Pyongyang, April 14 (KCNA) -- President Kim Il Sung passed away on July 8, 1994.

After his death, the U.S.-led imperialist forces had intensified economic sanctions upon the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in a bid to stifle it.

The world's socialist market went away and flood, hurricane and drought hit the country year after year, forcing the DPRK to undergo economic hardships.

At this crucial juncture, General Secretary Kim Jong Il opted for the Songun politics, a new mode of politics, to tide over the prevailing difficulties.

The First Session of the 10th Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK, held in September Juche 87 (1998), approved the revised DPRK Socialist Law, which prioritizes the position and function of the National Defence Commission in the state's political life.

The session reelected Kim Jong Il as NDC chairman, the top state post, and the nation's political system turned into an army-priority one.

He began Songun politics with an inspection tour of the Tabaksol military post in January 1995.

In the year 1996 alone, he made inspection tours of army units covering more than 10 000 kilometers. In five to six years after the President's demise, his tour of army units extended at least 56 000 kilometers.

Thanks to his energetic efforts, the Korean People's Army had developed into an army, strong in politics, with latest military hardware.

The revolutionary soldier spirit, created by the KPA, had swept throughout the country, resulting in enormous achievements in all domains of society.

By dint of the Songun politics, he won one victory after another in politico-ideological and military standoff with imperialists, thus defending the dignity of the DPRK.