Kim Jong Il trained the Korean People's Army into an invincible revolutionary army and firmly defended the socialist system and peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, the statement said, and went on:

It was thanks to his Songun revolutionary leadership that the Korean people could triumphantly advance the cause of building a thriving socialist nation despite all the military pressure and sanctions of the U.S. imperialists.

The Finnish National Committee for the Study of the Juche Idea and the Finland-Korea Society regard it as a historic event of weighty significance that the DPRK title of Generalissimo was conferred on him.