DPRK Providing Guidelines for South-South Cooperation

In September Juche 72 (1983), President Kim Il Sung delivered a speech at a banquet held in celebration of the 35th founding anniversary of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In the speech he referred to the DPRK as an independent and peace-loving non-aligned state and said that an important issue in the struggle for realizing global independence at that time was that non-aligned and all other developing countries achieve economic self-sufficiency and consolidate their national independence through South-South cooperation.

South-South cooperation was an important part of the struggle for establishing a new international economic order, as it was a noble undertaking for the developing countries to strengthen the self-sufficiency of the national economy and achieve complete economic freedom by closely cooperating in economic and technical aspects.

In fact, the President’s plan for South-South cooperation had long been embodied in practice. In the early 1970s he already saw to it that efforts were channeled into economic and cultural cooperation with developing countries while strengthening political ties with them. Stressing the need for his country to help newly independent countries although it was not well off, he ensured that it wholeheartedly assist the peoples of the countries with their state building in various aspects.

The DPRK’s sincere cooperation with the developing countries led to South-South cooperation in the 1980s.

However, the North-South Summit Conference of 22 Countries held in Cancun, Mexico, in October Juche 70 (1981) revealed the aggressive and predatory nature of the Western powers encroaching upon the independence and economic interests of the developing countries, clinging to the old international economic order.

In his talks in October Juche 71 (1982) and in June and July of the following year, Kim Il Sung said that the results of the Cancun meeting clearly showed that no issue could be solved by negotiating with the Western powers, adding that South-South cooperation between the developing countries should be realized first in order to break the old international economic order and establish a new international economic order.

He made sure that economic and technological cooperation and exchanges were briskly conducted to expand and develop South-South cooperation in a comprehensive way.

An Extraordinary Ministerial Conference of Non-Aligned Countries on South-South Cooperation was held in Pyongyang, the capital of the DPRK, in June Juche 76 (1987), with the attendance of delegates from over 100 developing countries in the five continents.

At the conference Kim Il Sung delivered a significant speech, Let Us Develop South-South Cooperation.

South-South cooperation is an undertaking of the non-aligned countries themselves to promote their common interests, he said, adding that in order to expand and develop South-South cooperation in a comprehensive way, all the non-aligned countries should have a common view and stand on South-South cooperation and strengthen mutual political support and make positive efforts to realize South-South cooperation.

When he concluded his speech, the Zimbabwean foreign minister, who was presiding over the conference, expressed his highest respects to His Excellency President Kim Il Sung for having delivered an excellent speech which would serve as guidelines for South-South cooperation, and proposed adopting his speech as an official document of the conference. The participants warmly supported and welcomed the proposal with tumultuous applause.

Ham Kwang Hyok

2023-09-07