Comrade Kim Il Sung, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of
Korea, Prime Minister of the Cabinet of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea:
On the occasion of your 60th birthday, on behalf of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China, the Chinese government, and the Chinese people, and in our
own names, we extend our warmest and brotherly congratulations to you.
You are the founder of the Workers' Party of Korea and the time-tested great leader of the
Korean people. For decades, amidst extremely difficult and complex struggles, you applied
the universal truths of Marxism-Leninism to the concrete practice of the Korean revolution,
achieving great victories for the Korean revolution. Under your leadership, the heroic Korean
people, holding high the banner of anti-imperialist revolution, established and defended the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea under the dictatorship of the proletariat through
protracted armed struggle. Under your leadership, the Workers' Party of Korea and the
Korean people, implementing the principle of "political independence, economic self-reliance, and national defense," transformed a backward colonial country into a strong
socialist state, standing tall at the eastern frontier of the anti-imperialist struggle and making
significant contributions to the anti-imperialist revolutionary cause of the people of the
world.
In the long revolutionary struggle of the Chinese people, the Korean Communists, led by
you, and the fraternal Korean people, holding high the banner of proletarian
internationalism, have given us invaluable support. The Chinese people will never forget this.
In the long struggle against common enemies, the two parties and peoples of China and
North Korea have forged a great friendship and fighting unity, cemented with blood. This
friendship and unity, founded on the principles of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian
internationalism, are a reliable guarantee for defeating our common enemy. The Chinese
people firmly support the Korean people in their just struggle against U.S. imperialism,
Japanese militarism, and their running dogs, and for the independent and peaceful
reunification of their motherland.
We sincerely wish you will lead the Workers' Party of Korea and the Korean people to new
and greater achievements in their future revolutionary cause.
Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Zhou Enlai, Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
April 14, 1972