Juche

    The National Liberation Memorial Medal which was instituted on the occasion of the 40^th anniversary of national liberation is a high-level official commendation which equals with the Order of National Flag. It has been awarded to the merited persons who had contributed to the revolution and construction before and after the liberation including the anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters.

    At that time the officials were proud of their organization of presentation work, collecting the repercussion of the medal winners from different parts of the country.

    On August 16, 1985, Chairman Kim Jong Il criticized the weak points expressed in the process of awarding the medal and told an official to revise the regulations and award the medal that was confined only to the old, to the young people, too.

    At that moment, the official felt remorse for not understanding his magnanimous intention.

    Actually the officials made regulations to present to only the people who had long period of work and experience among the merited people since it was an official commendation instituted on the occasion of the 40^th anniversary of national liberation.

    Therefore, those young generations whose period of work and experience were short were excluded even though they had rendered meritorious service to the Party and revolution and the medal was presented to only the old.

    This was a serious mistake made from the divorce from reality that the generation of revolution changed today and young generations were then the main force of the revolution and construction, standing in the van of all hard and difficult work.

    Awakening the officials who had failed to escape from the cemented and old viewpoint, instead of blaming them, Chairman Kim Jong Il personally widened the scope of regulating the candidates.

    And he told the officials to go to every province, city and county to make the regulation anew after understanding the actual conditions.

    So the medal was emotionally awarded to those new generations who performed feats in the van of the era including the labor innovators in twenties and thirties and model soldiers, young scientists and technicians who had attained results faithfully following one way not caring they are known or not, the athletes who glorified the honour of Juche Korea and artistes.

    Those young meritorious workers who received the National Liberation Memorial Medal which was supposed to present to only the old became inspired with pride and morale and the people looked enviously at them.

    The courageous and lively new generation innovators who received the medal performed greater merits afterwards.

    The process of revision of the regulation of the National Liberation Medal and presentation in addition became an occasion that burned up the officials’ old way of thinking.