The origins of the revolutionary armed forces of People's Korea- special article by Dr Dermot Hudson

It is said that from a small acorn, a mighty oak grows. This is certainly true of the invincible Korean People’s Army(KPA) commanded by respected Marshal KIM JONG UN which is today equipped with the latest weapons, including ICBMs. and technology. The origins of the KPA go back further than its foundation as a regular armed force in February 1948. In fact, the KPA origins go back to the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army which was founded as the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army on the 25th of April 1932 by the great leader President KIM IL SUNG.

President KIM IL SUNG, a man of action, decided that Korea could not be liberated by words alone, the road of non-violence was a dead end in Korea (and indeed elsewhere) so believing that “Weapons are our life and soul! Oppose armed force with armed force! He embarked on the road of armed struggle. At the historic Kalun meeting in June 1930 President KIM IL SUNG put forward the line of armed struggle for the Korean revolution, the Juche-oriented road in his famous speech “The Path of the Korean Revolution “. In  July 1930 the Korean Revolutionary Army was founded.

 

 On the 25th of April 1932 in Antu, Manchuria  President KIM IL SUNG formed the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army(AJPGA ) , a revolutionary armed force composed of workers, peasants and revolutionary youth. In March 1934 became the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army (KPRA). The KPRA was guided by the Juche Idea.

In its early days, the KPRA almost had to fight the Japanese imperialists with bare hands. The KPRA seized weapons from the Japanese imperialists or manufactured their own . Some fighters of the KPRA entertained the hope that the Soviet Union, the first workers and peasants state, would build a hand-grenade factory for them but this did not materialise so President KIM IL SUNG put the Juche idea and self-reliance into practice, creating the Yongil bomb made with locally available resources. The Yongil bomb struck terror into the Japanese imperialists.

The KPRA fought many battles against the million-strong Kwantung Army of Japanese imperialism and the puppet Manchurian troops of Japanese imperialism. The KPRA was vastly outnumbered by the Japanese imperialists. The Japanese imperialist armed forces not only outnumbered the KPRA but were armed to the teeth. They had the latest weaponry including tanks and planes. However thanks to the Juche-based guerilla tactics of President KIM IL SUNG and his brilliant commandership the KPRA defeated the Japanese imperialists in battles such as Pochonbo and Musan,to name just a few,

Thanks to the self-sacrificing struggle of the guerillas of the KPRA under the command of the great leader President KIM IL SUNG, an ever-victorious iron-willed brilliant commander and a gifted military strategist, Korea was liberated from the barbarous Japanese imperialists on the 15th of August 1945. In February 1948 the KPRA was transformed into a regular armed force, the Korean People’s Army.

The KPA which inherited the revolutionary traditions of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army defeated US imperialism in the great Fatherland Liberation War (known as the Korean War in the West)which lasted from 1950 to 1953 . In the subsequent confrontation between the DPRK and US after the war , the KPA commanded by President KIM IL SUNG and later Chairman KIM JONG IL , was victorious. It inflicted notable defeats on the US in the ‘ Pueblo incident ‘ of 1968 , the EC121 incident of 1969 and the Panmunjom Incident of 1976.

In recent years the US imperialists and south Korean fascist puppets have run wild to stifle Korean-style socialism carrying massive military provocations but the KPA commanded by respected Marshal KIM JONG UN who is identical to President KIM IL SUNG and Chairman KIM JONG IL has firmly safeguarded the independence of the DPRK and its destiny, not allowing the US imperialists to encroach one millimetre on the sacred territory of the DPRK. It is the only army in the world that the US imperialists are afraid of.

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Thanks to the leadership of President KIM IL SUNG, Chairman KIM JONG IL and Marshal KIM JONG UN, the revolutionary armed forces of People’s Korea have come a very long way from their beginnings on the 25th of April 1932.

Dr Dermot Hudson

Chairman Korean Friendship Association UK 

Chairman of British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea.

President Association for the Study of Songun Politics UK.

Chairman British Solidarity Committee for Peace and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula.

Hon Secretary General International Central Committee for Songun Study