There is a saying “the voice of people is the voice of God”.

It is an idiom profound in meaning, implicating the weight and the impact of the people's mind-set.

Today, what’s the current of the south Korean people's mind-set?

It is flowing ardently and vigorously along with the worship toward Marshal Kim Jong Il, sun of the reunification, and the resolution to know themselves, expel the US and live in a reunified country under the banner of the June 15 joint declaration.

1. Worship

The essence of the current of the south Korean people's mind-set in the past 3 years after the publication of the June 15 joint declaration is the worship fever for Marshal Kim Jong Il, sun of the nation and a peerless patriot.

It forms the fundamental controlling the main stream of the south Korean people's mind-set, the motive force driving the enhancement of the people's consciousness and the switchover of the consciousness into the anti-US reunification.

It was well known that a “Kim Jong Il syndrome” arose among the south Korean people, awaken newly by the “shock ”of the great Marshal Kim Jong Il from the very moment of the publication of the June 15 joint declaration.

With the days going by, the cognition that “great Marshal Kim Jong Il is an informal, rational and courteous leader, a broad-minded leader” struck deep root among the south Korean people and according to a opinion survey, the respondents for the confidence in great Marshal Kim Jong Il were more than half in June 3 years ago and the number reached the absolute majority nowadays.

Only in 11 months last year 25 newspapers and magazines of south Korea carried 430-odd photos of the great leader and some 1,000 articles on his greatness.

The media at home and abroad are vociferous claiming that it’s a token proving a sweeping change of the world.

The south Korean people are revering great Marshal Kim Jong Il as the leader of the reunification.

The south Korean people from different strata are expressing their genuine sentiment unanimously saying “we believe that the National Defence Commission chairman Kim Jong Il is not only the leader of the north Korean people but also the leader of the whole nation.

There is no one who made such great feats as the NDC chairman Kim Jong Il performed on behalf of the reunification movement and the revolutionary movement. He should deservedly be the leader of the unified country”.

The south Korean people who categorically worship great Marshal Kim Jong Il, accept his Songun politics as their own and unconditionally support it.

An activist of a youth movement said “as the great event of the national liberation was achieved by the Songun leadership of president Kim Il Sung in the period of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, a great event of the national reunification is nearing by the Songun leadership of Marshal Kim Jong Il today.

The center of the Songun revolutionary strategy and its leadership is just Marshal Kim Jong Il”.

He went on claiming that “defending the Songun politics” should be the first direction for the movement of 2003 since the Songun politics is the driving force of the Korean revolution and the reunification movement.

The majority of the patriotic youth and students in south Korea, according to an open public opinion census, contended that the great Marshal safeguards the security and prosperity of the nation by dint of the Songun politics.

The south Korean people support the great Marshal’s US strategy saying “the north’s US strategy is not merely a countermeasure providing against the US war threat but also an independent strategy for realizing the sovereignty of the Korean nation.

The north’s independent strategy aims at freeing south Korea from the US domination and accomplishing the sovereignty of the Korean nation.”

The south Korean people regard great Marshal Kim Jong Il as a key figure in the first place who moves the world, the US and south Korea.

Marshal Kim Jong Il, a peerless leader who makes the south Korean people and all the countrymen masters of the reunification, be united and dedicate their wisdom and enthusiasm to the anti-US independent reunification upholding the banner of the June 15 joint declaration, is indeed the brilliant sun of the nation.

2. The master

The mind-set of the south Korean people is changing over to the self-consciousness of being a master and self-esteem under the banner of the June 15 joint declaration.

The south Korean people have been deprived of the status and dignity of the master and lived the unworthy life.

But now they are awakening with the consciousness of the master to know themselves and carve out their destiny by themselves.

They are claiming with dignity that they are masters of this land.

The youth and students who participated in the one-million demonstration late last year against the killing of the two schoolgirls by a barbarous American military vehicle shouted “we are masters of this land” and reverent Han Sang-ryol wrote “National Independence” with blood of his finger when visiting America to protest against the murder of two schoolgirls saying “we cannot return home with ease when valuing our self-esteem and the national sovereignty”.

This explicitly manifests with what ideological consciousness the minds of the south Korean people are throbbing today.

They were really outcry and exclamation of blood of the south Korean people who know themselves and declare the self-esteem and sovereignty throughout the world.

The south Korean people are realizing their enormous power and carving out their destiny.

Only in terms of the participation scope, the intensity, durability and concurrence of the anti-US protest broke out in the recent two years, it is obvious that the south Korea people are appearing as an independent people staging the popular anti-US struggle strongest and most persistent in the world.

The young generation in particular, is audacious and unfazed before the US.

They loudly claim that they value reunification, prosperity and peace of the nation, bear the self-esteem and the indignation against the US which extremely exercises arrogance and unilateralism and they have the equal rights.

The south Korea people claim with dignity that their destiny of today and the future must be decided by themselves and are confident that all the countrymen will foil the American moves to obstruct the reunification and the dangerous war strategy.

The mature consciousness and self-esteem of the south Korea people don’t tolerate the US unilateral Korea policy any longer as they expressed in the anti-US candlelight demos continuing since last year till today.

The south Korea people have already known themselves and realized their might and based on that, they are cultivating the consciousness of master and independence to improve their destiny on their own responsibility.

Assuredly, it is the outcome of the banner of the June 15 joint declaration which came into being and is dynamically advancing under the rays of the great ideal of independence, the Songun politics,  and its realization.

On the basis of the consciousness of master and the national self-esteem, the south Korea people’s mind-set is vigorously flowing to the switchover into the anti-US independent consciousness and the volition of the independent reunification, a supreme task of today for realizing the independence against the US, the main axis of evil and enemy of the independence, which violates the dignity of mankind.

3. Anti-Americanism

The south Korean people’s mind-set is rapidly changing to a consciousness of the anti-US independence under the banner of the June 15 joint declaration.

Worshiping the US and flunkeyism, the fear of the US and the submission consciousness left in the minds of the south Korea people were eliminated and the consciousness of the anti-US independence is incomparably enhanced and prevailing as an ethos of the whole society.

The people's mind-set is spreading by the anti-US storm like a wildfire.

They don’t regard the US as “friend” and “supporter” any longer but aggressor, plunderer, occupier, an “arrogant and impudent chap” and an “ugly and disgusting chap”.

According to a recent Gallop poll, respondents for “the US is a dominator occupying south Korea” reached 60-70% and “the US is detestable” reached more than 90%.

And the reply “the US is a country exercising a strong influence and pressure on south Korea” was 81.2% and “a traditional friendly country sharing the interests” was no more than 16.8% (it was 76% in 1995) on a question “what is the US for our country?”.

It is a tremendous change.

What an old man said in an anti-US candlelight demo late last year left a profound meaning.

“An ally is nonsensical, now, our people realized that the US is not a <friendly country> but a country seeking its own interests.

When we were young and thought of the US, our obsession was a complex about America, but now we dare speak what we want to speak to that dreadful US. From our next generation there will scarcely be people who would dread of the US.”

The gag of the “worship and dread of the US” imposed on the mouths of the south Korea people for a long while was removed and the anti-US outcry is shouted through their mouths.

The mind-set of the south Korea people expresses the desire of the structural change to dissolve the unsoundness and inequality of the relations with the US in all aspects, practiced for about 50 years of UA military presence by the taboo of “never anti-Americanism”.

The mind-set of the south Korea people is dynamically flowing in conformity with the era of the massive anti-US movement.

The candlelight of the anti-US protest kindled from the late last year by the non-guilty verdict on the killing of the two schoolgirls in last June is still flaming till today for more than 180 days.

It is by no means the era in which the US is regarded as an “ally” and “benefactor” and “the American interests are just the interests of south Korea”.

The anti-US demo is spreading nation-wide. The wrath of the wounded national self-esteem is being blown off intensely.

Indeed, the era of tolerance for the crimes commited by the US troops in south Korea passed by for good.

The demand for the withdrawal of the US troops from south Korea is growing stronger. The majority of the south Korea people are indignant at the stationing of the US troops in south Korea.

In a questionnaire survey among the freshmen of the 2003 school year 76.8% of them demanded the US troops’ withdrawal and the newspaper “Nodong Ilbo” claimed that the issue of the withdrawal of the US troops in south Korea should not put the consciousness of the people in fetters any more.

Now in south Korea at least the formula “anti-Americanism = pro-communism” was completely broken.

Some 6.7 million people in total took part in 5,880-odd anti-US struggles in south Korea only in 2003.

The anti-US struggle constituted more than 70% of the whole movements and an era of the massive anti-US struggle emerged.

The tendency of the massiveness of the anti-US struggle in south Korea is never a passing one but bound to be more fierce.

The whole people in south Korea as the anti-US independent forces are expanded and strengthened.

A specialist for the East Asian problem in the enquiry section of the American Congress expressed a concern saying “if the current situation in  south Korea was left uncontrolled, the anti-American sentiment will rise up higher and lead to a situation in which the US army would be compelled to withdraw as in the Philippines”.

The mind-set of the south Korea people is firmly flowing to the switchover into the consciousness of the anti-US independence.

4. The reunification 

The south Korea people’s mind-set is flaming with the consciousness of reunification in alliance with the north and through inter-Korean cooperation.

They wish the national reunification to be achieved without fail as the biggest national aspiration.

According to a public opinion survey, 81% of the south Korean people hoped to live in a unified country.

To such an extent, they support the June 15 joint declaration, a landmark of the independent reunification and make a firm resolution to realize it in conformity with the ideals of “by our nation itself”.

The voices shouted in the August 15 Meeting for the National Reunification held last year in Seoul for the first time in the history of the country’s division ardently manifested the firm will of the south Korea people to achieve the independent reunification by all means.

“The June 15 joint declaration is the great program of the nation”, “Let us achieve the reunification and prosperity of the nation unwaveringly holding the banner of the June 15 joint declaration” and “Let us resolutely defend and realize the June 15 joint declaration by the national cooperation whatever situation may change”.

The pro-north propensity becomes the main stream of the people's mind-set.

The drive to understand the north correctly is determinedly legalized in south Korea with a warm enthusiasm of the people's mind-set, so a remarkable massiveness of the drive was legalized and the attitude toward the north was reversed 180 degrees.

The affection and compatriotic sentiment toward the north are growing wider among the south Korea people today day after day.

In a questionnaire survey among the youth and students, 89.9% of the respondents replied for “they can form a close friendship with the youngsters of the north” and 93.9% were for “they can accept the north Korean people as their neighbors”. Does not this figure eloquently demonstrate the ardent compatriotic consciousness sharing the same blood?

The mind-set of the south Korean people dispels the taciturnity, cold-heartedness and hostility imposed upon them for a long period and gets more fervent for reconciliation and unity with the north.

In a Gallop poll, the opinion not to regard the north as a “arch enemy” reached 70.9%.

A student of Koryo University frankly confessed in an interview with a British newspaper saying “I never notice any threat from north Korea. Since we are two parts of one nation I don’t regard the north as our enemy”.

The mind-set of the south Korean people regards the US hard-lined north Korea policy as the biggest threat in the Korean Peninsula and rejects the nuclear racket which the US caused in a bid to stifle the north and hamper the reunification.

The south Korean people from different social standings unanimously oppose the aggressive war plots of the US imperialists saying “the US is bringing a war”, “the US is the biggest stumbling block in the way of the reunification” and “the US is just the axis of evil. Tolerating such a US itself is evil”.

On the other hand, they expressed their positive support to the north’s stance as regards the nuclear weapons saying “the north’s possession of nuclear weapons accelerates the reunification process. They don’t block it”.

What is more, a lot of the young people in south Korea proudly think of nuclear weapons, if the north is possessed of, as a kind of national assets.

As the American daily “Los Angels Times” reproted that “a great number of the south Korean people believe that though the north possesses a nuclear bomb it will not use it against them, its compatriots” and “the youngsters esteem the north which confronts with the US in a dignified manner”, the people's mind-set with pro-north propensity which regards the north Korean people as their compatriots and reliable defenders of the destiny and security of the nation is really ardent.

The American plots to isolate and stifle the north wither as days go due to the might of the inter-Korean cooperation and the progress of the reunification cause speeds up.

All of this is assuredly the remarkable and proud fruition of the June 15 joint declaration arranged by Marshal Kim Jong Il, the brilliant sun of reunification.

The progress of history necessarily faces the challenges of the reactionaries.

The US imperialists and the divisive forces, the biggest evil of the Korea’s reunification are running amuck to block the implementation of the June 15 joint declaration raving of so called “cooperation”, “sanctions” and “military strike”.

Nevertheless, so long as there are firm will of reunification of Marshal  Kim Jong Il, a brilliant commander born of Mt. Baekdu, the powerful Songun deterrent force he holds steadfast and the potential of the south and north Korean people united as one, the locomotive bound for reunification will run more dynamically with accelerated velocity unfurling the banner of the June 15.

The day when the south Korean people and all the fellow countrymen live in an independent and prosperous unified country under the rays of the great sun is briskly nearing.