PYONGYANG, August 22. /ITAR-TASS/. North Korea (DPRK) on Friday remembers the merits of the country’s former leader Kim Jon Il, owing to whom the country “possesses nuclear weapons, and the people’s army has become an unconquerable force.”

The United States will not have the world dominance as long as DPRK remains the centre of anti-imperialist struggle, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) says on the occasion of the 54th anniversary of the “revolutionary leadership of the great generalissimo” [Kim Jong Il] that will be marked on August 25.

“The United States is well aware that its design for world domination can never come true as long as the DPRK remains a stronghold of the anti-imperialist struggle and, that is why the former has persisted on the moves to stifle the latter,” KCNA says. “After all, the US proved to be powerless in showdown with the DPRK which has pursued the Songun policy,” the agency says.

“The Songun policy (army’s priority in all spheres) has ensured peace and security not only on the Korean Peninsula, but also in other world regions,” KCNA says. The agency quotes a military expert who said that the sanctions imposed on DPRK by the United States and other countries are unlikely to have the desired effect on North Korea, and Washington’s hostile policy will not thwart Pyongyang’s “efforts to improve the performance of its nuclear weapons and extend their range.”

According to KCNA, “Leader Kim Jong Il inspected the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su Guards 105th Tank Division of the Korean People’s Army on August 25, Juche 49 (1960), starting his Songun (army-first) revolutionary leadership. This was a manifestation of his strong will to accomplish the cause of the Songun revolution, pioneered by President Kim Il Sung, with arms.”

This event is traditionally celebrated on a large scale in North Korea. Pyongyang residents will lay flowers at the giant statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in the centre of the North Korean capital. Festive meetings are held in all North Korean cities. The best performance ensembles sing at concerts popular patriotic songs, devoted to the “two generalissimos.” DPRK newspapers on this day call on the people and army to rally around the country’s current leader Kim Jong Un who at present “heads the Songun revolution.”

The “Songun policy” term came into use in North Korea at the turn of the 21st century. This notion is translated into Russian as the “army-first” or “military-oriented policy.” The Songun ideas were proclaimed by Kim Jong Il. The North Korean media started to pay special attention to them since the beginning of 2001 after taking office by US President George W. Bush who assumed a tough policy line towards DPRK.