Pyongyang, December 27 (KCNA) -- In the DPRK the history of the popular constitution began along with the founding of the republic by President Kim Il Sung.

He had the constitution drafted on the basis of the tradition of the people's government building and the ten-point programme of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland provided by him in the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle, as well as the achievements and experience gained in state building in the northern half of Korea after the country's liberation.

After nationwide discussions on the constitution, he had it adopted at the 1st Session of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) in September Juche 37 (1948).

Feeling the need for a new socialist constitution in the mid-1960s, the President had paid deep concern to drafting it from the beginning of the 1970s.

He continued speculation even during his field guidance tours to clearly indicate ways for successfully drafting it.

When the draft was worked out on the basis of his idea of believing in the people as in Heaven, he distributed it to officials to study and convened a meeting to discuss it.

At the meeting he spent hours to give a detailed explanation of its contents and expressions.

The draft reflected his strong, patriotic will to turn the country into a socialist power of Juche without fail.

The President clarified the basic contents of the socialist constitution at the 1st Session of the 5th SPA.

The socialist constitution was promulgated on December 27, 1972.

The enactment of the most popular and revolutionary constitution based on the immortal Juche idea provided the Korean people with a legal guarantee and powerful legal mechanism for fully realizing independence.

Later, the constitution was supplemented with new articles under the guidance of leader Kim Jong Il and adopted as Kim Il Sung Constitution codifying his idea and feats for state building at the 1st Session of the 10th SPA held in September 1998.