Kim Jong Il’s Ideologically Charged Music

An article titled “Comments on Kim Jong Il, first man of the world” was carried by the Iranian newspaper “Teheran Times” some years ago.

It had this to say:

“Leader Kim Jong Il is the founder of ‘political music’. He regarded music as a powerful political weapon and applied it skilfully with profound musical knowledge and talents.”

Kim Jong Il showed outstanding musical talents writing famous masterpieces such as “The Embrace of My Motherland” and “My Mother” in his childhood.

Once when he was young, he showed profound knowledge of music, discerning a wrong tone of a musical instrument in a great solemn symphony.

Music is not an entertainment separated from politics. It is a weapon directly affecting the masses. This is Kim Jong Il´s consistent view on music. He understood the great influence of music on human life and advanced a new revolutionary philosophy that revolution cannot succeed without music.

And he enforced politics by music, regarding music as a powerful weapon along with rifle, for the victory of the Songun revolution. The vitality of politics by music was fully demonstrated in the mid-1990s when the Korean people were experiencing harsh trials such as sudden demise of the great President Kim Il Sung, the founder of socialist Korea, successive natural disasters and extreme isolation and suffocation moves of the imperialist allied forces. Many people of the world watched Korea with uneasiness and anxiety. But this land was loud with confident and optimistic songs, not a sigh of despair.

The State Merited Chorus, a famous art organization of Korea, supported Kim Jong Il´s politics by music in the van.

Vigorous songs of the State Merited Chorus gripping the hearts of the entire army and people were more powerful than hundreds of thousand tons of foodgrain. People rose up, singing songs of faith such as “We Will Never Forget”, “The Road of Victory” and “Let´s Live Today for Tomorrow”. They modernized their workplaces and remodelled streets and villages with their own efforts. Amid songs, cutting-edge technology was introduced, working miracles. Korea entered a new course toward prosperity, shaking off the dust of hardships.

So a lot of people witnessed the vitality of Kim Jong Il´s politics by music during their visit to Korea several times at that time and admired:

“Only a prominent leader, who understands and applies music, can create invincible power with music.”
“The great Kim Jong Il enforces politics touching the heartstrings of the people with music and this is the ever-victorious treasured sword to be specially recorded in the history of humankind.”