Rodong Sinmun says that Kim Jong Il is a peerless patriot who performed great exploits before the times and history and thus provided the country and people with the eternal future.

Thanks to February 16 when Kim Jong Il was born as the Shining Star of Mt Paektu, the century of Juche originated in Mangyongdae could be given a steady continuity as the history of great victory and glory and a new era of building a powerful socialist country opened on the land of the DPRK, the paper says, and goes on:

Kim Jong Il, who started his rare life on Mt Paektu, the holy mountain of revolution, and hardened his patriotic intention and will while experiencing the bloody historic days of the sacred war for fatherland liberation, had led the country and people to victory for more than half a century with a great ambition to glorify Korea before the world.

Thanks to his energetic ideological and theoretical activities and leadership, signal changes were made in all fields of state and social life including politics, military affairs, economy and culture, the destiny of the country and people was firmly defended and the eternal foundation for the happiness of posterity was laid in the acute and complicated vortex of the 20th century.

His revolutionary career was, indeed, the noblest one of the peerless patriot who devoted his all to the country and people with patriotic enthusiasm and affection.

His immortal idea and great august name are the bright beacon and banner of struggle for training our people to be true patriots, and his patriotic exploits are the eternal treasure of building a powerful country.

Minju Joson praises Kim Jong Il as a peerless patriot who laid a solid foundation for the prosperity of the country and the happiness of posterity, while making a long and thorny journey of patriotic devotion all his life.