Kim Jong-un is a North Korean politician who has been the Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea since 2012. Kim holds the titles of Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, commander-in-chief (as SAC chairman), and member of the Presidium of the Politburo of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the highest decision-making body in North Korea. Kim rules a dictatorship where elections are not free and fair, government critics are persecuted, media is controlled by the regime, internet access is limited by the regime, and there is no freedom of religion.
His regime operates an extensive network of prisons and labor camps; the regime convicts people for political crimes and uses collective punishment whereby members of a family get punished for the crimes of one person. North Koreans live under “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations” where the regime “seeks to dominate every aspect of its citizens’ lives and terrorizes them from within.” The regime exerts extensive control over the North Korean economy, with substantial state-controlled economic enterprises and significant restrictions on North Koreans’ ability to engage in foreign economic activity.
Some of the best quotes from Kim Jong-un are listed below.
- “A rational system and order for educational administration should be established on the principle of ensuring smooth progress of teaching and scientific research by teachers and researchers, and of edification of students.” – Kim Jong-un
- “A revolutionary party is, in its essence, the party of its leader that carries out his ideology and cause, and the main thing in its building is to ensure the unitary character and inheritance of his ideology and leadership.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Agricultural workers, together with the working class, constitute the main force in building a powerful socialist country, and the agricultural front is now a major thrust area in building the country into a socialist economic giant.” – Kim Jong-un
- “All Party members, service personnel, and other people should turn out as one with ardent loyalty to the Party and extraordinary patriotic zeal, and demonstrate the spirit and mettle of Korea that is rushing forward towards final victory racing against time.” – Kim Jong-un
- “All Party organizations should maintain implementing the Party’s lines and policies as the major line of Party work, and carry every one of them to completion unconditionally.” – Kim Jong-un
- “All sectors and all units of the national economy should launch a vigorous general offensive to boost production in hearty response to the Party’s militant slogan.” – Kim Jong-un
- “All the organizations and officials of Chongryon, regarding this unity as the great foundation of the movement of Koreans in Japan, should rally themselves around the central leadership with one mind and purpose, and accomplish its patriotic cause, which was pioneered with comradely unity, by dint of comradeship.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Building a sports power is a patriotic undertaking aimed at translating into reality the plan and wish of the great leaders, who devoted their efforts to building ours into a country that prospers and grows stronger on the strength of sports.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Chongryon should do all of its undertakings thoroughly as intended and wished by the great leaders, and usher in a new heyday of the movement of Koreans in Japan true to the General’s instructions.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Comrade Kim Jong Il energetically led the work of defending and honouring Comrade Kim Il Sung’s ideas of and exploits in the Juche-oriented women’s movement.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Comrade Kim Jong Il, by continuing the march of Songun without interruption and with absolute trust in our service personnel and other people who were faithful to the Party’s cause, led the socialist cause of Juche along the road of victory.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Comrade Kim Jong Il, who was faithful to Comrade Kim Il Sung’s ideas and cause, led our revolution along the glorious road of victory, braving the severe trials and adversities of history by dint of his unique leadership of the Songun revolution.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Construction is an important front for solidifying the foundations of a thriving country and creating bases for the people’s happy life.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Developing the locally-run industry is very important in increasing the production of consumer goods.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Forest restoration is a challenging and complex undertaking of raising young trees, transplanting them, and then cultivating them year in, year out in the face of harsh challenges of nature; it is a gigantic nature transformation project to turn all the mountains of the country into ‘treasure mountains,’ into ‘gold mountains.’” – Kim Jong-un
- “Forests are precious resources of the country and a wealth to be handed down to posterity.” – Kim Jong-un
- “I am satisfied that our Party and youth league officials are devoting efforts to tending the garden of virtues with all sincerity true to the Party’s idea of attaching importance to young people, and highly appreciate them with a warm heart.” – Kim Jong-un
- “If we are to successfully build a socialist civilized country, which our people are desirous of, and ultimately solve the rural question, we should step up the cultural revolution in the countryside.” – Kim Jong-un
- “In following an arduous and thorny path of revolution that has never been trodden by any other party or people in history, our Party has been firmly convinced of the validity and invincibility of its ideology and cause, and our people have hardened their will and resolve to advance forever along the road of Juche indicated by the Party.” – Kim Jong-un
- “In order to develop the country’s sports in line with the great leaders’ ideas and plan of developing Juche-based sports, our Party directs great efforts to the work of the sports sector.” – Kim Jong-un
- “In the days of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle, our women waged a bloody struggle with weapons in their hands to liberate their country.” – Kim Jong-un
- “In the gigantic and worthwhile struggle for achieving the country’s prosperity and people’s happiness, our young people have been educated in a revolutionary way and trained spiritually and physically, and have developed into a large, matchless contingent forming a thousand-fold, tens-of-thousand-fold fortress around the Party.” – Kim Jong-un
- “It is a proud tradition and fighting trait of our army and people to rise up like mountains and go through fire and water to unfailingly carry through the party’s orders and instructions.” – Kim Jong-un
- “It is important to launch a mass and society-wide struggle to drastically increase the production of consumer goods.” – Kim Jong-un
- “It is our Party’s unshakeable stand to prevent a new war from breaking out on the Korean peninsula and accelerate economic construction in a peaceful environment, thus resolving at an early date the problems related with the people’s livelihood.” – Kim Jong-un
- “It is the unshakeable determination and will of our Party to put forward young people in the vanguard of the ranks of the general onward march as masters of the times and help them put up the doorplate of a thriving country before anybody else.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Kim Il Sung University is the central base for training national cadres and the highest institute of Juche-based science and education.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Kim Il Sung University should set an example for all other universities of the country to follow in introducing innovative teaching methods.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Less than two years after its founding, our Republic inflicted an ignominious defeat on the United States that had been boasting of being the ‘strongest’ in the world, thus defending its national sovereignty and global peace and security.” – Kim Jong-un
- “My noble respect also goes to the anti-Japanese revolutionary forerunners, martyrs of the People’s Army and other patriotic martyrs who dedicated all their precious things to promoting the development of our Party and the prosperity of the country in loyal support of the great leaders.” – Kim Jong-un
- “No force can conquer the service personnel and people who, in support of their great leader, have turned out in the struggle to defend their country with confidence in the validity of their cause and their own strength – this is a law and a truth taught by history.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Nothing will be beyond our reach when we make the flames of creating positive deeds flare up across the country with the virtues of the young vanguard as the initial spark and bring into full play the mounting vigour of the millions of young people.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Our cause is just, and the might of Korea that is united with truth is infinite.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Our party and the Republic’s government will go hand in hand with anyone who truly desires the country’s reunification and the nation’s peaceful prosperity and will make responsible and patient efforts to accomplish the historic cause of the fatherland’s reunification.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Our Party conferred the honourable title, ‘The Heroic Working Class of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il,’ on our working class that supported the great leaders’ ideas and leadership with loyalty.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Our Party maintains the improvement of the people’s living conditions as the most important of the numerous state affairs.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Our Party’s policies of respecting the people and loving them and the people’s hearty loyalty of trusting and following the Party as they would do their mothers have become integrated, and thus the blood-sealed ties between them have reached a new, higher stage.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Our republic is a responsible nuclear state that, as we made clear before, will not use nuclear weapons first unless aggressive hostile forces use nuclear weapons to invade on our sovereignty.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Our women’s union members and other women are really excellent and praiseworthy.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Past records of inter-Korean relations show that confrontation between fellow countrymen leads to nothing but war.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Peasants, who after the liberation of the country became the masters of their lands and their country under the benevolence of Comrade Kim Il Sung, launched the campaigns for increasing agricultural production and donating cereals out of patriotism, and thus faithfully supported the Party’s line of nation building.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Science and technology are a propellant for building a thriving country, and the happiness of the people and the future of the country hinge on their development.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Songun is a proud tradition of the Korean revolution which was pioneered by Comrade Kim Il Sung and led by him and Comrade Kim Jong Il and the banner of victory and glory.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Sports play a very important role in consolidating the national strength, adding lustre to the country’s prestige and honour, inspiring people with national dignity and pride, and imbuing the whole society with revolutionary mettle.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Students at Kim Il Sung University are reserve hardcore talents who will become leading officials of the revolution responsible for the important sectors and posts in the building of a powerful socialist country, the backbone in the struggle for the victory of the Juche revolution.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Success in the revolution and construction depends on how a party, the General Staff of the revolution, is built and on how its leadership role is enhanced.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Thanks to the great Juche idea and Songun politics of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the devoted struggle of our service personnel and other people who are unfailingly loyal to the Party, proud victories have been achieved in socialist construction and lasting foundations for accomplishing the cause of the Juche revolution have been laid.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The agricultural working people should be imbued with a thoroughgoing faith in socialism and steadfast anti-imperialist and class consciousness so that they can regard our style of socialism as their life and soul, love it ardently, and fight staunchly against the imperialists’ moves for ideological and cultural infiltration.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The days are gone forever when our enemies could blackmail us with nuclear bombs.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The entire Party, the whole army, and all the people should conduct a vigorous forest restoration campaign to make the mountains of the country thick with forests.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The Fatherland Liberation War, which the Korean people fought against the haughty U.S. imperialists who had battened on aggression and pillage, was, in fact, a hard fight that could be likened to a bare-handed man versus brigandish robbers.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The first generation of the young people of our revolution took up arms following Comrade Kim Il Sung and fought the bloody anti-Japanese struggle, thus achieving the historic cause of national liberation.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The GFTUK is a powerful political instrument for training its members, including the working class, into Kimilsungists-Kimjongilists with unfailing loyalty to the Party and the leader and mobilizing them to implement the revolutionary cause of Juche.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The great Comrade Kim Jong Il provided energetic guidance to defend and honour Comrade Kim Il Sung’s idea of and exploits in socialist rural construction and make UAWK organizations creditably perform their duties as organizations for ideological education.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The great Comrade Kim Jong Il was an outstanding leader who, true to the President’s great idea, developed Chongryon into a pacesetter of patriotism, into a model of patriotic loyalty to the motherland, and into a prototype body of overseas compatriots.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, putting forward the development of sports as a matter that has an important bearing on the prosperity of the country and nation, indicated the road ahead of the Juche-based sports and wrote a new chapter in the history of building a sports power by dint of outstanding ideas and leadership.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The great leaders called the working class first whenever difficult and gigantic tasks arose for the revolution, and ushered in fresh heydays of the revolution by relying on them.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The historic sea changes that have taken place in our country’s rural areas are clear proof of the validity and vitality of the socialist rural theses advanced by President Kim Il Sung.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The history of our Party is just the path travelled by our great people: its might is their might, its greatness is their greatness, and its victory is the victory achieved by them.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The history of the Workers’ Party of Korea is a proud course it has traveled shouldering the destiny of the people and leading the Korean revolution to victory under the guidance of the great leaders.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The ideological and cultural revolutions have been promoted successfully in the countryside with the result that the ideological and spiritual qualities of our agricultural working people have been transformed remarkably, and a great development has also been achieved in the realm of cultural life in the countryside.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The industrial revolution in the new century is, in essence, a scientific and technological revolution, and breaking through the cutting edge is a shortcut to the building of an economic giant.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The military might of a country represents its national strength. Only when it builds up its military might in every way can it develop into a thriving country.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The new year 2015 will be a year of great significance, in which we will mark the 70th anniversaries of national liberation and founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The people’s army should always maintain a highly agitated state and be equipped with full fighting readiness so as to smash the enemies with a single stroke if they make the slightest move and achieve the historic cause of the fatherland’s reunification.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The political and military position of socialism should be further cemented so that it can be an impregnable fortress.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The proud decades of victorious advance of the Juche-oriented youth movement are associated with the invaluable blood and sweat and heroic exploits of the young people who fought self-sacrificingly for the Party, the leader, the country, and the people.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The proud road travelled by Chongryon bears the imprints of the wise guidance and painstaking efforts of the great leaders, who strengthened and developed Chongryon into a Juche-based overseas compatriots’ body that represents the rights and interests of all the Koreans resident in Japan.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The single-hearted unity is the lifeblood of Juche Korea and the dynamic force for a leap forward, and we must invariably follow the road of self-reliance and self-development – this is the invaluable truth of the Juche revolution confirmed by our army’s and people’s gigantic struggle in 2016.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The strength of self-reliance and self-development is that of science and technology, and the shortcut to implementing the five-year strategy is to give importance and precedence to science and technology.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The sun flag of the great Comrade Kim Il Sung and Comrade Kim Jong Il will forever flutter in the van of our revolutionary ranks that display only victory and honor and will always encourage and drive us toward a new victory.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The UAWK is a mass-based political organization of our socialist agricultural workers which was founded and has developed under the wise guidance of the great leaders, and a reliable transmission belt and peripheral organization of the Party.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The year 2015 was a year of gigantic struggle, which is adorned with meaningful events and eye-opening successes, a year of victory and glory, in which socialist Korea fully demonstrated its prestige and might.” – Kim Jong-un
- “The year 2016 was a year of revolutionary event, a year of great change, worthy of note in the history of our Party and country.” – Kim Jong-un
- “There can be neither today without yesterday nor tomorrow without today.” – Kim Jong-un
- “There is nothing that our party failed to do when it trusted the soldiers and people, and a more resplendent future is unfolding before us today.” – Kim Jong-un
- “Those who do not cherish affection for their parents, spouses and children and for their homes, villages and workplaces cannot love their country and fellow people; they can never become genuine patriots.” – Kim Jong-un
- “To apply Kim Jong Il’s patriotism means to thoroughly materialize the General’s intentions and desires for the prosperity of the country and the happiness of all generations to come and to carry on all work for achieving the prosperity of the country in the way he did.” – Kim Jong-un
- “We must well grow the valuable seeds, which the great Comrade Kim Jong Il sowed to build an economically powerful state and improve the people’s livelihood, and lead them to bloom as a glorious reality.” – Kim Jong-un
- “We should concentrate all our efforts on building an economic giant to bring about a fresh turn in developing the country’s economy and improving the people’s standard of living.” – Kim Jong-un
- “We should educate all Party members and other working people to become genuine patriots who first love their parents, spouses and children and further sincerely shed sweat and dedicate their all to spruce up their homes, villages and workplaces so that they are better than others’ and add lustre to their country, their motherland.” – Kim Jong-un
- “We should ensure that the people-first principle runs through the whole of Party work as appropriate for its nature as a motherly party to make the climate of respecting, loving and depending on them pervade it and Party work focus on improving their living standards.” – Kim Jong-un
- “We should improve economic guidance and management as demanded by the developing reality.” – Kim Jong-un
- “We should make innovations in coal-mining and metallurgical industries in particular so as to revitalize the overall economy of the country.” – Kim Jong-un
- “We should raise fierce flames of innovations in the vanguard sectors, basic industrial sectors, and all other sectors of the national economy.” – Kim Jong-un
- “We should steadily intensify the work of establishing the Party’s monolithic leadership system to make the whole Party share ideology with the Party Central Committee, breathe the same breath as it, and keep pace with it.” – Kim Jong-un
- “When young people are powerful, our Party and People’s Army are powerful, and there is nothing for us to be afraid of.” – Kim Jong-un
- “While boosting the production of consumer goods, we should channel great efforts into improving the welfare service for the people.” – Kim Jong-un
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