First Criterion

Political independence is the first criterion of an independent and sovereign state. President Kim Il Sung, on the start line of building a new country, set forth an original line for defending and realizing the basic interests of our people and the sovereignty of our country and nation. Sitting together with some military and political cadres on August 20, Juche 34 (1945), President Kim Il Sung said that we should continue to advance the Korean revolution on the basis of the victory already achieved and that we should build a prosperous and independent sovereign state with our own efforts. Then, he set forth a clear immediate task for realizing the cause of building a party, a state and an army, the real guarantee of an independent and sovereign state, by our own efforts in keeping with the demands of our people without delay. As President Kim Il Sung set forth the line of building a new country to defend the fundamental interests of our people on the untrodden road of state building and led our country along the road of independence, the people-centered socialism of our own style could be built on this land.