliberation and decision at the First Session
of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea.
Expressing my thanks to the Supreme People’s Assembly for entrusting me
again with the sacred mission of representing the DPRK and guiding the
overall work of the country, I solemnly pledge to make all sincere efforts to
firmly defend the Constitution of our Republic and promote the prosperity and
development of the State and the well-being of the people, bearing deep in
mind the trust and expectations of all of you, Deputies, and all other people.
Comrades,
As the Ninth Congress of the WPK noted, our cause of building a socialist
state has now entered a key period of reaching a high stage of development
in all aspects and of moving to a next stage.
This is not something achieved thanks to any opportunity or by taking
advantage of it, but an inevitable result of the struggle our Party, government

and all the people have waged to perseveringly open their own course of
development and steadily accumulate potentials by dint of their own efforts.
Today, before referring to the direction of the future activities of the
government of the Republic, I would like to briefly explain the affairs of the
State during the term of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly, which ushered
in a successful period through an arduous struggle.
In fact, 2019, when the First Session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly
of the DPRK was held, was a period that demanded a truly important and
responsible choice and fresh courage on the part of our socialist construction
and the government of our Republic.
During this period our State building strategy to construct socialism through
self-reliance, holding fast to the revolutionary line of independence, was
further consolidated to be invariable, and this was clarified in the policy
speech at the First Session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly.
And it was detailed and deepened at the subsequent Eighth Congress of the
WPK, the plenary meetings of the Party Central Committee and the sessions
of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly.
Now, I think we can draw two obvious conclusions.
They are that it was quite right that we resolutely implemented the political
line, the strategy for the development of the State, through self-reliance by
believing in our people and sustaining our fighting traditions, and that it was
very righteous that we maintained our development mode of steadily
accelerating socialist construction while cementing our position as a nuclear
state.
The position of our State and the present trend of socialist construction, which
have changed incomparably from those of seven years ago, prove the validity
of these conclusions.
As we were consistent in maintaining the principles and methods of dealing
with problems that rely entirely on our own strength in the face of ordeals, we
could remain more faithful to our sacred struggle with the sense of self-
confidence, not the sense of dependence, and win great gains incomparable
with the result expected from anyone’s “promise” or “economic assistance.”

Though we felt difficult at every step and were short of everything, we were
firm in our conviction that we have nothing to rely on other than our own
strength and were full of confidence in our own strength; as a result, we could
unyieldingly and to the utmost do more things we wanted for the prosperity
and development of the State and the well-being of the people while rapidly
increasing our own potentials, and, furthermore, advance these undertakings
in breadth and depth beyond precedents and beyond the imagination of the
world.
We successfully carried out several-year development plans for the first time
in decades, laid down foundations for boosting production in the economic
field, created a bold and comprehensive new trend of simultaneously
transforming the capital city and regions, the whole country in other words,
and increased the people-oriented policies. These can be said to be typical
examples.
The successful start of the overall technological renovation and the advance
in science and technology, education and public health were also achieved by
dint of self-reliance.
What is most important is that we defended the independent development
right, with which we can decide and shape the present and future of our State
and people according to our own faith, and that our self-confidence, courage
and ability to support its realization have grown remarkably.
In the course of the struggle to overcome the challenges and make a stubborn
advance towards realizing our ideals by dint of self-reliance and self-
sufficiency, the patriotic enthusiasm and spirit of advance of all the people
rapidly rose and, in direct proportion to this, the motive force of our revolution
grew incomparably stronger.
In short, we obtained many things that are more than precious in terms of
spirits, capabilities and materials.
These are precious assets of our revolution which we would never have
achieved if we had relied upon others and if we had received assistance from
others–our truly proud assets.
The past decade clearly showed that no objective conditions and
circumstances can ever check the advance of a state and people that have
turned out in the struggle to shape their future, rallied as one with a firm faith,

and that the most correct road to prosperity is to achieve self-reliance and
self-sufficiency.
The hostile forces wanted us to make a different choice, preaching a payment
for our giving up of nuclear weapons, but the present situation clearly proves
how just the strategic option and decision of our State were in rejecting the
enemy’s cajolery and perpetuating our nuclear possession so that it is
irreversible.
During the 14th term of the Supreme People’s Assembly our Republic
legalized its nuclear policy and enshrined it in the Constitution of our State,
and accelerated the strengthening of our nuclear forces, thereby building up
an absolute physical capability for practically deterring war and ensuring the
balance of forces in the region.
Thus, our State has ushered in a new era of achieving security and
safeguarding peace with strength, not by any declaration or through any
appeal.
The present world situation, in which the dignity and rights of sovereign states
are being trampled upon feebly by unilateral high-handedness and tyranny,
clearly teaches us what is a sure guarantee for the existence of our State and
for defending peace.
With an insight into the immutable nature of the imperialist and dominationist
forces, for whom seeking hegemony has become an inveterate mental
attribute and whose shamelessness would evolve to be more brigandish, we
secured in a foresighted way a substantial capability for coping with the
security threats that would face us in the future and their worst changes. We
were absolutely right in doing so.
Externally, the United States and its allies are constantly deploying nuclear
strategic assets in the region around our country and threatening the security
mainstay in the region, but in fact this is not something new to us, and security
of our State is being maintained on a level higher than that in other regions of
the world.
I am sure to say: Ours is no longer a country that is susceptible to threats
from others, and it has the power to threaten them, if necessary.
The building up of our nuclear shield is firmly guaranteeing and propelling the
development of the country in all fields including the economy and culture and

the improvement of the people’s living standards, as well as the military and
security fields.
During the last five-year plan period for national economic development alone,
the State investment increased 2.4 times in the major economic sectors, and
more than 8 times in the core sectors. The result was that marked progress
was made in the growth of the economy and in the updating of technical
infrastructure.
The unprecedentedly enormous forces and resources of the State are being
enlisted for the projects aimed at improving the quality of the people’s life and
promoting their well-being, including large-scale construction of houses and
expansion of cultural and welfare service facilities. In all regions, under the
powerful guidance and assistance of the central authorities, the process of
transformation unprecedented in the history of nation building has made a
dynamic start in a simultaneous and three-dimensional way.
All these prove that our style of development strategy was very correct as we
directed great efforts to the development of the State and the economy while
giving priority to getting a security guarantee of our own and consistently
carrying on the line of bolstering up our nuclear forces.
And we smashed through scientific reality the insidious and crafty preach and
sophistry of the hostile forces that we would not get prosperous if we did not
give up our nukes, and demonstrated to the whole world what kind of chain
reaction the firm defence of our security interests is effecting in all aspects of
our State building, including politics, the economy, culture and external
relations.
In the course of adhering to the strategic line of self-reliance and
strengthening our nuclear forces and implementing it to the letter, our State
boosted the might of independence, self-sustenance and self-reliant defence
up to a new height and, at the same time, has further consolidated the people-
oriented character of our socialist system and turned the political and
ideological unity of the whole society and all the people into an invincible one.
Indeed, this is a glorious and proud review.
What we should consider as more precious is that our faith that “self-reliance
is the only way out,” which our people have firmly maintained over the long
years of trials, believing in the Party and the State and encouraging

themselves while tightening their belts, has turned out to be effective in
practice, in reality.
Our people have demonstrated to the world that faith gives an eye to see the
future and that the cause and the state supported by such a complete faith of
theirs are sure to succeed, and have etched the immutable truth in the
chronicles of socialist construction. This is a historic exploit our heroic people
have performed.
On behalf of the WPK and the government of the DPRK, I extend warm
congratulations and thanks to all the citizens of this country for having firmly
defended everything precious and beautiful of socialism and blazed a new
trail of development with an unwavering faith and fighting spirit, and for having
glorified the decade of unprecedentedly arduous struggle as that of
miraculous transformation and successful development by dint of firm self-
confidence.
Comrades,
The socialist cause of our own style has entered a new stage, and it is an
important task facing the government of our Republic to further expand and
consolidate the current trend of development under the leadership of the WPK
and thus promote the prosperity of the State and the well-being of the people.
The ongoing First Session of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly amended
and supplemented some of the contents of the Constitution of the DPRK in
compliance with the essential requirements for the development of the State,
and adopted ordinances on carrying out the five-year plan set forth by the
Ninth Congress of the Party and on the State budget for this year.
With the current session as an occasion, our State power and social system
have been further strengthened and developed in conformity with the rising
status and strength of our country, and a new situation has been created,
whereby the Party congress and the Supreme People’s Assembly, and the
Party central leadership and the State leadership, come to have the same
period and term and clear responsibility and step up the development of the
State and socialist construction vigorously.
The government of the Republic should be faithful to its mission and role in
the coming historic undertaking to attain the new long-term objectives set forth
by the Ninth Party Congress on the basis of the precious achievements it has

made in opening up the era of transformation unheard-of in the history of
nation building.
It is important in State building and activities to more vigorously push ahead
with the three revolutions–ideological, technological and cultural–in keeping
with the current situation of socialist construction, while consistently adhering
to the principle of independence, self-sustenance and self-reliance in defence
and the people-first principle.
The Ninth Party Congress has clarified the need for all sectors and units to
conduct the three revolutions more vigorously.
The three revolutions constitute the general line of socialist construction, and
successful progress can be made in all fields only when they are waged
effectively.
Therefore, all undertakings and activities of the government of the Republic
should naturally be geared to implementing the line of the three revolutions to
the letter and carrying them out more actively as required by the times and the
developing revolution.
Consistent and definite priority should be given in this regard to the ideological
revolution as it is aimed at training all members of society ideologically and
morally.
The masses of the people are masters of the revolution, who constitute the
foundation of socialism, and equipping them with an independent ideological
consciousness is the most important task in socialist construction, and this
work needs more profound, continuous effort the more the times pass and the
farther the revolution advances.
Moreover, as some changes are taking place in people’s consciousness and
there still exist subjective and objective impacts on it, the government of the
Republic should strictly adhere to the principle of giving precedence to
ideological work and actively apply it to its activities.
In organizing and conducting all work, it is necessary to place people above
anything else, direct primary efforts to their ideological remoulding and the
enlisting of their spiritual strength, and ensure purposefully that each of the
processes of adopting and implementing State policy is geared to active
development of ideological consciousness of officials and other working
people.

The main thing in the ideological revolution is to model the whole society on
the revolutionary and working-class pattern.
The government of the Republic should direct primary efforts to training our
working class in a revolutionary way so that they will always live and struggle
as befits the vanguard of the revolution, the group leading the whole society.
Meanwhile, it should make the whole society assimilated into the working
class by constantly implanting in the entire society the progressive spirits and
traits of the times created by the working class, and by training the agricultural
workers and intellectuals, particularly the young people, in a revolutionary way
in the vigorous struggle for socialist construction.
Spurs should also be given to the technological and cultural revolutions to
accelerate the gradual technological reconstruction of the national economy,
definitely put the economy and culture on the foundations of advanced
science and technology and bring daily improving civilization and well-being to
our people.
We should further develop the revolutionary mass movements including the
Three-Revolution Red Flag Movement, which are a powerful driving force for
socialist construction, and thus make fresh progress in transforming people,
nature and society.
The task to which the government of the Republic should pay due attention is
to improve the work of the government organs so that they can vigorously
lead the next stage of development in building socialism of our own style.
The five-point requirement of the times set forth by the Ninth Party Congress
serves as practical guidelines which must be implemented without fail in
improving the work of the government organs.
The requirement of the new era should be fully met first in the work of the
government organs exercising the authority to command the whole of society.
Only then can it run through all sectors and units of socialist construction
quickly and satisfactorily.
In planning, organizing, directing and reviewing all work, the government
organs at all levels, including those in the capital city and provincial areas,
should make a correct study of whether it meets the requirements of the times
and, in the course of this, make purposeful and substantial innovations in their
mode of guidance and style of work.

In strengthening the functions and role of the government organs, it is
important to establish a rational and well-regulated working system and order.
System and order consist in a very fundamental thing.
Reality changes and develops constantly, and it is imperative to improve the
working system and order in keeping with the new tasks given.
As the sphere of work to be dealt with by the government organs continues to
expand and the work norms rise, the system of guidance and management
should be adjusted and supplemented, and the transitional and temporary
modes should be transformed into a regular and specialized working system
and order.
We should eliminate irrational and inefficient elements latent in the present
working system so that all work can be done smoothly and efficiently, and in
particular, pay attention to helping all public servants work at full capacity.
In the work of the government organs, we should identify, prevent and take all
possible measures against the opportunities that may give rise to such
undesirable style of work as trying to shirk responsibility, protecting oneself,
clinging to formalism and doing things in an unscientific way, and to such
practices as abuse of power and bureaucratism, which we should guard
against and reject without fail as they go against the people-oriented
character.
Kim Jong Un put special emphasis on principled matters regarding the need
to establish a strict order in State organs, before continuing:
In order to enhance the functions and role of government organs, it is
necessary to build up the ranks of public servants and improve their
qualifications and sense of responsibility.
The working system is, to all intents and purposes, an arrangement and order
governing the activities of State organs, and whether the work goes well or
not depends on the level, ability and sense of responsibility of each public
servant.
To acquire proper qualifications and traits befitting public servants of the
people’s government and work with devotion for the Party, the State and the
people–this is a duty devolving on all officials working at State organs.

Government organs at all levels should make exacting demands on the public
servants so that they steadily study hard and intensify self-cultivation in order
to acquire noble people-oriented traits and high political and practical
qualifications with boundless loyalty to the Party and the revolution.
What is important is to ensure that all the public servants acquire and embody
the guidance methods and modes that meet the requirements of the new era.
The problem at the moment is that both the officials who have worked for a
long time and the new public servants lack the principled and systematic idea
and understanding of the guidance theory, method and style created by our
Party.
As a result, they blindly follow the previous outdated pattern of work, failing to
properly judge whether or not the present work style, which has been handed
down like a custom, conforms to the inherent principles of the people’s
government organs.
Times develop and the masses demand mature guidance. This being the
situation, the government organs should never become an entity imposing
inconvenience and burdens while dictating bureaucratic directives and
wielding authority, instead of effectively guiding and managing their
subordinate units and providing convenience and assistance to the
inhabitants.
Therefore, not only senior officials of the government organs but the members
of each department should make due efforts to cultivate the correct work
method and style and the seasoned guidance abilities that conform to the
times.
While directing efforts to embodying our Party’s superior method and style of
guidance, the government organs should provide education and organize
work in a purposeful and conscious manner to create and generalize excellent
work method and style in practice.
It is important to strengthen dong and neighbourhood units, the basic units of
the State and social life and the bases for the inhabitants’ life.
All the families in our country belong to dong and neighbourhood units, and
great changes are taking place in all spheres of social life. Such reality further
highlights the importance and role of the work of these units.

The government organs should actively improve the work of the units and put
to rights the defective problems in time in the direction of consolidating the
unity and political stability of society, correctly implementing the policies of the
Party and the State, fully meeting the inhabitants’ needs in their living and
providing them with convenience.
It is important to intensify the struggle to eliminate such practices as imposing
extra economic burdens on the inhabitants and fostering discontent, far from
correctly fulfilling the policy-oriented requirements concerning the work of
dong and neighbourhood units and properly relieving them of their afflictions.
It is necessary to encourage the heads of neighbourhood units, who take care
of the inhabitants’ living closest at hand, to take pride in their duty and carry
out in a responsible manner their such assignments as promoting harmony
among members of their neighbourhood units, sprucing up the villages in a
cultured and sanitary manner and preventing accidents, non-socialist
practices and criminal acts.
In particular, it is needed to avoid deviation in correctly defining the size of
neighbourhood units and the standard for election of their heads in keeping
with the regional features and living environment and decisively improving the
treatment of them.
One of the urgent problems at present is to increase the State income so as
to financially guarantee the normal operation of the State and the
implementation of people-oriented policies.
As the sphere of socialist construction expands, it is natural that the amount of
money disbursed out of the State budget increases, and only when the State
income increases steadily, is it possible to effectively enforce the State
administration and fundamentally eliminate a series of existing evil practices.
The government organs should create conditions and environment favourable
for the business activities of production sectors and units and intensify the
work of economic organization and guidance to build up their material and
technical foundations and potentialities, so as to create more material wealth
and expand the State income.
At the same time, it is necessary to properly restore the State’s leading role
and control in the space for service and circulation of goods.

The method of payment should be innovated in keeping with the management
scale and incomes of the units authorized to use the land of the State or
exploit and use natural resources and in consideration of their topographical
features.
The government organs should conduct the long-term work for population
growth in a more effective way.
Population growth is an important issue related to the future of the State, and
an undertaking to which the government of the Republic should always pay
attention and devote much effort.
It is needed to correctly enforce the laws reflecting advantageous policies
including the law on childcare, the law on the nursing and upbringing of
children and the law on preferential treatment of a family with many children,
create a social atmosphere of encouraging women to give birth to many
children and bring them up well, and continue to increase the State benefits
for childcare and education of the rising generations.
We should also take measures to regularly ensure accommodation of the
working people at sanatoria and holiday camps and their paid leave,
proactively expand sanatoria and cultural service facilities conducive to the
promotion of their health, thoroughly prevent and control major diseases and
epidemics and, in particular, further reduce infant mortality.
The consolidation and development of the State and social system is
inconceivable separated from the work of constantly supplementing and
completing the legal system, and the comprehensive development of
socialism requires us to strengthen the legal system.
We should steadily improve the sector-specific laws and regulations from the
viewpoint of promoting fresh progress and development in all fields of State
and social life, including politics, the economy and culture, and fully ensuring
the rights, interests and well-being of the people.
The role of the judicial, prosecutorial and other law-enforcement organs is
very important in establishing the socialist legal system under which the
people observe the law and the latter defends the former and, in particular,
priority should be given to the judgment and defence activities in protecting
the legal rights of citizens.

The law-enforcement organs should detect and deal with all kinds of criminal
acts in time to reliably ensure the correct execution of the State policies and
guarantee the people’s interests, and offer citizens efficient assistance to help
them exercise their legal rights properly and faithfully observe their duties.
Comrade Deputies,
With regard to the issue of strengthening the legal system of our Republic, it
would be subject to an official deliberation at a Supreme People’s Assembly
session to be convened later, but I would like to take this opportunity to inform
you in advance of an important policy orientation.
It is an issue of setting up a police system which conform to our country as
required by the political security of our State and the changing and developing
times.
The police system is aimed at further consolidating and developing our legal
system and State and social system by perfecting the legal regulations for
ensuring the internal security of the State and social stability and establishing
an effective and profitable mechanism and functions.
In fact, establishing the system is an essential requirement for State
administration, and the word police is not bad in itself.
With a view to maintaining public order on a higher level, it is natural and
beneficial to establish the system subdividing the field of legal struggle and
making it professional.
Its establishment will be favourable for fully ensuring mutual ties and
collaboration by clearly defining the work demarcation among the law-
enforcement organs at home and realizing cooperation with foreign police
organizations.
In this regard, the relevant fields have made in-depth studies and preparations
for several years.
It is needed to make more thoroughgoing preparations for reorganizing the
Public Security Forces into the police force soon after the police system is
officially established in the future.
Besides, it is necessary to give proper publicity to the establishment of the
police system so that all the people can have a correct understanding of it.

Comrades,
It is an important political task facing the government of the Republic to
successfully carry out the long-term plan of five years set forth at the Ninth
Party Congress.
The government of the Republic should carry out without fail the five-year plan
thoroughly based on the Party’s economic development strategy for stabilizing
and consolidating the national economy and achieving its gradual and
qualitative development at the present stage.
As the five-year plan for national economic development and the ways of its
implementation were clearly set forth in detail at the Ninth Party Congress, I
am going to mention the main points of the tasks to which we should pay
attention and direct efforts.
The primary task is to consolidate the economic foundations for us to develop
onto the next stage by concentrating State investment on technological
upgrading in all sectors of the national economy, including key industries.
The balanced development of all fields, sectors and regions is unthinkable
apart from the comprehensive technological upgrading of the economic
sectors. In particular, the upgrading of the outdated and backward production
lines and equipment in the key industries is an important task that should be
carried out without fail, no matter how huge and difficult it may be.
In the past five years, we modernized the major machine-building factories,
which constitute a precious asset for industrial modernization, by overcoming
all sorts of difficulties and deviations, and, in the course of this, we
accumulated exemplary experience.
By building on such successes and experience, we should modernize one
core machine-building base after another, which play an important part in
economic development, and positively upgrade the technical infrastructures in
the key industries.
Important is to direct efforts to further boosting the production potentials in the
sectors of metallurgical, chemical, electric power and coal-mining industries,
the pillars of the national economy.
We should further improve economic arrangement and scientific and
technological guidance, so that the metallurgical and chemical industries can

give the fullest play to their newly-created production capacities, thereby
turning out larger quantities of metal and chemical products badly needed in
different sectors of the national economy.
At present, the electric power and coal-mining industries are the sectors under
the heaviest strain in balancing demand and supply, and, as a matter of fact,
the scope of growth of our economy can be said to be decided by the
production results of the two sectors.
This is why it is necessary to take practical and effective measures to increase
the production of electricity and coal and keep intensifying State guidance and
assistance for these sectors.
At the same time, we should effectively push ahead with the expansion of the
production potentials of the building-materials sector and the consolidation of
the material and technical foundations of the rail transport and IT sectors.
In this way, in the period of the five-year plan we should considerably
consolidate the foundations for the development of the overall industrial
sectors and, at the same time, wage a vigorous struggle to increase
production, thus boosting the output value of the industrial sectors 1.5 times.
It is the consistent absolute standard of the government of the Republic and
its principle in activities that the results of national development and economic
growth should be mainly expressed in improving the people’s standard of
living and that the people’s well-being represents national strength.
The government should make sustained efforts to develop agriculture and
fishing and light industries which are directly linked with the people’s living.
Kim Jong Un pointed to the need to fully solve the food problem, an urgent
task for the people’s living, by attaining the grain production goal without fail
during the new long-term plan, and set forth important tasks for its
implementation. He said:
To this end, the State should consolidate the material and technical
foundations for agricultural production by further perfecting the irrigation
system, supplying farms with larger quantities of farming materials and larger
numbers of efficient tractors and other farm machines and vigorously pushing
forward with tideland reclamation to increase the area under cultivation.

What is important in increasing grain production is to concentrate on
increasing per-hectare yield in all fields and direct efforts to the seed
revolution, scientific farming, land improvement and tideland farming, thus
raising the existing rate of land utilization as much as possible.
We should channel particular efforts into wheat farming to increase production
and expand the wheat-processing capacity, so as to achieve definite progress
in converting the people’s dietary life into that based mainly on rice and foods
made of wheat flour during the new long-term plan.
We should build larger numbers of modern vegetable greenhouses and
livestock and poultry farming bases throughout the country, step up the effort
to put production on a scientific, intensive, industrialized and intelligent
footing, develop fruit farming and increase the production of industrial crops
and mushrooms, thus enriching the people’s dietary life.
The fishing industry should build a large number of modern fishing boats,
raise the level of scientific fishing and do fish farming and aquaculture on a
large scale so as to increase the production of seafood.
By building new, promising light industry factories, the State should further
strengthen the foundations of light industry and provide solid assets for
satisfying various daily-increasing material and cultural needs of the people.
It should set as the main tasks for developing light industry upgrading of the
equipment and production lines at the existing light industry factories and
improving the quality, and increasing the varieties, of consumer goods, and
give strong impetus to the efforts for implementing these tasks, so as to meet
the people’s demand for consumer goods both in quality and quantity.
It is important to correctly implement the socialist policies for students and
schoolchildren–a consistent policy of our Party and eternal policy of our
Republic.
Continuous efforts should be made to produce and supply quality school
uniforms, bags, footwear and school things on a normal basis, so that all the
rising generations can learn and grow up excellently without anything to worry
about or envy.
During the new long-term plan period, too, the government of the Republic will
expand construction work for fully solving the housing problem of the people
and continuously creating civilization of a higher level.

We should build more modern and comfortable houses and new streets in
Hwasong and other areas of the capital city, and direct strenuous efforts to
building dwelling houses in provincial seats, rural communities and coal
mining villages. In this way, we can ensure that 370 000 families move into
new houses.
In particular, we should draw up a detailed plan to turn all coal mining villages
into modern and cultured coal mining towns, and carry out construction work
extensively for four years to build over 20 000 houses each year by enlisting
national resources during the five-year plan period, thus giving a facelift to the
coal mining areas.
Steady efforts should be made to transform the Samjiyon area and other
scenic spots in provinces into characteristic tourist resorts and build holiday
camps in different parts of the country.
In addition, State measures should be taken to find substantial solutions to the
basic problems in the people’s living, including those of supplying tap water
and fuel on a normal basis, and to resolve the public transport and urban
heating problems.
The main realm of our current struggle is regional development aimed at
transforming the living conditions of the people in provinces.
While further building on the successes achieved in the course of
implementing the regional development policy in the new era, the government
of the Republic will persistently and without deflection push ahead with the
construction projects in this regard during the new long-term plan period, and
thus provide 100 cities and counties with solid foundations for their
development.
If regional development policy projects are implemented in 20 cities and
counties every year, regions covering 70% of the territory of the country will
witness new entities of development and civilization in addition to the already-
built ones.
To this end, regions should make thorough preparations for normal operation
of the regional-industry factories, hospitals, leisure complexes and grain
storage stations to be built, and make positive efforts to fully tap their
economic potentials.

Improving guidance on and management of the national economy is a key to
further consolidating its current growing trend and laying foundations for its
stable and sustainable development.
The economic guidance organs should find correct solutions to improving
economic guidance and management in the direction of providing unified
management to all the economic activities within the territory of the Republic,
enhancing the sense of responsibility and creativity of enterprises and, in
particular, arousing the revolutionary enthusiasm and creativity of the
producer masses.
Decisive efforts should be made to improve the quality of products for
achieving gradual and qualitative development during the new long-term plan
period.
Nowadays the material standard of living of our people is improving day after
day, and everyone everywhere demands quality products; therefore,
producing poor-quality products can be said to be a waste.
The quality of products is related mainly with the level of modernization of
production lines and equipment and the quality of raw and other materials
supplied; in particular, it is largely dependent on the producers’ level of
technical skills.
Therefore, along with the modernization of the production lines and equipment
in the industrial sector, an effective methodology should be developed and
applied for supplying high-quality raw and other materials and raising the level
of technical skills.
At the same time, necessary economic and practical measures should be
taken to establish discipline and order and promote foreign trade in the
external economic sector, so that it can contribute to the development of the
economy and improving the people’s living standards.
Comrades,
One of the important tasks facing the government of the Republic is to
steadily improve the country’s sci-tech capabilities and continue to develop
socialist culture.
During the new long-term plan period great efforts should be directed to
developing the country’s science and technology to an advanced level so that

they can guarantee putting the national economy on an independent and
modern footing and its sustained growth and improving the people’s living
standards.
We should actively increase investment in, and support to, the sci-tech field,
strongly promote and encourage integration of science and technology with
production, and further intensify measures for giving preferential treatment to
sci-tech talents.
In addition, we should ensure that establishing and implementing optimized
plans by relying on science and technology prevails as work style, and create
good conditions and environment so that contributing to development of
society and units by dint of technological innovations can be turned into the
work of the masses themselves.
All sectors and units should strengthen their own sci-tech forces, regarding
technological progress as a core task for development and innovation, and at
the same time, push ahead with the work of introducing advanced science
and technology.
As the Ninth Party Congress clarified, the present scientific and technological
work should be firmly oriented to resolving the problems arising in developing
the economy and improving the people’s living standards, pressing problems
in socialist construction.
The scientific research sector should concentrate its efforts on resolving the
problems arising in attaining the qualitative and quantitative growth of
production by improving the technological infrastructure of major industries, in
satisfactorily supplying food, clothing and housing for the people and in
creating a more improved civilization.
The development of the State not only at present but also in the future is
largely dependent on latest science and technology.
We should successfully carry out the major sci-tech tasks arising in reality
and, at the same time, direct national efforts into developing the latest science
and technology with world competitiveness, including AI and space
technologies.
The top policy priority of our State is always the education of younger
generations and talents.

The government of the Republic should give top priority to the work of raising
our education onto a world’s advanced level during the new long-term plan
period as well, and pay close attention and direct great efforts to it.
The implementation of the second universal 12-year compulsory education
programme, which begins this year, is of great significance in preparing all our
students and schoolchildren to be pillars of the country. So, the State should
further improve and strengthen its guidance and assistance for improving the
quality of general education.
We should actively comply with the policy-oriented requirements of the WPK
to make steady innovations in higher education so as to satisfy the realistic
and prospective demands for talents.
It is particularly important for the State to take strong measures to implement
all the tasks arising in reducing the differences in the level of education
between the capital city and provinces and between towns and countryside.
We should establish bases for training talents capable of leading the future
development of the country, step up the work of rebuilding the existing
universities and secondary education establishments, and effectively put
production at education-related factories on a normal footing. In this way, we
can develop the country’s educational foundations onto a higher level.
The government of the Republic should direct uninterrupted efforts to
providing the people across the country with excellent medical service and
promoting their health satisfactorily by turning the Party’s plan for modernizing
public health into reality.
In line with the start of the public health revolution to put the country’s public
health on an advanced basis, modern hospitals should be built in the capital
city and regions, and the work of building the health service infrastructure
throughout the country launched on a full scale.
The State should establish a well-regulated system of training public health
experts and competent medical workers, ensuring regular supply of medicines
to hospitals and pharmacies and providing them with adequate medical
equipment, and effectively operate the system so that the advantages and
vitality of the public health revolution in the new era can be displayed to the
full.

It is particularly important to innovate the healthcare system in conformity with
the changed conditions and environment.
We should amend the public health law in a more reasonable way and
correctly expand the enforcement of the medical care system through the
health insurance fund so as to consolidate the material and technical
foundations of the public health sector and ensure its normal operation, and
make sure that all the people receive high-level medical services at their
convenience.
The socialist way of life and moral discipline should be established more
thoroughly throughout society.
Establishing a noble and sound lifestyle and moral discipline in the whole of
society is a matter which our Party and State have consistently attached
importance to as it is directly linked with the nature and advantages of our
style of socialism.
We should conduct in an aggressive and methodological way the work of
ensuring that the traits of living and working in accordance with the socialist
way of life is firmly established as national traits in keeping with the changes
in the people’s consciousness and cultural level.
We should not only encourage a positive atmosphere for all members of
society to value and defend our socialist life, which is the best in the world,
despite the difficulties and obstacles, but also steadily create and develop a
fine socialist civilization of our own style, which everyone can empathize with
and enjoy.
At the same time, we should take strict administrative and legal measures to
protect our people, the younger generations in particular, so that the alien and
unsound elements that run counter to the socialist way of life cannot infect
them, and ensure that this is combined with an active mass-involving struggle.
Sound moral traits should prevail throughout social life.
Courtesy and morality are part of a beautiful and excellent socialist life, and
when all the people observe them well, the whole country will become more
harmonious and united as a large family.
All sectors and units should lead the people correctly to observe the moral
norms voluntarily.

Saying that it is particularly important to establish a strong moral discipline
and a refined way of speaking first among officials, Kim Jong Un stressed
that officials, who are leading personnel of the revolution and educators of the
people, should set an example in behaving morally and politely with a correct
outlook on the masses of the people and morality.
Kim Jong Un analyzed and appraised the present unpredictably
complicated international situation and clarified the invariable stand of the
government of the Republic. He said:
Unpredictability is the only predictable future situation in the present world.
If there is anything predictable, it is the aggressive nature of imperialism which
can never change.
Therefore, it will be the greatest error and a reckless gamble for us to predict
the presently existing threats and prospective international political trend too
easily and without adequate consideration and plan the future without careful
deliberation.
The surest way to predict future events and provide for unpredictability is to
be prepared for everything.
The correct way to turn unpredictability into predictability is to always worry
about the worst situation, rather than seeking comfort, prioritize long-term and
strategic benefits over short-term and visible benefits, and aspire to
tomorrow’s sustainable prosperity, rather than today’s ease.
We should have a powerful force to make peace a choice of the strong, not a
sign of weakness.
The DPRK has never refused peace so far, and has not neglected in the
slightest the efforts to have the most reliable means of defending peace from
the most peace-loving stand.
This is the most responsible choice not only for guaranteeing our own security
but also for maintaining stability and durable peace in the region and the
international community.
The government of the Republic has always been invariable in its stand to
take every possible measure to protect the sovereignty and social system of
the State and its right to development, security and existence from the threats
of hostile forces.

There may be various possible alternatives in ensuring national security and
regional peace and stability, but the surest and the most permanent and
reliable alternative is to get the means of most powerful force that no one may
dare to challenge, and this is what we are now devoting ourselves to.
Precisely, we know too well what we have to do, and will continue to do what
we have to do as ever without fail.
Whether our enemies choose confrontation or peaceful co-existence, it is their
option, and we are ready to respond to any of their options.
We will further expand and develop the nuclear deterrent for self-defence in
accordance with the mission entrusted by the Constitution of the Republic and
the requirements of the line of bolstering up the national nuclear forces and
get the nuclear forces of the Republic fully prepared for prompt and correct
counteraction so as to tightly control the strategic threats to the security of the
State and the region.
The government of the Republic will continue to increase and strengthen the
national defence capabilities by thoroughly implementing the line of
developing the People’s Army into a powerful and modern army and the policy
of bringing about a revolution in the defence industry in the new era and
supplying manpower and material resources needed for arming all the people
and fortifying the whole country sufficiently and on a preferential basis.
Comrades,
As mentioned earlier, although the United States is now resorting to acts of
state-sponsored terrorism and aggression in various parts of the world, its
arrogant high-handedness and rashness have failed to undermine the will of
progressive mankind to oppose domination and subjugation and achieve
independence and equality, but rather triggered off anti-American sentiments
and hatred of the forces aspiring after independence, and they are pushing
them towards unity and resistance.
The forces aspiring after independence will surely overcome the present trials
and get stronger than the hegemony-seeking forces, and the building of an
equitable and just multipolar world will be further promoted.
The government of the DPRK will, in the future, too, readily undertake the
historic mission of leading the trend of global independence under the uplifted
banner of independence.

We should firmly guarantee the building of socialist society politically and
diplomatically by pursuing an independent foreign policy that best conforms to
our national interests, while regarding it as the foremost principle to defend
national interests to cope with the changed international balance of forces and
the uncertain international political situation.
We should get rid of the diplomatic practices which had been adjusted to the
old standards and yardsticks of the past so as to cope with the rapidly
changing situation and the unpredictable geopolitical reality with full
preparations and employ the diplomatic tactics and methods of external
activities becoming to the new status and prestige of the State.
We should build the structure of deployment of the diplomatic forces, which is
most reasonable for the promotion of our national interests on a global scale,
steadily readjust and improve it and make sure that the external activities of
the State are all directed to ensuring its dignity and interests.
The dignity, interests and final victory of the State are guaranteed only by the
most powerful strength.
The government of the Republic will continue to consolidate the national
position as a nuclear state into an absolutely irreversible one and wage the
struggle in an aggressive manner to smash all the anti-DPRK provocations of
the hostile forces.
We will never look on the moves of the forces that attempt to infringe on the
sovereign rights, security interests and right to development of our State.
In particular, we will categorically reject, ignore and treat the ROK with the
most explicit words and actions by officially regarding it as the most hostile
state, and make it pay the price for its acts of provocation against our
Republic without the slightest consideration, hesitation or mercy.
We should continue to improve and strengthen, from a developmental point of
view, the relations with the countries with which we have traditional friendly
ties in line with the requirements of the new era, and at the same time
readjust and redefine diplomatic preference and adroitly translate it into
practice by prioritizing our national interests on the principle of ensuring
medium- and long-term and strategic national interests.

The DPRK will, in the future, too, discharge its responsibility in promoting
international justice and regional and global peace and security, while firmly
defending its sovereignty, security and fundamental interests.
Comrade Deputies,
As the struggle for the prosperity and development of the Republic and the
well-being of the people expands and intensifies, our Party’s trust and
expectations for you, Deputies, who are in charge of State affairs
administration and who are representatives of the people, get greater.
In the previous term of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the Deputies to it
made a considerable contribution to the State affairs administration, regional
development and the provision of convenience for the people by proposing
many creative opinions. This shows that their consciousness to actively
participate in the State affairs got remarkably higher.
I am convinced that all Deputies, who have been newly elected thanks to the
trust of the people, will also take an active part in State affairs administration
with a high sense of responsibility and a creative and sincere attitude and
make painstaking efforts for national development and the improvement of the
people’s standard of living.
And I hope that you will cultivate your mind and temper your Party spirit hard
as befitting the Deputies to the supreme power organ, the representatives of
the people born of them and their true servants, so as to acquire mature and
seasoned political and moral traits and steadily improve your practical
qualifications.
Comrades,
With the Ninth Congress of the WPK and the First Session of the 15th
Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK as the starting point, our socialist
construction has greeted a new turning phase and our Party, government and
people are advancing towards prosperity with definite prospects, sufficient
power of execution and firm confidence.
Everything that leads the long and great history of our State to a better future
is in our hands, and their success depends entirely on our strenuous efforts.
Let us all work hard and vigorously to make the next five years, a section in
the course of advance for realizing the ideals of socialism, the more wonderful

and worthwhile five years of transformation and to make our State further
grow and develop beyond recognition. –