General Secretary of the Movement for Peace and Socialism of Italy Roberto Gabriele said this in a statement issued on Dec. 17 on the occasion of the first anniversary of demise of Kim Jong Il.

The hearts of the Korean people and the world progressive people are burning with deep reverence and yearning for Kim Jong Il and they are highly praising him as a staunch guardian of socialism and independence, the statement noted, and went on:

Kim Jong Il developed the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) into the party of President Kim Il Sung and led the DPRK to emerge a full-fledged nuclear weapons state.

It is an expression of boundless reverence of the Korean people for Kim Jong Il that they are holding him in high esteem as eternal general secretary of the WPK and chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK.

The Korean people are firmly confident of the victory of socialism as they have the dear respected Kim Jong Un, creditable successor to the revolutionary cause of Kim Jong Il, as the top leader of the party, state and army.

We are sure that the Korean people led by Kim Jong Un will achieve greater success in the struggle for building a thriving socialist nation and achieving the independent and peaceful reunification of the country in the future, too.