Workers' Party of North Korea
In 1997, an editorial published in "Rodong Sinmun", the Workers' Party of North Korea official newspaper, stated: "Never before have the status and role of the People's Army been so extraordinarily elevated as today when it is being led energetically by the Respected and Beloved Comrade Supreme Commander". By this point, the Korean People's Army had also become "synonymous with the people, the state, and the party". Together, all of this indicates not only the centrality of Kim Jong-il to the "Songun" ideology, but also its increasing rhetorical centrality to the state and society.