Date: Berlin, June 1, 1984.
Source: "Speech of Comrade Erich Honecker at the
GDR-DPRK Friendship Mass Meeting",
in Everlasting Fraternal Friendship. The Great Leader Kim Il Sung's Official
Goodwill Visits to the Soviet Union and Other European Socialist Countries (Foreign
Languages Press, Pyongyang, 1984), pages 52-61.
Esteemed Comrade Kim II Sung,
Dear Korean comrades and friends,
Dear Berliners,
In this important time in the struggle to achieve peace, we welcome with all our hearts good friends and comrades-in-arms here in Berlin, capital of the German Democratic Republic.
Dear Comrade Kim II Sung, your visit marks an epoch-making event in developing the fraternal relations between the two Parties, two states, two peoples based on traditional friendship and long-standing solidarity.
It is of great importance that we powerfully demonstrate once again our firm friendship in face of the grave threat to humanity caused by imperialism and its policy of confrontation. Thus we are contributing to further strengthening cooperation among socialist countries.
This will no doubt produce a favourable effect on the present international situation.
In a few days, dear Comrade Kim II Sung and the members of the delegation led by you could, we believe, fully confirm that the spirit of firm internationalist solidarity with the fraternal Korean people is strikingly alive in the thinking and actions of the people of the German Democratic Republic.
The working people of our country are following with great respect the tremendous successes achieved by the Korean people and their devoted struggle for the prosperity of their country.
The working people of our country respect you, dear Comrade Kim II Sung, as a close friend and an intimate comrade-in-arms.
We respect you as an outstanding son of the Korean people who liberated the country from the colonial yoke and have been devoting your life all along to the struggle against the US imperialist aggression on the Korean peninsula and for socialist construction in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
We believe that your visit to our country will further strengthen the militant fraternity between the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and the Workers’ Party of Korea, between our two countries and two peoples on the basis of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism.
Dear comrades and friends,
The policies pursued by our two countries from the early days of their founding, two countries which are standing on the socialism-capitalism borders in the West and in the East and linked by brotherly bonds, are seeking to maintain peace and security and build a socialist society.
We are satisfied that the talks marked by an atmosphere of comradeship and the consensus of views between the Party and state delegations of our two countries have been held in just such a spirit.
The GDR and the DPRK will spare no efforts in the future, too, to increase the might of socialism and its influence in the struggle against the imperialist policies of war and for a peaceful future of all people.
We are of the same opinion that the most important task at present is to fight for the maintenance and consolidation of peace, in confrontation with the aggressive policy of the imperialists.
Dear comrades and friends,
A short time ago we signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation between the GDR and the DPRK. This treaty will mark a new stage in the development of relations between our two countries. This treaty, which is based on the precious, rich experience accumulated in the development of relations between our two countries, defines the basic direction of their cooperation in the period up to 2000. This basic document on our friendship will serve for the continued building of socialism and communism, a genuine new society of mankind, in our two countries where the sources of war and exploitation have been liquidated for good. This treaty also demonstrates the unshakable determination of our two peoples to constantly and actively struggle for peace in Europe and Asia and, furthermore, in the whole world; and to strengthen the unity of the socialist states and support the struggle of the peoples for freedom and social progress.
On behalf of the Central Committee of the SED, the State Council and the Council of Ministers of the GDR and our people, I assure you, respected Comrade Kim II Sung, and all Korean comrades and friends, that we will make every effort to implement this treaty of friendship and cooperation in the interests of our two peoples’ happiness and peace.
Dear comrades and friends,
The founding of the DPRK in 1948 was a decisive measure for the consolidation of people’s democratic gains in the Korean peninsula and was an historic victory achieved by the Korean people in their prolonged and self-sacrificing struggle for national independence and social liberation.
In the world-wide revolutionary process, decisively marked by the victory of the Soviet Union and its people over Hitlerite fascism, the first people’s democratic state came into being in Korea. This was a contribution to the strengthening of socialism.
The imperialists regard as a thorn in their flesh the rapid successful development and great changes the working class and people of Korea have achieved in the DPRK under the leadership of the working-class Party headed by you, respected Comrade Kim II Sung.
The United States and the south Korean puppets unleashed a criminal war of aggression against the young people’s government of the DPRK in an attempt to turn back the wheel of history. They manoeuvred to turn the whole of the Korean peninsula into the imperialists’ base against socialism and the national-liberation movement.
The aggressors threatened that they would use even atomic bombs to put their plan into effect.
However, the Korean people and People’s Army, enjoying the solidarity and support of the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China and other fraternal socialist countries, carried out a heroic struggle to thwart the aggressors’ plan and compelled them to sign the Armistice Agreement in 1953.
It is particularly important today to recall such facts of history.
At that time, the shameless aggressive acts of the US imperialists against the peaceloving Korean people caused the development of a broad solidarity movement among our people also. This movement proved that proletarian internationalism was deeply rooted in our people’s thinking and action.
Thereafter, this was confirmed again particularly when the peoples who had been liberated or who were struggling for liberation were subjected to imperialist aggression and oppression.
Immediately after the ceasefire the Korean people set about re-habilitating the devastated national economy by displaying tireless diligence, spirit and devotion under the leadership of the WPK.
At that time the aggressors boasted that the DPRK would not be able to heal the colossal wounds of war even in a hundred years. But they miscalculated.
The fraternal Korean people healed these wounds in a historically short period of time and built a powerful socialist state which is now surging forward. Then, also, the Korean people enjoyed the fraternal support of the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China and other socialist countries.
Enormous successes have been achieved over the past 36 years under the people’s government.
Housing shortages, famine and disease which had existed before liberation were eliminated. Significant progress has been achieved in education and public health.
The DPRK has today turned into a prosperous people’s country with a rapidly developing industry, a highly productive agriculture and brilliant culture thanks to the wise policy of the WPK. Her prestige in the international arena is high.
These achievements clearly show the advantages of the socialist system and are successes of very real historical significance in attesting to the vitality of Marxism-Leninism.
Now all the working people of the DPRK including workers and cooperative farmers are accomplishing great successes in carrying out the decisions of the Sixth Congress of the WPK.
The fraternal Korean people are vigorously advancing towards the attainment of the present Seven-Year Plan and the long-term objectives of the national economy by redoubling their creative efforts. And they are doing their utmost to bring about the steady improvement of the people’s material and cultural standards on the way to the complete victory of socialism.
We extend heartfelt congratulations to the fraternal people of the DPRK on the great changes they have brought about in their lives by displaying high zeal, positiveness and creativeness ever since the foun-dation of their socialist state.
Dear Comrade Kim II Sung,
While heartily congratulating these successes, we express our best wishes that there will be further success in socialist construction in Korea.
Esteemed Comrade Kim II Sung,
Dear Korean comrades and friends,
Socialism also stands firmly in the land of Germany, the motherland of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Today, 35 years after the founding of the GDR, it has been clearly proved as never before that the establishment of the first worker-peasant state of Germany was a turning-point in the history of our people and other European peoples.
Through a fierce class struggle and with unremitting efforts, the GDR has been able to develop into an internationally-recognized state with political stability and a powerful economy, in close alliance with the Soviet Union and other fraternal socialist countries.
Our Republic has become a dependable bulwark for peace and socialism on the European continent.
The 10th Congress of the SED clearly indicated the road to the future. We continue to build a developed socialist society in the GDR. Here the economic strategy of the 1980’s is of particular significance because the only way the living standards of the working people can be improved is by increasing production and efficiency. This task is a key link in the national economic plan for 1984. Its fulfilment or overfulfilment is the objective of the socialist competitive drive. In this sense, we are striving to promote scientific and technical progress, raise labour productivity rapidly and make the rate between investments and results more effective.
By doing so, we are raising the intensive national economy to a new height. We are effectively cooperating with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.
Our Party has continued to implement successfully the dual policy of economic and social measures. As we are all convinced, to increase the economic power of socialism is to increase the people’s welfare and, at the same time, it constitutes an essential factor in actively contributing to shaping the peaceful future of Europe and the whole world.
Dear comrades and friends,
At our talks with Korean comrades we reached a unanimity of views on the fact that the manoeuvres of the US and other highly aggressive forces of imperialism for confrontation and armament expansion are gravely threatening the people’s lives.
In particular, the deployment of Pershing-2 and cruise missiles in West Europe has escalated international tension.
Reasoning people will understand that the danger of nuclear holocaust will not be reduced through the continuation of the arms race, but will rather be increased. An end should be put to such a dangerous situation.
The GDR, situated on the border between the Warsaw Treaty member nations and NATO member nations, a western boundary of socialism, is more interested than any other country in preserving world peace. In this context, the recent statement of NATO on relations between East and West is alarming. NATO, the United States in particular, is making war preparations under the smokescreen of “peace-keeping”. The NATO foreign ministers’ conference stressed the need to pursue the policy of “strength” against the socialist countries contrary to the people’s wishes. The statement issued after the three-day meeting in Washington said that US Pershing-2 and cruise missiles would continue to be sited in West Europe including the Federal Republic of Germany in accordance with the established secret plan. Furthermore, the participants in the meeting called for the conventional weapons of NATO to be reinforced. In this document the United States, which tries to destroy the balance of strength by its policy of deployment, got its views passed in dealing with the conditions advanced by Greece, Denmark and Spain—regrettably, the Federal Republic of Germany is not involved in this—the views she had maintained on all matters associated with arms reduction including the Geneva, Vienna and Stockholm talks.
The conditions advanced by Greece, Denmark and Spain have meant opposing the essence of this statement whose content is the deployment of US medium-range weapons in Europe and anti-Soviet moves. No trace can be found of the loudly clamoured desire for detente. But in Article 7 of the statement they supported the revanchist position of the Federal Republic of Germany against the German Democratic Republic, the Polish People’s Republic, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, namely, against the core of the European Treaty system.
As was pointed out at the Seventh Plenary Meeting of the SED Central Committee, all this shows that fighting for world peace has become a pressing task, particularly at the present time.
I stress here that the GDR will as always, stand in the van of the ranks of the people striving to prevent a nuclear holocaust and to maintain peace for generations to come.
The Prague declaration of the Warsaw Treaty member nations and the Moscow statement of leaders of socialist countries put forward a constructive programme of preserving world peace.
The GDR is making every effort to accomplish this proposal.
We fully support the Soviet Union’s proposal for freezing the nuclear armoury, restricting and reducing armaments and prohibiting chemical weapons on the principle of equality and equal security.
I would like to emphasize the recent appeal of the Warsaw Treaty member nations for the signing of a treaty on prohibiting the use of military power between the Warsaw Treaty member nations and the NATO member nations and maintaining peaceful relations between them.
This was an important step towards greater security.
An agreement of both sides to the reduction of military spending would be conducive to reducing the armed forces and arms expenses effectively and ensuring that the balance of strength is maintained at the minimum level.
The initiative of socialist states is aimed at settling the disputes in a peaceful way, consolidating peace and preventing a nuclear holocaust. It is more important than ever before to strengthen the joint action of all forces which truly want peace. We must spare no efforts to develop healthy international relations and to frustrate the schemes of the United States and the NATO forces obsessed as they are with the idea of playing with fire which may cause the destruction of mankind harbouring as they do, illusions about nuclear first strike.
We consider that the joint appeal of the prominent heads of states and governments of six countries in the four continents—“Let us halt and frustrate the moves made towards world-wide destruction!”—is a bold step in the right direction. This appeal will pave the way for freezing nuclear weapons and, furthermore, for reducing them considerably.
In future the GDR will also study the problems realistically and act with discretion using every opportunity to hold dialogues with political forces calling for peace, disarmament, the recovery of detente, good- neighbourly relations and cooperation among peoples.
From the very moment that we set up our socialist state, we proclaimed the maintenance of peace as the supreme principle of our policy. Since then, we have acted in accordance with it. With every means at our disposal we will fulfil our duty lest war should again break out on German soil.
Therefore, I take this opportunity to note with great satisfaction that the DPRK standing on the eastern outpost of socialism supports the proposals put forward by the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Treaty member nations for peace and detente.
Asia, where nearly a half of the world’s population lives, holds an important place in the great struggle of our time for peace and social progress.
According to the plan of the Reagan Administration, Asia, like Western Europe, will play the role of a base for nuclear first strike from a region far away from the United States. But such nuclear first strike will undoubtedly run up against an annihilating counterattack. The schemes of the US imperialists to involve the Asian continent and Pacific region in their policy of confrontation and arms expansion gravely menace the Asian people and world peace.
Therefore, the proposals put forward by the Soviet Union, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Mongolian People’s Republic and Asian countries including the socialist countries in Indochina are very realistic.
These proposals can expand all forms of peaceful cooperation, involve many more countries in healing and stabilizing the international situation and remove and liquidate the sites of the present tensions and confrontations.
We fully support the appeal of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly for shipping the US nuclear weapons out of south Korea and preventing its further conversion into a forward base of such weapons. We stand firmly on the side of the Korean people who are struggling to drive the US forces completely out of south Korea at once and to reunify the country peacefully in a democratic way without foreign interference. We hail the January 10 proposal of the DPRK for holding tripartite talks between the DPRK, the USA and south Korea to replace the Armistice Agreement signed in 1953 with a peace agreement between the DPRK and the USA and adopt a non-aggression declaration between the DPRK and south Korea. We express firm solidarity with the south Korean patriots in their devoted struggle for the just cause.
Dear Comrade Kim II Sung, our meeting in Berlin clearly shows once again that the GDR and the DPRK are trusty friends and true comrades-in-arms in the struggle for socialism and peace. In this sense, we will tighten the bonds of mutual cooperation for the well-being of our two peoples and develop it successfully.
With all our hearts, dear Korean comrades and friends, we wish you greater success in the socialist construction of your country.
Long live our common cause for peace and socialism!
Long live Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism!
Long live the Workers’ Party of Korea headed by our friend
Comrade Kim II Sung, General Secretary of its Central Committee and DPRK President!
Long live the indestructible friendship and close cooperation between the SED and WPK and between the GDR and DPRK!