Study of the Juche Idea

In Mexico, MORENA (the National Regeneration Movement) leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was elected as the new president of Mexico in the general elections held in July 2018.

It was February 8 to 11, 2019 when IIJI Secretary General Dr. Ogami Ken-ichi and his party visited Mexico City.

In honor of the visit to Mexico by the IIJI Secretary General and his party, a national seminar on the Juche idea, a seminar under the auspices of Mexican youth Juche idea researchers, etc, were held in Mexico City.

A national seminar on the Juche idea was held at the hall of the Chamber of Deputies, Mexico on February 8, attended by Juche idea researchers and MORENA activists, 430 in all, including Prof. Ramon Jimenez Lopez, director general of the Board of Directors of the International Institute of the Juche Idea (IIJI); Mr. Lucio De Jesus Jimenez, deputy of the Chamber of Deputies, Mexico from the MORENA; Mr. Eleazar Rubio Aldaran, secretary general of the Latin American Institute of the Juche Idea (LAIJI), who is also deputy of the Chamber of Deputies, Mexico City; and Prof. Arquimedes Perez Bello, secretary general of the Mexican Committee for the Study of Kimilsung-Kimjongilism.

The seminar was also attended by a group of Japanese Juche idea researchers on their visit to Mexico and the Minister of the DPRK Embassy to Mexico and his colleague.

Some people who had been unable to take seats in the hall due to the venue capacity attended the seminar through watching monitors in two rooms outside.

IIJI Director General Ramon Jimenez Lopez made an opening address.

Dr. Ogami Ken-ichi, secretary general of the IIJI gave a lecture entitled "Toward Latin America That Is Independent, Peaceful and Prosperous―We Extend Our Congratulations on Victory of Mexican People and MORENA.”

With regard to the factors behind the major moves toward peace and cooperation on the Korean Peninsula last year, Secretary General Ogami stated that despite the harsh situation surrounding the DPRK that had lasted due to the imperialist maneuvers to suffocate it and the like, the Korean people were able to win a victory as a result that they had held fast to independence, and unitedly waged their struggle to this end.

He also stated that in Latin American countries, since the establishment of their governments, it has become an important task to raise the political awareness of the people and strengthen solidarity among them. He said that the greatest victory attained in Latin America today, being paid attention to by the world public is that the struggle of the Mexican people.

Furthermore, he said with regard to things about the study and dissemination of the Juche idea as follows:

"Because the Juche idea is an idea founded in Korea, it is important for us to learn from the DPRK in our study and application of this idea. What should be noted in the study and dissemination of the Juche idea here is to firmly maintain our own position of studying and applying the experience of the Korean people in accordance with the reality of our own."

Then, 8 persons had opportunities to speak at the scene. Through such process, participants deepened their understanding of the issues surrounding the application of the Juche idea to their own politics, economy, and culture; that of the current tendency toward the reunification of the Korean Peninsula and the new strategy in the DPRK; and that of the position and role of Chairman Kim Jong Un in world politics today.

The seminar progressed in a heated and warm atmosphere, with a great applause every time the lecturer finished his response to each opinion.

Finally, Prof. Ramon Jimenez Lopez concluded the seminar, saying that new ideas and new views are being required for the realization of a new world.

Seminar Hosted by Youth In Effort to Build Independent Latin America

It was October 2018 when a youth organization named “Youth Movement for Independent Latin America” was initiated by youth Juche idea researchers from Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil with its official-bearers from Mexican youth Juche idea researchers: Ms. Andrea Zarate Fuentes as chairperson, Mr. Hector Cruz Ramos as secretary general.

This organization is aimed to cover youth Juche idea researchers in individual countries in Latin America.

Those Mexican youth Juche idea researchers held a Juche idea seminar for mainly youth on February 9, by inviting Secretary General Ogami Ken-ichi of the IIJI to be a lecturer for that.

At the outset in his lecture, Dr. Ogami Ken-ichi talked about how he had come across with the Juche idea in his youth, visited the DPRK while devoting himself to the study and dissemination of the Juche idea, and then about being able to have opportunities to be received by President Kim Il Sung. Similarly, he referred to the background of the foundation of the IIJI in 1970s that witnessed the surge of the study and dissemination of the Juche idea throughout the world, and to that Juche idea researchers in the world passed through various ordeals they had experienced under the circumstances that the imperialist maneuvers to suffocate the DPRK had been strengthened after the frustration of socialism in the former Soviet Union and East European countries in the 1990s. He said that thus, the Juche idea researchers in the world have reached the phase of their work as of today.

At the youth seminar, IIJI Director General Ramon Jimenez Lopez expressed his gratitude for the visit of the IIJI Secretary General and his party to Mexico, and mentioned his joy as well as the significance of IIJI Secretary General’s participation in the youth seminar.

In his speech LAIJI Secretary General Eleazar Rubio Aldaran expressed his determination to wage struggles as incumbent politician for the transformation of Mexico for the good of the next new generation.

Then, in the exchange of opinions and views afterwards, there were opinions voiced on the questions of understanding and application of the Juche idea as well as such a specific concern about what is the key to making the government, the party, and the people attain monolithic unity.

Being based on those opinions, Secretary General Ogami stated the followings:

"The politics we are aiming for is not for collecting dissatisfaction, but it is counted: whether or not it can give the people hopes for the future, or the hopes set forth would be supported by the people. In this context, the DPRK is a model to be learned from that shows us a wonderful vista in the future of socialism.”