Speech on the 85th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People's Army made by Alexander Meads to the Meeting of the ASSPUK and JISGE 01.04.2017

The Korean People's Army is known and admired across the world. It has won many victories in its acute confrontation with the United States. The Korean people’s army has firmly defended socialism and the building of a great, prosperous and powerful nation, since the founding of the DPRK.

The Korean people’s army was founded originally as the Anti Japanese Peoples Guerrilla Army, in 1932, by the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung and it developed into the Korean People's Revolutionary Army. Kim II Sung was the founder of the Korean people’s army and was its legendary commander. Kim Il Sung advanced Juche-oriented military ideas, thereby smashing bourgeois military theories, which centre on weaponry. Kim Il Sung’s military ideas are centred on soldiers. He put forward the idea that the masses of soldiers are the most powerful beings. He stressed that soldiers are the decisive factor for victory in war, and that they can emerge victorious against any formidable enemy if they fight with confidence in their strength. By drawing on these ideas, he defeated the one-million-strong Japanese army through a 15-year-long armed struggle and achieved the historic cause of national liberation on August 15, 1945. 

The next military conflict the Korean people’s army fought in was the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War. On the 25th June 1950, in the early hours of the morning, South Korean puppet troops invaded the DPRK. Within three days of the outbreak of war, the People's Army of North Korea had driven back the South Korean invaders and liberated Seoul. The speed of the Korean people’s army’s advance is unparalleled in military history and shows that the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung was a gifted military strategist. The Korean War would drag on until the 27 July 1953, where the US was forced to sign the armistice agreement. The United States was forced to accept that it could not defeat socialist Korea, despite its threats of nuclear war and the use of biological weapons, the Korean people’s army stood steadfast in defending socialism in Korea under the wise and brilliant leadership of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung.

The next major development in the history of the Korean People’s army occurred On February 6, 1963, when Il Sung who was inspecting the frontline on Mt. Taedok set forth the militant slogan, “a-match- for-a-hundred”. The slogan of a-match-for-a-hundred requires that each soldier should be prepared to face a hundred enemies not only in defense but also in attack. The content of the slogan is not just confined to defense; it means that each soldier of the People’s Army should become a match for a hundred in attack as well as in defensive battle.

During the later years of the 1960s US imperialists had been making the situation on the Korean peninsula extremely tense. They caused this to occur by provoking the Panmunjom shooting incident in April 1967 and ordering an intrusion into the DPRK’s territorial waters by the armed spy ship USS Pueblo, in January 1968. In 1969, there were more provocative acts by the US, which included the spy plane, EC-121, entering DPRK territorial air space. This situation caused the Korean peninsula to be on the brink of war.

 Comrade Kim Jong Il, immediately ordered that Korea's revolutionary armed forces were to be strengthened and ensured that the KPA became a strong and powerful army, capable of destroying any imperialist aggressor. The Korean people’s army defeated the imperialistic war moves of the US because it is equipped with the Juche-oriented methods of warfare. These methods were created by Kim II Sung and take into account the topographical features of Korea and the requirements of modern warfare.  

At the end of the last century the Soviet Union and other socialist countries in East Europe collapsed. However, socialist Korea stood firm because it is supported by the Korean people’s army led by supreme commander Kim Jong Il. Under the Songun idea the Korean people’s army defends the Korean revolution and guides socialist construction. Even during the period of the Arduous march, when the imperialist forces were directing sanctions against the DPRK, the Korean people’s army stood firm and increased its combat efficiency.

The order and discipline of the Korean people’s army is admired the world over. The source of the Korean people’s army’s successes is its unparalleled political and ideological might. All the soldiers trust their supreme commander and are firmly rallied behind him. Kim Il Sung created a well-regulated system whereby the entire army moves as one under the supreme commander's direction and all soldiers are prepared to lay down their lives to defend socialism and the supreme commander. The Korean people’s army is at the heart of DPRK society and there is a firm unity between the army and the people. The Korean people’s army believes that its mission is to serve the people. The people support the soldiers and regard them as revolutionary comrades, who would sacrifice their lives to defend the people centred socialist system.

The DPRK’s large defence industry means that Korean people’s army is one of the best equipped armies on the planet. The Korean people’s army is fully ready for both attack and defence. It possesses the latest equipment, ammunition and has the technological means to fight a modern war in the IT era. The DPRK even has its own independent nuclear deterrent and on January 6, 2016, the DPRK announced it had successfully conducted its first H bomb test.

The KPA is also famous for its internationalism as it has always provided material support to oppressed peoples fighting a war of national liberation against imperialism. One such example is the Vietnam War. In early 1967 the DPRK sent a fighter squadron to North Vietnam to back up the North Vietnamese 921st and 923rd fighter squadrons defending Hanoi. They stayed through 1968 and 200 pilots were reported to have served. In addition, at least two anti-aircraft artillery regiments were sent as well. The DPRK also sent weapons, ammunition and two million sets of uniforms to their comrades in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. However, it is not just in Asia that the KPA has provided comradely support to friendly nations in their struggles against imperialism. In October 1973 the KPA sent 20 pilots and 19 non-combat personnel to Egypt during Yom Kippur War. This unit had four to six encounters with the Israelis and it remained in Egypt until the end of the war. In October 1980, Kim Il-sung and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe signed an agreement for an exchange of soldiers. Following this agreement, 106 North Korean soldiers arrived in Zimbabwe to train a brigade of soldiers that became known as the Fifth Brigade.

History has demonstrated that the KPA has achieved success in the operational, technological, logistical and social areas of conventional warfare. Operational success requires a commander to effectively employ the forces at his disposal. These forces must have modern technologically advanced weapons and a strong logistical capacity which can maintain forces in the operational theatre until victory is achieved. Finally, the people of the belligerent country must be committed and ready for self-denial.  

Only a Songun based revolutionary army operating within a Juche society can successfully achieve these requirements of modern conventional warfare. Only a meritocratic army like the KPA can succeed operationally because its officers are promoted on the basis of talent rather than wealth. This means that the KPA has some of the most talented officers in the world who understand how to fight and win wars against imperialism. This is the opposite of imperialist countries where senior officers are promoted on the basis of class and wealth rather than ability.

The KPA has the logistical capacity to fight modern wars because of President Kim Il Sung’s wise decision to industrialise the DPRK. This has meant that the DPRK is self sufficient in producing weapons. However, logical success has only been achieved through the social mobilisation of the masses.

This social mobilisation refers to the Korean people’s desire to work hard and produce war materials to allow the KPA to defend the DPRK. This desire to defend the DPRK comes from feeling the benefits of a socialist system. Indeed, full social mobilisation can only be fully achieved in a society based on single hearted unity, like the DPRK’s. The DPRK is the only country to fully realise the importance of the mobilising the masses as it believes that people win wars and not weapons. This is the opposite of imperialist countries where the social dimension has been ignored, which creates apathetic soldiers who don’t understand why they are fighting. In the DPRK every soldier knows that he is helping to defend the DPRK and socialism against the hated US imperialist enemy.

Finally, the KPA has shown itself to be extremely competent in producing technologically advanced weapons. This is demonstrated by the vast array of weapons the KPA possesses, including H bombs. The KPA has shown that by pursuing the correct strategy within a Juche based society any imperialist enemy can be defeated.        

The Korean people’s army is a true Juche orientated revolutionary armed force and is the army of the party, the working class and the leader. Under the wise leadership of Marshal Kim Jong Un the Korean people’s army will advance to further victories and will continue to be the central pillar of the revolution. So we Juche idea and Songun idea followers in the UK salute the great achievements of the heroic Korean People's Army under the command of marshal Kim Jong Un on the 85th anniversary of its foundation.