The importance of self-reliance made clear by the examples of the contrary-Tvrtko Balić KFA OD for Croatia

 

 

Dear comrades, friends and fellow supporters of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea,

Today we are gathered, virtually, but with none the less real intent, to celebrate the person of president Kim Il Sung as well as self-reliance.

It is obvious to any supporter of the DPRK how these two are connected. President Kim Il Sung established the DPRK as a country founded on the Juche idea which is taken to be almost synonymous with self-reliance. Furthermore, he made sure that the Juche idea doesn't just remain an idea or a rhetorical device, but is actually applied in practice. Throughout his career he served his country, both by defeating outside enemies and also by doing incredible work to build a socialist nation, all while constantly emphasizing relying on one’s own efforts. This has not only secured that the nation is united, but has also made it possible to achieve feats that cause a difficulty for much larger countries. The world is constantly getting reminded of what happens when a state forgets to rely on its own people. The recent tragic events in Syria are just one example. One reason to call it tragic relevant to the KFA is that the world lost a state friendly to the DPRK. But it is good to reflect on what exactly went wrong and I believe that it is the clearest example of the importance of self-reliance we could ever have gotten. The loss of the USSR was the most important event in recent history, but examining what went wrong in this case often results in a search for ideological purity that can devolve into idealism. Meanwhile, what went wrong in Syria? How is it possible that the Assad regime fell in just a week? Doubtless, this isn't the only interpretation, but what seems decisive in the end was precisely relying on outside forces, namely Russia and Iran. It was enough for the opposition forces to find one hole, one mistake, in Russian forces and the resulting victory made Russian and Iranian forces retreat, naturally not willing to suffer loses for a foreign country. After they left, the weakness of the Syrian state was revealed and the regime fell like a house of card. To me, at least, the cause seems obvious, the lack of self-reliance. What resulted was not good for anyone. While in Iraq Ba'athism remained as an underground movement, in Syria the massive failure of the state completely killed all support. Is the Syria under the new regime better off? It is difficult to see anyone who is truly satisfied with it. It also lacks self-reliance. Sharaa functions as a western puppet and as such he constantly makes compromises which are sure to leave his islamist supporters wanting more while the liberals surely aren't too happy either with a former ISIS member as president. This kind of common dissatisfaction with no real existing opposition is typical of liberal democracies and completely unlike the true rule of the people existing in people's Korea. Most of us live in liberal democracies and I believe we can relate to this even if circumstances are way less drastic. Croatia is maybe a little closer having a war in the 90s. You will often hear here that we should be grateful to NATO for their support, but I've wondered for a long time now if this does not in actuality reveal a lack of faith in the nation and if the resulting place within NATO and the EU is really all that great. Which makes me think about how from war torn countries going through regime change to first world country there is great detriment caused by a lack of self-reliance. In this dark world, the DPRK shines like a beacon to all the progressive people of the world. For this we can thank to Kim Il Sung for building up the Republic and laying strong foundations on which Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un could rely on to maintain the DPRK and to win new victories for it.

Anyone with care for their people or their nation has plenty of reason to look up to the DPRK as probably the most independent country in the world and in light of this I hope others will also realize the importance of looking up to President Kim Il Sung and striving for self-reliance.

 

Tvrtko Balić

KFA OD for Croatia