The original idea of the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il on the character of a state

The issue of the character of a state is one of the basic issues of the state theory, and the solution to it leads to the correct understanding of the essential aspects of a state.

Chairman Kim Jong Il set forth a unique idea on the character of a state based on the immortal Juche Idea for the first time in history while he was studying at Kim Il Sung University in the early 1960s.

Chairman Kim Jong Il said:

"The state is the most comprehensive organization formed by embracing all the people in its territory, not a few members in society like political parties and social organizations."

Seeing through the limitations of the previous theories on the character of a state, Chairman Kim Jong Il set forth a new and original idea that the state is a political organization formed by the class and social community in power to govern the society as required by their demands.

During his talk "On having a correct understanding of state and government, dictatorship and democracy" to the students at Kim Il Sung University on March 18th, 1962, he clarified scientifically that the state is a political organization set up to exercise power and that its major character is that it is the most comprehensive political organization of the society.

The authors of the classics in the previous age analyzed the character of a state only in terms of its evolution mainly, not in reference to the relations with other socio-political organizations.

Engels clarified in his work "Origin of Family, Private Ownership and State" that a state is characterized by the rule not based on the blood-sealed ties of people but according to regions and the establishment of not the voluntary armed force but public authority.

It was written that as the productive forces developed in the late primitive society, people had to move their places and exercise their rights and discharge their duties where they dwelled regardless of clan or tribe. It was also written that as the society was divided into classes, the voluntary armed force in the primitive society was replaced by the pubic authority (armed people and their material belongings) to defend the interests of the ruling class.

Lenin, introducing the state theory of Engels as it is, defined the character of the state as the public authority in his work "State and revolution".

Their opinions had significance to some extent as they gave light to the character of the state in comparison with the primitive social organizations, but they also had limitations that their comparison did not go beyond that with other social organizations.

A state is the most comprehensive political organization of the class or social community in power to exercise its political rule.

A society has not only a state but also other political organizations like political parties and social organizations. Yet the former, unlike the latter, is the most comprehensive political organization embracing all the members in its territory. This makes a state the power organ for administering the overall society, and a necessary tool for political rule as befits the interests of the ruling class.

Chairman Kim Jong Il made an original and scientific conclusion for the first time in history that one of the characters of a state lies in the fact that it is the most comprehensive political power embracing all the members of a society in a certain territory.

Thanks to his ideological studies, the most scientific answer was given to the character of the state, and thus the state theory of Juche could be further developed.