THE KOREAN PEOPLES ARMY: INHERITOR OF THE ANTI JAPANESE PEOPLES GUERILLA ARMY AND REVOLUTIONARY VANG

THE KOREAN PEOPLE'S ARMY:
INHERITOR OF THE ANTI JAPANESE PEOPLES GUERILLA ARMY AND REVOLUTIONARY VANGUARD OF SONGUN

April 25th this year is the 75th anniversary of the glorious Korean Peoples Army the invincible revolutionary armed forces of Juche led by by two brilliant iron willed commanders.T he KPA, strictly speaking,was established on the 8th of February 1948 but the 25th of April is celebrated as the day of its foundation because this was the day when the Anti Japanese Peoples Guerilla Army was founded by the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung and the KPA is very much the inheritor and standard bearer of the revolutionary traditions of the Anti Japanese Peoples Guerilla Army.

The Anti Japanese Peoples Guerilla Army was founded in the forest at Antu, Manchuriam(China).This region borders Korea. In those days Korea was groaning under the iron heel of fascist Japanese imperialism which had seized Korea in 1910 and turned the land of the 3,000 ri into a sea of blood a real hell on earth in which the Korean people which not even allowed to speak their own language. Many Koreans fled to Manchuria and it was here that the national and communist movement was organised amongst the Koreans living there.

Various attempts were made to regain independence, reformist nationalists tried petitions and pin hopes on great powers. The communist movement was thorn asunder by factionalists. There were attempts to resist Japanese imperialism by force. The Righteous Volunteers Army fought the Jap invaders with spears. Later the Korean Independence Army came into being but it did not fight well and was led by bourgeois nationalists who were weak and vacillating and unable to strike deep roots amongst the people. The great leader comrade Kim Il Sung who had formed the Down With Imperialism Union in 1926 and outlined the Juche orientated road for the Korean revolution is his classic speech “The Path of the Korean Revolution” at the Kalun meeting in 1930 acutely felt the need to create a peoples revolutionary armed force to liberate Korea from Japanese imperialism. He realised the truth of Songun that independence is achieved by the gun.

During the early 1930s the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung made preparations to form a revolutionary armed force and put forward the line of anti imperialist armed guerilla struggle at the Mingyuegou meeting on December 16^th, 1931.The preparations culminated in the formation of the Anti Japanese Peoples Guerilla Army on April 25th,by the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung a gifted military strategist and iron brilliant commander. This heralded the start of the anti-Japanese revolutionary war and was a revolutionary salvo against Japanese imperialism

Comrade Kim Il Sung said that the AJGPA was
“… the first contingent of the peoples revolutionary armed forces in our country with the progressive workers and peasants and patriotic youths who set themselves against Japanese imperialism for the national independence and social emancipation of the Korean people”

Thus the AGJPA was composed basically of workers and peasants. It was guided by Marxism-Leninism and the Juche idea rather than by bourgeois nationalism.

The AJPGA was renamed the Korean Peoples Revolutionary Army in 1934.The KPRA had to fight against the 1 million strong Kwantung army of Japanese imperialism and the puppet Manchuko army. The KPRA did not have the backing of a state or a rear base. It fought in the revolutionary spirit of self reliance.

The battles that the KPRA were numerous but mention should be made of the historic Pochonbo battle on June 4th 1937 and also the battles at Musan and Tungging

Thanks to the heroic and glorious armed struggle waged by the KPRA under the leadership of the ever victorious iron willed brilliant commander General Kim Il Sung Korea was liberated from the iron heel of fascist Japanese imperialism. The work of building a new state including the armed forces commenced in earnest. On February 8th 1948 the Korean Peoples Army, a regular revolutionary armed force, was formed with anti Japanese fighters of the KPRA at its core. Efforts were put into building a self reliant munitions industry.

In June 1950 the US imperialists tried to strangle the young Democratic Peoples Republic in its cradle by instigating a war. They throw into the war not only their own forces and those of the south Korean puppet army but also troops from their 15 satellite countries. Led by the great leader Marshal Kim Il Sung, ever victorious iron willed brilliant and military strategic genius the KPA fought back and repulsed the US imperialist invaders.

The KPA fully embodied the Juche orientated military idea of great Marshal Kim Il Sung was stated that
wars were decided by man and not by weapons. Full power was given to the ideological and spiritual power of the KPA soldiers. New methods of warfare such as tunnel warfare were created. Thus the KPA was able to overwhelm the enemy‘s numerical and technical superiority winning a shining victory against the US imperialist aggressors. The US imperialist military boss Gen Clark lamented woefully that he was the first US commander to conclude an armistice without a military victory. Thus the dignity and independence of the DPRK were honorably defended by the glorious KPA led by ever victorious brilliant commander Marshal Kim Il Sung.

It the post war period the KPA adhered strictly to the line of self reliant defense as laid down by the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung. The KPA stood in acute confrontation with US imperialism. So the line of parallel building of the defence and economy was wisely advanced by the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung. He strove to modernise the KPA and to turn into it a cadre army and also make each soldier a match for 100 enemy soldiers. He also placed central emphasis on the revolutionary ideology of the KPA.

In 1963 he said
“To strengthen the Peoples Army, therefore it is necessary, first of all, to thoroughly equip all soldiers with the revolutionary spirit of our Party so that it becomes a genuine army of the revolution, of the Party and the working class....a matter of pressing urgency in the political work in the Peoples Army today is to further intensify the ideological work of heightening the class consciousness of soldiers.
By fully equipping all the soldiers with class consciousness we must turn our army into a solid class army”

The KPA dealt heavy blows to the US imperialists. The spy ship “USS Pueblo” and its crew were captured in 1968 and the US had to apoligise. In 1969 the KPA Air force brought down the spy plane EC121.The KPA defended socialist Korea from the provocation of the Panmunjom incident

The baton of leadership of the KPA passed to the dear leader comrade Kim Jong Il. In December 1991 was elected Supreme Commander of the KPA Comrade Kim Jong Il had been working with the KPA since the 1960s and had learnt the Juche orientated military art.

Comrade Kim Jong Il, endowed with unparallel wisdom and intelligence and outstanding art of command, has provided the cause of army building with great successes. In the 90s of last century when socialist Korea was faced with acute situation, he established the mode of Songun politics in an all-round way and brought about a fresh upswing in the strengthening of military power. He elucidated that the military affairs should be given the top priority of all national affairs and that the army is the hardcore, the main force of revolution. He gave on-the-spot guidance without letup to army units, encouraging them to train themselves further ideo-politically, militarily and technically.

His leadership made the KPA a powerful army that acts on orders from the Supreme Commander, an ideologically strong army with a high level of unity between officers and men, between military and political officers. The KPA has also grown into an army equipped with victorious stratagem, operational capabilities, and powerful means for both attack and defense.

The KPA, led by the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il, struck powerful blows against the US imperialists .In 1993 he ordered the KPA to go over to a semi war state to cope with the provocations of the US imperialists over the “nuclear issue”. Throughout the 1990s and the early years of the 21^st century, the KPA resolutely defended the people centred socialist system against the pressure and threat of US imperialism.

The KPA is playing a pivotal role not only in national defense but also in strengthening the single-hearted unity of the Korean society and the driving force of revolution. It is also standing in the van of the struggle to build a great prosperous powerful socialist nation.

The history of 75 years made by the KPA is full of victories in the confrontation with imperialist powers and in defending sovereignty, independence and socialism under the leadership of two brilliant commanders.

The Korean People’s Army will continue ever victorious and defend the DPRK, the eastern outpost of the world revolution led by the great Supreme Commander Kim Jong Il, sun of Songun.