Gyula Thurmer, chairman of the Hungarian Workers' Party, said this in an article titled "Ushering in a fresh era of independent reunification" he dedicated to the Hungarian newspaper Liberation on Dec. 22.

He said that Kim Jong Il devoted all his energies to the accomplishment of the Korean nation's reunification.

He went on:

Kim Jong Il made sure that the monument inscribed with the signature President Kim Il Sung, founding-father of socialist Korea, made on a document related to the national reunification in the last period of his life was erected at Panmunjom, symbol of the national division, in order to hand down the President's exploits for national reunification for all ages.

With his Songun revolutionary leadership Kim Jong Il frustrated every move of the U.S.-led imperialist allied forces to stifle the DPRK and ignite a new war.

He provided the historic June 15 North-South Joint Declaration and the October 4 declaration and thus ushered in the new era of By Our Nation Itself, the new era of independent reunification. These are the exploits to be specially recorded in history of the Korean nation.

He will always be alive, revered by the Korean people and the progressives.