KIM IL SUNG
ON THE OCCASION OF THE FOUNDING OF
THE KOREAN PEOPLE’S ARMY
Speech at a Review of the
Korean
People’s Army
February
8, 1948
Comrade
officers, noncommissioned officers and men of the Korean People’s
Army,
Dear
fellow countrymen,
In
celebrating the second anniversary of the People’s Committee of
North Korea, the organ of genuine people’s power, we today proclaim
the founding of the Korean People’s Army, the first regular armed
forces belonging to the people in the history of Korea. The Korean
people, who had been subjected to all manner of persecution and
suppression under the bayonets of the Japanese imperialists, took
power into their own hands after liberation and set out to create a
new, happy life. And now they have their own full-fledged regular
army to defend the country and nation.
Expressing
the great national pride and joy of the liberated people of Korea, I
wholeheartedly hail the creation of the People’s Army.
All
the people of north and south Korea can now show their pride before
the whole world in having their own modern, regular army to fight for
the freedom and honour of the country.
We
have founded the People’s Army today to promote the complete
independence and sovereignty of the country on a democratic basis.
Our
people have laid the political, economic and cultural foundations for
building an independent and sovereign democratic state in north Korea
in only a little over two years after liberation. With the
establishment of people’s power and the enforcement of
democratic reforms we have brought to realization the age-old, ardent
national desire of the broad masses of the people, thus opening up
broad new vistas for social advance. Last year, we drew up a national
economic plan and fulfilled it successfully, thus making our first
great contributions to laying the base of an independent national
economy. With the currency changeover, our people now possess their
own currency and have consolidated the foundation for our country’s
financial independence. The draft Provisional Constitution of Korea
has been drawn up which will legally validate the results of the
democratic reforms and the building of democracy in north Korea and
provide the legal foundations for the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea to be set up in the future.
But
until now, we did not have a regular army of the Korean people to
defend all these gains by force of arms.
Any
independent and sovereign state has its own army. It goes without
saying that no state can be completely independent and sovereign
without its own army. Our country was occupied by the Japanese
imperialists because the Korean people had no army of their own
strong enough to defeat the Japanese imperialist aggressor army.
Therefore,
if our country is to become a completely independent and sovereign
state it is indispensable to have a mighty people’s army capable of
defending the country and the nation and of repulsing any enemy
invasion. The need to create their own army became very urgent and
vital for the Korean people, particularly in the serious
circumstances whereby our country’s reunification, independence and
sovereignty have been held back for more than two years since
liberation as a result of the vicious manoeuvrings on the part of the
US imperialists and their lackeys to split our nation and turn our
country once again into a colony.
Our
people can neither remain mere onlookers while the US imperialists
and their stooges carry out their policy of national division, nor
can we wait for someone to come along and give us independence and
organize an army for us. The Korean people must build an independent
and sovereign democratic state entirely by their own efforts and must
themselves make all preparations for setting up a unified government.
They must organize their army on their own, thereby promoting the
building of a unified, independent and democratic country.
It
is not by chance that a People’s Army has been created in north
Korea. This is because it is only in north Korea, where the people
have become masters of the state, that it has been possible to create
a People’s Army to defend the country and the nation. It is
inconceivable to found a genuine national army of the Korean people
in present-day south Korea which is under US military government and
where the pro-Japanese elements and traitors to the nation have taken
“power” and are training their terrorists.
Our
people, who are courageously blazing the path for the whole of Korea
to follow by carrying out democratic reforms and successfully
building up the economy and making cultural advances in north Korea,
will, through the organization of the Korean People’s Army today,
strengthen the might of the democratic base in north Korea and lay a
solid foundation for the armed forces of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea to be set up in the not too distant future. The
people in south Korea, who are immensely encouraged and inspired by
the building of democracy in north Korea, will regard our People’s
Army founded today as their own army and their own strength. So, the
founding of the People’s Army will give mighty encouragement to our
fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters in south Korea, now
groaning under the oppression of the US military government and the
reactionary, traitor clique, in their struggle for the reunification
and independence of the country along democratic lines.
Furthermore,
we have created the People’s Army to defend the democratic base of
north Korea and the fruits of the democratic reforms—the groundwork
for the establishment of a unified Democratic People’s
Republic—from enemy encroachment, and to guarantee the security and
happiness of the people in north Korea.
As
is known to all, the US imperialists, the pro-Japanese elements and
the traitors to the nation in south Korea, are not only given to
slander and false propaganda in their attempt to hamper our
democratic development and peaceful construction. They are also
making every attempt to destroy our precious state property and throw
the life of the north Korean people into confusion by sending in
large numbers of terrorists engaged exclusively in murder, arson and
subversion. As a matter of course, these enemy activities are fully
exposed and frustrated at every step by our people’s united
strength and high revolutionary vigilance. However, the firmer the
democratic base of north Korea and the greater the victories of our
people, the more frenzied the US imperialists and the reactionaries
in south Korea become and the more viciously the enemy attempts to
destroy the fruits of the democratic reforms and economic
construction in north Korea.
Therefore,
we must found the People’s Army to firmly defend the democratic
system established in north Korea and the happy life of our people,
and prevent any reactionary forces and subversive elements from
spoiling in the slightest degree all the precious results gained by
the north Korean people in their struggle since liberation for the
independence, sovereignty and democratization of the country.
We
must remember that only when we are strong and the democratic forces
prevail can genuine peace be preserved, freedom of the country and
the people guaranteed, and the enemy will not be able to attempt any
reckless attack on us. Therefore, far from presenting the threat of
fratricidal civil war as stated in the reactionaries’ vicious
propaganda, the strengthening of the democratic forces and the
founding of the People’s Army in north Korea will prevent US
imperialism and the reactionaries in south Korea from starting civil
war.
Comrade
officers, noncommissioned officers and men of the Korean People’s
Army,
Dear
fellow countrymen,
The
People’s Army we have founded today is an army of a new type,
fundamentally different from that of a capitalist country.
The
army of a capitalist country is organized to defend and maintain by
force of arms the system of oppression and exploitation of the
working people—the vast majority of the population—in the
interests of a handful of capitalists and landlords and to attack
other nations and invade the territories of other countries. We saw
this kind of army vividly in Hitler Germany and militarist Japan, and
we see it now in all capitalist countries. In particular, the US army
that after the war entered countries such as China and Greece, which
were not defeated nations, and interfered in their internal affairs,
and enforced military government in south Korea, refusing to
withdraw, has become the prototype of the predatory imperialist army
of today.
In
contrast, the army we have created today is a genuine people’s army
made up of the sons and daughters of the workers, peasants and other
sections of the Korean working people, which fights for the
liberation and independence of the Korean nation and for the
happiness of the masses against the imperialist aggressive forces
from abroad and the reactionary forces at home. Therefore, should any
enemy attempt to infringe upon our country’s freedom and destroy
our people’s happy life, our People’s Army men will fight to the
last drop of their blood to defeat him, and they will defend the
country and the people to the bitter end. This is the most important
feature of the People’s Army we have founded.
Another
specific feature of our People’s Army is that its backbone is
composed of true patriots of Korea who devoted their all in the past
to the anti-Japanese armed struggle for the liberation of
the country and the people in the face of brutal Japanese imperialist
suppression.
After
the Japanese imperialists occupied our country, the true patriots
took up arms at home and abroad and waged arduous guerrilla warfare
against Japanese imperialism. When the pro-Japanese elements, now
acting as flunkeys of US imperialism in south Korea, were oppressing
and exploiting the Korean people in league with Japanese imperialism
and went so far as to drive the young men and women of Korea so dear
to us to the battlefield to further Japan’s aggressive war, Korean
patriots formed anti-Japanese armed units and waged a protracted,
bloody struggle against the Japanese imperialist army of aggression
which far outnumbered them, thereby stoutly defending the pride
and honour of our nation. Our People’s Army is created today with
these patriotic revolutionaries as its backbone and on the basis
of the rich experience they accumulated during the long-drawn
anti-Japanese armed struggle.
Therefore,
though our People’s Army is established today as the regular army
of democratic Korea, it is, in reality, an army long rooted in the
past. It is a glorious army inheriting the revolutionary traditions
of anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare, invaluable battle experience and
indomitable patriotic spirit. Our army, thus equipped not only
with weapons but also with the combat experience, ardent patriotism
and noble revolutionary spirit of our revolutionary forerunners, is
an army of iron that will beat back any enemy invasion and always be
victorious.
The
fact that our people have founded such a superb and glorious People’s
Army once again demonstrates to the world that the Korean nation is
fully capable of building a rich and strong independent country on
its own and of raising its country to rank among the advanced states
of the world. The fact that we have built such an excellent army by
ourselves also shows clearly that we Korean people will not, and
cannot, leave our destiny in the hands of the US imperialists and
their tool, the “UN Temporary Commission on Korea”, nor ever
recognize a “government” or an “army” rigged up by them.
In
proclaiming to the world today on behalf of the entire people the
founding of the Korean People’s Army, I solemnly declare once again
that the destiny of the Korean nation can only be shaped by the
Korean people themselves, and that the Korean question can never be
solved by the US imperialists and their aggressive tool, the “UN
Temporary Commission on Korea”.
Comrades
and friends,
The
founding of the People’s Army fills our people with great pride and
signifies another brilliant victory for them. But, although we have
the People’s Army, we must not allow ourselves to rest content or
to be carried away by the victory. The creation of the People’s
Army is only the first step towards building up the powerful, modern
armed forces of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea which
must be established in the future. It means that only the skeleton
has been built. That is why all the people, as well as all military
personnel, must do everything in their power to strengthen and
develop the People’s Army founded today and ensure that its
invincible might is demonstrated to the world.
The
men, noncommissioned officers and officers must first arm themselves
firmly with boundless love for the country and the people and with
the spirit of devoting their all to the struggle for the freedom of
the country and the happiness of the people.
Our
People’s Army should not forget for a moment that it has been born
of the people and serves the people, and that it can be victorious
only when it cherishes the people and enjoys their support and
affection. In particular, it must consistently protect the interests
of the entire working people headed by the working class, the main
force in building our country. Only when the army is filled with
ardent patriotism and the spirit of serving the working people can it
defend the gains of the democratic reforms in north Korea, firmly
safeguard our country and people from any enemy invasion and promote
the complete independence, sovereignty and reunification of our
country.
We
must vigorously conduct political and ideological education among the
servicemen so that they will emulate the lofty patriotism of their
revolutionary forerunners who took part in the anti-Japanese armed
struggle, cultivate the spirit of loving, respecting, trusting and
uniting with each other, foster the trait of acting bravely and
taking the lead in doing things, and build up an iron discipline in
the army.
The
men, noncommissioned officers and officers must zealously devote
themselves to military training and the study of military science.
All men and noncommissioned officers must become proficient in
handling weapons and be well versed in their military assignments.
Officers must master the art of command and methods of educating and
training the men under them.
Our
People’s Army cannot be strengthened merely by the efforts of the
men, noncommissioned officers and officers. The active support and
assistance of the entire people are required to make our army more
efficient and capable of honourably fulfilling the important mission
of defending the country and the people. The workers must ensure
timely and adequate production and supply of good weapons, uniforms
and daily necessities, and the peasants must supply the army with
provisions. The people must love their army, hold the men and
officers dear and exert themselves to turn our People’s Army into a
strong and excellent army of which we can be proud before the world.
Dear
comrades, men, noncommissioned officers and officers,
Dear
fellow countrymen,
By
founding today an army which is genuinely our own, our people have
registered another historic victory for our nation. The entire Korean
people greet this happy occasion with boundless emotion and
rejoicing, and all our friends the world over extend congratulations
on this new victory of the Korean people in their fight for the
freedom and independence of their country.
Let
us all march vigorously forward, with an unshakable faith in victory
and ever greater national pride, for the establishment of a
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, for new victories!
Long
live the Korean People’s Army, the true armed forces of the Korean
people!
For
the establishment of a Democratic People’s Republic of Korea!
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