The Korean People’s Army originated from the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army (1932. 4.25) founded by President KIM IL SUNG  during the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle. The anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army was very narrow in every respect because Korea was placed under the colonial rule of the Japanese imperialists. And so the Japanese called the armed forces “a drop in the ocean”. The anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army was reorganized as the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army in 1934. It smashed the one million strong  Japanese army and achieved the liberation of Korea.

The Korean People’s Revolutionary Army was developed in strength into the Korean People’s Army, the regular revolutionary armed forces on February 8, 1948.

The Juche-base military idea

The main factor that developed the Korean People’s Army into the powerful armed forces as today lies in the distinguished guiding idea. In the first period of the foundation of the revolutionary armed forces President KIM IL SUNG advanced the military idea based on the Juche idea.

His military idea is an idea centred on man, the masses of soldiers unlike the previous idea centred on weapons. In other words, it is a unique military idea that the masses of soldiers are the most powerful beings and the decisive factor of victory of war and that if one believes in oneself, one can defeat any formidable enemy in fighting. With the military idea he achieved the historic cause of national liberation on August 15, 1945 and inflicted serious defeat on the US imperialists who had boasted of being the mightiest in the world for the first time in 1950s and safeguarded the dignity and sovereignty of the country.

The Korean People’s Army of Today

On December 24, 1991 President KIM IL SUNG handed the heavy responsibility of the Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army over to leader KIM JONG IL. At the end of the last century socialism collapsed in the former Soviet Union and east European countries all at once and the imperialist allied forces increased their pressure upon the DPRK.

In 1996, leader KIM JONG IL greeted the fifth anniversary of his inauguration. When global attention was focused on Korea in the complicated political situation, leader KIM JONG  IL met the commanding officers of the army and said: “In whether or not we defend socialism to the end it is a very serious problem to decide what its pillar is. I am resolved to believe in the People’s Army as the pillar of revolution and tide over the rigorous phase of revolution with it at the head.”

It is an unshakable confidence of leader KIM JONG IL that only when the People’s Army, the pillar of revolution is strong, can our socialism centered on the masses of people be safeguarded firmly. During the arduous march and forced march in Korea leader KIM JONG IL visited forefront posts to equip the soldiers with the Juche-based military idea more firmly and prepare all soldiers as those strong in ideas and confidence. The unusual affection and trust given by the Supreme Commander to his soldiers in the most difficult days of the nation accumulated burning feelings between them. It is the main factor of the political and ideological strength of the Korean People’s Army that cannot be rivaled by any other army in the world. The Korean People’s Army is overflowing with the revolutionary soldier spirit with the unqualified trust and loyalty to their Supreme Commander as its main core.

All the soldiers of Korea believe in and follow the Supreme Commander KIM JONG  IL as the father of their life and the pillar of their destiny. They are united around him rock-solid. Under the well-regulated commanding system all the officers and soldiers are moving as one to fulfill the order of the Supreme Commander. All of them are ready to sacrifice themselves without hesitation. Because the invincible armed force with such a soldier spirit reliably defends the national sovereignty, Korea is not affected by any complicated international situation. Leader KIM JONG IL said: “Stalin called artillery ‘God of war’, but I consider soldier spirit ‘God of war’. Mentally strong man can be called the strongest man in the universe that cannot be measured by anything. Dwelling upon  Leader KIM JONG  IL’s view of armed force, Marshal Dmitri Yazov, ex-defence minister of the Soviet Union said: “What makes the commanding art of the Supreme Commander KIM JONG IL attract so much attention of the world public? In a word, his viewpoint on armed force is sacred and great.”

Many military powers are proud of the history of their armed force, but no other armed force in the world has been so greatly victorious as the Korean People’s Army.

Invincible Korean People’s Army

The  Korean People’s Army ( KPA) is known across the world as invincible armed forces. For decades it has won one victory after another in its acute confrontation with the United States and its satellite forces and firmly guaranteed the defending of socialism and the building of a great, prosperous and powerful nation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Then what is the source of its invincibility?

First, the KPA is guided by outstanding ideas and equipped with original methods of warfare, oriented military ideas, ideas quite different from the conventional theories centred on weaponry. His idea are centred on man, on soldiers; in other words, they put forward the masses of soldiers as the most powerful beings, as the decisive factor for victory in war, and assert that they can emerge victors in the fight 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 (August 15,1945); in the 1950s he inflicted an ignominious defeat on the “strongest” US imperialists, the first of its kind in their history, and defended with honour the dignity and sovereignty of his country.

Supreme Commander KIM JONG IL of the KPA, who is carrying forward President KIM IL SUNG’s cause, has imbued the entire army with the Juche-oriented military ideas, and directed great efforts to the ideological work in the army, thus training all the soldiers to be strong in ideas and faith.

In the end of the last century the Soviet Union and other socialist countries in East Europe collapsed one after another, and in the present century several countries have been trampled down by the US-led imperialist allied forces. However, socialist Korea is firm as ever, because it is supported by the KPA strong in the faith in socialism. For the past several decades before and after the Korean war of the 1950s unleashed by the US, the KPA has won victory after victory in its confrontation with the US because it is equipped with the Juche-oriented methods of warfare. These methods created by KIM IL SUNG and developed by KIM JONG IL fully conform to the concrete topographical features of Korea and the requirements of the modern warfare. The brass hats of the Pentagon are nervous of finding measures with which to cope with these methods.

Second, the source of the KPA’s invincibility is in its unparalleled political and ideological might. The entire army is brimming over with the revolutionary soldier spirit, the core of which is the soldiers’ absolute trust in and loyalty to their supreme commander. All the soldiers trust their supreme commander and follow him, regarding him as their father, as the support of their destiny, and are firmly rallied behind him. A well-regulated system whereby the entire army moves as one under the supreme commander’s order has been established, and all the officers and men are prepared to dedicate even their lives if it is for their supreme commander. The soldiers, who had been drifted to south Korea by shipwreck, said in front their enemy that they would return to General KIM JONG IL’s embrace without fail, and that if they failed to do so in their lifetime, they would return even after death, making the enemy tremble with fear. This single episode will be sufficient to show the whole world the mental strength overflowing  in the KPA.

Third, the source is in the unity between the army and the people. Unity between the army and the people is a long-standing historical tradition and a fine trait in socialist Korea. True to its name, the KPA regards it as its mission to serve the people. The people regard the soldiers as their kith and kin and support them; the soldiers in turn regard the people not only as their parents and siblings but as their comrade-in-arms, as revolutionary comrades, who would share life and death with them in the same trench, and unhesitatingly sacrifice their lives to defend the latter’s lives and property. Unity of all the people and soldiers based on one mind and will on the road of following Supreme Commander  KIM JONG IL’s Songun-based leadership-this is a feature of society of the DPRK. The fact that all the people rushed into a state of combat readiness during the days of recent nuclear confrontation between the DPRK and the US, and that the soldiers have now taken charge of the major fronts in the building of a thriving country, like the building of the Huichon Power Station, under the slogan “Let us take charge of both national defense and socialist construction!” provide a glimpse of the unity between the army and the people in the country.

Fourth, the source of the KPA’s invincibility is in its inexhaustible military and technological might. The military might of the DPRK is based on its powerful defence industry. Even in the worst circumstances of the closing years of the last century, when the allied imperialist forces and were directing the spearhead of their attack at the country, the ruling party and the government of the DPRK continued to channel a great effort to the development of the defense industry as a top priority. We can live without candy, but not without munitions-this was the will of the Korean people in those days; an atmosphere of attaching importance to military affairs prevailed across society, and nationwide efforts were directed to the strengthening of the combat efficiency of the KPA. The KPA is now fully ready for both attack and defense and possessed of powerful military and technological means with which it can positively cope with the modern warfare of the IT era. It is even possessed of a reliable nuclear deterrent against the reckless threat of nuclear preemptive strike of the US. The KPA commanded by KIM JONG IL will continue to demonstrate its dignity as invincible armed forces.