The letter said:

In this stirring period, when an all-people general offensive is being waged to carry out ahead of schedule the ambitious objectives for building a powerful socialist country advanced at the Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea and remarkable successes are being achieved one after another in the 200-day campaign of loyalty, the Sixth Congress of the Democratic Women's Union of Korea is being held.

I sincerely congratulate this congress and extend warm greetings to all those attending it, officials and members of the women's union and other women across the country, who are sharing the intentions of our Party and keeping pace with it.

This congress will constitute a historic occasion in demonstrating the indomitable will and revolutionary mettle of the Korean women, who are ready to fight resolutely for the final victory of the revolutionary cause of Juche following the Party, and in developing the work of the women's union onto a new high stage as required by the times and the developing revolution.

The women's movement in Korea is a Juche-oriented movement, which was pioneered by the great Comrade Kim Il Sung and which followed the proud road of development under the leadership of Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

With a deep insight into the importance of the problem of women in accomplishing the revolutionary cause, Comrade Kim Il Sung originated the Juche-oriented women's movement and created its glorious traditions in the flames of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle. After the liberation of the country, he founded the women's union before other working people's organizations, indicated the road ahead of it in every period and at every stage of the revolution and construction, and wisely led it so that it could creditably perform its role as a transmission belt of and reliable assistant to the Party. He proclaimed the Law on Sex Equality, thus bringing about epoch-making changes in the status of women and training them to be a powerful force capable of turning one of the two wheels of the revolution.

Comrade Kim Jong Il energetically led the work of defending and honouring Comrade Kim Il Sung's ideas of and exploits in the Juche-oriented women's movement. He developed the women's union into a revolutionary and militant organization faithfully supporting the Party's leadership and, by administering politics of prioritizing and respecting women, led them to make an active contribution to the sacred struggle for achieving the victory of the socialist cause while leading a dignified and happy life.

Under the wise guidance of the great leaders the women's union and women created a history resplendent with victory and glory, carrying forward the traditions of the Juche-oriented women's movement.

In the grim decades of the revolution, the Korean women held up Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il as their leaders and fathers and resolutely defended them, and death-defyingly carried out the lines and policies advanced by them in any adversity. Loyalty to the Party and the leaders was an element of unshakable revolutionary faith, conscience, will and practice of the Korean women.

In the days of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle our women waged a bloody struggle with weapons in their hands to liberate their country. In the days of the fierce Fatherland Liberation War they fought do-or-die battles on the front and in the rear to defend their country against the imperialist aggression, displaying unparalleled bravery and self-sacrificing spirit. Cherishing ardent patriotism, they have performed brilliant feats in building and successfully advancing socialism and building a powerful socialist country. Our women, simple-hearted and strong in the sense of honour, have given full play to their ennobling traits and spirit of devoted struggle, dedicating their all for the sake of society and their communities and revolutionary comrades, and exalted the brilliance of our grand socialist family.

Organizations of the women's union and its members, in hearty response to the Party's call, are playing a great role in the 200-day campaign aimed at glorifying this year, when the Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea was held, as a victorious year. The women's union members have turned out in the rehabilitation sites in the flood-hit northern area where a miracle of turning the misfortune into blessing is being wrought to the wonder of the world, bringing the militant atmosphere there to a crescendo by conducting the women's union shock brigade activities, artistic motivation activities and various other laudable deeds.

Our women's union members and other women are really excellent and praiseworthy. Unstained loyalty to the Party and the leaders, spirit of devoted service for the country and fellow people and ennobling sense of moral obligation?these are the ideological and spiritual features of our women, and it is a source of great pride for our Party and people to have a large contingent of such excellent women revolutionaries.

Our Party highly appreciates and will never forget the achievements of the women's union members and other women who, faithfully supporting the leadership of the Party and the leaders, have added lustre to the glorious tradition of the Korean women's movement over a long period from the dawn of the Korean revolution.

I extend warm thanks to the women's union members and all other women who have worked with devotion for the victorious advance of the Korean revolution and the development of the women's movement, holding the great leaders in high esteem and supporting the Party's leadership with loyalty.

The present is a new era of the Juche revolution in which we are advancing by leaps and bounds towards final victory, holding aloft the banner of the great Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism. The historic Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea set out strategic lines and tasks to accomplish the cause of building a powerful socialist country in accordance with the programme of modelling the whole society on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism.

The women's union should strive hard for the modelling of the whole society on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism under the Party's leadership, thereby rendering a positive contribution to accomplishing the socialist cause, the revolutionary cause of Juche. This is a noble mission it has assumed for the times and the revolution. It should carry forward the glorious tradition of the Juche-oriented women's movement to perform its honourable mission and duty with credit.

The general task facing the women's union is to model itself on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism.

Modelling the women's union on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism?this is the comprehensive implementation of our Party's idea of prioritizing women and the fundamental requirement for modelling the whole society on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism. The women's union should model itself on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism to develop into a revolutionary organization that is unfailingly faithful to the Party's ideology and cause.

It should add brilliance to the great leaders' ideology and exploits and support the Party's leadership with loyalty.

The kernel of the tradition of the Juche-oriented women's movement is unfailing loyalty to the Party and the leaders. The women's union should regard this as its lifeblood and develop into the eternal organization of the great leaders and our Party.

The great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are the eternal leaders of our Party and people and benevolent fathers of our women. Women's union members and other women should hold them up as the Sun of Juche for all ages and add eternal brilliance to their cause.

The great leaders' idea on the women's movement and their leadership exploits are the lasting foundation for the development of the women's union. Women's union officials and all other members should be fully conversant with the leaders' idea and exploits and make them an article of their firm faith. With this idea as its guideline the women's union should conduct its building and activities and carry through the leaders' instructions.

The women's union should constantly intensify the work of establishing the Party's unified leadership system.

This is the basic principle to be maintained in its building and activities and a permanent task facing its organizations. All the women's union members should fully equip themselves with our Party's revolutionary ideology, achieve solid unity in ideology, purpose and moral obligation behind the Party Central Committee, and staunchly defend the Party's lines and policies and carry them out even at the risk of their lives. Women's union organizations should establish revolutionary discipline and order whereby they move as one under the unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, report to it all the matters arising in the union work and deal with them according to its unified conclusion.

The women's union should train its members into steadfast Kimilsungists-Kimjongilists.

A Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist is a revolutionary of the Juche type who has made the great Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism an article of his or her firm faith, remains unfailingly loyal to the Party and the leader, and works with devotion for victory in the revolutionary cause of Juche. Only when women, who make up half of the country's population and have a significant role to play in bringing up the rising generations and building a powerful socialist country, are fully prepared as Kimilsungists-Kimjongilists, can the modelling of the whole society on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism be realized successfully.

Women's union organizations should conduct effective ideological education among their members and intensify guidance over their organizational life, with the main stress put on training them into Kimilsungists-Kimjongilists.

The women's union is a body for political and ideological education and its organizations' basic duty is to conduct ideological education. These organizations should hold fast to ideology, always paying primary concern to ideological education.

Women's union organizations should step up education in Kim Jong Il's patriotism, revolutionary faith, anti-imperialist and class consciousness and socialist morality, with the focus on education in the greatness of the leaders, so that all their members can cherish boundless loyalty to the Party and the leaders, ardent love for their country, the revolutionary spirit of Paektu, unwavering conviction in socialism, steadfast anti-imperialist and class consciousness and the ennobling sense of moral obligation.

They should conduct intensive education among their members and other women and wage a dynamic struggle to frustrate the imperialists' schemes for ideological and cultural infiltration and eliminate non-socialist practices. The capitalist, bourgeois ideology and culture and alien lifestyle the imperialists are spreading are a dangerous poison that undermines the socialist system from within by debasing and degenerating the people ideologically and morally. Women's union organizations should prevent this poison from infiltrating us and intensify education and struggle geared to removing, at the first signs, the root cause of unnatural lifestyle and non-socialist practices of all hues from among women's union members and other women.

Women's union organizations should radically improve the forms and methods of ideological education. By comprehensively applying the anti-Japanese guerrillas' method of ideological work, they should adopt various forms and methods in conducting ideological education, with the main emphasis on explanation, persuasion and influencing with positive examples, in line with the requirements of the stirring era and characteristics of women. To meet the demands of the precisely targeted method of ideological work, set out by the Party, they should identify the major targets and enlist all means of information and motivation work in launching a focused ideological offensive.

The women's union should build up the bases for the education of its members, conduct regular and effective education by means of them and efficiently operate the system of information and motivation work that has been set in place within its organizations. It should ensure that its senior expositors, expositors at primary organizations and expositors' groups of the women's union perform their role with credit. It should also see to it that the journal Joson Nyosong and other publications are responsive to Party policy and edit articles in keeping with the requirements of its members and other women and their aesthetic appreciation, thus making a contribution to educating them.

Women's union organizations should intensify the organizational life of their members.

They can be called the blood vessels that link their members' socio-political integrity with the Party. They should make sure that their members treasure their organizations and participate in the organizational life voluntarily and faithfully, cherishing the dignity of and pride in being members of the women's union guided by the Workers' Party of Korea. They should ensure that their members always work and live by relying on their organizations and carry out their decisions and individual assignments given by them in a responsible manner. They should make an exacting demand on their members so that they will work and live in compliance with the Rules of the union and the regulations of the union life.

The women's union should encourage its members to make a tangible contribution to building a powerful socialist country.

To build a powerful socialist country is a sacred, patriotic cause for achieving its prosperity and the well-being of all the generations to come, and it should be a struggle involving all the patriotic-minded people who are determined to throw themselves into this cause. Women's union members and other women, by carrying forward the heroic fighting spirit displayed by their preceding generations, should devote their strength, wisdom and enthusiasm to building a powerful socialist country.

The women's union shock brigade movement that is now in full swing in several sectors of socialist construction is a women's mass movement of loyalty geared to rendering services to building a powerful socialist country and improving the people's standard of living; this is a laudable, patriotic movement. Women's union organizations should continue to briskly conduct the shock brigade movement as a reflection of the voluntary and revolutionary zeal of their members and their concrete situations. They should organize various other good-conduct movements among their members, including silk-raising movement, raise the strong wind of socialist emulation drive to create a model unit and launch vigorous campaigns in which one overtakes and learns from others and swaps experiences with them.

Women's union members and other women should turn out in the economy drive with ardent patriotism and an attitude befitting masters in managing the country's economy. They should make economical use of every watt of electricity, every drop of water and every grain of rice for the country and for building it into an economic giant, and wage a struggle against all practices of extravagance, useless formalities and waste that run counter to the requirements and climate of the era.

Women's union organizations should make scrupulous arrangements to encourage housewives to launch into society.

This is necessary to solve the problem of labour shortage, but it is of greater importance in helping all women to enjoy an honourable life in the worthwhile struggle for the sake of their country and fellow people in the present era of Mallima that advances by leaps and bounds. Women's union organizations should work with housewives in an effective way so that women of working age can do their share by actively volunteering to work at the sites where a powerful socialist country is being built.

By actively conducting motivation work including artistic activities, women's union organizations should make the whole country seethe with revolutionary enthusiasm, and by drumming up support for increased production, they should give a powerful impetus to the struggle to achieve the high objectives of the five-year strategy for national economic development at the earliest date possible.

National defence is a duty of citizens, and nothing is more honourable than to defend the country. A genuine life, harmonious families and happy living for women and the coming generations cannot be guaranteed if they have no country of their own. Many women in several countries are now suffering from misfortune and pain owing to the imperialists' acts of aggression and intervention; this miserable reality testifies that arms are the guarantee for the security of a country and a people and for the dignity of women. Our women and other people have lived in a peaceful environment for decades without experiencing the holocaust of war. This is attributable entirely to Songun politics.

Women's union organizations should ensure that their members are fully equipped with the Party's idea and line of attaching importance to military affairs, remain alert and ready for action at all times, and become today's "Namgang village women" in the all-out resistance for defending the socialist country against the imperialists' aggression.

Women's union members should love service personnel as they would do their own kith and kin and render wholehearted aid to the People's Army. Wives of the service personnel should become reliable revolutionary comrades-in-arms of their husbands and look after the rank-and-file soldiers with the hearts of their sisters and mothers as befit the revolutionaries in the Songun era and the cooks for the Supreme Headquarters. Women's union members and other women should regard it as a revolutionary tradition of their families and a source of their pride to place their sons and daughters at the posts of national defence by preparing them fully ideologically, mentally and physically; they should pay deep concern to the life of war veterans, honoured disabled soldiers, families of fallen soldiers and families of service personnel and take warm care of them.

Women's union members and other women should fully discharge their heavy responsibilities and role in educating the rising generations to be dependable pillars of Juche Korea.

No one can replace mothers in educating the rising generations who will take charge of the future of the country. The dear and kind word mother carries social respect and high expectations for women who regard every manner of toil for the next generation as pleasure and devote love and affection to them. Neither family nor society nor the future of a country can exist without women.

Women's union members and other women should be roots and foundations for applying the Party's love for the rising generations, the future of the nation.

Women's union organizations should improve the living environment at nurseries and kindergartens and the conditions for nursing and educating their pupils to meet the demands of the new century, and be effective in their upbringing and education. The nurses and teachers at baby homes and orphanages should take care of the orphans as their own mothers would do and help them cultivate ennobling moral traits, creativity, independence and collectivist spirit, so as to bring them up as pillars who will shoulder the future of the country.

Women's union members and other women should educate their sons and daughters well. Fully aware of the mission and responsibility due to a mother, they should educate their children with all sincerity and with great efforts. Mothers should ensure that every moment of their speaking and life serves as a course of educating their sons and daughters, so as to bring them up as successors to the revolution and masters of the future and make theirs revolutionary families of soldiers, scientists and patriots. In order to bring up their children well, mothers themselves should possess ennobling human and revolutionary qualities, profound knowledge and high cultural attainments. It is an important matter that has a bearing on the future of the country and nation that women give birth to many children and bring them up well. Women should be encouraged to give birth to many children.

Women's union members and other women should play the role of pioneer in establishing socialist way of life and moral discipline throughout society.

The foundation of social life in socialism is collectivism, and the foundation of collectivism is love for human beings. Women's union members and other women should observe the collectivist way of life in which everyone loves her comrades, blood relatives and fellow people and work with devotion for society and their communities, helping and leading one another forward.

Women's union members and other women should lead an optimistic and cultured way of life. When women are full of laughter and optimism, our society will become brighter. They should take an active part in the mass-based cultural, artistic and sporting activities to establish a lively atmosphere across society, and make their attire and personal appearance beautiful and smart as required by modern aesthetic feelings and our national sentiments. As those in charge of home affairs, women should arrange in a civilized way the family life like keeping their houses clean inside and out and establishing culture in the dietary life.

Women's union members and other women should turn their villages and streets into socialist fairyland. Women's union organizations should push ahead with this work in combination with the movement of winning the title of July 11 Red Flag Dong and People's Neighbourhood Unit.

It is important to establish moral discipline among women's union members and other women. If they fail to do so, their families and their rising generations as well as themselves may be degenerated ideologically and morally. They should respect their revolutionary forerunners, teachers and seniors and fulfil the moral obligation and responsibility they have assumed for their families and society as wives and daughters-in-law. They should always act politely and observe public morality and social order on a voluntary basis and in an exemplary manner.

The women's union should struggle for the independent reunification of the country and global independence.

To achieve the country's reunification is the supreme national task which we must carry out in our generation. The women's union and women should push ahead one of the two wheels of the national reunification movement upholding the three charters for national reunification. They should render active support and encouragement to the south Korean women in their struggle for anti-US independence, social democracy and national reunification, as well as to the overseas Korean women in their patriotic struggle for democratic national rights and the independent reunification of their motherland.

Holding aloft the banner of independence, peace and friendship, the women's union should strengthen international unity and solidarity with the world's progressive women and their organizations aspiring after independence, and give encouragement to other women across the world in their just struggle for their dignity and rights and global peace and security.

For the strengthening of the women's union work, it is important to build up its organizations and improve their militant functions and role.

The guidance organs of the women's union organizations at all levels should be staffed with able officials and hardcore and active members of the women's union who are loyal to the Party and steeled and tested in the practical struggle, their function of collective guidance improved, and the sense of responsibility and role of their members enhanced.

The primary organizations of the women's union should increase their fighting efficiency. As its lowest-echelon organizations, they are bases for their members' organizational life. The women's union should form its primary organizations according to the principle of its Rules and in conformity with the specific conditions of relevant units, and direct close concern to the guidance for their improved role, thus making all of them militant bodies strong in organization and discipline.

The women's union should step up the movement of winning the titles of Model Primary Organization and Model Primary Committee to increase the number of the holders of these titles, and should be effective in its re-assessment of them to make this serve as an important occasion for strengthening its organizations.

The Central Committee of the DWUK is the General Staff that plans and directs the union work in a unified way under the banner of modelling the whole society on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism. It should plan and guide all its work in conformity with the intentions of the Party's policies. Officials of the Central Committee of the DWUK should always cherish the trust and expectations of the Party and carry out their tasks in a responsible manner.

A well-regulated system of work and strict discipline should be established in the women's union.

The women's union should establish in a well-regulated way the work system by which its organizations at all levels carry out its decisions for implementing the Party's policies and report the results in time and the guidance system by which its organizations go down to the organizations at lower echelons on a regular basis, keep up-to-date with their work, take appropriate measures and help them in an effective way. And it should establish discipline by which all its work is conducted as required by the Rules of the union and work guidelines.

A change should be brought about in the work style and attitude of the officials of the women's union.

Women's union officials are assistants to our Party, political workers and standard-bearers in the ranks of the women's union. All the officials of the women's union should cultivate the trait of death-defyingly implementing the Party's policies, the spirit of self-reliance and self-development and a creative and enterprising work style, and give free rein to the assiduous, meticulous, untiring and diligent way of work as demanded by the present times that advance towards the final victory of the revolutionary cause of Juche.

Party guidance over the work of the women's union should be intensified.

Our Party attaches great importance to the women's union and pays close attention to its work. The fundamentals of Party guidance over its work are to ensure that its organizations conduct all their work and activities in line with the ideas and intentions of the Party. Party organizations should turn Party guidance over women's union work into their own task, convey the Party's policies and directives to women's union organizations promptly and correctly and control and direct their implementation. In this way they can get women's union organizations and officials to have a correct understanding of the Party's policies and intentions and to make proactive efforts to carry them out.

It is important to enhance the independence of women's union organizations and officials. Party organizations should actively put them forward, assign tasks to them and make a proper assessment of their performance so that they can carry on their work vigorously on their own initiative, full of pride, self-confidence and passion.

Party organizations should show deep concern for building up the ranks of women's union officials and improving their qualifications. Party organizations at all levels should get familiar with problems arising in building up their ranks and take timely measures, and carry on the work of improving their political and practical qualifications and training future women's union officials in a planned way.

Party organizations should provide women's union organizations and officials with proper conditions for work and living. They should make sure that there is no practice of imposing burdensome tasks on women's union organizations willy-nilly in discordance with the characteristics and conditions of the women's union.

It is needed to make the whole Party and society give full play to the trait of respecting and loving women and actively helping the women's union in its work.

At present the Party and people put great trust in and have high expectations of the women's union. When the women's union grows in strength and when its members and other women turn out vigorously, our revolutionary cause will advance with greater vitality.

I firmly believe that all the organizations, officials and members of the women's union will fulfil their honourable responsibility and duty in the struggle for the victorious advance of the Korean women's movement and for the accomplishment of the revolutionary cause of Juche, holding aloft the banner of modelling the whole society on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism.

I wish our women including women's union members, who are blooming as beautiful flowers of the country, life and families in the socialist flower garden of Juche, glory and happiness.