Till the Last Moment of His Life (1)
One evening in late September Juche 79(1990), a 70-year-old man got off the plane which landed on Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan. He was asked questions one after another, surrounded by journalists: What is your impression of Pyongyang visit? How do you feel now? Is it true you shed tears at the meeting with President Kim Il Sung? …
As he looked around at the reporters, the old man told them:
“It was really a wonderful visit. What I regret is that my visit was too late.
“It is true I shed tears. I don`t conceal the fact that I shed tears at the meeting with President Kim Il Sung, because it is never shame to be fascinated by a great man I truly respect.
“Although I am a politician in the twilight of my life, I will do my best to live up to the trust of the President. It is my last mission as a politician.”
He was just Kanemaru Shin, former deputy prime minister of Japan, who visited the DPRK for the first time and met President Kim Il Sung.
The prominent figure in Japanese politics had been devoted to pro-US and anti-communism regarding them as his lifelong motto. Therefore, his turnabout on his single Pyongyang visit gave a big shock to Western political circles as well as Japan.
In several interviews he did not hesitate to express his reverence for the President, saying “He is greater than I imagined and is my big senior I truly respect.”
The right-wing forces of Japan raised a hubbub, because he was known as the mastermind behind political decisions made whenever Japan was faced with a crisis.
Till Last Moment of His Life (2)
Japanese right-wing reactionaries resorted to mean tricks to win Kanemaru inclined to Pyongyang. They carried articles backbiting him in the right-wing magazines and drove the loudspeaker car near his office and house for smear campaign.
Worse still, they instigated hooligans to send letters or make phone calls to threaten him.
Despite the vicious attempts of reactionaries, Kanemaru Shin worked hard to implement the triangular joint declaration of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and the Socialist Party of Japan and dispatched a delegation headed by the secretary general of the LDP to the celebrations of the 45th founding anniversary of the WPK, as promised with President Kim Il Sung.
Japanese people called him “Kim Kanemaru” because he strived to keep faith with the President after meeting him.
When the WPK delegation visited Japan in February Juche 80(1991), he said to the delegation members:
“I hope you believe that I revere President Kim Il Sung as a great statesman and will always stand on the side of the DPRK.
“I’ve made up my mind to devote my life to him, since I recognize it as the road for global peace. …
“I want you to officially inform President Kim Il Sung of my resolve to dedicate my life to him.
“I’m a man of going only forward steadily like a wagon that cannot move backward.
“I’ll, in the future, take along the same road with President Kim Il Sung to the last.”
He did not betray his faith till he passed away at the age of 81 five years later.
