Speech on the 87th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army made by Dr Dermot Hudson to the 6th of April meeting of the Juche Idea Study Group of England

The 25^th of April was the day some 87 years ago in 1932 that President KIM IL SUNG founded the Anti- Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army which  later became  the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army   and became the backbone of the regular revolutionary armed force , the Korean People’s Army(KPA) when it was formed in 1948 . It is for this reason and the fact today’s KPA is the true inheritor of the revolutionary traditions of the Anti-Japanese armed struggle , that April 25^th is celebrated as the day of the foundation of the KPA along with February 8^th the day of the foundation of the regular revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK .

  Today the KPA commanded by respected Marshal KIM JONG UN stands guard over the socialist achievements of the Korean as well the independence and dignity of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea .Peace does indeed rest upon the bayonets of the Korean People’s Army .It is thanks to KPA’s strength that war has not broken out on the Korean peninsula and the DPRK has not suffered the fate of Yugoslavia , Iraq , Libya or other countries . Indeed the fact that the DPRK developed its own nukes and ICBMs that the DPRK is able to negotiate on equal terms with the US and not end up like Venezuela which faces regime change scenarios.

 Watching the grand military parade on the 15th of April 2017 in Pyongyang the capital of Juche Korea and also the magnificent parade on September 9^th 2018 , our delegations became even more convinced of the invincibility of the Korean People's Army , the Juche-orientated people's revolutionary armed force. Leading the parade in September were soldiers wearing the uniforms of the Anti-Japanese guerrillas which reflects the fact that today’s proud and invincible revolutionary armed forces of Juche Korea equipped with modern weaponry including a nuclear deterrent that we see today have their origins in the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army.                                 

 Believing that  “arms are the life and soul “ of the revolution and that no one would bring independence to the Korean people on a tray President KIM IL SUNG founded the Anti-Japanese People’s  Guerrilla Army  in April 1932 in Manchuria . Speaking at the foundation of the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army President KIM IL SUNG declared that   “The AJPGA is made up of the workers, peasants and young patriots who oppose the Japanese imperialists and their stooges and love their country and people; it is a revolutionary armed force which will dedicate itself to protecting the interests of the people.

The aim and mission of the people’s guerrilla army is to overthrow the colonial rule of Japanese imperialism in Korea and bring national independence and social emancipation to the Korean people”.

This shows the basic nature of the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army which became the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army in March 1934. Just as the  AGJPA was made up of workers and peasants , today’s KPA is an army of the working class fundamentally different to the armed forces in capitalist and imperialist countries.

   The AJGPA was based on the Juche  which comrade KIM IL SUNG had outlined at the Kalun meeting .Self-reliance was a key feature of the KPRA . The KPRA fought the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and the Juche Idea . They seized weapons from the Japanese aggressors or manufactured their own. Some hoped that the Soviet Union, the first socialist state, would supply them with a hand-grenade factory but this never materialised so they made their own hand-grenades the 'Yongil bomb'.

  The KPRA fought many battles against Japanese imperialism including those at Pochonbo on the 4^th of June 1937 and Musan on the 23^rd of May 1939 just to mention two of the hundreds of battles fought by the KPRA.   On the 9^th of August 1945 the KPRA under the command of comrade KIM IL SUNG commenced the final operation to liberate Korea from Japanese imperialist rule and on the 15^th of August liberated Korea.

 The KPRA became the backbone of the revolutionary armed forces of the new People’s Korea which were transformed into a standing regular armed force on the 8^th of February 1948.                                        

   Under the wise leadership of the great generalissimo’s KIM IL SUNG and Chairman KIM JONG IL the KPA grew into steel strong ranks each soldier being a match for a hundred enemy soldiers. The KPA inflicted a crushing defeat on the US imperialists in the great Fatherland Liberation War(referred to as Korean War in the West) of 1950-1953.The KPA also defeated the US in the acute showdown after the  Korean the ‘Pueblo incident’,'EC121 incident’, ‘Panmunjom incident’ of 1976 and the 1994 helicopter shoot down incident.  

  On the 6^th of February 1963 at the Mt Taedok army post Generalissimo KIM IL SUNG put forward the slogan of  “  A Match for  a Hundred “ . The KPA was an army not simply strong in terms of weaponry or numbers but in terms of ideology.  Comrade KIM IL SUNG made sure that class and revolutionary principles were adhered to  and  the revisionist and opportunist " non-class" theories were soundly smashed The leadership of the party over the armed forces was maintained and enhanced unlike some countries where socialism was frustrated. When one sees military parades of the KPA you will saw not only the national flag of the DPRK  but the  flag of the Workers  Party of Korea fluttering on the tanks and lorries of the KPA eloquently symbolising that fact the KPA is the army of the Workers Party of Korea .

  The line of self-reliance that had been born in the flames of the Anti-Japanese armed struggle was continued and enhanced . After liberation President KIM IL SUNG ensured that the DPRK established its own independent munitions industry and developed it .   The KPA under the Songun revolutionary leadership of the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL the KPA grew stronger in terms of ideology and politics but also materially. It is now equipped with the latest weaponry and has nuclear capability. The KPA  now possesses the most up to date military hardware such as its own tanks the Chonma-ho and  Pokpung-ho  tanks .                            

Under the leadership of respected Marshal KIM JONG UN the Chairman of the Workers Party of Korea and supreme commander of the KPA the ideas and traditions of the revolutionary armed forces of Juche are being carried forward and enhanced . Marshal KIM JONG UN stressed that “Leadership of the Party is the lifeline of the KPA, and its might is inconceivable separated from the leadership of the Party.  The general direction ahead of the KPA is one, that is, to advance straight forward with guns leveled in the very direction our Party indicates.”

Moreover at the recent 5th meeting of company leaders and political instructors of the KPA Marshal KIM JONG UN stressed the importance of ideological education setting for the tasks of steadily deepening the   five-point education. The five point education includes education in class consciousness and anti-imperialism .This proves that stories spread by some elements about the DPRK going soft are totally untrue.

Thanks to the leadership of great generalissimo’s KIM IL SUNG and KIM JONG IL which is today continued by dear respected Marshal KIM JONG UN has travelled the road of victory and glory . It has come a long way since Generalissimo KIM IL SUNG first raised the flag of the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla army  in Manchuria . The former US commander in south Korea , Lt Gen Jan-Marc Jouas in November 2017 admitted that in the event of a war on the Korean peninsula the KPA would defeat the US.

We are convinced that final victory belong to the KPA commanded by Dear respected Marshal KIM JONG UN!

Long live the Korean People’s Army !

Long live the Workers’ Party  of Korea !

Long live dear respected Marshal KIM JONG UN, supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army!