North Korea has moved to strengthen ideology among residents by warning against reliance on the outside and focusing on "self-reliance." It is seen as an attempt to tighten internal unity ahead of the 9th party congress early next year.
On the 3rd, the Labor Party's organ, Rodong Sinmun, said in an editorial titled "Let us accelerate the advance of the revolution with the power of ideology," "At the present time, which has reached a watershed of new development and prosperity, ideology exerts a tremendous power that nothing can replace."
It continued, "The comprehensive development of socialism is not a cause carried out by trusting someone else, but a grand task of building a rich and strong nation that must be pioneered and further sublimated only through our own strength," adding, "Here, what our party is based on is, through and through, the ideological and spiritual superiority of the people."
It added, "The way to crush the vicious schemes of hostile forces that obstruct the advance of our state and people, and to make the trend of the prosperous era created by our own hands more majestic and certain, lies in amplifying the power of ideology."
The paper said, "In all party organizations, making the entire party and the whole society monolithic with the party center's revolutionary ideology is the basic task of party work," and "Party members and working people must thoroughly commit to propaganda and agitation work."