Kim Il Sung is the august name of the sun. The name was given by the Korean people, praising him as the sun of the nation after acclaiming him as the great leader for the first time in the nation's history spanning 5 000 years.

The president of Zambia visited the DPRK to congratulate President Kim Il Sung on his 70th birthday and recited before the President a poem "To Comrade Kim Il Sung who loves humankind" written by himself. In this poem he lauded the President as a "standard-bearer of the oppressed people."

I.V. Stalin who was the leader of the party and people of the Soviet Union praised Kim Il Sung in 1949 as a genuine proletarian internationalist who devotedly protected the Soviet Union with arms from the invasion of imperialism in the East and a model of the communist movement.

Chairman Mao Zedong of China, greeting Kim Il Sung on visit to China in April 1975, said he deemed it his great happiness to have such great man of world stature as his closest comrade-in-arms and brother.

Fidel Castro, leader of the Cuban revolution, respecting Kim Il Sung as a revolutionary forerunner, praised him as the most experienced and prestigious man of the leaders in the world and a genius.

Ho Chi Minh, president of Vietnam, deeply impressed by his idea of believing in people as in Heaven and his virtues, praised him as an excellent popular statesman without an equal in the world. Norodom Sihanouk, great king of Cambodia, lauded Kim Il Sung as the greatest-ever man who invariably maintained the close relations once he forged.

The former vice prime minister of Japan who exercised strongest influence in the political circles in Japan and the former chancellor of Austria and other high-ranking political figures of the West said Kim Il Sung was the "man to whom they paid highest tribute" and the "unworldly minded and kind-hearted leader they met for the first time in the history of political activities."

Jimmy Carter, former president of the U.S., met him during his visit to the DPRK in June 1994 and admired him for his greatness.

During the mourning period after the untimely demise of the President media of at least 120 countries of the world released special reports on the events held after his demise. They vied with each other to praise him as "The sun illuminating the world for all ages", "Unquenchable flames", "The great sun of mankind without an equal on our planet," etc.

Prominent personages and people of the world authored great many books, reminiscences and poems including "The sun of Juche will be immortal", "Kim Il Sung -- he is the savior of humankind", "Becoming an unquenchable torch illuminating the whole world", "President Kim Il Sung is the great statesman in the 20th century", "President Kim Il Sung is the eternal sun of our destiny," etc.