Letters to the Editor: ‘Redneck’? Councilmembers’ racist remarks were a lot of things, but not that
A member of this year’s Classified Civilian Advisory Committee, a group to oversee the classified collection of intelligence and communications on North Korea, has a very colorful past.
When he was a young man, Kim Il-sung was president of North Korea. His son was a young man himself — the current Kim Jae-ok, who is the vice president of the United States.
Kim Jong-il was in office in 1961. When he handed over the presidency of the country to his son Kim Jong-il, he gave a speech in which he said all the people of North Korea would learn to love each other as one family, and would serve as a family for the rest of their lives, and he said they would have no cause to quarrel, to fight, to complain and to moan.
During the Korean War, Kim Il-sung was a member of the Korean Liberation Army with a high-level command. He fought as a sniper and as a fighter-pilot. He was awarded the Order of Kim Il-sung, the highest decoration for military service.
I remember him well. The North Korean people are proud and courageous, but they are also proud of their people. For many years, my parents were the only people who ever brought me to the theater. I saw him on stage at a communist show in Pyongyang, the People’s Palace Theater. He was a great performer. He knew how to look the audience right in the eye and speak to them in a commanding manner. He was a soldier, but he was a real man.
In 1962, he was appointed minister of public security and justice in the same year he won the Nobel Peace Prize, and he held that post until 1978. During his term of office, the Korean people, like the people of the United States, did not fight a war with the South.
When he was in office, North Koreans were allowed free access to their own television broadcasts. Kim Il-sung’s speech from the podium was often shown. They were able to see him in a new light.
We are proud of the accomplishments which have been achieved by our people. We are proud of our socialist system and our system