opinion

The Japanese imperialists were hell-bent on the war of aggression on the continent in the 1930s, armed with modern military equipment including planes, tanks, warships and artillery and styling itself the “leader of Asia”. On the other hand, the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, or the anti-Japanese guerrilla army, was only armed with rifles its members had taken from the enemy at the risk of their lives.

The anti-Japanese guerrilla army was no match for the Japanese imperialists numerically and in terms of military hardware, to say nothing of the state rear.

That’s why the anti-Japanese armed struggle was the fight in which its victory was inconceivable by the existing common sense and its course was the continuation of unprecedented trials.

Looking back on the grim course of the Korean revolution, President Kim Il Sung said that in the early years of the guerrilla warfare, the ranks numbered several hundreds, they grew to several thousands and tens of thousands, but many of them were killed in the whirlwind of the anti-“Minsaengdan” campaign (an ultra-leftist struggle against the organization formed by the Japanese imperialists) and battles, and frankly speaking, anti-Japanese war veterans were not survivors, but those who narrowly escaped death.

What, then, inspired the anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters to carry on this arduous struggle and finally greet the day of victory?

It was the conviction of sure victory and will that they would surely win as they were led by General Kim Il Sung, the hero of the nation.

For the anti-Japanese guerrillas, who were subjected to all manner of maltreatment and contempt, he was the saviour of their lives who encouraged them to know the country and nation and become indomitable fighters freeing themselves from the miserable plight of the colonial people and the anti-Japanese armed struggle for which they turned out to defeat the enemy with arms in hand following the leadership of General Kim Il Sung was a sacred war to save the destiny of the country and nation.

Therefore, they cherished the revolutionary idea of their commander as their absolute faith in any adversity and did not hesitate to sacrifice their lives to carry out his orders. One of them blocked the enemy pillbox with his body to ensure the advance of his unit and others dedicated their youth to safeguarding the headquarters.

“Keep the revolutionary faith to the death!”--with this will they shouted “Long live the Korean revolution!” even when they died on the scaffold.

A guerrilla cut off his tongue with his teeth to protect the headquarters as he was losing his consciousness due to brutal torture beyond human imagination, a woman guerrilla shouted that she could see the victory of the revolution after her eyes had been gouged out by the enemy, and another guerrilla retained his revolutionary faith while cutting his leg that decayed due to frostbite with his own hands.

The faith and will to achieve independence and national liberation by their own efforts were also one of the factors which enabled them to overcome the arduous struggle.

With the idea and faith of independence by the Koreans’ own efforts that the masters of the Korean revolution are the Korean people and the country should be liberated by their own efforts, the anti-Japanese guerrillas made Yongil bombs by their own efforts to beat the enemy and sewing machine needles with big needles to produce hundreds of uniforms. Even during the period of the Arduous March, when every grain of salt and rice and every pill of medicine were so precious and so they suffered from severe food shortage and terrible diseases and when the existence itself was just a miracle, they did not step back from the advance towards national liberation as they chewed grass roots and swallowed snow.

As they were full of such faith and will, the officers and men of the KPRA could achieve the historic cause of national liberation by fighting their way through bloody battles against the Japanese imperialists and raging blizzards for 15 years.