American Edition $3.

95
Volume |

A Political Biography

Premier of the
Democratic
People’s
Republic
of Korea

by
BAIK
BONG
a
Guardian
book
 Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2023 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation

https://archive.org/details/kimilsungbiograp0000baik
KIM IL SUNG
BIOGRAPHY (D

From Birth to Triumphant Return to Homeland

BAIK BONG

a Guardian book
NEW YORK, 1970
Copyright © 1969 by the Committee for Translation
of “KIM IL SUNG: Biography”

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Catalog Number

for the American Edition:
75-130803.
tremier Kim I] Sung, the great Leader of the 40 million Korean peopl
 PREFACE

The Korean people, who had undergone agonizing sufferings

both in and out of the country over many years, had long eagerly
looked forward to an outstanding leader who would deliver their
unfortunate fatherland and people. When the fatherland was
reduced to a colony of Japanese imperialism and when the
destiny of the people was exposed to the most serious threat;
at this time in particular, this was the most urgent national
desire of the Korean people.
It was no other than General Kim Il Sung, the great Leader
of the 40 million Korean people, peerless patriot, national hero,
ever-victorious, iron-willed brilliant commander and one of the
outstanding leaders of the international communist movement
and working-class movement, that in the dark days of national
suffering when even the midday sun:and the full moon had
lost their luster, arose, with the destiny of the entire nation on
his shoulders.
The appearance of General Kim Il Sung, the General who
raised aloft the beacon fire of fatherland restoration on the
sacred ancestral Mt. Baikdoo and brought the dawn of liberation
to the 3,000-77z land of our fathers, was the happiest moment of
the Korean people.
Born into a poor peasant family, the General made up his
mind to devote himself to the cause of the fatherland and people
at the early age of 14, and after embarking on the road of
struggle, raised high the banner of heroic anti-Japanese armed
struggle at the age of 20, leading the people to rise in struggle
for national salvation. Since then, the Korean people have been
calling him General Kim Il Sung with boundless emotion, and
looked up to him as the saviour of the fatherland and the Leader
of the nation.
Indeed, all people of this generation, young and old, draw-
ing courage and strength, fostered hope and rose in the struggle
against the aggressors through dark days, calling on the name
of General Kim Il Sung. Thus, since the 1930’s, the Korean
people have found in General Kim Il Sung their great Leader
and have had their historic aspiration to have the Leader
fulfilled by him.
The people of our country have unrestricted love and respect
for the General, praising him as a legendary hero, born of the
spirit of the sacred Mt. Baikdoo, who is capable of commanding
heavens and earth, an unrivalled brilliant commander who, as
it were, can shrink a long range of steep mountains at a stroke
and smash the swarming hordes of enemies with one blow, and
as the outstanding Leader of the nation who has led the nation
to the struggle for national salvation. The great feats of General
Kim Il Sung, who crossed and recrossed the steep mountains
and alps of Baikdoo for over 15 years, smashing the Japanese
imperialist aggressors and terrifying them, until finally he saved
the fatherland, shine brightly in the history of our nation.
The history of General Kim Il Sung’s revolutionary activities
over 40 years from the days when he took his first step in the
struggle until this day, is a history of his ardent love for and
devoted service to the Korean people, a history of bloody
struggle with the enemies of the nation. It is also a history of
severe and stern revolution and new creation and a history of
shining victories.
The history of our people covers 5,000 years, but it has had
no leader equalling General Kim Il Sung either in scientific
revolutionary theory or in distinguished leadership, no leader
with loftier virtues than those of General Kim I] Sung. Nor can
we find in the annals of our past a leader who saved the people
in a life-and-death crisis as the General did, who marched
steadily untrodden paths with a burning revolutionary sweep,
as the General did, a leader who led the fatherland and the
people to the one road of prosperity and victory with conviction
as the General did.
Therefore, all the Korean people look up with great pride
to General Kim I] Sung as the sun of the nation and as the great
Leader of the people, and the peoples of the world deeply respect
Premier Kim Il Sung as one of the outstanding leaders of the
world revolutionary movement because of his great contribution
to the international communist and working-class movements.
It is because we Korean people have such a great Leader
that our compatriots in South Korea, who are undergoing all
sorts of terrible sufferings under the colonial rule of the U.S. im-
perialists, are enduring hardships and struggling courageously,
thinking of the days when they will be able to live happily
in a unified fatherland.
I decided to write a biography of Premier Kim Il Sung, the
respected and beloved Leader of the 40 million Korean people,
for all Korean people who are fighting devotedly for the inde-
pendent unification of our fatherland, single-heartedly following
the teachings of the General.
The present book is Volume | of the biography, in which
important events such as the boyhood days, the early revolu-
tionary activities of Premier Kim Il Sung, his great anti-
Japanese armed struggle, including his serious political struggles,
fierce and many-sided, are described.
It was indeed a very difficult and painstaking work to com-
press these complex and rich contents into a book. I have tried
as far as I could to collect literature and other materials, but
since the activities of the General have been broad and compre-
hensive, it was a matter of impossibility for me because of
insufficient study to exhaust all his activities. More than once
I was overwhelmed by the richness of his activities, and at a
loss as to what to include in this book. In describing dramatic
scenes, I felt often deeply inability to do them justice. But in
spite of these defects, I decided to get this book published,
thinking of the large number of people eagerly looking forward
to a biography of the General. I intend to continue my studies
to improve on this work.
Volumes [| and [J of the biography of Premier
Kim Il Sung will cover a period from the August 15 Liberation
to the present day.
On the occasion of the publication of this book, I wish
sincerely Premier Kim Il Sung, the respected and beloved
Leader of the 40 million Korean people, a long life and good
health for the unification and prosperity of the fatherland and
for the future and happiness of the people.

January 1968 Baik Bong

 CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1
FAMILY AND BOYHOOD {a

1. A Birthplace—Mangyungdai 11
2. Parents of the General 19
3. A Bright Boyhood 36
4. Until I See You Again, My Fatherland! 54

CHAPTER 2
LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES
THE ROAD TO NATIONAL SALVATION 63
Road to Socialism 63
Standard-Bearer of Youth and Student Movement 77
Blow to Hamperers of Cohesion 92
Behind Iron Bars 100
eSScene of Activities Moved to Villages
ATA 105

CHAPTER 3
UPHOLDING THE BANNER OF
ANTI-JAPANESE ARMED STRUGGLE £22
1. The Great Call to Arms 122
2. Birth of Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army 131
3. First Ordeal 139
4. Bold Negotiations 154
CHAPTER 4
CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—
LIBERATED AREAS 166
1. The General Plans Guerrilla Bases 166
Creation of a New Society 173
The General and Members of the Children’s Corps 184
Battle in Defence of Hsiaowangching Guerrilla Base 192
TS
ea
ts
a
OT Power of Cohesion 202

CHAPTER 5
SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION 215
l. Saving the Revolution from Crisis in Person 215
2. Collapse of the Puppet Manchoukuo Army 222
3: Ambitious Plan for a Long March 243

CHAPTER 6
BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA 260
Historic Meeting 260
The Association for the Restoration of the Father-
land and Its 10-Point Programme 271
Battle of Attack on Fusung County Seat 282
Guerrilla Bases Around Mt. Baikdoo 295
The Banner of Fatherland Restoration Unfurled 306
G
fe
om Among the People 321

CHAPTER 7
FOR FOUNDING A MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY BSS
CHAPTER 8
KOREA IS ALIVE 351

1. Beacon Fire at Bochunbo 35i

2. The September Appeal aie

CHAPTER 9
OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS 380
1. A Severe Winter 380
2. In Dense Forests Besieged by Large Enemy Forces 394
3. The Arduous March 404
4. Battle in the Moosan Area 425

CHAPTER 10
LARGE-TROOP CIRCLING OPERATIONS THAT
‘TERRIFIED JAPANESE IMPERIALISM 439
1. Threading Through Areas Northeast of Mt. Baikdoo 439
2. Diversified Tactics 453

CHAPTER 11
FOR FINAL VICTORY 465
l. Policy of Greeting the Great Revolutionary Event 465
2. Small-Unit Activities 472
3. Warm Love, Boundless Trust 485
4. 30 Million Follow the General 500

CHAPTER 12
THE GENERAL’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO THE
FATHERLAND 510
 l. Final Decisive Battle, Liberation of Korea 510
2. The General Enveloped in the Cheers of the Entire
Nation 516

CHAPTER 13
THE SUN OF THE NATION 529
l. Great Struggle, Brilliant Revolutionary Traditions 529
2. The Great Leader of the 40 Million Korean People 538

APPENDIXES
x Chronological Table of General Kim Il Sung’s Major
Activities (April, 1912-August, 1945) 558

x Notes 565
 General Kim Il Sung in childhood
(See Section 3, Chapter 1)

Until I see you again; my fatherland! (See Section 4. Ghanter dD

 CHAPTER 1

FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

1. Birthplace—Mangyungdai

THE RISE of the meandering Daidong River is in the deep

ravines of the steep Rangrim Ranges, whence it moves slowly
to the West Sea. On the northern bank, 12 kilometres down-
stream from Pyongyang, lies Mangyungdai, famed for its beau-
tiful scenery from olden times, commanding an exquisite, un-
broken view.
A peak overgrown with old pines which cast their shadows
on the blue waters of the river, carries a chaste pavilion with its
curved roof spread like the wings of a crane, and here one can

Mangyungbong (All-Seeing Peak)

11
 KIM IL SUNG

enjoy the panoramic view of the neat village set in a park of

green.
Beyond, the tiny steamers can be seen sailing to and from
the West Sea, and the Dooroo and Kono islands stand up, clad
in deep green. Extending to the south is the spacious Joonghwa
Plain, and to the north, picturesque mountains rise and fall,
wrapped in gauzy mist.
Our forefathers named this peak Mangyungbong (All-
Seeing Peak) because of the bird’s-eye view it gave of the exqui-
site landscape. They built the Mangyung Pavilion on top of the
hill to enjoy the scenery, and named their village Mangyungdai
(All-Seeing Heights).
Indeed, Mangyungdai is known for its scenic beauty from
olden times along with the eight best scenic spots around Pyong-
yang, and it is said that the village attracted many travellers all
the year round. It is located at Mangyungdai-77, Mangyungdai
District, Pyongyang City, formerly known as Nam-ri, Ko-
pyung-myun, Daidong county, South Pyungan Province.
This is the birthplace of General Kim II Sung, the respected
and beloved Leader of the 40 million Korean people, and the
historic place where he spent his boyhood.
General Kim Il Sung was born into a poor family at Man-
gyungdai on April 15, 1912 as the eldest son of Mr. Kim Hyung
Jik, an anti-Japanese fighter and Mrs. Kang Ban Suk.!
Korea was then going through a tragic age of national suf-
fering.
The Japanese imperialist aggressors, who long had held our
land in chains of aggression, at last deprived our country of all
sovereign rights on August 29, 1910, and our great land with its
long history was completely trampled underfoot by the enemy.
Throughout the 3,000 77 of all Korea the wails of the people
could be heard bemoaning their tragic fate of statelessness.
The “Residence-General” was taken over by the “Govern-

12
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

ment-General” and the Korean people were placed under

“military rule” at the point of the bayonet of the aggressors.
“Governor-General of Korea” Masatake Terauchi went so far
as to declare that “the Koreans shall submit to Japanese law,
or face death.” The Japanese imperialists arrested our patriots
at random, threw them into gaol and brutally executed them.
Even the officially watered-down statistics given out showed that
in 1912 alone the arrests made by the Japanese gendarmerie and
police totalled more than 52,000. Many patriots were shot to
death by Japanese troops or slaughtered at the hands of the
gendarmerie and police, and the blood of our patriots was
poured out all over the country.
The occupationists carried out a notorious “Land Survey
Project” to increase their imperialist pillage by every possible
means while keeping Korea as a backward agricultural nation.
But the Korean people were by no means non-resistant, sub-
mitting to the ruin of the country as by fate. Korea’s Anti-Japa-
nese Righteous Volunteers’ Army fought many battles, big and
small, against the Japanese imperialist aggressor troops. Cou-
rageous people also resisted and fought resolutely in many forms
of anti-Japanese struggle, against the aggressors.
When the lamentations and anger of the 20 million Koreans
deprived of their fatherland were spreading like a forest fire all
over the country, General Kim Il Sung was born as a poor
farmer’s son at Mangyungdai, with a historic mission to expel
the aggressors from Korea and to deliver the country from its
distress, without fail.
The General, named Sung Joo, was the 12th generation
descendant of Mr. Kim Kye Sang who moved to the north from
Junjoo, North Cholla Province.
During the War of Imjin® the Mr. Kim Kye Sang family
left Junjoo and settled at Wolnai-vz, Namgot-myun, Daidong
county near Pyongyang. Patriotic education was the family
13
 KIM IL SUNG

tradition, and the home into which he was born was known for
“its deep respect for justice and fidelity and its pride in honest
poverty.”
During the life of Mr. Kim Eung Woo, great-grandfather of
the General, the family had moved to present Mangyungdai be-
cause of the hard living. Mr. Kim Eung Woo acquired a cottage
as grave keeper for Li Pyung Taik, a landlord, and eked out a
meagre living as a tenant farmer. When the U.S. pirate ship
“General Sherman” invaded Korea along the Daidong River in
August 1866, burning with patriotism, he fought fearlessly in the
van of the masses and led them in the task of stretching ropes
across the river to block the advance of the pirate ship.
But the family was so poor they could barely earn a living.
Mr. Kim Hyung Rok, the General’s uncle, describes the
living conditions of the family as follows:
“As for the life of our family, we lived on gruel from farming.
When I was still a child, my grandmother had to worry about
the gruel every time there was a guest. I can’t forget that. Once,
when we had a guest, I said to my grandmother in the kitchen,
‘We have company again. We don’t have enough gruel, do we?”
Then she said, “Yes, we have company. We will have to add
more water to the pot to thin out the gruel.’ I remember these
words as if they had been said only yesterday. I could not even
go to school. I had learned only some of ‘Chunjamoon’ (col-
lection of 1,000 basic Chinese characters) by the time I was
nine. I just worked and worked on the farm at Mangyung-
dai:
Life was hard indeed, but the family was blessed with chil-
dren and grandchildren. After moving to Mangyungdai, Mr.
Kim Eung Woo’s eldest son, Kim Bo Hyun was born, who in
turn had three children—Hyung Jik, Hyung Rok and Hyung
Kwon. And the first child born to Kim Hyung Jik, the eldest
grandson of Mr. Kim Eung Woo, was the General (Sung Joo).
14
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

His two brothers were Chul Joo and Yung Joo.

Mr. Kim Bo Hyun, grandfather of the General, devoted him-
self throughout his life to assisting his sons and grandsons in
their independence movement and revolutionary activities. He
and his wife, Mrs. Li Bo Ik, had to bear the heavy oppression
of the Japanese imperialists simply because they encouraged
their sons(Hyung Jik and Hyung Kwon)and grandsons (General
Kim Il Sung, Chul Joo, Yung Joo) to fight for their fatherland.
But when persecuted by the enemy, the couple felt infinite pride
in their sons and grandsons devoting themselves to the great
cause. They found life worth living in spite of their many years
of hard living and persecution because of their children and
grandchildren, and they died with the satisfaction of having
nobly resisted the Japanese imperialists to the last.
Mr. Kim Hyung Jik, father of the General, was an ardent

The house where General Kim Il Sung was born

HD
 KIM IL SUNG

patriot who devoted his life to the restoration of his fatherland,

a vanguard fighter and revolutionary who organized powerful
underground groups to fight the enemy. He was also a progres-
sive educator who imbued many a young man with patriotic
thoughts and brought them up as courageous fighters.
Mrs. Kang Ban Suk, mother of the General, was a woman
of strong will who spent her life in the anti-Japanese struggle.
As the faithful wife of a revolutionary, she not only tenaciously
promoted anti-Japanese enlightenment among the women but
reared her three sons, and above all, her eldest son General
Kim Il Sung, as revolutionaries, educating them to accomplish
the sacred cause of national salvation. She was not only an
outstanding mother to them but a mother of Korea in the true
sense of the word, caring for many fighters with the same af-
fection as for her own sons.
Mr. Kim Hyung Kwon, uncle of the General, was also an
ardent revolutionary. He took up arms against the Japanese
imperialists, but was arrested by the Japanese authorities and
sentenced to 15 years and six months of penal servitude. Bru-
tally tortured by the Japanese gaolers in Sudaimoon Prison in
Seoul, he died.
The next younger of the General’s brothers, Comrade Kim
Chul Joo, was also a devoted anti-Japanese fighter, but was ar-
rested by the Japanese aggressors in Manchuria in 1935 and
murdered at the youthful age of 20.
As we see, the whole family of General Kim II Sung, were
passionate anti-Japanese patriotic fighters. Such a revolutionary
family record would be hard to find anywhere in the world,
with all devoting their lives to the sacred struggle for the resto-
ration of their fatherland, generation after generation.
General Kim Il Sung, born into a family of such noble and
patriotic lineage, spent his boyhood, full of dreams, at his native
place, Mangyungdai. The General grew up under the patriotic
16
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

influence of his father. Every object of nature—even a rock, a

tree—was objects of learning and places for joyful play. Indeed,
Mangyungdai was, to the General, the symbol of his fatherland.
It was for this reason that the General often spoke about Man-
gyungdai in his talks with the guerrillas during the days of the
anti-Japanese armed struggle later in his life, and that he told
them about the bright future of his fatherland which he believed
would be liberated some day.
While the General was longing for his native place, Man-
gyungdai, engaged in the armed struggle to crush Japanese im-
perialism and filled with unlimited love of his homeland, his un-
cle, Mr. Kim Hyung Rok, was taking care of the General’s
grandparents at the home at Mangyungdai.
The grandparents lived in dark, harsh times, and facing the
constant danger of persecution by the Japanese authorities, they
dreamed under a lantern at night that the bloodstained desire
of sons and a daughter-in-law who had died young, fighting for
their fatherland, would be realized, and that the fiery wishes of
their grandson who was defeating the enemy, tramping through
Mt. Baikdoo, would be surely fulfilled.
So the low-roofed, straw-thatched house at Mangyungdai,
even when tilted under a long spell of severe wind and snow,
was supported by eternal hope, and has stood firmly to this day.
It is now preserved in its original state at the foot of Man-
gyungbong. The straw-covered eaves hang low. An old barn
stands in the yard. All the furniture are relics of the hard,
unrewarded labour in times of trial and of a life of oppression. A
small amount of tableware, old-fashioned chests of drawers,
a brazier, a fulling block, a spade, jige(““A” frame for carrying
loads), a sickle, a fodder cutter, a loom, a spinning wheel, a
hoe, a misshapen water jar that the General’s great grand-
mother had purchased, a rough-sawn low desk and an inkstone
placed on it—these are all that belonged to this house through-
LY
 KIM IL SUNG

out three generations.

These pieces of poor family property tell a most eloquent
and impressive story of those difficult years which nurtured the
lofty patriotic ambition of General Kim Il Sung. Deep in his
heart lay the agony of people in the depths of poverty. That is
why he really loved his fellow countrymen more than anybody
else did, by staging a great revolutionary struggle. Therefore
people from many parts of the world as well as the Korean
people, today visit this house one after another and are overcome
with a thousand emotions as they look round the house of his
birth.
To us Korean people, this simple peasant thatch-roofed
house at Mangyungdai is more valuable than any magnificent
palace, with its nobility and beauty. Indeed, Mangyungdai is
the spiritual birthplace of the 40 million Korean people.

18
 2. Parents of the General

MR. KIM HYUNG JIK, father of the General, was born

at Mangyungdai on July 10, 1894—the year of the Kabo Peas-
ant War.' Having experienced in his short life many tragic e-
vents under the harsh colonial rule of the oppressors of his fa-
therland, Mr. Kim Hyung Jik became one of the vanguard
fighters who enlightened and educated the people in patriotic
thought and roused them to the struggle against the Japanese
aggressors.
This bright boy would find and study books on Oriental
medicine among the volumes collected by his great grandfather,
in the course of studying Chinese writing. A broad-minded,
openhearted man with the gift of eloquence, Mr. Kim Hyung
Jik was loved by all.
Mr. Kim Hyung Jik held the strong belief that “learning is
an essential prerequisite for retaking the fatherland from the ag-
gressors.”’ Burning with an unsatiable appetite for learning even
in abject poverty, the General’s father, at the age of 18, entered
the Pyongyang Soongsil Middle School to study under whatever
difficulty as soon as he left the Soonhwa School in his home-
town.
To build up patriotic fervour, he read the lives of renowned
patriotic generals, such as General Eulji Moon Duk? and Admi-
ral Li Soon Sin.* He devoured history books and patriotic liter-
19
 KIM IL SUNG

ature, and especially pored

over all available newspapers
and magazines to keep abreast
of world trends. Books con-
taining anti-Japanese patriotic
thought had to be kept secretly
lest they be confiscated by the
Japanese authorities. So late
at night, when everybody was
asleep, he read such books
avidly under a flickering lan-
tern.
Mr. Kim Hyung Jik was
—
educated to patriotism by his
® father from boyhood, and his
fighting spirit burned against
Mr. Kim Hyung Jik
the Japanese imperialist ag-
gressors with ardent love of country as he closely watched e-
vents in the world‘around him, and formed his own ideas.
This was immediately after the country had been occupied
by the Japanese aggressors, so the cries of the ruined people la-
menting the ill fate of their fatherland could be heard across the
country, and the anti-Japanese struggle was being waged in
many forms in all parts at home and abroad.
In the mountain regions, notably the provinces of Kangwon,
Hamgyung and Pyungan, fierce anti-Japanese righteous volun-
teer struggles, with patriotic peasants forming the main forces,
were going on. Some of the righteous volunteer units which
had moved to Manchuria were engaged in vigorous activities
near the borders of Manchuria and Korea.
Intellectuals who had taken over the earlier patriotic cultural
enlightenment movement, continued the secret anti-Japanese
movement within many private schools and organizations, car-
20
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

rying on their writing activities to keep the spirit of patriotism

alive in the hearts of Koreans at home and abroad.
It was around this time that organizations were set up a-
broad and were engaged in activities to achieve Korea’s inde-
pendence, but such overseas anti-Japanese groups had essen-
tial weak points in their activities.
Advocates of the independence movement abroad were not
only far removed from the masses at home, but their movement
itself was not deeply entrenched even among overseas fellow
countrymen. Most of them came from various strata—high of-
ficials in the Government of Korea before it was annexed by
Japan, or ryangban (aristocrats during the feudalistic age),
or intellectuals born of petty-bourgeois families. Their political
views differed widely, some advocating the establishment of a
bourgeois republic, others calling for the restoration of the form-
er dynasty. Moreover, they were plagued by narrow-minded
parochialism and factionalism, which pitted them against one
another in a shameful conflict of interests, undermining mutual
cooperation.
Nonetheless, despite this fact, the anti-Japanese force of the
Korean people gained momentum day by day.
The deep distress that pervaded the country and the mount-
ing anti-Japanese mettle of the people had a strong effect on
Mr. Kim Hyung Jik, who had decided earlier in his life to de-
vote himself to an independence movement. He had deep sym-
pathy for patriotic fighters and his blood boiled with indignation
at the aggressors. Even while a middle-school student, he was
always seeking a chance to fight them, so he formed ties with
anti-Japanese fighter Mr. Kang Jin Suk, his brother-in-law, and
many other patriotic comrades who were fighting with arms in
hand both at home and abroad. Mr. Kim Hyung Jik thus threw
himself into the independence movement.
He left the Soongsil Middle School at the halfway mark,
21
 KIM IL SUNG

and took up teaching at the Soonhwa School, while working

for the independence movement. In the early spring of 1916,
at the age of 23, he moved to Naidong hamlet, Dongsam-7z,
Koeup-myun, Kangdong county, South Pyungan Province
(now Bonghwa-ri, Kangdong county) and carried on his
teaching at the Myungsin School there, at the same time step-
ping up his revolutionary activities.
He had extricated himself from the narrow confines of an
individual or regional struggle, and cut a figure as an organi-
zational leader in the Korean independence movement covering
a greater area of the country.
Mr. Kim Hyung Jik chose to live in Dongsam-7: because
there he could easily maintain contact with Kangdong, Sung-
chun, Soonchun and Daidong counties, where powerful anti-
Japanese independence movements were being carried on. Al-
though close to Pyongyang, it was situated deep in the moun-
tains, providing very favourable geographical conditions for
conducting clandestine activities and eluding the vigilance of
the Japanese imperialists.
By day he taught school, inculcating anti-Japanese feeling
in the hearts of his pupils while feeding their patriotism and
national pride. By night he gave lessons to youths in farming
villages, teaching them the Korean language, history and geog-
raphy, with emphasis on political education and cultural en-
lightenment. During meetings with students he also recounted
the stories of famous patriotic generals, taught them revolution-
ary songs, and took the initiative in holding athletic meetings
and variety shows. As a result, youths in this area were rapidly
educated in anti-Japanese patriotic ideas.
Despite the claims of a busy life, Mr. Kim Hyung Jik met
in secret with many leaders of the independence movement at
home and abroad. His secret meetings with them took place
sometimes in the mountains, sometimes at home. He discussed
22
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

action plans with them or gave them new fighting tasks.

These clandestine activities later opened the way for the
formation of an anti-Japanese underground organization.
On March 23, 1917, in cooperation with his comrades, Mr.
Kim Hyung Jik established the “Korean National Association,”
an anti-Japanese underground organization, composed chiefly
of members of the independence movement at home and abroad,
and those who had been students at the Soongsil Middle School.
The purpose of this organization was to strengthen the co-
hesion of comrades and prepare for the time when the Koreans
would be called upon to seize independence on their own by
taking advantage of the anticipated Japanese struggle with the
Western powers for supremacy in the Orient. The Association
spread its influence as far as the Chientao district of China and
the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. It also conducted
energetic activities—procuring arms and funds, and training
military cadres among its members.
Its liaison personnel were sent to faraway Antung in China,
and its correspondents were stationed in Peking.
The “Korean National Association” was not only more
powerful than any of the national movement organizations
abroad engaged in factional strife with vague ideals at that
time, but also essentially different from organizations dependent
on foreign forces.
First, the Association had the right objective and the correct
method of struggle for attaining it. It had correctly formulated
the tasks for an anti-imperialist national liberation struggle well
before the scientific thoughts of Marxism-Leninism were dis-
seminated in our country, and had made it clear that the inde-
pendence of Korea should be attained, not by relying on foreign
forces but on its own internal forces, and specifically, by properly
combining political and military activities instead of through
petitions or reformation.
23
 KIM IL SUNG

The “Korean National Association” was a secret anti-

Japanese association with a broad network of members and with
popular support at home and abroad, and indeed the largest
anti-Japanese movement organization in the days before the
March 1 Movement.
Its organizational methods were very skilful and meticulous.
In order to maintain strict secrecy, all communication between
the organizations and comrades was in code so that freedom
of action could be preserved under the barbaric military rule of
the Japanese aggressors. The organization’s members were
selected carefully from among patriotic people who were de-
termined to maintain cohesion of the comrades and were willing
to sacrifice their lives for the restoration of their fatherland.
In the meantime, Mr. Kim Hyung Jik formed the “Bisuk-
kye” (Stone Monument Association) and the “Hakkyo-kye”
(School Association), legal entities that rallied the masses a-
round them. These legal organizations, formed ostensibly to
promote mutual economic aid and friendship, were actually
aimed at expanding membership for the “ Korean National As-
sociation” and supporting the independence movement by in-
stilling anti-Japanese, patriotic thoughts.in the peasants.
Mr. Kim Hyung Jik thus worked day and night, devoting
himself to building up the organization, indeed a tireless man.
His motto was carried in two characters, Jiwon or “far-
reaching purpose’—implying the great goal of the restoration
of the fatherland. The framed motto was hung on the wall of
his home and school to serve to train himself and his stu-
dents, physically and spiritually.
But in the autumn of 1917, the “Korean National Association”
was betrayed to Japanese imperialism by a spy, and Mr. Kim
Hyung Jik and members of the Association and more than 100
people connected with it were arrested throughout the country,
one of the biggest events on the eve of the March 1 Movement.
24
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

Mr. Kim Hyung Jik, now in Pyongyang Prison, staunchly

resisted the enemy, never succumbing to brutal torture, appease-
ment or deception of the Japanese imperialists.
The enemy tortured him brutally almost every day, but they
could neither break his strong will for a revolution nor extract
a single secret from him.
He was brought to trial three times. Each time Mr. Kim
Hyung Jik protested: “I cannot serve the sentence of penal ser-
vitude pronounced by you. Your sentence is unjust. How can
it constitute an offence that a Korean loves and works for his
country ? I cannot accept your unjust decision.” At the first trial,
he was sentenced to two years in prison. This he challenged,
of course,and again a one-year-and-six-month term was hand-
ed down in the second trial. In the third round, however, the
bloodthirsty aggressors forced a nine-month sentence on him.
Gaoled, Mr. Kim Hyung Jik studied medicine while making
plans for a new struggle that would follow his release from
prison. He thought of building a hospital which would provide
a convenient place to maintain contact with his comrades and
revolutionary organizations, a place where he could fight law-
fully even under the severe surveillance of the Japanese imperi-
alists.
In the autumn of 1918, he was discharged from prison, his
weary body full of scars and bruises, having endured the first
severe ordeal. After a brief period of recuperation at home, he
regained his health somewhat. At the end of the same year,
realizing he could hardly continue his revolutionary activities in
his home village where he was under close and constant sur-
veillance by the enemy, he moved to a border area along the
Amrok River to realize his desire for the restoration of his
fatherland. Before leaving his native place, he composed a
poem of his unyielding fighting spirit and his firm confidence
in ultimate victory.
25
 KIM IL SUNG

Comrade, do you know

The green pine-tree on the Namsan Hill
After suffering all sorts of
Hardships under snow and frost
Will return to life
When spring comes around
Again with its warm sunshine?

His family, still concerned over his health, urged him to stay
a little longer to recover from illness, but he left home with these
words: “If our fatherland cannot regain independence, life is not
worth living. I must fight the Japanese aggressors and win,
even if my flesh is torn to shreds and ground to powder. If I do
not succeed in the struggle, my sons will continue the cause,
and if my sons leave it unfinished, my grandsons will fight and
surely carry on, because we must win the independence of
Korea.”
At first, Mr. Kim Hyung Jik carried on the struggle at
Joonggangjin, but later he returned to his native place and,
together with his wife, his eldest son (the General) who was
still an infant, and the second son Chul Joo, he moved, via
Joonggangjin, across the Amrok River to Tunghua Province in
South Manchuria, where the family made their home at Lin-
chiang, then moved on to Pataokou, Changpai county, and to
Fusung.
By this means he was able to keep free somewhat from the
persistent surveillance and blackmail of the Japanese authorities.
Many fellow countrymen lived in these areas, situated near the
Korean-Manchurian border. It was a convenient place from
which to maintain contact with his comrades in the homeland.
The Independence Army as well as many patriotic fighters were
also engaged in the movements there. It was after considering
26
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

all these advantages that Mr. Kim Hyung Jik selected these
border areas as the centre for his struggle.
On the surface, however, he practised medicine, taking care
of patients in these districts, but, at the same time, he established
contact with various bodies connected with the independence
movement and sent many fighters to the homeland. He took
no payments from poor patients for treatment. He played a piv-
otal role as an intermediary between the struggles at home and
abroad.
Liaison with comrades in the country was effected mainly
through the mailing of medicines. In packages sent from all
parts of the country, including Pyongyang, Seoul and Pusan,
were not only medical items but also important messages and
materials addressed to him by various organizations in the coun-
try.
At times he directed the liberation struggle under cover of
visiting his patients, carrying on activities for 10 to 20 days in
various parts of Fusung county as well as in his homeland.
But in the late winter of 1924 he was arrested again by the
Japanese imperialist police at Popyung as he stepped into Korea
for his activities. The Japanese police, fearing that the Inde-
pendence Army might snatch him back, ordered a policeman
named Akishima to escort him direct to Hoochang Police Sta-
tion. But he was neither confused nor disappointed. Comrade
Hwang, who knew that Mr. Kim Hyung Jik had been arrested
and was under police escort, immediately followed with a bottle
of strong liquor in hand. At Yunpo-7z, the comrade caught up
with policeman Akishima and invited him to drink in a bar.
Having got the policeman dead drunk, Mr. Kim Hyung Jik
escaped and hid himself for several days in a mountain cottage
under the care of an old man named Kim. Suffering though he
was from frostbite, the weather bitingly cold, Mr. Kim Hyung
Jik left the cottage for Fusung through Pataokou, but there he

27
 KIM IL SUNG

suffered even more from his worsening illness. One of the most
devoted leaders in the anti- Japanese independence movement of
that period, however, Mr. Kim Hyung Jik continued to tighten
his ties with many other fighters for the independence move-
ment and pushed ahead with the movement tenaciously.
At Fusung, too, he paid much attention to educating young
men. He built the Baiksan School to teach children of peasant
households. He even provided them with educational materials,
devoting himself to the task of education.
So, moving from place to place, from Kangdong near Pyong-
yang to areas along the Amrok River and to regions of North-
east China, he continued his passionate fight against Japanese
imperialism for more than 10 years.
But with little time left for recuperation, his health continued
to deteriorate. And on June 5, 1926, at the age of 32, the in-
domitable patriot and educator who devoted his life to the strug-
gle to save his fatherland in its time of suffering, Mr. Kim
Hyung Jik, passed away, so pitifully young, entrusting his
ardent unfulfilled hopes to his wife and three children.
The General’s widowed mother, Mrs. Kang Ban Suk,
following in the footsteps of her husband, devoted herself to
the care of her children, sacrificing herself throughout life.
Mrs. Kang Ban Suk was born on April 21, 1892 as the sec-
ond daughter of Mr. Kang Don Wook at Chilgol, Ha-77, Ryong-
san-myun, Daidong county, South Pyungan Province.
Her father, an ardent patriot, was an experienced educator
who had devoted more than 30 years of his life to teaching the
rising generation. His disciples, in a move to immortalize his
great achievements, erected a “Monument Dedicated to Mr.
Mookkye,* Kang Don Wook” at Bisuk village (now Chilgol-
dong, Mangyungdai District, Pyongyang).
Mr. Kang Jin Suk, the eldest brother of Mrs. Kang Ban
Suk, was also an ardent anti-Japanese fighter who fought for
28
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

the restoration of his father-

land, taking up arms together
with champions of the inde-
pendence movement at home
and abroad, early in his life.
He organized the “Korean
Independence Youth League”
by rallying anti-Japanese pat-
riotic forces, and fought as its
leader. During the March 1
Movement he and his father
led the demonstrations as or-
ganizers at Mangyungdai and
neighbouring areas.
He moved later to the re-
Mrs. Kang Ban Suk
gions of Northeast China and
continued his activities while frequently travelling in various
parts of Korea as a member of the Independence Army move-
ment. On May 19, 1924, however, he was arrested by the police
at Daidong Hotel in Pyongyang, and sentenced to a prison
term of 15 years, of which he served an agonizing 13 years and
eight months until released on parole. But an illness he contract-
ed in prison worsened and finally claimed his life on November
30, 1941.
Born and reared in such a revolutionary family, Mrs. Kang
Ban Suk cherished a strong hatred of the Japanese imperialists
while still very young. She was a woman of distinguished char-
acter and ability.
Deprived of a chance to go to school because of poverty, she
learned how to read and write the then-ignored Korean letters
from her father, although busy working on the farm and doing
household chores. She studied late into the night, even while
working at the loom.
29
 KIM IL SUNG

A deep hatred for the exploiting classes took possession of

her as she grew up, and she taught the women in her village
that the landlords were exploiting the peasants.
One day in early summer, when she was 15, coming home
from the farm, she saw a woman next door starching cotton
yarn with a crying and struggling baby on her back, her fore-
head dripping with sweat. The woman, wearied by trying to
please her baby, was on the verge of tears.
Mrs. Kang Ban Suk took the crying baby from her back,
put it on her own back and helped the starching of the cotton
threads. But the baby did not stop crying; on the contrary, it
began to cry even louder, kicking its feet against her back. The
baby was crying for a delicious rice-cake that a child of a rich
family was eating beside the woman.
The woman kept on starching, but finally, losing her temper,
she tried to hit the baby.
Feeling sorry to see the scene, Mrs. Kang Ban Suk grabbed
her trembling fist, and said:
“How can you blame the child who has been hungry all day?
Someone else is to blame.... What is the use of beating the little
darling? We should fight those devils who are taking away ev-
erything from us, making it impossible for us to get even a piece
of rice-cake for our children. You know the landlords carry
away the rice, the fruits of our sweat, don’t you? It’s because of
those brutes that we live in poverty, ill-clad and hunger-stricken.
The pain of your heart is common to us all.”
Hearing these persuasive words, the woman clasped her child
firmly to her breast, with tears in her eyes, teeth clenched, feel-
ing the grudge against the world so full of contradictions.
A woman of refined culture and noble character, Mrs. Kang
Ban Suk married Mr. Kim Hyung Jik in 1908, when she was
17 years old. As the eldest daughter-in-law of a poor 12-member
family, she served her parents-in-law well, maintained good
30
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

terms with her sisters-in-law, and managed household affairs

excellently, soon winning the admiration of the villagers.
It was in the summer festival season of 1917 when she was
helping her husband in his revolutionary activities at Dongsam-
rt, Koeup-myun, Kangdong county. A dish of rice-cakes was
sent to her by a next-door neighbour. She did not eat any,
however, although her life at that time was so difficult that gruel
was the only staple food she could have. Instead she kept
the rice-cakes in a water jar for her mother-in-law who was
to visit her from Mangyungdai shortly. But her mother-in-law
was delayed; one week had already passed since the expected
date of her arrival. Nonetheless, Mrs. Kang Ban Suk waited
patiently, changing the water in the jar every morning and
evening lest the cakes spoil.
When her mother-in-law finally arrived almost 10 days be-
hind schedule, she offered the cakes to her. The mother, eating
the cake, said with deep emotion: “Indeed, I am much moved
by your sincerity. There is an old story about a man who dug
out strawberries from deep snow in the depth of winter. Your
sincerity is even deeper than that.”
Thus, Mrs. Kang Ban Suk had such a gentle and beautiful
heart, but she was very resolute and firm in the struggle against
the Japanese imperialists, and even while managing the heavy
demands of her home, she devotedly helped her husband in his
revolutionary activities as befits the wife of a revolutionary.
Indeed, it was in her dedication to her husband’s revolution-
ary life while carrying on her household chores from early morn-
ing till late at night that she found value and meaning in her
life. She did everything in her power to help not only her hus-
band but also his comrades-in-arms in their revolutionary strug-
gle. Although the family was living in poverty, comrades of her
husband frequently came visiting even at midnight and at dawn.
She, humane and kind, always treated these visitors sincerely
31
 KIM IL SUNG

with a smile, even when she was short of food. She washed
their sweaty clothes or mended them late into the night.
Through her whole life such services remained unchanged
wherever the family moved, from Mangyungdai to Kangdong,
and on to Joonggangjin, Linchiang, Pataokou, Fusung and
Antu.
In the tense life they lived, on which persecution and threats
of the enemy cast a grim shadow, Mrs. Kang Ban Suk lived on
in the firm belief that her fatherland would surely win its inde-
pendence.
Mother Yoo who once lived with her, recalls her life through
those days in these words:
“Mrs. Kang Ban Suk and I steamed rice for many revolu-
tionaries, and washed their clothes. I thought all these efforts
were in vain. So I said to her, ‘Elder sister, I wonder if it is
worth while doing all these things. They always speak of inde-
pendence as if Korea would become independent soon. But
things haven’t changed for years. I’m not sure that we should
really believe them.’ But she replied, ‘Sister! The fruit is bound
to ripen when the season comes. Though we are having a hard
time now, it is certain that Korea will win independence before
long. We will then go back to our homeland and live a happy
life together.” ”
Mrs. Kang Ban Suk held to this belief even after her hus-
band died. She inherited her husband’s determination and
fought to achieve it. She raised funds to continue running the
Baiksan School which had been managed by Mr. Kim Hyung
Jik, and as a strong-willed mother of three sons, she raised them
to carry on the revolution, and maintained a special deep interest
in the studies and revolutionary activities conducted by General
Kim Il Sung.
One old man by the name of Li recalls those days when the
General was teaching school openly at Hsinglungtsun, Antu
D2
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

county, while carrying on underground activities to prepare

for the armed struggle. The old man Li lived in the village.
He says:
“One night, Iwas making the rounds of the village as a
night watchman. When I happened to pass by the school and
peeped inside, I saw Mrs. Kang Ban Suk crouched before the
cooking stove, building a fire. Strangely enough, she was break-
ing firewood by wrapping it first in her skirt. I had heard that
she was ill, so I imagined that probably she was breaking fire-
wood like that because her hands were sore. I decided to ask
her how she was. When she saw me, she stepped towards me
hurriedly. She put her finger to her lips to keep me silent, came
out and whispered to me: ‘Sung Joo (General Kim Il Sung’s
childhood name) did not come home till late. So I came to find
out what delayed him.... He is now deep in a book in that cold
ondol room. So I am heating the room without making a noise
lest I disturb him.’ What a great mother! I was deeply im-
pressed.”
Mrs. Kang Ban Suk not only encouraged the General’s reyo-
lutionary activities but also cooperated with him directly in the
struggle.
When the General was leading the youth movement at Fu-
sung, he and his four or five comrades were surrounded by the
enemy, and they needed weapons to break through the enemy’s
line. But weapons were available only at Wanliho from the com-
rades. So she rushed there to get weapons, creeping through
the tight enemy cordon at the risk of her life.
She got pistols from young men there but did not know how_
to handle them: “Load the pistols, please,” she said “so that
they may go off the moment I pull the trigger.”
The pistols were hidden among chunks of beef. She put
them in a basket and hurried back with it on her head. As the
General examined the two pistols, he asked her why they were
33)
 KIM IL SUNG

loaded. She replied calmly:

“Why? I couldn’t yield to them meekly, could I? I thought
I should make them pay for my blood. At most, two or three
of them might have pounced on me, and so I thought I should
finish them off!”
She was frail of constitution, and life was getting harder.
Comrades-in-arms of her husband stopped at her home and
the General’s comrades dropped in after he devoted himself
completely to the struggle.
In spite of illness and poverty, she treated the General’s
comrades as her own children. She not only supplied them with
food and clothes, but also helped them with a little money from
her meagre purse. When there was no rice, she made rice-
bran-cakes for the youths leaving her home.
Mother Chai Joo Sun who once lived with Mrs. Kang Ban
Suk, recalling those days, quoted the General’s comrades as
saying in one voice:
“No dishes are more delicious than those wild vegetable
dishes and rice-bran-cakes affectionately prepared by the
General’s mother. The mother of Comrade Sung Joo is the
mother of all of us. Whenever we think of her great and deep
affection for us, we feel that we must redouble our efforts for
the revolution.”
Mrs. Kang Ban Suk was the beloved mother of revolution-
aries and also a woman fighter who took an active part in the
revolution.
Following the death of Mr. Kim Hyung Jik, she participated
in the Women’s Association, and in 1928 was Chairman of the
Paishan District Women’s Association. From that time on, in
her capacity as Chairman, her activities ranged over a wide area
including Fusungchen and its neighbouring villages, and far into
Wanliho, Taying, Chibhsiangtun, Wanliangtun and Santaohua-
yuan. Through night schooling, lectures, commentaries and other
34
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

educational methods, she imbued the Korean women with the

spirit of struggle for the restoration of the fatherland and for the
emancipation of women, rallying them around the revolutionary
organization. She took part also in a secret circle under the
leadership of the General and gave direct help to the “Sainal
(New Day) Children’s Corps” and the “Anti-Imperialist Youth
League.”
Treading this steep and thorny path, bearing all the suffering
and hardships life brought her, as the wife of a revolutionary
and mother of revolutionaries and as a fighter in her own right,
she lived and fought until she died at the age of 40, on July 31,
1932, from a lingering illness, too early to see the victorious
march home of the General whose courageous actions were be-
ginning to make him famous across the globe.
Just before her death, she is said to have told her attendant,
a woman living next door: “...When my son, Sung Joo, visits
me after my death, please treat him as I would. But if he visits
while the Japanese imperialists remain on Korean territory and
before Korean independence is won, please tell him not to move
my grave.... Without vanity... I can say he’ll never come home
while the fighting is still on.... When the fatherland is independ-
ent, you sister, please go and see Mangyungdai near Pyongyang.
It’s really a nice place. But for the Japanese aggressors, who
would live in this foreign land, always longing for it?...”
These words embraced her noble wish and lofty and firm
spirit.
It is said that behind all great men are their great, kind-
hearted parents. This is especially true of the General. It was
because of his rare parents that the General, so early in life,
came onto the stage of history as the Leader of his nation.

35
3. A Bright Boyhood

GENERAL KIM IL SUNG was dearly loved by all members

of his family when he was a child. His grandparents loved to
call him “Jeungson” (great grandchild). Counting from Mr. Kim
Eung Woo, who first moved to Mangyungdai, the General is his
great grandchild.
The General’s father, Mr. Kim Hyung Jik, in his 20’s was
hard-pressed to find time to look after his family after he joined
the independence movement. But no matter how busy he was,
he paid special attention to the education of the children.
In his heart was a great dream and hope for the future of
his son, about whom Mr. Kim Hyung Jik composed the fol-
lowing lines:

Our baby, a baby of Korea,

Grow up fast and go to school!
Be a dutiful son to your parents.
Be friendly to your neighbours.
Be a hero of your motherland.
Be a hero of our country.

The infant General fell asleep in his mother’s bosom, listen-

ing to this song.

36
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

The young General was merry and bold by nature, and the
parents nurtured these fine qualities and watched them devel-
op as he grew up.
Even when guilty of some misdemeanour, his parents did
not scold him immediately if they saw in his mischief the signs
of a bold character in the making. Rather they used that excel-
lent character to develop his spirit of inquiry.
When the General was four or five years old, some neigh-
bours hired a gramophone from a music store in Pyongyang
with the money they had raised among themselves and enjoyed
the New Year holiday with music.
The gramophone played a rather funny melody to the bark
of a dog. It aroused the curiosity of the infant General and
someone jokingly said there was a puppy in the gramophone.
The infant General watched it, filled with wonder. How
could a clever dog perform in the gramophone, he thought, and
he shook his head in deep doubt. When the grown-ups were
away he broke the record with a hammer, but could find no dog.
Disappointed he tried to open the gramophone with a knife, to
the shock of the neighbours when they came back.
They were deeply worried because the infant General had
broken a gramophone which cost then as much as a straw-
roofed house. But Mr. Kim Hyung Jik laughed and told his
neighbours not to worry because he would have the gramophone
repaired at his own expense.
That night, his father called the General to his side, and the
General was prepared for a scolding. But to his surprise, his
father merely asked the General in a quiet voice whether he had
found a man or a puppy in the gramophone.
Laughing at the reply that there was none, the father ex-
plained how a gramophone works, that man has invented many
other complicated machines such as airplanes, and that man’s
unlimited mental powers would make it possible to produce even
ENA
 KIM IL SUNG

The infant General listening to his father telling about the fatherland

more amazing machines.

Though too young to understand fully what his father said,
he at least realized something of man’s abilities and creativity.
As a child, like all others playing at horse-riding on a stick,
riding a sledge or playing kick-ball with a straw and rag ball,
he was rough on his clothes.
But one day the General hesitated to sleigh and kick a ball,
presumably because he was worried about his clothes getting
torn or his straw sandals becoming worn out faster.
When his mother understood, she told her son: “If you grow
up strong and sturdy, it doesn’t matter if your clothes get torn.
I'll sleep a little less to weave more cotton cloth. Thats all...
Go out and play as you like.”
These words reflected her belief that man was more impor-
38
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

tant than the things he possessed.

His father, Mr. Kim Hyung Jik often took the infant
General to Mangyungbong. Watching the beautiful view and
the historic place, his father would tell the General various old
stories. For example, he told the story of the Koreans burning
the American pirate ship ‘“‘General Sherman” which sailed up the
Daidong River to invade the country, and the stories of famous
patriotic generals, such as Eulji Moon Duk and Kang Kam
Chan’, and Li Soon Sin, who courageously defeated foreign
enemies, the story of Martyr An Joong Keun, who shot and
killed Hirobumi Ito, the Japanese ringleader of the invasion of
Korea. These are the stories that sowed the seeds of courage
and patriotism in the heart of the infant General.
The stark realities of poverty always faced the family, and
not even the General, though the “treasure” of the family, could
eat steamed rice even during the summer and New Year festi-
vals. Exploitation by the Japanese authorities and the land-
lords was the cause, and barnyard grass gruel had to be served
all the year round. Foxtail millet or broomcorn millet gruel
was considered a luxury.
When the General was six, he moved to Naidong hamlet,
Dongsam-7i, Koeup-myun, Kangdong county, South Pyungan
Province, his father being engaged in the anti-Japanese move-
ment at that time. But his father was arrested in connection
with the “Korean National Association Incident” and trans-
ferred to Pyongyang Prison, so the General returned to Man-
gyungdai with his mother.
One day, the General went to Pyongyang Prison with his
mother to visit his father. He met the father in a dark, gloomy
room, sadly changed from the tortures endured. Then seven
years old, the General’s heart burned with deep hatred of the
evil Japanese aggressors, his eyes welling up with tears of
anger.
39
 KIM IL SUNG

Later, grasping the infant General’s hands, his mother said:

“Your father won’t come back even when the ice on the
Daidong River melts and green leaves cover the hills. Your
father is now in gaol because he is fighting to regain our father-
land from the aggressors. I want you to grow up fast to revenge
your father.”
It is said that the General, hearing these words, swore before
his mother that he would revenge his father without fail.
It was about this time that the General became immersed in
playing at war.
Wearing a wooden sword, the General would climb the rocks
and imposingly give orders te the children of the village. Re-
calling how the General, still a small boy, commanded his “sol-
diers,” the people had nothing but praise for him, and of course
no matter what the war game he played, the General always
won. He also won the title “Army Judge” because of the skill
he showed in settling disputes between his friends, among whom
he was very popular.
But at home, he found nothing but darkness on the faces of
his family members waiting for his return. Mr. Kim Hyung Jik
was released from prison around that time, but he left home
again and went to faraway Joonggangjin. And the General’s
mother who was looking after her husband’s father and mother,
had to spend dark days under the threat and surveillance of the
Japanese authorities.
His father’s arrest, his life in prison, and the bitter separa-
tion from the family implanted even in the infant General’s heart
a deep hatred of the Japanese authorities and deep sorrow over
the sufferings of his fatherland.
It was not long to the March 1 Popular Uprising in 1919,
an incident that shook the whole country. The raging waves
of anti-Japanese resistance and shouts of anger that broke out
in the Mangyungdai area in response to nationwide uprisings
40
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

inspired the General, who was then only eight.

Angry people dashed out of their houses, a sea of hands
wielding hoes and spades, their roars generating a gust of burn-
ing air, manse (hurrah).... With his grandfather-in-law,
Mr. Kang Don Wook, and uncle Kang Jin Suk, his mother’s
brother, gallantly leading the crowd, making eloquent speeches
and shouting slogans, the whole scene unrolled before the eyes
of the young General like a picture of fierce battles.
The angry masses advanced straight on Pyongyang Castle.
The General joined the demonstrators unrestrained, running
barefoot in the dust a distance of some kilometres to Botong-
moon Gate, carrying his rubber shoes.
Watching the crowds throwing the armed enemy into terror,
the General was strongly impressed with the power of the peo-
ple.
The Japanese aggressors called out the gendarmerie and po-
lice and fired on the demonstrators. Tears filled his eyes as he
saw his countrymen falling with the blood turning their clothes
red.
The masses advanced into Pyongyang Castle, fighting val-
iantly and came back to climb Mangyungbong, blowing trum-
pets and beating drums for several days, cheering loudly for
independence, and continuously fighting the police.
In Kangdong county, more than 200 youth, members of such
organizations as the “Korean National Association,” “Bisuk-
kye” and “Hakkyo-kye,” who had been led by Mr. Kim
Hyung Jik, advanced close to Kangdong-eup at the head of
more than one thousand people coming from various places
such as Dongsam-7i, Doduk-ri, Maikjun-77, and Hyangmok-ri
and crushed the enemy.
People clashed head-on with the armed forces in all parts
of the country and fought them in a self-sacrificing way. When
those in front fell, their places were taken from behind, and
41
 KIM IL SUNG

when they too fell, others moved up.

In Seoul, one of the vicious Japanese imperialist aggressor
troops bent on oppressing the Korean people slashed off the
right hand of a young girl student who was cheering for inde-
pendence, waving the national flag. As the girl continued to
cheer, now holding the flag in the left hand in defiance of the
aggressors, the Japanese butcher cut off her left hand, too. The
girl, even in death, kept cheering, and the soldier now thrust his
sword through her heart. This young heroine did not cease to
cheer for Korean independence even in the very moment of
death. The national uprising, embracing people from 117 of the
119 cities and counties of Korea, was an explosion of the burning
patriotism of the Korean people and their national wrath against
the Japanese aggressors.
But the 33 “national delegates” who labelled themselves
leaders of the struggle were afraid of the fighting spirit of the
people. They had been counting on U.S. imperialism and the
theory of “national self-determination” advocated by T. W.
Wilson. What was this in essence? It was an attempt by the
U.S. imperialists to hold in check the world-wide effects of the
October Revolution in the Soviet Union and to undermine the
new multiracial Soviet Union from within, under the deceptive
slogan of “national self-determination,” in an effort to establish
U.S. supremacy in the capitalist world. Their purpose was also
to pit weak nations against each other to foil their independ-
ence struggles and at the same time dispose of the territory of
defeated countries in their own favour at the country’s expense.
The attempt of the “national delegates” to seek aid from
these aggressors, particularly the U.S. imperialists, who had
long before invaded Korea, was a stupid and preposterous one.
U.S. imperialist aggression in Korea began as early as the
middle of the 19th century. T. Dennett, a “U.S.A.” politician,
says in his book “Roosevelt and the Russo-Japanese War” that
42
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

“when the United States was discussing the question of securing

naval bases in East Asia in the period from 1865 to the 1870’s
it was predicted that Korea would be one of such bases.” It was
this U.S. design that provided the basis for its constant eco-
nomic and military intrusions into Korea.
The U.S. imperialist aggressors raised the curtain of
bloody aggression against Korea with the invasion by the gun-
boat “General Sherman” in August 1866. The U.S. imperialists
resorted to all malicious means at their disposal, ranging from
burglarious acts of violence to frauds of the most cunning na-
ture—violation of the tomb of Namyungoon, father of the then
regent Daiwongoon, in 1868; the Shinmi (1871) Incident; forced
conclusion of the unequal “Korea-U.S. Treaty of Peace, Am-
ity, Commerce and Navigation” in 1882; religious, cultural and
economic invasion to gain control of Korea’s national spirit and
economic life; and support for the Japanese imperialists then
seeking to occupy Korea.
It was disclosed in 1924 that when U.S. Secretary of the
Army Taft conferred in secret with Japanese Prime Minister
Katsura in July 1905, U.S. imperialism approved without the
slightest hesitation the Japanese imperialist plan of occupying
Korea, in exchange for a Japanese imperialist promise that they
would not infringe on the economic rights of the U.S. impe-
rialists in Korea, and in particular, keep their hands off the
Philippines, then a U.S. colony. Thus the U.S. imperialists gave
positive support to the occupation of Korea and colonial rule
of the country by the Japanese imperialists. On the outbreak
of the March 1 Popular Uprising, a proxy of the then U.S.
Secretary of State declared that “since it is already apparent
that Japan has annexed Korea to its empire, the proposal to
return Korea to its original state is utterly unthinkable.”
Regardless of those who wanted to depend on these U.S.
imperialist aggressors, the patriotic people rising in revolt dealt
43
 KIM IL SUNG

a heavy blow to the Japanese aggressive forces by launching a

death-defying struggle for national salvation. The actions of
these Korean patriots had a great impact on the whole world.
When the storm of anti-Japanese uprisings subsided, dark,
gloomy days returned. One day, the infant General met his
father, who had come back unexpectedly. Determined to embark
on the long road of struggle, Mr. Kim Hyung Jik wanted to
take his family along. The General, then an eight-year-old boy,
took the stormy journey to the strange north with the family,
leaving behind his dear native place where he had spent his
boyhood full of dreams.
After a brief period at Joonggangjin, the General’s family
moved to Linchiang, Tunghua Province of China by crossing
the Amrok River, and from there to Pataokou, Changpai coun-
ty, where the General entered primary school.
The new home was a small straw-roofed house—a shelter
that could barely protect the family from rain and wind. It com-
prised but one room and a kitchen. The General’s father parti-
tioned the room into three sections, one of which became his
pharmacy, outside hanging his shingle reading ““Kwangje Med-
ical Practitioner’s Office.”
The office soon became known far and wide with great
kindness shown to neighbours and free treatment for patients
who could not afford to pay. So day in and day out it was
crowded with patients and visitors. The General, though still a
small boy, learned the great significance of deep love for the
people as he watched his father devote himself to his patients.
But what impressed him most was the secret sessions that the
father held with his anti-Japanese fighters, in his back room.
The General was deeply inspired as he listened to his father
talking fervently about regaining the fatherland and his native
country.
Mr. Kim Hyung Jik often sent the General on important
44
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

missions carrying letters and messages to his father’s comrades,

some of whom lived far away from his home. Every time the fa-
ther gave the General such missions, the General accomplished
them willingly. The General took great pride in being able
to help his father in his important tasks. Sometimes the
General went into Korea to maintain communications despite
the tight surveillance of the Japanese police.
The school where the General was enrolled was a four-year
elementary school. Keenly soaking up all that was taught at the
school, the General scored outstanding results. Of sturdy build,
he showed the evidence of becoming a man of strong backbone.
He was also one of the outstanding athletes, and his optimistic
disposition which enabled him to smile even in times of sheer
desperation, won him the deep love of his classmates.
The General retained his fondness for playing at war as in
his earlier years at Mangyungdai, always assuming leadership.
While living in a foreign land far from home, he devised a war
game called “Hunt for Japanese Aggressors,” in which he found
himself always in the position of giving orders.
The General had many friends, but would not accept any
who levelled national insults at the Koreans.
There were sons of public officials and landlords in the
school in Manchuria, who despised the Korean students, calling
them “homeless people” or “Korean beggars.” The leader of
these was a boy nicknamed “Beanstalk” who was the senior of
the school and known among them all as a “Boy of Herculean
Strength.” He was the son of a reactionary Chinese policeman
named Chang.
Aroused to anger at ““Beanstalk’s” high-handed manner, the
General one day knocked him down by a single blow so that
the Korean students might not be any longer despised. The
General, nonetheless, felt keenly that unless the Japanese occu-
pationists were expelled from Korea and his fatherland’s inde-
45
 KIM IL SUNG

pendence regained, the Korean people would not be able to free

themselves from national insults.
It was after coming home from school that he learned the
Korean language, Korean history and geography from his fa-
ther. He was an avid reader of the biographies of Korea’s fa-
mous patriotic generals and stories of great men of other coun-
tries. From this school background, the belief was the more
firmly embedded in his mind that the fatherland must by all
means be regained from the aggressors.
Mr. Kim Hyung Jik, who had been thinking deeply about
the future of his child, discussed it with his wife and decided to
send the General back to Korea.
Behind his decision lay a deep motive—the belief that his
son must learn more about his own country. The father thought
that his son should see with his own eyes the tragic state of his
fatherland trodden underfoot by the military boots of the Japa-
nese imperialists, and see firsthand the miserable life of his fellow
countrymen so that the General would develop his own thinking
and nurture a strong fighting will. This, Mr Kim Hyung Jik
thought, would be the best “school” for this son who was des-
tined to assume the noble task of saving the country.
This fitted the desires of the General himself, so he gladly
obeyed his father’s decision. The General was to visit the home
where his mother was born, at Chilgol near Mangyungdai. It
was not easy for Mrs. Kang Ban Suk to send her son on a long
and difficult voyage alone (the Manpo railway line had not yet
been opened) but she endured this as for her own life.
On the General's departure, his father said: “One should,
first of all, know well about the actual condition of one’s own
country.... One learns about others’ things to improve one’s own
and make it more beautiful.”
On the cold early morning of January 30, 1923, the General,
then 12 years old, left the ferryboat moorage at Pataokou, bid-
46
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

ding farewell to his parents and his younger brothers who had
come to see him off. In his bosom the General carried money
for the journey and a map showing the way to Chilgol. The map,
drawn by his father, showed in detail not only the way but also
the places where the General was to stop over at night. It also
carried instructions to remind the General to send telegrams
home when he arrived at Kanggye and at Pyongyang.
After crossing the border into Korea, the General passed
through Popyung, Hoochang and Kanggye, over the snow-cov-
ered mountains and steep hills on his long trip to Pyongyang.
He had to walk through wild beast areas of the northern moun-
tains where a trip alone, even by an adult, was dangerous, fol-
lowing mountain paths where there was no transportation in
winter. Some days he walked more than 10 kilometres of moun-
tain paths through uninhabited regions. It would be an impos-
sible expedition without courage and perseverance.
Travellers he met on the way were surprised at his lone trip,
some of whom had left their native places in the fatherland to
wander. Believing rumours that Manchuria was a comfortable
place to live, some had left their homes, with just a small bun-
dle of belongings on their backs, children with parents, white-
haired old men trudging with the help of a stick, desperately
trying to save what little life was left.... Such scenes came as a
great sorrow and anguish to the future General. It seemed as
though all Korea were looking for a helping hand, deep in
agony, and a fiery anger burned in his heart, realizing that the
aggressors must be defeated by all means.
At inns by the road he spent some nights with wandering
travellers, listening to them recount their sorrow-stricken stories.
At such times he painfully remembered his father’s words:
“People deprived of their fatherland are worse than the dog of
a family having a funeral.”
In the inclement winter weather, future General Kim I] Sung
47
 KIM IL SUNG

safely reached the home of his grandfather at Mangyungdai—

13 days after leaving Manchuria, overcoming a long, difficult
journey of many bitter memories. Seeing their grandson coming
home unexpectedly, the grandparents as well as his uncle and
aunt were greatly surprised and pleased.
Embracing her grandson firmly, his grandmother said: ‘Did
you really come alone? Your father is more cruel than a tiger.”
“Grandma, ... that’s not true. I’m nota child any more. It’s
no trouble for me to cross the borders,” said the General, his
cheek dimpling with a smile.
Impressed by her grandson, grown to be such a fine young
man, his grandmother said: “You are indeed the son of Hyung
Jik.”
At Mangyungdai the future General entered the Changduk
School at Chilgol, commuting from his mother’s home.
Chilgol was a farming village about four kilometres from
Mangyungdai in the direction of Pyongyang. The village had
a broad entrance; alder trees stood on the banks of a stream
there and the hills behind the village were covered with oaks
and pines.
The school building, standing on the hillside, was an “L’-
shaped medium-sized structure with a slate roof.
The home of the General’s mother was a small, cozy farm
house, not far from the school.
After the General arrived there, an air of vigour pervaded
the home of Mr. Kang Don Wook. Pupils who had hesitated to
visit the home of their schoolmaster now began to frequent it.
The General found that he had to work harder than his
classmates to catch up with them in subjects he had not yet
studied, so he studied by himself with the aid of some of the
textbooks for the previous year. When the teacher in charge of
his class had to teach a different grade in the same classroom,
the General voluntarily took the lessons of the other grade. He
48
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

also helped the family on the farm, and visited his grandfather
at Mangyungdai once in a while.
Time flew while the General was immersed in reading. One
day, he took the cow out to pasture, and while the animal was
grazing, he was reading so intently that he did not even notice
the approach of sunset, and the cow went home alone. Only
when he was interrupted by the loud call of his grandmother,
who had come to the river bank to meet him, did he lift his eyes
from the book and hurriedly begin to look for the cow.
About two months after coming to Chilgol, he was up with
the rest of his class in the subjects in which he had lagged be-
hind, and by the end of the school term his school record was
excellent, to the pleasure of everyone both in his mother’s home
and grandfather’s. The Korean language, arithmetic, and cal-
ligraphy were the subjects in which he excelled, but he showed
no interest in the Japanese language.
One day, the General visited Mr. Kang Don Wook in his
room, with a Japanese textbook (“The National Reader’) in his
hand. The General asked Mr. Kang Don Wook:
“Grandpa, do I have to study this book? Why do we have
to call a Japanese book National?”
The grandfather called his excited grandson to his side and
said in a gloomy tone: “In our country, my boy, there is a saying
that even if a tiger attacks you, you won't die if you keep a
stout heart....”
Beginning with these words, the grandfather explained how
it came about that the Koreans, who could not get education
freely, were obliged to learn a language they did not want to
learn.
At that time, the Japanese aggressors forced the Koreans to
learn the Japanese language at all levels of education from
primary school upwards. The purpose was to turn the Koreans
into ignorant people and, particularly, to turn Korean youth into
49
 KIM IL SUNG

“subjects of the Japanese Emperor.” The teaching of Korean

history and national culture was totally banned. So, over-
coming every obstacle, advocates of the anti-Japanese movement
built private schools and opened classes in private homes to
propagate love of the fatherland. One of these schools was the
Changduk School. But the “Government-General” would not
authorize any school unless the designated textbooks were
used and the Japanese language taught.
His grandfather added:
“We are suffering these difficulties because we have been
deprived of our fatherland. But we must take advantage of their
institutions and learn more about Korea, no matter what hap-
pens. Even if you learn the Japanese language, you can put it
to good and right use....”
The General, back in his room, cut out the character, ‘“‘na-
tional” with a knife from the cover of the textbook and wrote in
a character meaning “Japan,” so that the book read something
like “Japanese Language Reader.” From that day on he kept
the textbook under his desk instead of putting it in the bookcase.
The General was deeply interested in poetry. He was often
absorbed in his father’s collection of poems given him by his
grandfather. The book contained many patriotic poems by na-
tional heroes and generals who left their names in the history
of Korea. His favourite poem was one by General Nam I.” Full
of a courageous and inspiring spirit, the poem reads:

Rocks in the ranges of Mt. Baikdoo will be used up for

grinding my swords,
The water of the Dooman River will be drunk by my war
horses,
A man at 20 still unable to rule his country,
Will never be remembered as a hero by posterity

50
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

As he recited this poem by heart in a loud voice his spirit

was lifted high. At times he would sink into deep meditation,
picturing himself fighting like a dashing tiger in a fierce battle
against the enemy of his fatherland.
Another work in the collection of poems that stirred him
was “The Volunteer Song” composed by his father.

You wretched Korean people,

Proud of your 4,000-year history,
Happy and joyous for all generations,
Yet you now have no land to call your own,
How can you bear this sorrow?
My body bound and shackled,
Free the body, oh comrades,
With your own hands,
Cheer for independence, like thunder,
Split the ocean and shake the mountains

Trees and plants of the Namsan Hill, if you have any heart,
Share this grief and sorrow with us,
Fish of the East Sea, if you have any tears,
Share this anger and wrath with us
My body bound and shackled,
Free the body, oh comrades,
With your own hands,
Cheer for independence, like thunder,
Split the ocean and shake the mountains

You fellow countrymen without a land,

Like dust on the sea,
You drift and wander,
351
 KIM IL SUNG

Do not weep over your lost land,

The day is not far off,
When we win our fatherland back
My body bound and shackled,
Free the body, oh comrades,
With your own hands,
Cheer for independence, like thunder,
Split the ocean and shake the mountains

These are the words of a stirring song the General learned

from his father on a long trip to Joonggangjin. The song spoke
to him of his parents, the poor wandering people he had met,
and the angry rivers and mountains of the fatherland, leaving
him deeply moved.
Korea, as his mother’s father told him, was in deep distress
at that time. It was this situation of his fatherland that greatly
affected the General, who had a keen interest in the social
developments of the time.
The General combed Pyongyang from end to end, paying
attention to everything that took place. Partly out of curiosity,
characteristic of most boys, the General was attracted by things
new. Yet everything he saw only made him angry, broke his
heart, it was so tragic. Everything he saw seemed as if it were
wailing, crying for help and beating the earth.
On the clay walls of crumbling straw-thatched cottages were
notices of tax payments, fluttering in the wind. The General
saw mothers who could not afford to buy medicine for their
seriously ill children, only praying for their lives, peasants whose
backs were slashed by Japanese swords only because they
crossed a road before an oncoming car of a high official. From
a police station he heard whipping sounds and groans of tortured
prisoners, outside he saw women crying, clawing at the wall of
52
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

the police station.... Everything he saw made him grind his

teeth in anger.
Inside a spacious mansion within the city of Pyongyang,
surrounded by green bushes, Japanese aggressors were on the
spree; they were drunk.
And while they enjoyed themselves, in a slum area in To-
sungrang (the most wretched slum in the city in the colonial
days), poverty-stricken Koreans were living in misery. The
slightest rainfall would turn the area into a muddy swamp, with
untold trouble to the residents. Children crying with hunger
now were crying themselves hoarse.
Through his own boyhood experience he realized that his
fatherland could not be saved unless the Japanese aggressors
were expelled.

a3
4. Until I See You Again, My Fatherland!

MANY DAYS AND MONTHS passed after the General

left his parents, his life away from them full of events.
Once in a while he thought of his parents and his dear
younger brothers, while devoting himself further to studying
and building up his body. One day, a messenger visited his
mother’s father from his grandfather at Mangyungdai. After he
left, his grandfather called him and told him that his father had
been arrested by the Japanese imperialists. His mother wanted
him to return immediately to Pataokou where she was.
Shocked and angry, the General was speechless for a mo-
ment, clenching his fist.
In great haste he left for Mangyungdai that very night. His
friends at school as well as all the relatives on his mother’s side
sent him off with best wishes, and his plan to finish middle
school in Korea fell through.
Having spent a night in his native home at Mangyungdai,
he woke up early next morning to prepare for his long trip, and
in a somewhat excited tone said to his grandparents:
“I shall not return to the fatherland again until I have ac-
complished my father’s plan, until the fatherland is set free and
the Japanese aggressors expelled.”
“Jeungson! You have said exactly what I wanted to hear
from you. You follow in the footsteps of your father...,” said
54
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

his grandmother, in a voice choked with emotion, while those

around fought back their tears.
The General carried a minimum of things for the trip. His
grandmother gave him a package of parched-rice powder and a
few steamed sweet potatoes, and two pairs of straw sandals
which his grandfather had made for the General the previous
night. He carried a few books in his bundle.
Holding out a tightly folded envelope, his grandfather said:
“This is your travel money. You will need it on the way.”
“I don’t need that much,” said the General.
“This is part of the money you have left unspent—the money
you brought. [ve added some to that. Take it and go.”
He set out on his long journey while the morning mist lay
over the village, bidding his grandparents farewell, and his uncle
and aunt who saw him off with tears in their eyes.
Out on the main road leading to Pyongyang, the General
waved his hat many times at the relatives still watching from a
corner of the village. As if printing on his memory all the
mountains and rivers of his native place where he had spent
much of his boyhood, the General stood there on the road, look-
ing back over the village and beautiful hill for some time.
The General now made his way to the north with a heavy
heart. He was in haste, so he did not stop to rest even though
tired. When dark set in, making it difficult to find the way, he
looked for a place to sleep, and at the first sign of daybreak,
he continued on his way up the steep road. 12 days later he
reached the ferryboat moorage at Popyung, Hoochang county.
The ferry, which he had used once, was dear to his memory.
He saw there many poor fellow countrymen in tears who were
leaving their native place for Manchuria to gain their livelihood.
Before his eyes the Amrok flowed, the border between Korea
and Manchuria. But to the General the Amrok’ was something
more than a border, a river. It was a frontier that put an end to
by)
 KIM IL SUNG

his boyhood, ending a childhood spent over the several hundred

kilometres his family had travelled in an alien land; it was a
boundary beyond which he would enter a new domain, a new
world with a ring of sorrow and determination, yet with unfath-
omable meaning. Beside the General who was filled with a thou-
sand emotions, many fellow countrymen, kith and kin, were
bidding their last farewell to the fatherland, standing shoulder
to shoulder, tears in their eyes.
No one born and reared in Korea could cross the Amrok
without emotion. It seemed as if the river, along with the Doo-
man River, flowed with tears of sorrow- and anger-stricken
refugees and fighters. Indeed, his fellow countrymen began to
cross in groups as early as the middle of the 19th century, sing-
ing songs of sorrow. And the number of these border-crossings
along the frontier began to increase rapidly as the Japanese
aggressors became increasingly violent after the Eulsa Treaty.'
Their number further increased around 1910 when Korea was
“annexed” to Japan, so that within a few years hundreds of
thousands of Koreans had migrated to various parts of Man-
churia. They were people who crossed the Amrok River be-
cause they could not repress their indignation at statelessness or
endure the difficult living conditions, righteous volunteers who
crossed the border river in groups, exiles who had taken part
in the March 1 Movement, and fighters who had organized se-
cret anti-Japanese societies in Korea.
The General, now 14 years old, crossed the Amrok River to
follow his father’s will and embark on the long, hard struggle.
While crossing the river with his fellow countrymen, he held
back the swelling emotions of sorrow and, looking back on the
dear mountains and rivers of his homeland, he cried: “Father-
land, wait till I see you again. Wait for me till I return to take
you back.”
General Kim Il Sung, recalling these moments in his life,
56
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

said later, after his fatherland was liberated:

“I crossed the Amrok River when I was 14, firmly deter-
mined not to return until Korea became independent. Young
as I was then, I could not repress my sorrow when I won-
dered when I would be able to tread this land again, and
when I would return to this land where I had grown up and
where lay many forefathers’ graves, singing the ‘Song of the
Amrok River,’ composed by someone.” (‘‘Selected Works of
Kim Il Sung,” Korean edition, Publishing House of Workers’ Party
of Korea, Vol. I, p. 11, 1963)
The General crossed the Amrok River and entered Changpai.
The fortress built on the summit of a mountain high over
the river bank and the artillery emplacement with firing holes
on four sides looked unnaturally overpowering. Pataokou was
a small village situated in a narrow valley. From the other bank
of the Amrok one could see afar Popyung (now Posam-77),
Hoochang county.
The General, back in his dear home at Pataokou, was re-
united with his mother and brothers of whom he had dreamed
so often.
Welcoming back the future General who had travelled
a thousand ri? alone, his mother and brothers were overjoyed,
and could hardly settle down. His mother gently took care of
her child again, the child returned safe and sound from a long
and arduous journey, and was proud of this 14-year-old bright,
sturdy boy. She told the General that his father had escaped
from the police while under escort following his arrest, and that
he was now hiding at Fusung.
The General felt relieved of the heavy burden of impatience
and worry, and only then did he feel the tiredness of the long
journey, as he sat knee to knee with his dear brothers.
But even before he could recover from his fatigue, he had
to continue his trip. His mother sent him off at once as soon as
57
 KIM IL SUNG

he had finished supper. She told the General to take his younger
brothers to the home of a friend of his father’s at Linchiang, as
the first step to move to Fusung where his father was. His
mother also told him that she would tidy up the house and come
later, which was quite unexpected by him. The General had
hoped that his mother would let him stay home at least for two
or three days as he had returned from the long journey. Why
had his mother told him to leave so soon, he wondered, with
sorrow.
But his mother was thinking from a different and deeper
point of view. The home at Pataokou was then in an extremely
dangerous place. The enemy was frantically looking for Mr.
Kim Hyung Jik who had been arrested but had escaped, seeking
him far and wide. They might break into the Pataokou home at
any moment. So the mother chose the pain of separating from
the General immediately after her meeting with her son rather
than expose him to such danger.
The General, who knew his mother’s strong character, that
she never let personal feelings interfere with more important
matters in any circumstances, did as she told him, leaving the
home that night with his younger brothers. Seeing her sons off
at the dark entrance of the village, the mother stood motionless
for a while until they were lost in the darkness of the night.
The General and his brothers arrived safely at Linchiang,
and several days later, their mother joined them. Politely intro-
ducing herself to the family members of the master’s home, the
mother took her three sons to an eating house near by.
After the meal, she asked her eldest how they had spent the
few days before she arrived, whether any suspicious-looking
person had visited them, whether the master of the new house
was kind to them, who knew that they were at Linchiang.
Mrs. Kang Ban Suk was relieved only when she had
checked all the movements around her sons, as she always kept
58
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

watchful eyes on the enemy. Now, her face lighting up with

affection, she gave them the necessary instructions about their
future life in the new place, before returning to the home of
their father’s friend.
The General became aware of that excellent trait in his
mother, which made her so careful about everything and kept
her eyes on constant guard against the enemy.
The General’s mother devoted her life to the noble strug-
gle of regaining the fatherland, and worried about and shower-
ed her love only for that. The General owes to his outstanding
mother his development into a man of such fine character,
surpassing the general standard for personal integrity, and for
his acquisition of a burning fighting spirit.
The family stayed at Linchiang for about a month, during
which time his uncle Mr. Kim Hyung Kwon, who had been in
Hsinpa, came to Linchiang.
One day, a messenger was sent by a close friend of his father,
to guide the General, his mother and two brothers, and his uncle
to a house on Hsiaonanmen Street at Fusung. Mr. Kim Hyung
Jik, suffering from the injuries inflicted by his torturers in prison
and from frostbite received during his escape, had been in a
critical condition, but when the General visited him, he had
recovered. He had opened a small clinic named the Moorim
Medical Practitioner’s Office, while continuing his revolutionary
activities.
The father was very happy to meet his son. Looking at his
proud and reliable son, Mr. Kim Hyung Jik asked the General
how he lived in Korea, his manner now showing deep confidence
in the young man who had already seen through the false mech-
anism of society in which he lived.
The General saw in his father’s attitude the enthusiasm of a
man who had devoted himself to the cause of revolution, and
was deeply moved by the attitude of his father and felt new
59.
 KIM IL SUNG

respect for him.

The house built by Mr. Kim Hyung Jik on Hsiaonanmen
Street at Fusung, was like the homes at Linchiang and Patao-
kou, designed externally as a hospital but in reality a meeting
place for fighters of the independence movement working in
China. It was also an important contact point linking under-
ground organizations at home and abroad.
Many people daily visited the clinic for medical treatment,
many of them members of the independence movement. They
discussed action programmes with Mr. Kim Hyung Jik, or
penetrated the homeland on specia! missions.
He was completely absorbed in his revolutionary work.
In his den, he held discussions with strangers all night long,
and at daybreak he would go out on his activities, tying the
strings of his sandals. At other times he would leave the hospital
ostensibly to visit patients, but might not return for 10 or 20
days.
During his clinical rounds he treated poor peasants in the
provinces free of charge and instilled anti-Japanese patriotic
thoughts in them and conducted revolutionary activities among
the members of the independence movement.
He met many such members at Kirin and Huatien and other
areas, discussing struggle policies with them. He called confer-
ences of members of the independence movement active in areas
around Fusung, including Huatien, Mengchiang and Antu and
other counties. His revolutionary efforts indeed went on cease-
lessly.
The vigorous activities of his father and the sight of poor
patients brought home to the General again the great misfortune
of losing one’s fatherland and the supreme importance of re-
gaining it.
The heroic determination he had made when he left his
native place and again when he crossed the Amrok River, was
60
 FAMILY AND BOYHOOD

now turning into a fierce flame of passion in his heart, a fire that
urged him to grope for outstanding thoughts and methods of
struggle which deserved the sacrifice of his all.

61
General Kim I] Sung in the Yuwen Middle
School days (See Section 1, Chapter 2)

General Kim I] Sung in the field educating peasants in anti-Japanese patriotic

ideas (See Section 5, Chapter 2)
 CHAPTER 2

LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES

THE ROAD TO NATIONAL
SALVATION

1. Road to Socialism

IN THE SPRING of 1925 the General was enrolled at the

Fusung First Primary School.
Realizing that the General was determined to follow in his
footsteps, one day his father seated the General before him and
taught a number of important facts to him.
His father taught the General, one by one, the principles
of rallying comrades and the important methods by which
to evaluate the true character of people. “What is most impor-
tant,” he remarked time and again, “‘is to cultivate the ability
to mingle with comrades and correctly judge their character.”
After that the General became more careful about associating
with his schoolmates, and at home, the General closely watched
| the members of the independence movement who frequently
visited his father from various parts, and observed his attitude
- towards them.
At that time the Baiksan School, a four-year-course primary
| school for Koreans, was established at Fusung through the ef-
| forts of Mr. Kim Hyung Jik.
|
The General was greatly pleased at the opening of this
Í
l| school. He regarded the event as a victory won in the struggle
|

against the enemy who were oppressing national education. The

| General soon took the initiative in holding an entertainment to
celebrate the opening of the new school, taking part in the show
63
 KIM IL SUNG

himself.
Not only parents and students but also many educators were
invited to attend. Before the curtain rose, the General appeared
on the platform and spoke to the audience.
The Genera! told them with anger about the miserable fate
of fellow countrymen who had been deprived of their father-
land by the thieves, the Japanese imperialists.
And in closing his speech the General announced that a
play would be presented to depict how Martyr An Joong Keun
shot to death Hirobumi Ito of Japan. He went on to say :
“This is revenge taken by those deprived of their fatherland
against those criminals who have taken our fatherland from us.
But An Joong Keun was murdered by the pirates. Now the
Japanese imperialists are arresting many patriots of Korea, sub-
jecting them to torture and killing them brutally, waving the
laws of thieves. Who can tolerate these outrageous acts?
Who could not sympathize with An Joong Keun who loved
his fatherland at the risk of his life?... Everyone who loves his
country, let us unite! An Joong Keun died a solitary death be-
cause he fought a lonely fight. But if we unite, we can be very
strong. The aggressors are still here even though Hirobumi Ito
is dead. We must expel this band of robbers from our country.
And we must be united for this purpose....”
The audience gave the General thunderous applause.
In the drama titled “An Joong Keun Shoots Hirobumi Ito,”
the General played the part of the protagonist, thus inspir-
ing the audience with anti-Japanese patriotic thoughts and the
spirit of national unity by denouncing once again the Japanese
imperialists for their crimes and expressing the national wrath.
The General practically stole the show that day. He was
not only widely known as the son of Mr. Kim Hyung Jik, but
also very popular at school as a “boy who was friendly with
everyone, and always defended poor children and had a strong
64
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

sense of justice.” After that evening he was now known among

the people in the locality more popularly than before as a “young
orator with strong anti-Japanese ideas.” And the number of
pupils following the General continued to increase.
The General imbued his friends with anti-Japanese thoughts
more passionately. Most were children from poor Korean fam-
ilies. Some were Chinese boys. He actively instilled anti-Japa-
nese thoughts into the minds of many friends.
Having long since been absorbed in rallying comrades, lead-
ing many friends, he now mingled with them after school, with
a beaming face.
In 1926, however, the General made it a rule to come home
from school earlier than before. There was an atmosphere of
gloom pervading the home: The health of the General’s father,
who had been showing signs of recovery for some time, became
worse, and he was now in a critical state.
His illness had been a prolonged one, and his revolutionary
activities continued while still far from well, had put an addi-
tional burden on his frail health. As a result, his condition deteri-
orated to the extent that no treatment could help any longer.
The General’s uncle and his father’s comrades tried treating
him by every method they knew, but it was already too late.
Mr. Kim Hyung Jik had rushed to his patients on emergency
visits, but, as his comrades regretted, he was neglectful of his
own health.
Now, probably aware of his approaching end, the General’s
father called his family to his bedside to say his last words.
To the sorrow-stricken wife, he said he wished he had been
able to send his eldest son Sung Joo to university, and eagerly
asked her to be sure to send him to middle school, however dif-
ficult her living conditions might be, saying that he was not in
a position to ensure continued study for his son. To the future
General and his two brothers, the dying father said they must
65
 KIM IL SUNG

regain their fatherland even if their bones were ground to

powder and their flesh torn to shreds.
Time seemed to have stopped as moments of heartbreaking
silence reigned.
Then the General’s father said that he wished his ashes to
be buried near the Daidong River when Korea regained its
independence. He gave his two pistols, which he had kept
with meticulous care, to his wife, asking her to give them to
Sung Joo when the time came.
Mr. Kim Hyung Jik passed away in peace and tranquility.
Shifting the focus of his passionate eyes from one to the other
of those who had gathered around his bed, the General’s father
breathed his last on June 5, 1926, and entered his eternal sleep
on foreign soil, cherishing till death the highest hope on which
he had staked his life, but with this deep ambition unfulfilled.
People burst into tears. His comrades were stricken with
deep grief over the death of their trusted comrade-in-arms.
Many members of the independence movement, Korean
and Chinese peoples at Fusung, gathered at the sad news. The
many people who attended the funeral expressed deep sorrow
over the death of such an outstanding son and ardent revolu-
tionary of Korea.
The General, in deep mourning, swore solemnly before the
soul of his father:
“Father! I will not fail to defeat the enemy. I will surely
accomplish your will!”
Although he was heartbroken over the death of his father,
the General keenly felt a noble sense of mission to achieve the
restoration of his fatherland by every possible means.
His mother, Mrs. Kang Ban Suk, encouraged the General
in his determination. She sent her three sons, properly dressed
for the occasion, to lead the mourners in the funeral procession
but somehow she herself did not take part in it. Several days
66
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

later, the Boys’ Festival of May (lunar calendar) came. The

General expected that his mother would surely visit the father’s
grave on the festival day. He asked her to visit the grave, but
she refused, saying:
“What is the use of my going there? Just you three go....”
And she did not agree to his request.
On the way to and from the grave, accompanied by his two
younger brothers, the General wondered why their mother did
not come. “Why?...” he asked himself.
But later he got the answer: His mother always visited her
husband’s grave alone, and alone before the grave, she wept to
her heart’s satisfaction. Mrs. Kang Ban Suk thought she should
not let her eldest son see his mother behaving in this way.
She feared that her son, who must accomplish a great mission,
following in his father’s footsteps, might become weakhearted
if he saw his mother weeping thus. This was the reason why
she repressed her fervent desire to visit the grave with her
beloved son.
Her responsibilities in the home became heavier than ever.
There was the mother-in-law who had come visiting from far
away at the news of Mr. Kim Hyung Jik’s death, and the
younger brother-in-law Kim Hyung Kwon, who had stayed with
Mrs. Kang Ban Suk at home most of the time, now went out
frequently. So she had to take care of household chores all by
herself, despite her failing health. But she paid particular at-
tention to the education of her sons. She also started social
activities. She thought it was her primary duty to educate her
sons to be sturdy young men so that they would be able to
surely accomplish what their father had had to leave unfin-
ished.
In 1926, the General left the Fusung First Primary School
and entered the Hwasung School in Huatien through the assist-
ance and recommendation of close friends of his late father.
67
 KIM IL SUNG

The school, occupying a one-storeyed building of moderate

size, was set up by members of the nationalist movement be-
longing to “Jungeut-boo” (Department of Justice). It was a
combination of political school and military academy to train
officers for the Independence Army. So nationalistic education
was the basic principle of activities at the school.
The General tried to learn even harder, but somehow he
found the nationalistic education there disagreeable. There was,
it seemed to him, something narrow-minded and quite unrea-
sonable about the education. As the General came to know
more about the movement of the nationalists and their struggle
methods, his doubt deepened, and only the shortcomings were
evident.
The General was groping for a new road, and in this course
he came to know a good deal about the Soviet Union, the first
socialist country in the world. At that time, the General found
books on socialism for the first time in his life at the home of
a friend of his father’s at Huatien. He borrowed the books
and read them avidly. In the process of learning about social-
ism he became greatly disillusioned about the struggle methods
employed by the nationalists. The revolutionary books, giving
a critical analysis of complex social phenomena by means
of completely scientific thought, and showing a clear-cut way,
had a tremendous impact on the General. It was indeed a power-
ful beacon by which he could distinguish the true from the
false and justice from evil. They were the first books of their
kind that the General had read, yet they seemed familiar to
him, because they were the kind of books containing the truth
he had been looking for all along. The books completely fasci-
nated him. The more he read, the more questions were solved,
one by one, giving him the vision of a new future. While yearn-
ing for the Soviet Union, a country of workers and peasants,
the General probed further into socialist thought.
68
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

Keenly realizing the limits of the arguments and struggle

methods of the nationalists, he began to hew a new road
with progressive youth and students who sympathized with the
communist movement.
First, he formed an illegal organization named the “T.D.”
(Down-with-Imperialism Union). This was the first step made
by the General to carry on revolutionary activities.
He defined the objective of the “T.D.” as fighting for the
future construction of socialism and communism, and the im-
mediate objective, the overthrowing of Japanese imperialism
and achieving the liberation and independence of Korea. This
was welcomed enthusiastically by those progressive youth and
students who were disillusioned over the bourgeois nationalist
movement.
The General thought that in order to achieve his purpose
he must first of all study the advanced thoughts of Marxism-
Leninism and expand his organization. But he could not satisfy
his requirements in a provincial district such as Huatien county,
where people were far behind the progressive social trends.
After much thought, the General decided to move the stage of
his activities to Kirin City, which was spacious and active.
At the age of 15, General Kim Il Sung promised the “T. D.”
members that he would meet them in the future and meanwhile
= conduct activities in Kirin. In the autumn of 1926, he quitted
the Hwasung School and returned to Fusung where his mother
was living. The progressive spirit of making a clean and final
break with the old and seeking the new, the resolute determina-
tion of the 15-year-old young future General without hesitation
to leave the Hwasung School which he found disagreeable, in
search for the new—these characteristics are not easily to be
found in anybody.
Before going to Kirin he assembled his classmates at the
primary school at Fusung and other young men to form the
69
 KIM IL SUNG

“Sainal (New Day) Children’s Corps.” Through this organization

he opened an enlightenment to break them away from the old
nationalist thoughts entertained by their parents, and to arm
them with progressive, revolutionary thoughts. In early 1927,
the following year, the General headed for Kirin.
Kirin City was an ancient Chinese city near the Sungari
River. As the provincial seat, it was the political, economic and
cultural hub of the area. In those days there were more Koreans
living in Chilin Province than in any other area of China. So
Kirin City, seat of the administration, was the centre of activities
by the Korean Communists and members of the bourgeois
nationalist movement in Manchuria.
In the latter half of the 1920’s, the city was especially a
meeting place for nationalist leaders of “Jungeui-boo” (Depart-
ment of Justice), “Chameut-boo” (Department of Councillors)
and “Sinmin-boo” (New People’s Department), the main forces
in the Korean bourgeois nationalist movement in Manchuria.
It was also in this city that factionalists in the Korean commu-
nist ranks, such as the “Marxist-Leninist Group,” the “Tuesday
Association” and the “Seoul-Shanghai Group,” were conducting
their activities vigorously to spread their influence.
In these circumstances the General came to know Koreans,
Chinese, nationalists, Communists and factionalists and other
people of different persuasions thereby becoming vividly ac-
quainted with ideological trends of all forms and colours. In com-
paring the old and new ideological trends, he clearly realized
the correctness of Marxism-Leninism and felt a compelling urge
to study it more deeply.
In the spring of 1927, the General entered the Yuwen Mid-
dle School in Kirin through the good offices of close friends of
his late father. Mrs. Kang Ban Suk faithfully carrying out the last
wishes of her husband, that his eldest son should finish middle
school without fail, continued to pay the school fees by saving
70
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

General Kim Il Sung leading a study discussion of Marxism-

Leninism in the library of the Yuwen Middle School

what little money she could, money she saved by doing needle-
work while living in abject poverty.
Every time the future General received money from his
mother, his heart ached, and he was very sorry for his mother
who had to work so hard in spite of her ill health to pay his
heavy school expenses.
He had been loyal to his parents since he was a child. On
a cold winter’s day, when his mother returned home, he would
try to warm her cold hands with his breath while leading her
into a warm room. When his mother was late coming home
from shopping, he would keep food warm in a pot and wait for
her at the entrance of the village, with his own stomach empty.
While he was living in Pataokou, the General went to
Popyung on an errand and bought shoes for his mother with
the money she had given him for his own shoes, and the people
71
 KIM IL SUNG

of the village were deeply moved by this warm act of filial

devotion. Even from childhood the General was so loyal that
he would not ask his mother for money, and considering lest
he be a trouble to her, he wasted not a penny but devoted
himself to learning.
The Yuwen Middle School was the most progressive school
in the city, with many progressive teachers, who had a major
impact on the pupils. The result was that the conservative
teachers and pupils at the school felt small.
What most pleased the General was the fact that the
school library was well-stocked with progressive books, and the
pupils were allowed considerable freedom in extracurricular
reading.
The General concentrated his efforts on learning Marxist-
Leninist thoughts. He organized and led a secret reading club
within the school. Besides subjects on the curriculum, he read
with keen interest various books on Korean history as well as
the basic literature of Marxism-Leninism, and fortunately, the
General was elected as student chief of the school library, not
once but twice. Taking advantage of these excellent opportuni-
ties, he ordered many books, bought and devoured them. Even
as early as that, the General read with great interest many
classics on Marxism-Leninism, including “Das Capital.” He
showed special interest in the problem of the colonial nations
and pursued his own studies on this subject.
He also read works by Gorky and many other revolutionary
literary works. Gorky’s novel “Mother” was one of his favourite
books, and deeply impressed the General. Through this book
he gained a deep understanding of the contradictions in a class
society and renewed his determination to embark on the road
to revolution to topple the old society and build a new one. He
realized that a revolution is arduous, yet glorious, and that only
true revolutionaries can love their country deeply.
72
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

While at school, political discussions were often conducted

among pupils with the General as leader. He would present
original questions at these discussion meetings to engage his
school fellows in active debate, and at the end of such discussions
he would draw conclusions that were concise and scientific.
Debate often centered on the true nature of imperialism and its
contradictions, and each time he cited Japanese imperialism as
an example and arrived at the practical conclusion of calling for
the overthrow of Japanese imperialism and the restoration of
the fatherland.
His presence in the school was conspicuous. Progressive
students gathered around him in an increasing number, while
teachers began to show greater interest in his activities.
Thus the General learned Marxism-Leninism in his own
unique way. He was now a fervent young Communist, and in
a position to analyse and criticize by completely scientific revo-
lutionary theory, the limits and defects of the bourgeois nation-
alist independence movement.
The General realized that the liberation and independence
of Korea could never be achieved by the arguments of the
nationalists or by their struggle methods. This had been proved
by the path followed by the Korean nationalist movement.
The independence movement pushed by the nationalists, like
the Independence Army movement deployed in various parts
centering on northern border areas, Manchuria or the Maritime
Province before and after Japan’s occupation of Korea, showed,
from the very beginning, its historical limits and weaknesses
although there were some self-sacrificing struggles against the
aggressors.
The Independence Army movement, though aimed at polit-
ical and military independence in opposition to external aggres-
sive forces, was led by officials of the former Korean Govern-
ment and ex-r-yvangban (feudal nobility), and by the petty bour-
73
 KIM IL SUNG

geoisie entertaining nationalist thoughts designed to establish

a capitalist society. Therefore, this movement was virtually
aimed at the establishment of a capitalist system based on the
exploitation of the popular masses, and was supported, at
bottom, by strong feudalistic thoughts.
Therefore, the movement could not meet the wishes and
desires of the popular masses, to say nothing of the working
class and peasants, who made up the absolute majority of the
people.
So the Korean nationalist movement was doomed to failure
from the beginning. Moreover, harmful flunkeyism and non-
resistance, two dominant trends within the movement, made
its collapse inevitable.
As mentioned before, this was evidenced concentrically by
the errors committed by leaders of the bourgeois nationalist
movement during the March 1 Popular Uprising. They flinched
when the people undertook a powerful struggle with the use of
force, and tried to achieve independence by relying on imperi-
alist America. They also placed illusory expectations on Japan,
the colonial suzerain, and finally gave up their movement. After
the March 1 Popular Uprising broke out, influenced by the
October Revolution in the Soviet Union, the bourgeois nation-
alist movement in Korea came to an end.
From then on, most nationalists backslid into national re-
formists, and some even surrendered to the Japanese imperialists
or became their pawns.
The nationalists, who allegedly were continuing an inde-
pendence movement in Manchuria, were merely engaged in
collecting military funds or bogged down in factional bickerings
over “control” of a small Korean residential area.
The General made a comprehensive analysis of these situa-
tions and developments, and was confirmed in his belief that
the nationalists could never become leaders of the Korean na-
74
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

tional liberation movement, and that bourgeois nationalism had

lived out its day and was already but a dusty relic of history.
He realized that only Marxism-Leninism could chart a
correct course for the national liberation struggle, not only
because it is the most revolutionary and scientific theory showing
the way to complete class liberation of all the oppressed and
exploited masses and to the national independence of all colonial
nations, but also because Marxism-Leninism is the theory for
the construction of a boundlessly prospering ideal society of
mankind, eliminating exploitation and oppression from the
whole of society, in which freedom and equality are dominant,
sovereignty and all material wealth belongs to the working
people and in which a true national culture can fully bloom.
The progressive ideas of Marxism-Leninism were dissemi-
nated widely in our country after the October Socialist
Revolution in Russia, 1917, serving as a powerful weapon, the
banner for the national liberation struggle against the Japanese
imperialists.
The working class, who were the most oppressed and most
revolutionary masses, found in this revolutionary ideology a new
course leading to a glorious victory for them, and, without the
least hesitation, they forged ahead along that new course. The
working class showed rapid growth in the 1920’s. The main
force of this generation, the working class, stood in the van of
the national liberation struggle as the powerful political force
of the age leading their trustworthy ally, the peasants, and
broad sections of the masses.
The General was firmly convinced that only by following
this course, oriented by historic developments and made as clear
as day after the March 1 Movement, could the Korean
people defeat the Japanese aggressors and regain their inde-
pendence; only then could all the working masses be liberated
from oppression and exploitation. Indeed, Marxism-Leninism
75
 KIM IL SUNG

was a treasure-house of revolutionary ideas and an arsenal of

revolutionary arms.
So the General correctly sought the genuine road to the
restoration of his fatherland in socialism, in the ideas of
Marxism-Leninism.
This truth he sought in classics on Marxism-Leninism and
in life itself, and made it his thinking and passion for his strug-
gle. This, the General believed, was the very way to tread in
the footsteps of his late father and accomplish his will.
Having received his education in patriotism from his father,
he studied Marxism-Leninism in his own way in the complex
and difficult social environment, and grew up to become an
outstanding revolutionary and Communist.

76
2. Standard-Bearer of Youth and Student Movement

HAVING SEARCHED Marxism-Leninism, the General not

only assimilated its principles and made them his own, but he
also regarded this as the weapon for his struggle and the prac-
tical means.
A man of strong conviction, the General devoted himself
passionately to the youth and student movement along
the course charted by Marxism-Leninism. He did this, not
merely because he himself was then a student, but more impor-
tantly, because fostering advanced, progressive thoughts among
young men was, in his opinion, an activity necessary to prepare
for the coming revolution. The youth and student movement
was a reliable bridge to the revolution, showing and encourag-
ing the masses, including workers and peasants.
The first organization formed by the General in Kirin was
the lawful “Korean Juvenile Association in Kirin.” He rallied
all the Korean children in the city around the organization. Its
aim was to educate them in anti-Japanese thought and gradually
arm them with class consciousness. With this objective in mind,
he often held meetings for reading books and discussing subjects.
that would be attractive to them, and occasionally, entertain-
ments and athletic meets, and heightened the national pride and
struggle consciousness of the Korean children so that they
might lead a worthy life under foreign skies.
Td
 KIM IL SUNG

In the summer of 1927 the General assumed leadership of

the “Korean Ryoogil Students’ Society.” i
At Kirin City, there had been a nationalist-supported
“Korean Ryugil Students’ Society,” a legal organization of
Korean students in Manchuria. The General now took charge
of this organization and changed its name to the “Korean
Ryoogil Students’ Society.”
Most of the Korean students enrolled at various schools in
the city were members of the organization, but the composition
of its membership was very complex, with wide trends of
thought. In general, however, the predominant group com-
prised people aiming at communism in keeping with the pre-
vailing tendency of the times, although there were members
who just supported nationalism.
Under these circumstances, leaders of the nationalist move-
ment who were at pains to retain their influence in the organi-
zation, placed high hopes on the General who wielded great
influence among students. But from the outset the General
advanced in a direction quite contrary to their expectations.
The General’s intention was to educate students affiliated
with the Society in an anti-Japanese revolutionary spirit and
anti-imperialist thought, and especially in the advanced ideas
of Marxism-Leninism. For that purpose he selected such books
as “Life and Activities of Lenin” (biography of Lenin), “On
Imperialism” and “Colonial and National Problems” as impor-
tant teaching materials.
At one meeting after another held to read books, make
speeches or discuss subjects, students conducted heated discus-
sions on such themes as “the present stage of the Korean revo-
lution,” “the aggressive policy of Japanese imperialism” and
“how to carry out the Korean revolution.” At these sessions the
General explained all questions difficult for students to under-
stand, in easy terms.
78
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

Gradually the General turned the Society into a mass organ-

ization for communism, and youth and students who previously
had, adhered to nationalism, gradually came to aim at com-
munism.
His activities at that time covered a wide range. At one
place he would hold a gathering to read books; in another he
would play the important role of moderator at a discussion
meeting. At one time he would read avidly in a library; at
another he would assemble his comrades to assign them new
activities, in which he was indeed absorbed.
All students knew the name Sung Joo, and were greatly
moved just to hear his name. Even among nationalists and
those who styled themelves communist campaigners, he was
known, and many youth and students frequently visited him
from the provinces. Among them were young men who had
returned from the Soviet Union, and others coming from Korea
and Chientao. Youth who were disillusioned with the Inde-
pendence Army and young men who had come to entertain
ambitions after reading books on socialism while in Japan,
also visited the General.
The General was their pivot and standard-bearer.
At that time, he was thinking about complex and practical
questions one after another: How youth and students and the
national force can be rallied under the banner of Marxism-
Leninism and mobilized for the struggle, what principles and
immediate slogans should be adopted for such struggles, what
are the aims of the immediate struggle and the action policy to
bring about victory for the Korean national liberation move-
ment.
There was no one, at that time, capable of giving the
answers to these questions.
Still a boy, the General was hoping from the bottom of his
heart for the appearance of a true revolutionary. Sometimes he
79
 KIM IL SUNG

went to various places, looking for a true revolutionary, while

enrolled at the Yuwen Middle School in Kirin. But nowhere
could he find the revolutionary for whom he searched, although
he travelled to many places and met many people. The fact
was that there was no such genuine revolutionary at that time
either in Manchuria or Korea.
Both the period and the people were looking for the General,
yearning for the day when he would grow up to be a man of
clear vision who would raise high the eternal beacon. It was

and lead students around him to struggle.

With members of the “T. D.” of the Huatien days as the
nucleus—members he met in Kirin—the General rallied
young comrades and progressive youth from various parts
to extend the organization of the “T. D.” Before long the
General renamed it the “Anti-Imperialist Youth League.”
“A Short History of the Korean Revolutionary Movement
Abroad” published in Seoul in December 1945, about 20 years
later, describes the General’s activities during this period as fol-
lows:
...Kim Il Sung (real name Kim Sung Joo, born at Pyong-
yang) put his heart and sou! into the juvenile movement as one
of its leaders for more than a year in Kirin.
In the pure heart of Kim Il Sung who had just come to
gain social consciousness, there was a wave of anguish....
...Kim Il Sung’s brain, nay, the consciousness of student
Kim Sung Joo... realized that he would be able to attain his end
in the future through his independent development....
To Kim Il Sung who was burning with a revolutionary
passion, every living thing, every phenomenon in nature seemed
to be a comrade or leader. But he was resentful of the society of
that age, which did not understand this. _.intention. In fact, the
social phenomena surrounding Kim Il Sung who was at a
80
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

turning point in the new ideological trends, were far from

understanding his own ideals.
Kim Il Sung searched for a stage of activities and com-
rades necessary to realize his ideal, overcoming the ordeal
that faced him. He decided that Itung and Huaite counties were
the most suitable places for that purpose, and met with... who
formed the social nucleus of these counties. They were all
youth between 22 and 23 years of age, engaged in a radical
movement and studying sciences, thoughts and culture needed
for the construction of a new society.
Kim Il Sung shook hands with these comrades who wel-
comed him wholehearted]

Article in A Short History of ‘the Korean Revolutionary

Movement Abroad,” dealing with General Kim Il Sung’s
organizing the “T.D.” (Down-with-Imperialism Union)
81
 KIM IL SUNG

He organized the ‘T.D.’ or the ‘Down-with-Imperialism Un-

ion,’ rejecting the infantile Right and ‘Left’ trends.... Much was
expected from Kim II Sung, and the activities of this organiza-
tion were positive. The support of the masses for Kim I! Sung,
enthusiastic leader, a man with a strong sense of justice, was
great sath
The “Anti-Imperialist Youth League,” true to its name, was
full of vigour and fighting spirit becoming youth, with great
love for comrades and the organization, who found joy in
this love. The first-stage goal of the League was to expand
membership at schools in Kirin and in the neighbouring villages.
For a certain period of time, the General first trained
those progressive youth who had come to Kirin from various dis-
tricts, then sent them to schools in the city and to villages to car-
ry on activities, so that lower organizations soon came into ex-
istence in many parts and extended the vigorous activities. For
example, at the Wenkuang Middle School in Kirin City,
scores of students organized a big branch of the League.
In farming areas the League’s organization expanded rapid-
ly. Major results were achieved particularly in Hsinantun near
Kirin.
Despite his busy schedule, the General made trips Saturdays
and Sundays to such farming villages as Chialun and Hsinantun
to give lectures and provide guidance to the League’s lower
organizations.
So the “Anti-Imperialist Youth League,” a secret organiza-
tion, formed and led by the General, spread anti-Japanese,
patriotic thought among broad segments of youth and students
and peasants and rallied them around the organization.
The General’s activities became even more vigorous than
before, as the organization of the Communist Youth League,
which the General held under his control as a nucleus under-
ground organization, expanded its influence. When the
82
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

General Kim Il Sung leading a secret meeting of the Communist

Youth League

General first engaged in the youth movement in Kirin, there

was no communist organization in existence, although Marxist-
Leninist thoughts were spreading. It was under such circum-
stances that the General, in the summer of 1927, organized the
Communist Youth League for the first time in Kirin.
The General established this organization with progressive
youth and students as its members. Placing mass organizations
such as the “Korean Juvenile Association in Kirin,” the “Kore-
an Ryoogil Students’ Society” and the “Anti-Imperialist Youth
League,” under the influence of the Communist Youth League,
the General strengthened his leadership in a unified way.
The Communist Youth League steadily expanded its in-
fluence. Its branches were established at various schools in
Kirin. A lower organization came into being at the Tunhua
83
 KIM IL SUNG

Middle School, far away.

Even beyond the fact that the League itself was a secret
organization, all its activities were conducted in strict secrecy
because of the severe suppression of the Manchurian warlords.
In many cases, the General selected quiet forests of pine
trees across the Sungari River, and such parks as Poshan Park
and Nanchiang Park as conference sites. Such clandestine con-
ferences in forests were attended by representatives of many
middle schools in Kirin, including the Kirin Normal School.
They made reports to the General on their activities, and on
the basis of such reports the General gave them new instruc-
tions.
The basement of Yowangmiao (temple to the Chinese god
of medicine) in Poshan Park was often used as a meeting place
when strict secrecy was called for.
As the Communist Youth League stepped up its activities
and increased its influence among the masses, the General or-
ganized and mobilized youth and students to an active struggle
against the Japanese aggressors and the Chinese Kuomintang
warlords.
The open struggle by these youth and students, conducted
for the first time under the General’s leadership, was a school
strike against reactionary teachers of the Yuwen Middle School.
At that time, as the role of the League and the leftist tend-
ency among students increased in the school, right-wing reac-
tionary teachers were openly making malicious plots to cope
with this. On the strength of the power of the reactionary
warlords they applied pressure on progressive teachers, includ-
ing the headmaster. They began to oppress students’ free-
dom to choose subjects of their preference, and even the still
limited democratic freedom in school management. Students,
indignant over the outrageous acts, stood up against them.
The General mobilized the organization of the Communist
84
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

Youth League and carried out a school strike to crush the plots
of the reactionary teachers.
Under the General’s careful planning and leadership, all
students stood up united. They refused to attend classes and
made a powerful protest, exposing the crimes of a teacher in
charge of discipline, and other evil instructors. At the same
time, they demanded, among other things, improvement in the
treatment accorded to students, a guarantee that subjects prefer-
red by students should be taught according to students’ prefer-
ences, and a promise not to apply pressure on the headmaster.
All reactionary teachers were frightened and overcome by
the strong action of the students who were prepared to resort
to force if need be. In the end, the school authorities accepted
the demands presented by students, and the strike ended in
victory.
Thereafter, some freedom was allowed in the selection of
subjects, while the treatment of students was also improved.
The results of the struggle were valuable. The General at-
tached great importance to the school strike in that students
keenly realized, through experience, the power of unity that led
to their victory. This was an important means of achieving a
greater victory in the future.
The General, encouraged by the initial victory, expanded
the scale of struggle boldly, and the students’ struggle stirred
the whole city of Kirin and developed into a struggle against
the Kirin-Hoiryung railway project that had a great impact on
the whole of Manchuria.
The Japanese imperialists who had long been making prep-
arations for the invasion of Manchuria, finished the laying of
the Kirin-Tunhua railway line. To extend this line, they started
in 1928 the project of the Kirin-Hoiryung line which, along with
the Changchun-Talien line, was planned as an important trunk
line for their aggression on Manchuria.
85
 KIM IL SUNG

In October 1928, under the General’s leadership, members

of the Communist Youth League organized a struggle against
the Kirin-Hoiryung railway project, the purpose of which was
the Japanese imperialists’ invasion of Manchuria.
The struggle expanded into viclent anti-Japanese demon-
strations, joined by a wide segment of youth and students.
Standing in the forefront of these demonstrations were the
“Anti-Imperialist Youth League,” the “Korean Ryoogil
Students’ Society” and other mass organizations under the guid-
ance of the Communist Youth League. Students of all schools at
Kirin City took part in the demonstrations. Students demon-
strating on the streets formed groups of three or four, and even
up to ten. Waving streamers, they gave agitation speeches
to the masses to fully expose the aggressive purpose of the
Japanese imperialists’ Kirin-Hoiryung railway project, and call-
ed upon them to actively join in their struggle. These youth

General Kim Il Sung leading the struggle of youth and students

in Kirin against the Kirin-Hoiryung railway project

86
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

and students were followed by all the students in the city who
formed their respective school columns and surged through
the streets like a raging tide. The shouts of the demonstrators
shook the whole of Kirin.
“Down with the Japanese imperialist aggressors!”
“We oppose the Kirin-Hoiryung railway project!”
From the high rooftops, bills were scattered. They were ap-
peals condemning the aggression by the Japanese imperialists
and the traitorous acts of the reactionary Kuomintang warlords,
and the city was turned into a crucible of struggle.
The massive student demonstrations continued almost daily
until November, gaining further momentum as the masses grad-
ually joined the demonstrators. The reactionary Kuomintang
warlords, who were in league with the Japanese imperialist
aggressors, mobilized the police to bring this situation under
control.
But the demonstrators were undaunted. More than 20 per-
sons were killed or wounded as the police attacked, wielding
bayonets. The demonstrators dispersed for a while in the face of
armed repression, but their struggle became even more vigor-
ous than before. The Communist Youth League and the mass
organizations including the “Anti-Imperialist Youth League,”
organized students’ pickets and posted them in different places in
the city under the energetic leadership of General Kim Il Sung.
The gallant pickets encircled or tied down the police every-
where in the city with staves, to cover the activities of their
comrades-in-arms in the demonstration. This prevented the
scoundrels committing outrages against the demonstrators at
will. Seizing this chance, the demonstrators organized a boycott
of Japanese goods, carrying goods out of Japanese stores and
throwing them into the Sungari River.
The anti-Japanese struggle of the valorous youth and stu-
dents in Kirin finally touched off the active solidarity struggle
87
 KIM IL SUNG

of youth and students in Harbin, Tienchin and many other cities

of China. The Harbin students in particular, who rose up in a
large-scale solidarity struggle, waged a fierce fight against the
police on November 9, in which some one hundred and fifty
students were wounded.
So the struggle against the Kirin-Hoiryung railway project
triggered a wave of solidarity struggles in various parts, and
was reported not only in China but in Korea as well, attracting
attention from people in all quarters.
The “Dong-a Ilbo,” a Korean language daily then published
in Seoul, carried a report datelined November 2, 1928, describ-
ing the student demonstrations in Kirin and how their struggle
spread. The story was headlined: “Anti-Japanese Struggle in
Kirin Assumes Serious Proportions over the Extension of Kirin-
Tunhua Railway Line and Other Problems; Students Demon-
strate Daily; Anti-Japanese Movement in Tienchin Also Serious
for Several Days Running.” The same paper, in its November
13 issue, also reported on the student struggle at Harbin, under
this headline: “Anti-Japanese Student Bodies in Harbin Step
Up Opposition Against Kirin-Hoiryung Railway Line; Clash
with Police on 9th; 148 Wounded.”
The anti-Japanese demonstrations of students in Kirin under
the leadership of the General and members of the Communist
Youth League dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese imperialists
and to the traitorous reactionary warlords, and boosted the anti-
Japanese sentiment of a wide segment of youth and students
and popular masses.
The General augmented the role of the Communist Youth
League and the “Anti-Imperialist Youth League” and other
mass organizations through these struggles, in the course of
which the General trained and proved the members, thereby
further strengthening the organizations. He learned the lesson
that organizations under united leadership and using correct
88
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

political slogans with the unity of all anti-Japanese forces, would

certainly lead the struggle to victory.
The General also organized and directed a struggle against
the machinations of the reactionary warlords. This was one of
the most pressing tasks related to the so-called “Mitsuya Agree-
ment.”
The Japanese imperialists believed that the anti-Japanese
movement by Koreans in Manchuria would not only interfere
with their aggressive policy towards Manchuria but also pose a
direct threat to their rule of Korea. On June 11, 1925 they had
Miyamatsu Mitsuya, director of the police bureau, the Govern-
ment-General of Korea, act as their representative in concluding
a treaty concerning the control of Koreans in Manchuria, with
Chang Tso-lin, head of the warlords in Three Eastern Provinces
of China. This document is the so-called “Mitsuya Agreement.”
According to the agreement, any arrested Korean member of
the anti-Japanese movement in Manchuria was without fail to
be handed over to the Japanese consulate, and the Japanese
would pay prize money in consideration of the arrest, with part
of the money to be distributed among officials who arrested such
Koreans. Because of this agreement, the Manchurian warlords
became increasingly pro-Japanese, and the army and police tried
hard to arrest Korean members of the anti- Japanese movement.
Under such circumstances the General mobilized the organi-
zations of the Communist Youth League and even inducted Chi-
nese youth and students in order to organize a fight against the
Chinese warlords. The school strikes staged in 1929 by middle
school students at Kirin City against the counterrevolutionary
“punitive operations in the north” plan of the Chinese warlords
were part of the struggle against the warlords. Along with the
popular anti-Japanese demonstrations staged by students at
Kwangjoo of Korea about the same time, it had a great revo-
lutionary impact on the students in many other parts.
89
 KIM IL SUNG

The General often absented himself from school to go to

such faraway places as Fusung, Antu and Tunhua and else-
where, to direct the activities of the Communist Youth League
and other mass organizations while organizing and leading the
struggles of youth and students at Kirin. During his tours of
various places at that time the General once in a while came
across eager persons. Old man Cha Chun Ri was one such.
This old man was named Cha, meaning “wheel,” because he
was said to be able to cover a distance of a thousand ri in one
night.
One day the General and his friends wrote a play and a
number of songs ready for performance on the road and left
Kirin to visit the old man who lived at Tuchihtung, between
Fusung and Mengchiang. The General and his group made an
itinerant performance while touring areas of Tunhua and Chien-
tao via Huatien from Kirin, before they reached their destina-
tion Tuchihtung. Luckily, old man Cha was home. Although
advanced in years, he was in excellent health and had an im-
posing bearing with a long, opulent white beard.
One member of the group asked him whether he could really
walk a thousand ri in one night. Whereupon the old man
replied he could not walk a thousand rz but that he did travel
five hundred in one night. The old man carried on the righteous
volunteer movement, crossing the mountains of Kanggye, and
had great insight and firm political convictions.
He told the passionate youth visitors about the corrupt life
of the former Korean rulers, and said the Koreans could have
fought the Japanese aggressors successfully and developed their
own country. But, he said indignantly, they could not fight as
they wanted to because of the corrupt and incompetent feudal
bureaucrats. Then the old man said he was placing all his hopes
on the young, now that he was too old to engage in any inde-
pendence movement.
90
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

“...If independence is what you want, you must act. You

must get as many Japanese aggressors as you can. And you
must always be on guard against those pawns of the Japanese
imperialists who hide themselves among the Koreans.... You
must unite with whomever you meet, and fight against the
enemy...,” the old man said.
Old white-haired Cha Chun Ri, speaking thus about the
lessons he had learned during his long life, looked tragic and
solemn. To the General, of course, the political views or the
methods of struggle mentioned by the old man were nothing
new. But the old man’s ardent aspirations had a great impact
on the General. The General saw in this old man a symbolic
figure of the fatherland in agony over its ill fate and his voice
seemed to convey the heartrending appeal of the middle-aged
and older generations. After his visit to the old man, during the
days of the fierce anti-Japanese armed struggle, the General is
said to have often remembered the old man’s words.
The General then returned to Kirin.
His activities covered a wide area including Yenchi,
Tunghua, Changchun, Harbin and Itung, etc.
In these areas the General mingled with ambitious youth
and induced them to join the Communist Youth League. By
so doing the General expanded and strengthened its organi-
zational ranks. He frequented Fusung to direct the activities
of the “Sainal Children’s Corps.”
Rallying in this way broad strata of youth and students
under the banner of socialist ideas, the General exhibited his
fiery passion. With the organized force thus acquired, the
General waged a vigorous fight against the Japanese aggressors
and their puppets. Every step taken by the General, firmly stand-
ing in the van of the youth and student movement, was based
on a revolutionary conviction and correct struggle tactics.

91
3. Blow to Hamperers of Cohesion

THE GENERAL waged a principled struggle against the

erroneous views and actions of bourgeois nationalists while di-
recting the activities of the Communist Youth League and
other youth and juvenile mass organizations.
About that time, in Kirin, there were many self-styled Com-
munists but there were far more nationalists among them, O
Dong Jin, Li Woong and Jang Chul Ho and other nationalist
leaders, who came there from „other districts.
They tried to bring the youth and student movement under
their control, especially making the General and other progres-
sive youth their fellow travellers for their own nationalist move-
ment.
But the General did not budge an inch from the road of
socialism which he had determinedly chosen through his own
search for truth; not only so, the General ruthlessly criticized the
incorrect views and actions of the nationalists.
It was a spring day in 1927. Rumours spread that An Chang
Ho, who was respected by members of the nationalist move-
ment as a “veteran in the nationalist movement,” would come
to Kirin to give a political lecture on “‘the future of the Korean
nationalist movement.” Members of the nationalist movement
who had come earlier to Kirin welcomed him as they would a
“president” and respectfully guided him to the meeting place.
92
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

Leading functionaries of the nationalist movement organiza-

tions in various parts of Manchuria as well as members of the
Independence Army and their “supporters,” who took part in a
meeting to combine three “boos” (the Jungeui-boo,' Chameui-
boo,’ Sinmin-boo*), numbering several hundred in all, were
gathered at the lecture hall. The General, out of curiosity, went
to hear his lecture along with many of youth and students.
The lecturer spoke with animation. Members of the nation-
alist movement were excited by his speech and gave him loud
applause at every pause in the speech. But most of the youth
and students were very cool towards the speaker, for they were
not particularly impressed. This was especially true of the
General, who could not but regard the speaker with contempt.
The General could not feel any interest in the speech,which,from
the outset, was nothing but propaganda on false nationalism.
An Chang Ho contended throughout his lecture that “every
individual should improve himself” and “a movement should
be developed to build up national strength through education
and industrial development,” and that “preparation to acquire
such power is the only shortcut to the attainment of independ-
ence.”
It was a preposterous contention. The advocacy of “self-
improvement by individuals” betrayed the naive principle of
non-resistance, that people can become happy through “‘self-
improvement” even if the reactionary political system remains
unchanged.
How would it be possible, with the stifling situation of the
whole nation suffering under the yoke of the enemy, to promote
freely education and industrial development? How could it be
possible to “build up national strength” under such a situation?
Even if that were possible, how could the “aim of independence”
be achieved without struggle against the enemy? It was quite
impossible. It was impossible to ignore the requirements of the
23
 KIM IL SUNG

times that the people should be organized and educated for the
revolution. And it was absolutely impossible to delay the strug-
gle at the very time when a life-or-death struggle must be
fought between the enemy and the Korean people.
The General perceived that the theory expounded by An
Chang Ho was nothing but a capitulating contention of national
reformists which, raising its head in the national movement,
called for “reformation of national character” to make “civilized”
slaves, “development of national industry” and “promotion of
agriculture.”
The General promptly wrote a list of questions arguing
against the lecture and sent it to the speaker through a student.
An Chang Ho, after his fiery speech, was so dismayed that
he stood speechless on the platform, unable to answer any of the
General’s questions. After that, the nationalist leaders began to
regard the General as a “boy of a different colouring.” The
more attention they paid to the General, the more sharply the
General criticized them.
About that time, in 1927, a meeting to combine three “boos”
by the nationalists was held over some months at a rice mill
named “Fuhsingtai” in Kirin. The meeting had been called for
the purpose of consolidating into a single organization, the
Chameui-boo, Jungeui-boo and Sinmin-boo.
The rice mill was a short way off the road that the General
took to go to the Yuwen Middle School. So the General often
dropped in at the mill to take a close look at the meeting.
Although they were supposedly discussing the unification of the
three “boos,” the attendants were actually engaged in petty
bickerings for positions, so that the session was as noisy as a
marketplace. There were scenes of bigotry and dirty insults,
and not even a modicum of rudimentary etiquette and conscience
was to be found. It would have been “building castles in the
air” to expect any patriotism from them. Deeply disillusioned
94
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

with them, the General once wrote a satirical play—a play de-
picting three men fighting for positions—to express his sharp
criticism of those nationalists. Of course, nationalists who
watched this play were flurried and quickly left the scene
before the curtain fell. The following day, the General met
them and asked casually, “Why did you go home in the middle
of the play? I wish you had stayed till the end.” Whereupon
they showed anger, saying, “Why did you insult us last night?”
The General replied, feigning ignorance:
“Why are you so angry, sir? It’s no use quarrelling. The
play we did last night was an honest representation of the feel-
ings of young men. Why don’t you pay more attention to what
they say?”
The nationalists, evidently ashamed of themselves, said, “We
should do something so they won’t laugh at us.” They could
not say any more. It was several days later that the “Kookmin-
boo” (National Department) came into existence for form’s
isake under the name of a “combined” organization representing
the nationalist movement.
While they were still bogged down over a power struggle in
their meeting, a man who announced himself as financial chief
with great pomp, came over from the “Provisional Government
in Shanghai,” and accompanied by several representatives of
that government, strutted about the city. The self-styled big
wheel was coarse by nature and a stubborn conservative. But
when he met young men, he pretended to be progressive and
even cracked witless jokes.
One Sunday, the General, accompanied by several of his
progressive youth and students, met this man at a rice mill called
“Taifengko” and challenged him to a debate.
“You old men are so blind for power that you seldom
‘think of your country. There are only a small number of Korean
‘peasants here, yet you are quarrelling among yourselves to get
92
 KIM IL SUNG

control of them. What’s the use of all that?...” the General

asked.
Questions continued: “You have established a ‘government’
and taken a position within it when you have actually no real
power and no masses to back you up. Is it of any use to the
independence movement? You have squandered independence
movement funds collected from your fellow countrymen, taken
trips to great powers for help, but what have you obtained
from them by doing so? Just sitting back idly and protecting
dearly the name of the ‘government—is this the way to
independence?”
The important person from the “Provisional Government in
Shanghai,” faced with such sharp questions and refutations by
youth and students, was unable to respond. It was quite natural
that the man who had made his appearance with no guiding
theory but only the status of an “important person” of the
nationalist movement camp should have found himself unable
to refute clear-cut reasoning by youth and students who were
deeply absorbed in the learning of Marxism-Leninism.
The “important person” suddenly took his coat off, and said.
“Are you trying to say that only you are great men and we are
just rubbish? I will make a fool of you just as you are doing of
me.” So shouting, he was about to dash out into the street.
The General, witnessing this outrageous deed of the rascal,
clearly realized once again what kind of people were the self-
styled “patriots” of the “Provisional Government in Shanghai.”
The General’s struggle against the mistaken actions of na-
tionalists was waged on a full scale, with the Meeting of the
General Federation of Youth in South Manchuria of 1929 pro-
viding the impetus.
In the spring of 1929 the meeting was held at Wangching-
men, Hsingching county, under the sponsorship of the “Kook-
min-boo,” the federation of nationalist organizations. Although
96
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

he had no connections with the General Federation of Youth

in South Manchuria or the General Federation of Youth in East
Manchuria, the General attended the meeting in his capacity as
representative of the Paishan Youth League in order to unite
the youth movement and strengthen the communist influence
within the anti-Japanese youth organizations. The Paishan
Youth League was an organization of young men in the vicinity
of Mt. Baikdoo such as Fusung, Antu, Linchiang, part of
Changpai and some areas of Tunhua. It was a branch of the
General Federation of Youth in South Manchuria.
Prior to the opening of the meeting, some of the assembly
delegates organized its preparatory committee, which was com-
posed of the General and many progressive youths. Noting this,
leaders of the ““Kookmin-boo” thought that the meeting would
not go as they wished, so on the eve of the convention they
terrorized the preparatory committee members. The ringleaders
were Ko I Hu and others, who professed themselves to be the-
_oreticians among the nationalists.
At this time, the General was informed by his “T. D.”
comrades that some committee members including Choi Bong
had been arrested by the nationalists. The General was advised
to hide himself at once to avoid the imminent danger.
But, infuriated at the terrorism of the nationalists, the
General visited Ko I Hu, one of the sponsors of the meeting
-and accused him to his face, saying:
“You people have called the Meeting of the General Federa-
‘tion of Youth in South Manchuria but you must listen to and
‘comment on the opinions of the preparatory committee
‘members. You studied only the outline report submitted by the
(committee and criticized it one-sidedly. Now you are arresting
‘some of the committee members. What’s the matter with this?
‘What you are doing is nothing but white terrorism among
You cannot sup-
‘people of the same nation in a foreign land....
97
 KIM IL SUNG

press others’ thoughts. Although you may oppress the body,

you cannot suppress thoughts. The thoughts. of young men are
now developing fast. Your attempt to dampen their activities
will have only an adverse effect on our revolution. If you want
to kill me, go ahead!... I’m ready to die any time.”
The same night the General left for Neungga, where
his comrades were staying. And, together with them, the
General issued an indignation statement at Sanyuanpu, Liuho
county, exposing the crimes of those nationalists who brutally
killed Choi Bong and other members of the meeting’s prepara-
tory committee.
In this way the road which the General opened up to revolu-
tion indicated by Marxism-Leninism was marked by a serious
ideological struggle against the nationalists.
At that time, the General conducted a severe struggle against
the factionalists who were doing harm to the communist move-
ment. The ill-effects of the factionalists on the communist
movement were tremendous. As Marxism-Leninism spread and
the labour movement expanded in our country, the Korean
Communist Party was organized in 1925, but it was dissolved
in 1928 because of the cruel oppression of the Japanese imperi-
alists and the splitting machinations of the factionalists.
Although the Party was disbanded, the workers and peasants
continued their struggle under the direction of the Communists.
But factionalists failed to derive any lessons from their crimes
even after the dissolution of the Party. Instead they formed
groups for the reconstruction of the Communist Party, centering
on their own factionalist groups, and continuing their divisive
schemes. It was the same with the factionalists in Manchuria.
They formed Manchurian bureaus for their own groups for the
reconstruction of the Communist Party, and were embroiled in
interfactional and intrafactional feuds. “Leaders” of these fac-
tionalist groups in Kirin made their appearance even at discus-
98
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

sions and oratorical meetings on political problems, held for

Korean youth and students, and publicized the views of their
groups in a serious attempt to win over the youth and students.
Infuriated over the ugly behaviour of the factionalists, the
General criticized their mistaken contentions relentlessly and
exposed all their crimes before the youth and students. The
General branded as a crime the actions of factionalists who
undermined unity. The General also levelled sharp criticism at
those “leaders” of factionalists who called themselves “veteran
Communists,” in such factions as the “Marxist-Leninist Group,”
the “Tuesday Association,” and the “Seoul-Shanghai Group.”
He did not forgive them for forgetting the immediate tasks of
the revolution and bluffing with empty squabbling.
So the General launched an ideological struggle against the
factionalists on one hand, and against the nationalists on the
other. By this means, the General did his best to separate youth
and students from their influence and unite them under the
banner of Marxism-Leninism. On the basis of such an ideo-
logical struggle the General was able to advance vigorously the
youth and student movement around Kirin in a short space of
time.

99
4, Behind Iron Bars

WHILE THE GENERAL was away from Kirin to attend

the Meeting of the General Federation of Youth in South Man-
churia, the situation in that city became tense. The Japanese
imperialists, who had established contact with the Chinese reac-
tionary Kuomintang warlords, began to oppress with unprece-
dented severity Korean Communists and members of the Korean
anti-Japanese movement in Manchuria in the latter part of 1929.
A new greater danger began to mount from without around the
General who was already aware of dangers from within, such
as the malicious actions by Ko I Hu.
At this time, a Communist Youth League organization at the
Fifth Middle School in Kirin was denounced by a spy. This
triggered a whirlwind of arrests involving Communist Youth
League members in the city. The General, too, was arrested by
the Chinese reactionary warlords.
The warlords could not obtain specific evidence of the activ-
ities of League members although they arrested many members.
The warlords regarded the General as the leading figure of the
League but could not get hold of any documentary evidence.
They investigated the General’s background but they could not
find anything special that violated the law. The authorities also
investigated the General’s relations with friends including Chi-
nese, but none of his friends who were interrogated spoke
100
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

against him.
So the authorities could do nothing but conjecture without
evidence that the General had great ideological and political
influence on the youth and students.
They repeated torture and intimidation, but they could not
extract any definite statement from the General; still they re-
fused to acquit him.
He was eventually sent to Kirin Prison with a document
“charging” him with directing a communist revolutionary strug-

Kirin Prison and the cell where General Kim Il Sung was
confined between 1929 and the spring of 1930

101
 KIM IL SUNG

gle in order to destroy the existing order by instigating the youth

and students. This was his second imprisonment since he started
underground struggles. He served his first prison term at Fu-
sung. He had been arrested for performing a play which he had
presented with his friends to criticize the feudalistic thought,
after a pawn of the enemy informed the police of the perform-
ance. While the General was being held at Antu Police Station
for the third time, his mother energetically fought to seek his
release, leading a large mass of people.
Kirin Prison, the second place where the General was
confined, was a cross-shaped prison with corridors extending
like a cross to the north and south and to the east and west.
Cells were lined along both sides of the corridors, and the cell
where the General was confined was the second on the right of
the northern corridor.
Chained by the brutal power, the General realized anew the
arduousness of the revolution and could not but give deep
thought to the effect of violence in a struggle between the
enemy and the Korean pepole.
The General suffered behind the bars not so much from the
physical pain inflicted upon him as the spiritual pain—the spir-
itual pain he felt when he saw prison inmates were forced to
serve terms, and when he was keenly conscious of the ugly
society in which justice and conscience were made crimes.
The General could not bear the national insults and humiliations
forced upon the homeless Korean prisoners. At sucha time the
General, to soothe his heavy heart, remembered the poem com-
posed by his late father.

You fellow countrymen without a land,

Like dust on the sea,
You drift and wander,
Do not weep over your lost land,
102
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO..,

The day is not far off,

When we take our fatherland back

Even while he was confined behind iron bars the General

thought of the world. At one time he pondered over the
path followed by his father, and his will. At another the
General thought of the mountains and rivers of his fatherland
and of the tens of thousands of Korean patriots who were
chained in prison cells in a foreign land, taking to his heart their
angry cries. When the General was absorbed in these thoughts,
the whole of Korea seemed like one giant prison. Nay, Korea
itself was a blood-smeared prisoner confined in a gaol called
Japanese imperialism. The General keenly realized that love for
unhappy Korea could be found only in a struggle to defeat
executioner Japanese imperialism shackling the hands and feet
of the nation.
Without eliminating the armed enemy, it was indeed im-
possible to save the fatherland and build a paradise of hope.
Contrary to the enemy’s expectations the prison only strength-
ened the General’s determination to stake his life on the libera-
tion and prosperity of his fatherland.
The General gradually became accustomed to his prison life.
As it became possible for him to grasp the movements within
the prison, the General utilized every opportunity and condition
that came his way to maintain contact with his comrades within
and without the prison and continued to direct their struggles.
At the same time the General approached prison warders and
patiently educated them.
In due course, the warders began to respect and think fa-
vourably of the General. Whenever he met them, he explained
communism in easy terms. In this process of education, the
guards changed their attitude towards Communists and eventu-
ally worked for the General in maintaining contact with his
103
 KIM IL SUNG

comrades outside. They gave the General all the books and
goods sent by his comrades outside, without looking into them,
so he was able to continue his reading with relative ease. The
General continued to read voraciously. He read such books as
“On Imperialism,” “Colonial and National Problems” and “Life
and Activities of Lenin” over and over again until they were
worn thin.
While reading books on political questions, he meditated
deeply on the future of the revolution. Especially, he devoted
himself to seeking the true nature of the Japanese imperialist
colonial policy towards Korea, and experiences and lessons of
the national liberation movement.
How will the Korean revolution develop in the future? What
are the means of expediting the liberation of Korea, and what
is the consistent principle? These questions constantly occupied
the General’s mind.
The General gave special thought to the question, how
should the “violence for violence” principle be translated into
action, and devoted himself to mapping out a strategic plan for
Korean national liberation.
In the spring of 1930, after eight months of confinement, he
was released.

104
5. Scene of Activities Moved to Villages

A NUMBER OF HURDLES lay before the General as he

came out of prison. While he was in prison his name was struck
off the student roster at the Yuwen Middle School. Not only
so, he found that the Communist Youth League organization
had been almost destroyed. So the General could not resume
his activities at the school. It was very difficult for him to form
contacts with his comrades who were now scattered in many
places.
Living was hard, too, and everything was in confusion, the
prospect of his activities was blurred. Moreover, the grave
‘situation caused by the May 30 Uprising which swept over East
Manchuria made it far more difficult for the General to carry
on his revolutionary activities.
The factionalists, who were then engrossed in factional
strife, dissolved Manchurian bureaus for their own groups for
the reconstruction of the Communist Party as soon as the
question of one party for one country was presented by the
Comintern in 1930, and in an attempt to enter the Chinese
Communist Party they blindly followed the “Left” adventurism
advocated by Li Li-san of the Chinese Communist Party so that
they could prove their “revolutionary spirit.” Without consider-
ing the conditions, they drove lots of the masses into a reckless
uprising in East Manchuria on May 30, 1930.
105
 KIM IL SUNG

The Japanese imperialist aggressors, taking advantage of

this, arrested and brutally murdered many Korean Communists
and of the revolutionary masses. At the same time they schemed
to pit the Korean people against the Chinese.
Meanwhile, the Kuomintang warlord government and a
certain segment of the Chinese people who did not understand
Koreans, branding the maltreated Koreans as “cat’s-paws of the
Japanese,” with the May 30 Uprising as the impetus, began to
reject the Koreans unjustifiably and massacred them at random.
In this way, Koreans, deprived of their country, were subjected
to persecution and oppression, being attacked from both sides,
by the high-handed Japanese aggressors and the Kuomintang
warlords.
In this atmosphere of brutality, the General, too, had to face
increasing danger immediately after his release. But having left
the prison in a new fighting spirit, he did not merely stand by
with folded arms. The unhappy situation urgently demanded
that he launch a struggle. With heroic determination, the
General bid farewell to Kirin, the place where he had made a
significant search for truth, the place full of dear memories of
his fruitful struggles, and moved to Chialun, Changchun county
to carry on new activities, with the area as the centre.
Until now he had directed his activities mainly at youth and
students in cities, with Kirin as the centre. Now he shifted the
theatre of his activities to the farming villages and started to
work among broad sections of the peasant masses. This was
part of the far-reaching strategic plan he had worked out while
in prison. This plan was based on the principle of Marxism-
Leninism that in order to carry out a revolution, especially a
national liberation struggle in colonial countries where the peas-
ants represent a major proportion of the population, it is impor-
tant to educate the workers and peasants in revolutionary ideas.
The imperialists, without exception, leave intact the feu-
106
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

dalistic or semi-feudalistic relations in their colonies and subordi-

nate countries, and utilize the comprador capitalitsts and land-
lords as the pillars of their colonial rule. For that reason the
people in colonial countries have to suffer double and treble
exploitation and oppression, not only from external imperialist
forces but also from their accomplices, the internal reactionary
forces. And the peasants, who represent an absolute majority
of the population, are the chief target of exploitation and op-
pression. Accordingly, the national liberation revolution in
colonial countries assumes the character of an anti-imperialist,
anti-feudal, democratic revolution, with the solution of peasant
and land problems as the key task to be undertaken.
In waging the national liberation revolution in colonial
countries the Communists have to concentrate their efforts on
educating and rallying broad segments of the peasant masses
as a reliable ally of the working class and leading them to the
struggle.
The General moved to the Chialun area in the belief that
this task could be accomplished.
Chialun, situated between Kirin and Changchun, some 40
kilometres from Changchun, was a farming village with a small
railway station. It was in this village that the General formed
revolutionary organizations and directed their activities from
the autumn of 1928. He chose this area because it was closer
to Changchun and convenient for maintaining communication
with Harbin.
After arriving at Chialun he decided to live at Kuchiatun
(or Kutun), some four kilometres away. A small community
inhabited by Koreans, Kuchiatun was the centre for communist
activity.
The majority of the residents had been living in exile after
participating in the March 1 Movement in Korea, and people
had settled down after wandering from place to place because
107
 KIM IL SUNG

of the difficulties of living. They were poor peasants and hired

hands who, in blood and sweat, eked out a living by cultivating
small paddy fields.
The General directed the revolutionary organizations with
his comrades in Chialun and Kuyushu, Itung county while
travelling back and forth between the two areas and thereby
began to enlighten the peasants. At first he set up the four-
year-course Jinmyung School at Chialun and conducted cultural
enlightenment activities. At Kuyushu, the Samgwang School
was the centre of such activities. The General provided educa-
tion free of charge for peasant children who had been unable
to study because of poverty, and conducted classes at night to
educate youth and the middle-aged and women.
On the basis of such enlightenment activities, the General
then rallied the residents around organizations formed according
to each stratum of society, and trained them politically. He
gathered them into the Juvenile Corps or the Juvenile Expedi-
tionary Party, and youth into the Youth Association (Anti-
Imperialist Youth League), women into the Women’s Associa-
tion and peasants into the Peasants’ Union.
The General organized the Juvenile Corps at the Jinmyung
School and the Juvenile Expeditionary Party at the Samgwang
School and rallied pupils around them, and gave them the task
of delivery of secret messages, guard and sentry duty, collection
of information about the enemy, carriage of weapons, military
studies, distribution of propaganda materials, etc.
Meanwhile, the General admitted progressive youths in
localities into the Youth Association (Anti-Imperialist Youth
League). The General taught them the progressive thoughts of
Marxism-Leninism and gave them such duties as protecting
their villages, executing the pawns of the Japanese aggressors.
and protecting revolutionaries from danger. The Women’s As-
sociation and the Peasants’ Union conducted cultural enlight-
108
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

enment activities for the villagers and constantly provided anti-

Japanese education for their members.
The General published the political magazine “Bolshevik”
by all-night preparations with his comrades while directing the
enlightenment and organizational activities. He also arranged
short courses and lecture meetings, and educated the popular
masses in revolutionary ideas.
He was tireless. Seeing the peasants developing revolution-
ary consciousness and their joy over the new power they had
gained from organized life, and watching young men energetic-
ally carrying out any duties, the General felt his efforts had
been worth-while and saw a bright future for the revolution.
As time went on, the peasants’ revolutionary consciousness
was enhanced, with the result that all the organizations began
to operate positively with great power.
The General threw his energy into planned and systematic
training of revolutionary cadres at Kuyushu in particular. The
General opened a two-year higher course at the four-year-course
Samgwang School to receive members of the Juvenile Corps
selected from not only Kuyushu but also from Chialun and
various parts in South Manchuria. They ranged in age from 14
to 20.
Teachers in charge of the higher course—members of the
Anti-Imperialist Youth League—were Communists who had
been sent there. They taught the pupils such subjects of social
science as the History of Korea, “Das Capital” by K. Marx,
“Dialectical Materialism,” “History of the Evolution of Man-
kind” and “History of the Soviet Socialist Revolution.” These
teaching materials were prepared and printed by Communists
under the direct leadership of the General.
At this school they trained the youth and children in the
handling of guns and expanded their military knowledge.
Such activities, conducted by the General in the summer
109
 KIM IL SUNG

of 1930, were important ones laying the basis for the future of
the revolution and foundations of a full-scale armed struggle to
come. Indeed, all his activities constituted preparations for transi-
tion to armed struggle. In fact, the General was determined to
send as a test an armed group into Korea when he embarked on
his activities in the Chialun area. He chose some comrades from
among the members of the Anti-Imperialist Youth League and
sent them to his uncle, Mr. Kim Hyung Kwon, who was then
engaged in activities of the Communist Youth League in Antu,
and had him organize an armed group.
The armed group led by Mr. Kim Hyung Kwon left for the
homeland in August 1930 to attack the police substation in
Pabal-7i, Poongsan county, South Hamgyung Province. In the
wake of this, early in September, it dealt telling blows on the
Japanese police in the areas of Hongwon county, but on the
way back all members of the armed group were arrested by the
enemy on a tip given by a spy.
As a result, Mr. Kim Hyung Kwon was sentenced to prison
for 15 years and, along with his comrades, was in Sudaimoon
Prison in Seoul for a long period. In 1935 to our sorrow, he
died in prison.
The General’s activities had become more complex than ever.
In the summer of 1930, while carrying on activities in vil-
lages, he visited many places in the Chitung district as the
leader of the Communist Youth League and did his best to form
contacts with comrades who were scattered in various areas,
and to reconstruct the destroyed organizations of the League.
But his work during that period was very difficult. The
enemy was frantically looking for the General to arrest him.
Wherever he went, the Genera! found himself in many tight
corners, and indeed was frequently exposed to dangerous situa-
tions.
He went to Kirin to establish once again the lost contact
110
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

with his comrades. Although he arrived safely in Kirin, pen-

etrating the enemy’s severe surveillance network, there was no
way for him to meet his friends associated with the organization.
The suppression of Koreans by the Japanese imperialist aggres-
sors and the Kuomintang warlords had become intensified as a
long-range aftereffect of the May 30 Uprising. Some Chinese
wrongly informed against Koreans, shouting “Hsiaotungyang-
kuei” (little Japanese) whenever they came across them, murder-
ing them at random.
Under these circumstances the comrades of the organization
were not there, but in hiding for a while.
The General therefore made up his mind to visit a member
of the Communist Youth League who was living in Hailung and
Chingyuan so as to maintain contact with him. But the warlord
authorities threw out a tight cordon, and even spies of Japanese
imperialism shadowed the General, so that it became a matter
of immediate concern for him to get out of Kirin safely.
After much thought the General disguised himself as a
Chinese gentleman and took a train from a station on the out-
skirts of Kirin instead of going direct to the main station in the
city.
So he was able to reach Hailung Station safely, travelling
second class.
He was somewhat relieved, but the enemy thought they
could arrest him this time without fail, for the spy who had
followed the General all the way from Kirin saw the General
buy a ticket for Hailung at the suburban station and informed
the Japanese consulate in Hailung immediately. Soldiers and
police were sent to the station at once, planning to arrest the
General the moment he got off the train.
Unaware of the enemy’s plot (he was told about it later by
the comrades), he at once saw the bloodthirsty Japanese soldiers
and police waiting for the arrival of the train, as the train pulled
Ma
 KIM IL SUNG

into Hailung Station. He felt instinctively that something was

up.
So he quickly left the station compound, and tock a horse-
drawn cart to a high-class hotel in the city, making a narrow
escape from danger.
The General stayed at the hotel for several days, during
which time he established contact with the comrades he had
planned to meet and gave them specific duties, and left the hotel
for Chiaoho to meet other comrades.
From then on the youth movement of the Hailung district
gathered momentum.
The smell of blood filled the air at Chiaoho, where the General
visited, because of the violent oppression by the enemy, and
coming at a time when the young men who had been in action
were in hiding, the General was unable to meet any of his com-
rades. The enemy’s oppression was so severe that the General,
too, had to hide for the time being. He decided reluctantly, to
visit an old friend of his late father to get help there. In this
district, Jang Chul Ho, an old-time intimate friend of his father,
and Li Jai Soon who was also on intimate terms with his father,
were living.
But on visiting them, the General was disappointed. First
he called on Jang Chul Ho, who, now greedy for money, showed
no interest at all in the independence movement; he had become
completely corrupt. Instead of being pleased with the General’s
visit, the man seemed to tremble with fear that the visit might
spell misfortune for him.
The General left and visited Li Jai Soon, who expressed
some pleasure at seeing the son of his one-time friend but would
not shelter the General either, and said that he would have to
part with the General after having a meal together. After
leaving, the General sank into deep thought.
When the activities were going on well and there was a
12
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

bright prospect before them they styled themselves advocates

of the national movement and behaved as if they were patriots.
But as the enemy intensified suppression and the situation
became difficult, they left the ranks, seeking the road to personal
comfort, and cast away not only their one-time intimate relations
and even their sense of obligation towards their late friend.
Those who degraded themselves in thought were mean in hu-
man terms as well.
The General only despised the human scums. How fortu-
nate it was that they were not comrades.
No severe revolutionary struggle can prove successful unless
its members are firmly united in ideology and will and as human
beings. The comradeship of sharing joys and suffering, com-
radeship remaining unchanged even in face of death; such com-
radeship should be fostered among his comrades, the Genera]
resolved.
So he renewed his determination and left to visit a friend
associated with a youth organization in Kirin. But receiving
information from a spy, the Kuomintang warlord clique was
again on the lookout for the General.
Facing this dangerous situation, the General managed to
dodge the enemy until he arrived at a certain house. A Korean
woman appeared from the house at that moment and said to
him, “I see you are being pursued. I don’t know who you are,
but carry my baby on your back, quick.” As soon as he did so,
the woman told him to make a fire in the oven, adding that if
the enemies came, she would deal with them, so he should
keep silent. Confronted with danger, he did as she said.
Before long Kuomintang troops rushed to the door of the
woman’s home and bluntly asked, “You must have seen a young
man coming here. Where is he?”
Whereupon, pretending to know nothing, the woman replied
calmly that nobody had come.
113
 KIM IL SUNG

But at that moment, the baby on the General’s back began

to cry, probably because he was a stranger. At that moment
the fate of the General seemed to hang in a balance. Immedi-
ately the woman invited the soldiers in Chinese to take a meal,
giving them deliberate compliments to save the situation. Mur-
muring that it was strange that the man within their reach
should have disappeared like magic, they left the woman’s
home. But the danger of arrest still remained.
The courageous, quick-witted woman said to the General,
“Please behave as if you are my husband, sir, and stay around
for a little while. My husband is out at the farm, and it is about
time he came home. So I will go and tell him to stay out for a
while. You had better think about what you should do from
now on, after the enemies are gone.”
The woman then prepared a meal for the General, saying
that he must be hungry.
She was indeed a careful, warm-hearted woman.
A little later, the Kuomintang scoundrels returned and now
called to the General to come and do some work for them. The
woman, as calm as ever, said, “My husband is in poor health,
so I will take his place.” So saying, she went out with the
soldiers, and having finished the work, came back.
The General greeted the woman’s husband who returned
from the farm after a while. The man, who always wanted to
help revolutionaries, was kind enough to tell the General where
he could hide himself more safely.
The General expressed deep thanks and bid farewell to the
Korean woman and her husband so conscientious and courage-
ous, who had gone the length of exposing themselves to danger
for the sake of the General.
It was the people who remained faithful and unyielding,
although one-time advocates of the independence movement
had retreated and become depraved.
114
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

The General realized at that time that the people who

continued to hold unchanging power and beauty in any storm
and stress, these people are the most valuable bosom on which
all revolutionaries must depend.
The General later met the triend he had been looking for,
and through him, grasped in detail the situation of the area
where his friend was living. So after consulting with him on
future activities, the General left for Harbin.
Having arrived at his destination, the General succeeded in
establishing contact with the organization there, and discussed
plans for future activities with his comrades.
But, here again, the General had to overcome many diffi-
culties in order to avoid the searching eyes of the enemy. Since
police inspection was severe at any time at ordinary hotels, the
General decided to stay at a safe, high-class hotel run by a
White Russian.
Soon after settling down at the hotel, White Russian maids
frequently came over to take orders from the General, who was
dressed in a fine business suit. He was at a loss, for he did not
have enough money to take meals at such a high-class hotel-
So every time a maid came to his room to take orders, the
General told her that he had already eaten at the home of his
friend. At supper time, the General went out and bought fried
maize-cake, the cheapest food available, to fill his stomach.
Finishing his business at Harbin, the General bid farewell to
his comrades and came to Tunhua. But the enemy’s oppression
being as severe there as elsewhere, the General, in the autumn
of 1930, stopped at Kuyushu, Itung county, to direct revolution-
ary organizations there, and from there the General and his
comrades went to Wuchiatzu, Huaite county, to mingle with
the peasants
No hardship could block the General's advance. The enemy
spread a tight cordon but failed to catch him. How many death
Li)
 KIM IL SUNG

lines had he broken through? There was no room for despair in

his heart, for having a far-reaching plan, he always believed in
his comrades and the people and continued to live for their
sake. Once taking to the road, the General never failed to reach
his destination even if his advance was delayed by the enemy
or he had to make a detour. Everywhere he went, the General
undertook plans to prepare for the revolution, and as his mission
was completed in one place, he moved on to another without
letup, making friends with comrades everywhere and was
warmly loved by the people.
Even when he slept on a hard bed prepared by an old wom-
an in a thatched-roof house, the General was grateful even
though she was a complete stranger, thinking over plans for
his new activities until daybreak, and seeing poor fellow country-
men in tatters, the General disciplined himself.
Struggle and revolution were the General’s only duty and
his only happiness.
Wuchiatzu, where the General and his comrades visited
was entirely a farming village consisting of more than 300 scat-
tered Korean households, the first settlers there.
Such mass organizations as the Youth Association, the Wom-
en’s Association and the Fellow Peasants’ Association had
been formed and were active in this district. As an educational
institution, the Samsung Primary School had been established
to teach the rising generation. Cultural enlightenment activities
were also being carried out for the peasants.
But because progressive thoughts of Marxism-Leninism had
not been disseminated here, the old shackles of nationalism
were still there.
The General and his comrades formed connections with
pioneers and progressive youth in this area, and through them
initiated activities to turn the various existing organizations
into Marxist-Leninist revolutionary ones.

116
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

First, he turned his attention to the Samsung Primary

School and replaced the teachers with progressive youth, while
teaching higher-grade student. political subjects such as “Criti-
cism of Religions” based on Marxist-Leninist theories, ““Com-
munist Manifesto,” and “Problems of Leninism.” The General
formed the Juvenile Vanguard and the Juvenile Expeditionary
Party, involving the entire pupils (200) of this school and gave
them military training, personally leading the organizations.

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 KIM IL SUNG

To spread Marxist-Leninist thought among the masses the

General reorganized the Youth Association, the Women’s Asso-
ciation and the Fellow Peasants’ Association and so on, and
formed the “Anti-Imperialist Youth League” with fine members
of the Youth Association.
The Fellow Peasants’ Association was the new name of the
Peasants’ Union, and put out a magazine called “Fellow Peas-
ants.” The reorganized Women’s Association conducted activiti-
es to elevate the cultural level of women while educating them in
the thoughts of the independence of Korea and the emancipation
of women.
The General also in time undertook lectures and commen-
tary activities with patience, living with the peasant masses, and
by this means succeeded in arousing revolutionary consciousness
in broad sections of the peasants in a short time through his
energetic activities in the various farming areas from Chialung,
Kuyushu to Wuchiatzu, thereby building a solid revolutionary
mass basis here.
When many self-styled “patriots” and “communist fighters”
were embroiled in a power struggle for immediate petty status
or honour, the youthful General, not yet 20, had already ob-
tained a perspective of the revolution and a deep insight into the
destiny of the nation and was devoting himself to the cause of
the fatherland and the people, going deep among the masses.
These activities of the General deeply impressed the people
and pioneers in the areas.
They marvelled at the eloquence of the General who
inflamed the hearts of the people with his patriotic soul and
revolutionary passion, and especially were deeply moved by the
work spirit and virtues of the General who always relied on the
masses and breathed the same air.
Thus the expectations and support of the comrades and the
people for the General increased as the days went by.
118
 LEADER OF THE NATION TAKES THE ROAD TO...

Early in 1931, having nurtured a revolutionary force in the

Wuchiatzu area, the General headed for Tunhua. With this
area as the base of his activities the General restored the organ-
izations of the Communist Youth League and sent comrades to
Chientao, for the purpose of bringing together young comrades
to play the nucleus role.
In this process, members of the Anti-Imperialist Youth
League, including Cha Kwang Soo, and members of the Com-
muist Youth League the General had maintained connections
with in Kirin, and about 20 graduates of the Tunhua Middle
School, and many other youths, rallied around the General, in
in OS RENS Dace.
He mobilized them to re-
oD construct the Communist You-
th League organizations in
the Chitung district and while
vigorously pushing his revolu-
tionary education among the
peasants the General prepared
for a more active struggle to
meet a new situation to come.
Nevertheless, through this
period living was extremely
difficult. Especially after he
moved from Tunhua to Weng-
shihlatzu life was so hard that
he would spend nights with his
head resting on wood without
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of the Korean Revolutionary And his meals often consisted
broad” recordin y
MEARE : of only : corn gruel and imma-
; i
the Generals changing his
to “Il Sung”
name ture pickles, called kimchi.
A9,
 KIM IL SUNG

But even under such difficult conditions, the General continu-

ed his energetic underground activities day and night among
the peasants, gradually leading broad segments of the people
by such devoted efforts to the road of armed struggle against
the Japanese imperialists.
Everyone was deeply impressed by the General’s wonderful
activities, and firmly believed that someday he would become
an outstanding leader, and felt great pride in having the General
as their comrade-in-arms and standard-bearer.
Gradually he became known among his comrades and the
masses, not as “Sung Joo” but “Il Sung,” a name given by his
comrades while the General was carrying on his activities in
the Wuchiatzu area.
At first they called the General, Il Sung meaning “one star,”
to express their wish that he become the bright lodestar of
Korea, but they were not satisfied with that. He had to save
Korea from the darkness of colonial rule, he had to be the Sun,
rather than one star. So the General’s name was changed to
the characters Il Sung, meaning “becoming the Sun.”
This name is indeed a bright symbol of the unrestricted
hopes placed by his revolutionary comrades-in-arms and by the
people in the General.
“The comrades presented the General with the pseudonym
of ‘Il Sung’ to express their hope for his future. They hoped
that the General would be the morning star of Korean society.
The General was then called ‘Jl Sung’ meaning one star or
‘Il Sung’ meaning becoming the Sun.”!
The Korean people thus looked up to the General as the
saviour of their fatherland, and the sun of the nation and
he has been called General Kim Il Sung ever since he began to
wage the anti-Japanese armed struggle.

120
zeneral Kim I] Sung appealing for anti-Japanese armed struggle at the Meeting
f Leading Functionaries of Revolutionary Organizations in Antu (See Section
, Chapter 3)

eneral Kim I] Sung receiving from his mother the two revolvers used by his
ither (See Section 2, Chapter 3)
 CHAPTER 3

UPHOLDING THE BANNER OF

ANTI-JAPANESE ARMED
STRUGGLE

1. The Great Call to Arms

WHILE expanding still further the strength of revolutionary

forces in various parts, General Kim Il Sung actively made
preparations for waging an anti-Japanese armed struggle.
After making a scientific analysis of the daily worsening in-
ternal and external situations, the General decided that a shift to
armed struggle was becoming a matter of pressing urgency, al-
lowing no longer delay.
The economic panic which hit the world in 1929 was sweep-
ing all capitalist countries with devastating and unprecedented
force and dimensions. The ruling circles of a number of capital-
ist countries established fascist rule of the most reactionary na-
ture, and while exploiting their people, the rulers strove to free
themselves from the destructive grip of the terrible economic
crisis by wars of aggression. Against this background fascism
rose in Germany, Italy and Japan. The result was seen in the
ominous clouds of aggressive war that hung low over the inter-
national scene, aimed at redividing colonies and power spheres.
Japanese imperialism, which had been tossing about in the
vortex of the economic crisis from as early as 1927, promptly
established fascist, military rule, and while intensifying the ex-
ploitation of the working masses and further increasing its op-
pression of the revolutionary movement, was intent on aggres-
sion in the Asian continent. All this, of course, produced seri-
T22
 KIM IL SUNG

ous repercussions in Korea.

Japanese monopoly capitalists and militarists became even
more rapacious in Korea, not only in order to recoup losses suf-
fered in the economic panic, but also with a view to acquiring
funds to finance war preparations. The life of Korean workers
and peasants grew even more miserable as a result.
At the same time, in order to ensure increased pillage, as
well as to transform Korea into a safe rear base for aggression
on the continent, Japanese imperialism cracked down on the
Korean revolutionary forces with bestial fury. In 1929, the no-
torious “Law for the Maintenance of Public Peace” was revised
in such a way that Koreans were thrown into prison on the
slightest pretext, and the slightest possibility of legal activity
was stamped out. Only black days lay ahead of the Korean
people and stifling darkness covered this land.
The Korean people, then, stood at the crossroads: They had
the choice of sitting with folded arms only to die or rising up
to fight. If the Korean people had faltered at this moment, they
would have been fettered forever as a nation deprived of its
home. Only one way lay open to life, freedom and liberation—
the struggle, a struggle to the death.
This was the Korean people’s only choice, to resolutely rise
and fight through to victory.
So in the late 1920’s, the Korean people, with revolutionary
workers and peasants at the forefront, took up a powerful strug-
gle under the guidance of Communists in 1929; the workers of
Wonsan waged a general strike, followed closely by large-scale
strikes and revolts by workers of the Pusan Textile Mill, the
Sinheung Colliery and the Pyongyang Rubber Factory.
Encouraged by the revolutionary advance of the workers,
the peasants, too, undertook vigorous struggles in various parts
of the country. 1,300 tenant farmers at the Hazama Farm at
Kimhai, South Kyungsang Province waged a tenant dispute
123
 UPHOLDING THE BANNER OF ANTI-JAPANESE...

and revolt, a struggle was launched by the peasants at the Fuji

Farm at Ryongchun, North Pyungan Province, and there was
a peasants’ uprising at Danchun, South Hamgyung Province,
and other popular struggles and revolts broke out throughout
the country. In the wake of ail this, large-scale tenant disputes
and revolts were launched with great power throughout East
Manchuria.
In the autumn of 1931, Korean peasants in the Chientao
area rose in the Choosoo (Autumn Harvest) Uprising under
communist leadership. What had begun as a struggle for a
lighter tax burden during harvest time gradually developed into
popular revolts against Japanese imperialism and reactionary
warlords and landlords. Over 100,000 peasants participated in
this revolt from all parts of East Manchuria, and this struggle
triggered the Choonhwang(Spring Lean Season) Uprising in the
spring of 1932.
At the same time, with the Kwangjoo students’ struggle in
1929 as its driving force, students’ anti-Japanese movements
spread across the country.
The most significant feature of the revolutionary struggles dur-
ing this period was the active, violent advance by the masses.
The violent advance was a reflection of the revolutionary and
militant spirit of the workers and peasants aroused, steeled and
tempered in the course of struggle. Also it was a natural product
of the development of popular struggle. The situation demand-
ed urgently that this advance of the masses be generalized and
organized to develop into a prospective armed struggle of
a higher form. Only by armed struggle would it be possible to
crush the armed enemy and win ultimate victory in the national
liberation struggle.
This was also eloquently illustrated in the historical experi-
ence of the protracted national liberation struggle of the Korean
people.

124
 KIM IL SUNG

The Korean people had carried on their fight in many forms

against their aggressors over a long period. There were strug-
gles of the Righteous Volunteers’ Army and of the Independence
Army. But not realizing the power of solidarity, they were
scattered by the increased military might and oppression of the
enemy. At the same time patriotic enlightenment movements
were launched by intellectuals, and the popular uprisings of
workers and peasants which had reached the stage of violent
action, were energetically pursued. While these struggles, of
course, had a positive significance in the struggle for national
liberation, they alone could not suffice to topple Japanese impe-
rialism; nor were these movements sufficient to put an end to
the history of misery and suffering of the Korean people.
Experience gained in these movements proved beyonda shad-
ow of doubt that without firm unified leadership and correct
strategic and tactical leadership based on Marxism-Leninism,
the violent struggles of the masses were doomed to failure.
It was also clearly demonstrated without qualification that
any attempt to achieve national independence through petitions
or reliance on outside forces could be no more than a foolish
pipe dream.
The most correct and in fact the only way was to be found
in shattering the armed aggressors by force of arms, by well-
organized armed struggle closely linked with all the various
forms of popular struggle and based on the firm foundations of
the people with Marxism-Leninism as its guideline. Only in
this way could the Korean people crush the Japanese aggres-
sors to the last and hew out a new road to a brilliant future for
the nation.
It was precisely at this time that the situation in East Man-
churia, where General Kim Il Sung was active, made an urgent
question of armed struggle.
Frightened by the revolutionary advances of the peasants in
125
 UPHOLDING THE BANNER OF ANTI-JAPANESE...

East Manchuria, the Japanese aggressors began a policy of bar-

barous massacre. “Kill a hundred Koreans,” they said, “and
there will be at least one Communist among them. So kill, kill,
kill at random.” In fact, they even brought in artillery to bom-
bard the villages, and their cavalry slew and trod under the
cruel hoofs of their horses, women and children seeking shelter.
More than 40,000 of our fellow countrymen were slaughtered
like beasts, and several thousand farm houses were reduced to
debris. The devil himself would have turned away in disgust
from the brutish acts of the Japanese aggressors.
The wrath of the people rose to the highest pitch, and the
fierce cry for vengeance on the enemy was heard on every
hand. Now the people keenly realized that armed struggle was
the only way to crush the aggressors, and they rose in urgent
demand for action. In the summer of 1930, by which time
General Kim II Sung had already been released from Kirin Pris-
on, watching closely the difficult situation which grew worse
from day to day, he put forth an independent Marxist-Leninist
line on the Korean revolution—the lines of anti-imperialist, anti-
feudal, democratic revolution and armed struggle, the establish-
ment of a united front and the founding of the Korean Commu-
nist Party. And he organized the Korean Revolutionary Army,
the armed body of Korean Communists for the anti-Japanese
armed struggle, and sent its members to various parts of Korea
and Central Manchuria.
It was just about this time that the situation took a sudden
turn for the worse; that is, the “Manchurian Incident” erupted.
On the night of September 18, 1931, the tracks of the
Manchurian Railway in the vicinity of Liutiaokou, north of
Mukden (now Shenyang), were bombed in succession. This sig-
nalled the Sino-Japanese war, a plot masterminded by the
scheming Japanese military clique.
All Manchuria was thrown into turmoil, and drunk with
126
 KIM IL SUNG

victory, the Japanese aggressor troops spread over the length

and breadth of the land like a prairie fire.
Immediately following this incident, a meeting of leading
functionaries of the local revolutionary organizations was held
at Antu.
It was here that General Kim I] Sung emphasized that only
armed struggle could further the Korean revolution, and called
upon the Communists to rouse the masses to this struggle, over-
coming every possible difficulty.
“... Arming ourselves,” the General said, “is no easy matter.
But the present situation indicates that we have reached the
stage where we must take up arms....We must fight, pooling
weapons, money and all the strength we have. There is no
solution to the problem if we simply sit back and lament the
situation or just decry the fiendish atrocities of the enemy. We
must rise and fight, taking our arms in our hands.”
About acquiring arms, the General said: “Where do we get
our weapons? If we had money, we could either buy them or
make them. But the quickest way is to take them from the ene-
my. If you use your head, pick the right place and do not fear
death, you each will be able to get your own weapon....”
This decisive call of the General profoundly moved all pres-
ent at the meeting, and it was unanimously supported.
General Kim Il Sung’s line on transition to armed struggle
was a great initiative and a genius revolutionary line which
threw light on the only possible, correct road to victory in
the national liberation struggle. At the same time, this was the
most scientific line of struggle in which the truth of Marxism-
Leninism was applied creatively to the realities of the Korean
revolution and developed by the General.
At that time no other person could foresee or clarify this law-
governedness and the perspective of the revolution. It was only
possible because of the General’s profound knowledge of Marx-
WAY
 UPHOLDING THE BANNER OF ANTI-JAPANESE...

ist-Leninist theory and his brilliant insight.

Basing his thinking on the scientific analysis of the specific
conditions of the national liberation struggle in our country and
correctly defining the anti-Japanese armed struggle as the major
form of the national liberation struggle, the General judged that
all other forms of struggle should be developed in close relation
with this.
In particular, the General held that the preparation for
the founding of a genuine Marxist-Leninist Party in Korea, gen-
eral staff for the revolution, and activities to form a broad an-
ti-Japanese national united front could only be carried out by
linking them with armed struggle. Asa result of suppression by
Japanese imperialism and the divisive actions of factionalists, the
Korean Communist Party, which was founded in 1925, had been
forced to disband, and national unity had not yet been achieved
under the sole anti-Japanese banner. Under these circumstances,
the General proposed preparations for founding a Marxist-
Leninist Party and the formation of an anti-Japanese national
united front as the vital task of Korean Communists.
But it was impossible to achieve this without being based on
the anti-Japanese armed struggle, the main form of the nation-
al liberation struggle in Korea. This had long been in the
General’s mind, an original plan worked out in the course of
practical struggle.
The General maintained that armed struggle, preparations
for the establishment of a Party and a united front were in-
divisible, and that the three are dialectically integral, each being
the prerequisite for the others. The line proposed by the General
was thus original in defining armed struggle as the main
form of the struggle.
Fundamental to this line of General Kim Il Sung was his
unswerving faith in the strength of the people, the prime mov-
ers of history, and particularly, in the might of the ingenious and
128
 KIM IL SUNG

courageous Korean people themselves. He firmly believed that

the Japanese aggressors could be crushed, that the restoration
of the fatherland could be achieved by educating and organiz-
ing the people and leading them into the fight. This belief is
derived from his thoroughgoing ideas of Juche! (independent
stand)—that the masters of the Korean revolution are the Ko-
rean people themselves and that only the Korean people can
accomplish the Korean revolution.
Together with the line of anti-Japanese armed struggle, the
General provided concrete policies for its implementation. Mak-
ing it clear that in order to wage an armed struggle, the Anti-
Japanese Guerrilla Army had first to be organized as a standing
revolutionary armed force and must be strengthened, the
General advanced a policy to build a guerrilla army.
The vital principles to be observed in the formation of the
guerrilla army, were that its strategy and tactics must be based
on Marxism-Leninism, that strong ties had to be established
with the people, that workers, peasants and progressive youth
should form the core, and that political education should be in-
tensified to arm them with communist ideology.
In September 1933, explaining the line of anti-Japanese
armed struggle to Comrade Choi Hyun, then a company com-
mander of an anti-Japanese guerrilla unit, the General elabo-
rated the problem of transforming guerrilla units into a truly
revolutionary armed force.
“ ..The Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army should become the
true armed forces of the people fighting against the Japanese
imperialist aggressors and their hirelings, striving for the inde-
pendence and liberation of the fatherland.... While waging an
armed struggle we must continually recruit new members and
steadily expand our ranks. There are many young people
who are steeled and tested in the struggle against the enemy.
They must be enlisted in the guerrilla army and trained into
129
 UPHOLDING THE BANNER OF ANTI-JAPANESE...

excellent revolutionary fighters. There are quite a few miners

and lumberjacks in the districts where our guerrillas are active.
They constitute an important source for the growth of guerrilla
ranks.... Unless the guerrillas are firmly armed with communist
ideology, we cannot win victory in what will be a protracted,
arduous anti-Japanese armed struggle. While intensifying
military training among the guerrillas, therefore, ideological
education must also be strengthened....”
One of the important questions submitted by the General on
the principles of building an Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army, was
the laying of a firm popular foundation by establishing strong
ties with workers and peasants and the rest of the people. To
win the active support of the people, the General emphasized,
would be the only guarantee for the formation and consolida-
tion of guerrilla units and for continuing the anti-Japanese
armed struggle.
Further, he put forward the policy of founding guerrilla
bases to serve as bases for guerrilla activities and at the same
time as the strategic centre of the Korean revolution.
The general line formulated by General Kim Il Sung for an-
ti-Japanese armed struggle was a brilliant example of the crea-
tive development of the Marxist-Leninist theory of guerrilla
warfare.
The line of anti-Japanese armed struggle not only gave new
strength to the Korean Communists and the Korean people,
both of whom had come out in the struggle, but illumined the
bright road ahead of the people—people groping for the future
course of struggle and quite at a loss what to do. The General
launched a vigorous struggle to organize the Anti-Japanese
Guerrilla Army.

130
2. Birth of Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army

IN NOVEMBER 1931, the Mingyuehkou Meeting was con-

vened with the participation of the General. The meeting lasted
10 days, during which the mobilization of the anti-Japanese
forces and the formation of a guerrilla army was discussed as an
important problem in relation to the occupation of Manchuria
by Japanese imperialism.
After the meeting, leaving the task of leadership of the
Communist Youth League in the hands of other comrades, the
General visited his mother at Hsinglungtsun, Antu county.
And early in 1932, after moving his family to Hsiaoshaho, he
undertook energetic underground activities aimed at organizing
armed forces.
On the one hand, he dispatched political workers to a num-
ber of underground organizations in Yenchi, Holung and Antu
counties, and on the other, he himself took direct charge of un-
derground activities at Hsiaoshaho, Tashaho, and Hsinglung-
tsun in Antu county, working day and night with indomitable
energy, without sparing himself.
Under the General’s guidance, the Communists built up the
pivot of the guerrilla army with the workers, peasants and
youths tested in the course of the Choosoo and Choonhwang
Uprisings which hit the Chientao area.
The revolutionary masses had become painfully aware of the
131
 UPHOLDING THE BANNER OF ANTLJAPANESE...

fact that they had to take up arms in the face of the cruel white
terrorism of the enemy. Well aware of this, the General and
his comrades conducted energetically the work of organizing the
armed ranks among the masses.
The General concentrated his efforts on creating a popular
foundation for the armed struggle, too.
While assuming leadership with regard to underground activ-
ities, the General at the same time carried on activities in the
area most difficult to work in, setting a practical example. Above
all, the underground activities of the General at a farming vil-
lage, near Puliuho, located between Tunhua county and Antu
county, were most conspicuous.
The enemy’s surveillance was so strict here and the espio-
nage network was so well developed that any political workers
were faced with immediate danger of arrest. But in spite of this
it was a village where organizations had to be formed and rev-
olutionized by any means, for many Koreans were living there.
An organizer had already been sent to the village, but lacking
experience, he had accomplished little.
When the organizer visited him, the General gave him a
promise. “...Start a rumour at the village that you are hiring a
‘hand’ because you cannot handle domestic affairs by yourself.
Then, I will come and live with you as a ‘hired hand’ for about
a month and a half and form an organization....” Several days
later, wearing his hair long on purpose and in borrowed ragged
clothes, the General came to the village with the organizer on
a horse-drawn sleigh. As far as appearances were concerned, he
was like any other miserable hired hand. But danger was near.
Towards sundown the General and his friend, sitting in a room
together, heard the distant beat of hoofs. Children cried out that
the cavalry were coming. Undoubtedly, the enemy had got wind
of the General’s presence in the village and rushed there in pur-
suit of him. There was nothing he could do. Hurriedly, the
132
 KIM IL SUNG

General went out into the garden and began chopping firewood.
Soon the cavalry appeared and were about to question the
General chopping firewood in a worn-out traditional Korean
coat. But just then the organizer interrupted, “He’s only my hired
hand.”
Apparently the enemy thought that the man they were look-
ing for would at least be wearing Western clothes, for after tak-
ing a look at the General, they left grumbling among them-
selves.
From the next day, going out as though for firewood, they
went to the mountains every dawn, pulling their sledge. Once
in the mountains, the General studied documents, asked him
about the concrete situation at the village, gave the organizer
detailed tasks, and helped him carry them out.
Having no inside information, the villagers thought the
General but a good-natured hired hand—nothing more, nothing
less. At times the women of the village asked him to break the
ice over their wells and each time he quietly obliged. Many fun-
ny experiences resulted. One day a neighbour was having a
celebration, and the young men who had gathered repeatedly
asked him to do some chores. He could not help doing as asked.
Eventually, they told him to make rice-cakes, but he was sorely
puzzled. Aware of the problem, the organizer offered to do it
for him, explaining that his hired hand could not use the
wooden pestle because he had had his arm hurt the day before
gathering firewood in the mountains.
The women of the village treated him just as a hired hand,
and while they served rice-cakes on plates to all the others, they
simply passed them by hand to the General. Laughing up his
sleeve, the General realized that this preposterous and unusual
treatment was all the better in conducting underground ac-
tivities.
After guiding the organizer with energy for a month and a
133
 UPHOLDING THE BANNER OF ANTI-JAPANESE...

half, the General built a reliable revolutionary organization at

the village, and then left there.
He went back once again to his revolutionary comrades.
On hearing the General relate his experiences they burst into
laughter. Looking back on his experience in the village, the
General said to his comrades:
“There is no place where a revolutionary cannot settle
down, wherever he may go. If some of you have not been
able to do this yet, you must have tackled the revolution in an
easygoing way....”
His comrades were deeply moved by the strong fighting spir-
it of the General, who devoted himself completely to the revo-
lution in defiance of all difficulties, and pledged to follow in his
steps.
This episode had a sequel. Later, as Supreme Commander
of the Guerrillas, the General visited the village near Puliuho
on horseback and addressed the villagers. The women looked
at him in amazement and said:
“Incredible! He was a hired hand here before. How on earth
could he become Supreme Commander of the Guerrillas?”
It was not an unnatural surprise, as they had no way of
knowing the truth.
In this way, himself always setting a practical example, the
General rallied the masses around revolutionary mass organiza-
tions such as communist organizations, the Anti-Imperialist
League, the Peasants’ Association and the Revolutionary
Association for Mutual Relief, covering a wide area, and
prepared them ideologically to rise in the decisive struggle.
At the same time, the General further expanded semi-military
organizations—the Red Guards and the Juvenile Vanguards and
trained them to protect the revolutionary organizations and the
masses from encroachments by the enemy.
Because of the General’s energetic struggle, the revolution-
134
 KIM IL SUNG

ary forces grew rapidly day by day, and formed a reliable pivot
to found a guerrilla army.
Even while dedicating body and soul to the cause of revolu-
tion he found time to visit his mother from time to time, con-
cerned about her declining health. Practically bedridden
though she was, she was determined to help her eldest son in his
revolutionary work, so the General’s mother moved with her
younger sons, who were still children, from Hsinglungtsun
to Togijum village in Mouchutun, a new place to her.
Though suffering from serious illness, Mrs. Kang Ban Suk
was at great pains to keep her illness secret from the General
whenever she saw her eldest son, for fear that she would inter-
fere with his activities for the restoration of the country.
Busy with his revolutionary work, the General visited his
mother whenever he could, with medicine. And each time, his
mother would let her son sit beside her and say to him in stern
tones, “Once a man has made up his mind to regain his father-
land, he should not trouble himself about such trifles.”
Encouraged by these words, the General launched into the
full-scale struggle to acquire arms.
Men and arms are two major factors of armed forces, so
the acquisition of arms was a very important, primary task. But
it was no easy matter to prepare arms in the first place; there
were no munition plants, no funds to purchase weapons, and
no one to give arms. Accordingly it became a truly formi-
dable task. But the General was no man to be discouraged by
difficulties. “To strengthen arms,” the General said, “we must
more fiercely attack the enemy by surprise and take weapons
from them.... We must consider this the primary method for
acquiring arms. Japanese imperialism will function as the ‘mu-
nition manufacturer’ for the guerrilla army, and its aggressive
troops and police ‘transport the arms.’ So there is no worry
about the possibility of our sources of drying up.... We must
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not only take arms from the enemy; we must also make weap-
ons for ourselves.... Under difficult circumstances where there is
nothing, if the revolution demands, Communists are expected
to produce whatever is necessary.”
Following the General’s policy, the Communists carried on
the struggle in many places to get arms.
The General himself already possessed two pistols which had
been his father’s.
Over a number of years, Mrs. Kang Ban Suk had kept the
pistols buried in her husband’s grave, and as soon as the time
came for the General to form a guerrilla army, she dug them
out and passed them on to him. With these two pistols, the
symbols of patriotism, the General stood in the forefront of the
struggle to acquire arms. He also dug up rifles and pistols he had
buried in Antu.
The Communists waged the struggle to get arms as the
struggle of the entire people. Responding to the call of the
Communists “Arms are our life and soul. Unite! Prepare! Come
all out to the line!” the revolutionary masses rose as one in
the struggle to get arms. .
Together with the Communists, members of the Communist
Youth League, the Red Guards, the Juvenile Vanguards and the
Women’s Association and even old people and children threw
themselves into this struggle, regardless of age and sex. No one
feared death. They were firm with determination to put their
head right into the lion’s mouth to gain arms to win back their
fatherland, to revenge themselves on the enemy for the suffer-
ings of a homeless people wandering in an alien land.
This burning patriotism gave birth to startling wisdom and
courage, and daring struggles were waged everywhere. Commu-
nists, members of the Communist Youth League and the Red
Guards boldly attacked the enemy and seized arms. Empty-hand-
ed or armed with imitation wooden rifles, they stormed public
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 KIM IL SUNG

security bureaus, customs houses, landlords’ houses and military

trucks, to get weapons. If ordered by a policeman or landlord
to carry them on their backs across a river, when they were
found plucking up weeds by the riverside, they would dump the
unwary victims into the river, and take their rifles. Even
old people and women and children plunged into the struggle
for arms. Some old men attacked the police with imitation
pistols fashioned from the legs of small tables! and seized their
guns, and children at times showed great ingenuity.
In the mountains, spears and swords were sharpened with
fierce determination, and later, such unique explosives as the
red-pepper bomb,* the sound bomb and the ‘‘Yungil bomb,’ a
kind of powerful hand grenade whose sound alone struck fear
into the hearts of the Japanese army and police, were produced.
Fighters used these bombs in surprise attacks on the enemy and
acquired weapons.
So, the General quickly acquired arms, and put youth
selected from the revolutionary organizations through military
training.
Basic preparations completed, the General brought together
revolutionary workers and peasants and patriotic youth of Antu,
Yenchi and Holung, with 18 hand-picked young fighters, includ-
ing Cha Kwang Soo who had been brought up and trained
since the days of his activities in the Communist Youth League,
forming the core, and proclaimed the formation of the Anti-
Japanese Guerrilla Army in Antu. It was April 25, 1932.
Further guerrilla units were organized at Wangching, Hun-
chun, Yenchi and Holung in East Manchuria by comrades sent
by the General, and about the same time, in North and South
Manchuria by Korean Communists.
This Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army organized by General
Kim II] Sung was indeed the first Marxist-Leninist revolutionary
army made up of progressive workers and peasants and patri-
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otic youths, in the history of the Korean people.

It was a genuine people’s armed force opposing imperialism
and feudal forces, evils on earth, struggling to set up people’s
power which defended the interests of all working people. The
Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army was not ordinary armed troops
fighting with arms, but propagandists and organizers whose
task it was to organize and mobilize the popular masses to the
anti-Japanese national liberation struggle, with the ideas of
Marxism-Leninism to guide it. The anti-Japanese guerrillas
were political units which launched the movement to make
preparations for the founding of a Party and to form an anti-
Japanese national united front in parallel with military cam-
paigns in accordance with the General’s line of armed struggle.
Guerrilla units were thus organized under the leadership of
General Kim Il Sung, and with the commencement of fierce
anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare, hope and passion burned anew
in the heart of the enemy-shackled fatherland, and our people’s
anti-Japanese national liberation struggle developed on to a
new, higher stage.

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3. First Ordeal

WITH NEITHER TERRITORY nor political power to as-

sist them, with no support from a regular army, the anti-Japa-
nese guerrillas had to face battle with invading forces armed to
the teeth. This involved formidable ordeals, but this was ex-
pected.
But unanticipated new obstacles stood in the way of the
guerrillas. In particular, the Chinese National Salvation Army
(the anti-Japanese units) butchered at random Korean Com-
munists and Korean guerrillas as enemies wherever they came
across them. Even the Korean Independence Army was hostile
to Korean Communists.
Originally, the National Salvation Army had been composed
of conscientious units of warlord Chang Hsueh-liang’s erstwhile
Northeastern Army. The units had left Chang’s army to
fight under an anti-Japanese banner, after Japan invaded Man-
churia. The units placed under their control county seats, medium
and small cities and rural areas in various parts of East, South
and North Manchuria. They were in essence a nationalist army
representing the interests of landlords and capitalists. They
were a large outfit boasting anti-Japanese slogans, but they fell
back in the face of the slightest obstacles and often capitulated
to the enemy without so much as firing a shot.
Taking advantage of these weaknesses of the “‘anti-Japanese
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units” the Japanese imperialists not only did all in their power
to bring about internal disintegration in these “anti-Japanese
units,” but also used every conceivable trick to pit the Commu-
nists and the National Salvation Army against each other. From
the May 30 Uprising onward, hell-bent on fishing in the trou-
bled waters, the aggressors cooked up what was called the
“Wanpaoshan Incident”! to add fuel to the critical feeling of
antagonism entertained by the Chinese people towards the
Korean people and to provide a pretext for invading Manchuria.
The National Salvation Army was completely fooled by these
manipulations, and they went so far as to claim hysterically
that “the Communist Party is planning to disarm the National
Salvation Army,” that “the Koreans are the immediate enemies
of the Chinese,” and that “the Koreans are cat’s-paws of Japan.”
Not awakened enough ideologically, instead of fighting
against the Japanese aggressors, the National Salvation Army
rode roughshod over the miserable Koreans who, having been
thrown out of their homeland, could do nothing but wander
about aimlessly. And in particular, with regard to Korean
Communists, they invariably went to great pains to ferret them
out for massacre.
There was no exception to this. The National Salvation
Army even slaughtered numberless Korean youths who flocked
to General Kim Il Sung’s side from various parts of the country
to take part in the anti-Japanese armed struggle, simply on the
ground that they belonged to the “Communist Party.”
Not only the Commander Wei’s unit in Antu but also all
troops of the National Salvation Army stationed in East Man-
churian counties, such as Yenchi and Wangching, daily com-
mitted atrocities as a matter of course. But there was no court
of appeal before which these beastly acts could be brought.
The situation was truly savage and dangerous.
Under these conditions, the fledgling anti-Japanese guerrilla
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units could hardly hope to operate openly. Unbearable though

it was, the guerrillas had no choice but to operate more often
than not under cover of night.
If this situation had persisted, there would have been no
chance of adding muscle to the guerrilla units or, for that mat-
ter, of exerting revolutionary influence upon the people, much
less of overthrowing the Japanese aggressors. In other words, if
things had gone on like this, all would have been lost.
How to overcome these difficulties—this was, indeed, a
serious question on which depended the reinforcement of the
anti-Japanese guerrilla ranks and development of the armed
struggle. Precisely for this reason, the fledgling guerrilla units
were confronted with the most urgent first task to create condi-
tions under which they could operate openly.
While everyone deplored the situation, no one moved to
solve the problem. It was too complicated, too much fraught
with danger. But in this very crisis one man faced up to the dif-
ficulties without hesitation. It was General Kim I] Sung who
took upon himself the destiny of the Korean revolution.
Facing up to this, the General made a heroic resolve to brave
all dangers, however great.
As the first step, the General decided to go in person to Antu
to try to persuade the Commander Wei’s unit there, which was
a continual source of harassment to Korean Communists, to put
a stop to its hostile acts. Even among the National Salvation
Army, the Commander’s unit, then led by Wang Te-lin, was
not only the most powerful, but also the most brutal. It was
this unit that had butchered patriotic Korean youths who, imme-
diately after the formation of the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army,
flocked to the General’s guerrillas from Yenchi and Hunchun,
and other places.
The young General, then only 21 years old, visited the
Commander Wei’s unit in Antu with only three or four men.
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While the General’s initial encounter with the commander

was quite cold, he was firmly determined that his mission would
succeed, and maintained his self-possession. In fact, he resembl-
ed not so much a man aware of the dangers in the haunts of
a wily chieftain, as a self-possessed leader of a powerful army
meeting a guest on equal terms.
Commander Wei became less and less arrogant, and it was
not long before he looked with admiration at the young
General.
With flawless logic he showed that the Japanese imperialists,
not the Korean people, were the enemy, and in sharp contrast
to the General, it was Commander Wei who became increasing-
ly depressed.
The General convincingly explained that the Korean and
Chinese peoples should fight against the Japanese imperialists,
the common enemy, firmly united under the anti-Japanese ban-
ner, and that the National Salvation Army’s atrocities against
the Koreans would be a help only to the machinations of the
Japanese imperialists playing one nation against the other, and
do immeasurable harm to the anti-Japanese struggle.
The conference lasted off and on for days, until finally, ad-
amant and brutal though he was, Commander Wei was
profoundly moved by the General’s flawless presentation of his
case and its justice. Commander Wei, who had been slaugh-
tering Koreans in general and Korean Communists in particular
without the slightest compunction, finally bowed in respect to
youthful General Kim I] Sung’s lofty virtues, his penetrating
judgement in vividly elucidating the complicated internal and
external situations, his firm decision and his flaming zeal to fight
against the Japanese aggressors.
As a result, the General succeeded admirably in removing
at one stroke these obstacles to the revolution, thereby making
possible the open operations of the anti-Japanese guerrilla units.
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From that time on, the guerrillas undertook action in broad day-
light, proudly bearing the Red Flag and trumpeting their
revolution.
The General then took emergency measures to bring their
operations in Wangching and other counties of East Manchuria
into the open too. He sent Li Kwang and some bold guerrillas
to Wangching to open up activities there, a move of great sig-
nificance in expanding the sphere of activities of the anti-Japa-
nese guerrilla units, as well as strengthening their ranks.
Having persuaded the National Salvation Army to refrain
from hostile acts, and having brought his guerrilla unit opera-
tions into the open, the General next contemplated joining
hands with Ryang Se Bong’s unit in the Korean Independ-
ence Army, active in South Manchuria. With this in mind, the
General headed for Tunghua in distant South Manchuria, with
about 40 guerrillas, in the early part of June 1932.
After meeting and exchanging a few words with him, the
General at once realized that Ryang Se Bong’s ideological and
political views and methods of struggle were diametrically
opposed to his. But the General patiently explained that
Koreans should not argue about the merits and demerits of com-
munism and nationalism, and that all anti-Japanese forces
should be united. Calling for national unity, the General point-
ed out that if confusion and splits went unchecked in the nation-
alist camp, as was now the case, it would be impossible to fight
their formidable enemy.
Needless to say, the General well knew that like the other
leaders of the Independence Army, Ryang Se Bong was hostile
towards Communists. He was well aware that their ism, thoughts
and methods of struggle were highly anachronistic, sadly
outdated. But the General hoped above all that, inflamed with
patriotic zeal to accomplish the historic cause of restoration of
their fatherland, the entire nation would unite and rise against
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Japanese imperialism, regardless of differences of ism and ide-

ology.
But being essentially nationalist bigots adamantly opposed
to progressive ideas with a world outlook and ideological and
political views radically different from the General’s, they stub-
bornly refused to lend an ear to the General’s just proposals.
Ryang Se Bong even went so far as to plot the disarming
of the guerrilla units. So the General’s talks aimed at joining
hands with the Independence Army broke down because of
the stupidity of his counterpart.
Personally leading his guerrillas, the General left Tunghua
and marched towards Mengchiang county by way of Liuho.
While receiving Korean youths into the guerrilla units in Meng-
chiang county, he prepared large quantities of weapons, and
more greatly strengthened the armed ranks.
Later, the General moved his men from South Manchuria to
East Manchuria, in order to further reinforce the guerrilla units
in various counties of East Manchuria, step up armed struggle.
Arriving at Liangchiangkou in East Manchuria, the General
sent a number of comrades to Antu county to establish contact
with the revolutionary organizations there, and at the same time
he sent guerrillas to Wangching and Yenchi counties and other
counties of East Manchuria to help guerrillas there in expanding
their ranks and carrying on the struggle.
In September 1932, leading functionaries of guerrilla units
active in Antu, Holung and Yenchi and other places were
called together for a meeting at Liangchiangkou. The issue
discussed was: Should they wage a joint struggle with the
National Salvation Army or should the guerrilla units fight
alone?
The situation at that time was truly chaotic. When the Jap-
anese troops penetrated Antu, the National Salvation Army,
which until then had been lording it over the people, were com-
144
 KIM IL SUNG

pletely flustered and filled with fear, and increasing numbers of

troops deserted their units. The situation left little doubt among
most of the attendants that they should fight independently of
the National Salvation Army.
The General, however, asserted that they should operate in
unison with the National Salvation Army, and that a joint
struggle would be best. This, he pointed out, would not only
prove to be an advantage to positive activity by the guerrilla
units, but it would demonstrate that like the Chinese, the Ko-
reans were opposed to Japanese imperialism, and more particu-
larly, that the Communists were the most dedicated anti-Japa-
nese fighters. Further, the General stressed that by strengthen-
ing their own ranks, the guerrilla units would encourage the
National Salvation Army not to surrender or flee from the
enemy, under the initiative of the guerrillas.
The General’s far-sighted proposals were adopted by the
meeting as its decision.
Having resolved the urgent issues facing the guerrillas in the
complex situation, taking advantage of the little free time the
General headed for Togijum village, Mouchutun at Hsiaoshaho
to see his ailing mother. It was a long-awaited visit. Contact
with his mother had been lost in the devotion of his entire life
to the formidable struggle, though he had not ceased to worry
about her.
But it was tragedy, not his mother, that greeted him at the
old thatched house in the hamlet. Mrs. Kang Ban Suk had
died, after her many years of deep suffering. The General was
greatly distressed at the irredeemable misfortune. His family
conditions were beyond description. The two younger brothers
had found shelter in dire poverty at the home of an under-
ground activist, and in spite of such suffering and privation,
Chul Joo, the older of the two, was active in a revolutionary
organization, and Yung Joo belonged to a Children’s Corps.
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They went together to their mother’s grave, on the edge of

the hamlet. A tall elm tree stood close by, its branches swaying
in the cold wind.
Was it possible? Why at this time did the heart of this noble
woman, who had lived solely to win a bright future, who had
borne untold hardships without flinching, have to cease beating?
Fate could indeed be cruel.
Why did this brave woman, who had loved her country and
hometown from the depths of her heart, who, fighting so long a
serious, painful ailment, had continued to live by sheer will pow-
er, with a profound hatred for the Japanese aggressors, have
to die without seeing her son, who stood in the front line of
the anti-Japanese armed struggle to lead the revolution?
Bitter memories flooded and rent the General’s heart. He
was with her once again for a moment. He had just completed
organizing the guerrilla units. Finding that there was no fire-
wood in the house, he went into the mountains to get some. As
soon as he came back, Mrs. Kang Ban Suk called him to her
side and reprimanded him soundly. “Did you go out for
firewood because you thought there was no firewood in this
mountain village?” she asked. “You must think only of your
mission. If you truly intend to see the revolution through, you
must give it your undivided attention. If you want to work at
home, then work at home. But you must make up your mind
which you want to do.”
But he was worried about her health, he said. He would
soon be conducting large-troop movements and would therefore
be unable to see her again for quite some time to come. On
hearing these words, she said admonishingly, “You don’t have
to worry about me. Even if you cannot come home, if you
carry the revolutionary struggle to success I will recover. You
must go without fail.”
The General lifted his eyes to the branches of the tall elm
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moving in the winter wind, and closed them again.

Before leaving for South Manchuria to establish contact with
the units of the Independence Army, he visited his mother when
she was in critical condition, bringing her one mal (approxi-
mately 15.88 quarts) of foxtail millet he had bought with money
he had received from his comrades. “You cannot carry on a
revolution,” she said, “if you worry about your family. Surely,
spiders don’t spin webs over the mouth of a living person. You
should not worry about your family in accomplishing the great
cause of restoring the country. You must expand your forces
and fight, you know. If you want my opinion, what you are
doing for me now is wrong.”
These words, more than anything, reflect the nobility of her
mind, her singleness of purpose.
That, thought the General, was my last visit. There came
a new upsurge of decision: He would remain true to his mother’s
noble wish; whatever the cost, he would crush the enemy; he
would lead the revolution to victory. But when he thought how
he had been unable to give his mother even a bow] of warm
gruel, his mother who had not known a moment of comfort or
rest, who had dedicated her entire life to the revolution, who
had fallen ill while struggling defiantly against a thorny path of
privation and threat, he felt only the bitterness in his heart.
But an important work was calling him and the General
could not remain long with his young brothers. So after asking
the master of the house to take good care ‘of the children, he
returned to Liangchiangkou with a heavy heart.
Quite unexpectedly, one day Chul Joo visited the General
and implored him to accept him as a guerrilla. “I don’t want to
live alone,” said Chul Joo over and over again. “Please let me
join your unit.”
Looking into his pleading eyes, the General suddenly felt
deep sorrow for his younger brother. After all, he was now an
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orphan and had to live with strangers. Reluctantly, the General

had no choice but to tell Chul Joo he would accept him as a
guerrilla when he was a little older.
He could see that his brother was very disappointed. He
could not bear to insist that the tearful boy leave right away,
so he brought out rice wine and frozen bean curd and sat face
to face with his younger brother.
The room of the inn was cold with the winter wind. With
the icecold bean curd and rice wine which he had never drunk
before him, young Chul Joo sat silent in front of the General.
Just as he could no longer meet his parents, who were buried
in an alien land, the General knew that he might never see his
brother again.
The General’s heart went out in compassion to the boy. At
the same time, acutely aware that sufferings such as this and
family tragedies are born of social ills, are products of the enemy
he vowed in his heart that he would wreak merciless vengeance
on the enemy, and build a new society free from such tragedies.
The brothers never met again.
The General left Liangchiangkou with the guerrillas and fi-
nally arrived at Lotzukou in Wangching county after a long and
weary march that took him to such places as Tunhua, Emu and
Nanhutou.
At that time, the Japanese aggressors had deployed huge
forces in Manchuria, particularly in East Manchuria, where the
guerrillas were active under the General, in a desperate effort
to annihilate the guerrilla units.
By the spring of 1932, Japanese imperialism had organized
the so-called “Chientao Expeditionary Force” with infantry, cav-
alry, artillery and engineers under the commander of the 75th
Regiment of the 19th Infantry Division, and poured the troops
into East Manchuria. At the end of 1932, a “Manual for the
Extermination of Communist Bandits in the Chientao Area” was
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 KIM IL SUNG

issued by the Command of the “Korean Army,” and the aggres-

sors undertook a frenzied offensive against the guerrilla units.
Japanese imperialism convened a liaison conference at the
Chientao consulate general with the participation of high-ranking
officers and officials of the Kwantung Army, the Kwantung
Army Military Police, the Chientao Expeditionary Force of the
Korean Garrison, the Police Department of North Hamgyung
Province, the Korean Border Police and the Manchoukuo Po-
lice. At the conference, “punitive actions” taken in the latter
part of 1932 against the guerrilla units in East Manchuria were
recapitulated, and measures were adopted for intensifying offen-
sive operations from the beginning of 1933. East Manchuria
was swarming with Japanese and Manchurian troops and gen-
darmes.
What was more, the enemy resorted to the dastardly act of
trying to alienate the guerrillas from the masses, spreading “anti-
communist” propaganda among both the guerrillas and the peo-
ple, with a view to bringing about the collapse of the guerrilla
units not only from without but from within as well.
As the enemy intensified the offensive, their evil forces made
their presence felt in all parts of Lotzukou, and consequntly, the
National Salvation Army, which had up to then been fighting
alongside the guerrilla units, beat a hasty retreat and fled in all
directions.
The anti-Japanese guerrillas were beset with all sorts of dif-
ficulties, but fought on arduously. Not only were they far be-
hind the enemy in numerical strength and arms, but in addition
they lacked combat experience, for no more than half a year
had elapsed since their formation. For them, then, each day
produced new ordeals—ordeals defying description.
In this situation, in December 1932 the General had no
choice but to lead his units out of Lotzukou and head for Mt.
Laoheishan, Tungning county. Avoiding the enemy’s ubiquitous
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“punitive forces,” the guerrillas finally made it to the steep,

snow-covered Mt. Laoheishan, overcoming all difficulties.
In a deep gorge the guerrillas met an old man named Ma
in a log house, which looked like the hut of a hermit.
According to him, troops of the National Salvation Army
were close by, plotting to disarm the guerrilla units. In addition
to the “punitive units” active at the foot of the mountain, then,
the guerrillas were troubled by the troops of the National Salva-
tion Army. To make matters worse, since the guerrilla units were
still not hardened by battles and difficulties, some lost heart
on being confronted with the tense and complicated situation,
lost faith in the future of the revolution. Some, in the meantime,
had been transferred to other units, and not a few had fallen
victim to their hard trials. Some had dropped out because of
illness. So by the time the units arrived at Mt. Laoheishan,
the ranks had shrunk to the original 18 men who, at the outset,
had formed the core of the guerrillas.
Outside, it was dark, icy cold, with a blizzard raging in full
fury. It was late on December 31, 1932. With a heavy heart,
the General sat by a fire. What was he to do? What could he
do? The units were too small, not steeled enough to undertake
bold guerrilla activities.
It was like a small boat tossed about in an angry sea. He
could not see clear-cut ways and means to find out the way
ahead.
Only yesterday, so to speak, more than half of the guerrillas
were still middle-school or college students. As members of the
Communist Youth League, they had considered themselves
daring heroes, dauntless men who could take the reins of state,
but confronted by harsh realities, they were helpless.
“You're the leader, I take it...,” said the old master to the
General, who sat before the fire, deep in thought. “...P'll take
you to a good place. We'll march about 24 kilometres, deeper
150
 KIM IL SUNG

in the mountains, where it’s safe. What do you think?...”

The General nodded in agreement, and led by the kind old
man, he and his men moved to safety.
For a while they stayed there, discussing the future. Should
they switch back from guerrilla warfare, to underground activi-
ties? Or should they swell their units by calling in the guerrilla
units operating in Wangching county and launch into full-scale
warfare? The question posed by his men was a deeply critical
one.
The guerrillas had come to the crossroads—to continue armed
struggle or step back. At that juncture, with revolutionary pas-
sion, the General bestirred his men to struggle and educated
them.
“The revolution, which creates the new, is by its very na-
ture the course of overcoming hardship, isn’t it? We must
overcome these obstacles to liberate our fatherland and build
a new society. All our hopes, our youth, our wisdom exist for
the revolution. Think of the homelesss people. Think of the
enemy trampling underfoot our fellow countrymen. Can we
stand this? Let us be resolute and fight. The people are wait-
ing for us!”
The General’s impassioned words gave new courage to the
men. The discussion lasted several days, and once again the
flame of Marxist-Leninist revolution burned with warmth. The
men unanimously pledged themselves anew to share life and
death, suffering and joy, following the General, in armed strug-
gle against the aggressors. The General went out hunting
together with his men, enjoying himself with them while rest-
ing. As their morale grew higher, they came to look forward
to the struggle.
Under the General’s guidance, the anti-Japanese guerrillas
withstood severe trials and grew into dauntless communist fight-
ers. The firm determination they made in the mountain of
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Laoheishan proved to be a turning point in creating powerful

strength among them and ensuring new victory.
In January 1933, led in person by the General, with bugles
blaring, the guerrillas left Mt. Laoheishan and marched proudly
into Yaoyingkou, Wangching county, bearing a flag inscribed
with the words “Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army,” where they
were greeted enthusiastically by the people.
At Yaoyingkou, the General joined the guerrillas operating
in the region with his own units, and stormed and annihilated
a Japanese garrison, seizing a large number of pistols and rifles
as well as other military supplies. In March, he dealt a stagger-
ing blow on the enemy in the Chiapikou Battle in Wangching
county, where they were feverishly expanding military instal-
lations, and was able to satisfy the long-standing grudge of the
people.
With each battle, large and small, the anti-Japanese guerril-
las grew stronger both in number and strength day by day. By
working out unique guerrilla tactics, they became increasingly
strong and mobile—so mobile that they seemed to have wings.
They had overcome the formidable obstacles besetting them in
the early days, when they were groping in the darkness without
tactics.
Although the guerrillas had a strong fighting spirit from the
beginning, they lacked combat experience and deep military
understanding. They had no manuals on guerrilla warfare and
no books on military science.
Neither the Righteous Volunteers’ Army movement nor the
Independence Army movement left any legacy of tactics worth
mentioning, for they were not guided by revolutionary theories,
scientific strategy nor tactics. Other countries had had the expe-
rience of guerrilla warfare, but this was of little use in waging
the anti-Japanese armed struggle; guerrilla warfare in other
countries was waged with the support of a rear state, and
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the main task of such guerrillas was to assist the regular army
in carrying out operations.
But the anti-Japanese guerrilla units led by General
Kim Il Sung had to fight bloody and long battles against the
powerful Japanese aggressor army entirely on their own, with
no rear of state, no support from a regular army.
So the training of these fledgling anti-Japanese guerrilla units
into steel-like ranks, the methods and tactics to fight and defeat
the enemy—this was indeed a difficult and heavy task.
But even these difficulties were overcome with the high
revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and ingenuity of the genius
of the General, that can truly be called superhuman, miracu-
lous. In the same way that he produced whatever was necessary
for the revolution, the General formulated his strategy and
tactics while fighting the enemy in life-or-death battles.
The anti-Japanese guerrilla units daily grew stronger, and
the units formed under the leadership of the General in Wang-
ching, Yenchi, Hunchun, Holung and other counties reached
regimental strength each in 1933, while the Anti-Japanese Self-
Defence Forces, a semi-military organization, gained immense-
ly in strength.

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4. Bold Negotiations

FRIGHTENED by the rapid growth of the anti-Japanese

guerrilla units, the Japanese aggressors rushed preparations in
every way for “punitive” operations against them. First, they
organized various guards and “punitive units” in Manchuria,
and continuously reinforced the garrison in Manchuria. In
particular, they massed their aggressor troops in Korea in East
Manchuria, and rapidly expanded guard roads and defence
communications facilities along the border. In tandem with the
Chientao consulate, in 1933, the “Governor-General of Korea”
forcibly set up the first concentrated villages’ in Yenchi,
Hunchun and Holung counties, and increased the number of
self-defence corps.
At the same time, the Japanese aggressors staged an all-
out offensive against the National Salvation Army units. While
attacking the National Salvation Army units, including the Ma
Chan-shan’s unit in North Manchuria and the Wu I-cheng’s
unit in East Manchuria, they issued vile propaganda and ma-
noeuvred to create rifts and antagonisms between the anti-
Japanese guerrilla units and the National Salvation Army and
between the Korean people and the Chinese people.
Added to these were criminal machinations of “Left” oppor-
tunists who had infiltrated the revolutionary ranks. They
treated the National Salvation Army—the “‘anti-Japanese units”
154
 KIM IL SUNG

—as enemies no different from the Japanese imperialist aggres-

sor army, and called on the troops to “topple the officers of
landed class, propertied class origin,” to “rise in mutiny and
join the guerrilla units.” Not content with this, they even dis-
armed “‘anti-Japanese units.” As a result, once again the “anti-
Japanese units” grew hostile towards the Korean people, and
late in April 1933, some 30-odd guerrillas led by Comrade Li
Kwang were massacred by them in the Lotzukou and Laohei-
shan areas.
The situation had again become grave.
The decisive moment had arrived: Either the Japanese ag-
gressors would succeed in annihilating the anti-Japanese forces
by forcing the National Salvation Army to throw down their
arms or the anti-Japanese guerrilla units would succeed in ex-
panding these forces by winning the National Salvation Army
over to their side.
This difficult and serious problem had to be solved without
fail for the sake of the revolution. The situation called for a
man who would risk his very life to find a solution of this peril-
ous problem. And only General Kim Il Sung had the ability,
the ingenuity, the political and ideological preparedness, need-
ed for such a difficult task.
At that time, comrades who had been active with the
General in the Communist Youth League were working in the
very midst of the Wu I-cheng’s unit of the National Salvation
Army at Lotzukou, towards the formation of a united front.
But the situation grew worse day by day and they had ac-
complished little. Realizing after much thought that the prob-
lem could be solved only by the presence of the General him-
self, the comrades sent him a letter to that effect.
It was a fact that there was no one at that time
but the
General who could carry out this difficult task.
He had earned a high reputation by organizing the anti-
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Japanese guerrilla units and dealing the enemy heavy blows,

and further, he was well-known among the “anti-Japanese
units.” In the early stages of the armed struggle, he had talk-
ed personally with Commander Wei, chief of the “anti-Japa-
nese unit” in Antu, and succeeded in ensuring the free oper-
ation of his guerrilla units. In the autumn of 1932, when the
guerrillas had advanced from Liangchiangkou into Lotzukou,
Wangching county by way of Emu and Nanhutou, the
General, by convening a soldiers’ committee meeting, solved
problems which had arisen in relation to the “anti-Japanese
units.”
Around this time, in order to increase its arms, the
Wangching guerrilla unit, which had been formed a little
before, snatched away several rifles from an “anti-Japanese
unit.” As a result, the unit was counterattacked by the Nation-
al Salvation Army, and a number of guerrillas were killed.
Further, as the “anti-Japanese units” had beaten a hasty re-
treat, throwing away their anti-Japanese banner when the Japa-
nese imperialist aggressor army had occupied Lotzukou and sub-
sequently intensified “punitive” operations, a number of guer-
rillas were in favour of breaking up the relations of solidarity
and alliance with them.
At the soldiers’ committee meeting, the General roundly
criticized the leftist errors committed by the Wangching guer-
rilla unit and stressed that joint action should be strengthened
with the “‘anti-Japanese units,” that the Communists should
patiently persuade them to continue their struggle against the
Japanese aggressors. Following the meeting, activities with the
“anti-Japanese units” became increasingly brisk.
All this shows clearly that it was only the General who
could conduct successful negotiations with the “anti-Japanese
units.”
In a bold move, the General decided to visit one of the lead-
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 KIM IL SUNG

ers of the National Salvation Army. Anxious about his safety,

his comrades did their best to dissuade him, but he had already
made up his mind to risk his life only in the interests of the
revolution.
The General said to the comrades:
“.. Because of the low level of their political understanding,
the anti-Japanese National Salvation Army now do not
understand our just anti-Japanese struggle and even kill Korean
Communists. But we must establish contact and expose the
crafty national alienation policy of Japanese imperialism. In
this way we must clearly convince them that Japanese imperial-
ism is the heinous common enemy of both the Korean and the
Chinese peoples.
At the same time we should set a living example by our
own deeds and practical struggle, and they will follow us and
fight Japanese imperialism, well inspired by our struggle.
Our task is to persuade and educate them patiently so that
they may take a right attitude towards the people, and this will
correct the ferocious predatory tendency of the army.
A united front with the anti-Japanese National Salvation
Army is possible and its formation is a revolutionary task to
be carried out. It is not the attitude of a true revolutionary to
give up the work because it is difficult....”
The comrades were deeply moved by the General’s noble
revolutionary spirit, his virtues, on learning that he was deter-
mined to defy all obstacles and put his life at stake without
hesitation for the revolution.
In June 1933, General Kim Il Sung left for the Lotzukou
area to visit the Wu I-cheng’s unit of the National Salvation
Army stationed there. The General issued a statement on his
units’ advance into Lotzukou. The General and his men, 100 in
all, clad in new uniforms and wearing heavy cartridge belts,
armed with new rifles, marched proudly in broad daylight,
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 UPHOLDING THE BANNER OF ANTI-JAPANESE...

with buglers playing a march and a red flag waving in the van.
Everything about them appeared strong and lively. Prepared
for the worst, the General had part of his men wait in readiness
in the vicinity of Taipingkou, and with only 50 men he rode
into the camp of the violent Wu I-cheng’s unit, on a smart
snow-white horse, an imposing figure hardened by the harsh
winds of the continent.
Impressed by the imposing appearance of the General and
the proud attitude of his men, the troops of the “anti-Japanese
units” looked on in awe, and even Wu I-cheng and other bigot-
ed leaders were dumbfounded.
The General entered Wu I-cheng’s room. No doubt Wu I-
cheng had already heard of the General’s fine character, for his
attitude towards the General was not so unpleasant, but he was
as arrogant as Commander Wei, whom the General had met
the year before. Of stocky build, and wearing a heavy swallow-
tailed mustache, Wu I-cheng looked like a ruler in a small
country, but on seeing the excellence of the 22-year-old
General, he could not conceal the fact that he was quite
properly impressed.
The conversation went on in a rather relaxed atmosphere.
Wu I-cheng: “I have heard you Commander have been fight-
ing courageously against the Japanese scoun-
drels. You have been fighting well, although
you are not many in number. I'll have to admit
that we are not doing so well, though we are
many in number. I see you are carrying new
rifles. I wonder if you would be willing to
exchange them for some old rifles of ours.”’
General: “You can have them for nothing, because once
we attack the Japanese Army, we will have no
arms problem. So, why should we exchange
them?”
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 KIM IL SUNG

Wu I-cheng: “I hear you are destroying shrines.”

General: “You are joking too much. Why should we
destroy them? That is all propaganda from the
villains intent on slandering Communists.”
Wu I-cheng: “Well, then, do you bow before shrines?”
General: “T neither destroy them nor bow to them. Do
you bow?”
Wu I-cheng: “Neither do I—the same as you. So much for
that. But I hear the Communist Party robs
people of their property. Is this true?”
General: “Well, I see you also have been fooled by
propaganda of scoundrels. It is a sheer lie.
Tenant farmers, you know, are starving, but
you wealthy people are too avaricious. Why
don’t you share some of your provisions with
them?”
Wu I-cheng: “You have a point there.’
?

General: “If the landlords gave food to the starving

peasants, why would they rise against them?
We always think about the people. No one
is more cleanhanded than Communists.”
Wu I-cheng: “Are you thinking of converting me to commu-
nism?”
General: “You don’t have to worry about that. I am
only proposing that you join hands with us in
fighting the Japanese scoundrels.”
Wu I-cheng: “That’s not easy.”
General: “You sometimes fight separately, then why
don’t you join hands with us when you need
it? Who can say you won’t need our help?”
Wu I-cheng: “Yes, that’s possible. After all, who knows
what might happen.... By the way, do you
drink?”
1359,
 UPHOLDING THE BANNER OF ANTI-JAPANESE...

General: “Well, I can, but I make it a rule to abstain,

or it might affect the anti-Japanese struggle.”
Wu I-cheng: “You Communists are not bad people. But I
hear the Japanese aggressors are much afraid
of you. We might cooperate with you, but we
don’t want to fall under the influence of you
Communists....”
General: “Don’t worry about that. Let’s just talk about
fighting against the Japanese scoundrels.”
Wu I-cheng: “Your Communist Party is a ~yangban (no-
bility) Communist Party....”
This kind of conversation went on, seemingly without end.
The General in one way or another tried to persuade Wu I-
cheng to correct his wrong views.
Wu I-cheng was greatly impressed not only by the General’s
magnanimity, his flawless logic, but also by his masterful inge-
nuity in grasping the perspective of the revolution and develop-
ing it well. Wu I-cheng called the General “Commander Kim”
—the title of “Commander” was regarded as the highest in
those days—to express his deep respect for the General. Finally
Wu I-cheng, a hardheaded man, agreed to the formation of
an anti-Japanese united front with the guerrilla units.
So the General successfully conducted his negotiations with
the leaders of the National Salvation Army, thereby bringing
about an epoch-making development of ties between the Com-
munists and the National Salvation Army.
Subsequently, the “anti-Japanese units,” which were scat-
tered in various areas, concentrated their efforts on the struggle
against Japanese imperialism, the common enemy.
From then on, under the supreme command of the General,
the anti-Japanese guerrillas fought shoulder to shoulder with
the National Salvation Army in many joint operations such as
the Battle of Attack on Tungning County Seat (September 1933),
160
 KIM IL SUNG

the Lotzukou Battle (June 1934) and the Battle of Attack on

Fusung County Seat (August 1936), inflicting powerful blows
on Japanese imperialism.
The Battle of Attack on Tungning County Seat was
especially significant. It was the first joint operation after the
General’s fruitful talks with Wu I-cheng, the initial operation
with National Salvation Army units under the banner of the
anti-Japanese united front and the first large-scale battle of
attack on a walled city since the formation of the guerrilla units.
The county seat of Tungning, situated on the Soviet-Chinese
border, was a fortress of military and strategic importance to
Japan in invading the Soviet Union. Within the fortress, there
were a 500-man strong Japanese battalion (the Ishida battalion)
and a 2,000-man strong regiment of the puppet Manchoukuo
Army, as well as a large number of Japanese and Manchurian
police and self-defence corps. The General decided to attack
such a stronghold to deal a severe politico-military blow on the
Japanese aggressors. The General planned also to demonstrate
the might of the anti-Japanese united front and to instil the
conviction of victory in the troops of the National Salvation
Army by showing them the courage and boldness of the anti-
Japanese guerrillas.
The General planned the attack against this walled city
after his talks with Wu I-cheng.
One thousand six hundred troops of the guerrilla army and
the National Salvation Army took part in the Battle of Attack
on Tungning County Seat under the General’s supreme com-
mand. Troops selected from the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army
formed the core of the attack, and from the National Salvation
Army the units of Brigade Commander Shih Chung-heng, Com-
mander Li San-hsieh, Commander Tsai and the Wu I-cheng’s
unit joined it.
The General secretly concentrated the entire army at a point
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about three kilometres southwest of the walled city, and gave

unit commanders battle orders based on accurate information
gained through reconnaissance missions.
Under the General’s direct command, the guerrilla units, or
the main force, were to occupy the Hsishan battery*, where
enemy resistance was expected to be intense, pour into the city
by the West Gate, then annihilate the enemy’s main force by
either occupying or blockading the barracks of the Japanese
troops, so that favourable conditions should be created for the
troops of the Nationa] Salvation Army, who were to enter the
stronghold by way of the East Gate and the South Gate.
The battle began at 9:00 p.m., September 6, 1933, with a
burst of concentrated fire by the guerrilla units against the
Hsishan battery. As expected, assisted by reinforcements pour-
ing through the trenches linking the battery with the fortress,
the Japanese garrison offered stiff resistance. For a while, fire
from both sides was intense.
The General promptly ordered part of his guerrilla units to
detour to the north side of the battery to draw off enemy fire,
and then ordered the main force of guerrilla units to charge
with lightning speed, so taking the battery. Part of the guerril-
la force charged the battery in the northwest direction, and
the main force led by the General, poured into the stronghold
by way of the West Gate. completely blockading the barracks
of the Japanese troops.
Encouraged by the assault of the guerrilla units, troops of
the National Salvation Army swarmed into the stronghold by
way of the East Gate and the South Gate. Street fighting
continued almost till dawn, and by that time most of the citadel
was under the control of the attacking forces. The attacking
forces assaulted the enemy’s munition plant and a number of
arsenals, seizing huge volumes of war materials. Some 500 Jap-
anese troops and about 300 troops of the puppet Manchou-
162
 KIM IL SUNG

kuo Army were killed and wounded. It was a brilliant victory.

But the enemy called in reinforcements and fought on
desperately. Fear-stricken and flustered by this resistance, some
parts of the National Salvation Army began retreating. The
situation took a sudden change for the worse for the attacking
forces for a while. Encouraged by the General, however, the
guerrillas responsible for the main attack continued to fight
bravely in the vanguard, and the self-sacrificing struggle gave
renewed courage and conviction of victory to the wavering
troops of the National Salvation Army.
Having won the battle, the General quickly withdrew the
attacking forces from the city before daybreak. Brigade Com-
mander Shih Chung-heng of the National Salvation Army had
been seriously wounded, and all 20 of his adjutants and order-
lies had beaten a retreat, leaving behind their commander who
was on the verge of death.
The rank and file were no better, and the wounded brigade
commander was in danger of falling into the hands of the
enemy. On learning of this, the General ordered one of his
company commanders of the Wangching guerrilla unit and his
men to save the commander. They ran through a hail of
bullets and saved the brigade commander, carrying him out
of danger, with the result that the officers and men of the
National Salvation Army came to look upon the General
with even greater respect, correctly understanding the Korean
Communists. In the course of the battle, they clearly realized
that the Communists were indeed bona fide anti-Japanese fight-
ers, patriots and noble humanists. Moreover, they became
convinced that only through joint operations with the guerrilla
units could they achieve victory.
As for Brigade Commander Shih Chung-heng, unable to
repress his emotion, said: “I owe my life to Commander Kim.
He is the outstanding Leader of the anti-Japanese armed strug-
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gle. Victory shall be ours if we do as taught by him.”

The brigade commander asked the General for permission
to join the guerrilla units, which was granted by the General.
The brigade commander remained faithful to the General, as
commander of a guerrilla division.
The Battle of Attack on Tungning County Seat not only
demonstrated the might and invincibility of the Anti-Japanese
Guerrilla Army but also offered ample proof of the superiority
of the brilliant guerrilla tactics of the General, who always
took the initiative in battles in adversity.
Battle followed battle. The guerrilla units rapidly grew into
powerful crack forces, steeled in the flames of struggle.

164
 neral Kim Il Sung negotiating with Wu I-cheng, leader of a National Salvation
my unit to form the anti-Japanese united front (See Section 4, Chanter 3)

jeneral Kim I] Sung among members of the Children’s Corps in a guerrilla

hse (See Section 3, Chapter 4)
 CHAPTER 4

CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—

LIBERATED AREAS

1. The General Plans Guerrilla Bases

WHILE surmounting the first obstacles confronting the anti-

Japanese guerrillas, at the same time General Kim Il Sung
went on with the complicated struggle of establishing guerrilla
bases.
Guerrilla bases were military and political strongholds on
which the guerrilla units constantly relied, and bases for their
activities. The need for the establishment of such guerrilla bases
had been keenly felt, to promote the anti-Japanese armed strug-
gle and to lead the Korean revolution to victory. It constituted
a strategic problem in the guerrilla war.
The General solved the question of establishing revolution-
ary bases in a creative way in keeping with the specific reali-
ties of the Korean revolution, the anti-Japanese armed struggle
being the basic route to the accomplishment of the revolution.
Primarily, the General was of the opinion that guerrilla
bases were necessary not only for the expansion of the anti-
Japanese guerrilla units but also for expanding and developing
the anti-Japanese armed struggle. Confronted with a powerful
enemy, the anti-Japanese guerrilla units had no state backing,
no support from a regular army, Korea having been reduced
simply to a colony of Japanese imperialism. Therefore, guerrilla
bases had to be set up as quickly as possible to expand the anti-
Japanese guerrilla ranks, to ensure military and political training
166
 KIM IL SUNG

and rest, as well as to solve such logistic problems as provisions

and clothing. In short, without such bases serving as the rear
from which to organize and prepare military action, there was
no way of ensuring rapid development of the protracted, ardu-
ous anti-Japanese armed struggle.
The General recognized that guerrilla bases were needed as
the strategic centre for rapidly promoting the revolutionary
movement on a nationwide scale. Only by establishing bases,
could the nuclear forces of the revolution be raised and preserved
there, the revolutionary influence be exerted on broad sections
of the popular masses throughout the fatherland to bring the
revolution fast to an upsurge, and Marxist-Leninist leadership
further be strengthened for the revolution.
Moreover, by setting up bases, Communists could be trained
systematically, thereby expediting the preparatory work for
founding a Marxist-Leninist Party.
The General considered that according to subjective and
objective conditions of the anti-Japanese armed struggle bases
should take the form of overt liberated areas and clandestine
bases, comparatively long-term fixed bases and temporary
bases.
The General recognized that guerrilla bases should meet the
following conditions, not only as the strategic bases for the anti-
Japanese armed struggle and the strategic centre for the Korean
revolution as a whole, but also as bases for resolving current
tasks confronting the Communists.
First, they must be areas with the revolutionary masses sup-
porting and encouraging the revolution and with a definite
economic foundation; second, geographically, they must be areas
favourable to defence and offence for the guerrilla units, areas
where the enemy’s rule is less strong and their ruling system
comparatively weak; third, areas favourable to exerting
effective revolutionary influence on a nationwide scale; and
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 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

fourth, areas where the armed force has a certain degree

of defensive capacity.
But in determining the location of the guerrilla bases, in ad-
dition to these conditions, quite apart from the prevailing situa-
tion, the overall outlook on the future development of the armed
struggle had to be taken into consideration.
The General, having subjected all these conditions to scientific
analysis, hit upon the broad and deep forests centering on Mt.
Baikdoo and the ranges of Chientao which abounded in valleys.
The General was firmly convinced that the areas linking
Korea with Manchuria—that is, the areas flanking the Dooman
and Amrok Rivers centering on Mt. Baikdoo, and the moun-
tainous areas and farming zones in Chientao—could serve as the
guerrilla bases. Since Japanese imperialism had extensively de-
ployed troops not only in the cities and farming villages but
even in remote mountainous areas of Korea, and had slapped a
ban on all legal political activities, these areas were most advan-
tageous for developing the anti-Japanese armed struggle and
spreading its direct and strong influence to the whole country,
thereby leading the Korean revolution as a whole.
In accordance with comprehensive and deep-going judge-
ment and plans, then, the General decided to set up guerrilla
bases over a wide area along the Dooman River with Chientao
as the centre—the area closest to the fatherland—in the early
stages of armed struggle, and he chose the form of overt liber-
ated areas.
Geographically, this area was adjacent to Korea, and mostly
covered with thick forests. By taking advantage of undulating
hills, steep ranges and deep gorges, therefore, the bases could
be protected by small forces against the encroachment of the
enemy superior in strength. The Dooman River, which divides
Korea from Chientao, boasted a number of bridges and ferries,
and fords in the upper reaches of the river could be crossed on
168
 KIM IL SUNG

foot, and in winter one could cross the river in any part when
it was frozen over.
The advantages of this area went even further. It was fa-
vourable in terms of the class composition of the inhabitants.
East Manchuria had long been the scene of anti-Japanese strug-
gle by the Korean people. In particular, Korean Communists
had been active in their struggle there since the early 1930’s.
Koreans accounted for about 80 per cent of the population in
East Manchuria, and about 90 per cent of these Koreans were
either poor peasants or hired hands. Most of them worked the
land deep in the mountains where the rule of Japanese imperial-
ism was not so strong. Moreover, most of them had migrated
to the region in search of a means of living, unable to bear the
colonial predatory policy of Japanese imperialism in Korea. And
not a few of them had joined the anti-Japanese movement. They
actively took part in the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggles,
prompted by their class position and national conscience, as Jap-
anese imperialism clamped down harder on them. Further,
this region was the cradle of the anti-Japanese armed ranks,
the first revolutionary armed force of the Korean people organiz-
ed by the General. In this region, under the General’s leader-
ship a new generation grew up in the Korean communist move-
ment and the popular masses were fast being revolutionized.
On the other hand, as far as Japanese imperialism was con-
cerned, in sharp contrast to Korea, the area still constituted a
weak link in its colonial domination system. Japanese imperi-
alism had not yet completely laid a foundation for colonial dom-
ination in the Chientao area, especially it could not extend its
tentacles to the farming villages and mountain areas. It was
about this time that Japanese imperialism, which had occupied
all Manchuria, was dispersing its aggressive forces over a wide
area, in a serious attempt to establish what they called a “new
order.”
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 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

All these conditions made this area most advantageous for

establishing guerrilla bases.
In fact, the General decided to establish bases in the form of
liberated areas in this region, in order to protect tothe maximum
the revolutionary organizations of the Communists and a great
number of the popular masses, who had risen in revolutionary
struggles, from barbarous oppression and mass murder by Japa-
nese imperialism. As the people of this region became increas-
ingly active in revolutionary struggles under communist leader-
ship, beginning in the spring of 1932, the enemy even brought
in artillery and aircraft, burning down Korean communities
and slaughtering Koreans at random, regardless of sex or age.
The revolutionary masses had come to a decisive crossroads
—they could either fall on their knees and await death, or live
and fight for ultimate victory. The people chose the latter path,
that of struggle, without hesitation.
In order to accept and protect a great number of the revo-
lutionary masses, to establish a people’s power, the ardent desire
of the masses, to carry through new political and economic re-
forms and to organize the people into more powerful revolu-
tionary forces, it was imperative that bases-liberated areas be
established. This would also have the added advantage of pro-
viding a mass basis for the expansion and development of the
fledgling Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army, all of which problems
could only be resolved by establishing bases as overt liberated
areas.
Such liberated areas would significantly demonstrate to the
world through practice, that under communist leadership, the
popular masses were fully capable of uprooting the rule of Jap-
anese imperialism and feudalistic tyranny, and of building a
new democratic society entirely on their own.
The General proposed it as one of the important policies, to
set up a powerful people’s defence system and revolutionize the
170
 KIM IL SUNG

masses through the establishment of bases as liberated areas.

Because of their mission, the anti-Japanese guerrilla units
could not confine themselves to defending bases; more often
than not they were required to move out over an extensive area,
away from their bases, to fight. It was highly necessary to arm
the people quickly and establish a people’s defence system with
the guerrilla units as the pivot, in order to defend the bases.
And as the bases were to be openly established and maintained
in the fierce class struggle against the enemy, it was necessary
to win the masses by fully using every possibility, transforming
the bases into fully revolutionary fortresses as quickly as possi-
ble.
The guerrilla bases-liberated areas established according
to the General’s policies played a great role in developing and
expanding the anti-Japanese armed struggle in the early days.
The General later changed both the location and form of
these bases in accordance with the needs of each strategic phase
of the anti-Japanese armed struggle. In the latter half of the
1930’s, the General set up clandestine bases in the Korean-Man-
churian border area around Mt. Baikdoo, and in the first half
of the 1940’s he established temporary bases over the entire area
covered militarily by the guerrillas, thereby continuously devel-
oping the anti-Japanese armed struggle.
After the Liberation, the policy of establishing guerrilla
bases and the experience gained in the practical struggle for
its realization became the deep roots of the struggle to found
and consolidate the powerful revolutionary democratic base in
the northern half, when Korea was divided. It was precisely
because the reliable revolutionary base for the unification of the
fatherland had been built under the General’s leadership in the
northern half of Korea that the Korean people were able to
defeat U.S. imperialism, its stooges and other imperialist ag-
gressive forces, winning a great victory in the Fatherland Lib-
171
 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

eration War.
The General’s theory on revolutionary bases, which had
been tested and completed in the protracted struggle of the
Korean revolution over the period from the anti-Japanese armed
struggle to the present day, is the exemplary creation of the
theory on bases in the revolution. And the General’s theory
carries great significance, both theoretical and practical, in the
anti-U.S., anti-imperialist struggle of colonial and subjected
countries.

172
 2. Creation of a New Society

THE ANTI-JAPANESE GUERRILLA ARMY and Com-

munists, in accordance with General Kim Il Sung’s scientific
policy, mobilized the people and launched into the establishment
of guerrilla bases in the summer of 1932.
This involved a series of fierce struggles. The enemy were
butchering Koreans wherever they went, and wherever the
aggressors trod, blood flowed and villages were reduced to ashes.
The survivors—young and old, men and women—flocked to
the guerrilla units in the mountains.
The guerrilla units prepared areas advantageous for the
protection of the revolutionary masses from the barbarous
enemy. Some consisted solely of steep mountains and thick
forests where there was not even a single hut, but even these
were not safe. The cruel enemy stubbornly chased the people,
firing at them at random, so that day and night, the guerrilla
units went out to fierce battles to beat back the desperate
enemy.
As soon as the enemy was driven off, the guerrillas and
people felled trees and built houses, everyone—even infants and
old folks—participating in the work.
Again they fought when the enemy closed in.
Until the beginning of 1933, though small in scale, several
hundred battles of this sort took place in East Manchuria.
173
 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

Guerrilla bases were set up one after another in the course

of the constant and fierce fighting.
Bases in the form of liberated area were set up in mountain-
ous areas around Tawangching, Hsiaowangching in Wangching
county; in the rural and mountainous areas around Santao-
wan, Ilankou and Shihjenkou in Yenchi county; Tahuangkou,
Yentunglatzu in Hunchun county; Yulangtsun and Niufutung
in Holung county; and around Chechangtzu in Antu county,
etc. These bases covered a vast area in East Manchuria, with
the exception of cities and farming villages along the Hsinching-
Tumen line and the Tumen-Chiamuszu line. The guerrilla
bases in each county were linked by way of mountain ranges
and extended as far as the northern part of Korea along the
Dooman River and the Maritime Province of the Soviet
Union.
But still General Kim Il Sung was not satisfied. He well
knew that these could not function adequately as revolutionary
bases until they were built into truly impregnable fortresses.
Under the General’s leadership, the struggle was waged in
the bases to carry out his policy of establishing a people’s de-
fence system. While strengthening the guerrilla units, the Com-
munists built up a strong revolutionary force with the guerrilla
units as its core, by inducting the people in the liberated areas
into semi-military and various revolutionary organizations such
as the Anti-Japanese Self-Defence Force and the Juvenile
Vanguard, and providing them with education and training.
The para-military organizations in the bases, were made up
of all fine youths and the middle-aged to fight, with the youth
at the core. They systematically conducted military training, guid-
ed by the guerrilla units, and armed themselves by capturing
weapons in bold struggles.
To defend the bases, they were engaged in communication
work, did guard duty, counterespionage, etc. All on the bases
174
 KIM IL SUNG

joined hands to build batteries, trenches and shelters at militarily

important points, pile up rocks to be used as weapons against
an invading enemy on cliffs and high ground.
So a powerful people’s defence system based on perfect unity
between the army and the people was firmly established in the
bases.
The liberated areas teemed with vigour, and struggles were
launched to eliminate the old ruling system, and establish a new
revolutionary power to effect democratic reforms.
The establishment of this revolutionary power was the
most urgent task. Only revolutionary power would make it
possible to stabilize the life of the increasing number of people
flocking to the bases, guaranteeing their living on a new basis
and developing the bases into a firm rear base for guerrilla unit
activities. By enabling them to experience the fine policies of
this new genuine people’s power, the masses were able to form
an accurate picture of the power to be established in Korea
after the Liberation.
It was, however, no easy task to correctly define the form of
this power, since there was no precedent for such power in
Korean history, and since it was difficult to set up genuine power
of the people representing the interests of workers, peasants and
other working people. Those who had no idea of the nature of
the revolution and the form of power compatible with it, adher-
ed to the establishment of a “Soviet” as in the Soviet Union and
liberated areas of mainland China, clamouring for “immediate
accomplishment of the socialist revolution.” They denied pri-
vate ownership in land policy and tried to confiscate even land
owned by anti-Japanese landlords and even middle-class farmers
and turn it into communal property. Such deviations actually
appeared in some regions. Such leftist deviations did great
harm not only to activities in the liberated areas, but to activities
for uniting broad anti-Japanese forces in areas under enemy
175
 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

control, and to the activities with the “anti-Japanese units.”

The General attended the Wangching Meeting in the spring
of 1933, where he dealt a decisive blow to the leftist views of
some persons and showed the right way for correcting them.
The General stressed that because the Korean revolution at
the current stage was an anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic
revolution, the power to be set up in the liberated areas should
not be a Soviet government, but should be a people’s revolu-
tionary government based on the worker-peasant alliance led by
the working class, and relying on the united front of the broad
anti-Japanese patriotic forces, and this power should, of course,
carry out the tasks of the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic
revolution.
The General also made clear the way to correct the leftist
errors committed in the course of carrying out social and eco-
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Leading centre where General Kim Il Sung was, at Matsun of the

Hsiaowangching guerrilla base

176
 KIM IL SUNG

General Kim Il Sung giving a speech to people in a base

nomic policies and fulfilling the line of united front, and gave
concrete guidance on this.
In those days the General set up the leading centre within
a guerrilla base in Wangching county, best suited to assume
command over all other guerrilla bases in East Manchuria, and
he himself undertook activities there.
While giving guidance to the guerrilla units, the General
led the activities and general life in the guerrilla bases, such as
correcting leftist deviations within the local administrative
organs of the bases, a struggle designed to rectify the errors
of the anti-“Minsaingdan’” struggle (as recorded in the next
chapter), implementation of the united front policy, activities
with the “anti-Japanese units” and educational and cultural
activities, etc. The General spoke before the People’s Revolu-
tionary Government organs, or the “anti-Japanese units” and
177
 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

personally visited the headquarters of the Self-Defense Force,

the Juvenile Vanguard, the Women’s Association and children’s
schools to solve their complicated problems.
The General devoted all of his time to his activities, sparing
sleep. He would rise well before dawn and walk through the
forests, often drenched with dew as if he had been caught in
heavy rain. On such occasions, heedless of those who were
apprehensive, he would wring his soaked uniform dry with his
hands, put it on again, without so much as giving it a thought.
Women could not even give the General an extra pair of socks,
not to mention a spare uniform, and this caused them great
pain. But the General just smiled and went ahead with his
work.
The General concentrated his efforts on correctly explaining
to the masses about the nature and mission of the new power
to be set up.
One day the General went to the Szushuiping area and spoke
as follows to the masses:
“...The government we are about to set up is not ruled by
a king, nor does it represent the interests of landlords, capitalists
or other individuals. On the contrary, it is our people’s govern-
ment for ensuring the people their rights and happiness and
for winning freedom and independence. This government gives
peasants land and women rights equal to men and enables
everyone to receive education, work and live in happiness....
To win back the fatherland and live in happiness, we must first
of all fight against the Japanese scoundrels to the very end. Only
by so doing will all happiness be permanently ours.... The guer-
rilla units must work for the people, and the people, on their
part, must help the guerrilla units. If those who have money
donate money and those who have knowledge, knowledge, and if
hundreds and thousands of people unite in one mind and one will
and fight to the end, the revolution will emerge victorious....”
178
 KIM IL SUNG

Thanks to the vigorous leadership of the General, and to the

energetic activities of the guerrillas and Communists, the tem-
porary errors committed by the leftists in the liberated areas
gradually underwent rectification.
The People’s Revolutionary Government was rapidly estab-
lished in liberated areas extending over a wide area. Each
guerrilla base had several district governments and some village
governments at a lower level, and each district and village gov-
ernment had departments of land, military affairs, economic af-
fairs, education, provisions.
The People’s Revolutionary Government announced the po-
litical programme for the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic
revolution, and carried out democratic policies in the guerrilla
bases.
Every citizen within the bases was granted by the People’s
Revolutionary Government democratic freedom and equality,
the right to vote and the right to be elected to office, for the first
time in Korean history. Women were liberated from feudalism
and colonial oppression and given equal rights.

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179
 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

Such political freedom and democratic rights were brilliantly

embodied in life through social and economic reforms carried
out by the People’s Revolutionary Government.
Land reform was enforced; lands owned by the Japanese im-
perialists and traitorous pro-Japanese landlords were confiscated
without compensation and given to the peasants free of charge.
Land, graded according to quality, was granted first to hired
hands, poor peasants and the guerrillas’ families in the rear.
Thus, peasants who had formerly either owned no land or very
little, came to possess wide stretches of land in the bases.
According to a top-secret document of Japanese imperialism
entitled “A Study of Communist Bandits in Manchuria,” peas-
ants of the east district of Santaowan in Yenchi county, were
given an average of 4,800 pyung(one pyung equals 3.305 square
metres) per household.
The land reform was a great event which met the require-
ments of the revolution, realized the centuries-old desire of the
peasants to have land of their own. The peasants were truly
overjoyed. Some even visited the village government to make
sure that the land was really theirs. Everyone was happy, and
everyone worked assiduously and cheerfully. Some old peasants
were so happy that they went out at night simply to touch their
moonlit land.
Further, the People’s Revolutionary Government proclaimed
that it would confiscate and turn to ownership by the people the
key industries owned by the Japanese imperialists and traitors,
and introduce the system of an eight-hour day, relieve the
unemployed and the suffering. This produced a great political
effect on the whole. of Korea.
Despite hardships arising from confrontation with the enemy,
the People’s Revolutionary Government built schools and intro-
duced a free compulsory education system. So even in the midst
of hostilities, children were singing and learning letters joyously
180
 KIM IL SUNG

in log-cabin schools. Witnessing such scenes, adults shed tears

of joy.
At the same time, educational work was carried out with a
view to enhancing the national and class consciousness of the
popular masses, thus cultivating in their minds the fighting spirit
against the enemy and the spirit of self-reliance.
At the bases also, revolutionary publications were issued
quite briskly. Revolutionary publications issued and distributed
then in East Manchuria covered over 500 kinds including the
“Juntoobo” (Combat News), “Kooninsangsik”’ (Common Sense
for Soldiers), both organs of the anti-Japanese guerrilla units,
“Banjejunsun” (Anti-Imperialist Front), ‘“Haibangjunsun”
(Liberation Front), “Daijoong Shinmoon” (Paper of Masses),
“Sonyunsunbong” (Juvenile Vanguard), “Chungnyuntoo-
jaing” (Youth Struggle), “Yoomoolsagwan” (Materialistic Con-
ception of History), “Bimilgongjaksangsik” (Common Sense in
Underground Activity) and “Hyungmyunggayojip” (Collection
of Revolutionary Songs). Publications seized by organs of the
Chientao consulate in 1933 alone amounted to 44,913 copies,
90 per cent of which were published in East Manchuria.?
In addition to the publications, highly versatile and mobile
artistic performances were frequently presented, with a view to
enlightening the people. Of these, “Ropes of Red Heart,” a
dance and play with the anti-Japanese united front as its theme,
“Pride of the Thirteen Provinces,”? another dance and play
on patriotism, “A letter to Married Daughter From Mother,” a
play dealing with the merits of stamping out illiteracy, “Search-
ing for Father and Husband,” a drama dealing with Japanese
people’s struggle against the aggressive war, rich in ideological
content and abounding in artistic value, were particularly popu-
lar among the people.
These performances, made under the concrete guidance of
the General, greatly contributed, as did many other means of
181
 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

propaganda, to making the life of the masses joyful, educating

and arousing them to the anti-Japanese struggle.
The passion to create was quite strong in the guerrilla bases.
Clothing plants were set up, and hospitals were built to offer
free medical treatment. Munition plants not only turned out
the famous “Yungil bombs” and many other sorts of ammuni-
tion and weapons, but also repaired weapons.
The might of the people’s power was truly great. Now that
they had power of their own for the first time in their lives, the
people no longer knew exploitation and inequality, oppression
and humiliation; they fully enjoyed the benefits of genuine
democratic rights and freedom. Enjoying the joys born of crea-
tion and life in an alien land, in a land where the barbaric enemy
still held sway, the people of the guerrilla bases were able to
gain a vivid picture of the new power and the new system to
be set up in their own country. In fact, the experience ac-
cumulated in establishing the people’s power at this time be-
came the roots of the new system and the new power set up in
the northern half of the fatherland after the Liberation; the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is precisely the flower-
ing and fruiting of this experience.
General Kim Il Sung, while further strengthening the guer-
rilla units and bases, sent a large number of political workers to
Korea and the enemy-dominated areas in East Manchuria. On
this matter, the “Dong-a Ilbo” (December 26, 1933) reported:
“...While the police of North Hamgyung Province have
been strengthening strict vigilance over the infiltration of Red
ideology, bared clandestine activities alone during last year and
this year (1932-1933)” came to “an astounding number...”
Also, by sending armed groups of guerrilla units into the
homeland, the General dealt blows at the colonial rule on the
part of Japanese imperialism, and planted the conviction of
victory in the hearts of the people.
182
 KIM IL SUNG

Even according to minimized figures issued by Japanese

imperialism, guerrilla units advanced into Korea on 12 occasions
from 1932 to 1933 alone.’
Respecting and adoring General Kim Il Sung, more and
more people flocked to the guerrilla units and bases, not only
from all parts of East Manchuria but from the homeland as
well. They were workers and peasants and youth and students
who had been steeled through hardship and privations under
the suppression of the enemy. From among them passionate
youth and middle-aged joined the guerrilla units.
As a result of the General’s unified leadership and dauntless
struggle and by the strenuous efforts of the guerrillas and Com-
munists, all of whom had absolute faith in the General, leftist
deviations were completely eliminated from the liberated areas,
and the mass foundation for the anti-Japanese armed struggle
saw even further expansion both in the liberated areas and in
the homeland.

183
3. The General and Members of the Children’s Corps

A LARGE NUMBER OF CHILDREN lived in the guerrilla

bases-liberated areas. They were homeless orphans who had
lost their parents or relatives in indiscriminate slaughtering by
the enemy, the offspring of guerrillas who had fallen in battle,
and children of people living at the guerrilla bases. All of them
were poor infants who had undergone tremendous ordeals, ex-
perienced suffering on‘suffering, and had at long last been saved
by the General and his men.
Although a very busy man, never for a moment did the
General forget, however difficult the circumstances, about these
unfortunate children. He did so not just out of pity. Are
these children, the rising generation for the revolution and the
future of the fatherland, adequately clothed; are they hungry;
do dark shadows cloud their hearts? The General would ask him-
self, extending warm solicitude to them.
In particular, the children of his comrades-in-arms and rev-
olutionaries who had fallen in battle were regarded by the
General as a natural moral obligation of Communists, to be
brought up soundly with affection, deeper even than that of
their own parents.
One day, when the General was living in a small log cabin
in a valley in Lishukou, a fierce battle was fought. Immediately
after the battle he first visited a dormitory of the Children’s
Corps. He asked the director of the Children’s Corps such ques-
184
 KIM IL SUNG

tions as: Were any of the children injured in the battle? Was
there any damage to the dormitory? Were the children scared?
Do they have supper before going to bed? and so on.
The director told the General that there was nothing to
worry about. But still not satisfied, the General personally en-
tered the rooms and carefully looked at each sleeping child with
the gentle affection of a father. The General’s features express-
ed tenderness on seeing that the children were sleeping, each
huddled up in just a thin blanket.
The General took immediate measures. Several days later,
much to their joy, the children found that the General had
given each of them padded winter clothing, cotton quilted bed-
clothes and two notebooks. The children knew well through
what channels and by what efforts these gifts had come to
them. Putting on his new clothes, each of the children said
in his own way, “Now we’re wearing warm clothes, but our
General and guerrilla uncles are fighting in their summer
clothes. They must be very cold.”
The members of the Children’s Corps, to show their grati-
tude, put on a show in the presence of the General before the
masses and guerrillas, and after entertaining them the children
presented the General with a new uniform and a pair of arctic
boots they had sincerely prepared for him.
The General was deeply moved, but refused to accept the
gifts. Although those present unanimously urged the General
to accept them as tokens of gratitude from the youngsters, he
stubbornly declined, explaining that he was still young and so
could stand any hardship, and that he was not in a position to
wear fine clothes. The General then gave the gifts to the oldest
inhabitant of the base.
On another occasion, the guerrillas unexpectedly found some
boxes of Korean apples among the war supplies they had taken
from the enemy. The guerrillas offered the Korean apples—
185
 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

which made them painfully remember their homeland—to the

General.
But the General declined, saying: “Many of the children of
our bases have never set foot in their homeland, not to mention
seeing our famous Korean apples. There is not food enough to
fill their stomachs. Give the apples to them and they will have
a taste of their homeland....”
And so all the apples were given to the children in the base.
The General’s deep affection towards the children knew no
bounds. Despite the tremendous obstacles involved, the General
built schools for them, provided them with school supplies,
arranged things so they would not have to pay tuition. More-
over, for the orphans, he had dormitories built near his Head-
quarters and showered them with an affection rare even among
parents.
The General took care of their health in every season. He
himself stood the bitter cold of Manchuria in summer clothes,
but dressed, fed and educated them with boundless affection
that even their own parents could not give.
This keenest affection for children remained unchanged after
the Liberation. As soon as the fatherland was liberated, he first
of all established the schools of the revolutionary martyrs’ chil-
dren and other schools. Even amidst the ruins after the Father-
land Liberation War, the first thing the General did was to build
schools. It was thanks to the great love of the General for the
rising generation that the nine-year compulsory technical educa-
tion system, the first of its kind in the Orient, was introduced in
our country. “The best to the children”—this has been and
still is the General’s consistent demand.
Indeed, the General has spared nothing for children.
Once, when marching towards Fusung after personally lead-
ing his main force into North Manchuria, he stopped at Mt. Maan-
shan, where he saw a large number of orphans who had been
186
 KIM IL SUNG

deprived of their parents by Japanese imperialism. The scene

was utterly miserable. Fortunately, having been saved by the
guerrillas, their life was out of danger, but the state they were
in was quite a tragedy—they were in rags, had very little food,
and were living under most difficult circumstances. These
youngsters knew neither where they were born nor who their
parents. They were frolicking or clinging to the General in-
nocently, unaware of the pain they were causing his heart.
Adults who saw this scene tried to keep back their tears, but in
vain.
Handing his comrades the money he had been keeping with
him for years for an emergency, the General told them to buy
some clothes for the orphans.
The money had been saved penny by penny by his sick
mother who worked hard day and night. And when he was
about to leave for the revolutionary struggle, she had handed it
to him, saying: “A man must always have some money for an
emergency.”
The General had long suffered abject poverty and difficulties.
But he had never touched the money in any adversity, thinking
that the time would come when he would need it.
And it was with this money that the General clothed the
orphans.
The General’s concern for children hardly ended in material
aid. He was always with children and gave them all the educa-
tion he could.
He not only organized the Children’s Corps in the bases and
took measures for their education and training, but also sent
able members of the Communist Youth League to areas ruled
by the enemy and had them set up many Children’s Corps to
give children revolutionary education and training.
At the Enlarged Conference of the Communist Youth League
held in the spring of 1933 at Yaoyingkou, Wangching county,
187
 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

the General taught young activists the concrete policies and

methods of activities and sent a large number of able young
activists into wide enemy-held areas, including Lotzukou.
Meanwhile, the General frequented children’s schools in
person, and on such occasions, he would give them instructions.
When he visited a children’s school at Shihliping, he sat ina
ring with the children and said:
“Unless we get rid of the Japanese imperialist aggressors
and their stooges, who have robbed us of our fatherland,
slaughtered your parents and made you orphans, the time will
never come when we can lead a happy life. So you must be
firmly resolved anew and harden your bodies. You must think
of your fathers, brothers, uncles and sisters who are fighting
in the guerrilla units, and learn hard.
You are all flower buds of our fatherland, pillars of its
future.
When you are cheerful, we are cheerful, too, and when you
are growing well, we feel new courage.
No matter how difficult the situation is, don’t lose hope,
don’t be pessimistic. Grow up fast and quickly into excellent
workers of the fatherland with conviction of victory....”
The General taught the children what the Children’s Corps’
greeting “Always be ready!” meant. He explained to them
that it meant a pledge to be ready to become excellent workers
who would build a new society of happiness and hope.
The children led their organizational life, determined to
become fine fighters of General Kim Il Sung.
The members of the Children’s Corps not only studied under
the solicitude of the General, but were also engaged in many
honourable activities such as vigilance over the bases, communi-
cations, performances to enlighten the masses, entertainments
for the guerrillas. In this course, the children cultivated revolu-
tionary thoughts and accumulated struggle experience.
188
 KIM IL SUNG

Children’s ingenious performances in particular played an

important role in encouraging the guerrillas and arousing the
masses to the struggle. Where mass rallies were held, they
always sang and danced for the entertainment of those present.
The children entertained not only the people in the bases and
the guerrillas, but also troops of the National Salvation Army,
and helped stimulate their morale in the anti-Japanese struggle.
In 1934, members of the Children’s Corps in the Wangching
guerrilla base crossed the steep Laoyehling Range, went as far
as North Manchuria and gave performances to entertain the
guerrillas operating there, and exerted a revolutionary influence
on the masses. People there were so deeply moved that the
children performed one week longer than scheduled, and before
returning, they were given boxes of cakes, school supplies and
even several weapons as gifts.
Children at the Chechangtzu guerrilla base, who were ex-
posed to indescribable hardships, encouraged the guerrillas with
dancing and singing, even though almost collapsing with hun-
ger. Children at the Hsiaowangching base even engaged the
enemy, running through a shower of bullets.
The members of the Children’s Corps educated by the
General were not only prepared to fight the enemy they encoun-
tered, but even laid down their young lives like flower buds
without hesitation to keep the secrets of the revolution.
One of these brave youngsters was Keum Soon, a girl mem-
ber of the Children’s Corps who was introduced in the “Chiukuo
Hsinpao,” a Chinese paper, and even in the journal of the Com-
intern, and became well-known throughout the world.
Late in the autumn of 1934, Keum Soon was captured by the
Japanese imperialist gendarmerie stationed at Potsaokou. Keum
Soon was a bright girl of strong will and member of the Chil-
dren’s Corps whose parents had been slaughtered by the enemy,
and who had consistently been educated with exceptional
189
 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

affection by the General, and, though very young, was imbued

with a strong revengeful spirit and hatred of the enemy.
Learning that the girl had come from the base where the
General’s Headquarters was, the Japanese gendarmes tried to
get some secrets from her.
But the enemies were embarrassed; the girl told them noth-
ing, ignoring their flattery and allurement flavoured with sweet
words.
Then, the gendarmes began to threaten her, screaming,
“Talk, or we'll kill you.”
Keum Soon opened her mouth for the first time. “You pigs,”
she said, “I don’t want to talk with running dogs like you!”
She spat in an officer’s face.
The gendarme officer grew purple with rage. They had held
her cheap as a child. But the child was very “piquant though
small.”
The gendarmes whipped and beat the little girl without
mercy with a stick. Covered with blood, Keum Soon heaped
curses on the scoundrels. Beaten in patience, the gendarmes
forcibly gathered crowds and dragged her before them. Ap-
parently, they were going to shoot her. The people shook in
anger at the barbarous act of the aggressors.
The gendarmes told her that one word of apology at the
very last moment would save her. But facing the crowd, Keum
Soon shouted at the top of her voice:
“Uncles and aunts! Why do you cry? Don’t cry. The
guerrilla uncles will surely crush the enemy. Fight on vigor-
ously until the fatherland is liberated....Topple Japanese im-
perialism!...”
The rifles cracked, and the little girl sank to the ground.
Keum Soon was only ten years old.
Many publications carried this story, which deeply moved
broad sections of the people the world over.
190
 KIM
IL SUNG

The General brought up many infants into fine children like

Keum Soon.
He selected fine children from the Children’s Corps and
organized them into the Juvenile Vanguard. Members of the
Juvenile Vanguard, a semi-military organization, not only re-
ceived systematic military education and training, but also
performed such tasks as ferreting out spies in the guerrilla bases,
guarding the bases, conducting important communications, go-
ing on reconnaissance missions and agitating the masses, thereby
training themselves physically and spiritually through practical
struggles.
In accordance with the General’s policy, in all the guerrilla
bases and even in the enemy-ruled areas near by, the Juvenile
Vanguard was organized with children educated and trained
in the Children’s Corps, and started its activities.
Later, in the guerrilla units, the General formed the Juvenile
Companies with excellent youngsters systematically educated
and trained in the Children’s Corps and the Juvenile Vanguard
in the guerrilla bases and enemy-dominated areas.
The General offered direct guidance to the Juvenile Com-
panies, and brought up every member into an excellent guerrilla
and indomitable revolutionary fighter.
In this way, even in the days of hardship the children grew
up cheerfully and vigorously in the General’s heart, and while
being hardened through struggles as the new generation of the
revolution, they prepared themselves for a bright future.

10%
4, Battle in Defence of Hsiaowangching Guerrilla Base

THE AGGRESSORS were completely flustered, for the

guerrilla bases-liberated areas in East Manchuria posed a
dangerous wedge in their system of rule in Manchuria. They
hysterically reported that the anti-Japanese guerrillas had “taken
up arms, scheming to penetrate Korea, and, from the stand-
point of Korean security, had long been a dangerous cancer.””!
The Japanese imperialist aggressor army increased its forces.
with every passing day. Their troops stood at 65,000 when
“Manchoukuo” was established (March 1, 1932), and drastically-
increased to 94,100 in December the same year, nine months.
later. Further, 110,000 remnants of the former Northeastern.
Army were reorganized into tools of the Japanese Army. In
addition to these forces, the enemy expanded the puppet
“Manchoukuo Army” and police organs, and were hell-bent on
forming guards and “punitive units” in various parts of
Manchuria. The aggressor forces began to pour into East
Manchuria. The enemy mobilized even the large forces engaged
in the “punitive” operations against the “anti-Japanese units”
to siege and attack the guerrilla bases in East Manchuria.
Meanwhile, the Japanese imperialists forcibly set up near
the bases “concentrated villages,” which were no better than
prisons, and enforced the vicious “Paochia (tithing) System”
such as the “five-household control system” and the “10-house-
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hold group system,” all aimed at shackling the people. Under

the system, ten families were organized into a group called
“Pai,” about ten of these groups constituted a “Chia,” several
of which in turn constituted a “Pao.” According to this system,
the inhabitants were required to maintain vigilance over each
other under police control, and if it was discovered that a mem-
ber had connections with guerrilla units, a group of five or 10
households he belonged to were all held responsible and punish-
ed accordingly. By resorting to such means, the Japanese im-
perialists tried to drive a deep and wide wedge between the
guerrilla units and the people, and in particular, attempted to
insulate and strangulate the guerrilla units and the masses living
in the liberated areas.
In the spring of 1933, the enemy rushed to the guerrilla
bases in East Manchuria with a large force of more than 8,500
men, including troops of the Kwantung Army, the puppet
Manchoukuo Army and the Ranam Division stationed in Korea.
By employing “scorched-earth tactics” and “siege-and-attack
operations,” the enemy attempted to crush the bases at one
blow.
The anti-Japanese guerrilla units and the people of the guer-
rilla bases were faced with a severe and decisive ordeal. The
guerrilla units and the people, however, did not waver at all.
They had no place to retreat to, nor could they withdraw. They
knew they should fight the enemy to the very end so as not to
undergo again the sufferings and humiliations of enslavement,
and to defend their people’s power and the gains of the revo-
lution.
In April 1933, with large forces, the enemy attacked the
Hsiaowangching guerrilla base in the Wangching area, the core
base in East Manchuria. Here was General Kim Il Sung’s
leading centre in the base.
In the battle, the General employed diverse guerrilla tactics
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against thousands of enemy troops overwhelmingly superior in

number to his forces. With the deployment of his troops in a
circular defence line as the main tactics, the General properly
combined with it the main firing from the centre of the base.
At times he made surprise attacks on the enemy, taking advan-
tage of the terrain and moving rapidly, and at times dealt an
annihilating blow to them by luring them into traps.
The enemy attacked without letup for three consecutive
days, even calling in artillery and aircraft, but each time they
suffered heroic counterattacks from the agile guerrilla units and
the helping people who rose as one. The enemy only succeed-
ed in burning dwellings in the liberated areas, and fled, leaving
behind them well over 400 dead. In the Battle in Defence ot
the Hsiaowangching Guerrilla Base the guerrilla units com-
raanded by the General crushed the large forces of the enemy
and won the greatest victory since the establishment of the
guerrilla bases. It was also a victory for the people in the bases
who helped the guerrillas in the battle.
Inside the bases, not only the Anti-Japanese Self-Defence

The Battle in Defence of the Hsiaowangching Guerrilla Base

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 KIM IL SUNG

Force and the Juvenile Vanguard but old people, women and
children as well fought with utter dedication to protect the
cradle of their happiness. In a rain of bullets, the women carri-
ed food and water to the guerrillas, and shouting, the old people
dropped rocks on the enemy from the mountaintop. As for the
boys, hiding behind rocks or in a bush, they sang revolution-
ary songs at the top of their voices in order to encourage the
guerrillas—all their self-sacrificing struggle raised the morale
of the guerrillas.
While the guerrillas urged the people to seek shelter, not a
single person moved from his position. Those who had no rifles
fought the enemy with rocks, even sticks. Also, members of
the Children’s Corps charged the enemy, firing hand pistols of
scrap iron, blowing bugles. The women, on their part, acted
as sentinels. Later, reporting on this battle, the “Chosun Ilbo”
said: “Even children and women, versed in tactics, answered
the attacks of the punitive units with machine guns” in the bases.
Indeed, all in the bases were sentries and heroes.
Having crushed the enemy’s “spring offensive,” the guerril-
la units in each county improved their armaments on a large
scale, and there was a radical increase in their forces. With the
coming of summer, the people in the bases were busy with
farming, and with ample combat experience behind them, and
much stronger now, the guerrilla units no longer confined them-
selves to defending their bases, but vigorously conducted politi-
cal activities and guerrilla warfare in enemy-controlled areas.
It was just about this time that the General held talks with
Field Commander Wu I-cheng of the “anti-Japanese unit” and
achieved the first overwhelming victory in the Battle of Attack
on Tungning County Seat (September 1933).
Several days after the battle, the General summoned Com-
pany Commander Choi Hyun, known as a crack shot in the
guerrilla units operating in Yenchi county, who arrived at the
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 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

Hsiaowangching base with his men. The Company Command-

er visited the leading centre at Matsun and met the General
with deep emotion for the first time in his life. That day the
General told Comrade Choi Hyun about future struggles, talk-
ing through till daybreak.
The next morning, an urgent signal came from the sentry
post that the enemy was approaching. The General ordered
the units to higher ground, and climbing the mountain with
Comrade Choi Hyun, watched the enemy’s moves. Comrade
Choi Hyun was deeply moved on being able to take part in the
fighting for the first time under the personal command of the
General.
The coward enemy’s “punitive units” only fired for hours
at the valleys, and then began setting fire to the stacks of grain
left in the fields.
The General issued orders to wipe out the enemy, and turn-
ing to Comrade Choi Hyun, said:
“By the way, Comrade Choi Hyun, I have heard you are a
crack shot. Now, show me your skill.”
While Comrade Choi Hyun had no rival when it came to
shooting, the General’s request having come at sucha time and
in such a way, he failed to come up with an immediate answer.
It was at this time that the enemy soldiers were about 500
metres away from them—a bit too far for an accurate shot.
Taking careful aim with his Swiss-made rifle, Comrade Choi
Hyun pulled the trigger. And the next moment, an encmy
soldier who was dashing with a torch towards the grain stacks
slumped to the ground.
“Wow! you really are a crack shot,” the General said.
“Now, let me try a few shots.”
Taking the infantry rifle, and scarcely aiming, the General
fired four or five shots in rapid succession. Incredibly, every
shot found its mark. Witnessing this superhuman feat, a sigh of
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awe escaped from the lips of Comrade Choi Hyun, himself a

crack shot. The guerrillas let out cheers and increased the
intensity of their firing. As a result, unable to advance another
inch, the “punitive units” had no choice but to flee.
During Comrade Choi Hyun’s sojourn, the General told him
about the bright future of the revolution and important revo-
lutionary tasks such as expanding the anti-Japanese national
united front into the homeland, the policy for founding a Party,
the problem of rapidly improving both qualitatively and quan-
titatively the guerrillas active in various areas in order to fur-
ther expand armed struggle.
Just before Company Commander Choi Hyun’s departure,
the General presented him with four “Dataigal” rifles (they were
of large calibre and gave out a terrific sound when fired) and his
own amber cigarette holder.
Later, on the cigarette holder, Comrade Choi Hyun reminisc-
ed: “When I received this cigarette holder, I felt a lump in my
throat.” Not only during the entire period of the anti-Japanese
armed struggle, but even after the Liberation, and during the
Fatherland Liberation War provoked by the U.S. imperialists
as well, Comrade Choi Hyun carried the amber cigarette holder
with him and would bring it out for encouragement, thinking
of the Leader, whenever he was confronted by a difficult situa-
tion. Today the cigarette holder is kept at the Museum of the
Korean Revolution, together with innumerable relics and docu-
ments of the anti-Japanese armed struggle.
Under the leadership of General Kim Il Sung, the liberated
areas grew stronger day by day, and the activities of guerrilla
units became increasingly brisk. In response, in the winter of
1933, the enemy again launched “large-scale punitive actions”
against the guerrilla bases in various counties of East Man-
churia. This time, too, the enemy directed the spearhead of
their main attack at the Hsiaowangching guerrilla base, where
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 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

the General was. According to operation plans mapped out

over several months, the enemy threw into the battle a large
force of 5,000-odd men—part of the “crack” Kwantung Army,
the 19th Ranam Division stationed in Korea as well as the
puppet Manchoukuo Army and other troops. The enemy called
in cavalry, artillery and even aircraft, with the infantry as the
main force. They intended to surely bring to a success the
“mopping-up operation” against the Hsiaowangching base.
Surrounding the base from Chiapikou, Wangching and
Mapanshan, they gradually tightened the ring, transforming
the vicinity of the base into a sea of fire.
Numerically superior though they were, the enemy were
nailed down on a steep mountain at the entrance to the base,
because of the General’s operation plan and his ingenious com-
mand, and the heroic counterattack of the guerrillas and the
people.
In an attempt to break through the defence line on the steep
mountain, the enemy threw in more troops, and for more than
20 days, frenziedly launched attack after attack.
The bases were confronted with difficulties.
The guerrilla units and the people did not have enough
weapons to block to the end the advance of the large enemy
forces. Everything was burned down owing to the outrageous
acts of the enemy. In spite of severe cold there was not a single
hut that could offer the defenders warmth, and it was difficult
even to get a handful of grain. Not even a mouthful of hot
water was available for the ill.
Carefully analysing the enemy’s movements, the General
lost no time in trying new tactics. Judging that it would be reck-
less to confine his units to defence in a narrow area against a
powerful enemy intent on prolonging the battle, the General
decided to scatter his troops while the enemy were concentrating
their forces on “punitive” actions against the base, so that the
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guerrillas would deal a powerful blow to the enemy by combin-

ing defence of the base with the struggle to harass their rear.
Giving his men their combat mission, the General said:
“In an attempt to launch simultaneous and large-scale inva-
sion of the guerrilla bases in each county of East Manchuria,
the enemy have even mobilized most of the police and self-
defence corps for ‘punitive’ operations against the guerrilla bases.
As a result, the enemy’s rear is virtually open. What is more,
under the present circumstances the enemy would hardly expect
the guerrilla units to leave the bases and enter into their rear.
At this time we must attack boldly and swiftly the enemy’s
barracks, self-defence corps and police stations and other organs
at the enemy’s rear to deal a sudden blow to them. We must
also attack their arsenals, supply organs, or ambush and attack
the war-material-transporting vehicles so that food and clothing
cannot be supplied to them, and capture the war materials to
add to the provisions for our troops. By so doing, we must
force them to grow uneasy and scared wherever they go.
At the same time, under cover of night, we must attack by
surprise and wipe out the enemy in their camps who wormed
themselves around the bases.”
In fact, the enemy’s rear was open to attack since they had
even thrown the police and self-defence corps into “punitive”
operations in an attempt to crush the bases in each county of
East Manchuria simultaneously. In the situation prevailing at
that time they never thought for a moment that the guerrillas
would leave their bases and appear in the rear. Quickly grasp-
ing this point, the General decided to move the thousands of
inhabitants of the base to a safe spot, and reformed his armed
force into two units.
One unit would remain to defend the base, while the other,
under the direct command of the General, would break through
the enemy lines, which extended over a distance of about 20
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kilometres, and advance to the enemy’s rear.

Following the General’s operation plan, the defensive unit
moved the people of the base to Shihliping, and while protect-
ing them, built positions in the mountain. They deployed on
high ground and in gorges advantageous for their operations,
and counterattacked the invading enemy fiercely. At night, the
guerrillas split up into storming parties and took turns in stag-
ing attacks on the enemy’s camps under cover of darkness,
cutting transport routes and assaulting vehicles. Attacked by the
storming parties every night, the enemy fought poorly in the
daytime for lack of sleep, and after several days the morale of the
enemy troops sank very low.
About the same time, the guerrilla unit commanded by the
General, having advanced into enemy-ruled areas, struck fear
into the hearts of the enemy by storming police stations and
self-defence corps in the areas of Liangshuichuantzu (borderland
along the Dooman River) and Pofengwutung (about 40 kilo-
metres north of Tumen). Also, the unit threw the enemy into
wide confusion by attacking Wangching, the central point of
the enemy’s rear.
Then, afraid that they in turn would be under siege, the
enemy, who had been intent on attacking the base, had no
choice but to lift the siege, which had lasted for more than 40
days, and beat a retreat.
Just about this time, the enemy’s “large-scale punitive opera-
tions” were frustrated by the heroic guerrilla units in Yenchi,
Holung and Hunchun counties. So, in this winter offensive,
the enemy counted well over a thousand dead and wounded,
and suffered a defeat without accomplishing a thing.
The victory of the guerrilla units widely demonstrated how
outstanding General Kim Il Sung’s tactics were.
It was also a practical refutation of the adventurist argu-
ments of the leftist elements.
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In those days, without taking into consideration the balance

of forces or the specific conditions, the leftist elements called
only for continual head-on clashes with the enemy who were
assaulting the guerrilla bases with forces scores of times larger in
number.
If their views had been adopted, the guerrilla units would
have been reduced to the defensive in the struggle against the
enemy superior in force, and both the guerrilla units and the
people would have suffered big losses and defeats.
The General rejected their views. Instead, he worked out
and put to swift and effective use the guerrilla tactical principles
—dispersing the guerrilla units, harassing the enemy’s rear
everywhere and defeating the enemy troops unit by unit when
the enemy made concentrated attacks, as well as annihilating
them with concentrated forces of guerrilla units when they
dispersed their forces.
Later the General’s tactics served to bring greater victory
in the operations by striking at the enemy’s political and mili-
tary bases in combination with the operations to defend the
bases, and expanding the guerrillas’ sphere of operations. Ample
proof of this is found in the victory of the anti-Japanese guerril-
la units in the Tatientzu Battle in Antu county early in June
1934, and in the General-led Battle of Attack on Lotzukou City
in Wangching county late in June of the same year.

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THE CONTINUAL attacks launched by the enemy against

the guerrilla bases greatly vexed the people in the bases. Intent
on reducing the bases to ruins, the enemy crushed everything
under their feet, wrecked and burned everything in sight
whenever they attacked. But each time, those whose dwellings
had been burnt down rebuilt them, and those whose fields had
been destroyed sowed anew, persisting with their lives. To cite
an extreme case, some peopie had to rebuild their dwellings on
the same spots 31 or 32 times in a single year because of the
repeated barbarous actions by the enemy.
The stubborn enemy refused to give up, and to make mat-
ters worse, severe winter cold compounded the indescribable
suffering of the people of the bases. Even in raging blizzards,
for instance, having no bedding, the people covered themselves
with dry leaves. But hunger was an enemy perhaps even more
ruthless than cold winters or than the fiendish enemy, for it
denied the people even a handful of grain, a pinch of salt. It
began felling the people, and simply existing became a con-
tinuous struggle.
The spirit of the people on the bases, however, simply could
not be broken. They selflessly supported the guerrillas and the
power organs, guarding the invaluable gains of the revolution
with fierce determination. l
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Even in the adversity and struggle, the people remained

optimistic, as witnesses the fact that the guerrillas and the
residents frequently held athletic meetings, and played soccer,
not only at the Wangching base but at other bases as well.
The fighting continued.
Beginning about the autumn of 1934, the guerrilla bases in
East Manchuria were again caught in the blazing flames of war.
From autumn to winter that year, the enemy, which had suffer-
ed continued heavy blows in their “punitive” operations on the
guerrilla bases and as a result of their defeats by the guerrilla
attacks on their walled cities, mobilized more huge forces and
hurled them against the guerrilla bases in East Manchuria
almost every day.
Wherever the enemy set foot, everything was wrecked and
burnt down. Houses were broken down and crops about to be
harvested were transformed into a sea of fire. Areas in the
immediate vicinity of the bases were infested with enemy troops
and police. As every village had been transformed into a “con-
centrated village” strictly watched by the enemy, the inhabit-
ants of the guerrilla bases were denied access to food.
Under these circumstances, the General was convinced that
the most important thing to do was to defend the revolutionary
forces and to positively crush the attacking enemy.
He therefore first decided to set up new bases, moving
the people in the bases, government organs and revolutionary
organizations, to comparatively safe spots. From the autumn
of 1934 to the early part of 1935, new bases were set up at
Chintsang, Wangching county, chiefly around Lotzukou, by
the people moving from Wangching and Hunchun counties; and
new bases were also set up in a number of places including
Chechangtzu, Antu county, moving from Yenchi, Holung
counties.
Moving to the new bases was no easy matter, for the hun-
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 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

dred-kilometre trip involved a long trek over rugged mountains

and through dense forests, in inclement weather. But firmly
resolved to rise or sink with the revolution, the people overcame
all obstacles. In order to protect the people, the guerrillas from
each county fought fiercely, staking their lives against the
enemy that blocked their way. In this course new bases were
set up in the deep mountains or forests one after another.
Life at the new bases was quite harsh, too. This was espe-
cially true of the people of the bases at Chechangtzu, whose
sufferings defied all description. Completely exhausted and
wandering about the mountains, they gathered acorns, barked
pine trees and plucked herb sprouts. The situation grew worse
by the day, but no one tried to leave Chechangtzu. Rather than
go down on their knees before the enemy for a spoonful of rice,
they preferred to remain in the liberated areas even though
they died and changed into stone.
From time to time, the guerrillas succeeded in breaking
through the enemy’s strict siege and obtaining food, but this
was hardly enough to put an end to hunger.
Great indeed was their suffering, but the people refused to
touch their seed grain. They tilled their land and planted the
seed sometimes on their knees. When the crops began to grow,
workers of the People’s Revolutionary Government would pull
out a stalk or two, show them to the people, saying: “They’re
budding. Cheer up!” And when they came into ear, they
would carry with them a few young ears and encouraged the
people, saying: “Pretty soon, we can take in our crops. Don’t
lose heart. Only a little more to go.”
They were warm-hearted and brave people. Everybody
greeted each other with words that promised a bright future
for the revolution. Everyone helped each other, and everyone
encouraged the other.
As for the children, they learned how to write at the chil-
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dren’s schools and sang revolutionary songs to the accompani-

ment of an accordion.
They even entertained the guerrillas. One day, while per-
forming before the guerrillas, a boy, singing and dancing, col-
lapsed from hunger. One of the guerrillas rushed to his side
and picked him up. Regaining consciousness, the boy looked
into the face of the guerrilla who had helped him up, and,
gathering strength, began singing lustily and dancing to the
music that went, “Let us throw ourselves into battle....” The
boy was thin and pale, but he looked quite happy, beaming
with smiles.
Profoundly moved, the guerrillas joined the boy in song.
“Let us throw ourselves into battle...,” with tears in their eyes.
How powerful the strength of the people who support the
revolution and love the future is! No power on earth could bend
such a people, who have placed in their hands the fruits of the
revolution—eventual happiness and freedom—who have ex-
tricated themselves from exploitation and disgrace. They not
only learned how to defeat and crush the powerful enemy that
showered shells and bullets on them, but knew how to risk their
very lives without hesitation for their invaluable comrades and
bases.
The guerrilla bases-liberated areas, in fact, were grand epics
of heroes written on the face of the earth with the blood of the
guerrillas and the people.
These guerrilla bases-liberated areas, though strictly sieged
by the enemy, did not so much as budge for four or five years!
During this period, there were many hard, dramatic inci-
dents in the activities on the part of the General that can hardly
go without mention.
In the winter of 1934, leading some of the anti-Japanese
guerrilla units, the General was on his way back from hard-
fought battles around the Laoyehling Range, the boundary
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 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

separating East and North Manchuria. Wearied by continuous

fighting, shortage of food and extreme cold, the General’s troops
approached a lumbermill at Tienchiaoling. It was just at this
time that the General, catching a chill, fell ill. The fact was
that he had overexposed himself in inclement weather despite
he was extremely exhausted.and consequently weakened. The
illness was dangerous.
The primeval forests, unfortunately, were iced over, what
with deep snow and icy winds. There was no trace of any animal,
not to mention human footprints. To make matters worse, there
were then only a handful of guerrillas left to guard the General,
including a company commander, since the main force had
already left. Moreover, several hundred enemy troops attacked
from all four sides with increasing intensity. Without ammuni-
tion, without provisions, the General’s condition grew steadily
critical.
His men were completely at a loss what to do. It was very
cold, and there was little chance of coming across a house.
Guarding and caring for the feverish General who was lying
on a sleigh, then, the men felt great pain in their hearts. With
superhuman perseverance, however, the General, though in a
critical condition, composed poems or wrote songs, in an effort
to cheer up his men, instil new courage into their hearts. Read-
ing the General’s encouraging poems, the discouraged guerrillas
felt new courage welling up in them, with tears in their eyes.
They pledged that they would save the General even if they had
to die for it. Protecting the General and avoiding the pursuing
enemy, they threaded through the thick forests over the steep
mountains, making arduous marches day and night. Their only
wish was to find a safe place for the General.
The enemy, however, had completely surrounded them, in
double, triple rings, and they were steadily tightening the circle.
To make matters worse, it had already grown light. The situa-
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 KIM IL SUNG

tion seemed almost hopeless, but the guerrillas death-defyingly

plodded on in the deep snow. And finally, in the deepest part
of the mountain, they found a lumbermill and a lonely thatched
hut, and in the hut, an old Korean dressed in a Chinese costume.
Thanks to the wit and dedicated efforts of the old man, who
was called Kim, the General and his men narrowly got through
the serious crisis. On learning that the sick man was General
Kim Il Sung, the old man set forth a daring plan, saying that
he was determined to risk his life to save the General.
According to the old man, the lumber station belonged to a
Chinese lumber merchant living in Ninganchen. He went on
to explain that the lumber merchant was to come that very
morning to inspect the lumber camp.
“Several carts will arrive in a moment,” he continued. “So
when he comes, tie us up and beat us,... and tell him to make
a promise to do as he is instructed if he values his life. He’ll
surrender. Then you leave with us as guides. He has con-
siderable influence here, and is known to the enemy soldiers,
so we will probably let you break through the enemy siege....”
The old man’s plan was, of course, ingenious, but at the
same time it involved a certain measure of risk. But apparent-
ly, as there was no alternative, the company commander agreed
to do as the old man said.
Soon four carts arrived. The lumber merchant became a
prisoner of the guerrillas. The rest went just as the old man
had said.
The front cart was occupied by the lumber merchant and a
platoon commander, who was quite a fighter, and the General
lay in the third cart with quilts over him. The other guerrillas
concealed themselves in each cart and prepared for the worst.
Once again, the lumber merchant vowed to follow all orders
unconditionally and did meekly as the guerrillas bade for the
sake of his life.
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 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

So the four carts sped towards the ever alert enemy in the
raging blizzard. And when they came to a checkpoint manned
by armed guards, the lumber merchant simply shouted that he
was going into the city to shop, and the carts rushed on at even
greater speed.
But the point was: Could they cross the bridge, the last
checkpoint, without being detected? Armed soldiers could be
seen on both sides of the bridge. And as the carts drew nearer,
the enemy approached them for investigation. The scared lum-
ber merchant began showing signs of being flustered. This was
the decisive moment. Not noticed by the enemy, the guerrillas
clenched their rifles, ready to fight. The platoon commander in
the front cart pressed his pistol against the lumber merchant’s
side. Gathering up his courage, the lumber merchant again
explained that he was only going shopping at Ningan City.
Why the search? he shouted. And when the enemy hesitated,
the four carts streaked across the bridge like arrows.
So they broke through the enemy’s strict cordon. Pretty
soon the lumber merchant headed separately for Ninganchen.
The kind old man almost broke into tears when he saw the
feverish General in anguish, and told them that they could find
an old Korean at the foot of the Laoyehling Range. The guer-
rillas thanked him from the depth of their hearts, and bidding
him farewell, they headed for the Laoyehling Range with the
General, who was in a coma.
There was a village called Tawaitzu deep in a gorge in the
southeastern part of Ningan county, near the Chientao border.
Another 12-odd kilometres through uninhabited dense wood-
land and they would arrive at the very foot of the Laoyehling
Range. Deep in the forest, they finally found two log cabins
with a spring between them. An old man named Jo Taik Joo
lived there with his two sons, grandchildren and a daughter-in-
law named Choi Il Hwa.
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 KIM IL SUNG

They were originally from Moosan county in North Ham-

gyung Province, but they had migrated to Manchuria to escape
the oppression of the Japanese scoundrels and their puppets,
and after roaming about aimlessly, they had settled down there,
somehow subsisting by working as fire-field peasants.
The guerrillas had finally found the huts after marching
through the blizzard several kilometres. Two of them advanced
towards the huts. It was midnight, towards the end of Decem-
ber 1934. The two guerrillas called for the head of the family.
For a moment, the members of the household, who had been
asleep, were so bewildered that they could hardly answer. Soon,
however, the old man looked out, opening the door, and one of
the guerrillas addressed him politely.
“Please don’t be surprised,” he said. “We are members of
the anti-Japanese guerrilla units.”
The old man sighed in relief, and one of the guerrillas
explained briefly, “Our Comrade Commander has suddenly fall-
en ill. He is lying over there. Would you mind if we brought
him here in your home to stay for a time?”
The old man was quite surprised to hear that the patient
was none other than General Kim I] Sung. “What?” he ex-
claimed. “Why didn’t you bring him in tight away? That was
quite thoughtless of you.” Reproaching the guerrillas in this
way, the old man immediately told his eldest son and grandchild,
Yung Sun, to go with the guerrillas to the General’s side. Then
he ordered his daughter-in-law to boil some water and prepare
some millet gruel, adding that the General was the brilliant
Commander leading Korean troops, crushing the Japanese ag-
gressors.
The snow was knee-deep in the freezing wind, and the mid-
night cold bit deep into the marrow. The party plodded through
the snow for about four kilometres or more. The General was
lying, avoiding the wind, on a stretcher by the dirt wall of a
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 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

crumbling hut that had once been burnt by the “punitive units.”
They carried him back hurriedly to the old man’s hut. The son
and daughter-in-law of the old man put the General down
beside the fireside, covered him with a quilt and got the ondol
heater going. The General’s condition was critical, and everyone
was extremely anxious and looked gloomy.
The General had struggled devotedly to bring light to the
fatherland, and now he was suffering from a high fever at the
hut with no name or number to mark it deep in the mountains
of a foreign land, at midnight in the raging snowstorm. The
hearts of all those attending on the General were extremely
heavy.
As told by her father-in-law, Choi Il Hwa put some honey
in the millet gruel and offered it to the General. The old man
and the guerrillas massaged the General, and soon, perspiring,
the General fell into a deep sleep. Towards dawn, the General
awoke and felt as if he had become much lighter, and to the
members of the old man’s family, who were so happy that they
could not keep still, he said over and over again, “I am saved
because I met your kind family.”
The guerrillas could say nothing, their faces wet with tears,
and only watched the General with joy. From that day on, the
General quickly recovered his health, and never had to take to
bed again. The General was served at the most a mixture of
boiled wheat and millet, wild vegetable soup and bean curd
cooked with bean paste. His men were served the same food.
Eating with gusto, the General praised the family, saying that
the soy sauce tasted good and the coarse bean curd was especial-
ly nice. Every time she went into the kitchen, Choi Il Hwa could
not help crying, so sad was she over the fact that they were so
poor that they could not offer the General any meat dishes.
As his health recovered, the General guided his men in their
studies, and sometimes went up the mountain ridges around
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 KIM
IL SUNG

to have a look at the topographical features. One day, after he

had spent about 15 days in this way, the General and his men
left the family. The snow, which had been falling all night,
stopped in the morning. All the members of the family were
seeing them off. The General held the old man’s hand in his
for a long time. And looking in deep thought at the huts stand-
ing alone under the trees in the woods, as well as at the old
man’s family, the General left these significant words:
“We young sons of Korea are to blame that you should live
a gloomy life here, hidden away from the outer world even in
a foreign country where you have come in search of a living.
But trust us and wait. The day will surely come when we
Koreans, men and women, young and old, will be able to live
in peace in our liberated land free from worry and anxiety.”
On hearing these words of the General who was pouring
love into the hearts of a battered, grudge-bearing people, all in
the old man’s family had tears in their eyes.
After averting his eyes for a moment, he repeatedly told the
old man that it would be better to move to the Lotzukou area,
since the enemy would no doubt step up “punitive” action in
spring. Letting his men leave first, the General looked back
many times, waving his hand, then headed for the Wangching
base, marching their way through the snowstorm in the steep
Laoyehling Range. The General was to see the old man again
about half a year later.
One day in June 1935, the General visited Taipingkou with
the units that had emerged victorious in the battle of Laohei-
shan followed by an expedition to North Manchuria. The vil-
lagers rushed out to the highway and gave the General and his
men a rousing welcome. The old man Jo Taik Joo and his
daughter-in-law, Choi Il Hwa, were among them. They had
followed the General’s advice and moved to Taipingkou, not far
from Lotzukou. Choi Il Hwa saw the General in the middle of
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 CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION—LIBERATED AREAS

the marching column of the mighty guerrilla units, and she

almost rushed out to greet him. At that moment the old man
held her back, saying: “Don’t stop him for private purposes.
He is engaged in a great work.”
That day, the General let part of his men remain in Tai-
pingkou and stationed the other unit in the neighbouring village.
Two days later, the two guerrillas who had guarded the ailing
General the previous winter met the old man on the street quite
by accident. The men immediately reported this to the General.
The General was very pleased, and ordering his men to buy
some meat, he visited the old man’s house with his men carry-
ing the gift. The General found the old man and his second
son, who happened to be ill.
“Oh, Commander Kim!”
“Father!”
The General rushed towards the old man, who almost stum-
bled out of the house in surprise, and hugged him.
The General then squatted on a straw mat in the yard with
the old man and chatted intimately with him. And after
unnoticedly pushing some money for medicine under the pillow
of the old man’s son, the General returned to his quarters.
The following day, the General sent the old man a white
horse he had captured in the battle of Laoheishan. The two
men who took the horse to the old man said:
“This horse was captured in the battle of Laoheishan.
Comrade Commander would like you to accept it as a gift.
He asked us to tell you that though the horse is a bit thin you
could feed it well to use it for grinding grain or ploughing
the fields, thereby doing good farming.”
The white horse gifted by the General, proved to be of im-
mense help to the old man’s family.
The old man fed the horse well and used it in the fields,
but later replaced it with an ox, fearing that it would attract
22
 KIM
IL SUNG

the enemy’s attention, and the following year, he replaced the

ox with a new one and so on. In this way, the old man worked
hard in the fields. The old man would always tell his family:
“We owe our existence to General Kim Il Sung.”
The General, however, still felt indebted to the old man’s
family.
After the Liberation, the General sent men to various parts
of Manchuria to find the Jo family. Finally, the General was
able to locate Choi Il Hwa who was now nearly 60. The
General promptly invited her to Pyongyang. Under the
General’s warm solicitude, she is now leading her happy re-
maining days in a nice house which looks out over the beautiful
Daidong River with her sons and daughters-in-law.
The General’s profound love and the limitless power that
issues from it are truly immeasurable.

213
General Kim Il Sung seeing the mountains and rivers of the fatherland (See
Section 3, Chapter 5)

General Kim I] Sung mapping out the great plan for the restoration of the
fatherland (See Section 1, Chapter 6)
 CHAPTER 5

SAVIOUR OF THE
REVOLUTION

1. Saving the Revolution from Crisis in Person

GENERAL KIM IL SUNG returned from Ningan county

early in 1935 to the Wangching guerrilla base to find the revo-
lutionary ranks in an extremely dangerous condition. Complex
and serious struggles were going on among the revolutionary
organizations and their ranks in East Manchuria against the
“Minsaingdan,” spies organized by the enemy.
After occupying Manchuria, the Japanese imperialist aggres-
sors rallied Pak Suk Yoon, vice-president of the “Maiil Shinbo,”’
a newspaper in Seoul, and other special agents and followers
into an organization calling itself the “Minsaingdan” in Febru-
ary 1932, to stamp out the revolutionary struggle of the Korean
people which was spreading like wildfire. Further, they played
on Jun Sung Ho and other Korean national reformists, who had
become their agents, to organize a reactionary organization call-
ed the “Yenpien Autonomy Promotion Association” and joined
it up with the “Minsaingdan.”
The “Minsaingdan” was an organization of spies serving
Japanese imperialism, and its purpose was to undermine the
revolutionary organizations from within while talking about
“self-rule for Koreans” in Chientao, to dampen the rising fires of
anti-Japanese revolutionary sentiment among the masses.
The Japanese imperialists resorted to all possible cunning
and dastardly methods in order to expand the “Minsaingdan’”’
Zi
 KIM IL SUNG

among the communities of Koreans in various parts of East

Manchuria.
But the Communists in East Manchuria saw through the real
nature of the “Minsaingdan,” and organized and mobilized peo-
ple in the districts to struggle against it. The revolutionary mass-
es who had risen up in the Choonhwang Uprising of 1932,
resolutely fought back under the slogan “Smash the ‘Minsaing-
dan, agents of Japanese imperialism.”
When the reactionary nature and villainous designs of the
“Minsaingdan’ were fully exposed in the course of struggle,
the enemy dissolved it in July 1932 and cooked up a new organi-
zation called the ‘““Hyupjo (Cooperative Aid) Association,” which
continued similar activities. They rallied their stooges—national
reformists and traitors to the revolution—and infiltrated them
into the revolutionary ranks to conduct counterrevolutionary
activities within.
The Japanese imperialist aggressors and their lackeys threat-
ened and blackmailed those members of the revolutionary
ranks who had shady backgrounds, to win them over to the
‘“‘Minsaingdan,” and conducted all sorts of counterpropaganda,
and sabotaging and subversive activities to spread pessimism
among the masses by slandering the faithful Communists in vari-
ous ways. Further, they tried to spread distrust and fear within
the revolutionary organizations by circulating rumours that many
members of the “Minsaingdan” were implanted in the ranks
of the Communists. Actually, however, the “Minsaingdan”
was unable to take roots in the revolutionary ranks, nor was
there sufficient time for this, because as soon as it was formed
the revolutionary forces opened their attack on it.
But, the subversive activities of Japanese imperialism for
some time had an unexpectedly serious effect, and considerable
confusion was sown in the revolutionary ranks. A handful of
factionalists, who had degraded themselves by serving as agents
216
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

of Japanese imperialism, extended a helping hand to the destruc-

tive and subversive activities of the “Minsaingdan,” and aggra-
vated the situation by using the struggle against the “Minsaing-
dan’ for the purpose of their dirty factionalist interests. Cooking
up inventions, the factionalists not only labelled steadfast Com-
munists whom they did not like as “Minsaingdan” members,
but even committed the barbarity of shooting them. This was
what Japanese imperialism really wanted to see enacted. Taking
advantage of the chance thus offered, the Japanese imperialists
instructed their agents within the revolutionary ranks to set the
factionalists against faithful Communists and to do everything
to buy the services of the factionalists.
The villainous nature of the factionalists is seen clearly in
the murder of Comrade Kim Il Hwan, the then leader respon-
sible for the revolutionary organization in Holung county. Com-
rade Kim I] Hwan knew beforehand that he would be arrested
on charges of being a member of the “Minsaingdan.” But as
a steadfast fighter, he did not act the coward and try to save his
own life. Determined to fight to the last, he continued, even
under arrest, to struggle against the heinous designs of the fac-
tionalists.
The factionalists arranged a mass court trial for him, at
which they declared, “This fellow does not confess, because he
is boss of the ‘Minsaingdan,’” and read aloud a forged charge
sheet. Undaunted, Comrade Kim Il Hwan refuted on the spot all
the charges brought against him and turning the tables on them,
exposed the criminal acts of the factionalists who had degraded
themselves by becoming stooges of Japanese imperialism. Taken
by surprise, the factionalists summarily sentenced him to be
shot. However, not only the people of the guerrilla base who
heard him, but even men of the National Salvation Army pro-
tested the sentence, with their guns raised above their heads.
Under pressure of the masses, the factionalists were forced to
Zhe
 KIM IL SUNG

withdraw the death sentence passed on Comrade

Kim Il Hwan.
But, pretending to transfer him to another place, they murdered
him.
In this way, not a few Communists who had participated in
the revolutionary struggle since the first days of the guerrilla
units and had been fighting with great courage, were ruthlessly
murdered by the factionalists. Those who were falsely charged
with being “Minsaingdan’” members, died, shouting at the top
of their voices, “Long live Korean independence!” “Long live
the victory of the revolution!”
It was nationalistic “Left” adventurism of great-power chau-
vinists whose main business was to interfere in and oppose
the revolutionary movement of other countries that distorted
the struggle against the “Minsaingdan” into an undescribably
criminal and bloody affair.
The great-power chauvinists, poisoned by the venom of nar-
row national chauvinism, blindly followed what the factionalists
said and did, and seriously endangered the cause of the revolu-
tion. Ideologically maimed and politically immature, they sum-
marily shot without investigation or confirmation any whom
the factionalists branded as “Minsaingdan’” members. Further,
they organized a “Purge Work Committee” in each county in
East Manchuria and set the committee to compete with each
other in achieving better results in their purge, bringing the
struggle against the “Minsaingdan” into a blind alley.
At the same time, narrow-minded nationalistic great-power
chauvinists came out with the question of cadres, uncondition-
ally rejecting the Korean revolutionaries and trying to expel
them from their positions of leadership.
This harmful action, coupled with the struggle against “ Min-
saingdan,” created the danger of destroying the revolutionary
ranks. Terrible indeed was the gruesome harm done to the
revolutionary struggle, caused by great-power chauvinism and
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 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

factionalism.
This link between the narrow-minded national chauvinists
and the factionalists greatly helped the designs and manoeuvres
of Japanese imperialism to destroy the Korean communist
movement from within.
The following top-secret document of Japanese imperialism
makes this clear.
“The Minsaingdan, whose main purpose was to suppress
the communist movement, consisted of Koreans....It started a
movement to stamp out communism, but no special result was
achieved in its practical work. However, the formation of the
Minsaingdan had a really important effect on the communist
camp....
...Factional questions were considered in association with the
activities of Minsaingdan members who had infiltrated them-
selves into the communist camp. Suspicion and fear were rife
among them...and a state of panic was caused. Such being the
case, the word Minsaingdan continued to be used as a name
for an anti-communist organization even after its dissolution
and formation of the Hyupjo Association.”'
The ranks of Korean Communists, tempered for many years
in the flames of armed struggle, were dealt a heavy blow and
brought to a very dangerous state. Indeed, the key question be-
came how the struggle against the “Minsaingdan” was to be
led and waged. The whole future of the Korean revolution de-
pended on this.
With the parochial-minded national chauvinists plunging the
Korean revolution into crisis in cooperation with the factional-
ists, the vital question was to firmly uphold Juche of the revolu-
tion. In other words, the tense situation demanded that the de-
signs and manoeuvres of Japanese imperialism be smashed and
“Left” adventurism be overcome as quickly as possible so that
the cause of the Korean revolution might be saved in this crisis.
219
 KIM IL SUNG

No one but General Kim Il Sung was equal to the task of

solving this fundamental question. All were anxiously looking
forward to his return.
It was at that time that the General returned to the Wang-
ching guerrilla base, cutting his way through the encirclement.
All people turned their eyes to General Kim Il Sung who
stood in the van of struggle, prepared to risk his life to save the
revolution in the crisis.
The narrow-minded national chauvinists arbitrarily decided
that 80 to 90 per cent of the Korean Communists engaged in
revolutionary activities in East Manchuria were “Minsaingdan”
members.
The General took a resolute stand against this. He refuted
this view, pointing out that “there is no doubtful member of any
unit under my command, and that “all my men are trustwor-
thy.” “Scientifically,” he said, “if an alien element in any object
exceeds 80 per cent, whatever it may be, in the conflict between
the old and the new, such object can no longer be said to exist
in its original state.” He added, “If 80 to 90 per cent of the
guerrillas are ‘Minsaingdan’ members, they ought to be no
longer guerrillas but forces which have long since turned into
enemies.”
The General’s clear-cut argument could not be refuted, but
still the narrow-minded national chauvinists did not retract their
irresponsible statements.
Later, sharply different views were expressed concerning
the struggle against the “Minsaingdan’ at the Tahuangwai
Meeting held in Wangching county from the end of February
to the beginning of March 1935.
The bigoted national chauvinists held a majority at the meet-
ing, and argued that factional struggles between the Korean
nationalists and the Communists were the cause of the appear-
ance of the “Minsaingdan” in East Manchuria, and drew the
220
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

rash conclusion that all those who had once been engaged in
the nationalist movement in Korea or had taken part in revolu-
tionary activities before 1930, were all “Minsaingdan” members
or allied with them, and that 80 to 90 per cent of the Korean
Communists in East Manchuria were either members of the
“Minsaingdan’ or closely related to it. Further they went so far
as to assert that the composition of cadres must be changed in
connection with the “Minsaingdan’’ question.
In other words, they demanded that the leadership of the
revolutionary organizations in East Manchuria, consisting most-
ly of Koreans, be replaced by Chinese.
This was a serious challenge to the Korean revolution and
the Korean Communists. The atmosphere was tense and no
cadre present there was able to express their correct views, as
it was clear that if anyone should speak against the national
chauvinists, he would immediately be branded as a “Minsaing-
dan” member and executed. The hearts of all present were
burning with indignation, but no one dared to speak. The
atmosphere was such that, no one, afraid of death, without
conviction, invincible courage or decision to risk his life to de-
fend truth and save the Korean revolution, could speak out a
divergent view. But even this atmosphere, oppressive and tense
as it was, which pervaded this conference, did not deter the
General, who carried the destiny of the Korean revolution on
his shoulders.
Rising up in indignation and taking the floor, the General
refuted their arguments one by one and proposed practical meas-
ures to remedy the situation. First, the General gave a clear
explanation of the root-cause of the formation of the “Minsaing-
dan.” Pointing out that the “Minsaingdan’” was cooked up by
the Japanese imperialists and their agents who were hell-bent
on undermining the revolutionary organizations from within,
and suppressing the revolutionary movement, he went on:
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 KIM IL SUNG

“Can we condemn all as factionalists merely because they

once took part in nationalist movements? Among them are
Hong Bum Do and many other fine people who fought consci-
entiously for national independence. Further, even if in the past
a nationalist did not understand Marxism, it is good for him
now to grasp Marxism correctly, re-educate himself and devote
himself to the communist movement. We cannot condemn them
only because they were once nationalists. Not all who once
participated in the nationalist movement can be ‘Minsaingdan’
members or be condemned as agents of Japanese imperialism.
The same may be said of factionalists. We hate the faction-
alists who did immeasurable damage to the Korean communist
movement, and naturally we should fight them. But even in
the 1920’s most of the factionalists were found only in the lead-
ership of the Korean communist movement. Therefore, we
cannot assert that all Korean Communists who were active in
the 1920’s, are factionalists, merely because they once belonged
to some faction or another.
If we brand as ‘Minsaingdan’ members all those who had
once belonged to some faction or other, our revolutionary ranks
would suffer a tremendous loss.
All our comrades must trust each other and judge each
other’s work through practical activities. It is not worthy of a
Communist to suppose that a man who committed an error in
the past, is still untrustworthy or to condemn him as a ‘Minsaing-
dan member without proof and to view him through a col-
oured glass.... If 80 to 90 per cent of the Communists engaged
in activities in East Manchuria were ‘Minsaingdan’ mem-
bers, how could they have endured the rigours of winter for
three or four years without adequate clothes and sufficient food
and without shelter at our guerrillla bases? A child of three or
four years could answer this question.
Further, if 80 to 90 per cent of them were ‘Minsaingdan’
ae,
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

members, how is it possible for us even to hold this meeting?

If only eight to nine per cent, not 80 to 90 per cent of the guer-
rilla units who defended the areas around Tahuangwai were
‘Minsaingdan’ members, it would not be possible for us to hold
this meeting or rest here without worry. We remember many
of our comrades falsely charged with being ‘Minsaingdan’ mem-
bers, displaying a noble spirit, not capitulating before the enemy
even when they were sure they would be killed. You must have
seen many times your fellow fighters branded as ‘Minsaingdan’
member dying with shouts, ‘Long live the Communist Party!’
‘Long live Korean independence!’ ‘Long live the revolution of
the Korean and Chinese peoples!’ Can you really call these men
‘Minsaingdan members?”
No one at the meeting could either refute the General’s clear
analysis or answer his sharp questions. The bigoted national
chauvinists and factionalists were in a tight corner. The General
continued to criticize them, saying that ultra-leftist error in
the struggle against the “Minsaingdan’ would only profit Jap-
anese imperialism, and strongly demanded that this serious
error should be corrected without delay.
Even though the narrow-minded national chauvinists were a
majority at the meeting, they were unable to launch a frontal
attack on the General’s clear-cut statements, which were based
on his deep understanding of Marxism-Leninism and on a
clear interpretation of historical realities. Some of them contin-
ued only to make preposterous and unreasonable statements, ob-
stinately refusing to admit their error.
It was no easy task for one person to defend truth against
an overwhelming majority and to fight squarely against them
and persist in his cause.
And the General took the floor scores of times at the meet-
ing which continued for 10 days, and developed his arguments
logically to refute the charges of the opposition.
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 KIM IL SUNG

The principled ideological struggle of the General by its

correctness struck terror into their hearts.
After all, they had failed to refute the General’s argument,
for no one could deny the unshakable prestige of the General
or the integrity of his revolutionary struggle. They all knew
well that the General had established his prestige as the Leader
of the revolutionary movement since his activities in the Com-
munist Youth League as a student of the Yuwen Middle School,
and that he had never belonged to a factional group. Particular-
ly, it was quite impossible for them to rashly attack the General,
the founder and the Leader of the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army
tempered and expanded through many years of armed struggle.
The General’s principled and resolute struggle dealt a smash-
ing blow at the schemes and designs of the narrow-minded
national chauvinists at the meeting.
The General again dealt a heavy blow at the wilful ma-
noeuvres of the national chauvinists at the Yaoyingkou Meeting’
held in Wangching county late in March 1935. He again point-
ed out that the enemies, in order to split the revolutionary
ranks, resorted to all kinds of tricks to enable their agents to
spread the rumour that there are a lot of “Minsaingdan” mem-
bers among them, and to make the Communists distrust each
other. This correct stand of the General provided the powerful
guiding principle to correct this error in the anti-“Minsaing-
dan” struggle and to overcome the resultant crisis that would
have defeated the Korean revolution. The arrogant and paro-
chial national chauvinists and factionalists who were frantically
engaged in factional activities under the shelter of chauvinists,
suffered a serious setback, and the ugly nature of their work
was fully exposed to public view.
The resolute struggle of the General to overcome “Left”
adventurism in the anti-“Minsaingdan’ struggle was also a
patriotic and principled struggle to hold fast to Juche in the
224
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

Korean revolution.
Since the early days of his struggle during which he put for-
ward the line of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, a thorough-
going Juche line, General Kim Il Sung has steadfastly upheld
the independent position of the Korean revolution. Throughout
the anti-Japanese armed struggle, the General solved all the
complex and difficult questions in an original way based on
Juche, including questions of strategy and tactics to be applied
in the Korean revolution and concrete questions of guerrilla
warfare.
It is because of this that the General did not hesitate to grap-
ple squarely with the crisis of the Korean revolution when the
internal forces of the Korean revolution fostered by him for many
years were in crisis due to the activities of the bigoted national
chauvinists and factionalists. By this principled and resolute
struggle of the General, a major obstacle in the way of the
Korean revolution was removed and a bright road opened
again ahead of the Korean people.
The reputation of General Kim II Sung rose higher, as the
Communists and people paid him boundless respect, because he
rose to defend truth and did not hesitate to make a sacrifice to
save the Korean revolution in the crisis. Hearing the results of
the Tahuangwai and Yaoyingkou Meetings, people felt all their
oppressive thoughts dispelled at one stroke.
“We are saved!” “How well he understands how we feel!”
“Now, everything will be all right.” Deeply moved, they were
all the more confident again of victory. The figure of the great
Leader, General Kim Il Sung, who had saved the Korean revo-
lution in time of crisis, was deeply imprinted in their hearts, and
all the more they respected and adored the wise Leader General
Kim Il Sung.
The General not only gave hope and courage to the people,
illumining the future course of the Korean revolution, he firmly
225
 KIM IL SUNG

established the prestige and authority of the Korean Commu-

nists through his practical activities.
Leftist deviations in the anti-“Minsaingdan” struggle per-
sisted for some time even after the Yaoyingkou Meeting. Ad-
venturism was shattered ideologically and theoretically at the
meetings, but it was still difficult to root it out as it was deep-
ly rooted.
The bigoted national chauvinists sent a messenger to the
General-led guerrilla unit which was holding a meeting to cele-
brate the victory in the Laoheishan Battle, demanding that a
young guerrilla be surrendered to them, saying that material
evidence proving that he was a ‘““Minsaingdan’” member had
been produced.
This was an absurd demand, and the General resolutely
refused to surrender him, saying:
“The comrade valiantly fought the enemy at the risk of his
life in the Laoheishan Battle. It can never be that such a com-
rade is a ‘Minsaingdan’ member. I in the front line know
members of the guerrilla units I command better than anyone
in the rear, and I am convinced that he is not a ‘Minsaingdan’
member, and I therefore cannot in any circumstances surren-
der him!”
The General developed the struggle to overcome “Left” ad-
venturism in the anti-“Minsaingdan” struggle and its evil ef-
fects by strengthening the unity, cohesion and fighting capacity
of the armed struggle ranks. The principle the General always
upheld in the struggle was that a revolutionary comrade must
always be deeply trusted.
The General attached greatest importance to the revolution-
ary belief that comrades must be trusted, and maintained that
guerrillas must be tested in the course of their practical struggle
because suspicion and distrust were widespread over the “Min-
saingdan’”’ question.
226
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

In the unit led by the General was a guerrilla whom they

charged with being a ““Minsaingdan” member. He was consid-
ered a faithful member of the unit, but the charge was that he
intended to attempt the life of the General. This, the General
did not believe. So, he gave a gun to this member of the unit
charged with the dangerous intention, telling him to go into the
county held by the enemy and capture an agent of Japanese
imperialism. At that time, he proposed to go without a gun,
saying that if he failed in the mission, he would lose the precious
gun. But the General insisted and gave him the gun. The guer-
rilla unit member, who left with the gun as instructed by the
General, buried it in the ground on the way and went into the
enemy area, where he captured an agent, and returned to the
base. The General ordered him to lay an explosive in a railway
bridge to blow it up. He did not hesitate to undertake the diffi-
cult work. He later went into a fierce battle, as a member ona
forlorn hope, and fought courageously even though he was
seriously wounded. The General became more and more con-
vinced after these tests that he was not a “Minsaingdan” mem-
ber, a subversive element nor a saboteur, and saved him from
danger, protecting him from the extreme leftists who wanted
to brand him as a “Minsaingdan” member.
The General not only acted this way himself but also train-
ed his men so that they might trust revolutionary comrades.
At one time, a cook called “Mother Chulgoo” was assigned to
the Headquarters.
Before he was aware of it, doubt was spread among the unit
members about her: Why was she made a cook for the Head-
quarters after her husband had been charged with being a mem-
ber of the “Minsaingdan’ and after she herself had been put on
trial? The unit members of the Headquarters wondered what
they should do. If they told this to the Comrade Commander,
it was almost sure they would be told to let her work on as cook
22.
 KIM IL SUNG

and to re-educate her. It would be different, they felt, if she were

working in a different place. They felt they should not let her
work so near to the Comrade Commander... So, they transfer-
red her to a different post while the General was away from
the base in battle.
The General returned several days later, and when giving
out spoils to the unit members, the General separated a length
of cloth from other articles, and said:
“...Let Mother Chulgoo have a new dress.... She is old. Her
dress is so patched up that she seems to be ashamed of appear-
ing in public.... She had been teased by bad people in various
ways so she may be a little cross-grained.... We should take a
friendly attitude to her as though she is our sister or mother,
and take more care of her....”
Hearing the General speak affectionately and trustfully about
Mother Chulgoo as a revolutionary comrade, the members at
the Headquarters hung their heads, feeling guilty for what
they had done. What they had done was unforgivable when
the General was stressing so much the need to trust revolution-
ary comrades, to love and help each other, and they frankly
told the General what they had done about the cook. Hearing
them out, the General taught as follows:
“...I really don’t know all about Mother Chulgoo, either. I
only believe in her will to fight faithfully for the revolution....It
is more necessary for a revolutionary than for any other people
to do work with people well. To find fault with other people
first, to be prejudiced against other people, or to find defects in
others—this does not always mean acting with vigilance.
If we suspect all people and do nothing but find fault, we
shall suspect ourselves in the end. We cannot make revolution
in this state. If you take a suspicious look at everyone and if
all people look dangerous to you, no one would be able to sleep
soundly even with a sentinel on duty, fearful of attack by others,
228
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

and everyone will be hesitating to eat food prepared by others,

fearful of death. In such a state, no one will be able to breathe,
let alone make revolution. This is a case of ‘suspicion creating
bogies.’ Even if she were a ‘Minsaingdan’ member or under its
influence, are we Communists incapable of dealing with this
properly and overcoming it?... If you are concerned too much
about appearances, shadowing people, you will be unable to find
the process of putrefaction within them. Within is the genuine
human being and it is only after you find what is the disease
inside a person that you can cure the disease. You should not
lose yourself in hating your friends more than Japanese imperi-
alism, and don’t be quack doctors who kill patients, trying to
heal a rash. To cure one person, to bring a few people to the
right way, to influence hundreds and thousands of people and
win them to our side—this is the work style and attitude of
Communists who are trying to bring about great change....”
The General immediately instructed that Mother Chulgoo
be assigned again to the Headquarters.
There were still lingering evil effects of the anti-“Minsaing-
dan” struggle in the spring of 1936. During the march from
North Manchuria to the southwestern part of Mt. Baikdoo a-
long the Amrok River, the General formed a new division in
Fusung, and took a regiment of a division stationed there and
transferred it to the new division. The political commissar of
the division complained that since the good members of the
company had been picked out, the remaining 100 or so were
troublesome elements who were suspected of being “Minsaing-
dan” members, and were given only three bullets each and
were withdrawn from the fighting ranks in case of a battle.
But the General put all those 100-odd men into the new
division without any hesitation. Overwhelmed by this action,
the political commissar produced a bulky bundle of documents
related to charges of being “Minsaingdan’” members, saying
229,
 KIM IL SUNG

with a serious look that it was impossible to include them in

the fighing ranks unless they were examined thoroughly for
a long time.
But the General gladly accepted the 100-odd men and held
a conference.
They unanimously complained to the General about their
wretched treatment. After hearing their complicated feelings,
the General concluded as follows:
“Tt is difficult to decide now which of you are ‘Minsaing-
dan members and which are not, for no one can prove it. But
what I can declare definitely here and now is that there is no
‘Minsaingdan’ member here, because all of you say that you
are not ‘Minsaingdan’ members. There may be some who
were once ‘Minsaingdan’ members, but such people may well
start a new life now as non-‘Minsaingdan’ members. Those
who have never been ‘Minsaingdan’ members are out of the
question, as they have been falsely charged. Those who have
been ‘Minsaingdan’ members and others who are not, will
start from scratch from today. We will never take issue with
your past records.... I believe in your determination to fight for
the cause of revolution more than I believe in a bundle of docu-
ments called ‘statements,’ ‘affidavits’ or ‘material evidence.’ ”
The members of the unit, who heard him, broke down, over-
whelmed with happiness, like fishermen saved from a storm after
they have been despairing of their lives, tossed in a raging sea.
The General opened the bundle of documents on which
their eyes were focussed. But no one was afraid of the docu-
ments any longer. The documents, which had been a night-
mare to them only a while ago, were now but a heap of hateful
scraps of paper awaiting judgement in a court of justice before
the eyes of the General.
The General set the documents ablaze without any hesita-
tion, and the venomous papers prepared by the dirty national
230
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

chauvinists, which had been damaging the revolution and its

fighters, were reduced to a handful of ashes in the raging flames.
The men, staring at the flames, began to sob, overwhelmed
with emotion. They had had no one to appeal to, were mal-
treated and threatened on groundless charges, and now were
unable to repress their welling tears at the General’s broad
and deep love for his revolutionary comrades and his boundless
confidence in them.
There were no dropouts from these men. As faithful fight-
ers, they were united like One man around their Leader and
devoted themselves wholly to the cause of the liberation of their
fatherland and to the victory of the revolution.
Countless episodes are told of the struggle to stamp out the
evil effects of the distrust, estrangement and antagonism among
the comrades, caused by the manoeuvres of the enemy and
the “Left” chauvinists in the struggle against the “Minsaing-
dan’ and of the struggles to restore sound and principled unity
in the armed ranks.
In this way, the “Left” adventurism of the bigoted nationa]
chauvinists was mostly destroyed, and its evil effects were elim-
inated by the principled struggle of the General. At the same
time, the factionalists who had plagued the Korean communist
movement were completely removed from then on from the
ranks of the anti-Japanese armed struggle led by the General.
This paved the way for the Korean revolution to overcome its
crucial ordeal and proceed along a broad road to development.
Indeed, the struggle to overcome leftist errors in the anti-
“Minsaingdan’ struggle was a historic event that paved the way
for the maintenance of Juche in the Korean revolution and
for its sound development. But for the General’s devoted and
principled struggle, the Korean revolution would have lost its
life and it would not have been possible to expect a shining vic-
tory and glory of the protracted anti-Japanese armed struggle.
ZIA
2. Collapse of the Puppet Manchoukuo Army

THERE was a person called “(Company Commander Chen”

in the People’s Revolutionary Government of the Tahuangwai
guerrilla base. He was formerly a company commander in the
puppet Manchoukuo Army, and came over to the side of the
revolution under the influence of the guerrillas, wiping out his
past shameful life.
But “Company Commander Chen” was despondent for
some time, doubting whether the Communists really believed in
him or not.
Looking back on his past in which he even engaged in “pu-
nitive” operations against the guerrillas as an officer of the pup-
pet Manchoukuo Army, he thought he would never be forgiv-
en. This was not to be wondered at, as he had long been
hoodwinked by the propaganda of the enemy and did not know
the truth about the revolution or what a real Communist was.
He even misunderstood innocent jokes by comrades and
advice given in goodwill by them, always suspecting that he
was being tested by them.
Further, various deviations in the anti-“Minsaingdan” strug-
gles going on around him at that time caused him more and
more agony.
He heard people say, “I can in no way bring myself to be-
lieve in ‘Company Commander Chen,’”’ and “We must suspect
232
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

any one who is on friendly terms with him, who was an enemy
officer.”
Under these circumstances, he finally began to believe that
he had been discarded by everyone.
It was the General who fully understood his mental suffer-
ings more than anyone else.
The General, who visited the Tahuangwai guerrilla base
early in 1934, rebuked those who slandered “Company Com-
mander Chen,” and said as follows to the leading function-
aries of the People’s Revolutionary Government:
“... Naturally, there may be some people who do not know
what kind of man ‘Company Commander Chen’ is. But...
since he has come to us, determined to fight against Japanese
imperialism, it is necessary for us first of all to believe in him.
It is necessary for us to help him positively so that he may fight
heroically for the cause of the fatherland and the people, as he
resolved to do when he bid farewell to his shameful life in the
puppet Manchoukuo Army.
“It is not for a Communist to disbelieve in a person who
comes over to our side to fight for the revolution, and not to
receive him warmly. We should lead him by the hand and fight
together to the last.”
The General met him in person and greatly encouraged him
and later, being still concerned about him, posted him to the
leading centre to live with him and educate him.
The General boldly believed in him and gave him important
missions in battle without hesitation, to train him through the
practical struggle.
One day, the General was making preparations to attack the
Ma Ku-ling unit in Nanhamatang. “Company Commander
Chen” asked the General to give him the most difficult and
arduous task.
The General gladly consented to his proposal and sent him
239
 KIM IL SUNG

beforehand with another guerrilla to Nanhamatang to conduct

activities there. Reaching the destination, he made a detailed
report on the situation of the enemy to prove worthy of the
confidence of the General.
Several days later, it happened that on instructions from the
General, he went close to the vicious Ma Ku-ling unit and even
worked within the unit. Finally, he succeeded in winning some
of the soldiers in the barracks to the side of the revolution, and
on the night when the guerrillas attacked the barracks, he used
unique methods to discourage the troops in the barracks from
fighting and helped the guerrillas to win victory with ease.
The vicious Ma Ku-ling unit was quickly disarmed, unable
to offer any resistance.
The guerrillas were overjoyed at the victory and congratulat-
ed “Company Commander Chen’ on his successful mission. With
tears in his eyes, he said, “I owe this to Commander Kim....
How could I have acted so boldly but for his trust in me?...”
Chen, who only a while before had been a company com-
mander in the puppet Manchoukuo Army, was trained in this
way and became a trustworthy Communist. This is an instance
to illustrate how the General won puppet Manchoukuo Army
soldiers and brought them over to the revolution.
There were many who came from the enemy to the side of
the revolution and became Communists, due to the efforts of
the General and his guerrillas.
From the first days of the armed struggle, the General paid
special attention to the work of undermining the enemies from
within and of winning them to the side of the revolution.
The General always taught the guerrillas that the over-
whelming majority of puppet Manchoukuo Armymen were
poor peasants or their sons, and that the guerrillas should not neg-
lect the task of winning to the side of the revolution the masses
of soldiers who were poor peasants and hired farm hands.
234
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

On the importance of undermining the enemy from within

General Kim I] Sung said:
“..It is impossible to defeat the enemy only with guns.
It is most important to be always ready to agitate not only all
Korean and Chinese peoples but also soldiers in the enemy
army with hatred for Japanese imperialism, the inveterate
enemy of the Korean and Chinese peoples. It is of primary im-
portance to fill them with anti-Japanese ideas of national salva-
tion, so that they may rise for the cause of the anti-Japanese
struggle for national salvation. It is necessary in this way to un-
dermine this enemy from within and win them to our side. This
task holds a very important place in the anti-Japanese national
liberation struggle....”
Further, the General taught the guerrillas in simple and clear
terms the concrete methods of undermining the enemy from
within.
According to the instructions of the General, brave and clev-
er guerrillas were ‘selected to have them infiltrate into the
enemy ranks. Further, letters, newspapers, posters and rev-
olutionary books were sent to men and non-commisioned offi-
cers of worker, peasant and intellectual origin in the enemy
forces. Sometimes, propaganda activities were conducted among
non-commissioned officers and men of the enemy through
their families, relatives and friends.
The General set an example in these activities, too.
It was in the early days of January of the lunar calendar,
1936 when the unit led by the General was staying in a commu-
nity in Emu county. One day, a sentinel saw some 15 puppet
Manchoukuo cavalrymen with a colourfully decorated sleigh
coming towards him, whipping up the snow behind them.
“Who goes there?”
He challenged in Chinese when they came nearer.
Startled, they took to their heels, leaving the sleigh behind
235
 KIM IL SUNG

them. Two of the horsemen who fell behind were captured with
the sledge. On the sledge was a Chinese woman of about 30,
beautifully dressed, and with costly silks and foodstuffs. The
woman was the wife of a regiment commander of the puppet
Manchoukuo Army in a nearby town and was on her way to her
parents’ house to visit her mother, escorted by the horsemen.
The Chinese woman and the two cavalrymen were shown
to the leading centre where the General was. They were pale
and trembling.
“It is very cold today. Please warm yourselves here.”
With a genial smile the General received the three warmly
when they entered his room. But their look of fear did not
disappear. Seeing so, the General told them about the guerril-
las with painstaking care, saying that the guerrillas did not
harm other people at all. The General asked them about their
daily life, and taught them in easy-to-understand terms that
both the Koreans and Chinese were suffering under the tyranny
of Japanese imperialism and that both the Korean and Chinese
peoples should join hands to drive out the Japanese imperialists
from Korea and China so that they might recover their owr
lands and live in peace and happiness.
The woman, who had been trembling and unable to speal
a word at first, calmed herself gradually and began to speak ou
her thoughts frankly, probably reassured. by the frank and gen
tle attitude and logical statements of the General. He went on
“I heard that your husband is a regiment commander of th
‘Manchoukuo Army.’ But I don’t understand why he shoul
fight us and why he has become a running dog of the Japanes
imperialists. I pity your husband who has betrayed his father
land and nation.”
The woman, who heard the General, her face reddening
calmed herself and said in a faltering voice that she had unde:
stood well for the first time that the guerrillas were a real arm
236
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

of the people fighting for their fatherland and their people and
that she would do everything in her power to persuade her hus-
band to work for the cause of the fatherland and nation. There
was a serious look in her face when she spoke her new deter-
mination.
The General told the woman to take good care of her moth-
er and returning the guns to the two soldiers, told them to
take the woman safely to her parents’ home.
That day, leaving the General, the woman returned to her
husband directly instead of visiting her parents’ home. On her
way home, riding sledge over the snow, she met her husband
with his troops. Hearing from the soldiers who had fled that
his wife had been “arrested,” the regiment commander hurriedly
called all his men and was on his way to the guerrilla camp. He
was greatly surprised to see his wife alive, as he had been think-
ing that she had already been killed by the guerrillas.
Alighting in a hurry, he found his wife unharmed and the
sledge untouched. He was very happy but wondered, “What is
this?”
“Your men ran away, leaving me behind, and the guerrillas
protected me in their place.”
So saying, the woman told her husband that the guerrillas
were a fine, righteous army and were entirely different from the
picture of them painted by the propaganda of the Japanese
imperialists and the“Manchoukuo Army.” She said proudly that
General Kim Il Sung, at whose name the Japanese and puppet
Manchoukuo Army soldiers and police trembled, made and
served tea for her and treated her warmly. Then she told him
all the impressive stories she had heard from the General and
all she saw and heard at the guerrilla camp.
Greatly moved by this, the regiment commander said:
“It is clear from the fact you were not harmed that the
guerrillas are a moral army....
”

23T
 KIM IL SUNG

A few days later, General Kim Il Sung received a letter

from the puppet Manchoukuo Army regiment commander, in
which he said that he realized he had been wrong in thinking
that the guerrillas were “bandits” and that he intended to co-
operate conscientiously with the guerrillas in the future. From
then on, in fact, the puppet Manchoukuo Army regiment com-
mander did not fight the guerrillas, and maintained friendly
relations with them.
This story spread widely among the officers and men of the
puppet Manchoukuo Army and people in various places. The
principled generosity and magnanimity of the General was
boundlessly profound, indeed. It was because of this that the
remnants of the national consciousness of the puppet Manchou-
kuo Army regiment commander, dormant in his heart, were
awakened and revived. The work of undermining the enemies
from within bore fruit as the days went by.
A woman guerrilla, clever and fluent in Chinese, who had
been working in the Secretariat, was captured by the enemy
troops when they made a surprise attack.
She was tortured ruthlessly to gain information of the guer-
rillas. But she refused to speak a word about the secrets of the
guerrillas, instead charging the enemies with their criminal acts.
She was made to work as a cook for the puppet Manchoukuo
Army, as a further test for her, waiting patiently until she con-
fessed.
So, pretending that she was being made use of by the enemy,
she made up her mind to undermine her enemies from within
as instructed by the General, and devoted herself to this. First,
she made use of every opportunity offered to persuade enemy
soldiers one by one. Later, when asked by the soldiers, she
always attended their gatherings to dance and to sing anti-
Japanese revolutionary songs.
In this way, she gradually made friends with the puppet
238
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

Manchoukuo Armymen, and secretly won two machine- gunners.

completely to her side, and urged them to rise up in revolt and
join the anti-Japanese guerrillas.
As a result of her bold and patient work, after about two.
months, even non-commissioned officers of the puppet Manchou-
kuo Army, came to trust her. A company of the puppet Man-
choukuo Army came over to the side of the revolution, together
with their machine guns and other weapons, bringing back
the woman guerrilla, after executing the Japanese “instructors”
and vicious officers.
About this time, several similar events occurred one after
another.
Uncontrollable and serious vacillation was increasing daily
among the puppet Manchoukuo Army.
On August 15, 1935, the Second Military District of the pup-
pet Manchoukuo Army gave the following report to their “Gov-
ernment”:
“Recently, the work of Kim Il Sung on the Manchoukuo
Army has become considerably effective, and not only soldiers
but some officers are wavering, always seeking a chance to rise
in revolt and join the above-mentioned Kim Il Sung....Only July
5 last, 350 Manchoukuo troops, killing eight officers, besides
company commanders in the Fifth District of Huatien county,
fled southwards,taking with them two Czechoslovak-made heavy
machine guns, six light machine guns, 220 rifles, 12 revolvers.
and 51,785 rounds of ammunition.”
The General taught that in trying to undermine the enemy
from within, it was necessary to grasp the characteristic features
and moves of the enemy, to avoid as much as possible fighting,
the puppet Manchoukuo Army units and police who were se-
cretly sympathizing with the people and guerrillas, and try to.
lead them through political work to come over to the side of the
revolution.

239
 KIM IL SUNG

He instructed the guerrillas to annihilate decisively the vi-

cious enemies who were obstinately and desperately trying to
fight the people and the guerrillas. |
At the same time, the General emphasized the need to treat
captive soldiers warmly and return them all, and during a battle
with a puppet Manchoukuo Army unit, to appeal with the follow-
ing slogans to the enemy: “Let the Korean and Chinese peoples
unite and overthrow their common enemy, Japanese imperial-
ism!” “Who are you fighting and losing your lives for?” “Aren’t
your ancestors Chinese? Why should you die as bullet-shields
for the Japanese?”
The General said that it was in this way that the guerrillas
could show the puppet Manchoukuo Army soldiers that they
were really a patriotic revolutionary army who fought only Japa-
nese imperialism and its faithful agents and did not fight the
true Chinese people, and that it was by treating captive soldiers
well that the puppet Manchoukuo soldiers might be led to prefer
being made prisoners to fighting the guerrillas if ordered to
do so.
In this way, the General achieved major results in a number
of battles including the Laoheishan Battle in Tungning county.
The “Dong-a Ilbo” carried the following story in March 1935:
“All Manchoukuo Garrison Troops Taken Prisoner
200 Communists Attack Tahuangkou
(Dispatch from Hoiryung Bureau)
About 200 armed Communists made a sortie into Tahuang-
kou on the Tuning line, Manchuria, at about 5 a.m., March 21,
and made a surprise attack on the barracks of a Manchoukuo
Army unit. About 100 Manchoukuo garrison troops fought the
Communists and a fierce battle continued for a time. However,
fighting against odds, the Manchoukuo Army unit was finally
disarmed and all survivors taken prisoner....”
The following is the truth about this battle.
240
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

There was one company of about 100 puppet Manchoukuo

Armymen stationed at Tahuangkou. Among them were two
guerrillas who had infiltrated themselves as non-commis-
sioned officers and worked, following the General’s policy of
undermining the enemy from within. As a result, among the
soldiers of lower ranks there was a fair measure of vacillation.
But because of the suppressive measures taken by the Japanese
“instructors” and reactionary officers, it was not easy for the
two secret organizers to achieve their purpose.
One day, a report reached the guerrillas from these two or-
ganizers, telling them that the company was moving from Ta-
huangkou to another place. The guerrillas decided not to lose
this chance and worked out a detailed plan to win the company
entirely to the side of the revolution. They started for Ta-
huangkou on March 19, 1935. On arriving at Tahuangkou at
dawn on March 21, the 120-odd guerrillas surrounded the bar-
racks of the puppet Manchoukuo Army, and fired shots in the
air as soon as the day dawned, shouting:
“You are not our enemies. Our enemies are Japanese ag-
gressors. Let us fight together against the Japanese aggressors!”
“Throw away your guns and come over to our side!”
Wanting to know how they could live a life really worth
living, the puppet Manchoukuo troops sent two representatives
to the leading centre of the guerrillas in response to the appeal,
who said that a large majority of the soldiers wanted to come
over to the side of the revolution, but that a handful of them
were obstinately demanding that they should fight.
The leading centre of the guerrillas sent two bold and clever
men to the barracks, who ardently appealed to the puppet Man-
choukuo soldiers in their presence at the risk of their lives, “Come
over to the anti-Japanese guerrillas, and let us fight together
against our common enemy, Japanese imperialism!”
Hearing this, the soldiers of lower ranks came over to the
241
 KIM IL SUNG

side of the guerrillas without hesitation, and the commanders,

who had been opposing this, finally decided to surrender under
pressure of the troops. So all 115 Manchoukuo soldiers were
won to the revolution and were recruited into the guerrillas.
This victory at Tahuangkou and many other events elo-
quently show how correct was the method of undermining the
enemy, as put forth by the General.
Large numbers of puppet Manchoukuo Army soldiers of low-
er ranks frequently came over to the side of the guerrillas singly
and in groups, becoming conscious of the national position and
also of their own class position. In many cases when the guerrillas
met puppet Manchoukuo Army units, many became voluntary
prisoners without offering resistance.
Certain puppet Manchoukuo Army units secretly supplied the
guerrillas with arms and ammunition, taking care not to let the
Japanese imperialists have the least inkling of it, and supplied
them with information on military operations planned by the
Japanese and puppet Manchoukuo Army units. Further, when
Japanese armed units and puppet Manchoukuo Army units
sometimes jointly made an attack on the guerrillas, conscientious
puppet troops fired shots in the air behind the backs of the
Japanese.
General Kim Il Sung defeated the Japanese imperialist ag-
gressors wherever he went by undermining the puppet Man-
choukuo Army units in a bold and clever way, and by winning
them to the side of the revolution.

242
3. Ambitious Plan for a Long March

AT THE YAOYINGKOU MEETING, Wangching county,

held towards the end of March 1935, General Kim II Sung pre-
sented a new military strategic policy of dissolving the guerrilla
bases-liberated areas and switching to a positive offensive of
deploying anti-Japanese guerrilla units in still broader areas. In
the light of the prevailing situation, this was an entirely correct
line for the future development of the Korean revolution.
In those days, Japanese imperialism, while endeavouring to
undermine the revolutionary ranks from within, was working
on the plan of encircling guerrilla bases in each county, mobiliz-
ing tens of thousands of troops and garrisoning them on a long-
term basis near by, aiming to destroy the guerrilla bases one by
one and continuing attacks every day.
So the fledgling anti-Japanese guerrilla units were compel-
led to fight defensive battles to defend their bases from encir-
clement. If guerrilla units confined their activities to defending
only the guerrilla bases, in such a situation, the danger was of
losing the precious revolutionary forces trained and tempered
for many years, and allowing the enemy to take the offensive.
There was a danger of the revolutionary ranks being held in
defensive positions, as a chess player acting on the defensive
has only the king just awaiting checkmate, with all troops
lost.
243
 KIM IL SUNG

However, at the meeting, some people demanded that “the

guerrilla bases should be defended to the last,” but the General
sharply criticized this stand, saying that they were military ad-
venturists who underestimated the enemy and who were unable
to view their struggle in terms of development and understand
the tactical principles of guerrilla warfare. The General pointed
out that these people were plagued by negative and con-
servative tendencies in failing to appraise properly the revolu-
tionary forces rapidly growing at guerrilla bases and failing to
take into consideration the necessity of initiative in guerrilla war-
fare. He completely refuted their inadequate military adventur-
ist assertions.
The meeting adopted the General’s new policy of dissolving
the guerrilla bases so that the anti-Japanese guerrilla units
might continue to hold the initiative in battle and could switch
to the offensive. The General’s new policy was a positive step to
defeat Japanese imperialism’s tactical line of sandwitching the
guerrilla units from inside and outside, aimed at completely
smashing the guerrilla bases and ending the anti- Japanese armed
struggle. This was a unique stand of continuous development
of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, while maintaining the
revolutionary forces intact, in anticipation of a new upsurge in
the Korean revolution.
After the Yaoyingkou Meeting, a great number of people in
the guerrilla bases joined the guerrillas when the guerrilla bases-
liberated areas were dissolved, while the rest, together with the
old and sick, entered the enemy-ruled areas in the guise of peas-
ants, merchants, hunters, etc., to carry on their tasks in the
enemy area. Immediately after the dissolution of the guerrilla
bases, the anti-Japanese guerrilla units developed positive
offensive operations in every quarter, expanding their sphere
of activity to East Manchuria, South Manchuria, North Man-
churia and even into Korea itself.
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 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

According to measures taken by General Kim Il Sung,

some units pushed southwestwards, while maintaining contact
with the anti-Japanese guerrilla units which had already been
active in South Manchuria, while other small units, leaving the
Chechangtzu guerrilla base behind, advanced into the north-
ern parts of Korea, and the remaining unit marched into the
Chitung district.
While sending guerrilla units to South Manchuria and the
homeland, the General personally led the main force of the
guerrillas in the summer of 1935 on a long march into North
Manchuria.
The purpose of moving the main guerrilla force into North
Manchuria was to strengthen contacts with anti-Japanese guer-
rilla units operating there, extend political and military aid to
them and to develop large-scale joint operations with them to
deal heavier blows on the enemy. This march was also intended
to establish closer contacts with broad sections of anti-Japanese
masses to sow seeds of revolution in the vast areas of North
Manchuria and set anti-Japanese struggles aflame more fiercely.
Early in June 1935, the General drew up a plan of leading
about 300 men personally to annihilate the “Chingan army,”
then stationed at Laoheishan in Tungning county.
The “Chingan army” was a crack regular unit of the “Man-
choukuo Army,” consisting of select sons of traitors such as
vicious landlords and pro-Japanese capitalists, and its equipment
was several times superior to that of the ordinary puppet Man-
choukuo Army units. It was directly commanded by Japanese
“instructors.” The “Chingan army,” which called itself the “iron
army” and the “crack army,” was also noted for its arrogance
and cruelty. Never did the army move without pouring the
blood of people in its wake and without cattle, fowls and prop-
erty being plundered. So the people felt burning hatred for
the “Chingan army” troops clad in uniforms with a red stripe
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 KIM IL SUNG

on the sleeves, who indulged in pillage and destruction, and

were deeply afraid of them.
While the units led personally by General Kim Il Sung were
on the march, they learned that the “Chingan army” stationed
at Laoheishan had brutally murdered 49 innocent peasants at
the village of Shataohotzu. Hearing this, the General rushed
his units to Taipingkou. On arriving there, they held memorial
services for the victims in the village. The General’s memorial
speech, filled with profound sympathy, indignation and sadness,
drew tears from the eyes of those present and aroused deep
hatred and indignation in their hearts. The General made up
his mind to fight the Laoheishan Battle to revenge the victims
of the brutal troops.
The General decided te annihilate the “Chingan army” by
ambushing it on both sides in a valley near its garrison at Lao-
heishan, and sent some of his men to the “Chingan army”
garrison disguised as Mountaineer Bands' as a decoy to the
“Chingan army” garrison.
It was customary for the “Chingan army,” which was help-
less before the guerrillas, to pounce upon Mountaineer Bands
like a wolf chasing its prey, whenever it had the chance. The
General used this chance to attack the “Chingan army.” As
expected, the “Chingan army,” taking the guerrillas for Moun-
taineer Bands immediately pursued them; hearing the orders
of the elated Japanese “instructors” behind them.
The guerrillas, posted along the steep slopes of mountains
on both sides of the valley, lay in ambush for the “Chingan
army.” Sure enough, over a mountain into the valley they came
in high spirits, with scouts in front. But they must have had
some presentiment, and looked around, and said,““We are doom-
ed if we meet guerrillas in a place like this....”
No sooner had the enemies entered the valley in force than
the guerrillas opened fire with a vengeance, at a signal from the
246
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

General. The whole valley resounded with the blasts, and

between shots the guerrillas’ voices could be heard saying, “If
you surrender, your life will be saved!” The enemy, taken
aback, found themselves completely trapped. As the guerrillas
charged, the enemies fell one after another, and the “iron army”
proved no more than a “straw army” before the power of the
guerrillas.
In this battle, the“crack” units of the enemy were completely
routed, many were taken as prisoners and a trench mortar,
heavy machine guns and light machine guns, large quantities
of rifles, ammunition and many war horses were captured.
The prisoners were treated with leniency by the General.
After their national consciousness and consciences had been
awakened, they were given travelling expenses and allowed to
return to their homes.
The Laoheishan Battle, based on decoy tactics, was a well-
organized and complete battle. It filled the enemy with terror
just to hear of this battle, and the story that the prisoners were
allowed to return to their homes even with travelling expenses
was widely circulated among the puppet Manchoukuo Army
soldiers. It caused deep reflection on their lives as Manchoukuo
soldiers, and some of them decided to join the guerrillas. In
this way, enemy positions at Laoheishan were taken over by
the guerrillas and the towering castle built on Wangpaowan
soon lay in ruins, damp and deserted.
The guerrilla units returned victorious to Taipingkou. The
people who had seen off the guerrillas several days before, tear-
fully asking for vengeance, were overjoyed at the victory
and greeted them with open arms. Seeing a trench mortar for
the first time in their life, they said, “What a big-mouthed gun
this is!” It was here that the General met again the family
of the old man Jo Taik Joo, and presented him with a white
horse.
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 KIM IL SUNG

After giving his men a few days’ rest, the General began to
make preparations fora long march. One day, the Mengying
unit of the puppet Manchoukuo Army, stationed at Lotzukou,
attacked Taipingkou. They were stationed at Lotzukou, only
about eight kilometres from Taipingkou, but had been afraid to
do anything, and unable to attack the guerrillas for several days.
But suddenly they received a thunderbolt order to get back the
trench mortar captured by the guerrillas at Laoheishan, and
were reluctantly compelled to attack Taipingkou.
Informed in advance of the enemy’s plan, the guerrillas took
up their positions on a hill behind Taipingkou, and watched the
enemy crossing the Huoshaopu River in boats two kilometres
beyond the village. Calmly examining this enemy movement
through his binoculars, the General ordered a gunner to fire the
trench mortar. The gunner smashed a ship in midstream
with only two shots. Greatly alarmed, the enemy soldiers fled,
leaving their dead behind them.
The shots were a veritable bolt from the blue, for the enemy
little dreamed that theguerrillas had such a good gunner. Iron-
ically, the gunner wasa former puppet Manchoukuo soldier.
After this battle,
the General, leading the expeditionary
force, crossed a rangeof steep mountains, Laoyehling.
Other units were moving into the Antu, Tunhua and Fusung
areas at about the same time, and still other units were active
in Mengchiang county in South Manchuria. While the main
force of the guerrillas was routing the “Chingan army” at
Laoheishan, the troops led by Unit Commander Choi Hyun
moved into Chiaoho county according to the plan put forth by
General Kim Ii Sung at the Yaoyingkou Meeting and raided an
enemy military train on the Hsinching-Tumen line. Under a
carefully drawn-up operation plan, the troops decided to attack
the train at a steep curve near Huangsungtien on the Hsinching-
Tumen line and derailed the rushing train, severely damaging
248
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

it. Interrogation of the prisoners revealed that it was a special

military train carrying officers to a conference.
Those who resisted were killed by the guerrillas with hand
grenades. In this struggle, some 300 enemy officers were killed
and many others captured, with various kinds of weapons and
200,000 won in cash.
Meanwhile, the units personally led by the General were
crossing Laoyehling under the scorching sun. It was a range of
mountains whose highest peaks the guerrillas could not see
even after days of climbing. The valleys and mountainsides were
grown with fir trees, larch and white birch measuring several
arm spans in girth, and with no tracks to allow the guerrillas
to march through. They experienced the same hardships in
this march as in a fierce battle, stepping over countless fallen
trees and climbing steep cliffs. They had to fell trees and remove
rocks that stood in their path and haul the trench mortar and
horse-drawn carts. To make matters worse, they ran short of
provisions and had to march through the thick forests for many
days, with hunger staring them in the face.
When they at last came near Santaohotzu in Ningan county
after crossing the Laoyehling range of mountains covered with
primeval forests, they were worn out. The General let his
men to take a rest and made efforts to lead them to increase
their will to struggle and be more confident of victory.
“ ..The revolution,” the General said, “is a life-and-death
struggle. A revolution cannot be achieved easily without shed-
ding blood and sweat. Our aim is to make revolution, restore the
fatherland and enable all people to live in happiness.... But
happiness does not come by itself. Happiness must be won.
This is the sacred cause for which we are fighting. If we think
of this, how can we fear difficulties?...”
So saying, the General encouraged his men and continued
to march at the head of the ranks.
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 KIM IL SUNG

General Kim I] Sung padding shoes of a guerrilla with straw

In July 1935, the General personally led his men into Shan-
tungtun in Ningan county, and meeting with the guerrillas who
had been operating there, discussed future joint operations with
them. The enemy was alarmed to learn for the first time that
General Kim Il Sung’s units, which had been engaged in revo-
lutionary activities in East Manchuria, had moved to North
Manchuria and were active in areas around Shantungtun, for they
were concentrating a large armed force near Hsiaotzuwan, believ-
ing that General Kim Il Sung’s units were still operating there.
Surprised, the enemy got together more than 800 troops, includ-
ing cavalry, who had been concentrated in Moutanchiang City,
Ningan county seat, Tungchingcheng and other places, and one
day in July, launched a fierce attack on Shantungtun. The battle
continued from 11 o’clock in the morning until dusk, when the
enemy troops, brought under concentrated fire, received a severe
250
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

blow, and fled i. disarray, leaving a large number of dead and

wounded, saying, “The Communists have a big gun. We can-
not defeat them.”
Following this battle, in August the General reorganized the
units into three, dispatching one of them to Wangching county
and Hunchun county and ordering another unit to operate in
Moutanchiang Province, mainly in Ningan county. The General
himself, leading the remaining unit, entered Chilin Province
across the Chingpo Lake and headed for the faraway Emu
county.
The General, together with the expeditionary force, routed
the enemy at Luhaotun, Chingkoutzu, and wherever he went. In
December that year, he and his men fought again 300-odd
heavily-armed men of the “Chingan army” near Kuanti in Emu
county and eliminated 120 of them. It was after this battle that
two stories, a “coffin comedy” and an “action story,” began to
be related among the people of the district, and all people who
heard these stories laughed themselves into convulsions.
The “coffin comedy” was about an occurrence at a Chinese
home in the midst of vegetable gardens at the time of the battle
of Luhaotun, Chingkoutzu. As soon as the battle began, an in-
terpreter of the enemy garrison fled from the garrison in a hur-
ry and hid himself in a coffin in a corner of the courtyard of the
house. It was the custom of old people of this district to prepare
their coffins beforehand. Presently, a Japanese soldier, the only
enemy survivor of the battle, managed to limp his way to the
house. He was wounded in one leg. Looking for a place to
hide, he also found the coffin and hurriedly opened the lid. He
did not care what it was so long as he could hide himself from
the pursuing guerrillas. But he found the “corpse” in it very
much alive, his hands covering his head. A sharp desperate
battle followed between the interpreter and the Japanese soldier
for the place in the coffin.
Zo
 KIM IL SUNG

The “action story” was about what happened in one of the

barracks of the Japanese garrison at Santaokou after a battle
near Kuanti. A Japanese machine-gunner, who had narrowly
escaped death from an attack of the guerrillas several days
before, rose up in his bed one night before dawn and shouted
loudly, “Enemy attack!” The other Japanese soldiers sleeping
in the same barracks were suddenly awakened by the shouts
and were thrown into uncontrollable confusion, while the crazy,
trigger-happy machine-gunner fired his machine gun at his
fellow soldiers at random. Fear of the guerrillas had driven him
mad. This was followed by another similar incident, when
another Japanese soldier went mad and ran out of the barracks,
shouting frenziedly, “Enemy! Enemy!” and ran through the
streets like a madman, to the great enjoyment of the people.
Six months had already passed since the start of the expedi-
tion to North Manchuria. In the meantime, the guerrillas oper-
ating in East Manchuria and the expeditionary units in South
Manchuria and in the fatherland, maintained constant contact
with each other, defeating the enemy wherever they went and
expanding the areas of their activities. This was a considerable
blow at Japanese imperialism.
When the anti-Japanese guerrilla units led by the General
moved into various parts of Manchuria, and then also moved
into Korea suddenly and launched positive offensive operations,
rallying anti-Japanese forces all through these areas, the enemy
was compelled to disperse their “punitive” troops far and wide,
and were generally put on the defensive and at a loss.
The military operations of the anti-Japanese guerrillas, guid-
ed by outstanding strategy developed by General Kim Il Sung,
were a serious military blow to the Japanese aggressors. The
operations by which the guerrillas broke out of enemy encircle-
ment and their ability to switch to the offensive in all directions
at one time, threw the enemy into utter confusion.
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 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

The enemy’s tactics of “smashing guerrilla units one by

one,” were rendered totally ineffective, and the guerrilla units,
operating in different areas, were able to maintain direct
contact with each other and deal powerful blows at the enemy
organizedly and systematically.
Not only so. These operations had a revolutionary effect on
the units of the National Salvation Army, and enabled the
guerrilla units to further expand the united front by develop-
ing joint military operations with them.
Further, by these very operations, the guerrilla units were
able to rout the so-called “crack” units of the enemy, and by
treating prisoners leniently and returning them to their homes,
increased the antagonism between the Japanese imperialist
aggressor army and the puppet Manchoukuo Army, causing
great vacillations in the ranks of the latter.
In particular, the units led by the General awakened the
people wherever they went, sowing the seeds of revolution a-
mong them. This is what the General taught his men:
“.. North Manchuria is different from East Manchuria, where
people do not know us partisans well, and where they are forced
to live plundered, intimidated and deceived by the Japanese
imperialists and bandits. Therefore, it is necessary for us to
show by fighting to smash the Japanese imperialists that we are
the real army of the people. We must unite the people around
us through our practical actions, respecting and enlightening
the people, and expand the anti-Japanese forces.... To love
the people, remake society—this is the first and foremost task
for us Communists. You must always remember this....”
Faithful to the teachings of the General, the guerrillas al-
ways lived among the people. Tired though they were after
returning from the battlefield, they cleaned courtyards, repaired
broken fences and roofs, and gathered firewood for families
which ran out of fuel.
psp}
 KIM IL SUNG

The expeditionary units taught people in words easily

understandable that the anti-Japanese guerrillas were the army
of the people, a real army to smash the common enemy of the
Korean and Chinese peoples, Japanese imperialism, and that
it was because they were exploited by the Japanese imperialist
aggressors, landlords and capitalists that they had to endure
such a hard life. In this way, even people who had regarded
guerrillas the same as other armed troops and had no warm
feelings towards the guerrillas, came to understand them correct-
ly and even brought them affectionate supplies and provisions
though asked by the guerrillas not to do so. When the guerril-
las left, they were sad to see them go and saw them off with
tears rolling down their cheeks.
So the seeds of revolution were sown among the people in
the vast areas of North Manchuria. The popular masses fought
in groups in many parts, against forced labour for military
construction works for Japanese imperialism and also against
the barbarous exploitation. They helped the guerrillas in their
activities in all possible ways and many young men volunteered
to join the guerrilla units.,
Workers, who had been forcibly mobilized for the construc-
tion of a military road between Kuanti and Nanhutou, went on
strike, shouting the slogan “Hands off the shameful construc-
tion work against our fatherland!” and some of them joined the
guerrillas.
The following happened in Emu county.
The only son of an old man named Ryoo along with about
20 other people was forced to carry goods into the mountains
for the Japanese imperialists, who were pursuing the parti-
sans. After a while, a barrage of rifle shots was heard from the
mountain where his son had gone. Hearing the shots, the old
man Ryoo thought his only son must have been killed, and
rushed helter-skelter to the mountain at night to find the dead

254
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

body of his son. When the old man reached the mountain, the
shots were no longer heard, and all was quiet, but he saw a
fire burning near the top of the mountain. “What is that fire?”
“What has become of the fighting?” “Which side is burning
that fire?...” He thought a while, and then ran towards the fire.
It was a fire of the expeditionary units under the General.
Unexpectedly, his son came running to him and hugged him.
The old man felt as if it were a dream. Overjoyed, he could
find no word to express his feelings. Later, he learned that the
Japanese units who had followed the guerrillas to “punish”
them, were annihilated by the guerrillas, and his son, together
with other carriers, were rescued by the guerrillas. The son
told his father he wanted to join the guerrillas, and the father,
though he did not want to part with his only son, readily
granted his son’s wish out of his great joy at finding his only
son saved by the fine guerrillas.
The old man took off his padded coat and put it on his
son’s shoulders. Looking at the old man and his son with a
smile on his face, the General quickly took off his own fur coat
and put it on the old man’s shoulders, saying, “Old man, put
this on, please...”
The old man did not know what to do, and though he put
on the coat as he was told, he was going to take it off again,
thinking that it was too much for him. The General took the
old man’s hands and insisted over and over again on his taking
the coat. Turning to the son, the General said that even when
the padded coat he had received from his father was old and
worn, he should not forget the deep affection that each stitch
in it carried, and if he forgot such things he could not bea
good guerrilla.
Wherever he went at the head of the expeditionary units,
the General fostered love and confidence in the hearts of the
people and sowed the seeds of revolution, with the result that
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 KIM IL SUNG

the guerrillas trained by the General also loved and helped the
people from their hearts, wherever they went.
One day, while the expeditionary units were active in Emu
county, at dusk in the winter of 1935, several guerrillas visited
a house to ask fora night’s lodging. Invited by the master
of the house, they entered the house, but after exchanging a
few words with him, they went outdoors and asked if they
could use a shed overnight in the corner of the courtyard.
It was in the cold winter, but the guerrillas decided that
they should spend the night in a shed which was as cold as
outdoors. The guerrillas did this because, while exchanging
words with the young master, they noticed that his home had
a special atmosphere. It was only recently that the couple had
been married, so although the couple earnestly invited the
guerrillas to rest indoors, they refused.
The young couple earnestly wanted to give their quilt to the
guerrillas and sleep at a relative’s, desiring that the guerrillas
should spend the night in their house and not feel they were
causing trouble to the couple. But the guerrillas quickly went
outdoors rather than let the couple leave their home. Beaten
in a game of patience, the young couple went back indoors,
sorry for the guerrillas.
The guerrillas left many such interesting episodes in their
wake, and it was because of this that people praised the guer-
rillas and heartily welcomed them, saying that the guerrillas
were the “most humane and disciplined army that had ever
existed in the world.”
That the guerrillas sowed the seeds of revolution in the vast
areas of North Manchuria and aroused people to the anti-Japa-
nese struggles, was of great significance in bringing about a
new upsurge in the struggle.
The expedition of General Kim Il Sung’s units to North
Manchuria not only saved the revolutionary ranks from the
256
 SAVIOUR OF THE REVOLUTION

crisis which they had been suffering in East Manchuria, but

also displayed the militant might and noble character of the
Korean Communists to people in broad areas in East and North
Manchuria.
The reputation of General Kim Il Sung, who set alight the
anti-Japanese sentiments of the people through this expedition
and dealt a shattering blow at the Japanese imperialist aggres-
sors and struck terror into their hearts, spread far and wide
throughout Manchuria.
As the anti-Japanese guerrilla units moved into broad areas
and unfolded positive offensive operations, the enemy suffered
a serious military and political setback. The Japanese imperial-
ist aggressors were forced to disperse their armed forces and
were put on the defensive in all areas.
Only a few months before, the enemy had believed that the
collapse of the anti-Japanese guerrilla units was imminent, say-
ing boastfully that the guerrilla bases had been forced to dis-
solve as a result of their “powerful punitive” operations.
But within several months, their assertion was overturned
and they found themselves in a pitiful situation in which, con-
trary to their expectations, the guerrillas were winning and they
were losing miserably. One of their top-secret documents states:
“The dissolution of the Red areas may be regarded in a sense
as the outcome of thoroughgoing punitive operations through
dispersed deployment of the Imperial Army units. But in actu-
ality, it should be considered to be a voluntary action ac-
cording to the above-mentioned new tactics’.... The dissolution
of the Red areas was not due to losses they had suffered as a
result of our punitive operations.... If they develop guerrilla
warfare in still broader areas, the concrete targets of our puni-
tive action will be smaller in number, while the guerrillas will
be in a position to launch positive and vigorous movements,
with the result that our future punitive operations will become
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 KIM IL SUNG

more and more difficult to carry out. Further, their movements

will be more and more intensified.’
In this way, the policy followed by General Kim Il Sung,
of dissolving the guerrilla bases and of positively developing
offensive operations in broader areas, was carried out success-
fully.

258
 a
om. OFF ;
zeneral Kim Il Sung (front, fourth Baaewath ey troops at Wutaoko
sinchiang county (See Section 4, Chapter 6)

“The Commander is. too, the son of the people’ (See Section 6, Chapter
 CHAPTER 6

BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO

LIGHTS ALL KOREA

1. Historic Meeting

EVEN IN THE BUSY DAYS while leading the expedi-

tionary units in North Manchuria, General Kim Il Sung was
giving deep and serious thought to various questions and prob-
lems raised in the course of the revolution.
Having saved the revolution through crises, the General
made up his mind to push the Korean revolution decisively in
broader areas.
This was the urgent demand of both the internal and exter-
nal situations.
During those days, the imperialist powers were making fran-
tic preparations for aggressive war.
In particular, Germany, Japan and Italy, where the monop-
oly capitalists had succeeded in establishing fascist dictator-
ships, were provoking wars of aggression in many parts of the
world, while ruthlessly suppressing all progressive forces.
In this situation, the most urgent task before all the peoples
of the world was to discourage the imperialist aggressive forces,
particularly the fascist forces of Germany, Japan and Italy, which
were beginning to raise their heads on the scene of history, and
to nip in the bud their warlike ventures. So movements for unit-
ed fronts were actively developed in many countries to oppose
the threat of fascism and war. The Spanish people established
an anti-fascist people’s front in 1936 and launched decisive
260
 KIM IL SUNG

struggles to oppose the domestic fascist clique led by Franco

and the foreign armed interventionists. In France, anti-fascist
people’s front movements arose, and united front movements
were developed on a broad scale in many countries of the world.
These facts indicated the mounting struggle between the
revolutionary and counterrevolutionary forces.
In those days, in Korea, the Japanese imperialist aggressors
developed large-scale movements for ‘‘national spiritual general
mobilization,” while strengthening the economic plunder of Ko-
rea and particularly, the concentrated plunder of resources for
military use, and were hell-bent on stamping out the national
spirit, chanting such slogans as “Let’s become subjects of the
Emperor” and “Japan and Korea are one.” Even the national
reformists, who had degraded themselves by becoming undis-
guised agents of Japanese imperialism, were actively cooperat-
ing with Japanese imperialism, noisily talking about “The Japa-
nese and Koreans are of the same ancestry.”
The aggressors were tightening up the chains of plunder and
enslavement of the Korean people. But the Korean people reso-
lutely refused to become meek slaves of the Japanese imperial-
ists. The smothering fascist rule aroused only stronger anger
among the people, with the result that the national and class
contradictions between the Japanese imperialist aggressors and
the Korean people became increasingly sharper. Anti-Japanese
sentiments mounted higher and higher among all sections of the
Korean people except a handful of comprador forces.
After analysing the subjective and objective situations, the
General made up his mind to strengthen activities to prepare
for the founding of a Party, while heightening the morale of
the Korean people by moving into the border areas in the
northern parts of Korea and dealing successive blows at the
enemy, and to develop powerful movements for a broad anti-
Japanese national united front, based on the already laid
261
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

General Kim Il Sung leading the Nanhutou Meeting

groundwork.
This was an extremely difficult task, but the General was
richly experienced in this kind of activity, and the actual condi-
tions were ripe for developing such activities.
General Kim Il Sung’s ideas of building up a base for new
struggles, promoting activities for the preparation of the found-
ing of a Party and forming a broad-based united front, were
presented at a Meeting of Military and Political Cadres held
in a log cabin in the thick woods of Nanhutou in Ningan county
in February 1936.
At this meeting, the General analysed the situation, which
had begun to show a major change in the mid-1930’s, and pre-
sented his policy of consolidating the results of activities for a
united front with the masses in all walks of- life and of forming
a still broader, more powerful anti-Japanese national united
front in order to rally broader sections of the masses on a na-
tionwide scale.
Underlining the fact that the immediate important task
of the Communists was to form into a body an anti-Japanese
national united front, the General stated:
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 KIM IL SUNG

“...In order to carry out this task under the severe condi-
tions in which Japanese imperialism is increasing its suppressive
measures, it is essential to unite all anti-Japanese forces of var-
ious names—no matter what the name of the united front body
may be—in consideration of the actual conditions in each
locality and the level of preparedness of the people....”
At the same time, the General emphasized time and again
the need to warn against rightist and leftist deviations, to pre-
vent subversive activities by the enemy and to protect organ-
izational secrets strictly.
Following this question, the General presented the policy of
further expanding and developing the preparatory work, in
keeping with the development of the situation, for the founding
of a Marxist-Leninist Party, which would play the role of gen-
eral staff and vanguard in the Korean revolution.
Attaching special importance to the question of forming of
leading nucleus capable of organizing such a Party and consol-
idating it, the General stressed as follows:
“Tf we succeed in forming firmly this leading nucleus, we
will be able to found a Party in due course with this as the piv-
ot and rally the masses around it. That is to say, the commu-
nist leading nucleus tempered and proved through struggle will
lead the Korean revolution undaunted to victory, under what-
ever difficult circumstances, and will overcome all forms of
Right and “Left” opportunism and factionalism, and thus will
be a reliable foundation for the Party.”
The General then underscored the need constantly to foster
and expand the ranks of the Communists, strengthen Marxist-
Leninist education in the revolutionary organizations, and more
vigorously develop organizational and ideological preparations
for Party-building.
Lastly, the General put forth the policy of moving the anti-
Japanese guerrilla units into the northern border areas of Korea
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 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

to bring about a great upsurge in the revolution throughout the

country.
Stressing that only by shifting the areas of activities of the
anti-Japanese guerrilla units to the borderlands and to the home-
land, was it possible to give hope for the future and courage to
the people, the General said:
“ ..The future central task is directly to organize and lead
revolutionary movements at home, in addition to creating new
bases for the guerrillas in the borderlands and along the Amrok
and Dooman Rivers centering on Mt. Baikdoo, and expanding
the scope of armed struggle deeper into our homeland....”
The Nanhutou Meeting unanimously adopted the clear-cut
policies presented by General Kim Ii Sung, defining them as
the basic line for greater development of the Korean revolution.
After this meeting, the General personally led the units into
the northern border areas of Korea to develop the revolutionary
movement on a nationwide scale. It was at this time that the
anti-Japanese guerrillas were named the Korean People’s Revo-
lutionary Army at the instance of the General.
The units under the command of the General marched
through the thick primeval forests, and passing through Mihun-
chen and Manchiang and other places, early in May reached
Tungkang in Fusung county, more ‘than 40 kilometres to the
southeast of Fusungchen.
This was no mere march for the General. The march over
miles and miles of unbeaten tracks buried deep in snow, a
march that continued for several months over steep mountain
ridges, was also the road to mapping out a blueprint for the
development of the Korean revolution, and the grand plan for
the restoration of the fatherland, which was to be announced
shortly afterwards.
There was no time for the General to rest. While continuing
the difficult march, he had to concentrate on clarifying the stra-
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tegic tasks of the revolution.

What should be the form of the anti-Japanese national unit-
ed front which was to be formed? How was it to be organized?
What should be the contents of the programme to be presented
as the banner of its struggle.
How to promote organizational and ideological preparations
for the founding of a Party? What preparations and measures
were needed to create bases of a new type around Mt. Baik-
doo? Every question was of vital importance.
The General spent many nights without sleep in a tent in a
raging snowstorm, and putting overcoats over the bent backs
of sleeping young guerrillas, warming his numbed hands with
his breath, he carefully wrote down his well-thought-out ideas.
Sometimes sitting on a fallen tree, and using a rock as a
desk, the General mapped out a new plan, and at other times,
warming himself at a fire in a lonely log cabin in a deep valley,
he turned over his thoughts and worked hard until dawn to fin-
ish the programme for the revolution.
At such a time he pictured to himself the Korean people
languishing in darkness and heard their cries of agony for help
reaching him like a great surge of sea waves. The heart of the
General pulsated with their hearts, and his pen was filled with
his boundless love for the people as he drew up the strategy
of the revolution. There were times when the fat enemies of
the nation, squeezing and plundering the people, wielding
bayonets, crossed his mind like an ominous cloud. Then the
General, with burning hatred in his heart, drove his pen
with a vengeance, as if trying to give a final blow to the enemy
agonizing in death throes.
It was his love for the people and hatred for the enemy that
made the General write down the historic plan for the restora-
tion of the fatherland, not in the quiet of a study, but in the
wilderness of wild nature, and enabled him to create a theory,
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 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

completely original and revolutionary in all respects.

Ata time when some people, nestling in their salons, di-
vorced from the life of the people and inexperienced in practi-
cal struggle, talked about “world revolution” without touching
on the Korean revolution at all, and were building theoretical
castles in the air; while some dreamed pipe dreams of immedi-
ate “socialist revolution,” only the General had a clear perspec-
tive on each stage and course of the Korean revolution.
However difficult the situation and however ferocious the
enemy, the General never lost confidence in the people, in the
power of the people who could move a mountain if united, and
who could be more powerful than an active volcano when it
erupts.
It was because of this that the General was able to forge the
sharpest weapon to be given to the people and prepare the bea-
con fire that would never be extinguished by any storm.
The great and concrete plan for the restoration of the fa-
therland of General Kim Il Sung was known widely at home
and abroad after the Tungkang Meeting held in Fusung county
in May 1936. A log cabin surrounded by a sea of trees on a
plateau 1,800 metres above sea level—this was the place where
the historic Tungkang Meeting was held over 15 days. At this
meeting, the General further made more concrete the program-
matic policies presented at the Nanhutou Meeting, and made
completely clear the practical methods and tasks for carrying
out the programme.
The first question was the creation of new guerrilla bases
in connection with the advance of the People’s Revolutionary
Army into the border areas. The General presented the policy
of creating new revolutionary bases in the great forest areas
covering the northern parts of Korea along the Amrok and
Dooman Rivers and Changpai county, with Mt. Baikdoo, the
sacred ancestral mountain, as the centre in order to lead the

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revolutionary struggles of the Korean people generally and to

develop the Korean revolution by leaps and bounds. The
General, making clear the need for creating new bases and
how they would differ from past bases for guerrillas in East
Manchuria, said:
“..Guerrilla bases of a new type which are necessary for us
now, must be set up in favourable areas, from which we can
organize and lead revolutionary movements generally in Korea,
and also in areas where we can move freely as we please, to
develop guerrilla activities flexibly and quickly on a broad scale.
Most suitable areas for the purpose are in the northern parts of
Korea along the Amrok and Dooman Rivers with Mt. Baikdoo
as the centre, and also in the areas covering Changpai, Lin-
chiang and Fusung counties.
It is necessary for us to set up secret camps, utilizing the
natural fortress of the big thick forests and to organize illegal
revolutionary organizations broadly among the masses of peo-
ple in the enemy-controlled parts, included in these areas.
The new guerrilla bases, whose secrecy will be protected by
the advantageous position of Mt. Baikdoo and by local revolu-
tionary organizations, will be made a strong and invincible for-
tress. If we set up bases and rely on the revolutionary organi-
zations, we will be able to thrust deep into our fatherland and
make the flames of the anti-Japanese armed struggle blaze more
fiercely. This means that the bases to be newly set up around
Mt. Baikdoo will be literally a stronghold for the Korean revo-
lution.
We will be able to go up and down this bulwark of steep
mountains and will be able to move our troops quickly and
immobilize the enemy by resorting to the tactics of elusive agil-
ileats
The General emphasized that the Japanese scoundrels boast-
ing of their “invincible Imperial Army” would not be able to
267
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

crush the stronghold of the Korean revolution even with their

cannons, machine guns, aircraft and bombs, if the guerrillas
build this stronghold, utilizing this natural fortress and relying
on revolutionary organizations, correctly applying guerrilla tac-
tics of preternatural swiftness. Thus they would be able to
achieve great results in the work of organizing and leading the
Korean revolution in general.
Making the policy presented at the Nanhutou Meeting still
more concrete, the General proceeded to explain his policy of
pushing preparations more vigorously for the creation of a
Marxist-Leninist Party.
The General emphasized that it was a task of prime impor-
tance, based on successes and experience already obtained in
the course of the armed struggle, to develop activities through
the length and breadth of Korea in preparation for the founding
of a Party, and he presented principled and practical methods
for this purpose.
The General emphasized the following, pointing out that it
was most important to foster an organizational pivot for the
founding of such a Party:
“...A certain organizational pivot is needed for the founding
of such a Party. This organizational pivot is composed of lead-
ing nuclei of the Communists trained and proved in the course
of the practical struggle. We Communists should therefore fur-
ther develop activities to expand and strengthen the ranks of
leading nuclei which would provide the basis for founding the
Party.
The General stressed the need to thoroughly overcome fac-
tionalism and Right and “Left” opportunist deviations, which
had long plagued the communist movement in Korea and to
organizationally rally the Communists in the homeland.
The Tungkang Meeting also discussed as important ques-
tions the concrete and practical methods of forming an organiz-
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ed anti-Japanese national united front and of further develop-

ing united front movements on a broader scale according to
the policy decided at the Nanhutou Meeting.
The General proposed first to form an Association for the
Restoration of the Fatherland as a permanent anti-Japanese
national united front organization, and presented a struggle
programme on the organizational form and expanding its organ-
izational network and strengthening and developing anti-Japa-
nese national united front movement on a nationwide scale.
The General emphasized that it was of first importance to
strengthen organizationally and ideologically the ranks of Com-
munists and the working class and to firmly secure their leading
role in the united front. He stated that, at the same time, it was
essential to spread far and wide the Programme of the Associa-
tion for the Restoration of the Fatherland among the masses of
people in all walks of life and to open the doors of the Associa-
tion to all people who were opposed to Japanese imperialism,
irrespective of ideological and political differences, differences of
religious belief or tenets. Further, he taught that various forms
of mass organizations suitable to local and other conditions
should be organized to rally the popular masses, so that the
secrets of the organization might be strictly protected and that
mass organizations should be elevated from lower to higher
forms, from partial to nationwide unification.
The General repeatedly emphasized that in expanding and
strengthening the united front organization, it was essential to
develop correctly and skilfully activities among broad sections
of the masses, including workers and peasants, making clear
the direction and methods of activities with respect to different
social strata, as well as some questions of principle to be observ-
ed in connection with illegal propaganda and agitation.
The guidelines presented by the General at the Tungkang
Meeting were a programmatic line which brought about an
269
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

epochal turn in the development of the Korean revolutionary

movement, being the only guide to the course of struggle for
the Communists and revolutionaries at home.
Those who attended the meeting were greatly impressed
anew by the distinguished Marxist-Leninist views of General
Kim Il Sung and his scientific insight, and enthusiastically sup-
ported the General’s new policies.
The Nanhutou and Tungkang Meetings were historic con-
ferences that defined the programmatic line and policy of the
Korean revolution, marking a new phase in the development of
the Korean revolution. The meetings added a glorious page to
the history of anti-Japanese national liberation movements, in
that they made clear the programmatic policy of the Korean
revolution and gave the Korean people the banner of struggle
and victory.

270
2. The Association for the Restoration of the
Fatherland and Its 10-Point Programme

THE ACTIVITIES to expand the anti-Japanese national

united front had been pushed vigorously and consistently since
the days when General Kim Il Sung began the revolutionary
struggle.
This was a task of great importance, for the success or fail-
ure of the revolution depended on whether the masses of peo-
ple, who are the prime mover of historical development, could
be secured in struggle or not.
Originally, revolution is the activity of the people them-
selves, aimed at winning freedom and happiness for the popu-
lar masses, and the people and the revolution are as insepara-
ble as the body and wings of an eagle. In this sense, the ques-
tion of the anti-Japanese national united front for rallying broad
sections of anti- Japanese masses constituted an important compo-
nent part of the strategy and tactics for the Korean revolution.
In view of this necessary demand, the General deplored the
lack of cohesion among the anti-Japanese forces from the first
days of his revolutionary activities, and devoted himself to the
work of forging unity for the anti-Japanese forces.
The General imbued the elements with the idea of unity,
those who paid lip service to opposition to Japanese imperialism
but who were engrossed in factional strife; and when he met two
persons, he led them to unite; and at the conferences, the
274
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

General spoke from the rostrum to influence hundreds and thou-

sands of people with his ideas of unity.
When he took part in the Meeting of the Ge Federa-
tion of Youth in South Manchuria held in the spring of 1929,
he did not hesitate to condemn the splitting activities even in
the tense atmosphere of violence caused by the nationalists who
did not hesitate to brandish their daggers. Further, in the early
days of organizing the guerrilla units, he sharply criticized the
nationalists who tried to discredit Communists by bringing false
charges against them. These were part of the General’s consist-
ent struggle to realize national unity.
“...Why should you kill each other only because of slight
ideological differences at a time when it is necessary to rally all
people who are opposed to Japanese imperialism? In my opinion
it is More important to expand the anti-Japanese forces.... Let’s
think of this. The Korean population is not so large; what need
is there to take the trouble of coming all the way out to Man-
churia to engage in such activities?... What is essential is to
unite the Korean people. Let all the people unite to fight Japa-
nese imperialism, whether they are Communists or not. This
will make the position all the more favourable to us....”
No one dared to oppose these words of the General.
The splitting activities of the factionalists, who had infiltrat-
ed themselves into the ranks of Communists, were completely
smashed by the General, who developed powerful struggles to
educate and mobilize the masses for national unity and for
unity in anti-Japanese action.
In the meantime, General Kim I! Sung built firm founda-
tions for an anti-Japanese united front and acquired rich expe-
rience through formation of the anti-Japanese armed ranks,
which were the leading force of the Korean revolution, expansion
of their mass basis and through organization of the Anti-Imperi-
alist Union, the Peasants’ Association, the Revolutionary As-
272
 KIM IL SUNG

sociation for Mutual Relief and various other mass organizations,

and by raining blows on the “Left” opportunists who did
damage to the united front, and forming a united front with the
“anti-Japanese units.”
Having in this way laid the organizational and tactical basis
for forming the broad anti-Japanese national united front, the
General declared to the world at the Tungkang Meeting the
historic establishment of the Association for the Restoration of
the Fatherland, the organization of the anti-Japanese national
united front. Thus, on May 5, 1936, when the Tungkang Meet-
ing was in session, the anti-Japanese national united front
organization was formed in Korea as a single mass organization
for the first time.
In those days, our working class had no unified Party, nor
did any other class have its own political party or political organ-
ization. This meant that our united front organization did not
take the form of a coalition of different political parties, in
contrast to united front organizations in other countries. This
is the reason why the General chose as the form of the united
front organization a single mass organization based on the prin-
ciple of democratic centralism.
The Tungkang Meeting elected General Kim Il Sung as
Chairman of the Association for the Restoration of the Father-
land and decided to publish the “Samil Wolgan” (Monthly
March the First) as the organ of the Association.
The Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland ana-
lysed the wealth of practical experience accumulated by the
General in days of trial, scientifically generalized the ardent
aspirations of the Korean people and declared far and wide its
10-Point Programme, Inaugural Declaration and Rules drawn
up by the General himself.
The historic Inaugural Declaration of the Association for the
Restoration of the Fatherland expressed burning indignation at
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 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

the fact that the fatherland, a beautiful land of 3,000 ri which

our nation had held dear and made prosperous through many
generations, was trampled underfoot by Japanese imperialism,
and that the ingenious Korean people were oppressed and
exploited as slaves. It emphasized that the patriotic ideas and
the ardent spirit of independence of the Korean people were
still alive as ever.
The Declaration stated that the Korean people were respon-
sible for the national independence of Korea and that the Ko-
rean people themselves must assume and carry out their respon-
sibilities, adding: “Today when the international revolutiona-
ry movement is active, we will endeavour, for the cause of
national restoration and national salvation... to make use of this
opportunity offered and strive to unite ourselves unconditionally,
irrespective of political affiliations (revolutionary organizations),
religious, class distinctions (propertied or propertyless), differ-
ences of localities, sexes and age, and rising up in alliance and
concerted action, drive Japanese imperialism, our national
enemy... from Korea and win the independence of Korea and
the freedom of the nation.... If those who have money contrib-
ute money, if those who have foodstuffs contribute food, if those
who have skill and power contribute their skill and power,
and if all the 23 million people are thus united as one man and
participate in the anti-Japanese national restoration front
through action, national independence and liberation will surely
be achieved....”
The burning spirit of independence and liberation incorpo-
rated in the Inaugural Declaration was supported by the Pro-
gramme of the Association for the Restoration of the Father-
land and its Rules, which regulated the norms of organizational
life.
The Rules of the Association tor the Restoration of the Fa-
therland, which creatively defined its membership qualifications,
274
 KIM IL SUNG

organizational form and structure, etc., consisted of 14 articles,

eight chapters, and three articles of bylaws.
The Rules laid down the principle that any organization or
individual opposed to Japanese imperialism could be admitted
to the Association as a member so that all anti-Japanese revo-
lutionary forces might be included in it. Further, in considera-
tion of illegal activities, a “system of special membership” was
created for the Association to protect the organization from
subversive activities by the enemy and to strictly safeguard its
secrets.
The 10-Point Programme of the Association for the Restora-
tion of the Fatherland clearly indicated the following as the
struggle tasks of the Korean people for the attainment of nation-
al restoration:
1. To mobilize the Korean nation generally and realize a
broad-based anti-Japanese united front and thereby to over-
throw the brigandish Japanese imperialist rule and establish
a genuine people’s government of Korea.
2. To overthrow Japan and its puppet “Manchoukuo”
through a close alliance between both the Korean and Chinese
nations, to establish a revolutionary government chosen by the
Chinese people themselves and to grant real autonomy to the
Korean people residing in Chinese territory.
3. To disarm the Japanese armed forces, gendarmes, police
and their agents and organize a real revolutionary army fight-
ing for the independence of Korea.
4. To confiscate all enterprises, railways, banks, shipping,
farms and irrigation systems owned by Japan and Japanese,
and all property and estates owned by traitorous pro-Japanese
elements to raise funds for the independence movement, and to
use part of the money for the relief of the poor.
5. To cancel all loans made to people by Japan and its
agents and abolish all kinds of taxes and monopoly systems, to
27)
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

improve the living of the masses and smoothly develop national

industries, agriculture and commerce.
6. To win the freedom of the press, publication, assembly
and association, to oppose the establishment of terrorist rule
and encouragement of feudalistic ideas by the Japanese, and to
release all political prisoners.
7. To abolish the ryangban, common people and other
caste systems and other inequalities, to ensure equality based on
humanity irrespective of the differences of sex, nationality or
religion, to improve the social treatment of women and respect
the personality of women.
8. To abolish slave labour and slavish education, to oppose
forced military service and military training of young people,
to educate people in our national language and characters, and
to enforce free compulsory education.
9. To enforce an eight-hour day, improve working condi-
tions and raise wages, to formulate labour laws, to enforce laws
for the protection of labour and to extend relief to the unem-
ployed by state organs.
10. To form a close alliance with nations and states which
take a position of equality with the Korean nation and to main-
tain comradely relations of friendship with states and nations
which express goodwill and maintain neutrality to our national
liberation movement.
The 10-Point Programme of the Association for the Restora-
tion of the Fatherland gave a Marxist-Leninist analysis to the
socio-economic conditions and class interrelations of our coun-
try and clearly defined the character and tasks, allies and tar-
gets of struggle, and strategic and tactical principles of the Ko-
rean revolution.
Korea was reduced to a colony of Japanese imperialism be-
fore we abolished feudalistic relations, and therefore colonial
and semi-feudalistic relations dominated our country, and nation-

276
 KIM IL SUNG

al and class contradictions were complicately intertwined.

The basic contradictions of Korean society in those days
were contradictions between the working class, the peasantry,
the urban petty-bourgeois class and national capitalists on the
one hand, and Japanese imperialism and its allies, landlords,
comprador capitalists and pro-Japanese agents, on the other.
The main contradiction among them was that between Japa-
nese imperialism and the Korean nation. Therefore, the basic
task of the revolution was to overthrow Japanese imperialism,
the main enemy of the Korean people, attain national independ-
ence and democratize society.
Starting from this, the Programme defined the Korean revo-
lution as an anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic revolution,
and presented it as the top priority task of the revolution to
overthrow the Japanese imperialist colonial rule and attain
national liberation.
And the Programme put forth it as the most basic political
task of the revolution to establish a genuine people’s govern-
ment which was to be participated in by the broad anti-Japa-
nese, patriotic forces of all strata based on the worker-peasant
alliance led by the working class.
The line of the people’s government rejected both rightist
and leftist deviations in the form of government, and made
clear the form of regime most appropriate to the situation in
Korea. It had great vitality as it was formulated on the basis
of the practical experience of the guerrilla bases-liberated areas
in East Manchuria.
The Programme also put forth it as the main means for re-
alizing the basic tasks of the revolution to expand and develop
the anti-Japanese national united front and organize a revolu-
tionary army.
It also clarified in detail the social, economic tasks—guar-
antee of democratic freedoms and rights for the people, confisca-
277
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

tion of mines, enterprises, estates and other means of produc-

tion owned by Japan, Japanese and pro-Japanese elements,
establishment of a people’s educational system, etc.
Indeed, this was, in all respects, the only struggle pro-
gramme of our people that issued from the basic interests of
the working people and from the national interests common to
all sections of the people and the first Marxist-Leninist revolu-
tionary programme of the Korean people in history.
Many complex problems that had to be solved creatively
were presented to the Korean revolution because of the peculiar-
ities of social development of Korea. These were extremely
knotty problems which only one with a rich knowledge of and
profound insight into Marxism-Leninism could solve. It was
because of this that these questions remained as the outstanding
issues of the Korean revolution. The publication of the Pro-
gramme of the Association for the Restoration of the Father-
land worked out by General Kim Il Sung meant the establish-
ment of the first creative and scientific Marxist-Leninist revolu-
tionary line in our country.
This great Programme was a terrible bombshell to the ene-
mies who had been slandering the revolution and was a verdict
of history sentencing them to total failure, while to the Korean
people languishing in darkness it was a beacon of relief, a stir-
ring, hopeful thunderstorm of spring that aroused them to revo-
lutionary enthusiasm, a powerful weapon with which to pave
the way for a free future.
This Programme presented itself as a further development
of the theory of Marxism-Leninism on the colonial, national
liberation revolution, and had a far-reaching revolutionary effect
on people in various countries fighting for national liberation.
The might of the 10-Point Programme of the Association
for the Restoration of the Fatherland worked out by the
General was fully confirmed by the great upsurge of the Korean
278
 KIM IL SUNG

revolution that it produced.

The formation of the Association for the Restoration of the
Fatherland at the instance of General Kim Il Sung was an event
of epochal significance in the history of the anti-Japanese na-
tional liberation struggle of the Korean people.
The formation of the Association put an end to the tragic
disunity, division, antagonisms and conflicts within the ranks
of the movement, which had remained a cancer for a long time
in the national liberation movement of our country, bringing
all the anti-Japanese patriotic forces under one banner, the ban-
ner of the restoration of the fatherland.
For a long time, the Korean people had been continuing
powerful struggles against the foreign aggressors and the feu-
dal-bureaucratic ruling circles. Years and months passed in
wars, and people sharpened their swords in their straw-roofed
shanties, and when a war started, they turned their shovels
and hoes into weapons. The land was dyed with the blood of
patriotic martyrs and people. However, so far, there had been
no guidance of an outstanding leader for the sacred struggles
of the Korean people, to their regret, nor had they been guid-
ed by a scientific programme that indicated clearly the most
essential targets of struggle and incorporated the vital interests
and aspirations of the people. It was because of this that de-
spite countless sacrifices, their struggle had not been crowned
with final victory.
Even the anti-Japanese righteous volunteers’ struggle, de-
veloped in and around the time of the occupation of Korea by
Japanese imperialism,was lacking in unified leadership, organi-
zation and unity of struggle. The Independence Army movement
of the nationalists was divided into scores of small groups
engrossed in factional strife, not engage in independence
movements.
Further, because of splitting activities and shameless strife
279
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

of factional elements, the communist movement in the 1920’s

was unable to perform its historical mission of unifying and
rallying revolutionary forces under the banner of a unified pro-
gramme.
But responsible for this destructive division were the crim-
inal acts of those who were in the upper crust of the move-
ments, and therefore, each time their struggle suffered a bitter
failure, broad sections of the popular masses looked for power-
ful unity and were looking forward to the appearance of a great
and wise leader who, as the core of unity, would be able to lead
the struggles to victory.
The centuries-old ardent desire of the people to have sucha
leader was fulfilled for the first time in the 1930’s. The Korean
people had found their national hero, General Kim Il Sung, as
their wise Chief and great Leader and rallied firmly around him,
thus finally bidding farewell to the tragic past of divisions and
antagonisms and achieving national unity.
The formation of the Association for the Restoration of the
Fatherland expanded and strengthened the anti-Japanese armed
struggle and the mass basis for the founding of a Marxist-Lenin-
ist Party, anda wide variety of anti-Japanese struggles involv-
ing the masses of people in all walks of life were blended into
a major stream. So the general revolutionary struggles of the
Korean people advanced rapidly towards a great upsurge, with
the anti-Japanese armed struggle as the centre.
In this way, the formation of the Association for the Resto-
ration of the Fatherland added a shining page to the history of
the national liberation struggle of the Korean people and built
an immortal monument for the Korean people.
The great ideas incorporated in the Programme of the Asso-
ciation for the Restoration of the Fatherland bore beautiful
fruit after the Liberation in the northern half of the Republic.
The people in the northern half of the Republic, who have
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 KIM IL SUNG

accomplished the task of an anti-imperialist, anti-feudal,

democratic revolution laid down in the Programme, are now
enjoying genuine happiness in all domains of socio-political
life, building a still more shining paradise of socialism on earth
as masters of their own country who now hold sovereignty in
their hands. The happy people in the northern half of the Re-
public are firmly united with one mind and one will around the
Workers’ Party of Korea and Premier Kim Il Sung, the respect-
ed and beloved Leader, and are bounding forward at the
speed of the legendary winged horse, Chullima.

281
3. Battle of Attack on Fusung County Seat

THE HOPES of the guerrillas ran high in the spring of 1936.

Unknown mountain birds were flying high and singing merrily
in the sky above the thickly wooded valleys, and the songs of
the guerrillas echoed their music. It looked as though the thick
forests and mountains were clothed in green foliage earlier than
normal because of rising surge and hot breath of the revolution.
According to the important policy presented by him at the
Nanhutou and Tungkang Meetings, General Kim Il Sung de-
veloped the struggle to create new guerrilla bases or secret camps’
in broad areas abutting on the northern part of Korea aimed at
striking Japanese imperialism at its weakest spots. These had
to be bases for military activities that guaranteed active
mobile operations for the guerrilla units and footholds from which
activities could be positively developed to promote the movement
for an anti-Japanese national united front and to conduct the
preparatory work for founding a Party.
The struggle to set up these bases had to be maintained in
such a way that the fighting capacity of the guerrillas would be
constantly strengthened through constant battles, that enemy
control over the inhabitants might be paralyzed and that the mass
basis of the revolution might be firmly laid by effectively activat-
ing political work among the local masses, and by constantly
expanding the revolutionary organizations including the Associ-
282
 KIM IL SUNG

ation for the Restoration of the Fatherland.

This was not an easy task. In order to achieve one goal, 10
or 20 complex tasks had to be carried out simultaneously, so
well-thought-out tactics and resourcefulness were needed.
Furthermore, under conditions in which powerful enemies were
always there to pounce upon the guerrillas, the work to set up
new secret camps was accompanied by restless, constant and
fierce battles.
In May 1936, the General set up the Headquarters at
Hsikang in Fusung county, while organizing battles for the pur-
pose of setting up secret camps and leading these battles.
Alarmed at the news that the units of the People’s Revo-
lutionary Army personally led by the General had appeared in
areas around Fusung, the enemy called in reinforcements to
strengthen their positions, while hell-bent on suppressing the
people and stepping up “punitive” operations against the Revo-
lutionary Army.
The enemy stationed the Third Combined Brigade of the
puppet Manchoukuo Army in Fusung county, and posted the
Third Infantry Regiment and a battalion of the Kwantung
Army in the county seat, detailing battalions or companies to
important villages and villages cultivating ginseng in the county.
In addition, the enemy in Fusung county had six infantry com-
panies and a company of machine-gunners and a trench mortar
company as police corps. In those days, the “punitive units” of
the enemy were garrisoned mainly in Fusung county seat,
Sungshuchen, Maliangchen, Choushuitung, Pokang, Tungkang,
Hsikang, Hsinancha and other places in Fusung county. The
enemy stationed large units in these places and posted small units
in the surrounding areas, and while moving, large units carried
out “punitive operations.”
The units of the People’s Revolutionary Army, which had
entered Fusung county occupied by large enemy units, set up
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 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

secret camps in almost all the big forest areas in the county,
including Maanshan, Tachenchang, Yangmutingtzu, and Huang-
nihotzu, with Fusung county seat as their centre, so that
they might surround the main enemy-controlled places in the
county. The guerrillas could take a rest and be given military-
political training in these secret camps.
General Kim Il Sung, using these secret camps as the centre,
organized battles by attacking small and weak enemy units first,
then gradually moving to important points to attack larger
enemy units. These battles began with the Manchiang Battle
waged in Fusung county in April 1936.
Manchiang was a central point in the mountains, con-
necting Linchiang, Fusung, and Changpai and other places. It
not only was an important place for developing guerrilla
warfare but also a weak spot of the enemy so far as the deploy-
ment of enemy forces was concerned. The General first smashed
the enemy stationed at Manchiang, immobilizing the puppet
Manchoukuo Army and police units stationed in the neighbour-
ing areas. Thus, the guerrilla units were able to conduct activities
freely in the neighbouring forest areas and create conditions
favourable for establishment of guerrilla bases.
In May of the same year the units, led by the General in
person, routed the enemies at Laoling situated on the border of
Linchiang county and Fusung county. Having suffered serious
blows in Manchiang and Laoling, the enemies hurriedly con-
centrated their forces on the areas around Hsinancha in Fusung
county in desperate preparation for “punitive” operations. But
the units of the People’s Revolutionary Army made a fierce
surprise attack on the enemies at a village in Hsinancha in June
the same year, dealing them an appalling blow and throwing
them into confusion when they were loudly talking about
“punitive” operations.
Alarmed at this surprise attack by the General’s units, the
284
 KIM IL SUNG

Police Affairs Department of the puppet Manchoukuo Govern-

ment of Antung Province and the headquarters of the Third
Combined Brigade of the puppet Manchoukuo Army strengthen-
ed patrols in important areas in and around Fusung and gave
stern “punitive” operation orders to their “punitive units” gar-
risoned around Fusung. But the enemy troops were already
quite at a loss what to do, and were further thrown into con-
fusion by the novel tactics of the General and speedy mobile
operations of the People’s Revolutionary Army units.
After smashing the enemy forces at Hsinancha, the General
conducted an attack on Hsikang, and giving rest to the Revo-
lutionary Army units in its neighbourhood, planned a Battle of
Attack on Fusung County Seat.
In those days, Fusung, the county seat of Fusung county,
was quite a walled city with a population of more than 28,000.
The enemy regarded this county seat, situated in the midst
of the mountain areas, as an important strategic point for fight-
ing the People’s Revolutionary Army and as a main bastion
for “maintaining peace and order and purging recalcitrants” in
the areas around Tungpientao. So important was this city for
the enemies that they had garrisons not only of the Kwantung
Army and the puppet Manchoukuo Army but also the police
headquarters, a trench mortar company, a light machine gun
company, an independent main party and a guerrilla-searching
party of the police, etc., in the county.
In those days, in these areas there were such “anti-Japanese
units” as those led by Wan Shun, Chan Shan-hao and Wen
Ming-chun, which had been driven into the mountains, pursued
by the puppet Manchoukuo Army units commanded by a
certain Wang. The General planned to win them to his side
and to launch joint operations with them. Actually, he wanted
to show to these cowardly “anti-Japanese units” how the People’s
Revolutionary Army smashed the enemy.
285
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

Already informed of the skill of the General and the effec-

tiveness of the People’s Revolutionary Army, they readily con-
sented to the General’s proposal.
The General looked down from among the trees at the
sprawling Fusung county seat far below, lost in deep thought.
Fusung, where he had spent his boyhood days and some of his
youthful years held many unforgettable memories. It was there
that he bid his last farewell, in sorrow, to his father, an ardent
anti-Japanese fighter, and it was also there that his mother en-
dured all sorts of difficulties with fortitude, refusing to be over-
whelmed with bitter grief: A cyclorama of memories of the past
days passed rapidly through the General’s mind: The days when,
returning from the Hwasung School, he organized and led the
“Sainal Children’s Corps,” when he published a newspaper and
distributed it, his friends who were full of hopes and gladly
carried out their missions, the days when he searched for the
truth and fought day and night, always desiring to take the
leap...
Bidding farewell to this Fusung full of memories, the
General, who had been setting the revolution aflame in broad
areas, while crushing the enemies wherever he went, now made
his appearance again at this city as the Leader of the people
whom the enemies feared.
Leading a combined unit of 1,800 men, the General drew
up a plan carefully after looking down over the city from end
to end with keen eyes.
First, he detailed his harassment units to the three places of
Antu, Mengchiang and Linchiang where enemy reinforcements
were expected and blocked the roads to these places and used
the tactic of raising noise in the east and attacking the west.
On the night of August 16, on the order of the General, some
units made a surprise attack on Sungshuchen, a strategic point
near the county seat, and threw the enemy troops into con-
286
 KIM IL SUNG

The Battle of Attack on Fusung County Seat

fusion.
Taking advantage of the confusion, the units launched the
attack on the county seat before dawn on the following August
17. The enemy troops fought desperately, madly firing heavy
and light machine guns and trench mortars at random from
their fortified batteries. The units of the People’s Revolutionary
Army smashed enemy units one after another, continuing at-
tacks without letdown. Their fiercest battle was fought at the
Hsiaonanmen street of the county seat. However, as time
passed, the situation gradually turned unfavourable to the
Revolutionary Army. The day dawned soon after the battle
started, and the “anti-Japanese units” attacking the county seat
from the northern gate, meeting a heavy counterattack of the
enemy, began to beat a retreat.
Quickly grasping the progress of battle, the General decided
that the enemy troops should be led into a place advantageous
287
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

to the Revolutionary Army, to trap and annihilate them. He

had it in view that no loss would be caused to the lives and
property of people inside the walled city if the enemy troops
were led out of it. Playing into the hands of the General, the
enemy troops climbed Mt. Tungshan and repeated frontal! at-
tacks from there, but each time they were smashed by the
concentrated fire of the Revolutionary Army units and in hand-
to-hand battles.
The enemy troops, severely punished by the decoy tactics of
the General, lost no time in asking in an urgent telegram for
reinforcements from the Kwantung Army. Receiving this urgent
message, the headquarters of the Kwantung Army flew two
bomber planes from Hsinching (present Changchun) and ordered
many troops of the Kwantung Army in various parts to rush
to the county seat to rescue them.
A report on the so-called “enemy situation” entitled “Attacks
of the enemy on Fusung county seat and Sungshuchen” by the
chief of the Police Department of South Hamgyung Province
(of Korea) to the “punitive units’ and the responsible leaders
of the border patrol police and army units, states:
“ ..The People’s Revolutionary Army...and various other
kinds of enemy troops, totalling about 1,000 men, encircled and
attacked the Fusung county seat. Thereupon the police units of
the county seat are striving to repulse the attackers, but are
now fighting under great. difficulty and unfavourable conditions
as ammunition is running short. Meanwhile, about 300 enemy
troops, which are thought to be part of the above-mentioned
army, made a simultaneous attack on Sungshuchen in the same
county and completely reduced the city. Receiving an urgent
report, the Kwantung Army sent two bombers from Hsinching
to the county seat to airlift ammunition and bomb the enemy
troops, and mobilized garrison troops at Shanchengchen,
Tunghua and Huanjen, and dispatched two companies of the
288
 KIM
IL SUNG

Manchoukuo Army, one security corps company from

Maoerhshan and two security corps companies from Meng-
chiang county. Further at 3 p.m., August 18, 80 men under
Captain Tanaka of the Garrison Force at Joonggangjin in North
Pyungan Province crossed the border to join the punitive opera-
ton ee
Whatever strong reinforcements came, however, the enemy
was unable to recover from the miserable defeat it had already
aS sustained. The General
ij: g 3. : ordered all units to
$ pi T charge, and a hand-to-
IR 4 +k pe hand fight was fought
iti he -P> with the enemy troops
Lid E t nL 1 which had been driven
433 t — ps Fi > intoa corner of the valley,
RE ae uh Hh yl and an annihilating
at i F -e F R JI» blow was dealt them,
ak, PE g B ğa Li struggling helplessly in
ba m Z% bay 4- their death throes.
ey 238 CE a 6 7 The Battle of Attack
T ae ke m E f.z on Fusung County Seat
ae 5 a wi ig #s* ended ina great victory
eat a piBR for the People’s Revolu-
- aigi i aN An ee tionary Army. Among
a ES er ay those who distinguished
Fece
betas eh
{ESt AK — themselves in thisthi battle
in
‘= b- __ were some 100 men and
Hi sage A “ women fighters who had
CE been falsely charged with
being “Minsaingdan”
Press report on the Battle of Attack members but had been
on Fusung County Seat included in a new divi-
sion organized by the
289
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

General in the Fusung district.

Among them was also a woman fighter by. the name of Kim
Hak Sil, who operated a light machine gun in this battle and
who, with both eyes open, mowed down the attacking enemy
soldiers one after another. She was not content to aim at the
vicious enemies with only one eye. In a hand-to-hand battle,
she always led others and killed many enemy soldiers with her
bayonet. At one time, she alone led enemy soldiers into danger
in order to save her unit from a critical situation. The General
praised her as the “daughter of Korea and the woman general
of the partisans.”
The People’s Revolutionary Army killed or took prisoner
some 300 of the Japanese imperialist aggressor army and the
puppet Manchoukuo Army and seized large quantities of booty.
In this way, General Kim Il Sung won the Battle of Attack
on Fusung County Seat, a strategic city of the enemy, creating
military and political conditions favourable for the construction
of bases around Mt. Baikdoo. Further, through this battle, the
General consolidated the united front with the “anti-Japanese
units,” rallied all the anti-Japanese forces and expanded the
Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland in various
parts of Fusung county.
The General, after winning this great victory in the Battle
of Attack on Fusung County Seat, visited together with his men
a village called Manchiang deep in the mountains at the southern
tip of Fusung county on his way to Changpai county along the
Amrok River. Most of the villagers were emigrants from Korea,
who were eking out a bare living, cultivating fields they had
cleared with great difficulty and pains.
This was the General’s second visit to Manchiang with his
men. He had made the first visit four months earlier, in April
1936, after the Nanhutou Meeting, on his way to Tungkang. At
that time the guerrillas showed the villagers stage performances
290
 KIM IL SUNG

rich in variety and the General himself made a rousing anti-

Japanese, patriotic speech. In other words, the villagers knew
the General well, and as the villagers knew of the victory of
the People’s Revolutionary Army in the Battle of Attack on
Fusung County Seat waged several days before, they all turned
out to warmly welcome the guerrillas, giving cheers of
manse. Young girls of the village were very glad to recog-
nize among the ranks the woman fighters they had known
before, and called out their names each time they found their
old acquaintances.
“Comrade Hak Sil! You’ve gained weight, haven’t you?”
“Oh, Jung Sooks!”
They said ‘Jung Sooks,’ because there happened to be three
Jung Sooks in the unit—Kim Jung Sook, Hu Jung Sook and Li
Jung Sook.
Beaming with broad smiles, the General nodded recognition
to each villager as they welcomed him with cheers.
During several days when the guerrillas stayed at Manchiang,
the General got his men to put on their dramatic plays every
night in the auditorium of the village primary school, as he did
before. Particularly popular with the villagers were the plays
“A Sea of Blood,” “Sunghwangdang (shrine),” “Congratulatory
Meeting” and others, which the General in spite of his busy
time personally wrote between battles and marches. Of these
plays, “A Sea of Blood” moved them most.
The story runs as follows:
...A poor mother lives in a farm with three children. Her
husband has long been away from home to work for the liber-
ation of the fatherland. The mother has to live a hard life with
her three children—Won Nam, Kap Soon and Eul Nam.
Act I opens with the hard life of the family exploited and
persecuted by Japanese police and a Chinese landlord. As
they are placed under strict surveillance and maltreated by the
291
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

enemy, their life becomes unbearably hard.

One night, the eldest son Won Nam leaves home to join the
anti-Japanese guerrillas, bidding farewell to his brother and
sister and asking them to take good care of their mother. The
mother, brother and the sister, though reluctant to part with
Won Nam, see him off, encouraging him to fight well as a
guerrilla.
One month passes before Act II opens. A Japanese policeman
comes to the house day and night to ask after the eldest son who
disappeared. One day a wounded guerrilla scout attacked by
the enemy manages to reach the house, whom the mother and
Eul Nam hide without hesitation in a potato-storage place in the
backyard. After a while, Japanese soldiers and policemen come
to the house thirsting for blood in search of the guerrilla, and
demand that the mother and 11-year-old Eul Nam surrender the
guerrilla, threatening them with a bayonet. But, unafraid of
being killed, the mother and her son insist that they know
nothing about the guerrilla. Then, an enemy, pointing his bay-
onet at the breast of her son, shouts at the mother.
“Damn you! tell us what you know, or your son shall die!”
The mother turns pale, but still she does not open her mouth.
Threatening that if she does not confess, her son will be killed,
the enemy puts his finger to the trigger. The mother falters a
little, but Eul Nam looks up at his mother with burning eyes,
appealing with his movement that she should not say anything.
‘The mother says defiantly, “I don’t know anything.”
As soon as she says so, the rifle is fired and the boy falls.
The mother, too, falls unconscious. The enemy leaves, and her
daughter, Kap Soon, enters. The mother, who recovers con-
sciousness, and Kap Soon, hug the bloodstained body of Eul
Nam, and sing tearfully:

The wintry streets of North Chientao

292
 KIM IL SUNG

Have been stained with blood. Alas,

How many have died with a grudge in their hearts,
Shedding blood for the revolution!

Corpses have been heaped high, and

People’s hearts are burning with rage.
How can we forget the grudge we bear,
No matter how often we may die.

The song gradually changes its tone from sorrow to anger.

At that moment a guerrilla appears and his body shakes with
sorrow and anger.
The mother and her daughter climb the mountain together
with the guerrilla with strong determination.
In the next scene, the mother and the daughter meet Won
Nam, who has become a fine guerrilla. The mother becomes a
member of the sewing unit, and 16-year-old Kap Soon becomes
a propagandist. Shortly after this, the guerrilla unit climbs
down the mountain into the village to punish the reactionary
landlord and vicious soldiers and police and to liberate the vil-
lagers...
This is a brief synopsis of the play. The actors and actresses
of the guerrilla unit, who performed under the careful direction
of the General, captured the hearts of the villagers with their
simple but realistic art and with their passionate acting. They
were moved to tears particularly when they saw the mother and
Kap Soon singing the sorrowful song, embracing the body of
Eul Nam. They did not weep, but cried aloud, beating their
feet with their fists and clenching their teeth.
293
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

When the play was over, they shouted in chorus, “Down

with the Japanese imperialist aggressors!” and many young men
and women volunteered to join the guerrillas.
While the guerrillas stayed in Manchiang, volunteers came
to see the General daily. The General taught them that while it
was important to fight with guns, it was equally important to
grow crops and supply the guerrillas with foodstuff. But the
General accepted some of them who were especially eager to join
the guerrillas. One of the new recruits at Manchiang was called
“Manchiang Dongmoo” (Comrade Manchiang), after the name
of the place where he was permitted to join the guerrillas.
Such dramatic plays and other entertainments were perform-
ed in every village or hamlet where the guerrillas stopped.
Following the General’s teachings and his example, members
of the guerrilla units, too, wrote many songs and dramatic plays,
and performed them in many places. Song and dance were part
of the life of the guerrillas. These were the drums that kept up
the morale of the guerrillas for fighting, and at the same time
were a means of educating the people.
The arts of the guerrillas directly reflected the aspirations and
yearning of the people, and were marked by a high degree of
popular quality, clear Party spirit and revolutionary spirit, and
their content was truthful and easy to understand. These types
of works of literature and the fine arts, produced in the period
of anti-Japanese armed struggle, became a proud tradition of the
revolutionary literature and arts of our country, which was cor-
rectly bequeathed to the people in the northern half of the
Republic after the Liberation, and is now being further develop-
ed there.
After staying at Manchiang for several days, the General,
personally leading his men, crossed the Doigol Peaks on the bor-
der between Fusung county and Changpai county into the
Changpai areas.
294
 4, Guerrilla Bases Around Mt. Baikdoo

THE STEEP MOUNTAINS, extending as far as the eye

could see, which begin to rise at the foot of the magnificent
mountain of Baikdoo, were an excellent natural stronghold for
the guerrillas. The Doigol Peaks that extend from Mt. Baikdoo
tower high in the northern part of Changpai county, with a
number of mountain ranges spreading southeastwards from
there, until they reach the valley of the Amrok River, where
they fall precipitously towards Korea. If one climbed up along
the sheer cliffs in the narrow valley, one could see from a peak
one thousand and some hundred metres above sea level, a sea
of forests reaching to the horizon.
The dense forests where bears as big as oxen were seen
roaming with their infant bears, and the long and deep
valleys where poor hamlets nestled—these valleys and forests
echoed with the deafening rifle shots of the Korean People’s
Revolutionary Army units and their triumphant cheers.
Like other parts of East Manchuria, the Changpai areas
were colonized by Korean emigrants from the latter half of the
19th century and were widely known as “West Chientao.” In
1936, when General Kim II] Sung moved into these areas for the
first time with the People’s Revolutionary Army units, Changpai
county had a population of about 44,000, of which more than
half were emigrants from Korea. More than 90 per cent of the
295.
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

emigrants were poor tenant peasants and fire-field peasants

(those who moved from place to place, burning forests and
cultivating crops on the plots of land thus cleared).
Before the General moved into these areas with his guerril-
las, there were marauding “anti-Japanese units” in the Changpai
areas. What they did was to plunder poor peasants and rob
them of what few things they had and then take to their heels
the moment they saw the enemy.
In addition, the shabby “Independence Army” equipped with
only antiquated weapons, made its appearance there from time
to time. Because of the name “Independence Army,” its soldiers
were warmly received by the people. However, they lacked the
power and morale sufficient to meet the wishes of the people.
It was just about that time that General Kim Il Sung, who
had been attracting the attention of the people as the Leader
who smashed the enemy troops wherever he went, came on the
scene together with the People’s Revolutionary Army units.
The people of the Changpai areas were excited and overjoy-
ed at the news of the General’s visit, saying that after the
General arrived there,a new star began to twinkle beyond
the Milky Way across the starry sky. Whether a new star shin-
ing in the Milky Way was really discovered or not, the people
who respected and adored the Generai saw a new bright star of
hope in their mind’s eye and adored him.
The bandits or the like who hid themselves in the forests
and valleys were afraid of the General’s army and did not dare
to move, and the “anti-Japanese units” were sternly regulated in
their actions when they acted against the interests of the people.
However, General Kim Il Sung’s advance into the Changpai
areas was feared by the enemy more than by anyone else. In
those days, the General was nicknamed by the enemy the “Tiger
of Mt. Baikdoo” or the “Tiger of Mt. Jangbaik” and, his bravery
and prestige were known far and wide. The Japanese imperi-
296
 KIM IL SUNG

alist aggressors, who had been boasting up till then that they
were invincible, trembled when General Kim I] Sung moved
into the Changpai area, saying that the “Tiger of Mt. Baikdoo”
had appeared.
The General, who had advanced into Changpai, chose Heh-
hsiatzukou (meaning the “Valley of Bears” in Chinese) and its
vicinity as his base of operations, and the guerrilla units under
the General’s command carried out a number of operations
which aimed at securing the construction of new guerrilla bases
in the southwestern part of Mt. Baikdoo and further height-
ening the anti-Japanese sentiments of the people in the homeland
by routing the “punitive units” of the enemy and smashing the
enemy’s base near the border.
On September 1, 1936, the victory of the People’s Revolu-
tionary Army in a battle at Tateshui, the first victory since its
advance into Changpai county, fully impressed the people along
the border areas with the effectiveness of the People’s Revolu-
tionary Army.
On the day following the Tateshui Battle, the People’s Rev-
olutionary Army again beat the enemy at Hsiaoteshui. The
battle at Hsiaoteshui was particularly noteworthy and was later
called the “Telescope Battle.” On arriving at Hsiaoteshui, the
Revolutionary Army units rested at Matengchang about two
kilometres from the village on the order of the General. Around
noon, armed units under the command of Lt. Imano of the Japa-
nese Army anda captain of the puppet Manchoukuo Army, who
were notorious for their “punitive operations” against the “anti-
Japanese units,” were approaching quietly from Erhtaokang
and Shihwutaokou.
A Japanese officer, who was looking closely with his binoc-
ulars for movements of the People’s Revolutionary Army units,
after ordering his men to lie low, said to himself, “All right!”
giving a big nod; at that moment a guerrilla sentinel shot him to
297
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

death with one bullet. Losing their commander, the enemies

began to charge blindly. The General, knowing the weak spot
of the enemies, devised a tactic to make the enemies on both
sides shoot each other.
The enemies were approaching from the southern and
northern flanks taking advantage of dense forests, but they
were unable to recognize each other, as they had been advanc-
ing from different directions. The General ordered his men to
move westwards quickly, taking care not to be seen by the
enemies. The Revolutionary Army units moved along the valley
of Shihwutaokou and climbed a mountain ridge on the opposite
side. Shortly afterwards, a shooting battle occurred in the dense
forests of Matengchang. As had been expected by the General,
the enemy unit advancing from Erhtaokang rashly concluded
that those coming from Shihwutaokou were men of the People’s
Revolutionary Army, and started shooting them, and the en-
emies coming from Shihwutaokou fired back at once. The two
units began shooting each other vigorously, in a desperate effort
to kill as many as possible.
The men of the People’s Revolutionary Army watched with
keen interest the battle between the enemy units. The shooting
continued for more than two hours, and it was only when the
enemies from the Erhtaokang direction blew their trumpets
beating a retreat that the opposing enemies were aware that they
were shooting their friends, and stopped shooting in a hurry.
But it was too late, as the casualties were very heavy.
The Hsiaoteshui Battle was thus a unique battle for the Peo-
ple’s Revolutionary Army in which it could wipe out a large
number of enemy soldiers with only one bullet, a “Telescope
Battle,” in which the guerrillas won victory while watching the
battle as lookers-on.
Later the people, both children and adults, in the district,
ridiculed the enemies, saying “The ‘all right’ men were licked.”
298
 KIM IL SUNG

After this battle, the General developed bold and positive

operations, attacking key positions in the rear of the enemy to
prevent subsequent offensive operations. First the General at-
tacked Panchiehkou on October 14, 1936, situated across the
Amrok River, opposite Hoin-myun, Samsoo county, Korea, and
occupied the village with lightning speed, dealing a heavy blow
at the enemy. Victory in this battle had a direct effect on the
people of the homeland.
The reduction of Panchiehkou by the People’s Revolutionary
Army hurled the enemy “punitive units” and police in the
Changpai areas into the depths of fear and anxiety.
Without losing a chance to take advantage of the confusion
of the terror-stricken enemies, the General worked out a plan
to launch operations to deal successive blows at the enemies.

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Reports of the ‘“Chosun Ilbo” on the advance of the Korean People’s

Revolutionary Army units into the homeland and their activities
(September 12, 1936)
299
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

the General attacked the enemies at Erhshihtaokou, and several

days later pounced on Erhtaokang, the base of the enemy “pu-
nitive units,” throwing them into the depths of confusion.
Sharply attacked by the Revolutionary Army under the com-
mand of the General who used such excellent battle tactics, the
enemy was beaten successively in a series of battles aimed at the
construction of bases around Mt. Baikdoo, so that they scarcely
had time to breathe.
Through the battles successive’y fought by the People’s Rev-
olutionary Army, secret camps were set up in the Changpai
areas with Mt. Baikdoo as the centre.
The General decided to locate the central revolutidnary bases
at Hehhsiatzukou, conveniently located for advance into the
homeland, in the dense forests at the foot (1,500 metres above
sea level) of the Doigol Peaks in the Changpai range of moun-
tains and made it the central area for secret camps. Mt. Baikdoo
soars high into the sky about 40 kilometres to the southeast
from there, and Mt. Hungtou, the highest of the Doigol
Peaks, stands high about 16 kilometres to the north across dense
forests.
It was possible for the Revolutionary Army units to sally
forth from Hehhsiatzukou not only into Fusung, Tungkang and
Huatien, but also into the Tunhua district. They could climb
down at any time to Erhshihtaokou, Shihpataokou, Shihsan-
taokou and other settlements in the rear of the enemy, and
across the Amrok River on the fringe of the dense forests, they
could stand on Korean soil.
The area was the place most favoured for quick movements
to various parts in East and South Manchuria and for the ad-
vance into the homeland. Further, with a base here, which could
use as a natural shield the steep Changpai mountains, the deep
valleys and an endless sea of trees, the Revolutionary Army could
develop guerrilla operations freely in the broad areas along the
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borders between Korea and Manchuria and also in the homeland.

Not only that, this area was the most convenient place for main-
taining close contacts with people in the homeland and for lead-
ing the Korean revolutionary movement as a whole in a unified
way.
The General, who had an eye on this area from the days
when he moved into Fusung county, decided to select it as the
central zone of secret camps in the Mt. Baikdoo base, and
made this the centre of a number of secret camps.
In Hehhsiatzukou, the first, second, third, fourth Hehhsiatzu-
kou secret camps were set up, with the first secret camp as the
centre, within a radius of 10 kilometres from Mt. Hungtou. The
last named secret camp was the first to be set up by the Rev-
olutionary Army in the Changpai areas. Further, the Mt.
Hungtou secret camp, which was called the contact centre at
the Doigol Peaks, and the Mt. Baikdoo secret camp (the last to
be set up in Hebhsiatzukou) were established at the foot of Mt.
Baikdoo about 40 kilometres from the first secret camp.
Before the establishment of the Hehhsiatzukou secret camp,
the Mt. Baikdoo secret camp was set up as a base in the rear of
Fusung about the spring of 1936 when the General was active

The Hehhsiatzukou secret camp and the Headquarters where

General Kim I] Sung was

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 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

in Fusung county, and had a weapons repairs shop, a clothing

depot, a hospital and other establishments. Some wounded and
invalids were sent from Fusung to this secret camp for rest and
medical treatment prior to the advance of the units to Changpai
so that it was called the “Sanatorium.”
Secret camps were scattered not only in Hehhsiatzukou but
also in various wooded areas in Changpai. The first secret camp
at Hebhsiatzukou had, in addition to the Headquarters where
the General lived and worked, a large barracks, 30 metres long,
8 metres wide and 2.5 metres high, capable of accomodating
200 guerrillas, a rear work office, a guards’ barracks and specia!
barracks, all made of logs.
It was there at the first secret camp at Hehhsiatzukou that
the general staff of the Korean revolution was located. At this
camp, the General worked on plans for the restoration of the
fatherland, spreading an organizational network of the As-
sociation for the Restoration of the Fatherland and other revo-
lutionary organizations throughout Manchuria and deep in the
homeland and directing them personally.
It was at this secret camp that the General met Communists
operating in the Changpai areas and the fatherland, indicating
to them the unified guideline and the movement policy worked
out by himself.
The units of the People’s Revolutionary Army dealt shat-
tering blows at the enemies, moving around the border areas
to the north of the fatherland, operating according to the plans
worked out by the General, and rapidly spreading the revolu-
tionary influence inside the homeland.
In October 1936, Japanese imperialism, which keenly felt
the threat of the People’s Revolutionary Army that had advanc-
ed into the Changpai areas, attempted to strengthen the “puni-
tive operations” against the People’s Revolutionary Army and
“strangulate” the revolutionary forces in the Changpai areas, and
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for this purpose, Jiro Minami, “Governor-General of Korea,”

and Ueda, Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army, held
an urgent conference at Tumen.
In November the same year, Japanese imperialism organized
what it called the ““Tunghua Punitive Command,” placing under
it the “Chingan army” and the second, third and fourth com-
bined brigades of the puppet Manchoukuo Army, to strengthen
“punitive operations” in the Changpai areas. At the same time,
it set up the ““Tungpientao Restoration Committee,” which en-
gaged in substantially expanding military roads and commu-
nications networks under the deceptive slogan of “economic
reconstruction” of rural areas. In 1937, in Changpai county
alone, 175 kilometres of patrol roads were built and 63 kilometres
of security telephone lines laid.
Further, for the purpose of alienating the People’s Revolu-
tionary Army from the people, the enemies strengthened the
construction of “concentrated villages” and the “Paochia System”
(tithing system), while burning down houses deep in the moun-
tains at random. The number of farm houses thus burnt down
totalled 1,192 in Changpai county alone as of the end of
December 1936 '
Furthermore, Japanese imperialism dispatched the 19th
Division of the Korean Garrison to the northern border areas of
Korea in order to strengthen the garrison forces there. Police
stations, each equipped with a battery, were set up at intervals
of two kilometres along the border, and the border garrison
forces were provided with aircraft, heavy machine guns and
cannons so that the enemies said boastfully that the border
areas had been turned into an “impregnable fortress.”
After concentrating large armed units in the Changpai areas
and in the northern part of Korea, the enemies launched large-
scale “winter punitive operations” against the People’s Revolu-
tionary Army, but these frantic operations were frustrated in the
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 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

battles fought between the end of 1936 and the beginning of

1937 at Hehhsiatzukou, Mt. Hungtou, Taochuanli, Limingshui
and other places.
Particularly fiercely fought of these battles was that of Mt.
Hungtou in February 1937. The enemies, who threw a large
unit into this battle, occupied a sentry post of the People’s Rev-
olutionary Army on a height with tactical advantages. The
enemy force was 25 times larger than the men of the People’s
Revolutionary Army, who had to fight from a very disadvan-
tageous position against the odds. The General posted a platoon
each in the forests on the right and left flanks of a low hill, as
the enemies continued sharp attacks, concentrating trench mortar
and heavy and light machine gun fire on the guerrillas, trying
to occupy the secret camp where the Headquarters was located.
However, the General finally repulsed the enemy attacks, re-
peated scores of times, by combining positive defensive opera-
tions and tactical retreats.
The victory in the battle of Mt. Hungtou was won by the
mobile tactics of the General and the heroic fighting of the men
of the People’s Revolutionary Army, who were fully resolved
to defend the Headquarters at the cost of their lives.
The enemies, who were miserably defeated at Mt. Hungtou,
further increased their strength, and continued their pursuit.
On February 26, the same year, the General again successful-
ly commanded his men in the battle at Limingshui, killing and
wounding 110-odd enemy soldiers and taking about 60 others
prisoner, seizing light machine guns and many other weapons,
thereby winning a brilliant victory.
The General combined frontal attacks, decoy tactics and
surprise attacks to fight and smash the enemies who tried to
approach the secret camps. Sometimes, he made a surprise
attack on the enemy base to throw them into confusion and cut
through enemy encirclements by swift movements. In this way,
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the General completely frustrated the enemy’s “winter punitive

operations,” using all kinds of tactics.
The might of the People’s Revolutionary Army grew
stronger after each of these battles, bringing about an upsurge in
the anti-Japanese sentiments of the people. The Korean people
were greatly impressed by the effectiveness of the People’s Rev-
olutionary Army in smashing large concentrations of the
Japanese and Manchoukuo Army and police units and also by
General Kim Il Sung’s excellent tactics of sudden appearance
and disappearance, and respected and adored the General all
the more.
In those days, legendary stories circulated from mouth to
mouth in many parts of Korea and Manchuria—‘“General
Kim Il Sung is capable of shrinking the earth and shortening
distances so that he can cross mountains at a stride” and “Our
General is the General born of Heaven, and a great upheaval
is going to occur. The days of Japanese imperialist rule are
numbered.” In this way, the reputation of General Kim Il Sung
spread far and wide. Concerning the greatness of the General
a certain Japanese magazine said:
“.. Kim Il Sung created the Korean People’s Revolutionary
Army in a storm of anti-Manchoukuo and anti-Japanese senti-
ments and also became Chairman of the Association for the
Restoration of the Fatherland.... He harassed the Kwantung
Army of Japan, leading 100,000 partisans and led about two
million Korean people then residing in Manchuria to rise in
anti-Japanese struggles. Because of his vigorous activities
mainly at Tungpientao in Manchuria in the 1930’s, even
in Japan Kim Il Sung won great renown as the “Tiger of Mt.
Jangbaik’ ””
Thus the name “Kim Il Sung units” was another name of
terror and anxiety for the enemy, and on the contrary, it was a
lighthouse of joy and hope for the Korean people.
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5. Banner of Fatherland Restoration Unfurled

THE ENEMIES in and near Changpai county, who suffered

crushing defeats at the hands of the anti-Japanese armed units
led by General Kim Il Sung, were frightened out of their wits.
The enemies shed tears over the heaps of bodies of their col-
leagues, and the following day even some of them were also
killed or maimed, following the same fate of their fellows.
On a windy night the enemies were startled even by the
rustle of leaves and lay awake at night from fear, with their
fingers on the triggers of their rifles. Even officers, who pretend-
ed that they were ready to lay down their lives to serve the
Emperor, could not spend even a moment with an easy mind,
and had a fully armed soldier on duty accompany them when
they went out even to take a bath.
In this way, the fear of the guerrilla units spread like an
epidemic among the enemies. On the other hand, broad sec-
tions of the people were overjoyed. Taking advantage of this
favourable situation, the General formed and expanded the or-
ganizations of the Association for the Restoration of the Father-
land and rallied broad sections of the masses in all walks of life
around them.
According to the policy of the General, many political work-
ers among the guerrillas put off their uniforms and went down
to communities in the Changpai areas and various parts in the
306
 KIM IL SUNG

homeland, disguising themselves as workers and peasants.

The General taught them in detail the principle of under-
ground work, precautions to be taken in this type of work 2

their concrete tasks and the methods of fulfilling them.

In his instructions to those who were to be dispatched to the
homeland, the General emphasized the following: It was impor-
tant to go deep into factories and rural areas to form lower
organizations of the Association for the Restoration of the Fa-
therland, to reorganize various existing revolutionary organiza-
tions and reunify them under the single banner of the restora-
tion of the fatherland, and to smash factionalism thoroughly,
while rallying together Communists scattered in the country,
using these organizations as the bases, and to make steady prep-
arations for the founding of a Party.
The political workers, guarding the secrets of the organiza-
tions like the apple of their eye, worked well, giving full play
to their boldness, initiative, expedience and wit.
They had “ward chiefs” and “village heads,” with whom
they had been in contact, issue “Residence Cards” and “River
Passage Cards” with names changed so that they were able to
go into villages openly even in broad daylight and conduct
their activities across the border. They disguised themselves as
wanderers or as travellers visiting their relatives and were thus
scattered to all parts of the country. Among them were Com-
rades Kwon Yung Byuk, Kim Jung Sook, Kim Jai Soo and
Pak Yung Hi, and many other members of the People’s Rev-
olutionary Army and members of the Children’s Corps.
The political workers, thus dispatched, went to workers,
peasants, students, intellectuals, handicraftsmen, merchants,
industrialists, nationalists, religionists and even landlords with
anti-Japanese leanings, to explain to them the Inaugural Dec-
laration and the Programme of the Association for the Restora-
tion of the Fatherland.
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 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

They first grasped well different local characteristics and

different levels of the consciousness of the people and the de-
mands of the masses in all walks of life, and developed propa-
ganda activities in consideration of these factors through talks,
speeches, literary activities, in various forms and by various
means.
The political workers called to all strata of the masses that
the Korean nation should rise as one in the struggle to drive out
Japanese imperialism and for this purpose should be united
under the banner of the restoration of the fatherland, irrespec-
tive of differences of political affiliation, social classes and stand-
ing, religious tenets, property or localities, saying that those who
have power, should contribute power and those who have mon-
ey, contribute money, those who have knowledge, contribute
knowledge.
As the days passed, the basic ideas of the Association for
the Restoration of the Fatherland were deeply rooted among
the broad masses.
People in the Changpai areas learned by heart the 10 stan-
zas of the “Song of the 10-Point Programme of the Association
for the Restoration of the Fatherland” and sang it merrily at
meetings and work places.

Twenty million people of Korea, Arise!

Consolidate the anti-Japanese revolutionary united front,
Overthrow the enemy’s barbarous rule and
Establish a people’s government!
Article 1 so teaches us all.

Some political workers settled in Hsinhsingtsun, Wang-

chiatung, Taochuanli in Changpai county, Chitaokou in Lin-
chiang county and other places and explained the political
line laid down in the 10-Point Programme of the Association
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 KIM IL SUNG

for the Restoration of the Fatherland to Communists operating

in these areas, and gradually rallied them under the organiza-
tions of the Association. In this way, nuclei were built up in
the network of lower organizations of the Association.
The General organized the Changpai County Committee of
the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland in order
to lead these organizations in a unified way in February 1937,
when a certain number of nuclei were created and lower echelon
bodies were formed. Thus, the organizations of the Association
for the Restoration of the Fatherland were expanded in a sys-
tem of county committees, district committees, sub-district
committees, branches and sub-branches.
Lower organs of the Association for the Restoration of the
Fatherland, in accordance with the General’s teachings, were
given various names to fit in with local peculiarities and levels
of consciousness of various classes. They were named, for ex-
ample, the Anti-Imperialist Youth League, the Women’s Lib-
eration Union and the Juvenile Expeditionary Party, etc.
It was the General’s policy in expanding the organizations
of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland to prop-
erly link methods of organizing lower and upper echelons. It
was also his policy to properly combine legal and illegal organ-
izations.
The General further led his men to take maximum advan-
tage of the possibility of legality in organizational and political
activities towards the masses.
Under this policy, Communists boldly infiltrated into enemy
organs and enemy-patronized organizations as well as among
the masses. Their mission was to secure legal status as a means
of expanding the organizational network of the Association for
the Restoration of the Fatherland and to protect underground
revolutionary organizations.
Members of the Association for the Restoration of the Fa-
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 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

therland held such positions as camp head, head of ten-house

groups, self-defence corps chief and president of the Hyuphwa
Association—all enemy-patronized organizations. While utiliz-
ing their legal positions to influence the masses politically, they
provided guarantees for underground activities for other mem-
bers of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland.
The Communists also approached police station chiefs, customs
office heads, ward chiefs and village headmen, and swore to be
brothers to them. By so doing, they were not only able to
escape the watchful eyes of the enemies but also accomplished
with credit such important missions as procurement of war sup-
plies for the People’s Revolutionary Army and rescuing of com-
rades under arrest. Information then came that “trustworthy
persons” were wanted in Taochuanli, Changpai county. The
job offered was to draft a recapitulation report to be sent to a
higher command by the puppet Manchoukuo Army combined
brigade stationed at Shihsantaokou. Two expert “mimeogaph-
ists’ who were core members of the Association for the Res-
toration of the Fatherland were sent into the brigade as sten-
cillers. The pair got all the secret information of the enemies
in about a month and reported it back to the General.
These organizations of the Association for the Restoration
of the Fatherland, which were spread far and wide through
correct mobile organizing tactics and swift activities by its mem-
bers, won many people in various walks of life to the revolu-
tionary fold.
The organizations of the Association for the Restoration of
the Fatherland, centered on the Mt. Baikdoo base, encompassed
so many cities and counties in East, South and North Manchuria.
Among the places covered by this widespread network were
Changpai, Linchiang, Fusung, Antu, Holung, Yenchi, Wang-
ching, Hunchun, Tungning, Tunhua, Emu, Ningan, Linkou,
Moutanchiang, Kirin, Mengchiang, Panshih, Huatien, Chang-
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 KIM IL SUNG

chun, Huinan, Tunghua, Chian, Huanjen and Kuantien.

The network of the Association for the Restoration of the
Fatherland spread widely in Korea in particular.
Political workers dispatched to various parts of the country
formed lower organizations of the Association for the Restora-
tion of the Fatherland everywhere they operated. For instance,
branches and sub-branches of the Association were promptly
organized in and around Hyesan and Samsoo. Those sent to
the Poongsan area formed organizations of the Association
among workers at the Hwangsoowon dam construction site
belonging to the Huchun River Power Generation Division.
Political workers, sent to the Heungnam area, disguised them-
selves as emigrants and settled down near the Heungnam Ferti-
lizer Factory and Bongoong Chemical Plant. They energetical-
ly carried out political manoeuvres among workers in the
Heungnam area and peasants in and around Hamjoo county.
The General sent political workers to various parts of the
country, and, at the same time, met the Communists active at
home and indicated the line and course of struggle they should
follow. He also gave the workers detailed instructions as to
how to overcome defects in their struggles.
The General, through Comrades Kwon Yung Byuk and Li
Je Soon, established contact with Comrade Pak Dal, who was
engaged in revolutionary activities at home.
It was after this that Comrade Pak Dal came under the di-
rect leadership of General Kim I] Sung. His dream had come
true.
In December 1936, the General met Comrade Pak Dal at a
secret camp in Hehhsiatzukou and received a detailed report on
revolutionary activities of the people in the home country. He
also set forth his policy on future activities during the meeting.
The General showed Comrade Pak Dal two plans. One was
to organize a Korean National Liberation Union as a lower-
31i
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

General Kim I] Sung assigning Comrade Pak Dal to the task

of forming a Korean National Liberation Union

echelon organization at the home of the Association for the Res-

toration of the Fatherland, and expand its organizational net-
work. The other was to give positive support to the People’s
Revolutionary Army.
The Korean National Liberation Union, organized in Janu-
ary 1937 as a lower organ of the Association for the Restora-
tion of the Fatherland in the Kapsan area, brought General
Kim Il Sung’s united front line home to the masses, and rallied
them in various circles under its wing.
So the organizational network of the Association for the
Restoration of the Fatherland spread across the country in only
several months thanks to the correct leadership of General
Kim Il Sung and positive activities of political workers. The
places covered by the network included, for example, Kapsan,
Hyesan, Hoin, Singalpa, Poongsan, Hoochang, Sineuijoo,
SIA
 KIM IL SUNG

Moosan, Hoiryung, Onsung, Rajin, Booryung, Chungjin,

Kyungsung, Jooeul, Myungchun, Kiljoo, Sungjin, Danchun,
Pookchung, Heungnam, Hamheung, Sinheung, Yungheung,
Wonsan and Chulwon.
As the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland
rapidly expanded and developed its organizations, anti-Japanese
masses from various walks of life firmly entrenched themselves
on the revolutionary side and a unitary leading system was
securely established for the Korean revolution as a whole.
The organizational network of the Association for the Res-
toration of the Fatherland in this way was expanded and devel-
oped at a rapid pace in the homeland and in Manchuria. The
membership of the Association soared to several hundred thou-
sand. This organizational leap forward further firmed kindred
ties between the guerrillas and the popular masses. The people,
realizing that the People’s Revolutionary Army under General
Kim Il Sung’s command was really an army of the people fight-
ing for their happiness, sincerely backed the guerrillas with all
their might and by every available means.
The Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland play-
ed an extremely big role in explaining to the broad masses of
people the objectives and tasks of national liberation and mobi-
lizing and rallying all patriotic forces under the banner of joint
struggle for national restoration.
A good many youngsters and the middle-aged joined the Peo-
ple’s Revolutionary Army through the organizations of the As-
sociation for the Restoration of the Fatherland, and the Army
was able to keep on closing its ranks. In the Changpai areas
alone, some 300 youth volunteered for the People’s Revolution-
ary Army in several months from August 1936. Meanwhile,
many patriotic youth in Korea called on General Kim I] Sung
and joined the ranks of the People’s Revolutionary Army.
Here is an account from the inaugural issue of the “Samil
319.
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

Wolgan” of how the Korean youth joined the People’s Revolu-

tionary Army:
“National Liberation Front Expanding; Spirited-Patriotic
Youth Join Commander Kim’s Army One After Another
(... Press) As the sacred national anti-Japanese revolutionary
front expands in Manchuria, the gun reports of justice and out-
cries of liberation roaring across the Amrok River and Dooman
River are violently stirring up the fighting spirit of hot-blooded
youth and the patriotic braves in our fatherland.
About seven or eight ardent youth and patriotic braves in
various parts of northwestern Korea cross the Amrok and Doo-
man Rivers... join daily Commander Kim’s Army.
In a month, such anti-Japanese men newly enlisted number-
ed some 90. They, familiar with the terrain and roads and
local conditions in Korea, volunteered to stand in the van of the
armed ranks when they marched into Korea.
Terribly frightened by such volunteers, the Japanese ene-
mies are going desperately to defend the borders.”
The Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland, while
winning the participation of strong-minded, single-hearted
youths in the guerrilla forces, awakened a good many people at
large and supplied the guerrillas warm-heartedly with huge
quantities of war supplies.
Excellent youths were chosen from among the members of
the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland as the
mainstay of production guerrilla units in accordance with General
Kim Il Sung’s policy of arming the entire people. These pro-
duction guerrilla units, only five or six months after their for-
mation, grew as strong as a company in almost all the branches
of the Association. Under the direct leadership of the People’s
Revolutionary Army, they underwent military training and de-
tected and punished enemy agents. They also collected war
supplies and sent them to the guerrilla units and conveyed
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 KIM IL SUNG

information on the enemies to their superior organs.

The area southwest of Mt. Baikdoo was transformed into a
powerful stronghold for the Korean revolution through such
energetic activities of the People’s Revolutionary Army and the
Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland. This district
also played an important role as the stronghold for stepping up
the revolutionary movement on a national scale and as a depend-
able rear base for the People’s Revolutionary Army.
General Kim Il Sung, while expanding the organizational
network of the Association for the Restoration of the Father-
land far and wide in Korea, rallied the Independence Army,
nationalists and religionists under the banner of national resto-
ration.
“The Korean Revolutionary Army” under the command of
Ryang Se Bong, was the only Independence Army units in exist-
ence at the time. In the mid-1930’s, the anti-Japanese guerrilla
units, led by General Kim Il Sung gained in strength from day
to day, and moves flared up among the rank and file of the
“Korean Revolutionary Army” to approach and form an alli-
ance with the Communists.
Many members of the “Korean Revolutionary Army” thus
came to respect and revere General Kim Il Sung and moved
vigorously to join the People’s Revolutionary Army under the
General’s command. At that time, the “Korean Revolutionary
Army” was daily losing strength in the face of the “punitive
operations” and undermining tactics of the Japanese imperialist
aggressor army. Eventually the army unit weakened to such
an extent that it was bound to abandon its anti-Japanese banner
unless it merged with the People’s Revolutionary Army.
Immediately after the founding of the Association for the
Restoration of the Fatherland, the General sent a letter to the
leaders of the “Korean Revolutionary Army” along with the
Association’s Declaration and 10-Point Programme. In his
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 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

letter, General Kim Il Sung proposed a joint front in the anti-

Japanese struggle. Reminding them of past bitter experience,
the General said, “Our independence movement, nurtured
through the history of sanguinary struggles, has lacked unity,
politically, militarily and organizationally.... The Koreans are
one race, but they have organized scores of groups and forces
scattered here and there just like feudalistic warlords. They
clashed with each other and fired their guns, won at the cost of
blood, at their own ranks.” General Kim I] Sung further ap-
pealed to the leaders of the “Korean Revolutionary Army” to
“grasp the general interests of our nation in view of such iron
lessons and experience and mobilize all their troops under the
banner of the Association for the Restoration of the Father-
land...based not only on the Association’s Declaration and Pro-
gramme but on its actual activities... which is the sole unified
organ for our Army.”
The Inaugural Declaration and Programme of the Associa-
tion for the Restoration of the Fatherland and the General’s prop-
osition greatly inspired the members of the “Korean Revolu-
tionary Army” and won their strong support. Then came a
reply to the General’s proposal from the chief of staff of the
“Korean Revolutionary Army” in August 1936. It read: “It is
a matter of great joy for the independence of our country to
learn that the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland
is successfully carrying out its mission....We will greatly appre-
ciate it if you kindly send us your representatives. ’”*
In August 1937, the General dispatched representatives of
the People’s Revolutionary Army to the “Korean Revolutionary
Army” for talks on the formation of an anti-Japanese united
front centered on the Association for the Restoration of the Fa-
therland. Following the talks they ardently desired to join the
Korean People’s Revolutionary Army. So, in March 1938, the
“Korean Revolutionary Army” under Commander Choi Yoon
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 KIM IL SUNG

Koo* was absorbed into the People’s Revolutionary Army,

finding the way to a bright future.
Commander Choi and all his men of the “Korean Revolu-
tionary Army” upon incorporation into the People’s Revolution-
ary Army, grew to be Communists under the paternal solicitude
and correct leadership of General Kim Il Sung, and fought
bravely until the day of national liberation without producing
any renegades or deserters.
Meanwhile, General Kim Il Sung succeeded in having fol-
lowers of the Chundo Religion (a religion originating in Korea
aimed at the establishment of a utopia where Heaven and Man
are united as one) and other religionists fight in the anti-Japa-
nese national united front.
The General told political workers, “... You must teach them
that there must be a fatherland even for religious followers, that
there is no freedom of belief for religious believers in a coloniz-
ed country, and that only when the country wins independence
can they be guaranteed freedom of religion....”
Political workers kept these words in mind and acted tena-
ciously among the religionists.
In November 1936, they successfully persuaded Li Jun Hwa,
head of the Jongri Temple of the Chundo Religion in Changpai
county, into joining the Association for the Restoration of the
Fatherland. Through him many believers belonging to the
Jongri Temple in the county were organized into the Associ-
ation.
Political workers further went to Jongri temples in Samsoo,
Kapsan and Poongsan counties to engage in propaganda and
organizing activities. In November 1936, they established con-
tact with Pak In Jin, chief priest of the Chundo Religion in
South Hamgyung Province and conveyed to him the Pro-
gramme and Declaration of the Association for the Restoration
of the Fatherland.

Sif,
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

Network of Main Organizations of the

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318
 KIM IL SUNG

Pak In Jin, guided by political workers, became a member

of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland and
persuaded many Chundo followers to join it.
He went so far as to visit Seoul and explain to the top lead-
ers of the Chundo Religion, General Kim Il Sung’s anti-Japa-
nese national united front line. Pak In Jin urged that the Chun-
do Religion should join the Association.
Around that time, high-ranking religionists paid calls on
General Kim Il Sung to express their positive support for the
10-Point Programme of the Association for the Restoration of
the Fatherland and their determination to rise up against Japan.
In this connection, the “Samil Wolgan,” under a heading,
“Chundo Religion’s Leader Visits Representative of Our Asso-
ciation,” carried the following report:
«_.Mr. so and so, a committeeman of the Chundo Religion,
which has a strong mass basis at home and abroad, driven by
his burning patriotic sentiment, paid a call on our represen-
tative, Commander Comrade Kim II Sung.
He expressed his total agreement to our Association’s Pro-
gramme and all its assertions, saying that one million young
members of the Chundo Religion should be mobilized into the
Korean independence front. He also promised to establish
closer contact with the Association.”*
The wider the organizational network of the Association
for the Restoration of the Fatherland spread, the more the Ko-
rean people came to respect and adore General Kim I] Sung.
And public support for the anti-Japanese armed struggle led by
the General, developed into an unshakable trend. In this
respect, secret documents of the Japanese imperialist police
point out this:
“..Most inhabitants in the border areas...were convinced
that Kim II Sung...active across the river...based at Changpai
county...is a great world figure and saviour of the Korean na-
BLY
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

tion. They respect and revere Kim Il Sung and back him up,
publicly and privately.”® :
The Korean people, with firm conviction for a bright future,
thus stepped up vigorously their anti-Japanese national libera-
tion struggle under the banner of national restoration put up
by General Kim I] Sung.

320
6. Among the People

THE PEOPLE rejoiced immensely over reports that

General Kim I] Sung had moved into Mt. Baikdoo and was
wiping out enemies successively.
A festive mood prevailed everywhere, and people kept talk-
ing about the General. It was their fervent desire to see the
General himself. Those who had ever shaken hands with the
General] were the target of public envy.
The General, however, was modesty itself for all his popu-
larity. He behaved quietly and unobtrusively. Clad always in
simple clothes, the General worked together with his men.
When his forces stopped over at villages during marches, he
often took a broom and cleaned the areas around houses with
his soldiers. Even some people near him asked where General
Kim Il Sung was. That happened time and again.
One day in the summer of 1936 the General’s units were
marching towards Changpai. They took a rest near a lum-
bermill. The General then walked into the mill workers’ dor-
mitory, accompanied by his comrades in charge of munitions.
His visit stunned the workers, who had been oppressed by
the Japanese forces and the puppet Manchoukuo Army and
police. For a moment, they showed great surprise.
The General then, introducing himself in gentle voice, told
them his Korean People’s Revolutionary Army came there for
J21
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

rest during marches. He placed money before the workers,

asking them to prepare meals.
“Oh, yes, you are members of General Kim Il Sung’s units.
We thank you for your activities...,” said workers with joy and
in excitement, and gave greetings one after another.
Pushing the money back towards the General, the workers
said in unison they were certainly willing to prepare meals for
the units which are fighting to win back their country. But
signs of bewilderment appeared on their faces as they turned
their eyes to the kitchen where there were only potato
bags. Sensing their position, the General said, “Please don’t
worry. We are revolutionary troops sharing the same fate as
the people. Whatever you eat here will do.” They immediately
started preparing meals. The General called his men into the
dormitory. As soon as he rolled up his sleeves, General
Kim I] Sung mingled with his men to help the workers in such
chores as peeling potatoes, chopping fuel wood and drawing
water at nearby wells. He even took a broom and started
cleaning the space around the dormitory.
The General then listened to what the workers said about
their living conditions and explained in simple terms why they
have to work under such adverse conditions. The General was
so well versed in the living conditions of workers that they took
him for a guerrilla soldier fresh from a workshop.
The guerrilla units, after the meal, started preparing to
depart. As the troops formed ranks, the General gave them
instructions about night marches. Immediately before the
General was to issue a departure order, a worker elbowed his
way through the crowd, appeared before him and asked, “Mr.
officer, tell me where General Kim Il Sung is....” This worker
took it for granted that the General, who until some time ago
was directing his men, helping in the cooking, extending helping
hands to the workers, clad in an ordinary uniform, was an
322
 KIM IL SUNG

“officer in charge of clerical affairs.”

Then, the workers waited for word from the General with
a tense air.
But the General kept smiling, when his men burst into
laughter. That worker and his colleagues could not realize
what was happening, like “ducks in a thunderstorm.”
The General, with his hands on the worker’s shoulders, said
affectionately, “We are the Korean People’s Revolutionary
Army fighting against Japanese imperialism. So Kim Il Sung
you are asking about must be pretty close to the men.”
“What? You say he is near by. Where?” said he, and, turn-
ing to the men in ranks, he earnestly asked, “Please do me a
favour. Let me have a ehance to see the General once.” Then
came a reply from a comrade in charge of munitions:
“The man who is now before you is General Kim Il Sung

Utterly flabbergasted, the worker could not utter a word for

a while, and stared at the General’s face. He then burst into
tears and flew to the General’s arms, shouting, “General!...”
He was just like a child who saw his mother after a long separa-
tion.
“Pardon me!” said the worker in a broken voice. He could
not speak any more. Then a spate of emotion engulfed the
crowd, with everybody shedding tears of joy.
The General extended modest and simple greetings to the
crowd in excitement.
The General bade farewell to the workers, who stood still
with deep emotion until he at the head of the march, went out
of their sight.
Such a scene was often seen where the General went.
He always thought the people should come above himself
and his guerrillas and that he was a commonplace son of the
people.
323
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

In the early stage of the guerrilla struggle, the General,

commanding his units, rested for a while in front of a peasant’s
house. Saying that he preferred to keep moving rather than to
sit and rest in the cold, the General started chopping wood in
the garden. His men, too, went up the mountain near by to col-
lect wood, removed the snow around the house or went to the
well to draw water. The farmer, when told that the man who
chopped wood was General Kim II! Sung, said, “...The com-
mander should not have done work of that kind. ...” The General
frankly replied, “The commander, too, is the son of the people.
Why can’t I do the same work as other people do?”
Herein lay the greatness of the General and the biggest
source of his popularity with the masses.
The General often told his men, “... The Communists can’t
live even for a moment alienated from the masses. Their aim
is not simply to awaken the masses and educate them into
joining the ranks. They must be the flesh and blood of the
masses. They must sacrifice their lives for the benefit of the
people. They must live for the sake of the people....”
Even when offered hospitable treatment by the people, the
General firmly declined it in case he thought the offer would
mean a burden on their livelihood.
In the spring of 1937, the General, at the head of some 100
troops, dropped in at Hsinhsingtsun in Changpai county.
His sudden visit plunged the village into joy and excitement,
with the villagers singing and dancing as a gesture of welcome.
They, young and old, greeted the General and his men with
thunderous cheers.
The General first met elders and consoled them with warm-
hearted words of encouragement, leading as they were a hard
life on foreign soil.
Members of the Women’s Association, as if they were house
wives celebrating something auspicious, were in jolly spirits and
324
 KIM IL SUNG

busy preparing dishes for the welcome guests. A large pot hung
in the kitchen. Young people sharpened knives to butcher pigs.
They were also ready to make noodles. It was clear that all the
villagers were working hard to give the guerrilla troops a hearty
welcome.
Witnessing this scene, the General called in leading func-
tionaries of the Association for the Restoration of the Father-
land and:told them not to slaughter pigs because the villagers
were all hard pressed. He sternly instructed them to breed the
pigs to earn income for the villagers.
The villagers regretted being unable to treat the General to
a big welcome party. His words moved some women villagers
to tears.
They could not go against the General’s wishes.
Then noodles with ground sesame soup was served for the
meal. While the villagers looked regretful, the General and his
men appreciated this simple meal probably more than they
would have enjoyed luxurious dishes. The General, so pleased
with the food, repeatedly praised the deliciousness of the noo-
dles.
A similar happening took place when the People’s Revolu-
tionary Army units personally led by the General were staying
at a village near Kuanti before the 1936 New Year.
The villagers were very glad and honoured to spend the
New Year season with General Kim Il Sung and his men.
They planned to enjoy the season as one family, and even
present warm-hearted gifts to the guests. The General thanked
the villagers from the bottom of his heart for their hospitality.
He made rounds of calls on villagers’ houses to look firsthand
into their living conditions, and exchanged talks with the vil-
lagers.
Deeply moved by the General’s door-to-door visits, every
family cooked for the General and his men. They asked him
323
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

to come to their houses without fail on the New Year’s Day.

On the eve of the New Year’s Day, however, the General
pulled his troops from the village in a hurry, to the great
disappointment of the villagers. He did not say why he was
leaving but left a message of sincere thanks to the villagers.
The troops marched deep into a forest area in Huang-
nihotzu, and repaired a log hut used by lumbermill workers and
stayed there. Then, for the first time, he told his men why they
moved out of the village:
“ ..The New Year season is enjoyable for everybody.... But
how many people can really enjoy this festive occasion now
that the Japanese imperialists and landlords are present in our
Korea and in this Northeast Manchurian district?... Look at
the way people at Kuanti are living. Except a few landlords
how many of them are leading a comfortable life? The majority
of the villagers have not enough clothing and find it hard to
earn their daily bread.... Can we enjoy the New Year knowing
that some of them are leading a hard life? Can we unhesitating-
ly eat the meals they serve for us and spend the New Year
with them merrily? Our troops are not few. If we stayed there
even for a day, we would have given the villagers a lot of
burden....
We are troops armed with the ideas ef Marxism-Leninism.
We are the real sons and daughters of the people. We are
fighters who do not hesitate to sacrifice our lives for our father-
land and people.... Therefore, we must be always quick and
tactful in action. In any circumstance, we must think much of
the people, defend their interests as we do our precious lives
and put up with any difficulties and hardships. We must share
all joy and life with the people. Herein lie our real happiness,
pride and hopes....”
Listening to the General’s words, the guerrillas felt bound-
less pride.
326
 KIM IL SUNG

The General thus spent the New Year Day together with
his men in the forest area. The best food they had as a special
New Year dish was no more than rice boiled with foxtail
millet. With a smile, the General suggested the men enjoy the
food as if it were “dainties of all lands and seas,” telling them
an impressive story about a bright future when they would be
able to greet a merry New Year back in their country. Trained
and educated by the General in such a manner, the guerrilla
soldiers in no circumstance acted against the interests of the
people, and they took meticulous care of the people’s property.
They did so not for the sake of discipline alone. It was their
duty and nature and the only way they could act.
Even when the guerrillas luckily found an absent master’s
house while marching under the torture of starvation for sev-
eral days on end they did not set their hands on food there if the
dwellers were out. They often waited for hours for the house
owner to come back. When the owner did not return for so
many hours, they did sometimes use the food, but left there a
larger sum of money than its market price.
These beautiful and lofty traits of these guerrillas trained by
the General never crumbled under any adverse circumstance.
The greater the difficulties they faced, the more dignified was
their behaviour.
It was the dignity with which only persons born and bred
in poverty and suppressed in a scandalous society, could behave.
It was the beautiful manner in which only real sons and daugh-
ters of the people could act when they fully realized the pains
and grudges of the unfortunate.
It was also the duty of fighters who had the noblest idea of
winning their country back and building a society for the peo-
ple.
Such dignified behaviour was nothing worthy of special
mention for the General and his guerrillas, for they made it a
327
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

General Kim I] Sung welcoming the people who brought supplies

rule to deal out their booty of battle when they come to a village
and to help the villagers in farming and household chores.
The people did not sit idle. In response to the General’s
great love and solicitude, they positively backed up the guer-
rillas. They even ran physical risks to obtain information on
enemy activities, and volunteered to actas guides for the Peo-
ple’s Revolutionary Army units heading for the enemies’ posi-
tion. They further protected political workers of guerrilla units
at the sacrifice of their own lives and provided them with food,
clothes, footwear and all necessary materials.
Even young girls, carrying relief goods on their heads, went
into the beast-howling dark, thick forests, and forced their way
through the thorny passes, stepping over entangled fallen trees.
After the People’s Revolutionary Army advanced into Chang-
pai, people came a long way with rice, clothes and footwear on
their shoulders, and brought them to the guerrilla units, passing
328
 KIM IL SUNG

through forests and over steep ranges.

Relief goods delivered to the guerrilla units by people of
some 20 villages in the area a month or two in the spring of
1937 amounted to more than 10 sum (one sum is about five bush-
els) of rice, some 100 rolls of cotton cloth and many cloth shoes
and straw sandals. Such relief activities were no easy job, for
the Japanese police maintained a constant watch on the people
through their widespread spy networks. They even criticized
the people for buying and selling goods at markets or shops.
Those who were found to have the slightest connection with the
Revolutionary Army were unconditionally shot to death.
Under such circumstances, the organs of the Association for
the Restoration of the Fatherland, to avoid unnecessary victi-
mization, first collected and stored relief goods, and then con-
tacted the Revolutionary Army units for delivery. The delivery
was made in such a fashion that the villages were raided by the
guerrillas and the goods “seized.” At times, the villagers pre-
tended to have been “intimidated” and forced to offer goods by
the Revolutionary Army.
Every available method was employed to aid the Revolu-
tionary Army. Villagers sometimes reaped grain at midnight,
dried it in pots and pounded it in a mortar all night for the
Army. Many times they crossed the Amrok River to obtain
urgently-demanded daily necessities for the Army. They had
to sneak through the enemy’s border defense network where
passers-by were severely frisked and examined.
The people vied with each other day and night to assist in
the revolution, braving roaring downpours and midwinter
blizzards in which even animals were frozen to death. Behind
such devoted activities was their burning fervent desire to win
back the lost fatherland, the native land they could never forget,
and the love and respect they felt for General Kim Il Sung, the
only person who could realize their desire, and for the People’s
329
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

Revolutionary Army led by him.

The General, however, would not unconditionally accept
such aid goods supplied by the people even with their best
wishes.
One day in late October, 1936, the General’s forces were
staying for a while around Chihyangchiai, Erhshihtaokou,
Changpai county. Two soldiers went out to a Yuehshuitung.
They were wandering around a harvested field in quest of radish
leaves and cabbage for soup.
They happened to be spotted by peasants of Yuehshuitung
leading a black ox on their way back to their village from the
market. The peasants tried to hand the ox’s bridle to one of
the soldiers, saying “This is our gift for you. Please accept
ita”
Surprised by the sudden offer, the men firmly declined, but
were finally persuaded into accepting the ox and led it to the
camp.
Cooking personnel started sharpening knives gaily. Then
appeared the General, who received a report on the happening.
He carefully watched the ox for a while.
He was touching the fat back of the ox, a nose ring, a copper
bell and coins hanged from its headstall. Then, he ordered the
cooking personnel to stop preparing the meal and said to the
men:
“Let us return the ox to its owner.... The reason why I
propose this is not because I do not understand the villagers’
sincerity but because I consider that to hand it back to the
owner conforms to the mission of our troops who love the people
and fight for them....
I have no word to appreciate the boundless sincerity of
Yuehshuitung people who offered their only ox. All I can say
is ‘Thank yow’....
Yet I say the ox should be returned to the villagers because
330
 KIM IL SUNG

the ox is the fruit of their love and has their living of tomorrow
staked on it....
“Probably you can see well how affectionately the owner has
bred this ox. Look at the nose ring, bell and coins attached to
the headstall. The bell must be a precious one handed down in
the family from generation to generation. And the coins may
have been brought by the grandmother in her purse when she
got married into the family, and carefully kept by her until she
died. Mothers in our country have shown their love for oxen in
such a manner....
...Another reason why we should give it back is that the
livelihood of not only the owner but also Yuehshuitung villagers
depends on the ox.
Perhaps it is the sole property of the breeder. There must
be only a few oxen in the village. That ox must be indispensa-
ble for farm work for all the peasants of Yuehshuitung. What
will happen, if we don’t consider their real situation, but accept
the offer simply because of a gift presented by the people with
best wishes, and slaughter it?
From the next day on, the Yuehshuitung villagers as well
as the owner will have to do the work that has been done by
that ox. They will have to carry on their back what the ox
carried. They will have to plough with spades and hoes the
farm land that has been tilled by that ox. That will certainly
be a big burden for the peasants. In other words, to accept their
sincerity will add to their hardships and make their living much
harder....”
These words of the General, who loved the people and deep-
ly considered their circumstances, strongly moved the soldiers.
The two men, their heads drooping, stepped closer to the
General and said, “Comrade Commander! We acted against
your will and violated the principle of loving the people....Please
punish us!” The General replied in a gentle tone, “It is not to
goy
 BEACON ON MT. BAIKDOO LIGHTS ALL KOREA

blame your mistake that I suggested the ox be returned.... Let

me say once again that love towards the people—this is a must
for us.”
Immediately after the General ended his speech, the two sol-
diers said to him appealingly, “Comrade Commander, please
let us go and hand the ox back to the owner immediately!”
“Yes, you may. Give it back right away and prepare meals
with radish leaves and cabbage!”
He went on to say with a bright look:
““..We must not forget in any adverse circumstance and
wherever we go that we are the army of the people. We must
think and act from the standpoint of protecting the people’s
interests and sincerely aiding them in their livelihood when we
tight the enemies and even when we give help to the people
and receive help from the people.
It is to serve the people that we fight the enemies even by
taking grass roots and tree bark as a meal and going through
all hardships. We try not to bother the people even in danger
of starvation because we love them.
Because they are aware of this they love us warmly and help
us unstintingly.
We must always keep in mind that we can never get the
people’s love if we do not love them....”
This example typically portrays what the General is for the
people. He is the sort of a man who, even before an ox,
preaches what the most beautiful show of love towards the
people is. That is why he could fly over the steep mountains and
ranges with preternatural swiftness, beat the enemies like Mars
and win the distinction of being a mighty, invincible general.

392
 CHAPTER 7
FOR FOUNDING A MARXIST-
LENINIST PARTY

AS THE KOREAN PEOPLE’S REVOLUTIONARY

ARMY units were defeating enemy troops wherever they ad-
vanced, centering around the Mt. Baikdoo base, the Association
for the Restoration of the Fatherland, taking advantage of this,
was energetically expanding its organizational networks in
various parts of Manchuria and the homeland. At the same
time, great results were being registered in the preparatory
work for founding a Marxist-Leninist Party; in fact, the
preparations for founding a Party had reached a new stage. It
goes without saying that this was a great leap forward made
on the basis of the groundwork laid under the guidance of
General Kim II Sung over several years.
The most important result was that large numbers of people
were trained as Communists. They became Communists, sea-
soned and educated in revolutionary consciousness in the ardu-
ous course of struggle, in the ranks of the anti-Japanese guer-
rillas, or in revolutionary organizations of various kinds in the
guerrilla bases-liberated areas, or in guerrilla political worker-
led underground organizations in the enemy-ruled areas.
This result was not easily scored. They made steadfast Com-
munists of themselves by transforming their ideological con-
sciousness into a revolutionary one in the complicated and dif-
ficult struggless against Japanese imperialism, factionalism,
flunkeyism, national chauvinism in the military, political, ideo-
logical and theoretical fields.
What was vital to the preparatory work for founding a
Marxist-Leninist Party was to solidly build up the pivots, the
pillars, of a Party.
The main reason why the Communist Party in the 1920’s
IIS
 KIM IL SUNG

underwent agonizing splits, failing to perform its mission as

the political leader of the working class, lay in the fact that it
lacked the steadfast pivots consisting of seasoned Communists.
Taking a bitter lesson from this, the General made every
effort to rear and train the communist nuclei who were ready
to sacrifice their lives for the Korean revolution, firmly armed
with the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary ideas.
Without solidly organizing such communist nuclei, it was
impossible to bring together the Communists and revolutionary
organizations operating independently of each other in various
localities and to protect the ideological purity of the ranks,
strengthening their unity and cohesion by smashing the mach-
inations of the factional elements and Right and “Left” oppor-
tunists and all sorts of subversive and sabotaging agents who
had penetrated the ranks. It would also be impossible to or-
ganize the masses to revolutionary struggles by repulsing the
vicious offensives on the part of the reactionaries, and a future
Party would certainly find it hard to develop itself rapidly and
carry out its leading role fully.
The General regarded it as an important principle in pre-
paring the pivots of a Party to build up their ranks with select
nuclei of worker and peasant origin.
Then the question of building the pivots of a Party could
not be settled by merely knocking together ready-made Com-
munists, for they were not yet rid of factional strife, and a
majority of them were bourgeois or petty-bourgeois intellectuals
with poor training in revolutionary ideas.
Indeed, a vigorous development of the communist move-
ment and revolutionary struggle demanded that the communist
ranks be replenished anew chiefly with workers and peasants,
the main force of the revolution, by all means. Only by so do-
ing, would it be possible to found a truly revolutionary Marxist-
Leninist Party.
334
 FOR FOUNDING A MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY

For this reason, the General recruited progressive elements

of worker and peasant origin into the revolutionary organiza-
tions such as the guerrilla army and the Association for the
Restoration of the Fatherland and made great efforts to train
them into fine Communists through ideological education and
practical struggles.
The General considered the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army
the best school for producing the communist pivots. The anti-
Japanese guerrillas were all those who had volunteered in the
Army for the restoration of the fatherland and were fine sons
and daughters of workers and peasants who had made the
heroic resolve to risk their lives in armed struggle against the
enemy.
It was clear that education in Marxism-Leninism and train-
ing in actual struggle against the enemy would make these peo-
ple into first-rate Communists who would fight to the end for
the revolution without flinching under any adversity.
The General said many times:
“ ..The Communists that have been seasoned and tested
in actual struggles will play a nuclear role in the prosecution
of our revolution at any time and at any place. If we firmly
rally the revolutionary masses around these communist pivots,
whatever difficulties we may encounter we will be able to found
a Marxist-Leninist Party and correctly fulfil the complex rev-
olutionary tasks. Therefore, while waging the anti-Japanese
armed struggle, we must steadily expand and strengthen our
armed ranks, rear up and train Communists in struggles against
the enemy....”
This was the principle the General had consistently main-
tained from the first days of the anti-Japanese armed struggle.
Wanting to follow the road of life and struggle, a large num-
ber of awakened workers, peasants, and youths scrambled to be
enlisted in the guerrilla army, when the People’s Revolutionary
Boo
 KIM IL SUNG

Army units were routing the enemy troops wherever they

advanced and when the Association for the Restoration of the
Fatherland organizations were extensively expanding.
They all were trained into Communists in a short space of
time under the General’s guidance and education in the arduous
course of struggle.
Busy though he was with his great task, the General made
it a rule to visit guerrillas under his command beyond steep
and rugged mountains and personally acquaint himself with
how they were living, studying and working, and give them
concrete guidance and education.
Well aware of his busy schedules, the commanding officers
made it a point to send the General detailed reports on their men
so as to save him the trouble of visiting them. Not content
with this, however, the General visited the guerrilla units, day
in and day out, to take care of and educate them, saying to the
officers, “Your reports or information can never become the
familiar faces of our men nor reflect their frank opinions as
they are.”
The General trained his men through practical work, assign-
ing them concrete tasks.
In this fashion, the guerrillas became indomitable Com-
munists, receiving instructions and education directly from the
General. Among them were comrades who had entered the
guerrilla army and become Communists after going through
great hardships in mines or in the countryside from their child-
hood. There were also young Communists who had been or-
phaned in their teens by the enemy and taken over by the
General. Many woman Communists grew from innocent girls
into stalwart guerrilla fighters. Many Communists of intellectual
origin studied and learned from the General and were trained
and tempered in the course of uncompromising struggles against
the enemy.
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Some competent military commanders had entered the guer-

rilla army as soldiers and were promoted to platoon commander,
company commander and regiment commander. Some other
guerrillas, who once had been engaged in underground activi-
ties, entered the guerrilla army and gradually became qualified
political workers.
The General always placed deep trust in and set boundless
affection on his comrades to make them into first-rate Com-
munists.
The General considered his revolutionary comrades the
most valuable thing in this world. So he readily got over any
and all difficulties and dangers in order to win revolutionary
comrades. In fact, he won comrades at the cost of blood, and
once joining hands with them, he sincerely loved and looked
after them and did his best to help them. With motherly affec-
tion, the General took good care of and encouraged them and
tried hard to rectify their errors with deep concern, when com-
mitted.
One representative example is to be found in the fact that
the General made Communists of some 100 alleged “‘Minsaing-
dan’? members who had posed a problem in creating a new divi-
sion in Fusung in the spring of 1936 when he commanded the
guerrillas from North Manchuria into the southwestern areas
of Mt. Baikdoo. The General infinitely loved and trusted them
and trained all of them into indomitable Communists through
education and actual struggles.
The General constantly raised Communists also in the vari-
ous revolutionary organizations.
To expand the revolutionary organizations, recruit excel-
lent fighters to these organizations and systematically train and
temper them into Communists, was of great significance under
the then prevailing situation of our country having no unified
Marxist-Leninist Party nor any chance of founding one at once.
SEN
 KIM IL SUNG

Under the General’s personal guidance, the revolutionary

organizations constantly educated broader sections of the rev-
olutionary masses and put them to practical struggles, gradual-
ly making them into seasoned fighters, trained Communists.
The organizations of the Association for the Restoration of
the Fatherland assumed the most important role in this work.
Despite the fact that the Association for the Restoration of
the Fatherland had been organized as a united front body, the
General held from the beginning that this organization should
also carry out the task of laying the groundwork for founding a
Party, in the light of the specific realities of the revolution in
our country. Therefore, while rallying the anti-Japanese masses
of various strata around the organizations of the Association for
the Restoration of the Fatherland, the General provided system-
atic guidance for the work of rearing them as Communists,
training them in actual struggles.
In this course, many people who had rallied around
the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland developed
class consciousness quickly and became revolutionary fighters
through the organizational life and actual, arduous struggles.
The leadership of the organizations of the Association for the
Restoration of the Fatherland also consisted of members who had
been trained and seasoned in this manner. They were the first
to become Communists.
The General took a number of measures to expand the pre-
paratory work for founding a Party in different parts of the
homeland, with the Mt. Baikdoo base as the centre.
First, after acquainting himself well with the activities of the
Communists active in the homeland, he clarified for them the
duty of the Korean Communists and their pressing task and
instructed them to utilize the lower organizations of the Associa-
tion for the Restoration of the Fatherland as the base for laying
the groundwork for founding a Party.
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While organizing and guiding the lower organizations of the

Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland according to
the General’s lines and policies, the political workers sent to the
homeland persuaded the Communists operating there in a scat-
tered manner to adopt the sole revolutionary line of the General.
At that time, the activities of the political workers covered
North and South Hamgyung Provinces, Kangwon, North and
South Pyungan Provinces and even distant Kyunggi Province
and many other areas.
General Kim Il Sung directed special attention to the anti-
factional struggle in expanding the preparatory work for found-
ing a Party in the homeland.
The General emphasized the fact that it was a prerequisite
of the preparatory work for founding a Party to remove faction-
alism still found in the communist movement in the homeland
as quickly as possible and consolidate the unity of the communist
ranks.
In the out-and-out struggle against factional tendencies, the
General maintained the principle of not treating alike all the
persons involved in factional activities but discriminating be-
tween the prime movers and the followers, and of relentless-
ly punishing the former and separating from factional influence
and educating those who were unconsciously utilized by the
factionalists for a while and followed them. He stressed the
need to wage a vigorous struggle for eliminating the harmful
aftereffects caused by the factionalists and uprooting parochialism
and nepotism which were hotbeds of factionalism.
According to the policy of the General, political workers
and steadfast Communists in the homeland actively pushed
ahead with the work of rallying the revolutionary ranks, fight-
ing factionalists and elements of different colours, who infiltrated
the communist ranks.
As a result of these struggles, the Communists and people
339
 KIM IL SUNG

were more firmly rallied around General Kim II Sung, the great
Leader of the Korean revolution, and the organizational prepara-
tory work for founding a Party was successfully carried out on
a nationwide scale.
For founding a revolutionary Party, General Kim I] Sung
powerfully unfolded the work of closely uniting the Communists
under the unified banner of Marxist-Leninist ideas and made
them think and act in the same way according to the same
ideology, while forming the nucleus of the Party.
An important role in this work was taken by the Programme
of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland which
the General himself had worked out and announced.
The 10-Point Programme of the Association for the Restora-
tion of the Fatherland fully clarified and summarized the out-
look for the Korean revolution and its strategy and tactics.
The Programme of the Association for the Restoration of
the Fatherland served as the minimum platform of a Party to
be founded, which scientifically set forth the line on the anti-
imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic revolution and its tasks, on
the basis of a Marxist-Leninist analysis of the socio-economic
situation and the correlations among the classes at that time in
our country.
The 10-Point Programme provided the correct aims of
struggle and the correct strategy and tactics for the Communists
scattered in various parts, and constituted a basis for identity
in the lines of the Communists and their unity in ideology and
action.
The Programme dealt a severe blow at the factional ele-
ments and Right and “Left” opportunists who attempted to
split the Communists, and at the national reformists, who were
manoeuvring to benumb the national and class consciousness
of the Korean people. The Programme was indeed a powerful
weapon for bringing unity and cohesion to the revolutionary
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ranks and enhancing the revolutionary consciousness of broad

sections of the masses of people.
So the Programme of the Association for the Restoration
of the Fatherland brought a decisive turning point not only
to the general development of the Korean revolution but in
the preparatory work for founding a Party.
The Programme of the Association for the Restoration of
the Fatherland was rapidly broadcast to guerrillas in distant
North Manchuria, to say nothing of East and South Manchuria
and to the revolutionary organizations and people in the home-
land.
The great ideas of the Programme captured the hearts of
Communists and wider sections of the people, bringing them
to the road of struggle indicated by the General.
Each of the guerrilla units and revolutionary organizations
discussed the basic strategy and tactics of the revolution on the
basis of the Programme with regard to these questions: The
character of the Korean revolution, its target and motive force,
state power, the movement of the anti-Japanese national united
front.
These discussions were accompanied by sharp ideological
struggle against factionalism and Right and “Left” opportunism.
This clearly brought the Communists and guerrillas home
to the goals of the Korean revolution and their concrete means
of struggle, thereby rallying them around the General, organiza-
tionally and ideologically.
The establishment of the revolutionary line produced the
ideological preparations which would enable the Communists
and guerrillas to found a revolutionary Party, staunchly defend
Marxism-Leninism without vacillation in any difficult situation,
and avoid rightist and leftist errors, and wage the revolu-
tionary struggles along the right road.
The work of arming all the Communists firmly with the
341
 KIM IL SUNG

materialistic Marxist-Leninist world outlook was also energeti-

cally pushed ahead.
To establish the Marxist-Leninist world outlook means to
devote oneself to transforming society into a revolutionary one
with a firm conviction that outdated capitalist society is doomed
to ruin and a new society of socialism and communism is bound
to win, to direct all one’s energies to the cause of communism,
emancipating the working people including the working class
from exploitation and oppression and to display the proletarian
class spirit and revolutionary spirit in the revolutionary struggle.
This also means to devote oneself to the interests of the
people and the revolution, not to one’s own honour or reward,
to remain boundlessly loyal to the revolution and its Leader and
arm oneself with the indomitable revolutionary spirit to firmly
defend revolutionary constancy in all adverse circumstances.
Only when the Communists arm themselves with this revolu-
tionary world outlook, can they expect to get their ranks united
as hard as steel and win final victory in the revolutionary cause.
Therefore, the General persistently carried on political educa-
tion, arming the guerrillas and Communists with the Marxist-
Leninist revolutionary world outlook.
In the eyes of the General, study and revolution are insep-
arable. Therefore, the more difficult and complicated the
revolution became, the more the General strengthened the
studies.
The General used to speak to the guerrillas to the following
effect:
“... The Korean People’s Revolutionary Army is not an army
merely fighting against an enemy. It is an army which fights
to fulfil the interests and desire of the people, regarding them
as their own life. For this reason, we ought to be skilful organ-
izer-propagandists and educators capable of inspiring the people
for victory in the revolution. To this end we must learn. With-

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 FOR FOUNDING A MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY

out learning we will not be able to reach the heights of Marxist-

Leninist science. We must learn thoroughly, starting with the
Toa iCrp
Strictly rejecting the so-called “Let’s learn to chant the Bud-
dhist scripture” way of learning, the General said that one
should learn not merely to acquire knowledge, but to gain food
for the revolutionary struggle and cultivate the revolutionary
abilities with which one will be able to win better results in
actual struggle.
Bearing in mind the General’s teachings, the guerrillas and
Communists closely combined the study of Marxist-Leninist
classics and the revolutionary experiences in foreign countries
with that of practical questions arising in the Korean revolution.
As in all other fields, the General himself set a good example
for his men to follow in study and learning. He never discon-
tinued his study even for any spare moment in the fierce strug-
gle. He always carried Marxist-Leninist literature with him,
reading it and taking notes, and taught the guerrillas from these
notes. He encouraged the guerrillas by saying that the alphabet
was not only for the rich to learn, nor was it something only
school could teach, but it could be learned while fighting against
the enemy. The General offered himself as lecturer and taught
them many revolutionary theories. The General gave booklets
to the guerrillas and went so far as to make notebooks for their
use, writing the owner’s names on the covers.
One guerrilla’s job was to carry books. He was called the
“marching library.” Whenever the guerrilla units camped or
had a rest on a march, he opened his book box to open the
“library” for the guerrillas. The guerrillas read books by them-
selves or got together to hold a reading meeting, sparing every
free moment in their struggle to learn. They edited a wall
paper wherever they went. Where no paper was available,
they substituted strips of bark for paper.
343
 KIM IL SUNG

Study became an important part of their daily life, particu-

larly so whenever an important and difficult task faced the guer-
rillas.
In order to arm the guerrillas and Communists firmly with
the revolutionary world outlook and raise their political and
theoretical levels, the General selected several places as sites
for study and frequently held intensive study sessions there.
Revolutionary publications played an important role in
educating the Communists and people in the revolutionary
ideas.
After the Nanhutou and Tungkang Meetings, the General
further expanded the work of producing revolutionary publica-
tions and strengthened guidance for it for the purpose of
enhancing the ideological level of the daily expanding revolu-
tionary ranks and of widely disseminating the Programme of
the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland.
The General authored numerous pamphlets in which he
theoretically clarified the character and duty of the revolution
and the tasks of the Communists, and guided the work of pro-
ducing many publications such as political newspapers and
political theoretical journals. Just at this time the “Samil Wol-
gan,” organ of the Association for the Restoration of the Father-
land, the “Sugwang (Dawn),” organ of the People’s Revolu-
tionary Army, the weekly newspaper “Jongsori (Sound of a
Bell)” of the People’s Revolutionary Army, dealing with the life
within the Army units, and other publications were issued.
Under the correct guidance of the General, the revolution-
ary publications widely explained and propagated the ideology
and content of the 10-Point Programme of the Association for
the Restoration of the Fatherland, the revolutionary lines and
the strategy and tactics of the Korean revolution. This played
a great role in criticizing and smashing the erroneous ideo-
logical trends and achieving the unity of the Communists in
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ideological viewpoint and action. The revolutionary publica-

tions also inspired the Communists and masses to struggle, and
educated them in confidence of victory of the revolution and in
the indomitable fighting spirit. Widely circulated to all parts of
the country even at a time of the severe suppression by the
Japanese imperialists, the revolutionary publications successfully
played a great part in the organizational and ideological prepa
rations for founding a Party.
The guerrillas and Communists came to have abiding faith
in Marxism-Leninism and realize the great vitality of the com-
munist ideas, thanks to these political education works and
actual revolutionary struggles which were conducted under the
personal guidance of the General. They fought on for the
freedom and liberation of the fatherland in the face of all sorts
of difficulties, inspired by their firm conviction in the truth that
imperialism is doomed to ruin and socialism and communism are
bound for victory, and that Japanese imperialism has no choice
but to perish sooner or later. With their hearts burning with
faith in Marxism-Leninism, they could survive the bone-chilling
inclemency of the weather and otherwise unbearable hunger
and heroically die even on the gallows with a smile on their
faces, visualizing the brilliant future of communism and the
azure skies above an independent fatherland.
Actually, Marxism-Leninism was the most powerful ideolog-
ical weapon with which the anti-Japanese guerrillas and Com-
munists were able heroically to meet their death for the revolu-
tion, the compass which showed clearly the path ahead of them
whenever they were faced with difficulty.
So the ideological preparations for founding a Marxist-
Leninist Party were successfully promoted because the General
established the revolutionary line and correct strategy and
tactics, because the ideological unity of the communist ranks
was made possible on this basis, and because of the fact that the
345
 KIM IL SUNG

anti-Japanese guerrillas and Communists formed invincible

ranks through the education in Marxism-Leninism.
Broad sections of the masses were rallied around the Asso-
ciation for the Restoration of the Fatherland, leading to remark-
able successes in the laying of the mass basis for founding a
Party.
Bearing deep in mind the General’s teachings, the guerrillas
strengthened the work with the masses wherever they went, not
only as fighters struggling against an enemy, but as agitator-
propagandists who educated the people and as organizers who
organized and mobilized the people.
The political workers who had been sent to all parts of the
homeland, energetically and perseveringly carried on their work
of awakening the masses of various strata and rallying them
around the revolutionary and mass organizations in every place
where they found people living, in total disregard of all conceiv-
able difficulties.
Throughout their work with the masses the guerrillas and
Communists stuck closely to the revolutionary mass viewpoint
and popular work style that they should always struggle, sacri-
ficing all they had for the interests of the masses, should never
harm the interests of the people under any circumstances, should
share life and death with the popular masses and remain modest
and simple before the people, and show an example in every
work.
Consequently the masses of the people came to realize that
only the Communists were real patriots, and rose powerfully in
the anti-Japanese struggle, with the bright future in their
minds, entrusting their destiny to the Communists around whom
they rallied.
The preparatory work for founding a Party more deeply
and actively progressed on a nationwide scale.
It was because General Kim Il Sung clarified the correct
346
 FOR FOUNDING A MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY

means of building up a Marxist-Leninist Party and skilfully

guided the preparatory work that the preparations for founding
a Party were made so vigorously.
Already in the early days of his revolutionary activities,
General Kim Il Sung had clearly recognized the basic defects
of the communist movement in the 1920’s which failed to organ-
ize the communist ranks with the workers and peasants as the
core and to rally the masses under one banner for lack of a
correct revolutionary line, and which especially failed to achieve
the unity of the Communists in their ideology and action be-
cause of a severe factional strife.
In view of this, in the early days of the anti-Japanese armed
struggle, the General decided that to put up the slogan ‘“‘Recon-
struction of the Party” first, and immediately to proclaim the
founding of the Party, was a totally reckless act. He first of all
worked hard to solidly lay the organizational and ideological
groundwork for founding a Party through an out-and-out strug-
gle for overcoming the essential defects inherent in the early
communist movement.
In September of 1933 at the Headquarters in the Hsiaowang-
ching guerrilla base, the General said:
“A Party—this is the lodestar to all our victories. So, found-
ing a Marxist-Leninist Party is the most pressing and funda-
mental task confronting us Korean Communists. Needless to
say, this does not mean that we must just now, under the pre-
vailing situation, create a Party as some factionalists insist. If
we think that we can immediately found a Party without any
preparations and accumulated revolutionary force, we will in-
dulge ourselves in day dreams, in which we are attempting to
build a castle in the air. Therefore, we must, with greatest
caution and with might and main, lay step by step the organiza-
tional and ideological groundwork for founding a Party.”
In fact, it was far from possible, when incurable factionalists
347
 KIM IL SUNG

who had destroyed the Communist Party in the 1920’s still re-
mained within the communist ranks, to speak about producing
new Communists, creating a mass basis for founding a Party
and firmly rallying the Communists and revolutionary organiza-
tions into a united body, apart from practical struggles over a
rather long period.
General Kim Ii Sung also resolutely rejected any flunkeyist
and dogmatist tendency and firmly established Juche in the
work of founding a Party.
The General considered that the task of founding a Party,
as well as all other questions of the Korean revolution, depend-
ed entirely upon continual training and expansion of the ranks
of Korean Communists, an internal factor in the realization of
the task, preparing the leading nuclear force and enhancing the
consciousness of the masses.
The General, therefore, did not count on what was called
the “international line” or the Communist International, but
clarified a basic principle of founding a Party independently and
originally, with reliance on the strength of the Korean Com-
munists, to suit the concrete situation in Korea.
In conversations he had with representatives of the Com-
munist International in April or May of 1933, the General
emphasized that the Koreans should fight for the Korean revolu-
tion, and made it clear that a Party should be founded on a
firm basis of Juche and that the factionalists were unqualified
to assume the responsibility for the communist movement.
In December of 1936 in his conversations with Communists
operating in the homeland, the General scathingly criticized
some Communists for their false thinking that a Party could be
organized only with the approval of the Communist Internation-
al and could not be founded by the Korean Communists them-
selves, and said, concerning the Juche position on founding a
Party:

348
 FOR FOUNDING A MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY

“...It was not with the ratification or approval of anybody

that Marx founded a Party. The heart of the matter is not
whether we have got approval of the Communist International
or not. The most important thing is that the Korean Com-
munists found a Party on a basis of Juche and lead the Korean
revolution correctly. Ifa Party organized in this way successfully
carries out the revolutionary struggle, the Communist Interna-
tional will naturally follow and approve it.”
The General’s stand which completely contradicted the
empty arguments of the flunkeyists and factional elements, pro-
vided the confused Communists with a firm faith and clear-cut
path to follow.
The General established the principle that the preparatory
work for founding a Party should not be carried out in a back-
ward and ineffective way apart from the actual struggles, but
should be prosecuted in close relations with armed struggle and
the united front movement.
The preparatory work for founding a Marxist-Leninist Par-
ty was one of the most important component parts of the
General’s line of struggle for the Korean revolution. At that
time, when the fascist oppression of the Japanese imperialists
had reached its apex, the preparatory work for founding a Party
was possible only in reliance upon armed struggle and its mass
foundation could be firmly laid only in association with the
broad united front movement. Armed struggle was the decisive
means of promoting the preparatory work for founding a Party,
and the united front movement served as the prime mover for
expanding and strengthening the preparatory work for found-
ing a Party on a solid foundation.
The General, well aware of these mutual correlations, put
forth and stuck closely to the creative principle of launching
the preparatory work for founding a Party on a broader basis,
while developing the armed struggle and the united front move-
349
 KIM IL SUNG

ment.
As is clear from the above, it was due to the General’s
scientifically correct line firmly based on Juche and his wise
guidance that the preparatory work for founding a Marxist-
Leninist Party made such successful progress under the difficult
conditions of armed struggle.
The organizational and ideological foundation for building
a Party was more firmly prepared in the course of subsequent
struggles. It constituted the roots of the Workers’ Party of
Korea, a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist Party, which was
founded after the August 15 Liberation and was strengthened
and developed in the following years.

350
 CHAPTER 8

KOREA IS ALIVE

1. Beacon Fire at Bochunbo

MILITARIST JAPAN was busy making preparations for

a war of aggression against mainland China and the Soviet
Union.
The Japanese imperialists, picturing to themselves their
gunfire spreading all over Asia, were happily calculating the
“boundless profits” they expected.
Their armed forces were already on the starting line for a
thrust. Even if finally doomed to failure, it was unthinkable it
could be stopped halfway, for it is in the nature of militarism to
continue endless aggression and repeat reckless military ven-
tures.
Nonetheless, the Japanese imperialist aggressors, itching for
the conquest of all Asia, could not but stand astounded at the
fierce military attack and political offensive of the Korean
People’s Revolutionary Army units led by General Kim II Sung
in the areas centering on Mt. Baikdoo within their own sphere
of political domination.
Trembling with fear and extreme nervousness, they once
more used frenzied “punitive” campaigns against the People’s
Revolutionary Army from the end of 1936 to the early spring
of the following year.
Again, they ended in a failure. The People’s Revolutionary
Army units, after heavily beating the raiding enemy, swiftly
551
 ta l
Beaco n fir sm
e at Bo c hunbo. Ss © vo ise} ss > v —op Q v Y) v 9) ~ [e] = m~ ©) a=) er + v ty o0
 KIM IL SUNG

moved to the secret camp of Hsikang in Fusung county and

were preparing a new operation.
This shift of the People’s ne ae units was not
known to the enemy’s strong “punitive” units who kept a vain
watch over the long mountain range of Changpai county then
still covered with deep snow. The enemy, having lost track of
the guerrillas, temporized over their helpless situation by repeat-
ing ungrounded false propaganda such as “Kim Il Sung has
been injured and is getting treatment” or “Kim Il Sung’s units
have been annihilated.”
But a month later, the officers and men of the enemy learned
about the shift of the People’s Revolutionary Army units. They
were astounded at the “tactics of Kim Il Sung moving with
preternatural swiftness. He was in Changpai county until
recently. How can he have escaped and gone to Fusung?” they
wondered. They were afraid of another blasting attack from
him.
Around that time, the General was giving his men respite at
the secret camp of Hsikang and guiding them in military-politi-
cal studies while he himself was concentrating on a long-cher-
ished plan to advance into the fatherland.
Korea’s internal situation in those days was bad and dark
indeed. Japan, set on a savage plan to rule the whole of Asia,
was forcibly carrying on indescribably cruel plundering and
suppression in the “behind-the-curtain” country of Korea.
Whereas the enemies talked much about “Japan and Korea
are one” or “The Japanese and Koreans are of the same
ancestry,” they imprisoned and slaughtered any patriot they
could lay hands on. They not only obliterated the national
culture of Korea but also put a ban on the use of the Korean
language. For the Koreans, their farmland was confiscated
to make room for munition factories newly erected and the
national economy fell into a state of complete bankruptcy. And
354
 KOREA IS ALIVE

upon its ruins grew the poisonous fungi of comprador capital

and Japan’s strutting zaibatsu.
Those were indeed miserable days and nights when even
the sun and moon seemed to have lost their lustre. The Korean
people, deprived of all things they cherished, were literally
standing at the crossroads of life and death. They looked up to
the armed units of General Kim Il Sung as the only ray of hope.
It was then that General Kim Il Sung made up his mind
to lead his units personally into the fatherland of Korea to
defeat his enemy, hoist the banner of national liberation over
the heads of the suffering Korean people and inspire them with
belief in victory. In March 1937, he held a Conference of the
Leading Functionaries of the Korean People’s Revolutionary
Army Units in Hsikang, Fusung county and put forward his
strategic guideline for the advance into the fatherland. He said:
“.. We have to advance into our fatherland. Only then
can we imbue the people in the homeland now suffering under
the rule of Japanese imperialism with confidence in the victory
of the revolution. It will also be a great inspiration to the
people merely to inform them that our People’s Revolutionary
Army formed of sons and daughters of the Korean people is
strong. By advance into the fatherland, I do not mean attack-
ing any big city to occupy it. Just entering Korea and shooting
several rounds of bullets would be enough to give immeasurable
courage to our people.
It will be a great demonstration, if a big, combined unit of
stout Korean Communists marches forward in grand style. The
great significance of our advance into the fatherland lies in
giving our people the conviction that Korea will surely be
restored....”
The General planned the advance into the homeland, march-
ing his units to Bochunbo and its vicinity as well as to the
Moosan area, and annihilating the enemy.
355,
 KIM
IL SUNG

In keeping with his strategic guideline, action plans were

decided for each unit. The main force led by the General him-
self was to advance into Bochunbo from the secret camp of
Hsikang, Fusung county, via Changpai, in the direction of the
central part for the main attack; the unit commanded by Regi-
ment Commander Choi Hyun was to advance to the Moosan
area through Antu, Holung in the direction of the eastern part
for a covering attack and return to the secret camp of Hehhsia-
tzukou, Changpai county after mopping up the enemy troops;
and the remaining unit was to attack the enemy, moving to
Changpai from the Linchiang area bordering on Korea, cover-
ing the western part in attack.
With a view to dividing and confusing the enemy, the
General sent in advance some units charged with covering mis-
sions. Having confused the enemy, he started his first long
march, leading his main force towards Bochunbo where he ex-
pected to stage his major attack.
But to camouflage the move of the main force to Bochunbo,
he first sent a small unit to Haichingling lying on the border of
Fusung and Linchiang counties to stage an assault on the
enemy’s army trucks passing there. The assault was never
expected by the enemy, who had been frantically searching for
the Revolutionary Army for more than two months. So the
enemy was taken aback and soon began to concentrate its
armed units in this area. The result was that the enemy troops
gathered in the Fusung-Mengchiang area only after its
evacuation by the General’s forces through his smart tactics.
The General who had advanced to Changpai, leading his
troops, then started more concrete preparations for the advance
into the fatherland. First, he sent Comrade Kwon Yung Byuk,
who had been engaged in organizing activities in Changpai
county, to spy out military conditions and terrain of the Bo-
chunbo area and the enemy movements there. On May 25
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 KOREA IS ALIVE

1937, he met his comrades from the homeland in the mountains

of Erhshihtaokou, Changpai county, to reveal to them his im-
mediate fighting plan and instruct them closely to reconnoitre
the Bochunbo area. On the basis of comprehensive information
thus obtained through reconnaissance, he worked out a practical
fighting plan.
While his troops were at Hehhsiatzukou in Changpai county
making preparations for an advance into the fatherland, another
unit led by Regiment Commander Choi Hyun, in observance
of the General’s order, had advanced through a tight enemy
cordon to the Moosan area and dealt a heavy blow at the enemy
units stationed in the border zone.
Until then the General had been feeling out the deployment
of enemy troops, and was now determined to carry out promptly
the assault upon Bochunbo.
In a mountain forest near the secret camp of Hehhsiatzukou,
he told his men that the sound of the guns they fired would go
over the enemy’s heads and so would inspire their people with
the conviction that Korea was alive, not dead.
The units were deeply moved to hear this and started for
their dear homeland they had so often dreamed of. The march-
ing troops were in such high spirits as to “rock even a big
mountain.”
On June 2, this expeditionary force arrived, as scheduled,
in a village located at the entrance to Erhshihsantaokou and
took one night’s rest, and the following morning they climbed
Koosigol Hill from where they could command, for the first
time, a view of the mountains and rivers of the fatherland. The
blue waters of the Amrok River, which has never ceased to flow
from Lake Chunji on Mt. Baikdoo since the very beginning of
time, was seen meandering under their feet, and as far as the
eye could reach, lay the undulating mountains high and low.
This was the dear fatherland they had long wanted to see—in
357
 KIM IL SUNG

their hard-pressed marches through endlessly raging blizzards,

amidst heavy fighting, in their short sleep near a campfire built
under the starry canopy of a foreign sky. Facing this inspiring
view of their fatherland, the troops were too deeply moved to
utter a word.
Under cover of night they marched again. They built a
floating bridge across the stream of Koosi and quickly reached
the opposite bank, where they had to face the high hill of Kon-
jangduk standing in their path.
It was just before dawn when they reached the top of Kon-
jangduk, where the General ordered his men to rest. So they
greeted their first dawn in the fatherland on that hill. It was
June 4.
Their beloved mountains and rivers were bathed in the
morning light, a sight that made them happier than ever. Even
the commonplace scene of Korean pines, clustering on a cliff,
appeared to them like a landscape, incomparably beautiful
enough to gladden their hearts, just because it was part of their
fatherland. Overcome by emotion, some rolled about on the
grass while others took handfuls of earth and pressed their
cheeks to it.
The cheeks of the General flushed with rising blood. As if
unable to repress his surging emotion, he shifted his burning
eyes from the streets of Bochunbo spreading below towards the
distant mountains and rivers dimly floating in the mist.
Mother Earth that had inspired him with sublime thoughts
and nurtured his intellect and courage, that had always smiled
and sung to him through many a day of hard fighting over land
and water—that very Mother Earth was now shackled by the
invisible chains of the enemy and was suffering, moaning and
crying for help. The General, with the great task of national
salvation on his shoulders, could not look her in the face nor
could he save the unfortunate fatherland unless and until he
358
 KOREA IS ALIVE

knocked out the aggressors and executioners.

His fighting spirit aroused, the General once more sent
scouts to the town of Bochunbo. Then he called unit com-
manders to the bush in Konjangduk and assigned combat duties
to each unit. After dark the troops climbed down Konjangduk
Hill and crossed the Karim River.
His command post was set up under an aspen tree by the
Karim River that flowed by the town.
It was at ten o’clock that night that reports of guns were
heard through darkness and reverberated across the streets.
In a moment, red flames flared up.
Bochunbo was as bright as daylight. The raging fire quickly
consumed the Myun (sub-County) Office, the Forest Protection
Office, the Post Office, the Fire Defence Hall and the Bankers’
Association building. Flames went shooting up high into the
sky, the result of the swift occupation of the police substation
and other enemy’s ruling organs, by the Revolutionary Army
which set the place aflame in revenge. The attack on Bochunbo
was a great beacon fire. It testified that Korea was still alive.
It augured the approaching revolution and liberation for the
homeland of darkness and people who had known such suffer-
ing. It also showed the greatness of their saviour against the
ugliness of the aggressors now trembling like so many rats at
his feet.
“Long live General Kim I] Sung!”
“Long live the Korean revolution!”
“Long live independent Korea!”
With these shouts, their fellow countrymen, men and wom-
en, young and old, rushed out from all the alleys and lanes,
cried for joy and hugged the People’s Revolutionary Armymen.
| Throughout the streets were scattered handbills of the “10-
| Point Programme of the Association for the Restoration of the
Fatherland” and the Proclamation entitled “Appeal to the
| 359
 KIM IL SUNG

Korean People!” which was issued in the name of General

Kim Il Sung. ;
It reads:

“The most villainous bandits, Japanese imperialists, have

occupied Korea. Through colonial domination by the Govern-
ment-General for over twenty years, Japanese imperialism has
been trampling on and massacring the Korean people. Our
Korean compatriots are robbed by the aggressors of all our
property gained by sweat and blood, and are forced to lead a
miserable life of colonial slavery.
Furthermore, the Japanese imperialists are driving the Ko-
rean people into becoming an ‘advance detachment’ for the
Second World War, a tool of the aggressive war against China.
Our Korean nation is at stake. We are the Korean People’s
Revolutionary Army waging a struggle to open the way for
our people, to bring a worthy life to them, to defeat Japanese
imperialism and liberate the country. It is universally acknowl-
edged that we have dealt fatal blows on the Japanese imperial-
ist bandits in our life-and-death struggle for the past six or
seven years on the vast Manchurian plains.
Relying on the firm unity between the patriots in Korea
and our ardent fighters, this Army has come on an expedition
to the areas of North and South Hamgyung Provinces after cross-
ing the Dooman and Amrok Rivers, with the object of fighting
the Government-General of Korea, the vampire that sucks the
blood of the Korean people.
Long-suffering compatriots and brothers !
Come out at once; rally around the anti-Japanese national
united front and respond to the guerrilla warfare of this Army
by waging struggles in various forms!
Fight on to smash the rule of Japanese imperialism quickly
and build a genuine government of the Korean people!
360
 KOREA IS ALIVE

June 1, 1937
KIM IL SUNG,
COMMANDER,

Expeditionary Force,
Korean People’s Revolutionary Army”

People rushed into the streets in front of the police substa-

tion seething with excitement, to meet General Kim Il Sung,
the national hero whom they had longed for even in their
dreams.
The General entered the street, warmly returning the salute
of the cheering crowd. He made a speech first denouncing the
villainous Japanese aggressors and then appealing for the close
unity of all the anti-Japanese patriotic forces and a struggle
against Japanese imperialism to win freedom and independence
for the fatherland.
Then came the time for parting. The General and his guer-
rillas promised to return someday, the people all waving their
hands reluctant to part with the guerrillas, and bade farewell
to the still burning town of Bochunbo.
Alarmed at the People’s Revolutionary Army assault on
Bochunbo, the Japanese imperialist army and police, as struck
with a thunderbolt, immediately called an emergency meeting.
As if the proverb “the day after the fair” would fit the occasion,
Japanese Army forces began to gather to this area from all
quarters, but too late. First to arrive in Bochunbo was a police
squad led by Inspector Okawa followed by the Hirohashi, Ima-
mura and Kurita army units together with the lino and Kumata
units, which were then patrolling the nearby border, and the
Wu unit then stationed in Changpai. They all started in pursuit
of the General’s force.
The force personally led by General Kim Il Sung meanwhile
361
 KIM IL SUNG

pitched camp on the steep Mt. Koosi on the following June 5

and waited for the arrival of the pursuing enemy.
It was the Okawa unit that first appeared in the valley of
Mt. Koosi. Waiting for the enemy to close in to 20 or 30 me-
tres, the General ordered his men to open fire. A violent shoot-
ing war ensued between the opposing units. After some time,
seeing that the enemy had exhausted their ammunition, the
General ordered his men to roll stones downhill upon the ene-
my instead of using their guns. The men began pushing down
the stones which had been prepared beforehand. The rolling
stones hit upon lying rocks here and there and broke into
smaller pieces which gained momentum as they went downhill.
The enemy troops were trapped by an avalanche of stones and,
with painful shrieks, tried to hide behind rocks, but to no effect.
Having no place to escape to, they were now easy targets,
whether standing or squatting.
They later described the event as follows:
“_.. About 11 a.m., the enemy, to keep up their morale, sent
big rocks rolling down from the top of the hill and took advan-
tage of the situation to turn on a fierce counterattack...and
robbed the victims in our units of their weapons and ammu-
nition.... Prior to this, Inspector Okawa gave up all hope....
Determined that all his men should die in action, he called
those who had survived to gather around him. Meanwhile,
unit commanders Kawamoto, Hayashi and Ando had already
exhausted their ammunition and were heavily wounded. Only
about a dozen of them gathered.”?
The soldiers of the Imamura unit, upon hearing the report
that the Okawa unit had been completely routed, were reported
to have criticized Okawa as “a big fool who, ignorant of the
pending doom, dared to make such a reckless pursuit of the
enemy.”
In this way, the People’s Revolutionary Army under the
362
 KOREA IS ALIVE

command of the General destroyed the enemy with shooting

and boulders.
Having won the battle of Mt. Koosi, the General withdrew
his Revolutionary Army force from that spot in anticipation of
pursuit by the combined enemy forces and quietly started on a
march to their secret camp.
The People’s Revolutionary Army force that made their
appearance in the streets of Bochunbo was so dignified that
even the enemy could not but describe them as follows: “
Their actions were so systematic and so orderly that it was no
different from the regular army of an independent state.”? One
newspaper of those days, describing Japan’s defeat in the Bo-
chunbo Battle, reported:
“Bochunbo after Typhoon—Bochunbo’s important buildings
such as the Myun Office, Post Office, Forest Protection Of-
fice...and Fire Defence Hall were all reduced to ashes over-
night. Arriving at the police substation and looking around
here and there we found it riddled with bullets.... From the
ruins of the Myun Office was seen thick smoke still rising.
The burnt-down pillars and beams were a mass of charcoal. The
bundles of documents had already been reduced to ashes and
were dancing in the wind....”3
Shiotani, the then chief constable of Hyesan Police Station,
in his “Impressions of the Bochunbo Incident,” describes
Japan’s defeat in that battle as follows:
“June 4, 11:25 p.m... the moment I received an emer-
gency phone call from Karim Police Substation and learned
about this grave attack wich had never been dreamed of, I felt
my whole body suddenly stiffen as if the back of my head had
been struck.”
Then the chief of police, testifying to the hard fighting of his
own police squad pursuing the guerrillas, depicts the scene as
follows:
363
 KIM IL SUNG

“Our side became more and more disadvantaged as time

passed. I felt my mind and body burning like in the Buddhist
hellfire which is said to consume all the goblins loitering in the
darkness.
The sorrows and pains as well as the agonies and anxieties
I felt then were indeed beyond description.... In calm retro-
spect now, I feel as if a harvest gained over many a day of hard
labour has been reduced to ashes in a twinkling because of this
Bochunbo Incident. Though I learned a great lesson from it in
working out my guard plans, I keenly feel myself heavily re-
sponsible for the too great sacrifice made by my superiors, fire
victims and the public in general... .
June 5, this is a sorrowful day I can never forget all my
life.”
The People’s Revolutionary Army units, after their victory
at Bochunbo, came back in high spirits to their secret camp at
Hehhsiatzukou, where already the units whose mission was to

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Reports of the ‘‘Chosun Ilbo” and the “Dong-a Ilbo”

364
 KOREA IS ALIVE

carry out supporting attacks and other units had come back
after fulfilling their fighting duties.
The People’s Revolutionary Army units, thus assembled at
the secret camp, held a grand party to celebrate the success of
their thrust into the fatherland.
The General, while zealously joining the celebrations, pro-
posed to commemorate this victory by organizing another he-
roic battle aimed at further frustrating the Japanese aggressors.
The proposal won the unanimous support of all the com-
manders and men present, and with renewed determination,
the People’s Revolutionary Army units left the Hehhsiatzukou
secret camp in high spirits to march towards Chiensanfeng.
On June 29, 1937 the combined units of more than 600 men
of the People’s Revolutionary Army, under the personal com-
mand of General Kim I] Sung, reached the Chiensanfeng area.
The area consists of three peaks that soar, like isolated islands,
from a plateau thickly grown with big old trees which had not

on the advance of the Korean People’s Revolutionary

Army units into the homeland and their activities

365
 KIM iL SUNG

heard the sound of an axe since time immemorial. The General,

after settling on the camping sites around the three peaks,
ordered his men to rest.
The enemy were frantically seeking for a chance to recover
from their miserable defeat, their spirits ran low in the ranks.
The garrisons and police disposed along the national border
were thinking of nothing but retreat. To free themselves from
their duties, they inflicted self-injuries, feigned illness or deliber-
ately applied a red-hot iron to their throats, resorting to every
conceivable device to avoid fighting, indeed a tragicomic sight
to observers.
The “Government-General of Korea,” learning of such a
weak-kneed attitude of the soldiers deployed in the borderland
and despairing of using them, decided to mobilize the 2,000-odd
men of the 74th Regiment of Hamheung of the 19th Division
of the Korean Garrison and approximately 500 troops of the
combined brigade of the puppet Manchoukuo Army stationed
in Changpai.
A noisy ceremony was held on the plaza in front of Ham-
heung Railway Station. The enemy forced the people to join
in their so-called “send-off party” in honour of the “punitive
units.” They ostentatiously vowed to annihilate the People’s
Revolutionary Army. Kim Suk Won, a pro-Japanese stooge,
then solemnly swore his loyalty to the “Emperor” under the
Flag of the Rising Sun on which was inscribed, in blood, the
four Chinese characters reading “To Your Success in War.”
He then proudly declared: “I assure you I will capture the
guerrillas in this expedition and bring them back here. So you
wait to see them. And watch howI will come out of my car
when I come back. You will see, without fail, the chieftain of
the guerrillas in person.” With these words, he left Hamheung
Railway Station.
It was a grand sight to see about 100 truckloads of 2,000-
366
 KOREA IS ALIVE

odd men of the “punitive units” passing through the streets of

Hyesan in a long procession.
On June 30, the large combined force of the enemy, under
cover of a thick fog, besieged General Kim II Sung’s units from
three sides and gradually tightened the cordon. They had hard-
ly reached Chiensanfeng when terrific blasts were heard in the
fog.
The General who had been informed of the enemy move-
ments and had set up closely guarded positions around Chien-
sanfeng, had quickly given an order for a volley. The puppet
Manchoukuo Army units spearheading the offensive were thus
first mowed down in their advance for a charge. When the front
line collapsed, the succeeding units could not proceed and began
to shoot at random from cannon hidden in the forests.
The General, shrewdly taking advantage of this new devel-
opment, issued an order to launch a full-force attack upon the
enemy units and destroy them. One unit of the People’s Revo-
lutionary Army delivered a frontal attack upon the enemy units
trying to surround the plateau while the other units encircled
them and started an all-out charge. It was just then that the
“punitive units’ led by Kim Suk Won sallied forth. The
General instructed each unit to defend its own position with
their lives and, while confusing the enemy offensive, let the
enemies close in as near as possible and then ordered his men
to fire.
Amid the thunder of the guns, enough to make one imagine
the mountains crashing down, enemy troops fell one by one.
But they displayed their so-called “samurai spirit” by desper-
ately struggling to climb uphill over the corpses of their fallen
troops. The more the enemy struggled, however, the more
hostile and courageous the Revolutionary Army men became
in their fighting.
Rain had been falling steadily all morning, but now it was
367
 KIM IL SUNG

pouring down, and keeping pace, the fighting escalated in in-

tensity. Under this downpour of rain, the enemy dead lay
scattered in a flood, red with their blood. At last, the enemy’s
bugle sounded the final charge. It was at this moment that the
buglers of the Revolutionary Army blew “Arirang” in chorus.
In response to the bugle, scores of women members of the units
began singing loudly “Arirang.” Hearing this, the enemy
troops acted as if they heard a heavenly voice or as though the
General had used magic, and turned pale with fear.
With the singing of “Arirang,” the Revolutionary Army
began their countercharge and swept away the shivering
zemies at a stroke.
The battle ended in a great victory for the guerrillas who
had killed and wounded more than 1,500 officers and men of
the enemy.

Miserable scene showing the debacle of the Japanese imperialist

army and police at the Chiensanfeng Battle

368
 KOREA IS ALIVE

It was a disastrous defeat for the aggressors.

The enemy troops who survived this battle, threw away all
they had and fled helter-skelter. Kim Suk Won was also
wounded and fled for his life. This man who had boasted so at
his departure from Hamheung Railway Station was now blood-
ed all over, and he returned to the station leading a few surviv-
ing soldiers each carrying from his neck a wooden box covered
with a white cloth, containing the ashes of one of the dead. He
tottered as he walked, the laughing stock of the people.
The tragicomic history of this traitor did not end here. Al-
though he did not have enough courage to commit suicide, he
declared he would apologize to the “Emperor” by killing himself
for the crime he had committed. He feigned to commit “hara-
kiri? with his sharp Japanese sword while waiting, secretly
and tearfully, for some one to rush to stop him.
About that time, there was talk at Chiensanfeng and the
neighbourhood about “pumpkins,” which made the enemy a
target of ridicule, for the enemy’s attempt to hide his defeat in
the Chiensanfeng Battle, which had already become public
knowledge, was exposed and resulted in further details of the
defeat becoming known. This came about in the following
way: The enemy, gravely concerned about how to dispose of
their innumerable dead, prohibited the local people from loiter-
ing about the place where the battle had been fought. They
cut off the heads of the corpses and, while cremating or inter-
ring the bodies, he crammed the heads alone into jute sacks
and secretly had them conveyed to a nearby highway by mobi-
lizing local horse-drawn carts. The local peasants who were
drafted for this labour, although they knew the contents of the
bags, deliberately feigned ignorance and asked the guards:
“What do these bags contain?”
The guard nonchalantly replied:
“Can’t you guess from the outward appearance, stupid?
369
 KIM IL SUNG

They are pumpkins. Pumpkins, I say.”

“Well, I guess you’ve had a rich harvest of pumpkins. They
will surely make good side dishes. Now you have enough food
to eat.”
So was born the story of the “rich harvest of pumpkins.”
The Korean People’s Revolutionary Army which had
won a great victory in the Bochunbo Battle by General
Kim Il Sung’s outstanding tactics, had now annihilated a
strong enemy force at Chiensanfeng und added lustre to their
triumphs in their operations of advance into the fatherland.
This victory of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army
caused the arrogant enemy to shiver with fear while it gave the
Korean people then suffering from national ruin the firm con-
viction that they could win by fighting and thus gave them
a ray of hope for a bright future. This victory strongly
negatived the enemy’s make-believe arguments about “Japan
and Korea are one” and arguments that “The Japanese and
Koreans are of the same ancestry.” This was also a decisive
rejection of the enemy’s attempt to force the Koreans to abandon
their mother tongue as well as the enemy’s plan to turn human
beings into so many faceless pawns to be used as tools of its
aggression upon the continent. At the same time, it was an
appeal to thé people that the aggressors must be knocked out,
that they must unite and vigorously rise in the anti-Japanese
national liberation struggle.
The Korean people, with a view to imparting to posterity
the permanent memory of the immortal beacon fire lit by
General Kim Il Sung 30 years ago, have today set up the mag-
nificent “Monument to the Victory in the Bochunbo Battle”
in the historic city of Hyesan lying at the foot of Mt. Baikdoo.
The People’s Revolutionary Army units, having thus won a
great victory, continued their vigorous march towards Shihsan-
taokou singing in high spirits the “March of Guerrilla Units.”

370
 KOREA IS ALIVE

Prepare, comrades, arms in hand.

Knock out the imperialist aggressors.
Advance with vigour and spirits high.
And fight the enemy even to the seventh life.

Stand up, comrades, for a decisive battle.

Hold firm the grip on your gun.
Advance with vigour and spirits high.
And fight the enemy even to the seventh life.

371
2. The September Appeal

THE CHANGPAI AREA, which greeted 1936 and 1937

with triumph after triumph, was enveloped in joyous cheers. In
Changpai, located in the valley of the steep mountain ranges
reaching Mt. Baikdoo, and surrounded by closely growing virgin
forests, and in every other place of Manchuria as well as in
Korea where the dawn of revolution had already spread far and
wide, the local people’s exultation reached its climax at the
news of victories following in such close succession. Hearing
the glad news, they cried, “Long live General Kim Il Sung!”
and embraced one another, dancing to their heart’s content.
Meanwhile, Japanese imperialism, having made sufficient
preparations for invasion of continental Asia, at last on July 7,
one week after the Chiensanfeng Battle, launched an all-out
war of aggression upon Chinese territory. Having provoked
China into war, Japan strengthened the alliance with Germany
and Italy and then went on spreading her military activities
over China. To achieve its purpose, Japanese imperialism, while
enforcing a national mobilization of human and material re-
sources at home, simultaneously. strengthened its policy of
plunder and suppression in Korea.
In countering this new situation, General Kim I] Sung made
clear his new struggle policy in a speech at the August, 1937,
Meeting of the Officers and Men of the People’s Revolutionary
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 KOREA IS ALIVE

General Kim Il Sung working out operational plans

Army and in his September Appeal to the entire people.

In his speech the General expressed his firm conviction
that Japanese imperialism, though it might temporarily gain
dominance, would ultimately be defeated and that the revolu-
tion would surely win. Then he went on to urge the People’s
Revolutionary Army to further develop its military activities
and operate to harass the rear of the enemy engaged in aggres-
sion, and so deal a more appalling military-political blow at
Japanese imperialism.
He also taught that political activities among the people
must be more vigorously strengthened and the anti-Japanese
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 KIM IL SUNG

national united front movement expanded and developed, and

geared to support the military movements of the People’s
Revolutionary Army in order to prepare the people in the home-
land for a decisive battle.
In his Appeal, the General gave the following instructions:
“We must dispatch well-trained political workers to the key
military bases in Korea—Heungnam, Hamheung, Wonsan and
other areas. And by their communication with the comrades
already working there, we must make them enlarge and reinforce
their organizations. Besides, it is particularly important and
urgent to create shock troops organized of workers, whose mis-
sion should be to become the vanguard in carrying out armed
rebellion and subversive activities in the rear.
As soon as orders come from above, these organizations
should mobilize their members and rise in armed revolt,
spearheaded by the shock troopers and organize subversive
activities in the rear, setting fire to and destroying munition
factories and other key enterprises, storming police substations
to obtain weapons and ammunition and destroying railways to
disrupt the transportation of military supplies. By these means,
they should throw the whole country into chaos and lead the
Japanese Army to defeat.”
In concluding the Appeal, the General instructed that while
his officers and men should strive to expand the armed ranks,
they should also try to clearly understand the principles of
Marxism-Leninism, study the tactics of guerrilla warfare as well
as further improve voluntary discipline which is a tradition of
the Revolutionary Army.
In keeping with the General’s guidelines, they developed
various operations over a wide area, aimed at harassing the
enemy’s rear, such as reduction of cities, assaults, ambushes and
destruction of railways and roads and explosion of arsenals.
The Battle of Attack on Huinan County Seat which was
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 KOREA IS ALIVE

fought on September 25, 1937, was typical of such operations.

The approximately 400-strong attacking unit of the Revolution-
ary Army under the command of Guard Regiment Commander
Choi Choon Kook, having speedily occupied the walled city,
distributed various leaflets in the city and aroused the people for
a struggle against Japan.
After leaving Huinan county seat, the attacking unit turned
back against the pursuing Japanese and puppet Manchoukuo
troops, several thousand strong, at Panshih, Huatien, and Chao-
yangchen, and by shooting and surprise attack finally defeated
them. }
As a result of these battles, the guerrilla units exploded the
demagogic boasts spread by Japanese imperialism that “Man-
choukuo is a paradise ruled by royal justice,” that the “national
defence is impregnable,” and that the “Communist Army forces
in South Manchuria have been completely smashed and the
country’s security ensured.” The result was a further heighten-
ing of the anti-Japanese feeling of the people.
General Kim Il Sung, while intensifying his military opera-
tions aimed at attacking behind the front line of Japanese im-
perialism, at the same time sent out large numbers of political
workers to Hamheung, Heungnam, Wonsan and other centres
of the munition industry and key industries in Korea, which
were of particular importance from the viewpoint of military
strategy.
These political workers conveyed the General’s new strug-
gle policy and instructions to their comrades who were already
_ working there, handing to them the September Appeal, the
“Samil Wolgan,” the “Duties of Korean Communists,” the
“10-Point Programme of the Association for the Restoration of
| the Fatherland” and other appeals. Then they began their
| activities in cooperation with these resident comrades.
The political workers spread among broad sections of the
373
 KIM
IL SUNG

people the 10-Point Programme of the Association for the

Restoration of the Fatherland and the General’s strategic and
tactical guidelines for carrying out the Korean revolution. They
helped build a number of organizations of the Association.
In particular, they penetrated deep into the workers and
peasant masses who formed the main force of the revolution
and agitated them to awaken to their own ideological and class
identity. Simultaneously, they helped unite and rally the Com-
munists at home, till then engaged in dispersed activities, into
a solid front under a single banner of struggle—the banner
of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland.
By their tireless activities, they brought into being a large
number of organizations of the Association for the Restoration
of the Fatherland in various places over a short time, and around
these organizations were rallied thick strata of the masses.
Those political workers who had been sent to Heungnam,
Hamheung areas, built lower organizations of the Association
for the Restoration of the Fatherland in July and early in August,
1937, centering on the Heungnam Fertilizer Factory, the Bon-
goong Chemical Plant and the Heungnam Powder Mill, and,
based on these organizations, they formed the Heungnam Dis-
trict Committee of the Association for the Restoration of the
Fatherland.
The Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland
gradually expanded its organizational network until they came
to cover Hamheung City, Hamjoo county and the surrounding
cities and countryside, where its cells were deeply rooted not
merely in the worker and peasant classes but also among the
intellectuals, youth and students and handicraftsmen.
On October 27 and 28, 1937, the Heungnam District Com-
mittee of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland
distributed an appeal over the city, which read: “Let’s oppose
the imperialist war and expand and cansolidate our anti-Japa-
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 KOREA IS ALIVE

nese national united front!” This aroused the citizens to anti-

Japanese, anti-war struggles, which were waged across the
country with great force.
Both political workers and Communists gave wide pub-
licity among people to the excellent leadership of General
Kim Il Sung and the glorious military-political activities of the
Korean People’s Revolutionary Army. Stories about the distin-
guished services of General Kim Il Sung, their anti-Japanese
brilliant commander, quickly spread like a legend to every
corner of the country, and so inspired,the Korean people further
strengthened their conviction of ultimate victory, which in turn
spurred them on in their vigorous anti-Japanese struggles.
The struggle policy the General had indicated to them in
his September Appeal was being successfully implemented.
Workers in Heungnam and other places worked energeti-
cally in preparation for organized worker shock troops.
In this way, the courageous struggles of the self-sacrificing
political workers who had been sent to various places, aroused
revolutionary sentiment still higher among the masses, and the
movement of the workers and peasants as well as the revolu-
tionary struggles of the masses made great strides as the days
passed.
Regarding these activities of the political workers, the Japa-
nese imperialist police authorities expressed the following pes-
simistic view: “They have dispatched political workers to
Heungnam, Hamheung, Wonsan and other cities of military and
defensive importance in the province(meaning South Hamgyung
Province) as well as to places in Hambook (North Hamgyung
Province)...to organize various types of illegal organizations
or to elicit cooperation from Chundo religionists in their plan
to augment the movement of the anti-Japanese people’s front.
_ Meantime, they regard the current incident (meaning the Sino-
| Japanese War) as providing an ideal opportunity of recovering
NAI
 KIM IL SUNG

their lost territory and winning independence for Korea. To

this end, they have planned, and have been carrying out armed
rebellion and rear harassment by mobilizing the entire force of
their associates in Korea.””?
The workers and peasants in the fatherland, encouraged by
the activities of the People’s Revolutionary Army commanded
by General Kim Il Sung and by the General’s noble thoughts,
rose in struggle against Japan and against the war with
redoubled effort.
The successive revolutionary advances of the masses, includ-
ing workers and peasants, were very marked, particularly after
the Bochunbo Battle. This fact is powerful evidence that no
suppressive attempt of Japanese imperialism could dampen the
strong anti-Japanese spirit of the Korean people which was
mounting under the spur of the anti-Japanese armed struggle.
Workers everywhere developed powerful strikes as well as
general slowdowns. These actions included the strike in Septem-
ber 1937 of workers at the blast furnace of the Heungnam Re-
finery, and strikes in early October of workers in the Bongoong
Chemical Plant and on the construction site of the Huchun-
gang Power Station. These struggles gained special momentum
as their work was related to the production of munitions by
order of Japanese imperialism, such as a strike by 1,200 workers
at the Nampo Refinery, a strike by some 1,300 workers to op-
pose wage cuts at the construction site of Pusan Harbour and
a strike of several thousand workers in the Inchun area.
In the winter of the following 1938, more than 2,700 of the
workers forcibly mobilized for laying a railway between Dan-
chun and Poongsan, which Japanese imperialism was building
for the purpose of plundering war material, deserted their work
places and succeeded in delaying the construction work. Later,
the strikes and slowdowns of workers spread over wide areas
including Pyongyang, Sineuijoo, Chungjin, Rajin, Heungnam,
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 KOREA IS ALIVE

Wonsan, Seoul, Inchun, Pusan, Dongrai and Jinjoo.

Peasants also actively developed their struggles in all parts
of the country. The number of disputes involving peasants who
rose to secure their rights of tenancy and reductions in farm
rents, totalled more than 10,700 in 1937 alone.
So the struggles across the country followed an upward
curve. Not even armed attacks nor ruthless suppression by the
enemy could thwart this revolutionary advance of the Korean
people who, looking up to General Kim !| Sung, had risen in
a life-and-death struggle for liberation and freedom.

ITP
 CHAPTER 9

OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

1. A Severe Winter

THE AGGRESSORS were afraid of the dense forests.

Even in the burning heat of the continental midsummer, they
felt their hearts grow cold at the thought of the dense forests
of Mt. Baikdoo, for the forests hid General Kim I Sung’s guer-
rilla units which were always ready to deal a severe blow on the
enemies at their weakest point by fantastic tactics and with for-
midable striking force.
The revolution was advancing. Wherever the Korean
People’s Revolutionary Army sent its units, the aggressors’ for-
tified positions collapsed and the people’s cheers were heard.
After the Bochunbo Battle, in particular, the Korean People’s
Revolutionary Army units, which had dealt great blows on the
enemy in close succession in a numberof battles in various
places, including the Chiensanfeng Battle and the Battle in
Huinan County Seat, and the masses inspired by these victories,
felt their fighting spirit mounting as the days passed. So
despite their incomparably stronger force, the enemy was
crestfallen and in low spirits. Having been thrown into impa-
tience and fear, they had no recourse but to stick more desper-
ately to their traditional policy of mediaeval suppression and
suffocation of the people.
At about that time it so happened that the anti-Japanese
armed struggle faced another crisis due to external pressures
380
 KIM IL SUNG

calling for a line of “Left” adventurism.

This was because some “Left” adventurists who had in-
filtrated the centre of the Comintern were then planning to
divert all anti-Japanese armed forces of Koreans and Chinese
in Manchuria towards the distant Jehol area.
In other words, they intended to advance the guerrilla units
to the vast plains of South Manchuria where there were big
cities and industrial districts as well as closely-knit communica-
tion networks.
In those days the Jehol area was the den of imperialist Japan’s
powerful forces.
Japan had assembled large formations of the army to the
South Manchurian plains and the Jehol area with an eye on
mainland China. To send an expedition to Jehol, therefore,
meant to put an armed unit in a circle of big enemy forces,
which was a most dangerous adventure. Such a risky plan could
have been born only of the subjectivist view of those adventur-
ers who, staying in a distant foreign country, were completely
ignorant of the local conditions of guerrilla warfare in Manchu-
ria. It was evident that the anti-Japanese armed forces would
suffer an irretrievable loss if they blindly followed such a reck-
less plan worked out by the “Left” adventurists.
General Kim Il Sung had early seen through the completely
erroneous nature of the adventurist line both from the point of
strategic and tactical principles of guerrilla war and in the light
of the then prevailing situation.
To cope with an eventuality that might arise from this reck-
less plan, he had to take proper steps of his own from the Juche
position of the Korean revolution.
So the General, while ordering the Korean People’s Revolu-
tionary Army units then fighting in East and North Manchuria
to remain where they were and continue their activities, person-
ally led his own main force of the People’s Revolutionary Army
381
 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

to the mountains in the Linchiang-Mengchiang areas in the au-

tumn of 1937 and inflicted a heavy blow upon the enemy wher-
ever he went by resorting to the lure-and-storm tactics.
Winter came in due course. It brought new hardships to the
People’s Revolutionary Army, for the Japanese aggressors
turned a large “punitive” force against it. After the heavy blows
sustained in the Battle in Huinan County Seat and at the pre-
vious Bochunbo and Chiensanfeng Battles, the enemy had
become extremely frantic. So a number of fierce combats, large
and small, were fought day after day between the People’s
Revolutionary Army and the enemy.
In addition to this, the winter of that year saw unusually
deep snow and the cold was more rigorous than ever. More-
over, heavy blizzards made visibility poor day after day.
Such a trying season put the camping guerrilla units into
painful distress whether in the mountains or on the plains. The
enemy forces, as if thinking that winter was their ally, daily
repeated their attacks. They let many of their forces die in ac-
tion or freeze to death as a sacrifice, but they did not learn a
lesson from this. The General allured the chasing enemy forces
this way and that in the snow and so tiring them out, turned
against them and dealt them crushing blows.
The more they were driven into such a situation, however,
the more frantic they became. If one unit was beaten, another
promptly took its place, and continued pursuit. On such an
occasion, the General swiftly moved his units into the dense
forests of Matangkou, Mengchiang county and covered their
tracks.
In this way, the General not only got rid of the “Left” ad-
venturist line but also nailed the frenzied enemy “punitive” forces
to the heart of the snow-covered mountains.
As a result, General Kim I] Sung changed at a stroke the
extremely disadvantageous situation into a more relaxed and
382
 KIM IL SUNG

advantageous one.
The enemies, having lost all trace of the People’s Revolu-
tionary Army units, were at their wit’s end. While the enemy
forces were thus roaming in the deeper mountains covered with
snow, leaving their dead behind in severe cold, the General was
giving guidance to his troops in their winter military-political
studies in the secret camp which he had prepared in the dense
forests of Matangkou, Mengchiang county.
The contrast was sharp between the two opposing troops—
the enemy looking in vain in the deserted mountains and the
Revolutionary Army units relieved cí their heavy knapsacks
and sitting for hard studies or getting training exactly at the
same time.
For the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, the military-
political studies were an urgent revolutionary task.
The units at that time contained several hundred new recruits
who had volunteered from the fatherland, Changpai county and
Linchiang county in 1937. They had to be trained as speedily
as possible to become revolutionaries well trained both militarily
and politically.
The General had, since the preceding summer, been prepar-
ing for these winter studies. Sending some of his troops to
gather provisions needed for camping for studies, the General
simultaneously had sent some others then working at the Secre-
tariat into the deep forests of Mengchiang county to publish
documents and materials necessary for lessons.
After reaching the forests of Matangkou with his main force,
he started building neat and regular barracks there with his
men. This work of creating something out of nothing by spend-
ing much energy in conquering the great expanse of deep
valleys and dense forests in such short and valuable hours, re-
quired no less passion than that demanded for fighting.
When the military-political studies began, the Generai under-

383
 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

took to lecture to his men while leaving an opening for individual

guidance for the benefit of those who could not follow the
lectures. The General sought questions, to which he readily
gave scientific answers. The troops were divided into self-study
and alphabet-learning groups, both engaged in study with great
zeal.
At first, some new recruits who were illiterate showed hesi-
tation for they thought that study was a hopelessly difficult
matter. One day the General, learning of this, called one of his
men named Pak Chang Soon and asked how far he had progress-
ed in his studies. The new recruit’s family having been poor,
he did not learn Korean letters prior to joining the unit. He
gave a surprising answer:
“Comrade Commander, I am a blockhead and so cannot
learn how to write letters. Even so, during the hours for learn-
ing letters, I can train myself in shooting, so that I can kill as
many Japanese aggressors as possible, for I think I am better
fitted for that job.”
The General was watching him with a smile, but he finally
pointed to a branch of scarlet-tinged ivy growing near by and
asked the soldier:
“What do you think this tree is fit for?”
“We can use it for the handle of an ax,” was the quick
answer, for he was brought up in a peasant family.
“You are right. It is fit for the handle of an ax....The same
applies to the revolution. One who does not know what is need-
ed where, or how it should be used, cannot achieve a revolution.
And now, one who hasn’t studied cannot tell which tree is fit
for the helve of an ax. One cannot get Japanese aggressors un-
less one has a knowledge of them. You cannot conquer the
enemy with rifles alone....”
Strongly impressed by these words of the General’s, the
soldier, as soon as he came back to his company, addressed his
384
 KIM IL SUNG

comrades as follows:
“Ihave just understood clearly that we cannot defeat Japa-
nese pirates with rifles alone, that we can face the enemy square-
ly only if equipped with knowledge. Now I will study hard.”
In fact, from that very day, he began to study hard. But
there was one new recruit who, devoted to shooting practice
alone, did not rectify his attitude at all, giving no heed to the
advice of his comrades. He declared: “Never mind. Though
I’m poor in learning, lll not fall behind any of you when it comes.
to killing Japanese aggressors.”
One day, the General, hearing of this soldier, addressed a
letter to him and told an orderly to take ıt to him and instructed
the orderly to tell all the others beforehand not to read the letter
for him. When that soldier received the letter personally writ-
ten by the General, he was proud and went about his company
and regiment and asked everyone to read it. But none would
read it for him on any pretext. He resented this coldness of his
comrades but it could not be helped. At last, getting weary of
thinking about it, he bashfully approached the General and said:
“Comrade Commander.... No one is willing to read this
letter for me. So I have brought it to you....”
The General silently took that letter and read its content for
him. It contained instructions for an urgent task for him to do,
but the time indicated had long passed. The new recruit felt
cold sweat all over his body and stood with a drooping head.
Then, the General admonished him in a soft voice.
“Listen, Comrade. If you should be sent behind the enemy
lines and receive from your command a letter which you cannot
read, and accordingly be unable to carry out at once the task
indicated there, what do you think would happen? There is no
doubt such a grave failure would do damage to the cause of the
revolution.
We have an important duty on our shoulders. I mean the
385
 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

sublime duty of accomplishing the revolution by overthrowing

Japanese imperialism and liberating our fatherland as quickly as
possible. If we remain ignorant of Marxism-Leninism and con-
sequently fail to educate the masses and to lead them to rise in
the struggle, how can we accomplish this revolutionary duty?
That’s why we have to study hard.
Learning is the task of prime importance to us revolution-
aries. No matter how difficult it is to learn how to read and
write or how unfavourable the conditions for learning, we have
to stick to our studies at any time and at any place.”
Every word of the General stung the soldier’s heart. He
sincerely repented his error and swore before the General to
study hard. Later he lived up to his promise fully.
The winter military-political studies in the secret camp of
Matangkou continued from November 1937 until March of the
following year.
When the People’s Revolutionary Army units conducted the
winter military-political study under the direction of the General,
the enemies, looking for some trace of the People’s Revolution-
ary Army, sent spies into all the mountains they could think of.
It so happened on a certain winter dawn in 1937 that the
binoculars of a sentinel caught the figure of an old man loitering
in the neighbourhood of the camp. This old man, apparently a
peasant, said that he had come there to hunt weasels. He had
come, by the enemy’s urge, to spy upon the movements of the
guerrilla units.
Informed of the capture of this peasant, the General met him.
After helping him to sit down, the General questioned him
closely: Where he lived, what size his family was and how they
lived and what sort of life his fellow villagers were leading, etc.
Further, he asked how long the man had been engaged in
weasel-hunting, what the best season for weasel-hunting was,
and how much he could get from that job.
386
 KIM
IL SUNG

While thus talking with the peasant over a considerable

time, the General never questioned why he had come so near
the guerrilla camp. On the contrary, the General invited the
peasant to take several days’ rest in the camp, saying that he
must be tired.
After letting the peasant withdraw for a rest, the General
told his men to be kind to him so that he might be led volun-
tarily to confess all, and added:
“Before suspecting that peasant, we ought to learn what
sort of a man he is....
When we meet a spy who is of the same social class as we,
we must learn why the enemy was able to get him to engage in
espionage, and then patiently persuade him into becoming our
ally through his voluntary confession.
In this way, we can cut the ground from under the enemy’s
feet and frustrate his schemes, getting a start on him.”
The men therefore gave the peasant winter clothes, prepared
a bed for him and entertained him with special meals despite
the scarcity of provisions in the camp.
Several days later, the General met the peasant a second
time.
Seeing that the peasant’s living was apparently very bad,
the General instructed his men to provide some food for him on
his departure for home and then asked the old man. “When
you go home, I suppose you will suffer heavily from the enemy’s
oppression. How are you going to live?”
The old man, who was deeply moved by the generous and
gracious character of the General and the unexpectedly warm
entertainment he had received from him at this secret camp
for a few days, could no longer bear the biting of conscience and
straightforwardly confessed his real mission. Realizing that
he had been mistaken, he volunteered to tell the size of the
enemy force in his village and every detail of its movements
387
 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

and even made a bid to be a guide for the guerrilla units when
they were ready to attack.
The General, after sending two men on patrol and scouting
the enemy movements, sent a small unit, accompanied by the
peasant to storm the Japanese “punitive units,” then staying at
the entrance of Hsipaitzu, Mengchiang county.
Several other assaults were carried out in the enemy rear,
all aimed at throwing them into confusion, dealing blows at and
diverting to another direction the enemies who were in hot pur-
suit of the Revolutionary Army units, so that the guerrillas
gained more precious hours for studies.
It was in one such battle fought in early 1938 at Chingantun,
in the 4th District of Mengchiang county, that the General lost
his beloved aide, Choi Kyung Hwa.
Choi Kyung Hwa had been nicknamed “collegian.” Tall in
stature and of an optimistic cast, he was a man of passion who
could devote himself to any job given. When he was in charge
of editing the guerrilla units’ newspaper “Jongsori,’”’ he devoted
himself to composing poetry or drawing pictures for it. To him,
fighting was a joy. By nature, he tended voluntarily to under-
take dangerous duties. Whenever fighting started, he hit fast
like a bullet and fought like a lion. In the attack on Chingantun
fortress, too, the moment the gate of the walled city was open-
ed, he made a single-handed charge against the enemy, drawing
to himself the enemy fire which had been aimed at his comrades,
and received a fatal wound in the stomach.
The fighting ended in a victory for the guerrillas. But when
the General and unit members learned about the fatal wound
suffered by Comrade Choi Kyung Hwa, their hearts were heavy
with deep sorrow. When the unit started on its way home, the
General walked beside his comrade’s stretcher and, taking off
his overcoat, put it over his beloved aide and often addressed
him with words of encouragement, trying to bear his sorrow.
388
 KIM IL SUNG

Choi Kyung Hwa rivetted his eyes on the General until the
last moment. It was as if he was struggling to read in the
General’s face an assessment of the significance of his short span
of life as well as the future destiny of his fatherland. Lament-
ing over his own fate that he could no longer fight for his coun-
try, he breathed his last, during the march back.
The General embraced his shoulders and called his name
several times. Then, with a choking voice, he muttered: “I
have lost another valuable comrade!...” He could speak no
further, and from the eyes of his comrades-in-arms, tears rolled
down unchecked.
That night, the men saw the General shedding tears before
the bonfire in the secret camp until dawn. Ceaselessly dropping
tears, he kept his face from the men, and went on writing with
a trembling hand, word by word, a tribute to the memory of
Comrade Choi Kyung Hwa.
Many a comrade fell into eternal sleep under the freezing
sky of that foreign land, and at each time, the General was
moved to deep grief. They died with a calm smile, but the dy-
ing man’s heroism that lingered with that smile deeply sadden-
ed the General. The comrades-in-arms he had rescued at the
risk of his own life and had educated with boundless love and
care—they were all patriots and heroes who, even lying on rocks
and sleeping in the snow, could produce poetry and render pro-
found service to the cause of the revolution. So the General,
who could easily overcome hardships for himself, could scarcely
bear the death of his comrades. He felt afresh his burning hatred
of the enemy and his heavy responsibility for the revolution.
The General and his men were firmly bound together by
bonds of blood. Even after a 40-odd-kilometre march at the
urgent demand of battle, he would come back along the same
path through deep snow to perform a funeral for a comrade-
in-arms fallen in action.
389
 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

He bade farewell to Comrade Choi Kyung Hwa at the solemn

burial service in his honour. He read aloud his moving tribute
to the memory of this comrade-in-arms who had been so opti-
mistic and so heroic, lamenting his death and swearing his
revenge upon the enemy.
Every word and phrase of the tribute which the General had
personally written in deep grief could not but move deeply the
hearts of all the soldiers present.
“Alas, Comrade Choi Kyung Hwa! Comrade gone for
ever!... Since the very day you bade farewell to your dear native
village and beloved parents and brothers, and crossed the na-
tional border into the far-off foreign land to join the anti-Japa-
nese armed struggle, you fought well, devoting your life to the
cause of the revolution and to your fellow soldiers.... How
many thousands of miles you have covered of the path of hard-
ships, braving torrential summer rains and raging winter bliz-
zards, fighting against hunger and sleeping on the grass, going
through frozen rivers and snow-covered lands!... You comrade,
fought days and nights for the liberation and independence of
the fatherland and freedom and emancipation of the people...
Comrade Choi Kyung Hwa! What a sorrow it is to have
to lose you, a comrade who, with an indomitable revolutionary
spirit, fell victim to an enemy bullet and is gone for ever, half-
way on his path to the cherished goal...”
The memorial address praised the ardent revolutionary spirit
and fighting records of his lost comrade, and concluded with the
following words:
“Comrade! Your deep hatred of the enemy will be wreaked
upon them a thousandfold. The revolution which you could not
see achieved will be accomplished by us!
Following in your steps, we will fight undauntedly and win
victory until the day when the banner of freedom and independ-
ence is unfurled over the land of our fathers, and ‘happiness will
390
 KIM
IL SUNG

flower for our fellow countrymen.... And we will undoubtedly

win victory!
“So, Comrade, sleep in peace!”
After the memorial address, all the members of the units
present sang sorrowfully:

Comrade fallen under the tree

Hugging your own breast,
Your spurting blood
Has dyed the Mother Earth.

Away from your parents

And without a companion,
You have breathed your last
With a deep grudge in your heart.

Crows of the mountain,

Don’t scream over his corpse.
Though his flesh decays
His revolutionary spirit will not die.

They sang this hoarsely with tears. They swore on the rifle
to avenge his death.
Studies in the secret camp were resumed. The unit members
who had lost their precious comrade-in-arms turned their strong
hatred for the enemy in another direction and redoubled their
efforts at their studies, their militant studies being pursued with
utmost diligence.
The enemies had lost the trail of the Revolutionary Army
units and had cast a dragnet over all the known mountains,
searching for the guerrillas, and at last came close to the secret
camp west of Matangkou. There was no choice but to engage
the enemy in a frontal clash. The General’s units attacked the
391
 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

enemy violently and completely expelled them, after which they

moved through the snow-covered dense forests to another secret
camp to the east of Matangkou, about 40 kilometres from the
previous camp.
About the same time, the General ordered one of his units
to block the road leading to Fusung and raid some horse-drawn
sleighs of the puppet Manchoukuo Army. This operation was
to deceive the enemy into thinking that the Revolutionary Army
units, in pursuit of some enemy force, had advanced to the
Fusung Road and moved to some other area. This idea clicked.
After successfully diverting the enemy, the General entered
the secret camp east of Matangkou and resumed the temporarily
suspended military-political studies. They continued for a month
and a half during which not a shadow of the enemy was to be
seen.
These intensive winter military-political studies, which lasted.
in all four months constituted, as it were, a “University of
Revolution” as the unit members later described in moments of
emotional recollection.
With the coming of sping an end came to the studies, and
the General issued an order to each unit to march, with the fol-
lowing words:
“...During the winter, we shifted to small-scale fighting.
for strategic considerations. So the enemies are now completely
off-guard. Our Army ought to take advantage of this weak point
of the enemy to sweep away the enemy forces by employing
surprise attack and decoy tactics.
At the same time, we ought to imbue the Korean and Chi-
nese peoples with patriotic ideas and also keep up the fighting
morale of our Army with a firm belief in final victory, and at the
same time resolve the problem of obtaining clothing, provisions,
ammunition and other war supplies indispensable for the ex-
ecution of future larger-scale campaigns....”
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 KIM IL SUNG

Following this order, the Revolutionary Army units started

their spring offensive. They displayed enormous vitality for
fighting which had been built up during the winter and in all
quarters poured the fire of revenge upon the tormented enemy
forces.
Tactically employing his main force in Changpai and Lin-
chiang counties along the Amrok River, the General dealt heavy
repeated blows on the enemy by using his lure-and-attack tactics
wherever he went.
After the Chiatsaishui Battle early in April in Changpai
county, his units fought at Lutaokou, Shuangshantzu and
Kuchiaying, all in Linchiang county and at Shiherhtaokou,
Changpai county and annihilated most of the enemy forces there.
The People’s Revolutionary Army, now well-trained in military
arts by the winter military-political studies and armed with the
General’s revolutionary spirit and military science, had gained
power enough to “move even a mountain.”

393
2. In Dense Forests Besieged by Large Enemy Forces

IN THE AUTUMN of 1938, Japanese imperialism hastily

put a large force of more than 100,000 troops in the West
Chientao area, behind our enemy’s front line for aggression
against mainland China.
The reason why the Japanese imperialists hastily diverted
such a large force to West Chientao after deploying a long front
line in China was that this area constituted a strategic gateway
of vital importance to the continent and that they had a strong
fear of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army which had its
base in this district and had been making frequent sorties.
On the other hand, the Japanese imperialists, longing to oc-
cupy the-whole of Asia, made a great fuss about spreading pro-
paganda for their “ anti-Soviet, anti-communist”’ cause and were
pouring war materials into the whole area of Manchuria.
In this way, Japanese imperialism, while carrying on its war
of aggression against China, simultaneously increased its armed
forces heavily in Manchuria, which was its own strategic base
for aggression.
The Japanese imperialist aggressors, to make the home
front safe, mobilized all the armed forces, including “the Expedi-
tionary Force in China,” the Kwantung Army, the Garrison
Army in Korea, the puppet Manchoukuo Army as well as the
police and the “self-defence corps,” etc. in carrying out a “large
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 KIM IL SUNG

scale mopping-up campaign against the partisans,” while throw-

ing a tight cordon into Korea and along the national borders. In
short, they were making frantic efforts to maintain their so-called
“national defence and public security.”
Since October 1937, the enemies had been making a sweep-
ing roundup of revolutionary elements in northern Korea and
the Changpai areas with the aim of destroying their organiza-
tions. They imprisoned several thousand Korean Communists
and patriotic citizens and simply slaughtered them like so many
animals.
For the revolution, a time of severe trial was at hand. The
Japanese aggressors unleashed an all-out offensive and destroyed
a number of revolutionary organizations. In Korea and Man-
churia, large numbers of Communists and other people were
arrested and imprisoned. In Manchuria, the army and police
joined efforts under the slogan of “maintaining peace and order
and purging recalcitrants,’ and suppressed armed struggles of
of the Communists as well as the movements of the masses led
by them. The grave situation created by these successive meas-
ures in all domains augured ill for the revolution and was ex-
tremely dangerous for it.
General Kim I] Sung keenly felt the need once more to tide
over such severe realities. But he did not feel uneasy, nor did
he shrink. Though the prevailing situation, at first sight, seem-
ed to forbid either advance or retreat, the General, with his
revolutionary passion and by profound scientific judgement,
made up his mind to start offensive operations or act in a way
quite different from what common sense would dictate. In those
days, there was no one but General Kim Il Sung that could be
expected to meet the challenge of this unfavourable situation,
and he was destined to carry out the historic mission of meet-
ing it.
Running his thoughts over the Korean people suffering from
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the enemy’s frantic suppression as well as the future destiny of

the Korean revolution, the General worked out a concrete plan
to inflict a powerful military blow upon the Japanese aggressors
to meet the prevailing situation and bring about a new upsurge
in the revolutionary movement. As a preliminary to this, he
called together all the guerrilla units in East and South Man-
churia to Nanpaitzu, Mengchiang county.
The Revolutionary Army units then scattered in various
places, on receiving the General’s summons, began to gather to
Nanpaitzu one after another by breaking through the enemy
lines in defiance of death. There were not a few heavy battles
fought as they clashed with superior enemy forces on their way.
For example, the anti-Japanese army units of the Chinese in
South Manchuria, which had already suffered a great loss in
their attempt to go towards Jehol and had been compelled to
turn back, were again besieged by a large enemy force on the
plains of Waichakou, Linchiang county and confronted with
grave danger. A Korean People’s Revolutionary Army regiment
commanded by Pak Sun Bong, sent by the General, was fighting
jointly with the Chinese units, and made a courageous charge
against the enemy forces and swept away more than 500 troops.
They then rushed to join the General at Nanpaitzu.
It was towards the end of October that year that the General
met in an emotional reunion his comrades-in-arms who had
gathered in unit after unit to the dark-shadowed dense forests
of Nanpaitzu. “Comrades, you are indeed true Communists, and,
therefore, undying birds,” the General said, highly appraising
his comrades-in-arms who came to him in defiance of all difficul-
ties, pledging themselves to live and die for the revolution.
However, an uninvited and disgusting guest made his appear-
ance in the forests where an important conference was being
held to stage the revolutionary offensive. It was a November
day. The man, Li Jong Rak, was formerly a young activist
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 KIM IL SUNG

General Kim I] Sung leading the Nanpaitzu Meeting

under the General, but had been captured by the enemy. He

became a turncoat, but, for some reason or other, he came to
visit the General, who continued the conference disregarding
this betrayer.
At the meeting at the secret camp of Nanpaitzu in November,
serious questions were discussed for the revolutionary offensive,
and the General hit hard at the Jehol expedition, criticizing its
adventurous nature and the grave consequences.
He then reported on the present situation and the future
strategic policy on the anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare. The
General made a detailed analysis of the pressing situation and
made clear the new tasks of struggle to meet it, stressing the
further strengthening of equipment to cope with large-scale
“mopping-up campaigns” of the enemy. From the strategic
397.
 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

point of view he also stressed the need for military operations

by small units based on mobile operations with larger units. He
stated that it was necessary, while deploying mass-annihilation
warfare against the enemy, to stir up the masses into joining the
national liberation struggle against Japan in Korea and Man-
churia and to employ positive activities to rebuild the destroyed
revolutionary organizations..
So the meeting decided to reorganize the military forces into
three district armies to cope with large-scale “mopping-up cam-
paigns” of the enemy. After reinforcing other units with part of
his own unit, the General took up the difficult task of breaking
through the enemy’s encirclement by leading the main district
army again. to the southwestern part of Mt. Baikdoo and to the
fatherland.
The week-long Nanpaitzu Meeting was of significance in
that the guerrillas assumed the offensive in the anti-Japanese
armed struggle, giving the masses confidence in a new victory.
The meeting fully proved once again the position of the
General, who had been firmly keeping to the Juche line of the
Korean revolution, and at the same time proved the wise leader-
ship of General Kim Il Sung who had maintained and strength-
ened the fighting capacity of the Korean People’s Revolution-
ary Army, safeguarding its independent activities. The lines
and policies put forth by the General at the meeting enabled the
guerrillas to wage a more vigorous anti-Japanese armed struggle
in East and South Manchuria.
After the meeting, the General solved the problem of Li
Jong Rak.
The General had already known that Li came to the forests
for what was called “submission work.” At that time, the
Japanese imperialist invaders, who had met dreadful revenge
every time they staged a “punitive operation,” realized that
military might alone was not sufficient to beat the General, and,
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 KIM IL SUNG

as their last resort, foolishly tried to make the General “submit”

to them by using renegades who had dropped out from the rev-
olutionary ranks.
The leaders of Japanese imperialism had many a time tried
“submission work” before sending Li Jong Rak. The enemy,
learning that the General was devoted to his parents, planned
to take advantage of his love for his grandfather and grand-
mother.
The enemy tried to win over the General’s grandfather and
grandmother by using those who had fled from the revolution-
ary ranks to become the enemy’s agents. They approached them
with honeyed words, saying that the General’s submission to
them would surely ensure a high post for him and bring hap-
piness to his whole family. The General’s grandfather and
grandmother, however, scorned them, never heeding their non-
sensical talk.
The enemy even tried to win their favour by offering a lot
of money. The grandfather rejected the enemy offer, thunder-
ing: “Do you think I, however old I may be, will trade the life
of my grandson for money?”
At last, the irritated enemy showed its fangs. Revealing
their vicious character, the enemies threatened the General’s
grandmother and took her out to Manchuria by force. But her
trip to Manchuria was a cause of fear to the enemy, because
. now that they had forced the General’s grandmother out to
Manchuria, they were sure to be always under the watchful eye
of the General. They felt more dead than alive. The agents of
the enemy, fearing to incur danger by showing an impolite at-
titude towards the General’s grandmother, put her up in the
first-class hotel or finest house during the journey and treated
her as if they were her servants. The grandmother, on her part,
behaved with dignity and treated the enemy agents like her
servants.

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At any rate, however, this trip was painful to the grand-

mother.
Under the unkind weather, the renegades, accompanying
the 60-year-old grandmother of the General, continued their
difficult journey through the steep roads in Changpai, Fusung
and Mengchiang.
They were busy trying to win the grandmother’s favour by
flattery, giving her good meals and expensive clothes, and repeat-
ing, “You can lead a very luxurious life if you can call out your
grandson.” Full of pride and noble spirit, the General’s grand-
mother, however, was quite immune to their fine words, acting
like a white heron before black ravens.
The enemy asked her frequently, sometimes threateningly,
to write a letter to the General, suggesting that he “submit”
to the enemy. At such a time, the grandmother’s reply was
particularly stern. “There is no grandmother in this country of
Korea who would write such a letter to her grandson!”
Nevertheless, the enemies never gave up their foolish at-
tempt. When they came near the foot of a mountain, they
pleaded: “Old woman, we are quite sure that General
Kim I] Sung is somewhere in this mountain. Please go in
there and bring him out.” “Don’t be foolish. You'd better go in.
I feel sorry for a mother who gave birth to such a fool as you,”
was her reply, in which she sternly scolded and denounced them.
The mountain itself looked like the General’s stronghold.
The enemies could find no way out of their terror, and hardly
stand without the help of alcohol. Moreover, the feeling of de-
pression mounted even higher in the minds of the enemies when
the grandmother said that her grandson, General Kim Il Sung,
would do something to them if they maltreated her.
On her way home after defeating the enemies” plot, the
General’s grandmother looked at the snow-covered steep moun-
tain for a long time. She was very elated to think of her grand-
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 KIM IL SUNG

son whose name shone like the sun, whose personality and
character all people admired and whom she wanted to meet
but could not and should not do so.
The General’s grandmother started on her way home, wiping
the tears from her cheeks and thinking of the fortunes of her
grandson.
Frustrated by their failure, the enemies now sent a traitor
Pak Cha Sik to the General. But when he saw the General who
had once taught him, he was unable to make any “submission
offer.” Rather, he burst into tears and confessed everything
about the enemies’ instructions and his acts of treachery, report-
ing that another notorious traitor, Li Jong Rak, was working
for the enemy as a military civilian.
The General felt like slaying the traitor with his sword but
was broad-minded enough to forgive him, taking into considera-
tion his confession of crimes. The General, saying that pun-
ishment would only soil his sword, released him with the admoni-
tion that he should regain his national conscience and constancy
as a Korean by ceasing to be an agent of Japanese imperialism
selling out revolutionaries.
Foolishly enough, however, the Japanese imperialist aggres-
sors did not know the meaning of Pak’s failure. Thinking
that the failure was a favourable factor to them, they then sent
Li Jong Rak. In this further test, the Japanese aggressors ex-
pected much of Li Jong Rak, their faithful agent who was
deeply imbued with the “thoughts of imperial rule.”
In those days, some of the “active nationalists’ who had
become ugly traitors, regarded patriotism as anachronistic and
highly appraised the “Emperor’s rescript.” Therefore, Japanese
imperialism which had penetrated far and deep into Southern
China was, for them, the “colossus” shadowing all Asia, and the
“active nationalists” of all descriptions who had degraded them-
selves to be agents of the enemy, played a mean role as guides

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for the aggressors.

The true patriots who were fighting for the liberation and
independence of Korea were at that juncture only General
Kim Il Sung, the anti-Japanese guerrillas led by him, and the
fighters who fought with deep respect for the General.
The General did not consider Li Jong Rak to be a Korean
or even a human being. What was most unpleasant to the
General was his ugliness. The General did not think it neces-
sary to punish him at once. He was concerned about a much
more important question—how to find time enough under
enemy encirclement to continue the planned conference.
The General made Li Jong Rak write a letter saying that he
could not meet General Kim Il Sung yet, but met only his small
unit. The letter sent to an enemy’s unit further said that he was
mystified because the General was 240-280 kilometres away.
The enemies who received the letter were satisfied, and fell into
the trap set for them.
In this way, the General gained time and concluded the
Nanpaitzu Meeting as planned. Then he took up the problem
of Li Jong Rak.
Li Jong Rak, who jumped to the hasty conclusion that the
General would take him seriously, talked eloquently about the
uselessness of his revolutionary struggle, saying: “...The world
has changed, and so you’d better stop fighting the Japanese
Army. Japan will soon grant Korea independence. Then, you
will be made the Minister of War and enjoy prestige and luxury
all your life. Now that ‘Manchoukuo’ has been founded, this
is no place to fight. It’s a better policy for you to change your
mind....”
The General thought that there was no need to talk with
this traitor. He could not regard him who had betrayed the
revolution as a human being, but could not help laughing at the
enemies’ foolish attempt to change his firm mind by sending
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 KIM IL SUNG

a trifling traitor like this man, and at the lack of intelligence of

the “Great Japanese Empire” which could employ such foolish
means.
The General’s decision on the Li problem was quite simple.
He was executed as a traitor and agent of Japanese imperialism.
There was no tragedy in his execution as he had committed the
crimes against justice and the Korean people. He well deserved
the sentence—the end to his ugly life. On his dead body was
placed a letter of warning, saying that anyone who betrayed and
stood in the way of the revolution would surely meet the same
fate as Li Jong Rak, even if he was a schoolmate or a kinsman.
The General’s forces left Nanpaitzu. No trace was found in
the dense forests of Nanpaitzu of the General’s guerrillas. It
was as if they had burrowed into the earth or flown up to
heaven. Left behind was only the dead body of the dirty traitor.
The letter left on the corpse was not only given to this one
traitor. It was also a warning from the revolutionay forces to
the Japanese imperialists and their agents.

403
3. The Arduous March

THE DAYS and months were hard, and the revolution

was full of tribulations. The Japanese imperialist aggressors,
who turned Korea into a big, bloodstained gaol, exerted their ut-
most efforts to “smash” the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army
led by General Kim Il Sung, by massing the largest-ever forces.
It was at such a time in particular that the initiative of the
revolution should not be lost. In December 1938, General
Kim Il Sung, who was determined to face the most critical
situation in order to defeat the enemy’s large force, left Nan-
paitzu, personally leading his main force on a difficult march to
Changpai and the fatherland.
The General was aware that hard days were in store for
him. The enemy had already occupied the whole of Changpai,
the areas along the national border and the northern part of
Korea and was on the lookout for the guerrillas, throwing out
a strict cordon.
In this situation, there was every danger of being encircled
by the enemies if they moved deep into the central part of the
enemy-held triangle which covered Linchiang, Changpai and
Mt. Baikdoo. Moreover, it was also expected that the march
towards Changpai, which was a one-week journey, would be
greatly delayed because of constant fighting without rest with
the enemies and complicated detours they had to take, causing
404
 KIM IL SUNG

many difficulties for the marchers.

But their hell-like fatherland and compatriots were exposed
to even greater dangers, so the General made up his mind to
overcome whatever difficulties might lie ahead of him, even a
raging stormy sea.
The march met with hardships from the start.
The marchers had to fight a raging blizzard, forcing their
way through snow. They had to overcome the severest temper-
ature of 30 to 40 degrees below zero. Even worse was the
shortage of food and the hot pursuit of tens of thousands of
enemy troops. The enemy used the so-called “big cleanup
operations” to maintain “security in the rear” by mobilizing
200,000 troops of the army and even its air force over the whole
areas of South and North Manchuria. The enemies, who realiz-
ed that without “destroying” the General’s Guerrilla Head-
quarters, it was impossible to defeat the guerrillas and cut the
life line of the Korean revolution, were frantically trying to
locate the Guerrilla Headquarters. From that time on, the enemy
changed their tactics. Realizing that their so-called “piston”
tactics, by which they attacked and retreated, and then attacked
again, were ineffective in “wiping out” the guerrillas, they
began to employ what they called “tick” tactics by which they
stuck fast to the guerrillas. At the same time, they also used
“hair-comb” tactics—combing mountains and fields for guer-
rillas.
The enemy concentrated its troops into the places where
guerrillas were expected to appear, and made each troop respon-
sible for a fixed “punitive district.” On finding the guerrillas,
they pursued immediately to attack them dozens of times in a
day. In the snow-covered forests deep in the mountains, the
guerrillas had to fight with the enemy who stuck close to the
guerrillas like ticks.
Under these circumstances, the most important task was to
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defend the Headquarters. Guerrillas vied with each other to

take up this task, but this honoured task was given to Regimen-
tal Commander O Joong Heup. The commander made his way
through waist-deep snow with his men and bravely fought the
chasing encmy. Keenly feeling that the Headquarters should be
defended by all means to save the Korean revolution, he was
tough and tireless in drawing off the enemy and repeating the
most dangerous battles with them. When the enemy suddenly
appeared, what he did first was to throw himself before them to
protect the General.
After a one-month-long zigzag march, during which endless
battles were fought, the guerrillas finally reached the entrance
of Chitaokou, Changpai county. The guerrillas were tired out.
Their clothes were worn out and blood was oozing from
their frostbitten hands and legs. Food was running short and
they staved off the pangs of hunger by eating dried vegetables.
Meanwhile, the enemies intensified their attacks over and over
again. Besides several tens of thousands of enemy troops who
were chasing them, the guerrillas had to face further thousands
of enemy troops pouncing upon them from all directions in the
valleys and ranges of Changpai.
The enemies planned to “wipe out” the guerrillas at a stroke
by encircling them in deep snow and by tiring them with food
shortages and lack of sleep. The situation was serious.
Seeing through the enemy’s plot, the General employed new
tactics to save his units, by concentrating, dispersing and moving
his men in swift movements in order to confuse the enemy and
to preserve the strength of the guerrilla units. The units moved
in three separate directions. The first small unit was to advance
to Chitaokou and Chiatsaishui, Changpai county under the direct
command of the General, the second unit to the area of
Hehhsiatzukou led by Comrade O Joong Heup, and the third
unit with an independent battalion under the command of Com-
406
 KIM IL SUNG

rade Kim Il to the area of Tungkang, Fusung county. Anda

sewing unit and the weak and old were moved to a secret camp
in Chingfeng, Changpai county.
This tactical policy was a wise plan to frustrate the enemies’
plot to destroy the Headquarters by dispersing the enemy
strength and throwing them into confusion.
It was dawn. More than one thousand enemy troops began
to sneak into the valley from behind the guerrillas. A trumpet
sounded from the opposite hill where the O Joong Heup regi-
ment was posted. Along with the thunderous roar of a volley,
the loud voice of Comrade O Joong Heup reverberated:
“Seventh Regiment, charge to the front!”
“Eighth Regiment, turn the left and right flanks and block
the retreat!”
These were fake words of command to distract the enemy.
The commander wanted to make his unit look like the Head-
quarters. As was expected, the enemy began to pursue the O
Joong Heup unit.
The unit, which succeeded in this way in drawing off the
enemy, drove back the surging troops and escaped in the direc-
tion of Erhshihtaokou, overcoming indescribable difficulties. But
using airplanes, the enemy reconnoitred the forests very closely
and strafed and bombed anything strange. On the ground, the
“punitive units” attacked the guerrillas with military dogs.
Comrade O Joong Heup still making his unit look like the Head-
quarters, concentrated fire on the enemy, drawing it to a disad-
vantageous place. He felt it was his greatest honour to defend
the Headquarters in the face of danger.
After a while the enemy found again the General’s unit and
began to follow it obstinately. In spite of severe counterattacks
from the guerrillas, the enemy desperately pursued them,
making their march more and more difficult.
In the General’s unit, there were many young soldiers of
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 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

about 17 or 18 years, but they were all heroes.

The snow that year was exceptionally heavy in the
Changpai mountains, and while the guerrillas slept by the camp-
fire, the snow around the fire melted little by little to the earth.
When they awoke next morning they found black ashes below
in the snow as if they were looking into the bottom of a well.
The snow was breast-deep even in the places where it lay
thin. Several soldiers rolled over the snow to make it easy for
the troops to proceed. They marched on empty stomachs for
several days on end, stuffing snow into their mouths when their
parched-rice powder kept for emergency rations, ran out.
Because of the severe cold, they often felt their bodies numb
all over. If they fell it was difficult to stand on their feet again,
but they fell asleep even under these severe conditions of snow-
storm and cold when ordered to rest. The General shared the
difficult fighting and arduous march with his men, tired out like
the rest, but never spoke a word about his fatigue or the hard-
ships. He tried very hard to encourage his men with a cheerful
outlook.
The General said: “We must weaken the strength of the
enemies by tiring them in the dense forests of Changpai. We
must endure this winter by solving the problem of food and
fighting our way out from the enemy around. Only then can we
advance to our fatherland once again and save the revolution
from danger.” He went to and fro between the lines of his men
many times in a day to encourage them.
“Well, liven up, a little more. Cheer up and overcome these
hardships so that we can march to the fatherland!”
Under the General’s encouragement, those who sank down
in the snow, stood on their feet again, biting their lips and
moved forward step by step. The General himself in turn drew
strength from these soldiers.
But as the days passed, the march became even harder. In
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 KIM IL SUNG

a dangerous situation in which gun reports were heard behind

them, young soldiers would fall in the snow, stand up and fall
again. They were too hungry. Thinking that it was almost
impossible to fight back the attacks of the enemy, the General
decided to solve the problem of food. When marching near a
lumbermill in Chitaokou, the General drew up an operation
plan to attack the Japanese-run mill. The operation would
disperse thousands of the enemy troops and at the same time
solve the food problem. The raid on the mill was successful. Six
guerrillas who captured several horses, quickly disappeared in
the direction of Chitaokou—in a direction opposite to the direc-
tion in which the guerrillas were marching—leaving behind
them the footprints of men and horses, to deceive the enemy
into thinking that a large force had passed by.
Soon they returned with horse-meat. The General’s trick
went right and the enemies made their way to Chitaokou the
next day, following the footprints, but in vain.
The horse-meat was a big treat for the hungry guerrillas. It
only lasted a few days, and again hunger stared them in the face.
The General always gave some of his food to the weak and
ill. During the march he also gave exhausted soldiers some
grains of corn, his food ration, which he had kept, and encour-
aged them, saying, “Eat this and you will surely be all right.”
In the look of the General, the soldiers saw the image of
their dear mothers and were firmly determined never to retreat
under any circumstances even at the risk of their lives.
One morning, during the march, orderlies at the leading
centre presented the General with a bowl of parched-rice powder.
The General knew that they had collected it from the bot-
toms of soldiers’ knapsacks.
After looking closely at the orderlies, the General gave the
parched-rice powder meal to the youngest and left the place.
But the orderly did not eat it. When night came, the orderlies
409
 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

came to the General to return the powder.

“How many times have you gone without a meal?” the
General asked without receiving the meal.
“Comrade Commander! we bave eaten already. This is for
you, sir.”
The General, looking round his men, smiled.
“Well then, you want me to eat it by myself, don’t you?... Is
this all?”
“Yes, General,” replied the orderly.
The General asked to bring the knapsacks for him to inves-
tigate. From the knapsack of an orderly came the powder
which had been kept there for the General.
The General laughed, looking at the orderlies. He put the
powder on a newspaper and asked three of his orderlies to sit
around it.
“Suppose that this is one mal (one mal is equal to 15.88
quarts) of parched-rice powder and you will feel that you have
eaten to the full. Go ahead.”
The General made a paper spoon and began to portion it
out, without caring about his own share. He served it out for
all the three. And they put it back before him. There was no
alternative but for the General to leave a small amount of the
powder in front of himself. The rest of the powder was given
to the soldiers. Only after he saw that his men mix it in
water to eat, did he begin to do the same.
Feeling a lump in their throat, the orderlies could not take
it. The General told the soldiers to eat a bowlful of parched-
rice powder as if eating as much as one mal, but they were
choked with tears, feeling as if they had unexpectedly received
thousands, or tens of thousands of mal of food.
All soldiers of the General were moved by his deep affection
towards them. They were hungry but felt full as though they
had fully eaten delicacies.
410
 General Kim Il Sung offering his men a bowl of parched-rice
powder, his ration

The food shortage became even more acute with each

passing day. But guerrillas, enduring indescribable pain, never
touched the property of the people.
It was during the Shihsantaokou Battle in February of 1939
that the guerrillas were overjoyed at finding oxen among the
booty from an enemy centre. Some of them were without an
owner’s brand.
At that time, every ox belonging to the enemy had the
character “King” marked on its horn. The General thought
the oxen without the mark “King” must have belonged to poor
peasants and been drafted by the enemy. The General im-
mediately instructed his men to find out the owners of the oxen
and return the cattle to them.
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 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

The order was carried out and the oxen were sent back to
their owners again. The General and his men were very happy
to see the oxen and the peasants off on their way home again.
For the time being, they forgot the problem of hunger and
fatigue.
Food was not the only problem for the guerrillas. The march
without a rest tired the soldiers extremely. But the enemy
chased them even more persistently. The enemy, which had
been looking madly for the guerrillas after the attack on the
lumbermil! in Chitaokou, finally located the Headquarters and
made desperate efforts to overtake it. The guerrillas started
their difficult march again, eating snow and dodging the enemy
attacks. At that time some soldiers began to fall to the ground,
overcome by hunger and fatigue, pointing their guns at the
enemy. They had no power to pull the triggers but stood on
their feet again, clenching their teeth.
Each time the General met trouble, he gave a rest to his
men by inventing a new and excellent tactics to divert the
enemies. The General sometimes made his men tread upon the
footprints of the enemies and gave a rest to the soldiers by
suddenly ordering them to go to a byroad. Sometimes, he
ordered a rest hiding in the snow, while letting the enemies
pass by.
It was late at night. The guerrillas were going around
Fuhou Lake a second time followed by thousands of the enemy
troops, when several hundred new enemy troops entered between
the guerrillas and the old enemy troops. The General, quickly
observing the enemies’ movement, ordered his men to swiftly
move around the lake again. And when the soldiers returned
to the starting point, he ordered all his men to hide in the pitch-
dark forests at once. There in the thick jungles, the General
gave his men to rest. Unaware of this and losing sight of the
guerrillas, the enemies wandered around the lake and mistook
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 KIM IL SUNG

their own friends for the guerrillas, and shooting between the
enemy troops continued the whole night.
Sometimes the General drew the enemy into dense forest
and deep snow for several days and when it appeared that they
were tired out, he ordered a sudden, strong concentrated attack
to wipe them out.
This famous tactic is called the “fight between the butterfly
and the chicken.” The tactics devised by the General was well-
known to the guerrilla members since the days of Hsiaowang-
ching guerrilla base. In those days the General was fond of
telling his men about the tactics of the “fight between the but-
terfly and the chicken,” while often using in the battles this
tactics of drawing the enemies here and there, tiring them out,
and wiping them out with inferior forces.
“When a butterfly and a chicken fight each other, the greed-
y chicken, hoping that he can eat the butterfly at once, will chase
her frantically. When the chicken tries to peck the butterfly on
the ground, it flies up and moves ahead. Then, the chicken
chases it again with all his might. The butterfly pulls the
chicken by the nose until he gets tired. When the butterfly
sees that he has no more power left to chase her, she comes to
sit on his head trying to whet his appetite. Then the hungry
chicken chases her again. In this way, the butterfly fools the
chicken near the waterfront and on the chiff all day long until
the butterfly drags the exhausted chicken up to high cliff to
make him fall from it. Thus, the chicken who wants to eat the
butterfly, will eventually be defeated by the butterfly...”
During the arduous march, the General destroyed the enemy
by employing this tactics.
In this way, the guerrillas personally led by the General,
climbing the peak to the ridge of the Changpai mountains,
continued to damage the large enemy forces, diverting his
enemies. The enemies were perplexed and irritated. Realizing
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that their power was not sufficient to win over the guerrillas,
they resorted to the hackneyed method of dispatching spies and
distributing leaflets. Seeing through the enemy’s manoeuvres,
the General trained his men to heighten vigilance and have
confidence in victory.
“The enemies are now trying to undermine us from
within. Therefore, we should heighten our vigilance.... However
hard it may be now, the day of victory will surely come. Snow
will melt in three months....Then, we can move freely. Until
then, therefore, we must endure everything and then surely
advance into the beloved fatherland...
We should not give up the revolution. There is no other
way for us to go, is there? The enemies have massacred our
parents, wives and children and destroyed our native land.
Therefore, we must take revenge on the enemy at the risk of
our lives. There is no other way for us to go....”
This message of the General tensed the nerves of the guer-
rillas. “We will never give in to the enemy even if we die in
this difficult situation.” So pledging, the soldiers continued to
advance step by step, dragging their wounded and frozen legs.
The Japanese imperialists, who realized that they could not
achieve their aim with all their power, leaflets or spies, decided
to send under threat the fathers, mothers, wives or children of
guerrillas and use the affection of kinsmen to break their firm
spirit. But their attempts were in vain. On the contrary, their
parents and wives encouraged their sons and husbands. Earnest-
ly asking the guerrillas to endure the winter and smash the
enemy, they even informed the guerrillas of the movements of
the enemies.
The enemy started to use even more atrocious and ugly
means.
It was when the guerrillas were continuing their still harder
march near the Shihsantaokou area, pulling the enemy by the
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nose, that the guerrillas suffered from salt shortage for several
months, although they obtained some provisions when they
attacked an enemy stronghold. It was then that the General
happened to meet a village headman and peasants. He gave
them money and asked them to buy some salt for the guerrillas.
But the headman turned out to be a secret agent of the enemy.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the enemy planned to
capture all guerrillas and their Headquarters by giving them
salt mixed with poison. The enemy sent the headman ahead of
the others and made him tell the General that the salt would
arrive soon.
The General, suspicious about the fact that the headman
came alone without salt, ordered one of his men to investigate
him. As expected, it was learned that the headmah had report-
ed the matter to the police. He was immediately sentenced to
death. The enemy did not know what happened in the camp
and sent a package of poisoned salt and a pack of tobacco, hop-
ing that the guerrillas would take the salt. The General in-
structed his men not to take it, seeing through the enemy’s
scheme beforehand. But some members, who were desper-
ately in need of salt, ate a little after washing it with water to
neutralize it. The next morning, they became sick.
After giving them first aid, the General ordered preparations
for a battle. When the sun rose, the enemies pounced upon the
guerrilla camp with large forces, waiting for the poison to work.
The guerrillas, however, fooled them all day and finally drove
them back.
The enemy, however, did not stop pursuing them. They
came the next day and the next, clinging to the guerrillas like
ticks in an effort to destroy the Headquarters. The march was
as hard as ever.
The General decided to use the bold tactics of attacking the
enemy from the rear.
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“The enemy has concentrated his forces deep in the Chang-

pai mountains. Therefore, it is better for us to attack the enemy
from the rear to throw them into confusion, and disperse
them....”
The General thought it was easier to attack the enemy from
behind in a bold and prompt action because, he thought, almost
all the enemy troops were then in the deep Changpai mountains,
leaving only a small number of troops in the rear. The General
judged that if the guerrillas attacked the enemy from behind,
the enemy was sure to send back the Changpai-stationed
troops to the rear.
The General drew upa plan of surprise attack on the
enemy’s rear. After very closely studying every condition and
the balance of forces, he made a daring operation plan in which
the guerrillas were to attack the main road linking Tayangcha
and Changpai during the daytime. Two attacking units were
sent to the rear of the enemy.
The General was right in his judgement. The enemy ignor-
ed their rear defences. Only a small number of “punitive troops”
were stationed there in a large concentrated village, and in
small villages there were only “‘self-defence corps.” True, there
were some guards in Tayangcha, a large concentrated village,
but they were out pheasant-hunting when the guerrillas arrived.
The attacks on Tayangcha and the Changpai road were a
success. The guerrillas seized a large amount of Japanese rice
at a rice mill in the attack on Tayangcha. Thus, the food
problem was at last solved.
The enemy, who met in broad daylight the attacks on
Tayangcha and the Changpai road, was thrown into uncontrol-
lable confusion. The enemy thought that either a fresh, large
force of guerrillas must have arrived or the “Kim Il Sung
Headquarters,” which they hoped they had encircled, must have
swiftly escaped, and, judging from the fact that the guerrillas
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were actively penetrating far deep into the rear, that the guer-
rillas must be a very large unit.
Frightened by the news, the enemy sent to the rear for
defence some of its troops which had been looking for the
Korean People’s Revolutionary Army Headquarters in the heart
of Changpai mountains, wondering which was the real Head-
quarters. The enemy’s pursuit became even more persistent.
The General, as before, led the enemy around to make a sudden
attack when they were tired, or turned aside in quick action, by
leaving footprints in the opposite direction, to fix the pursuing
enemy in the snow and attack them from the rear. If the
enemies were tired and bivouacked, he had some of his men
slip into their camp and fire a volley from all directions to pro-
voke a fight among them.
It was not the guerrillas but the enemy who fell into a tight
corner during the winter. The guerrillas, which trained them-
selves by climbing steep mountains, with cold and hunger, not
only maintained their strength in the most difficult march over
several months, but even strengthened it. On the other hand,
enemies were shot, frozen to death and even killed each other,
thereby leaving behind them numerous dead bodies in the snow
of the forests of Changpai mountains.
But still the enemy did not give up pursuit. The angry
enemy mobilized more troops than before. The General then
worked out a plan to attack Shihsantaokou, the enemy’s im-
portant outpost. Shihsantaokou was not only one of the enemy’s
“punitive operation” bases, but an important post facing Sin-
galpa on the other side of the river. But if a fight was staged in
Shihsantaokou, there was the possibility that the supporting
forces might press forward from Changpai and Chiuchiatien
as well as from the Japanese guards in Singalpa by crossing the
frozen Amrok River.
The General said to his men: “This may be the fight of
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life and death for us. But unless we attack there, we cannot
drive off our enemies.”
New Year’s Day of the iunar calendar was nearing. The
General suggested that the guerrillas obtain goods for the day
by confusing the enemy by quick attack and retreat.
The guerrillas attacked the heart of the enemy with light-
ning speed under the personal command of the General and
climbed a hill to take a rest. The surprise attack on the enemies’
heart caused great confusion among them. Taking advantage
of this confusion, the guerrillas secretly moved to Fuhou Lake
deep in the Changpai mountains.
On arriving at Fuhou Lake, the General gave a rest order.
There the guerrillas celebrated the New Year’s Day of the
lunar calendar. After the several months march in Changpai,
the guerrillas took a badly needed rest for several days, pitching
tents for the first time. Beds were made under a big dead tree.
When it grew dark, they cooked food in a place about 100
metres away from their beds. The comfortable rest, however,
did not last long. The enemy again pressed hard from all direc-
tions, and the General decided to slip quickly away, and here
again, the enemy forces were made to fight each other.
The General, after breaking through the enemy’s encircle-
ment, proceeded to use a new tactics. He said:
‘The enemy’s strategy now seems to encircle us quiet-
ly instead of making a frontal attack. So we had better leave
here as soon as possible. In case the enemy attacks and encircles
us around the forests, we must move to the plains to continue
our march. If the enemy comes to the plains, we must return
to the forests.”
Leading the guerrillas, the General went down the mountain
and boldly marched 80 kilometres along a main road leading to
the heart of the enemy. When the guerrillas arrived at the top
of a mountain near the concentrated village of Pafangtingtzu,
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 KIM IL SUNG

the General ordered them to pitch tents and rest. The General
let his men relieve their fatigue and study while they stayed
there. The enemy, never imagining that the guerrillas were
taking a rest within calling distance on a mountain opposite
them, were still wandering in the deep Changpai mountains in
search of the guerrillas, deploring that the winter was over.
However, what they met was not the guerrillas but a number
of the bodies of their colleagues who were killed by the guerril-
las or frozen to death during the winter. The enemies were
terrified, seeing the miserable destiny of Japanese imperialism
in the dead bodies and deploring their own misfortune of laying
down their lives for this.
Finding no dead guerrilla but only a large number of corpses
of their colleagues scattered around, the enemy wondered which
side it was that was being punished. They thought it was a
pity that the “Almighty Emperor” did no stop this misery by
raising his white-gloved hand. The survivors trembled with
terror. As if scorning the defeated enemies, spring came.
The guerrillas, marching during the whole winter around
the deep forest areas of Changpai followed by tens of thousands
of enemy troops, finally fought back the enemies pressing for-
ward from all directions. It was this march that defended the
Headquarters of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, a
march that saved the Korean revolution, an arduous yet victori-
ous march that firmly took the initiative in the fighting and
dealt a telling blow at the desperate enemy.
The march was beyond everybody’s imagination, full of
hardships—deep snow, severe cold, food shortages, lack of sleep
and constant battles with the increasing enemy troops.
What made it possible for the guerrillas to overcome the
indescribable difficulties? There could be no doubt. It was
General Kim Il Sung, the Leader of the Korean people, the
genius of the revolution and struggle, who led the guerrillas
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and who gave the power, joy, bright future and hope of the
fatherland to the guerrillas.
The General had given the guerrillas power to punish the
enemy who was responsible for the misery and sufferings of the
fatherland and people. The General had also trained them to be
good revolutionaries and guerrillas, inculcating in them the lofty
thought of living and dying for the country. Indeed, the General
gave the guerrillas greater love than even mothers can.
The General gave his own shoes to guerrillas whose shoes
were worn out, spared his food for the guerrillas and quenched
his thirst with a lump of ice when they were late in returning
from a reconnoitering mission.
The General was overjoyed at the military feats of his com-
rades-in-arms as though they were his own and grieved over the
death of any and took revenge for them. The General took
care of orphans of his late comrades-in-arms as the apple of his
own eye, gave lessons to them even during the hard days, gave
them new clothes at the turn of each season and welcomed
them as members of the honourable guerrilla units when they
grew up.
So every guerrilla was prepared to go even to the ends of
the earth with the General. The members who were brought
up by the General were firmly united with the same thoughts
and comradely bonds. This comradely love based on revolu-
tionary enthusiasm and ideas became firm, and flowered more
each time the guerrillas met with ordeals and difficulties.
They lived and fought, one for all and all for one. Every
comrade put trust in his comrades, for to trust others was
power. Single-hearted care for comrades was the honourable
mission, obligation and life itself.
Some guerrilla members, themselves seriously wounded,
exposed themselves to a hail of bullets and breathed their last,
carrying dead comrades on their backs. Some members died in
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 KIM IL SUNG

a nameless valley, drawing enemy fire to save other comrades.

There is no end to such moving episodes.
Because the struggle was fought to the end for the liberation
of the fatherland, comradely love was the foundation for the
future, and the lives of other comrades was the life of each
guerrilla.
Thus, for those who continued the arduous march with the
General, there was no difficulty insurmountable and no enemy
undefeatable. Every one believed in the General, and the rank
and file protected the General and each other. Every one firmly
believed that he could and had to carry on the revolution under
any adverse circumstances. All the guerrillas were imbued with
the noble spirit of self-reliance, which was aroused among
them more under difficult circumstances.
Everybody believed in the victory of the revolution. Every-
body believed that the aggressors were short-lived and that the
truth of communism and the people were eternal. All thought
it most honourable to shed blood and sweat for the victory of
the revolution.
This group of men were the Revolutionary Army of Korea
which marched on such a difficult path, without parallel, towards
the success of the revolution. Always standing at the head of
the Army was General Kim Il Sung, the great Leader of the
Korean people who struck terror into the hearts of the Japanese
aggressors. Therefore, there was no one on earth who could
block the road of the guerrillas marching towards the fatherland.
Indeed, the General always held the initiative in operations
in the face of whatever difficulties, and repulsed the enemies
during the winter march from Nanpaitzu to Changpai, and
finally escaped the pursuing enemy.
Early spring smiled on the dense forests of Changpai. The
severe cold and raging snowstorm were gone and spring
breezes smelling of the soil of the fatherland wafted across the
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 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

Amrok River.
Spring came to the Changpai mountains, the spring of victory
which the guerrillas had been waiting for, counting the days
on their fingers, which the General had mentioned to encourage
the guerrillas, spring when they could march again into their
homeland.
On an early April day when the guerrillas went down from
a mountain near Pafangtingtzu to camp in a dense forest at
Potatingtzu in a remote part of Chiatsaishui, the General said,
looking at the ranges of Mt. Baikdoo:
“We have spent the whole winter safely. Youths have be-
come full-fledged fighters, now that they have endured all the
difficulties. There is no problem at all. Everything gains new
life in the spring. Let’s stand together and march on to our
homeland. Let us raise the torchlight of victories by advancing
into Korea!”
The General sent his men to various places. He also called
the Comrade O Joong Heup-led and Comrade Kim Il-led units
operating separately from the tactical point of view to Pota-
tingtzu. A touching and emotional! reunion of comrades took

“The Arduous March”

422
 KIM IL SUNG

place in the forest, comrades-in-arms who had crossed many

lines of death to defeat the enemy.
Comrade O Joong Heup, who fought heroic battles with
large enemy forces, luring them out to protect the safety of the
Headquarters, was overwhelmed by emotion at the sight of the
healthy General, and was unable to speak a word, with tears
rolling down his cheeks. Tears sparkled in the eyes of the
General, who drew his comrade’s shoulders close to his breast.
All commanders and soldiers had their cheeks wet with tears.
These were noble tears and most joyous tears that only those
who have fought devotedly and performed meritorious services
for the revolution, the Leader and the country, could shed.
The great and difficult march resulted in victory—the march
which usually required only one week but took over 100
days for the guerrillas who had to fight constantly and endure
unimaginable difficulties. It was a great trial of their fighting
strength, the political and moral strength of the anti-Japanese
armed guerrillas, and a demonstration of their shining victory.

Map of Course of Advance from

Trom Nanpaitzn
Mengchiang to Changpai sars
Nov. 1938— May 1939
a
Chinzfeng
Matengehang
May 1939 Ok)

Seen
WEO ie)
Entrance of Lutaokou
H<igoteshui
O
Fe Nantatingtzu
kiato
3 x
CApaneeof
A
Chitaokou Feb, 1939
Chinesaish
OChitackou RO
O Pataokou

Shihe “woke Shilrsjanpokouwan

Sx
Shiltwutuokou
Panchiehkon
A Conference Sites May 1939
X Wns se of Advance x Battles of ere
ae ck 5wean Tase s Singalpa
yolutionary Army T 5 f:
Enemy Aireraft
Yo Tens of Battles y

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 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

The significance of the march was not confined to dealing the

enemy a severe blow. More important was the fact that it also
demonstrated how strong the indomitable fighting spirit, over-
coming all difficulties, and the power united for the revolution
and the Leader, were. It also showed the victory of the idea of
communism producing unprecedented strength, and of the
powerful and dynamic spirit of self-reliance, a victory of revolu-
tionary comradeship that flower on a single idea.
Therefore, the reunion of the comrades-in-arms at Pota-
tingtzu was a reunion of victors and a reunion of heroes.
The General, who congratulated his men on the reunion,
was filled with boundless confidence in the bright future of the
revolution. The General was unable to calm his mind for a
time. Tears ran down his cheeks, unable to express his feelings
in words, when he gripped and felt the chapped hands of his
men one after another.

424
4. Battle in the Moosan Area

THE GENERAL held a Meeting of Leading Functionaries

of the People’s Revolutionary Army at Potatingtzu in April
1939. After summing up the military movements in the winter
from 1938 to 1939, he presented a line of switching over to a
large-scale spring counteroffensive to advance again into the
fatherland.
“...At this time when the enemies return dog-tired to their
den after the winter ‘punitive operations,’ we should go over to
an all-out counterattack, without giving them a breathing spell,
and to prepare for our advance into our home country....Only
by so doing, can we quickly replenish in time our clothing, food
and arms and regain our strength, can we advance again into
our fatherland to light the torch of liberation before the people,
restore the destroyed revolutionary organizations and encourage
them to arise in new struggles afresh....”
In accordance with this line, the People’s Revolutionary
Army units which had rallied their forces, launched a big spring
counteroffensive operation to smash the enemy like surging
waves.
Starting the Chiatsaishui Battle on April 8, they attacked
Chiuchiatien on April 12 where there was a large enemy con-
centration, consisting of police units and the Chang Chao unit
of the puppet Manchoukuo Army, and without giving respite to
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General Kim Il Sung leading his troops in a march towards

the fatherland

the enemy, waged the Shihwutaokou Battle (April 26) and the
Panchiehkou Battle (May 3) in which they smashed the central
base of the enemy.
Meanwhile, the General sent political workers to the Korean
settlements to re-establish the destroyed organization of the As-
sociation for the Restoration of the Fatherland, and develop
vigorous political and organizational activities among the masses.
The people were excited with new hope and joy at the news
that the anti-Japanese guerrilla units were continuously attack-
ing the enemy’s important outposts along the borders.
The Korean People’s Revolutionary Army units, just before
advancing into the fatherland, celebrated the May Day of 1939
in Matengchang in the presence of the General. At the celebra-
tion, the General delivered a speech in which he stressed the
idea and power of internationalist unity of the proletariat all
over the world, summing.up the process and development of
426
 KIM IL SUNG

the military activities of the Korean People’s Revolutionary

Army and indicating its immediate military tasks.
On May 16, several hundred select members of the People’s
Revolutionary Army left for the Moosan district of North
Hamgyung Province under the personal command of the General
to bring a ray of hope again for liberation to the dark fatherland.
On the morning of May 18, the guerrillas made their ap-
pearance in the fatherland like a whirlwind, crossing a meander-
ing shallow at the junction of the Amrok and the Sobaiksoo
Rivers. The guerrillas were excited, filled with emotion, return-
ing to their beloved fatherland two years after the Bochunbo
Battle.
The fatherland—that was the word which the guerrillas had
always hailed with emotion during the battles and marches
or around bonfires at secret camps from which the guerrillas
emerged as phoenixes.
The guerrillas felt with all their senses the misery of the
fatherland which was waiting for a helping hand.
All the guerrillas picked up the soil of their fatherland to
smell its fragrance and picked up pebbles from the bottom of a
clean stream to keep them in their knapsacks like jewels.
The General, breaking a branch of an azalea to smell it,
said to his men with a thousand emotions:
“The Korean azalea is beautiful, indeed. The more you look
at it, the more beautiful it looks!”
After taking a short rest on the bank of the Amrok River,
the General camped the guerrillas in Chungbong. The guerrilla
members who camped in the fatherland for the first time, were
firmly determined to liberate their fatherland, by any means.
They engraved the following militant slogans on the trees:
“Let’s fight to the last for the freedom, independence and libera-
tion of the Korean nation!” “Down with Japanese fascist military
clique!” and “Korean youth, come out quickly and join actively
427
 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

in the anti-Japanese war!”

The guerrillas, who spent the night of May 18 in Chungbong,
camped in Kunchang on the 19th and in Begaibong on the 20th.
In the meantime, the guerrillas attacked several Japanese-
owned lumbermills to throw the enemy into confusion.
Japanese imperialism, again alarmed at the news that the
Korean People’s Revolutionary Army units personally led by
the General had advanced into the fatherland, mobilized all its
garrison troops and armed police stationed in the central areas of
North and South Hamgyung Provinces. At the same time, the
enemy concentrated “punitive units” of over one thousand men
of the Kwantung Army and the puppet Manchoukuo Army in
Changpai county along the border and made frantic efforts to

Anti-Japanese slogans on trees around a camp in Chungbong

that men of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army engraved

428
 KIM IL SUNG

lay a guard line they called an “iron wall.”

As if relieved, they boastfully said: “The punitive forces
are so alert and so active day and night with the firm deter-
mination to wipe out the guerrillas completely this time, that
the border areas of Korea and Manchuria are in a more tense
atmosphere than ever before. Although the Communist Army
is skilfully hiding itself in dark forests, there is apparently no
hope for it to escape from there since we have blocked all
escape ways.”!
On May 20, the General called a conference of commanders
at the Begaibong camp to analyse the situation, and then made
clear his determination to hurl his men into the Moosan area
with lightning speed boldly in broad daylight and smash the
the weak spot of the enemy, pointing out that the enemy forces
were deployed in the mountainous areas centering on Mt. Potai
and along the Amrok River.
The guerrillas left Begaibong and arrived at Samjiyun Lake,
a beautiful lake like a picture card, and took lunch there. The
General and the guerrillas lessened their fatigue from the march,
looking at the beautiful scenery of Samjiyun Lake in the father-
land.
The General and his men drank the clean water of the lake,
scooping it up with their hands. The lake was like a big bowl
which the homeland had been keeping for a long time to enable
its beloved sons to quench their thirst with its water. The
General drank the water many times, looking around his guer-
rillas and saying “Samjiyun Lake is beautiful and its water is
sweet. After drinking it to the full, let’s fight the enemy with all
our might to liberate our country.”
But the General and his men had to leave there hurriedly
without fully enjoying the beautiful nature of the fatherland.
They left with a grand plan in their minds, that when they won
final victory, they would build the fatherland like a paradise on
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earth, making it more beautiful so that all people might live

happily in it.
This lofty and great dream was soon realized. Twenty years
later, the General visited the lake and looked around it with
deep emotion in May of 1958. The General said then, “This is
a very good place. Let’s build five houses here with white walls
and red roofs. Let’s build a restaurant, too. Then, excursion
parties to Mt. Baikdoo can rest here. In summer, this should
be a rest place for forest workers, and in winter, a skiing or
skating ground for college students and members of the Young
Pioneers from all over the country.” Later, as instructed by the
General, fine rest houses were built beside the lake and every
year many workers go there to rest.
The People’s Revolutionary Army units, after leaving
Samjiyun, marched boldly in the daytime, in accordance with
the bold resolve of the General, on the “Kapsan-Moosan guard
road” which led from Hyesan to Moosan. The road was a
border guard road which was constructed using a supplementary
budget approved by the “Emperor,” by the “Government-Gen-
eral of Korea” in March 1938, one year after the Bochunbo
Battle. To build it the enemy used great labour for a full year.
At that time the opening ceremony of the road had not yet been
held, so no one was allowed to use it. It was really a bold
brilliant deed, in order to crush the enemy, to march on the
road which the enemy itself built to “guard” the border areas
and kept clean for inspection. The enemy’s military police
guarded it strictly.
The fighting spirit of the guerrillas was high. Even if they
faced an enemy force one hundred times larger than themselves,
they were quite sure that they could defeat all of them at a
stroke. It was the fatherland that gave the guerrillas such
courage. The fatherland also gave them Herculean strength
and strong wings. The sky, forests, earth, water and everything
430
 KIM IL SUNG

that belonged to the fatherland gave the guerrillas pride and

courage.
The enemies never imagined that the guerrillas would march
on their own military road in the daytime. The ferocious
enemies repeated their miscalculation. They never paid atten-
tion to the “Kapsan-Moosan guard road.” They were desperately
combing the jungles to find out the whereabouts of the guer-
rillas. It was because of this that the General, foreseeing all
this, resolved to march on the highway in broad daylight. His
keen insight and boldness encouraged the guerrillas all the
more.
Even when the guerrillas were marching in a neat formation
in high spirits on the guard road, neat and trim, the enemies
were fumbling for them in the vast forests of Kunchang and
Begaibong. The guerrillas marched the 40 kilometres of the
long military road.
In this way, the Revolutionary Army units arrived in
Moopo on May 21. They decided to camp on the Sugeul River
running through deep forests and the quiet country, staying
there overnight with the General. The General again convened
a conference of commanders and presented a concrete operation
plan to advance to Daihongdan.
According to the General’s instructions, the People’s Revolu-
tionary Army advanced to the Daihongdan district on the 22nd
and began a march that night in the two directions of Sinsadong
and Singaichuk, and, in a very short time, wiped out the ene-
mies, holding the district completely under control and staging
anti-Japanese propaganda among the people there.
The guerrillas talked about General Kim Il Sung and his
Korean People’s Revolutionary Army and made detailed ex-
planations on the mission of the Revolutionary Army, the aims
of its advance into the country and also on the Programme of
the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland. Enthusi-
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asm spread among the people like waves. Old. men, women
and children, who had evacuated, frightened by the gunfire,
came back to gather around the General and the guerrillas.
The news that General Kim Il Sung had come soon spread
to every place, and people rushed to the General’s quarters,
vying with each other.
The General also met lumber workers at Sinsadong. Sitting
amidst the workers who crowded in and out their boarding
house, the General found identity of interests with them who
were leading a miserable life in debased working conditions
and encouraged them from the depths of his heart. Tears rose
in the eyes of the workers. They, who did not have any means
of appeal even when they were going to starve to death or even
when they fell ill due to hard work, choked over their words,
feeling as if they had met their father after a long separation.
Dark and worn faces, wrinkled foreheads and grey hair
caused by the bankruptcy and breakup of families, and bony
figures in worn and patched clothes which bespoke hard work-
ing conditions—all the appearance of the workers made it
hardly possible for the General to repress his tears.
The General took a child on his knees and smoothed down
his lean shoulders and soft hair. After a while the General
spoke in his peculiar sonorous voice on the mission and purpose
of his Korean People’s Revolutionary Army and encouraged the
workers to the anti-Japanese struggle.
He went on to say:
“...Workers! The Korean people are groaning under oppres-
sion and exploitation, suffering from poverty and the absence
of rights owing to the aggression by the Japanese imperialists...
Then, haven’t the Korean people the strength to liberate their
country? Yes, they have quite enough. That strength lies in
the firm unity of the honest-minded people, above all, of the
workers and peasants of the whole of Korea. We must not
432
 KIM IL SUNG

merely believe in this strength, but must unite the strength and
direct it to the struggle for overthrowing Japanese imperialism
and liberating the fatherland.... We should inherit the patriotic
spirit of our forefathers and resolutely come out in the national
liberation struggle against Japanese imperialism. You of the
working class are the most advanced contingent of the Korean
people. It is no other than you that must come in the van of
the anti-Japanese front for the freedom and liberation of the
masses of the have-nots....”
As soon as the General concluded his talk to this effect,
workers vied with each other to be the first to volunteer to join
the guerrillas.
The General, appraising the volunteers, told them that to
rally the people in the anti-Japanese struggle and to fight the
enemy with guns, are equally important for the revolution, and
showed them the future struggle plan and taught them how to
maintain contact with the guerrillas by forming an organi-
zation.
Panic-stricken by the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army’s
advance into the Moosan district, the enemy began new attacks
on the guerrillas from all directions.
The General anticipated the pursuit of the enemy and saw
to it that a unit which had already returned to Daihongdan, the
rallying point, and the unit under his direct command placed
themselves in a favourable ambush point.
On May 23, a fierce and thrilling battle was fought on the
Daihongdan Plain. This time again, the General’s calculation
went right.
The sun rose and when it was about 8 o’clock, several hun-
dred Japanese border guards and policemen armed with heavy
firearms made their appearance near the ambush point on the
Daihongdan Plain. The enemy discovered there a unit of the
People’s Revolutionary Army which had returned to the rendez-
433
 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

vous point after attacking Singaichuk, and secretly followed it,

trying to find a chance to attack it.
Grasping the situation, the General ordered the unit to
swiftly pass by the ambush point. He then ordered his men to
wait until the chasing enemy came near, and then ordered a
volley with light machine guns and rifles. At the same time,
the General ordered the passing and waiting units to join their
forces for a severe frontal attack on the enemy. The enemy
troops, receiving fire from the flank and the front, were mowed
down one after another, before they could take up their guns,
and a mountain of dead bodies was made.
That day, the Revolutionary Army units, by the pincer
operation, fiercely beat the enemy surging trom all directions.
The remaining Japanese troops, who survived the severe attacks
of the Revolutionary Army, were escaping in the direction of
Yoogok, cut a sorry figure by fighting with their own garrison
which was rushing to their rescue, thus causing many casualities
among themselves in a few minutes.
The General won another glorious victory on the Daihongdan
Plain and accomplished with credit his purpose of advancing
into the fatherland. He then slowly withdrew his units to
Changshanling across the Dooman River.
Many people were willing to help the guerrillas by carrying
their baggage. Some of them even took a risk by carrying it to
Changshanling. After spending a night there, with his men,
the General sat among the people for a long time, and listened
to their miserable conditions, teaching them how to struggle
and giving them confidence in victory.
The next day, before leaving, the General said good-bye to
all he met. The people, loath to part, wanted sincerely to give
the guerrillas their own clothes and the shoes they wore. The
guerrillas, too, wanted to give their own clothes and shoes to
the people. Both of the people and guerrillas, with tears in
434
 KIM IL SUNG

their eyes, wanted to give their things to each other, and they
hugged each other, feeling sorry they could not give each other
anything like presents. This was an expression of the burning
love between the guerrillas and their fatherland.
All the people earnestly asked the guerrillas to liberate the
country as soon as possible, and wished them good health, and
all waved until they were out of sight. In everybody’s heart
was a deep sense of gratitude and high courage. It seemed as
if time had stopped and the forest had ceased to rustle at that
moment.

Dear fatherland, wait for us!

We will surely liberate our fatherland at any cost!

The Revolutionary Army left Changshanling and advanced

deep into Holung county in high spirits.
The victory of the People’s Revolutionary Army in the Battle
in the Moosan Area gave a fatal blow to the Japanese imperialist
aggressors who had been boasting that they had “wiped out”
the anti-Japanese guerrillas, and demonstrated the increased
might of the People’s Revolutionary Army. It gave the people
confidence in victory and new courage to those who had been
inactive for a while because of the destruction of revolutionary
organizations. Moreover, this victory of the People’s Revolu-
tionary Army in the battle gave a tremendous blow to Japan
in its rear, which, while prosecuting the Sino-Japanese War,
started armed aggression (Nomonhan Incident) in May of 1939
on Harhingor.
Rumours were circulated among people in various places:
“Hundreds of Japanese troops are said to have been killed in
Moosan. It will not be long before Japanese imperialism is de-
feated” and “The Japanese aggressors can never beat General
Kim Il Sung inspired by Mt. Baikdoo, however hard they may
435
 OVER THE STEEP MOUNTAINS

Press report on the Battle in the Moosan Area

»”
try.
The enemies, which feared that the Korean People’s Revo-
lutionary Army might expand its political influence over the
people, immediately ordered that hundreds of forest workers in
the district of Moosan be dispersed in small groups to mines,
railroads and other enterprises in many parts of the country.
But the result was contrary to the expectation of the enemy.
Through these workers, the news was spread throughout the
length and breadth of Korea that the People’s Revolutionary

436
 KIM IL SUNG

Army had won a victory in the Battle in the Moosan Area and
its influence penetrated wide and deep among the masses.
The General, immediately after the Battle in the Moosan
Area, sent his political workers to the homeland to rebuild the
destroyed revolutionary organizations among the people in
various districts where the anti-Japanese sentiments ran high,
to help them develop mass struggles against Japan.
The underground organizations of the Association for the
Restoration of the Fatherland which were rebuilt in various
parts of the country guided anti-Japanese struggles among the
masses, by appealing: “The anti-Japanese national united front
..is the right line for thoroughly destroying the Japanese fascist
military clique.... Korean compatriots, arise immediately! Take
up arms to wage a final life-and-death battle with Japanese
imperialism!’’?
Influenced by the anti-Japanese armed struggles, workers
and peasants continued to unfold vigorous mass struggles. From
January to August of 1940, workers’ strikes numbered 623,
with the number of participants reaching about 49,000.

437
 General Kim I] Sung in the days of the
anti-Japanese armed struggle
(See Section 2, Chapter 11)

General Kim I] Sung speaking before lumberjacks in Chiahsintzu (See Sectic

1. Chapter 10)
 CHAPTER 10

FARGE ROOF CIRCLING

OPERATIONS THAT TERRIFIED
JAPANESE IMPERIALISM

1. Threading Through Areas Northeast of Mt. Baikdoo

AFTER THE BATTLE in the Moosan Area—a battle that

created revolutionary repercussions in the country—the General
swung into action, with the areas northeast of Mt. Baikdoo as
the stage. These were large-troop circling operations, designed.
to deal the enemies a continuous blow.
Out came an order from the General early in August 1939,
in Hantsungkou, Huatien county, directing his men to tighten
operations to harass the rear of the enemies, in connection with
the Nomonhan Invasion Incident perpetrated by piratic Japanese
imperialism.
In this order, the General exposed the anti-Soviet aggressior:
plot of Japanese imperialism, stressing that the stepped-up oper-
ations by the People’s Revolutionary Army to strike Japan’s
rear in Korea and Manchuria, are a most just struggle to defend
the Soviet Union with arms. It is also an urgently presented
internationalist task, the General pointed out, further emphasiz-
ing that the operations will quicken the collapse of Japanese
imperialism and pave the way for the early liberation of the
Korean people.
Upon receipt of this August order from the General, various
units of the People’s Revolutionary Army went into determined
military action in vast areas to crush Japanese imperialism from.
the rear.
439
 KIM IL SUNG

Late in August, 1939, the units led by Comrades An Kil

and Choi Hyun, evolved the Tashaho area operation under the
slogan, “Let’s defend the Soviet Union with arms!” They
killed, wounded or took prisoner more than 500 men of the
pernicious Yamamoto unit. In the ensuing Yaocha Battle in
September, they also attacked and burnt 12 military trucks,
wiping out some 70 enemy officers and 200 men and seized many
‘weapons, including trench mortars and heavy machine guns.
Towards the end of September, the guerrilla units swept
through 12 “concentrated villages” including Fumantsun,
Holintsun and Fuhsingtsun in the Yenchi county area, and dealt
the enemies continuous blows in a single night. At the same
time, in North Manchuria, the units of the Revolutionary Army
led by Comrades Kim Chaik and Choi Yong Kun, were severely
hitting the rear of Japanese imperialist aggressors in the battles
at Sanitun, Yangmukang and Sanchiangkou in Jaoho county,
Kolo in Nunchiang county, Keshan county seat and Ilan county
seat.
These rear-harassing operations, launched by the Korean
People’s Revolutionary Army in the Moosan area and other
areas dealt a telling blow to the Japanese imperialist schemes
for colonial domination and war expansion in Korea and
Manchuria, making the Japanese imperialists realize that they
could not win the war with China nor could they succeed in
invading Soviet territory without getting a tight hold on Man-
churia as a safe strategic rear.
The Japanese imperialist aggressors therefore started concen-
trating their military might on all-out “punitive” operations to
put down the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, around the
latter part of 1939. It was called “special cleanup campaign for
maintaining public peace in the southeastern areas.”
The enemies established the “Nozoe Punitive Headquarters”
in Kirin under the direct command of the Kwantung Army com-
440
 LARGE-TROOP CIRCLING OPERATIONS...

mander-in-chief, and poured as many as 200,000 troops made

up of the “Expeditionary Army in China” as well as army corps
under the Kwantung Army and the puppet Manchoukuo Army,
gendarmes, policemen and armed self-defence corps, into the
“punitive” operations against the People’s Revolutionary Army.
Kirin was the scene of daily intrigues for “punitive opera-
tions” by the Japanese and Manchurian military cliques. “Com-
mander Nozoe of the Punitive Headquarters” did a lot of pep
talking and sets of operational plans took shape. “District punitive
units” were formed, and under each of them were set up “sub-
district punitive units” with each county as the unit assigned to
various localities.
One notable point of their plans at that time was their attempt
to send “punitive units” deep into the mountains, search for and
attack the People’s Revolutionary Army secret encampments,
thereby destroying its stronghold. The “Punitive Headquarters”
therefore directed its attacks on East Manchuria, the north-
eastern part of Tunghua Province and the eastern part of Kirin
Province in an attempt to “wipe out” the Headquarters of the
People’s Revolutionary Army.
The situation was extremely unfavourable for the Korean
People’s Revolutionary Army, as they had to fight strong enemies
in East and South Manchuria single-handedly. The enemies
massed their large troops in the Holung area where the units
under the General’s personal command were active, and made
desperate efforts to encircle and block the units and ferret out
their leading centre.
The massive “punitive units” were concentrated along the
border and in the Holung, Antu areas. It was impossible to stir
an inch into the hinterland of Mt. Baikdoo under these circum-
stances.
General Kim Il Sung’s tenacious revolutionary sweep, and
his fighting spirit to take the lead in battle and successively
441
 KIM IL SUNG

destroy the enemy, taking advantage of its weaknesses under

difficult circumstances, and smart tactics adapted to the circum-
stances— these enabled his units to fight their way forward,
overcoming these difficulties.
The General remained calm even when he faced the prospect
of being attacked from behind. From time to time, he ordered
his men to rest while devising novel tactics.
In the autumn of 1939 the General’s units took a rest along
the Olgi Creek. The situation was very dangerous, with enemy
troops poised for attack near by. The men were on standby
alert, anticipating a departure order from the General.
To their surprise, however, the General took the time out
from early in the morning to fish in the quiet river, accompanied
by an orderly. The unperturbed General was enjoying fishing,
encircled by hordes of enemy troops. The orderly was deeply
moved by the General’s self-composure. Soon after dropping a
line, he began to pull up one river trout after another while his
orderly had no catch at all. The General then taught his orderly
who was somewhat irritated and impatient, the knack of hook-
ing fish.
“ ..ʻA general distinguished in the art of war is a man who
knows well not only the enemy but himself,’ goes an old saying.
It is the same with our struggle against Japanese imperialism.
We can win the war only when we have carefully taken every-
thing into consideration. The enemy’s strength, arms and tactics
should be studied thoroughly and their strengths and weaknesses
should be fully grasped, after which we should consider the
strength of our own forces. It is the same with fishing. You
cannot hook even a single fish unless you know where that
particular sort of fish swims and hides and what it eats....”
The orderly started to fish along the line which the General
pointed out to him. He said, “I now understand why you like
fishing. Isn’t it because you find fishing that sort of fun?...”
442
 LARGE-TROOP CIRCLING OPERATIONS...

“... Not only that,” said the General with a smile. “Of course
there is the fun of fishing, but there is something else equally
interesting. For instance, a poet creates poetry while casting a
line in the water, or an inventor with a fishing rod in his hand
solves a problem which he could not work out before. These
are the things one can enjoy as much as fishing itself.... You
should try it too. Think over the problems that puzzle you.
You'll find it excitingly easy to solve them....”
And then the General was lost in meditation with the line
still in the water.
“... The brother of Yoo, interpreter, probably hasn’t ar-
rived there.... If the enemies hear his appeal, there will be a big
stir..., said the Genera] to himself, looking back at the
orderly.
The orderly realized what the General meant. It was about
the brother of Yoo, interpreter, who was captured by the guer-
rillas for a fund-raising mission and later was sent back to the
enemy. The General was thinking of how the enemies would
react to his return to their camp. He appeared to be engrossed
in fishing, but he was, in fact, pondering over how the enemies
would come, how big the forces they would use, when and
where, and he was actually working out tactics to thwart and
strike the enemy.
That night, the fish he caught in the Olgi Creek were cooked
for dinner, followed by an entertainment party. The men en-
joyed it, relaxed. The impending assault by huge enemy hordes
moving breathlessly to attack, seemed beneath the General’s
notice. The men, encouraged by the General’s attitude, sensed
that he had already hit on a good idea to beat the enemies. They
all fell asleep soundly.
On the following morning, the General ordered the units to
move quickly towards the Santaokou area, Antu county. It was
later learned that hundreds of “‘punitive troops” swarmed into
443
 KIM IL SUNG

the Olgi Creek secret camp soon after it was vacated by the
guerrillas. Outwitted by the General, the enemies set empty
houses afire in a fit of temper. and withdrew.
In October, the same year, the People’s Revolutionary Army
units broke through the enemy’s encirclement and arrived at
Santaokou.
The General mustered his personally-led units there and
moulded tactics to repulse renewed winter offensive operations
of the enemies.
He came to the judgement that it was disadvantageous for
the People’s Revolutionary Army to stay at secret camps in
their base since the enemies, concentrating their forces, were out
to destroy the secret camps and locate the Headquarters. He
mapped out an operation plan to move his units from the secret
camps and attack enemy military bases most unlikely to be at-
tacked by the guerrillas, completely erase the traces of his units
and confuse the chasing enemy, or make a surprise attack,
annihilating the enemies by large forces. His tactics was thus
to wipe out the enemy troops by hiding his forces away and
then massing them for a blitz attack.
Even when the situation was difficult, the General worked
out a positive and daring operation plan to take the initiative in
battle and continuously attack the enemy while advancing,
instead of going on the defensive.
Towards the end of autumn of 1939, the General left the
Holung-Antu county border with his units and travelled north
towards Tunhua county, advancing into the hinterland of
Tunhua; the Revolutionary Army units then attacked the
Lukosung lumbermill, a key stronghold of the enemy’s “punitive
units,” and made an attack on the Chiahsintzu lumbermill.
The General’s quick tactics, which not only made possible
the impossible task of breaking through heavily-guarded lines
of the “punitive units” in the Holung and Antu areas but
444
 LARGE-TROOP CIRCLING OPERATIONS...

severely destroyed enemy strongholds in Tunhua in lightning

attacks, left the enemy dumb with astonishment.
The enemies firmly believed that even the “communist
troops’ who were capable of “going up to the skies and hiding
underground” would never be able to sneak out of their tight
cordon. They had never dreamed of the Revolutionary Army
units marching north at such lightning speed.
Alarmed at the news that their garrisons were annihilated
in the battles at Lukosung and Chiahsintzu, the enemies began
to mass in the hinterland of Tunhua. But by then the Revo-
lutionary Army units had already taken a lot of booty, enrolting
some 200 new men from the lumbermill workers, and had
moved far down south to the Antu-Fusung county border.
To deal still heavier blows on the enemy and educate and
train recruits, the General set up secret camps in the thick for-
ests of Paishihtan in Fusung county on the Sungari River and
organized 40-odd-day military-political studies.
While the Revolutionary Army units were going through
their military-political studies at the secret camp in Paishihtan,
the enemy, who had lost track of the Revolutionary Army,
was in utter confusion and sent all the “punitive” forces
into the thick forests, flat lands and valleys in various
counties northeast of Mt. Baikdoo. Saying, “Only if we
wipe out the Kim Il Sung units, can we crush the communist
forces,” the enemy took up positions on ridges and in valleys
where the Revolutionary Army units were likely to appear, and
equipped themselves with walkie-talkies for swift communi-
cation, desperately hunting for the guerrillas. All such operations
were in vain. Surrounding a completely evacuated area, they
could not find a single clue to the disappearance of the guerrillas.
In a flurry, the enemy went even as far as to fly aircraft over
the deserted valleys to drop lots of leaflets calling for sub-
mission.
445
 KIM IL SUNG

The leaflet read: “...Even in the course of a sweet smooth

life of only 60 years, you are bound to face constant vicissitudes
which make people lament the hardness of life and nature.
What a foolish act it is for you to take upon yourself unnecessary
trouble, choose a meaningless, torturous path of life, finally to
sacrifice your invaluable life in a world of swords and bay-
onets....”” “... Make your decision immediately and choose the
road to new life and come to us!...”
These leaflets were scattered wherever the guerrillas went.
But their leaflets wore only a reflection of the morbid state
of mind of the enemy, who, used as bullet-shields for aggression
and soundly beaten everywhere by the guerrillas, wandered on
foreign soil in utter despair and fear. They deplored their own
fate even while writing such leaflets, and cursed their destiny
while scattering the leaflets. The guerrillas burst into laughter
as they spat at the leaflets.
Taking the offensive in adversity, the General thus planned
to march towards the border area, the Moosan area where the
enemy troops were being concentrated. The idea was to march
into the home country and to deal the invaders a smashing de-
feat and create hope for national revival among his compatriots
who were languishing in a hell on earth.
By employing shrewd tactics, the General threw the enemy
into confusion and ata stroke broke through their tight cordon,
and advanced into the border areas along the Dooman River.
In March 1940, the units under the General’s personal com-
mand advanced into Tamalukou, the enemy stronghold along
the Hungchi River, sweeping the enemies’ base in a twinkle and
seizing a large quantity of war materials.
Following this battle, the units quickly disappeared into the
thick forests in Hualatzu on the Holung-Antu county border.
The enemy rushed to Tamalukou and followed the tracks of
the Revolutionary Army units, but they found themselves back
446
 LARGE-TROOP CIRCLING OPERATIONS...

at Tamalukou after all, outmanoeuvred by the General’s out-

standing tactics. They clenched their fists with anger, saying,
“We were again cheated by the Revolutionary Army....” Out
of spite they regrouped their forces and combed the hinterland
of Tamalukou. The Revolutionary Army units were resting at
Hualatzu after having eluded the enemies. The General calculat-
ed the time the enemies would show up at Hualatzu and waited
for them, ready to defeat the chasing enemy.
As expected by the General, enemy scouts sneaked into the
sentry line of the Revolutionary Army units that night. But
they were suddenly attacked by the guerrillas and even left their
military map behind.
Looking at the map, the General realized that the enemy’s
“punitive units” were approaching, and immediately ordered a
small unit to hit the enemy in the darkness.
Before long the unit, returning from the surprise attack on
the enemy, reported to the General that the enemy had bonfires
built all over the place and were rounding up peasants for
wood-chopping and the whole place was in such utter disorder
that even when they were within a stone’s throw of the enemy
they were not noticed. The report said that the small unit had
beaten up the enemy to their satisfaction and quickly slipped
away by the flank, leaving the enemies madly firing at each
other in the darkness.
Upon hearing the report, the General said with a smile.
“I don’t think they will come chasing us.”
Indeed, the enemies did not come around the next day.
Some 60 of them had been killed and many others wounded in
the fighting among themselves the previous night. The survivors
disposed of the dead bodies, treated the wounded, and escaped
with gratitude that at least they themselves could safely get out
of it.
The guerrillas rested for several days on a hill in Hualatzu.
447
 KIM IL SUNG

The General ordered his units to proceed again to Tsangping

when the enemies searching for the guerrillas withdrew to their
base, completely exhausted. But they again detected the where-
abouts of the guerrilla units and launched a hot pursuit, so the
General led his forces southeastwards and ordered them to camp
out at a place close to Tamalukou. Before dawn on the following
day, he called in unit commanders and discussed future opera-
tional plans. The General said:
“Today, we have to rout the oncoming enemies. If we go
to Moosan with the enemies pursuing us, we will find it difficult
to attack Tsangping. Even if we do attack, we will have dif-
ficulty in pulling out. We have got to crush them in hot pursuit
even though it would then be necessary to postpone the assault
`
on the Moosan area....
Having said this, the
Aw General immediately issued
sE. -~ the order to attack, and the
om
famous Hungchiho Battle
was fought in which “puni-
wee
;
blebs
aen

i RT
e
i
A
tive units” such as the Maeda
unit and the Giyu Shinsen-
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see
RE HH"Saat
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Newly Selected Unit), vaunt-
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7
ed by the enemy as “warriors
grea.
Pet
E
Aean dd,
Ýn; pf of many campaigns” and
f “gods punishing bandits”
dS
rey who had never suffered de-
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IER,
feat by the guerrillas, were
annihilated at a single sweep.
According to the com-
os bat plan of the General, his
Press report on the debacle of the units marched down the
Maeda unit in the Hungehiho Battle Tamalukou River, leaving
448
 LARGE-TROOP CIRCLING OPERATIONS...

their footmarks behind on the snow, and stayed overnight in a

valley. Then at dawn on March 25, they turned back towards
the upper reaches of the stream along the mountain ridge, and
lay in ambush in an advantageous position. The General set up
his Command on a hill north or a tributary of the Tamalukou
River, where a machine gun unit and a guard company were
posted. At the foot of the hill on the other side two units were
in ambush.
Around 5 p.m., the enemies made their appearance from
the direction of Hualatzu. Six scouts disguised as villagers were
advancing followed by the Giyu Shinsen-tai and the Maeda unit.
These enemies obviously were following the tracks the People’s
Revolutionary Army units had left in the snow the previous day.
Hardly expecting to encounter the guerrillas right at that spot,
the enemy came slowly in formation towards the guerrillas in
ambush. For them, it was a march to death.
The General ordered “fire” as the enemy fell into the trap.
Machine guns roared, hand grenades exploded and rifle bullets
flew. Suddenly attacked fiercely from both sides, the enemies
screamed and went down like ninepins. They completely pan-
icked and stampeded; their ranks broken, they attempted to
charge again and again, but every time their death toll soared.
At this point, the General ordered an all-out assault on the
remaining enemies, and a fierce hand-to-hand fight followed. In
the Hungchiho Battle that day, the guerrilla units crushed all
the troops of the Maeda unit and the Giyu Shinsen-tai except
some 30 who were taken prisoner, all being killed or captured.
Six machine guns, some 100 rifles, more than 30 revolvers and
tens of thousands of rounds of ammunitions were captured.
General Kim Il Sung thus dealt a crushing blow on the Jap-
anese imperialists’ “punitive operations” through the Hung-
chiho Battle.
The battle was so terrible that the following some 500 of
449
 KIM IL SUNG

the Mukden unit of the puppet Manchoukuo Army, unable to

close in until the end of the battle, took shots at random out of
range and eventually scattered in fright. The garrison in
Samjang that came across the border could not do anything
but fire at random at long range.
“Look at them! They are so scared that they can’t come
closer. They are firing at such a great distance perhaps because
they want us to make way. Threaten them with machine guns!”
said the General cheerfully.
The men lost no time in using the six machine guns cap-
tured from the enemies minutes before, and concentrated fire on
the cowards. The enemy soon dispersed in all directions, and
having won a great victory, the General triumphantly pulled his
units out in the direction of Hualatzu.
On arrival at Hualatzu, Antu county, the General continued
to strengthen the political work in the homeland and recon-
naissance activities in the border area along the Dooman River.
He organized a small unit, which was sent into Samjang-myun,
Moosan county, to carry out political work and reconnaissance
missions. He also picked talented political workers and sent
them into various parts of the country, who carried on vigorous
activities in the areas of North Hamgyung Province.
In the wake of his great victory in the Hungchiho Battle,
the General switched tactics to attack in succession the dumb-
founded enemies along the Dooman River. The tactics of the
General culminated in victory in the battle of Hualatzu,
Antu county in March 1940, the battle of Yangtsaokou,
Tungnancha, Antu county in April, the battle of Shihliping,
Holung county in May and the subsequent battle of Yulangtsun,
Holung county.
At the time of these large-troop circling operations, the
General assigned some of the Korean People’s Revolutionary
Army units the mission of crushing the enemies’ winter offen-

450
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Sive operations in various parts.

These units, on orders from the General, raided Hantsungkou,
Antu county, in October 1939. They killed, wounded or took
prisoner almost all the “cadets” of the Education Regiment
and police in the Military District of Kirin Province. Much of
the credit for the victory in this battle goes to the novel, de-
termined tactics of Company Commander Ryoo Kyung Soo.
While moving towards Yenchi following this battle, a unit
continued to wipe out the enemies in the Tienpaoshan and Erh-
chengpi Battles. Another unit, under the command of Comrade
An Kil, after waging the Emu County Seat Battle and many
other battles in Emu county, hit hard at the enemy strongholds
in Yenchi and Wangching counties.
The troops under the “‘Nozoe Punitive Headquarters,” which
were struggling desperately through the winter, feebly collapsed
in the spring of 1940, like ice and snow melting in spring
sunshine.
So the General’s large-troop circling operations, launched in
the area northeast of Mt. Baikdoo from the fall of 1939, ended
in a great victory. In these operations, the Revolutionary Army
units smashed a siege by some 200,000 of the enemy and
handed them a crushing defeat
In this period too, the General beat the enemy along the
Dooman River and went as far north as to the Tunhua county
area and attacked the enemy stronghold. He then quickly with-
drew to Paishihtan, Fusung where he organized military-political
studies. He then raced past the Holung county border to Antu
and Holung for a fantastic decoy operation combined with a
series of fierce sallies. The result was a complete sweep of the
enemy.
All that was left in the end was a clear contrast between
the inaugural address of “Commander Nozoe of the Punitive
Headquarters” and his confession in the wake of his defeats. The
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fragility of boastful Japanese imperialism was once again ex-

posed to public view.
Nozoe’s inaugural address was as follows:
“In spite of our punitive operations over the past several
years, the bandits have shown no sign of dwindling in the bor-
der areas of Kirin, Chientao and Tunghua.... I, Masanori No-
zoe, entrusted with the important duty of Punitive Forces Com-
mander, intend to advance right away to Mt. Baikdoo and an-
nihilate the bandits at one blow. Those in the military service
should fix deeply in their minds that this holy punitive operation
is to be carried out right next to the border between Manchuria
and the Soviet Union and that its influence will be very great.
With this understanding, Japanese and Manchurian Armies as.
well as the gendarmes and police should firmly unite together
firm and adamant, and with these united forces I am determined
to fight admirably and wipe out the strong enemy within a
short time to establish a realm of peace and prosperity.”
But several months later he confessed: “...Kim Il Sung’s tac-
tics are very ingenious and the search and cleanup operations
by the district’s punitive forces night and day ended up only in
a fiasco.” With this confession of the actual facts of his crushing
defeat, he had to go back with a heavy heart.
By his large-troop circling operations in the northeastern
areas of Mt. Baikdoo, General Kim I] Sung thus completely
frustrated the enemy’s winter “punitive” operations conducted
from 1939 through 1940 to ‘‘wipe out” the People’s Revolu-
tionary Army units, and their Headquarters in particular.

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2. Diversified Tactics

IN APRIL 1940, the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army

units personally, led by the General, camped out in the thick
forests of Hualatzu, Antu county.
There, the General organized 10-odd-day military-political
studies, giving his men the opportunity to undertake a full
study of the guerrilla tactics of the People’s Revolutionary
Army
The General’s experience in guerrilla tactics accumulated in
the course of the long armed struggle was amazingly rich.
Since the beginning of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, the
General had created original tactics of guerrilla warfare and
constantly developed them in the flames of the more than 10-
year-long arduous struggle.
The General made it his first principle to destroy as many of
the enemy as possible while preserving his own combat forces to
a maximum degree. This was because in guerrilla warfare a
small combat strength has to fight against an overwhelmingly
superior enemy in numbers, and therefore, unless the guerrilla
ranks are preserved to a maximum extent, it would be impossi-
ble not only to continue military actions but also to maintain a
stubborn combat strength.
He always sternly warned of two tendencies that were liable
to arise on this matter.
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One was the tendency to military adventurism of fighting

reckless battles without considering the preservation of combat
capabilities of the guerrillas. This was a very harmful tend-
ency, sticking to reckless struggles with an underestimation of
the enemy strength and without a concrete estimate of the whole
situation and expectation of victory, captivated by subjective
desires. This was but a short-sighted tendency of putting the
guerrillas in a passive position in battle against the enemy’s
huge forces and causing unnecessary damage to themselves,
and consequently letting greater future victories slip away.
In the early days of the armed struggle this tendency showed
itself in attempts to fight large-scale battles or to make
frontal attacks on superior enemy: forces without due prepara-
tion, in spite of still weak combat strength. This tendency could
be seen in those who insisted on “defending the base to the
death” disregarding the subjective and objective situation, and
without considering the balance of power between their own side
and the enemy, when actually the necessities of revolution de-
manded that they dissolve the guerrilla bases.
From the beginning of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, the
General constantly kept a watchful eye on this military adven-
turist tendency, and sharply criticized it all the time.
He also kept an eye on the second tendency, the capitula-
tionist tendency of acting passively as a result of lack of morale
caused by overestimation of the enemy.
At the Potatingtzu Meeting in April 1939, he pointed out
that if the guerrillas did not repel the enemy falling upon them,
and just busied themselves with finding a safe place, completely
forgetting to attack and harass the enemy’s rear, and moreover,
if they neglected to carry out actively the work among the mass-
es, not only their supply of ammunition and food, but also
their contact with the people would be cut off; they would be
left without any support from the masses, and their fate would
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be death. Further, the General warned: “There is not a single

place for us to sleep safely in the situation where the enemy is
all over the place. Mind you, guerrilla warfare is a kind of war
fought in the midst of unceasing enemy encirclement and at-
tack, in areas under the enemy’s rule.”
Warning against these two tendencies the General taught
that in order to win a battle, the guerrilla units should correctly
grasp the prevailing situation and the relations of power be-
tween the enemy and the guerrillas, and on this basis, prepare,
organize and carry out the battles.
The General stuck all along to the basic principle of preserv-
ing the combat strength of the guerrillas to the maximum in
defeating the enemies. This is the reason why he succeeded in
keeping the armed struggles going over a long period, ruthlessly
defeating the most ferocious, superior enemies and thus guaran-
teeing victory for the People’s Revolutionary Army.
Wherever he went, the General defeated the massive forces.
of the “invincible” Japanese imperialist aggressor army with his.
unique tactics of genius and outstanding commanding art.
Both superiority in strength and outwitting the enemy in
tactics are important means of taking the initiative in war.
Taking into consideration the characteristics of guerrilla
warfare and the enemy’s superiority both in numerical and
technical strength, the General regarded it as fundamental to.
hold the initiative in the war mainly through the tactical supe-
riority of the guerrillas. Needless to say, however, he did not.
hold fast to the tactical superiority alone in any one-sided way.
He sometimes adopted the policy of combining superiority both
in strength and tactics. The General followed this policy in the
Battle of Attack on Tungning County Seat and the battle at
Lotzukou, which he waged by winning over the “anti-Japanese
units,” with the anti-Japanese guerrilla units as the main force,
and in many other battles he fought by bringing together many
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units of the People’s Revolutionary Army.

The General always took the utmost advantage of the
enemy's weaknesses, took the initiative in the battle, trapping
the enemy and putting him in a very passive position. These
tactics were used where he had faced enemies superior both
in numerical strength and in arms. He taught that nothing
was more important than accurately analyzing and evaluating
the balance of power between the enemy and the guerrillas
in order to take the lead in a battle.
Regarding this matter, he said at the Hsiaowangching base
in the beginning of 1933:
“Our struggle against the enemy is not a kind of capricious
game or gamble in which all is well when you openly attack
and win, and then play once more when you lose, as if wrestl-
ing with each other on the Boys’ Festival of May (lunar
calendar). Weare people who make revolution. When we fight
we must surely win.... With our present strength how many
enemies can we kill, how should we fight to deal as many blows
as possible to the enemy and gain a decisive victory with least
damage to our side? What advantages have we got over the
enemy and what disadvantages do the enemy have? And what
do we lack? Isn’t there any better method? We should contem-
plate all these things, and study them in detail...”
He often emphasized that the initiative could be taken only
when the weaknesses of the enemy were used to the maximum,
after the correct assessment of the balance of forces between
the enemy and the guerrillas, and only when their weaknesses
were increased.
He always found and took full advantage of the enemy’s
weakest points. In order to utilize the weaknesses of the enemy,
when they came and attacked, he pulled his units back tactic-
ally, throwing the enemy into confusion. When the enemy
were on garrison duty, he harassed, exhausted and weakened
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them so that they might collapse from within,

An example of such tactics was worked out and used by the
General in January 1934, for the Battle in Defence of the
Hsiaowangching Base.
The General grasped the movement of the enemy and even
their mentality as clearly as he knew the palm of his hand. On
this basis he worked out correct tactics and carried them
through with full boldness. The General, always exploiting the
enemy’s weak points to the maximum, broke through the tight
siege of the enemy with his ingenious tactics and weakened
the strong enemies, putting them on the defensive.
By maintaining the lead in battle, not only would he manipu-
late the People’s Revolutionary Army freely, but he would also
make a puppet of the enemy. Therefore the enemy who declared
they would “wipe out” the People’s Revolutionary Army could
do nothing but move in reaction to the command of the General.
He also ensured victory in battle with quick tactics—tactics
that freely employed the People’s Revolutionary Army forces.
Freely deploying, dispersing, mustering and moving his soldiers
—this was a reflection of his tactics. By employing such flexible
tactics in a broad area, the General threw the enemy into con-
fusion and defeated them wherever he fought. Good examples
of these tactics are the operations in the summer of 1935 in
which the People’s Revolutionary Army units left their bases in
East Manchuria and advanced into the vast areas of South, East,
‘North Manchuria as well as the homeland and widened the
sphere of the armed struggle by actively attacking the enemy
and defeating them, and the following lightning advance to the
Amrok and Dooman River banks, the operations at the begin-
ning of 1937 in which the Revolutionary Army units advanced
from Changpai to Hsikang in Fusung county.
This swiftness was displayed not only over a vast area but
also in each battle or during marches. When the enemy
457
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concentrated in areas of dense forest he would move his units to

hilly areas and wipe the enemy out, and when the enemy ap-
peared in the hilly areas, he would swiftly move the guerrillas
into densely wooded areas. And when the large enemy forces
persistently came in pursuit, he would lure them to attack with
part of his units, let his main units slip out from the flank,
plunging them into utter disorder and exhausting them, and
eventually he would turn a critical situation into a favourable one.
The “Arduous March” of 1938 which achieved the heroic re-
moval from Mengchiang to Changpai through the enemy’s huge
encirclement and the “fight between buttterfly and chicken”
tactics used during the march, are typical examples of these
tactics.
Through blitz warfare tactics he always made surprise at-
tacks on the enemy, made pursuit by enemy reinforcements
impossible, and made even the most superior enemy forces im-
potent, once attacked. The application of tactics based on
secrecy, careful planning, mobility and decisiveness enabled the
General to confuse and defeat the enemy at one blow, how-
ever superior they might be in strength and technical equipment.
The Bochunbo Battle which dealt a fatal blow to the Japanese
imperialists and at the same time, shed the light of revolution
on the Korean people, is a prominent example of these tactics.
The General also employed various tactics in luring or de-
ceiving the enemy. He literally manipulated the enemy at
will. He would lure them out of their bases and crush them, or he
would drag them hither and thither and then onto a favourable
location and annihilate them. These tactics were used in the Lao-
heishan Battle in the summer of 1935 in which several decoy
guerrillas lured the enemy out and the Revolutionary Army dealt
a fatal blow to them, and in many other battles, large and small.
He would make the the enemy fight among themselves with
ingenious decoy tactics, and leisurely watch the sight from the
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top of a mountain. This applies to the battle of Hsiaoteshui in

September, 1936, which is well-known as the Telescope Battle.
Pretending to move far away, but coming right under the
nose of the enemy, or while marching majestically with a large
force, he would suddenly shift to a dispersed march. A good
example is the “One step makes a thousand miles” tactics used
in the Battle in the Moosan Area and many other operations
waged under the General’s command.
The tactics of attacking in the west while making sounds
in the east, and crushing the enemy both in the east and west
at the same time, were used relatively often by the General.
The General’s tactics were astonishingly diversified and
flexible.
It was because the General’s ingenious tactics, combined
with the indomitable fighting spirit of the People’s Revolutionary
Armymen burning with determination to “defeat the enemy
no matter how often we may have to die!” that they could
wield even greater power.
Rare even in books on strategy and tactics of all ages and
countries, and in the history of guerrilla warfare, General
Kim Il Sung’s brilliant tactics and commanding art made the
Japanese imperialist aggressors’ blood run cold.
They cried, “The communist troops’ strategy and tactics
would make even the gods weep. They fight with ‘tactics’ to be
found in none of the books on strategy and tactics. They are
the hardest foes to deal with because their tactics do not match
the regular operations of the Imperial Army.”
Thus even the vicious hand-to-hand fight of the unrivalled
“Japanese Imperial Army” and the “yamatodamashii spirit”
(Japanese spirit) of not beating a retreat under any circum-
stances were utterly shattered and annihilated in confrontation
with the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army.
They trembled with fear and lost out to the General’s might,
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which hit the enemy from all directions, and the name, General
Kim Il Sung, made them tremble with fear.
There is an anecdote which goes like this:
After the Panchiehkou Baitle in 1939 the head of a news-
paper branch in Hyesan visited the police affairs section chief
of Changpai county to cover the “punitive” operations. Bowing
repeatedly, he presented his card to the section chief. All of a
sudden something odd happened. The section chief who had
accepted the card almost fainted on the spot; his face turned
ashy pale, and then with a piercing shriek he fell out of his
chair.
Not knowing what was the matter, the newsman got fright-
ened, too. The chief looked at the card, then fainted again. He
did so because he saw on the card the name Kim I] Sung with
only the first letter of the personal name written with a different
character, but the same pronunciation. The notorious section
chief thought that General Kim I] Sung had come in person to
finish him off under the guise of a reporter.
General Kim Il Sung’s name in itself had great power. Such
a great General he was, and such guerrillas they were, educated
and trained by such a great General, they could win one victory
after another in that arduous and long guerrilla struggle, un-
precedented in world history. The guerrillas did not have any
safe rear nor a single supply base. Nor was there an end to
their marching. The enemy swarmed everywhere, and the situ-
ation deteriorated day by day. But like a daring fleet sailing
through a stormy sea, the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army
advanced through the flames of the revolution, stepped over the
corpses of the enemy wherever they went, and roused the masses
to join the struggle.
Even in the most indescribable distress and danger, cheerful
singing and laughter never ceased. Even on stormy winter
night, so bitterly cold that the cold engulfed the bonfire, their
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dreams for their fatherland and its future were always rich and
bright. To the people they were gentle servants, but tigers and
lions in battles. In their minds dwelt the cherished wishes and
future of their compatriots who were suffering such hard-
ships, and they burned with passion. This is the very source of
their wisdom, courage, the superhuman perseverance.
It was because of this that the General, leading his guerrilla
units, could carry out a protracted struggle and win every battle
against the Japanese imperialist Kwantung Army, which boast-
ed to the world of its “high efficiency,” the Garrison in Korea
and the puppet Manchoukuo Army.
As a result, innumerable legends spread among our people:
“They say that General Kim I] Sung has great command of the
art of land contraction, drawing the earth toward himself, the
art of transforming himself, the art of concealing himself, and
the art of dividing himself.” “As General Kim Il Sung was born
with the spirit of Mt. Baikdoo, he knows intimately the provi-
dence of the universe, and therefore has the power to foresee
the future. I hear the General pulls a mountain towards him-
29 66

self or moves it further away, and goes to and from a place

several thousand ri away in a single night.” “He is said to
turn sand into grains of rice, make a bomb out of a branch of a
tree, and float a sheet of paper on the water and walk across
the water on it.” “The General has a mysterious power and
talent. He attacks the enemy in mountains both front and back,
and in east and west at the same time and wipes them out,”
etc.
The strategy and tactics invented by the General became
laws for guidance in actual fighting, and were used daily not
only by the General himself, but also by all commanders and
men at all levels of the guerrilla units raised by the General.
Thus in wide areas ranging over Manchuria and Korea, victo-
ries in tens of thousands of battles were made possible.
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The Government-General of Korea recorded that there were

more than 20,000 battles between the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla
Army and the Japanese troops from the spring of 1932 to June
of 1936, and that a total of more than one million guerrillas took
part in these actions. Even the inadequate watered-down sta-
tistics published by the Japanese imperialists show that more
than 3,900 battles were fought during 1937 in the northeastern
part of China, and during the five years from 1936 to 1940,
the anti-Japanese guerrilla units killed, wounded and took
prisoner more than 60,000 enemy officers and men, equal to six
divisions.
In the fierce battles during 1939 especially, the year in which
“punitive” operations were at their most atrocious level, the guer-
rilla units achieved brilliant battle results. They killed, wounded
and took captive more than 30,000 enemy soldiers, captured 117
light machine guns, some 20,000 rifles, some 3,000 Mauser
rifles, some 20 grenade dischargers, several million rounds of
ammunition and many other war supplies. At that time, the
“Dong-a Ilbo,” the “Chosun Ilbo” and many other newspapers
wrote glowing accounts of the courageous activities of the Ko-
rean People’s Revolutionary Army units under the leadership of
General Kim Il Sung. However, the enemy, fearing the impact
on the masses, enforced a news blackout on all reports on guer-
rilla activities from 1940 onward.
In the middle of April 1940, while staying at a secret camp
in Hualatzu, the General summed up the military and political
situation at that time and his experience as wel! as the strategy
and tactics of guerrilla warfare worked out in the course of
the struggle in the past ten years, and told the military and
political functionaries:
“...As the great Lenin once said, he who laughs last laughs
longest.
We have bravely fought for the past ten-long years, always
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 LARGE-TROOP CIRCLING OPERATIONS...

thinking of our compatriots in the homeland suffering under

the oppression of Japanese imperialism in the fatherland. We
have walked all over the steep mountains and ranges of Mt.
Baikdoo, not yielding to the biting cold, lower than 40°C below
zero, or to the burning sun at the height of summer.
We had to make arduous marches almost every day in the
course of the armed struggle over the past ten years. Once in a
while we marched 40 to 60 kilometres a day. Even if we figure
that we marched an average of only 20 kilometres a day, it
means that we have made an 80,000-odd-kilometre expedition
in the past ten years.
Eighty thousand-kilometre expedition—this is a living
example that proves the indomitable fighting spirit of the Ko-
rean People’s Revolutionary Army and the patriotism of the
Korean people.
It goes without saying that we can pride ourselves on the
brilliant and meritorious deeds we have done in the past ten
years. But until the time comes for us to give the last laugh,
we should not pride ourselves on our past deeds.
To win final victory, to be the last one to laugh, to expel
the Japanese imperialist invaders from Korea and Manchuria,
to attain true liberation and independence of both the Korean
and the Chinese peoples, let us pledge to continue our march
scores of thousands of kilometres more. The dawn of victory
cannot fail to come to the beautiful mountains and rivers of our
fatherland then!”
The men of the People’s Revolutionary Army who had cut
their way through the thorny 80,000-kilometre path were fully
determined to continue marching and fighting until the day of
liberation of their fatherland, as the General had taught them.
The collapse of the Japanese aggressors in no way meant
the end to the role of ingenious strategy and tactics created by
General Kim Il Sung in the course of the anti-Japanese armed
463
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struggle. They further blossomed and developed as the basis

for the founding of the Korean People’s Army and its military
techniques after the Liberation. This can be clearly and objec-
tively shown by the historic crushing defeat the U.S. imperial-
ists suffered in the Fatherland Liberation War and by the cries
of the leaders of the U.S. imperialist aggressor troops.
The strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare created and
developed by the General have provided the priceless textbook
of great depth for the peoples of all colonial and semi-colonial
countries, who are today waging armed struggles for nationa!
independence and freedom, and against the U.S. imperialist
aggressors, the bulwark of world reaction.

464
 CHAPTER 11

FOR FINAL VICTORY

1. Policy of Greeting the Great Revolutionary Event

THE SITUATION was rapidly changing. The fire of glob-

al war began to consume the world in the beginning of the
1940’s. The wars of aggression waged by the allied fascist
countries, Germany, Italy and Japan, had expanded into World
War II with Germany’s invasion of Poland in September 1939.
Hitler Germany, fired with the ambition of world domina-
tion, had already occupied France, Holland and Belgium and
many other European countries at the beginning of the war,
and while keeping England in check, madly engaged in prep-
arations for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Fascist Italy
was also intent on overseas expansion. Meanwhile, in the East,
imperialist Japan, trying quickly to terminate its aggressive war
against China, was directing the spearhead of aggression on
Southeast Asia and the Far Eastern region of the Soviet Union.
On the other hand, by every crafty means, the imperialists
of Britain, America and France aimed to turn the threat and
the military forces of ferocious Germany away from their own
countries to the Soviet Union. What they hoped for was that
Germany and the Soviet Union would destroy and exhaust
each other in the war, thus fishing in the troubled waters to
leave the world for them to dominate. They also hoped to
“ally themselves” with the victor and obtain rich spoils of war,
when it became clear which side would win in the Soviet-Ger-
465
 KIM IL SUNG

man war. ;
All this testified to the fact that the contradictions were
increasingly complicated among imperialist powers, that lived
only on aggression and plunder, such as Britain, America,
France and fascist Germany, Italy and Japan, and that the con-
tradictions, above all, between the imperialist powers and the
Soviet Union, the socialist country, were becoming more and
more acute.
These international situations were directly reflected on
Korea. By the 1940’s, the conflict between fascist Japan and
the Korean people had reached its zenith. Japanese imperialism,
while seeking opportunities for invasion of the Soviet Union,
first planned an all-out expansion over the southern Pacific
areas, and left no stone unturned, as its prerequisite, to turn
Korea and Manchuria into its “powerful rear” and strategic
bridgehead. They noisily clamoured for “complete annihilation”
of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, regarding it as a
“sore thorn in the flesh” and “great obstacle.”
Claiming that “Korea is not an alien land, but must become
an integral part of the powerful empire as are Kyushu and Shi-
koku,” the Japanese imperialists carried on unlimited economic
plunder and fabricated a series of vicious laws.
In 1941, the Japanese imperialists proclaimed an “Ordinance
for Preventive Detention of Ideological Offenders,” followed by
the “National Security Law” on March 7. Three days later
the “Revised Law for Maintenance of the Public Peace” was
proclaimed, to be followed by the “Korean Provisional Security
Law” in December and other vicious laws. So the word “wartime
conditions” came to mean pillage and suffocation. The only
things created were munition factories built with the blood and
sweat of the people. Fields lay waste under the factory smoke,
and agricultural products were confiscated in the name of the
terrible “delivery quota system.” Factories were prisons.
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Workers were forced to work 12 to 15 hours a day, spurred on

by whips, and fell suffering one after another from diseases and
starvation. The young and middle-aged were drafted for forced
labour or military duties without any hope of return. What they
shed was not tears but blood.
Everything Korean was considered criminal. The Japanese
invaders strictly punished even small pupils for speaking
Korean, or committed barbarous atrocities against white-haired
old men simply because they did not bow. This was enough to
show what the Japanese imperialists were doing to Korea. But
the stronger the oppression of the Japanese imperialists became,
the more fervently the people of Korea sharpened the sword
of revenge hidden in their bosom.
In no other period of the bloody colonial rule of Japanese
imperialism was their barbaric cruelty more manifest.
In the meantime, the Japanese imperialists, despite their ig-
nominious defeat in the winter campaign of 1939-40, launched a
“final mopping-up operation” against the People’s Revolution-
ary Army, mobilizing large numbers of their “crack’’ troops.
This was a desperate attempt to “wipe out completely” the
Korean People’s Revolutionary Army which had been dealing
decisive blows to the prosecutors of the aggressive war by
striking the enemy in the rear in Manchuria which had been
called the “life line of Imperial Japan.” The main force of the
“crack” Japanese Kwantung Army, the Japanese imperialist
aggressor troops garrisoned in Korea, the puppet Manchoukuo
Army and the police, hundreds of thousands in all, were all mo-
bilized in reckless assaults upon the People’s Revolutionary
Army. At the same time, they tried hard to isolate the People’s
Revolutionary Army by strengthening the economic blockade,
by intrigues and false propaganda, and by regrouping the small
concentrated villages into larger ones.
The enemy made desperate efforts to suppress and destroy
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 KIM IL SUNG

the revolutionary organizations formed among the people and

arrest and murder numerous revolutionaries and political
workers at will, and to undermine the Korean People’s Revo-
lutionary Army from within. The enemy challenged the
People’s Revolutionary Army to the “final decisive battle” no
matter what sacrifice or price they had to pay.
The swift and violent change in the situation required that
the revolutionary ranks face it with new measures.
In August 1940, the General called a Meeting of Military
and Political Cadres of the People’s Revolutionary Army at
Hsiaohaerhpaling in Tunhua county. At this meeting the
General made a correct analysis of the future development of the
internal and external situations, and of the power relationship
between the enemy and the revolutionary forces, and put forth
a new struggle policy.
The General first gave his evaluation of the present and
future international situations, and made it clear that since the
fascist countries were expanding aggressive war, they seemed
to be in the ascendant but their downfall was doomed. The
General substantiated his views by such facts as the ever
growing power of the socialist Soviet Union, the anti-
fascist struggles and national liberation struggles which were
raging in Asia and Europe, the economic panic, political and
military crises and sharpening contradictions confronting the
imperialist powers, in particular the predicament of Japan owing
to the protracted war, the consequent huge financial burden,
the demoralization of the troops and strife within the ruling
factions, and the anti-Japanese armed struggle of the Korean
and Chinese peoples which was gaining in force every day.
The General declared that the so-called “tripartite alliance”
and “‘anti-communist agreement” of the fascist countries were
after all a false show of strength, and would collapse before long
because it was an “alliance” among wolves filled with ex-
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pansionist and predatory desires.

Judging from the fundamental trends of this complicated
situation, the General further predicted with conviction that the
course of the Korean revolution would soon take a favourable
and decisive turn. Despite these auspicious trends, however,
the Korean people had to continue their arduous struggle in
order to achieve national liberation. It was necessary, above
all, for the People’s Revolutionary Army to fight difficult
battles against the enemy which outnumbered them by tens
and hundreds of times. Under these conditions, the General
clearly pointed out, while the day of liberation was drawing
near, the Korean people were still confronted with unprece-
dentedly hard trials for the time being.
While fascism ran rampant over the globe, and the father-
land was suffering the tortures of hell, and the national traitors
were playing an ugly farce with the enemy, General
Kim Il Sung, with his clear vision, looked not only at the present
but into the future of Korea and the world.
Generally speaking, complicated situations become clear
when they are things of the past. But when they belong to the
present, even the course of a simple occurrence may be difficult
to predict. Amidst the storm in which all nations were at war,
however, the General was convinced of human victory over
fiendish barbarism and foresaw the dawn of the new Korea.
Such penetrating insight in itself meant the promise of the
happiness for the Korean people, because the General laid down
his brilliant line for the liberation of the fatherland according to
his correct judgement.
At the conference, the General stated that the most pressing
and foremost task in positively meeting the great revolutionary
event of the coming national liberation was to maintain to the
last the revolutionary forces which had been built up through
long years of trial.
469
 KIM IL SUNG

The General said:

“...We have not yet arrived at the final struggle with the
enemy. In the last battle we must rise in defiance of death
whatever the sacrifice, for the sake of our fatherland and our
people, to achieve the final victory.
Since it is not the final hour yet, we must strictly reject blind
adventurism which causes meaningless sacrifices by driving
into large-scale severe battles, which have nothing to do with the
general interests of the revolution, our steadfast cadres who
have been trained and seasoned politically and militarily by 10
years of actual battle.... On a basis of correct analysis of the
present situation, we must continue to maintain and train... our
precious revolutionary forces in order to deal the decisive blow
to our enemy and greet the great event....”
The General stressed that it was very important for all guer-
rillas and commanding officers to arm themselves with Marx-
ism-Leninism and progressive military science and knowledge
and fully prepare for the final decisive battle.
The General’s line of maintaining and training the revolu-
tionary forces was not meant only for the immediate revolu-
tionary task for the overthrow of Japanese imperialism and for
the liberation of Korea. It was aimed at preparation for
achieving the final objective of the anti-Japanese armed strug-
gle in the final decisive battle when the favourable situation
was created. Moreover, it was, indeed, a far-reaching plan to
build a new society in the liberated fatherland with the prepared
forces as the foundation.
The General presented new military-political tasks, such as
carrying out guerrilla warfare chiefly by surprise attacks after
switching to small-unit activities from large-troop unit activities,
the latter entailing great casualties with the large enemy forces
ceaselessly attacking; establishing secret camps and temporary
bases as liaison outposts (agitating points) to utilize them as
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military and political bases, vigorously conducting the under-

ground struggle by small units, and rebuilding the destroyed
revolutionary organizations and inspiring the people to the anti-
Japanese, anti-war struggle.
The line clarified by the General was to maintain and train
more revolutionary forces, avoiding head-on collisions with the
enemy who were assuming large-scale offensives, and to hold
the initiative and attack them swiftly and violently in all parts,
taking advantage of the enemy’s weak points, and by so doing
encourage the masses of the people to rise powerfully in the
anti-Japanese, anti-war struggle.
The strategy and tactics so adopted by the General from the
standpoint of the general interests and final triumph of the
revolution, rather than a partial present victory, showed once
again his ardent patriotism and unshakable line of Juche.

471
2. Small-Unit Activities

THE KOREAN PEOPLE’S REVOLUTIONARY ARMY

changed its activities as a whole to small-unit operations accord-
ing to the line of General Kim Il Sung after the Hsiaohaerhpa-
ling Meeting in Tunhua county.
The guerrillas established many temporary bases in the
mountains and dense forests of Wangching, Tungning and
Yenchi counties, and moving swiftly according to the changing
conditions, began to engage in vigorous activities.
In May 1941, the General left Antu, leading a unit of the
People’s Revolutionary Army for the temporary base at Chiapi-
kou, Wangching county. The march was extremely arduous
from the very beginning. At any strategic point in the mountain
areas where they went, the army and police forces of Japan and
puppet Manchoukuo tried to encircle them. In this situation,
the General decided with daring tactics, to go through the
heart of the enemy areas and pass by Laotaokou which was
near the city of Yenchi, the provincial seat of Chientao.
However, Japanese gendarmerie were stationed at Yenchi, and
around the city, Japanese garrions as well as a number of
Japanese and puppet Manchoukuo military and police forces
were deployed. Besides this, many spies were prowling in
and around the district.
The General, dressed in a Japanese army officer’s uniform,

472
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led his troops, who were also similarly disguised, and marched
through the tight enemy guard lines.
One day, before the troop crossed the crowded road and
the railway between Yenchi and Laotaokou, the day broke. In
an emergency it was a dangerous place. After thinking for a
while the General led his unit to a large house on the roadside.
He planned to rest there till evening and then start on his way
again. The guerrillas asked whether it would not be too
dangerous. The General laughed and said:
“Because it’s dangerous it’s better to stay in this house. As
they say ‘At the foot of the candle it is dark,’ we must be more
daring when the enemy are right under our nose.”
Reassured by the calm, self-possessed attitude of the General
the guerrillas rested themselves at ease.
After the sun rose, the road began to get crowded, and
numbers of Japanese and puppet Manchoukuo soldiers and
police frequently passed by. A little after noon, the door was
suddenly flung open, and men wearing Japanese combat caps
came in, looking ferocious. At that moment the guerrillas ex-
pected the General to shoot them down with his pistol. But
unexpectedly, the General who was leaning against the wall
with a stern look on his face straightened his body looking
sharply at them, asked loudly in Japanese, “Who are you?”
The man who stood at the head of the line must have thought
the General to be an officer of the “Imperial Army,” for he
trembled and bowed over and over, saying “Yes, yes, sir.”
“Come in, everyone!” the General roared out his order, and
the men came in obsequiously. That moment all the guerrillas
pointed their guns at them.
“Im sorry, sir, but I don’t understand. We've come to
search because we received the information that Kim Il Sung’s
Communist Army has appeared in these parts. Please forgive
our intrusion....”

473
 KIM IL SUNG

Trembling, they prayed for mercy. The guerrillas searched

them, took away their weapons, and bound them up tightly
with ropes. They were Korean spies sent by the special service
agency.
“The Communist Army you were looking for is here!”
The spies, astounded by the severe words of the General,
paled and panted.
“If you are Koreans, reflect on what you are doing! Why
are you acting as dogs of Japanese imperialism? Who is more
heinous and dirtier than you that lick the feet of the Japanese
imperialists and sell your countrymen to the enemy and kill
people at random? | feel like killing you here and now for your
dirty acts, but I won’t kill you because I don’t want to waste my
bullets. Instead, stay still in the shed till we leave here! And
then you may go home.”
When the General had scolded them in severe tones, the
spies crawled into the shed and lay flat there.
When dusk fell, the General ordered his men to depart,
who again marched in great state down the road through the
heart of the enemy areas. The road was crowded with people
even at night, and, shouldering rifles, Japanese and puppet
Manchoukuo scldiers and policemen in lines occasionally passed
by them. But the Revolutionary Armymen led by the General
went past them with calmness, and, going through the city of
Laotaokou, entered the mountain regions.
With all their close spy network and strict cordons, the ene-
my could not find the whereabouts of the General or check his
activities. So even when the General was going through the
enemy-ruled city they had to admit that “...the whereabouts
of Kim Il Sung is still unknown,”' in a tone which clearly
betrayed their anxiety.
A few days later, the inhabitants of the region were rejoic-
ed, as if celebrating a happy event, by telling each other that
474
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“General Kim Il Sung’s troops went through the city of Laotao-

kou in broad daylight.”
Arriving at Chiapikou, Wangching county, the General set
up a temporary base there, and, dividing his 200-odd troops into
about ten small units sent them to such places as Wang-
ching, Yenchi, Tungning, Holung, Antu, Huatien counties and
various parts of Korea.
About that time World War II was continuously expanding,
and in June 1941, Hitler Germany finally launched its surprise
invasion of the Soviet Union, and Japanese imperialism also
initiated the Pacific War in December of the same year.
This change in the situation again proved that the General's
line of promoting preparations for greeting the great national
event was correct and based on a scientific forecast.
When the Soviet-German war broke out, the General made
their tasks clear again to the commanding officers and men of
the Revolutionary Army at Chiapikou on June 30. While
pointing out the necessity of a further strenuous effort to prepare
for greeting the great event of national liberation, the General
instructed all small units and groups to harass further the ene-
my’s rear and intensify political propaganda work among the
masses.
Thus, the small units and groups launched into even more
active operations. While engaged in surprise attacks against the
enemy, they worked hard to reconstruct revolutionary organ-
izations by underground activities.
The small unit led by Comrade Choi Hyun, moving about
Lotzukou, Wangching county, where the enemy forces were
garrisoned, as well as Laoheishan, Tungning county in the bor-
derland of the Soviet Union and China, made surprise attacks on
enemy garrisons, police stations and gendarmerie at many
places. They terrified the enemy by such courageous deeds as
setting fire to munition warehouses, or slipping into mass meet-
475
 KIM IL SUNG

ings held forcibly by the enemy and then dispatching the

enemy before the people. The enemy, who mistook this small
unit for a military force of several hundred, tried frantically to
pursue it by mobilizing a large “punitive unit.”
The small units carried on bold struggles far and near; they
attacked enemy garrisons and important guard points, raided
army trains, destroyed roads and bridges and collected military
information. In their mobile actions the other surprise storming
groups also raided frontier defence posts in broad daylight,
finishing off the enemy and capturing many kinds of weapons,
or shot the enemies in speeding trains, and after conducting
anti-Japanese propaganda among the passengers, jumped off
the trains.
The surprise attacks of the small units covered many parts
of North Manchuria also. In the autumn of 1940, a small unit
led by Comrade Choi Yong Kun overturned an enemy military
train on the Moutanchiang-Chiamuszu line near Yentunglatzu,
destroyed the railway and paralyzed their rail transportation for
a long time.
In December 1941, the small unit led by Comrade Kang
Kun terrified the enemy by completely overturning an enemy
military train on the Moutanchiang-Chiamuszu line carrying
Japanese officers in two wagons, armoured cars and gasoline
and so on, near Hsinchiatien.
Following the General’s line, small groups were sent to
various parts over broad areas for political work and recon-
noitering. Disguised as workers, peasants, office workers, job-
less men, day labourers, they went deep into the masses of peo-
ple and formed revolutionary organizations in secrecy to rally
them.
In the latter half of 1941, one small unit composed of 40-
odd members broke through strict border patrol lines and ad-
vanced to the Wonsadong area of the Moosan district. Subse-
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quently this unit established agitating points in the Moosan

district and Woonggi, and, dividing themselves into several small
groups, unfolded extensive political work among the people of
all strata of society.
Many other groups also were sent to many such places of
Korea as Woonggi, Rajin, Chungjin, Ranam and Hamheung to
engage in energetic activities.
From the spring to the early winter of 1942, the political-
work small unit led by Comrade Kim II established a temporary
base in the area of Tienpaoshan, Yenchi county, and separating
into groups of three or five members, engaged in activities in
the counties of Hunchun, Wangching, Yenchi, Holung and Antu
as well as in the northern parts of Korea. Their main aim was to
reconstruct revolutionary organizations, including the Associ-
ation for the Restoration of the Fatherland. The groups kept
close contact with the members of the Association, and while
collecting data concerning the local conditions or enemy situ-
ations with the help of them, taught them the line of struggle.
One group which was active in Kaishantun area, Holung
county, secretly entering the Japanese-operated “Youth Train-
ing Centre,” fixed themselves in and around it, and worked to
organize and mobilize the youth to the anti-Japanese, anti-war
struggle. They skilfully engaged in underground activities there
till the Liberation.
Their political activities, however, had to be carried on under
extremely difficult conditions due to the enemy’s severe op-
pression and constant vigilance. Policemen and spies were
prowling everywhere and hardly three people could get together
to talk without being watched. In the worst cases former
comrades betrayed and informed against revolutionaries who
visited them. But the group members were always calm and
courageous, overcoming all sorts of difficulties. They helped the
people, and in return were loved by them, and with their as-
477
 KIM IL SUNG

sistance, they sometimes escaped dangers by a hair’s breadth.

As the General always said, it was the principle and taith of
the Revolutionary Armymen to rely completely on the people
under whatever circumstances.
In 1942, the political-work small group led by Comrade Kim
Il established communication with their former comrades in
Hsiaopotung, Hsilinho and left there. The enemy police who
were immediately informed of the group’s movements by the
unsound elements, forcibly mobilized the peasants with hunting
dogs in an extensive search over the mountain. The group
members, who hid themselves in the neighbourhood, were faced
with great danger. However, many of the peasants would not
betray the presence of the group members even when they
came across them. They left without a word, winking their eyes
and pretended to search in distant places, and thus the group
members were able to escape from danger.
What with heavy rainfalls and lack of sleep and rest and
what with malnutrition, some members of a group who had
engaged in vigorous activities were worn out and fell ill. Since
meat was obviously a matter of necessity for the patients, two
group members went down to a village to buy a cow from a
certain peasant at 120 won. In those days a cow could be
bought for about 80 won and when the peasant knew that they
were kind guerrillas he refused to take more than 80 won.
But the two group members insisted on handing all the 120
won they had with them to the poor peasant to help his life. It
was not the money but the fate of the peasant the group mem-
bers were worried about. They knew very well that if the
peasant were found out to have sold his cow to the guerrillas,
the enemy would kill him. So they told the peasant that in case
someone should ask him about the cow, he must not tell the
truth, but that it went astray while grazing near the river.
The peasant did as he was told, and kept silence even to his
478
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family. Unfortunately, however, his brother-in-law went look-

ing for the cow in the hills all the day and was shot to death
by the enemy on his way home in the evening. The frightened
enemy had mistaken for a guerrilla the person wandering in
darkness in the mountain.
While the peasant grieved for the miserable death of his
brother-in-law, he did not tell about the two guerrillas even to his
sister and kept strict silence till the day of liberation, it is said.
In this way, the groups energetically continued their opera-
tions with the warm assistance of the people wherever they
went. The small units and groups of the People’s Revolutionary
Army continued their surprise attacks, political work and rec-
onnoitering activities vigorously according to the line of the
General.
The small-unit activities became more active after 1943, the
turning point in World War II. As the final decisive battle
was drawing near, the groups more frequently advanced into
the homeland.
Till the day Korea was liberated, many groups of the Peo-
ple’s Revolutionary Army crossed the Dooman River scores of
times to continue their operations. They infiltrated into every
nook and corner of Korea, beginning with North Hamgyung
Province and as far away as Wonsan, Pyongyang, Seoul, In-
chun and Pusan.
People welcomed them as if they were harbingers of hope
and deliverance, while the Japanese imperialists who were faced
with imminent collapse, feared them more than anything
else. As the operations of the groups of the Revolutionary
Army began to cover larger areas, the enemy were thrown into
utter confusion, and hurriedly established a strict patrol system
in the borderland, inland cities, farming villages and even the
mountain regions under the pretext of “completing the counter-
espionage system.” The activities of guerrilla groups in the
479
 KIM IL SUNG

homeland became more and more difficult as the days went on.
Taking concrete measures to cope with the ‘difficult situation,
the General continued to send a greater number of groups deep
into the homeland in order to strengthen the military and politi-
cal activities of the People’s Revolutionary Army in preparation
for the coming final battle.
The groups reconnoitered the disposition of the enemy
troops and their army installations at Chungjin, Wonsan and
Pyongyang. Other groups continued active underground po-
litical work, while studying the enemy fortresses and the dispo-
sition of the Japanese Army stationed near them at such places
as Rajin and Woonggi ports, as well as Aoji, Boogu, Raksan.
In June 1944, one group of the People’s Revolutionary Army
secretly crossed the Dooman River towards Pyongyang as
their first objective. The group reached Supo after 25 days via
Kyungwon of North Hamgyung Province, and went through
the West Pyongyang marshalling field at dusk along the Botong
River and into the city of Pyongyang. They surveyed the
Pyungchun-77 Munition Factory and Pyongyang Station. They
reconnoitred other strategically important places in the city, the
East Pyongyang Airfield, Japanese Army barracks at Mirim-7z
and all the military installations around Pyongyang. They hid
under the stone walls of the military barracks and took photo-
graphs of pillbox attack exercises. with flamethrowers of the
Japanese soldiers, and after obtaining the numbers of the units,
left Pyongyang. They stopped by at Chungjin, studied the city
and the naval base and other installations. At Hoiryung, they
surveyed the airfield, other military installations and the general
conditions and returned to their unit safely.
The daring and wise group members always completed their
tasks admirably in this fashion.
Their achievements were the result of struggles against al-
most insurmountable odds and were purchased at the price of
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many precious lives.

There were some group members who were shot on their
way back from a reconnoitering mission, and mingling their
blood with the water of the border river, crept across the frozen
river inch by inch, or those who breathed their last in nameless
deep ravines, while escaping from the enemy, heavily wound-
ed.
Comrade Kim Hyuk Chul was one of those who died heroi-
cally, while engaging in small-unit activities in the homeland,
at the beginning of 1943. After entrusting the data on the
enemy to a comrade and sending him off ahead of him, Com-
rade Kim Hyuk Chul completed another task and started on
his way back. By that time everything was covered by falling
snow. After wandering around in the mountains, wounded,
starving, and dodging the enemy’s pursuit for several days, he
crept and crept in a pathless forest deeply covered by snow
And finally he expired, face down, on the snow. Day and night,
the snow kept on falling on his body, erecting a large white
tombstone over it.
One day in early spring, a peasant who came to gather wood
on the banks of the Dooman River found the fresh body of the
stout fighter sleeping quietly in the snow. In one hand he was
grasping a revolver tightly, and in his mouth he held a bud
of white birch as if to show that he was struggling with hunger
till the last moment. In his pockets were found some more
white birch buds.
Hearing the news, the peasants gathered, and when they
found out that it was a body of a guerrilla who had fought and
sacrificed his life for the liberation of the fatherland, they cried
in their grief.
The peasants purchased white cloth secretly, wrapped the
body in it and buried it in a sunny spot, and every year, on the
day of Hansik® and Choosuk,* the poor peasants brought offer-
481
 KIM IL SUNG

ings to the grave of a noble spirit, and the young and old, men
and women in poor clothes bowed before it.
Till the day when the Korean people greeted their liberation
with joy, many such sacrifices were paid.
Thus, the brilliant activities of the small units of the Revolu-
tionary Army, each of which members was a hero, contributed
tremendously to the decisive battle for final downfall of the
enemy.
Along with the small-unit and group activities, General
Kim Il Sung vigorously guided the work of arming the mem-
bers of the People’s Revolutionary Army with Marxist-Leninist
theories and modern military science and training them into
even more able military and political cadres.
These wise measures were not only meant as preparation for
greeting the coming great revolutionary event, but in fact an
embodiment of the ideas of continued revolution—a far-reach-
ing plan of the General who thought of the revolution to be
carried out after the liberation of the fatherland.
At the beginning of March 1941, the General met Comrade
Li Bong Soo who was the head of the People’s Revolutionary
Army Hospital and spoke thus:
“... The staff of your hospital have gone through big hard-
ships. But the revolution is not yet ended, and is becoming
more and more arduous. It is of course certain that the ruin
of Japanese imperialism is near and so the day of national
liberation is approaching. But even if Japanese imperialism is
destroyed, and the national liberation is achieved, it does not
mean that our revolution is also completed. After defeating Jap-
anese imperialism in Korea, we must build on this fatherland
which has been trodden for dozens of years under the jackboots
of Japanese imperialism, a new society in which people can live
happily. And we must defend it securely from imperialist ag-
gressors. This is also not an easy task. It would be a mistake
482
 FOR FINAL VICTORY

for us Communists to think that simply because we have built

a good society in our country, our revolution has ended. Our
revolution should be continued till we have annihilated the
last member of the exploiting class on earth. We must bear
this in mind and prepare for it from now on....”
As the great revolutionary event of the liberation of the
fatherland drew near, the General redoubled his efforts to train
and educate the cadres in all fields.
In parallel with the preparation for the last decisive battle,
according to the foresighted measures of the General, the foun-
dation for the military buildup after the Liberation was laid.
The members of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army
became military cadres firmly armed with modern and advanced
military science and knowledge, and built up experience and
ability for building and commanding a regular army.
During this period also, the preparatory work for founding
a Marxist-Leninist Party was further pushed ahead. It was
promoted with the re-education and training of the cadres as
its basic work. Under the guidance of the General, the members
of the People’s Revolutionary Army studied the Marxist-
Leninist theories more deeply, and further comp!eted their
own ideological and theoretical preparations.
The small-unit activities became an occasion for testing,
consolidating and perfecting experience accumulated in long
years, and the ideological tempering of members of the
People’s Revolutionary Army. Through these small-unit
activities they acquired a highly refined organizing ability and
rich experience in the work with various circles and sections
of the masses of the people.
The members of the People’s Revolutionary Army were
thoroughly armed with revolutionary theory, and seasoned and
tempered in actual struggles and came to fully acquire the noble
characteristics of the Communists.
483
 KIM IL SUNG

So Communists who should become the pivot of the

Marxist-Leninist Party to be founded in the near future were
more creditably prepared in ideology, theory and practice.
Because the pivot unit of the revolution was securely
preserved and reared in this arduous period, the pillars were
prepared to sustain the construction of the Party, the state and
the army after the Liberation. These constituted priceless assets
for the development of the Korean revolution.

484
3. Warm Love, Boundless Trust

THE PERIOD during which the Korean People’s Revolu-

tionary Army was engaged in small-unit activities was a time
of really grim trials.
The fields and mountains of Manchuria were overrun by the
“punitive units.” The enemy, while desperately searching every-
where and frantically trying to “punish” the guerrilla troops,
scattered leaflets all over the mountains urging them to submit
and surrender. In addition to this the People’s Revolutionary
Army suffered from shortages of food, and the difficulties they
had to undergo were beyond description.
The small-unit activities under such conditions were a test
of the ideological fortitude and revolutionary training of the
guerrilla members.
The greater became the difficulties, the more the General
trusted his guerrillas whom he had trained through long years.
and with whom he had shared life and death, and while pour-
ing out his warm love and care towards them the General fur-
ther consolidated their unity with revolutionary comradeship.
Even under such difficult circumstances, the General always
took every possible care of the health of his troops.
While faced with enemy manoeuvres, the General estab-
lished behind-the-line hospitals and had the wounded or feeble
members treated. Not a few times, in order to obtain medical.
485
 KIM IL SUNG

General Kim Il Sung educating a boy guerrilla

goods, he attacked enemy barracks or sent guerrillas behind the

enemy lines. He never forgot to send nutritious foods first to
hospital patients and the feeble, and on many occasions gave
his troops the food rations, medicines, clothing or shoes that
were allotted to himself.
This was the General’s way of life he had consistently kept
to, ever since the first days of the armed struggle. Because of
the ceaseless forced marches, including the “arduous march” and
food shortage, the General himself was obviously weakened in
health. But he would not touch a stick of wild ginseng which
one of his troops had dug out in the depths of a mountain and
brought to him. It was kept in the knapsack of an orderly for
a year and a half. One spring day in 1940, shortly before small-
unit activities began, the General had his troops bring a chicken,
486
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and began to cook it with the ginseng in an earthenware pot.

The guerrillas who were worried about the General’s health
rejoiced, thinking that finally he was going to eat that wild
ginseng. The General, however, sent that precious ginseng pan-
acea to a sick comrade in Yaotan near Shaotangkou, Antu
county.
To the General, this kind of thing was an everyday occur-
rence. For instance, during the most difficult period of the
small-unit activities, on winter days, when the members sent for
local operations did not come back till late at night, the
General would boil water in a pot and pour into it the parched-
rice powder which was his ration and wait till late at night for
their return. The General was the father to all the guerrillas.
Stating that a commanding officer should always love his
men as his own blood relations, the General taught:
“ .. You should always think your troops may be cold and
hungry not only when you are cold and hungry, but also when
you are warm and satisfied. Still you cannot always understand
all their sufferings....”
This kind of consideration and affection on the part of the
General reached even the small units which were operating far
away, like a flying bird.
In the autumn of 1940, the General was operating in the
Holung area, where the enemy forces had been concentrated,
with only his orderlies and machine-gunners, after he had sent
small units to various areas.
Worrying over the small units, he sat up till late at night
waiting for the return of the correspondents he had sent to vari-
ous areas. One day, a correspondent who was sent to a small
unit was shot to death by the enemy “punitive units.” Later the
General continued sending out correspondents to find out that
small unit, but could not find its whereabouts.
The General’s worry kept on deepening like that of a mother
487
 KIM IL SUNG

waiting for the return of her child.

After a while, the unit had to leave its camp at Chechang-
tzu. The General had his guerrillas bury food and new winter
clothes at the place of the campfire and said:
“..They are sure to come back. After their small-unit
activities their clothes must be in tatters and they must be starv-
Tiga
This was not all. Within a few days after they left
Chechangtzu the troops caught a large stag. The General, after
partaking a little of the meat with his men, had them dry the
rest by the campfire, grind it into powder and put it in paper
bags. He distributed the bags to his guerrillas, one to each, but
set fifty of them aside. The General took up his writing brush
with a thoughtful expression, and began writing the names of
the members of the missing small unit on each of the bags. On
the face of the General, who was writing the names of the guer-
rillas carefully, was registered the conviction that they would
surely return, and his boundless affection for them.
When he finished writing the names of all fifty soldiers, the
General told one of his men that he should keep the bags with
good care to give to the missing soldiers when they met.
With such a General, how could the guerrillas be afraid of
death in battle, or fail to come back to his bosom, scaling steep
cliffs or braving angry waves? Tears welled up into the eyes of
all the guerrillas who watched the fifty bags. To them, they
became spiritual food which educated them without a word in
revolutionary comradeship and united them firmly in ideology
and will.
In this fashion the General trusted and loved his guerrillas,
and taught them to believe in the final victory of the revolution,
defend revolutionary constancy to the end and fight self-sacrific-
ingly in order to overcome difficult trials.
The General told the guerrillas:
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“Communists fight with all their energy for the revolution,

and find their greatest joy and pride in their struggle. That is
why revolutionaries are always bright, cheerful and enthusiastic,
however arduous the revolution is.
It is the greatest glory for a revolutionary to fight and die
under the red flag of communism. If one on the front falls, the
comrade next in line will carry on the fight upholding the flag
again. This is the way the revolution will inevitably achieve its
final victory.”
The significant May Day of 1940 which the guerrillas cele-
brated near Chechangtzu, Antu county, on the eve of their
small-unit activities, showed clearly the noble character and
conviction of the General who kept on living and fighting single-
heartedly for the revolution.
These were very hard times when they had run out of even
the salt and maize they had shared with each other. Under the
General’s directions the guerrillas caught frogs in a nearby
rivulet and held their “feast” of May Day with the dish of frogs.
The dish of frogs was more delicious than any sumptuous
dainties to the guerrillas, for they took it with optimism, filled
with hope and belief in the coming victory.
That evening, the General talked in poetic words to his
troop members around the campfire about their fatherland,
blessed with beautiful scenery and inexhaustible natural re-
sources, his anger at the Japanese invaders who had taken all
of that away, and the deeply moving and glorious victory which
is to come after the hard revolutionary struggles.
Talking about the bright future, the General added:
“Our difficult struggle will surely change today’s frog dish
to one of gray mullet from the Daidong River. This is an indis-
putable truth.”
Through these words alone, the guerrillas could realize the
future of the revolution as a vivid image.
489
 KIM IL SUNG

The Genera! continued:

“...How long can man live? A human life at most probably
lasts sixty years or so.... We cannot but pity the cowards who
did not choose to live their short lives with a clear conscience, but
blinded by small immediate gains, have sold their conscience
and betrayed their fatherland and people. The simple folks in
our country from old times have always prided themselves on
living with a clear conscience if they live only a day. Our con-
science means patriotic conscience for the liberation of our father-
land, an indomitable fighting will for the social liberation of the
working class, fearless courage and fortitude, and endurance
and heroism that conquer all insurmountable difficulties. The
concentrated expression of all this is our conscience. This we
call our revolutionary conscience.... We must guard the true
conscience of the Korean people, and always defend our beau-
tiful fatherland with our blood to the end....”
These words showed clearly the General’s revolutionary
will and his faith in the revolution.
The General always stressed that to hold true to his revo-
lutionary constancy single-heartedly—this is the task and the
foremost duty of a revolutionary.
This belief of the General was based on the most scientific
and invincible Marxism-Leninism and his confidenee in the
victory of the revolution, and it sprang from his lofty sense of
responsibility for the revolution and the realization of his heavy
duty to the nation.
The noble virtues of General Kim Il Sung and his daily
teachings were the invincible strength which enabled the guer-
rillas to display their courage, and the source of the indomitable
revolutionary spirit of those who devoted their all to fight for
the cause of revolution.
Because the General stood at the head of the revolution, the
anti-Japanese guerrillas did not hesitate or vacillate before any
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barriers and difficulties standing in their way, and only looking

up to the General, held to their noble revolutionary conscience
and revolutionary comradeship to the end. No matter how far
away they were from the Headquarters, or even when they were
completely isolated for a long time with no means of finding out
where they were, they would still single-heartedly look for the
way to it, and surmounting every hardship in their way, come
back to the bosom of the beloved General at last.
They always bore deep in mind the General’s kind teaching,
“A Communist must live and fight to the last for the cause of
the revolution whether he is in deep mountains or on a lonely
island in the vast sea,’ and they faithfully carried this out at
?

any time and in any place.

The small-unit activities were full of these heroic struggles.
In the early winter of 1940, the small unit for which the
General waited with such anxiety,and buried food and new
military uniforms at the camp near Chechangtzu and had fifty
food bags made and kept intact, was looking for its Head-
quarters fighting all hardship. Though they had no means of
finding out the whereabouts of the Headquarters, they had
started a continual search only with their faith in the final triumph
of the revolution and their desire to go back to the bosom
of the General as quickly as possible.
A raging snowstorm blocked their way and the enemy
“punitive units” and spies guarded every turn of the roads. The
members of the small unit were tired out. But they did not
waver at all. What supported the worn-out guerrillas strongly
was their single-hearted desire to reach their Headquarters and
the General as soon as possible.
They finally reached the entrance of Chechangtzu, and dis-
covered the remains of the Headquarters’ camp. The unit mem-
bers, who dug out the two straw bags of rice and new cotton-
padded uniforms which the General had buried for them,
491
 KIM IL SUNG

pressed them to their bosoms and choked with emotion, repeat-

ing the name of the General. With renewed strength they
started again on the search for their Headquarters.
On their way they met with a small unit operating in the
vicinity. The regiment commander in charge of the small unit
decided to continue on his way to the Headquarters with just a
few guerrillas, leaving behind the rest of the unit to stay with
the other unit.
The regiment commander took five able-bodied guerrillas
with him. But the road was again fraught with danger. Wher-
ever they went the enemy were swarming and various kinds of
leaflets urging them to surrender were posted. This was not all
their hardship. Cold and hunger, and persistent enemy attacks
extremely hampered the activities of the exhausted guerrillas.
They surmounted every obstacle heroically with indomitable
revolutionary fighting spirit and burning love for the comrades.
One day, while marching in the deep snow in the hinterland
of Holung county suffering from hunger for several days, they
were suddenly attacked by the enemy from before and behind.
They made a heroic resolve to fight courageously to their last
bullet and die if they must. But upon second thoughts they
decided that they must not die a dog’s death before they reached
their Headquarters, and must live and fight through to the end
to find out the Headquarters by any means.
The regiment commander flew back the way they had come,
and rolled down a steep cliff 100 metres high. The guerrillas
followed suit. The guerrillas rolled to the bottom down the
steep mountainside which eagles would shrink at. They were
saved miraculously, but were covered with blood, their skin torn
and broken. Still undaunted, they crawled up the opposite
hillside and surveyed the enemy position. Unaware that the
guerrillas escaped narrowly by their daring act under cover of
darkness, the enemy attacking from two sides began to shoot
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insanely at each other, and left when the night grew late.
Though they had to start at once, the small unit members
could hardly stand up, exhausted. Prostrate on the ground, they
gazed at the stars shining in the dark sky and the lights shim-
mering in the direction of the city of Lungching. Various
thoughts came to their minds. They thought of their past
days of struggle and arduousness of the revolution. Eventually,
they renewed their resolve to devote their lives to the revolution
as the General’s true fighters, and determinedly stood up. They
continued on their way in search for the Headquarters, in
defiance of all difficulties and dangers.
One day, one of the guerrillas suddenly fell ill and suffered
from atrophy (a disease which causes cramps and shivers at
hands and feet) by the highway near Tapikou, Yenchi county
and they could march no further. As there was a large concen-
trated village near by, and this happened not in a forest, but near
a highway, the guerrillas were quite at a loss what to do. It
would be extremely dangerous to go on marching with him,
but at the same time they could not leave their revolutionary
comrade behind. Saying that nothing was more important than
their revolutionary duties, the sick guerrilla eagerly asked them
to leave at once in search for the Headquarters, leaving him
behind.
The regiment commander grasped him by his arms and let
out a sob.
“Let us die together when we have to die! How can we
leave you behind?”
The rest of the guerrillas felt the same way. Their duties for
a revolutionary comrade whom they cared for and helped, and
with whom they shared life and death, sweet and bitter in the
revolutionary struggle forbade them to part from each other.
The guerrillas took turns about warming their sick comrade
with their own bodies, gathered dry grass and spread it under-
493
 KIM IL SUNG

neath him, and covered him with their jackets. They also
massaged his limbs all night, gathered dry twigs on all fours,
made a fire and cooked rice grue! and made him eat it.
Thanks to the warm care of his comrades the sick guerrilla
became able to move his legs and came to himself the following
day. They shed tears of joy at the thought of being able to
return to the General all together.
When darkness came, they started again on their march.
And, now walking, now crawling a long way for two months
through Yenchi, Wangching, Hunchun counties, which were
infested by the enemy, they finally succeeded in reaching their
Headquarters.
The reason they were able to display such admirable com-
radeship and heroism was that they received from General
Kim Il Sung warm affection and education such as nobody else
could give.
The anti-Japanese guerrillas educated and trained by the
General always fought against the enemy courageously, holding
to his revolutionary constancy as his fighters, true Korean revo-
lutionaries, with an unlimited pride in the fact that General
Kim I] Sung stood at the head of the Korean revolution, even
when they were arrested and put in prison, unfortunately, or
even when they stood on the gallows.
Comrade Ma Dong Hi, a member of the Anti-Japanese
Guerrilla Army, was captured by the enemy while operating in
the homeland according to the General’s direction and under-
went unspeakably cruel tortures. So that he should not betray
the secret of the organization even in delirium he bit off his
tongue and put an end to his young life. Afire with revolution-
ary zeal, Comrade Ma Dong Hi crushed the enemy with
courage while living, and protected the revolution and the or-
ganization by his death.
So did Comrade Kwon Yung Byuk who was the General’s
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faithful fighter and an indomitable Communist. In a notebook

he always carried with him the following words were written:
“My country is my mother which gave me birth, and
Comrade Kim Il Sung who taught me and brought me up on
the revolutionary front is my teacher and my father...
I will fulfil my filial duty to my only father and mother.”
Comrade Kwon Yung Byuk considered it his mission and
honour to fight according to the General’s will and faith, with
revolutionary fighting spirit.
Comrade Kwon Yung Byuk who carried out with credit the
work of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland
in Changpai county under the direction of the General, was
caught by the enemy, and put to all kinds of cruel torture. But
he never forsook his revolutionary constancy, and declared a-
loud in the court the coming downfall of the enemy and Japa-
nese imperialism. He kept on fighting in Sudaimoon Prison in
Seoul, and died on the gallows on March 10, 1945 shortly
before the Liberation. Even when he mounted the scaffold he
spoke of his pride in being a fighter of General Kim II] Sung.
Sub-unit Commander Pak Kil Song, who was reared into a
communist fighter by the General, was also a revolutionary
optimist.
He lost one eye during a battle because of a splinter from a
hand grenade thrown by the enemy, but continued encouraging
his troops by saying, “I still have one eye left. So long as my
heart keeps on beating, I will not fall back even a step from
the fighting ranks till the very end.”
While he was having his wounded eye treated at a secret
camp, he instilled into the guerrillas faith in the victory of
the revolution, and taught them to become faithful fighters of
the General. He overcame his physical pain, and returning to
the field of battle, he led many engagements and killed the
enemies one after another.
495
 KIM IL SUNG

In January 1943, in order to save his unit which was sur-

rounded by the enemy, he opened up a path of retreat for them
and took charge of the rear guard, but despite his courageous
fighting, was captured by the enemy. No matter to what torture
the enemy put him they could not make him open his mouth.
He lived through his short 26 years of life like a flame. But
what he regretted most was that he had to end his youthful
life and could not continue fighting to the end in the warm
fatherly affection of General Kim I] Sung who had brought
him up as a Communist.
At the last moment on the gallows he cried, “Communism is
eternal youth,” and made the enemy shudder.
There were many woman guerrillas in the Anti-Japanese
Guerrilla Army who guarded General Kim Il Sung and the
Headquarters with their lives, and held firmly to revolutionary
constancy to the end through the long years of arduous armed
struggle.
Comrade Kim Jung Sook, an ardent Communist, was one
such woman guerrilla fighter. She lost her parents when small,
and grew up in the Children’s Corps. After she enlisted in the
guerrilla army, she dedicated all her life single-heartedly to the
revolution and the Leader. Even when she was captured by the
enemy while engaged in activities in Changpai county under
the direction of the General, she kept revolutionary secrets in
defiance of death, and entrusted two won she had with her to a
peasant to be sent to the organization for revolutionary funds.
She was later fortunately rescued through the underground
activities of the revolutionary organization.
Comrade Kim Jung Sook who was a member of the cooking
unit belonging to the Headquarters, secured food for it amidst
the rain of bullets or the snowstorms through the long days of
hard-fought bloody battles, and protected the Headquarters of
the revolution at her personal risk. One day, while the unit was
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marching under the General’s command, five or six enemies

unexpectedly approached through the reeds and aimed at the
Genera]. The danger was imminent. Without losing a moment,
Comrade Kim Jung Sook shielded the General with her own
body and shot down an enemy soldier with her revolver. The
General also shot down the second enemy. Two revolvers
spurted fire in turn and annihilated the enemy in a twinkle.
But this was not the only time such dangers occurred, and each
time, Comrade Kim Jung Sook rose to the occasion with fury,
and protected the Headquarters of the revolution at the risk of
her life.
Comrade Choi Hi Sook, a woman member of the Anti-
Japanese Guerrilla Army, was captured by the enemy, who
gouged her eyes out. Yet at the last moment of her life she
cried, “I no longer have my eyes. But I can see the victory of
our revolution! I can see clearly the day when the 30 million
people will shout manse and proclaim their liberation!...”
These were not the only ones who lived with the General’s
ideas and will and fought with his faith. All the members of
the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army did so; they were all in-
domitable Korean Communists—revolutionary fighters.
Because they held the General’s affection and trust close to
their hearts, they kept on living and fighting to the end even
when isolated completely as on a lonely island in the vast sea,
convinced of the final victory of the revolution, and swam across
the Dooman River in so cold a winter as 40 degrees of frost
to reach their Headquarters. Because they always kept the
General’s teachings engraved deep in their mind, they did not
stop fighting even a moment, looking up to him under any
adversity.
The small-unit activities of the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army
once again testified to the noble mental world of the Korean
Communists who were boundlessly faithful to the revolution
497
 KIM IL SUNG

and the Leader, and manifested to the world the lofty revolu-
tionary traits of the anti-Japanese guerrillas who overcame alk
kinds of hardships with their conviction of the victory of the
revolution and revolutionary comradeship.
Indeed the boundless fidelity of the anti-Japanese guerrillas
to the revolution and the Leader—this was the most powerful
weapon which neither planes, cannons nor any other of the
newest weapons of the enemy could overcome.
The police magazine of Japanese imperialism, “Kannan
Keiyu,” wrote this concerning the anti-Japanese guerrillas:
“.What is the motive power for their well-ordered and
matchlessly daring activities? We must seek its explanation in
something internal and spiritual. It is no other than the guiding
spirit which constituted the core of unity of the communist
army. Think of it. Why must they lie in the fields, sleep in the
mountains, and suffering incessantly from changes of weather
and lack of provisions, drag their lives from one danger to an-
other? An answer to this question alone will make everything
clear. The answer is simple. That is, they have their own
belief. And their belief is that always... setting down the inde-
pendence of their nation and the overthrow of Japanese imperi-
alism as their first slogan, they feel proud of their death-defying
actions and they regard themselves as patriotic fighters. This
belief we must bear in our mind.”
In this confession can be heard clearly the enemy’s cry of
fear at the power of communist ideology. Communist ideology—
this cannot be cut down by swords, destroyed by cannons, nor
bound by iron chains, because it is the conscience, wisdom, and
the most beautiful hope of mankind.
The Japanese imperialists also knew that no force could
crush the ideas of the anti-Japanese guerrillas. But they had no
insight into the source which fostered this great ideology and
noble spirit. They could not see the great ideas and conviction
498
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of General Kim Il Sung, the Leader of the Korean people,

based on Marxism-Leninism which underlay this noble spirit.
Nor could they understand the burning red hearts of the guer-
rillas boundlessly faithful to the General,
who loved and trusted
his revolutionary comrades unlimitedly.
This ignorance of and challenge to this basic strength was
one of the decisive factors which plunged the arrogant enemy,
together with the notorious “Great Japanese Empire,” into the
abyss of ruin.
The revolutionary spirit of the anti-Japanese guerrillas con-
tinues to burn fiercely still in the hearts of the Korean people.
The great victory of the Korean people in the Fatherland
Liberation War that brought U.S. imperialism to its knees
before all the peoples of the world, and the magnificent con-
struction in the northern half which is being carried on at
Chullima speed, with the spirit of self-reliance, are the precious
fruits of the noble revolutionary spirit, single-heartedly devoting
their all to the revolution and to be boundlessly faithful to the
respected and beloved Leader.

499
4. 30 Million Follow the General

THE PRESENCE of General Kim Il Sung himself and the

wide-ranging political and military activities of the Korean Peo-
ple’s Revolutionary Army led by him, kindled an undying
flame of anti-Japanese, anti-war feeling in the hearts of the
Korean people.
The people of Korea watched with boundless joy and ex-
citement the fierce and heroic struggles in which the Korean
People’s Revolutionary Army under General Kim I] Sung was
continuously smashing the enemy wherever it went, hurling the
Japanese aggressors into utter disorder. This convinced the
people that the destruction of Japanese imperialism was inevi-
table, and that final victory of the Korean revolution was as-
sured.
For the people who were ruthlessly persecuted by the Japa-
nese authorities for the slightest disrespect or sabotage, it was
the silver lining of the cloud to hear of the coming of General
Kim Il Sung’s guerrillas. This was natural. Their suffering
even of one day had been as a thousand years, and now in
defiance of the enemy’s suppression, they believed only in the
General and victory of the People’s Revolutionary Army led
by him. This name, General Kim Il Sung, was indeed the
beacon that lit the path ahead of them in the darkness, the sun
that called forth the dawn.

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So there was no greater joy for the people than to meet

the guerrillas and hear them say, “General Kim Il Sung is safe
and unharmed. Great numbers of the guerrillas are now ener-
getically preparing to greet the liberation, as the General
taught....’’ Greatly inspired by the activities of the People’s Rev-
olutionary Army, the people could not be satisfied without
doing something as the General desired, or confusing the enemy
or disrupting the enemy operations.
With such an inflamed feeling, the people rose in life-and-
death battles with the enemy in various parts even under the
difficult situation of the Japanese imperialist fascist oppression
at its zenith.
At factories in Seoul, Pyongyang, Chungjin, Heungnam,
Pusan and other important industrial cities, and at construction
sites in various parts of the country, including the electric power
stations along the Amrok River, strikes and sabotage were
continuously going on. —
In July 1942, some 2,000 workers at the Heungnam Ferti-
lizer Factory staged a powerful strike struggle in the teeth of
the fascist suppression of Japanese imperialism, and at the same
time women workers at the Hamheung Katakura Spinning
Factory went on a hunger strike, dealing a blow at the war-
time production of Japanese imperialism. Explosions and fire
frequently broke out at munition plants and airfields in different
parts of the country.
As the influence of the anti-Japanese armed struggle pene-
trated deeply among the people, and as the collapse of Japanese
imperialism was drawing near, mass desertion of workers
from important construction sites, harbours and munition
plants became common occurrences. Take for example, the
cases in 1944, when several thousand workers deserted the
Kiyang Factory run by the Asahi Light Metal Co. Ltd.,
followed by a mass desertion by 4,000 of the 13,000 workers
501
 KIM IL SUNG

who had been brought from the six southern provinces to South
Hamgyung Province.
Even among the workers who had been forcibly brought to
Japan, anti-Japanese, anti-war struggles such as strikes,
sabotage, riots and mass desertions on an extensive scale were
waged. In 1943, 110,000 people, amounting to 36 per cent of
those who were brought to Japan for forced labour, ran away
from their work places at the risk of death.
Peasants refused to deliver their forced quota of produce
upon pain of detention, and bitterly struggled against the
murderous wartime plunder and requisition of labour.
In various areas, ideological incidents and strikes by teachers
and students occurred frequently, and the refusal on the part of
youth and the middle-aged to do military service and forced
labour became a general practice.
According to the figures released by the Japanese imperial-
ists, during 1943 there were 59 “incidents of arrests of ideo-
logical offenders” among teachers and students, and 120 “inci-
dents of student disturbances.” There were also repeated inci-
dents of so-called “dangerous intentions” and desertions among
youths who had enlisted in the army. And in the mountains
and forests were found many groups of youths and students
who had fled from the pursuit of the police and gendarmerie.
In prison in various parts of the country, patriots, encourag-
ed by the anti-Japanese armed struggle led by General
Kim Il Sung, continued their unyielding fight. Comrades Kwon
Yung Byuk, Ri Dong Kul, Li Je Soon, Pak Dal and other par-
tisans and members of the Association for the Restoration of
the Fatherland, organized and waged bloody struggles in prison.
They manifested their indomitable will and boundless optimism
in believing in victory in the revolution and liberation of the
fatherland as patriots and Communists, in the face of the brutal
torture imposed upon them by the hangmen.

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Faced with death sentences at the enemy courts, the Com-

munists on the contrary condemned the enemy to death in the
name of the Korean people and the revolution, and denounced
their colonial plunder and murderous policy towards the Korean
people, ardently maintaining their communist faith.
Especially during this period, the people showed an increas-
ing tendency to rise in armed revolt, responding to the anti-Jap-
anese armed struggle, led by General Kim Il Sung.
According to a secret document of the Japanese imperialist
police, workers at the Pyongyang Iron Factory built their own
secret iron works and made weapons there and planned to join
the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army led by General
Kim Il Sung and take part in the final decisive battle for the
liberation of the fatherland against the Japanese imperialists.?
In Jinjoo, South Kyungsang Province, workers and students
attempted to leave for Manchuria in order to rise in the antic-
| ipated great sacred battle for national liberation in cooperation
with the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army.’
In the city of Sungjin, North Hamgyung Province, revo-
lutionary youths organized a secret organization called “Mt.
Baikdoo Society,” suggesting that Mt. Baikdoo where General
Kim Il Sung was operating was the base for the Korean revo-
lution.°
Some trainees at the training centre for railway workers in
Seoul were repressed by the enemy when they struggled against
the colonial policy of Japanese imperialism, fervently adoring
General Kim II Sung.*
In 1943 when the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army
| intensified their advance into the homeland in keeping with the
| new turn in the Second World War, the anti-Japanese, anti-war
‘struggles of workers, peasants, youth and students became even
more violent. To prepare to rise up together with the armed
struggle was a dominating tendency among broad sections of
503
 KIM IL SUNG

the masses of people. Workers at the electric domains of Seoul

and Pyongyang formed a clandestine anti-Japanese organization
and struggled against the forced military draft call, with a firm
conviction that the day would soon come when Korea would
be liberated by the People’s Revolutionary Army led by General
Kim Il Sung.
In 1944, students at the Junjoo Normal School in North
Cholla Province, adoring General Kim I] Sung, declared
in their discussion, “...Kim I] Sung is a patriot fighting for the
independence of Korea and has an absolute influence, com-
manding large numbers of troops. Furthermore, Kim II Sung is
of extremely sturdy build and agile, and all his men are also
fine. In Junjoo there are some of his men who are nameless.
We have to train our bodies, join his troops and work hard for
the independence of Korea.” “...In future when the Soviet-
Japan war breaks out, we must harass the Japanese troops to
FNS :

Article in “‘Thcught Control External Affairs Monthly” on

“plots” of the Junjoo Normal School students for joining the
guerrilla army of General Kim Il Sung

504
 FOR FINAL VICTORY

land on Ryusoo Port.”®

It is also recorded in “Document on the Incident of Round-
ing Up the ‘Strong Group’ Aimed at Winning Independence of
Korea’ Seth ..Kim I] Sung now actively operating in Manchuria
..1s working hard for the independence of Korea. We must
adore him as our senior. We must work hard for Korean inde-
pendence as he does.... Though we don’t know communist
theory well, we approve communism because it is opposed to
Japan’s Imperial idea!...”
Even at the Pyongyang Arsenal which was most strictly
guarded by the Japanese imperialist gendarmerie and police,
handbills were scattered, saying, “In a few days, General
Kim Il Sung will come.” Civilian guards at Pyungchun county,
South Choongchung Province, struck terror into the hearts of
the Japanese aggressors by putting up a slogan reading “Youth
of Korea... wait for General Kim Il Sung to return in triumph.”’
Among Korean youths dragged into the Japanese imperialist
Marine Corps stationed at Jinhai, an incident occurred in
which they resolved to unite the naval force for an armed
mutiny and join the Korean
People’s Revolutionary Ar-
my, and fought for it.
In 1944, bold red letters
reading “Kim I] Sung, Com-
mander of Korean Inde-
pendence” were found writ-
ten on the ceiling in the
third-class steerage of “Ko-
an-maru,’ a Shimonoseki-
: Pusan ferryboat kept under
Letters written on the steerage ceiling the most stringent watchful
of ‘‘Koan-maru,”’ a Shimonoseki-Pusan ; i
ferryboat, reading “‘Kim I] Sung, Com- eyes of the Japanese impe
mander of Korean Independence”? rialists. Korean students in

505
 KIM IL SUNG

Kanazawa, Japan, made efforts to carry out anti-Japanese

armed struggle in concert with the Korean People’s Revo-
lutionary Army. Korean middle-school students and college
students in Tokyo organized a secret underground organization
and attempted to establish contact with General Kim II Sung,
and resolved to wage an anti-Japanese armed revolt as the
General’s men, and struggled for it.
Even according to data of the Japanese imperialist police,
during the period from 1942-1944, there were bared some 30
cases of attempts at establishing communication with the Peo-
ple’s Revolutionary Army led by General Kim Il Sung. The
Japanese imperialists cried out that almost all of the Korean
youths and students involved in the cases “are convinced of the
defeat of Japan in the Pacific War and utilized this opportune
chance to realize their dangerous aim and attempted to enter
into contact with General Kim Il Sung whom they respect and
adore or to join his guerrillas and launch an armed revolt as
their concrete step.”
While they were robbed of everything by the enemy, the
Korean people held deep in their heart their faith in the future
and boundless pride since they had General Kim I] Sung as
their Leader.
The people, men and women, young and old, happily re-
peated the legendary stories about General Kim Il Sung when-
ever they got together. There were no end to their stories
about General Kim Il Sung and the anti-Japanese armed strug-
gle led by him, which were forcefully and widely spread among
the Korean people.
That the legendary stories about the General were more
widely spread, timed to the approaching destruction of Japanese
imperialism, showed that the people entrusted their whole destiny
to the General for their bright future and ardently wished him
to accomplish the liberation of the country at the earliest date.
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 FOR FINAL VICTORY

Some legendary stories about the General were universally

told.
One of the episodes is “Story about Hospitalization of
General Kim.” People in various localities insisted that General
Kim Il Sung entered a hospital in their districts and received
treatment. This story was based on their sincere desire to
associate General Kim I] Sung, whom they adored, with their
hometowns.
According to the story, the Japanese imperialists were un-
aware that the General had been hospitalized, nor were the hospi-
tal authorities. When the General left the hospital, it gradually
became known to the public, causing a big commotion. The
General used the magic of shortening distance and successfully
broke through the enemy cordon, to their consternation. An-
other version of the story in another district says that the
General left his name card or a sheet of paper or telephoned, to
inform the hospital of the truth.
The people of Kaesong said that the General was treated at
the Koryu Hospital at Kaesong. According to them, the
General hung a picture of 20 cows and three pairs of birds on
the Namdaimoon (South Gate) of Kaesong before departure.
For a while the people differed widely in their interpretation of
the picture’s meaning but finally agreed that the picture meant
that in the 20th year of Showa in Japanese chronology a new
society would be created. What is more interesting was
that this prophecy did come true. 1945, the year of Korean
liberation fell indeed on the 20th year of Showa.
So the name of General Kim I] Sung became the sun and
symbol of deliverance for the Korean people in all parts of the
country from Mt. Baikdoo to Chejoo Island in the South Sea,
including Koreans in Japan. Even the Japanese imperialists
could not but admit this. In a secret report sent to the “Gover-
nor-General of Korea,” the director of the Police Department of

507
 KIM IL SUNG

South Hamgyung Province said, “Kim Il Sung is revered by

the Korean people as a saviour.” A bourgeois reporter of
Japan wrote:
“Seven years ago,1944, I gave a lecture to sixth-year pupils
of a primary school and second-year pupils of a secondary school
together in South Korea. Then I aksed them, ‘Who do you
think is the greatest man among contemporary Japanese
(including Koreans)? Express your views honestly by secret
ballot.’ I assured them by adding ‘Don’t be afraid or fearful.’
Then a poll was conducted by secret ballot. To my surprise, 67
per cent of the ballots were for ‘Kim II Sung.’ ”®
In this way, the 30 million Korean people prepared them-
selves to rise in a decisive battle at the decisive moment, ador-
ing General Kim Il Sung, the outstanding Leader. The enemy
encountered eyes of hatred and contempt wherever they went.
The Japanese imperialist colonial fascist rule was a “candle
flickering in the wind” and the whole of Korea was about to
explode in the revolution. Concerning these facts, Japanese
historians wrote:
“The name of Kim Il Sung is known even to children in the
southern half of Korea under the most severe oppression of the
Japanese imperialist gendarmerie and police forces, and is the
focus of their respect and admiration.... So the rule of Korea
by Japanese imperialism was already facing final disintegration
before the actual defeat in the war.... The energies for the
nationwide struggle to achieve the liberation of the fatherland
had been prepared in the course of the war.”+°
Just at this period, the international situation was develop-
ing rapidly in favour of the national liberation struggle of the
Korean people.

508
General Kim I] Sung making a speech on his triumphant return at the Pyongyang
City mass rally (See Section 2, Chapter 12)
 CHAPTER 12

THE GENERAL’S TRIUMPHANT

RETURN TO THE FATHERLAND

1. Final Decisive Battle, Liberation of Korea

IN THE BEGINNING of 1943, the Soviet Army demolished

the massive forces of Germany in the hard-fought battle of
Stalingrad, thereby marking a turning point in the course of
World War II. The Soviet Union took the initiative in the war
and annihilated the German Army on its territory. The heroic
Soviet troops pursued the retreating enemy and liberated the
countries of Central and Southeastern Europe from the yoke of
fascism. Bells announcing the downfall of fascist Germany
tolled over its head.
The U.S. and British imperialists were panic-stricken.
In the early stage of the war when the Soviet Union was en-
gaged in a life-and-death struggle with fascist Germany the
imperialists were simply idle spectators. But once the Soviet
Army was in a position to defeat Germany and liberate the
whole of Europe, those who had persistently sabotaged, began
to organize the second front. This was an expression of their
shameless aggressive ambition to retain their rights as victorious
countries after the war.
The same condition prevailed with regard to the war in the
Pacific From May of 1942, the tempo of attack by the Japa-
nese army visibly slackened,
and by the beginning of 1943 it
had come to a decisive impasse. This was because the Japanese
ruling circles who had calculated on a German victory over the
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 KIM IL SUNG

Soviet Union, concentrated their main forces on the Soviet-Man-

churian borders to prepare for a war against the Soviet Union,
but at the same time were unable to maintain their extended
supply lines on the Pacific front. These factors brought about
very favourable conditions for the U.S. and British imperialists
to carry out their operations against Japan. But the U.S. and
British imperialists, who never gave a thought to the liberation
of the people and could not by their very nature, here as in
Europe, refrained from active military operations with their
vicious desire to get more material gains and maintain their
military strength for future world domination by prolonging the
war.
But when the termination of the war became imminent in
Europe due to the decisive victory of the Soviet Army in the
Soviet-German war, the U.S. and British imperialists were
forced to accelerate their war efforts on the Pacific front also.
In the spring of 1945, the Soviet Army launched an all-out
offensive against Germany, occupied Berlin on May 2, and by
the 9th, had finally secured the unconditional surrender of
fascist Germany. The Soviet Army saved the fate of entire
Europe from the fascist invaders, and brought freedom and
_ happiness to the peoples there.
The defeat of fascist Germany meant that the downfall of
Japanese imperialism in the East was also inevitable. On July
26, 1945, the Potsdam Declaration, urging the Japanese imperi-
alists to surrender unconditionally, was issued. Japan refused
this proposal. Imperialist Japan, depending on the one million
Kwantung Army, its Garrison in Korea and its “rear” of
Korea and Manchuria, tried to continue the war. The situation
at that time pointed to the fact that only the Soviet Army which
had defeated fascist Germany could finally destroy Japanese
| imperialism in the East.
As the termination of the war drew close, the international
Sai
 THE GENERAL’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO...

situation turned decidedly favourable for the Korean revolution,

and the day of national liberation predicted scientifically by
General Kim Il Sung was near at hand.
In view of these conditions, the General mapped out in
minute detail a strategic plan for the final decisive battle of the
Korean People’s Revolutionary Army against Japanese imperi-
alism. The political and military information collected by the
People’s Revolutionary Army’s small units through their hard
struggles was used as precious materials for the operations to
achieve victory in the war against Japan as a whole.
The units of the People’s Revolutionary Army conducted
intensive combat training to prepare for large-scale modern
warfare. The members strengthened training for the attack
according to their arms and were fully prepared for the coming
battle.
On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union finally declared war
on Japan.
General Kim Il Sung, who had already completed his opera-
tional plan for the final decisive offensives against Japanese
imperialism, immediately ordered the mobilization of all units
under the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army. Under the
order of the General, the units began conducting courageous
military operations in many areas in North, East and South
Manchuria and the homeland, together with the Soviet Army.
The units of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army,
together with the Soviet Army, started on a stormy charge
towards Namyang, North Hamgyung Province through East
Manchuria, towards Sineuijoo through the Changchun area and
towards the eastern coasts of the northern part of Korea,
conducting landing operations at Woonggi and Chungjin.
In the face of the strong attack by the Korean People’s
Revolutionary Army and the Soviet Army, Japan’s “impregna-
ble defence line” guarding the border, collapsed like a wall of
512
 KIM IL SUNG

clay, and the main forces of the Kwantung Army, so proud of

its might, were completely crushed.
The Korean People’s Revolutionary Army which joined
forces with the front units of the Soviet Army reached the other
sides of the Dooman and Amrok Rivers through the Manchurian
steppe within a few days after the offensive began, and break-
ing through the fortresses along the Dooman River, entered
the areas of Namyang and Woonggi.
In the meanwhile, the units of the Revolutionary Army
which joined the Soviet marine corps, landed at Woonggi,
Rajin, Susoora and Chungjin, and joined the land forces, and
the units which had advanced on many fronts, occupied im-
portant strategic points of the enemy’s ground forces and
air bases at Hoiryung, Chungjin, Ranam, Hoimoon, Hamheung,
and Pyongyang, and liberated those areas. The members of the
Korean People’s Revolutionary Army who were conducting
the war for the liberation of the fatherland for which they had
. waited so eagerly through the violent storms of struggle and
suffering over 15 long years—they were like lightning in their
attacks on the enemy and their cries roared like thunder. It
seemed as if the land itself was dancing under their advancing
lesteps.
Notwithstanding all kinds of sacrifice, they were always at
the front in attacking the enemy, and opened the way for the
advancing army, demolishing the enemy which was resisting
madly. In the battle of liberation for Susoora, the Japanese
imperialist aggressor army had entrenched itself in the fortress
of Susoora, and maintained a stiff resistance behind well-equip-
ped defences. The firing of the heavy machine guns in three
_ pillboxes on top of the hill barred the advance of the troops of
| the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army and the Soviet Army
for a while. Then eight members of the People’s Revolutionary
| Army volunteered as a storming corps to destroy the pillboxes.
S15
 THE GENERAL’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO...

They charged under the rain of bullets, and blowing up the

three pillboxes with hand grenades, at last opened the way for
the units to advance.
The members of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army
fought heroically in combination with the Soviet Army in other
battles and triumphed repeatedly.
Many sacrifices had to be paid during this final decisive
battle for the liberation of the fatherland. There were anti-Jap-
anese fighters who fell by enemy bullets just within reach of
their never-forgotten native land. Even while drawing their
last breath, they could not close their eyes fixed upon the
mountains and rivers of the fatherland. Those soldiers who
dedicated themselves to the restoration of their fatherland died
to our sorrow without being cheered for their glorious deeds,
handing down to our people their lives they could not keep to

Troops of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army and the

Soviet Army in the battle to liberate Susoora

514
 KIM IL SUNG

the end.
The Korean People’s Revolutionary Army and the Soviet
Army charged ahead over the bodies of their dead comrades
like angry waves, destroying the enemy wherever they went.
The Japanese imperialist aggressor army which was boast-
ing of fighting “to the last soldier...” was completely annihilated
in a week, and on August 15, 1945, finally surrendered uncon-
ditionally. The fiercely fought World War II closed its blood-
smeared curtain with the defeat of imperialist Japan.
The Korean people were thus freed from the darkness of
colonial rule which had lasted for 36 years, and everything that
lay between heaven and earth seemed to cheer and dance for
joy at the liberation. The Japanese imperialist aggressors who
had lorded it over this land for 36 years at the point of the
bayonet became a bunch of beggars and were driven back to
their den beyond the Hyunhaitan Straits. This was the fate
decreed for the aggressors.

SIS
2. The General Enveloped in the Cheers of the Entire
Nation

GENERAL KIM IL SUNG returned home in triumph, lead-

ing the anti-Japanese fighters.
The Korean people, welcoming their Leader they had longed
to see, gave themselves up to a tumult of joy and excitement.
The whole land of 3,000 77, hills and vales, fields and rivers,
from Mt. Baikdoo to Mt. Halla on Chejoo Island, united
their voices in cheering the triumphal return of General.
Kim Il Sung, the sun of the nation.
“Long live General Kim Il Sung!”
“Long live Korea’s independence!”
General Kim Il Sung, who liberated the people from ill-
treatment and misery, and dealt a death blow to the enemy!
The great Leader, General Kim Ii Sung who brought light and
freedom to this land which had remained a living hell for 36
years. The Korean people who welcomed their Leader found
no proper words to express their happiness. Every town and
village all over the country seemed to surround the General and
dance with joy. But the modest General gave back all the glory
to the welcoming fellow countrymen, and without rest, began
leading a new struggle for the construction of a new fatherland.
The General had no time to rest; there were too many tasks
to be done. Wherever he turned his eyes, the General found
nothing but the vestiges of the aggressors’ plunder and destruc-
516
 KIM IL SUNG

tion. He had to study and grasp everything about his country.

He had to fire the people with enthusiasm to create, organize
and lead them on the road to the construction of a new Korea.
First of all he had to found a Marxist-Leninist Party which
is the general staff of the revolution.
General Kim Il Sung, who had to solve so many complicated
problems, even postponed meeting his grandparents and rela-
tives he had so much wished to see.
While many pseudo revolutionaries disguised as ‘‘patriots”
were frantically engaged in their factional activities, the
General planned the future of the Korean revolution, and
discussed with many comrades day after day. He visited fac-
tories, enterprises and farming villages, talked with workers
and peasants to acquaint himself with their actual conditions,
and organized and mobilized the people to the creation of a
new life. Day and night, the General worked hard, valuing
every second.
One day, the General drove with his adjutant towards the
Kangsun Steel Works.' The adjutant was immersed in joy.
He believed that finally he would have the honour of accompa-
nying the General to visit his home, for they headed for
Mangyungdai. Nearly a month had passed since he had re-
turned in triumph to Pyongyang, but because the General’s
days were so busy, he had barely time to send a messenger to
his uncle (his mother’s younger brother, Kang Yong Suk) who
lived on the other side of the Botong River and told him that he
would be home soon. He had not yet been to Mangyungdai
which was within calling distance.
From the car window one could see at a glance the early
autumn fields stretching to Mangyungdai and the hills covered
with beautiful green pine trees. As the General looked out of
the car, deep recollections gripped him. A meaningful smile
played on his face. He seemed to be greatly excited.
ay
 THE GENERAL’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO...

“The scenery of my native place is the same as ever,” he

said.
The General, half closing his eyes, seemed to be looking
back to the days when he left his native land with the ambition
to fight. It was his longed-for native place which he would tell
about with pride to his men while marching, or around the
campfires during the anti-Japanese resistance war. Presently
the car came to the crossing of roads to Mangyungdai and
Kangsun. The General told the driver to pull up, and he got
out. Pointing in the direction of Mangyungdai he said to his
adjutant:
“Mangyungdai is over there.... Its a good place.... Go there
in my place. I am sure you'll like it....”
The adjutant did not know how to answer the General, but
only looked at him without a word.
The General said thoughtfully:
“.. This is my native land I gaze on now after 20 years....
If you go, you will meet my old grandparents. Please give them
my best wishes, and tell them that now the country is liberated,
I'll shortly return home. And say it will be a good world to
live in from now on.... Well, let us meet here tomorrow morn-
ne?
The General gazed upon the hilltops which had fostered
the dreams of his boyhood for a while, and then got slowly
back into the car.
The discouraged adjutant said pleadingly, with tears in his
eyes:
“May I suggest that you stop by just for a while?”
“No, not now.... I'll drop in next time.”
The General gave a smile as if he were asking for under-
standing and drove away towards the Kangsun Steel Works.
Looking at the disappearing car, the adjutant was struck anew
by the great character of the General.
518
 KIM IL SUNG

“He is a great man indeed!”

The General naturally must have had a strong urge to
visit his home village! But valuing the destiny of the fatherland
above his life, it was more important for him to meet the
masses of workers who, in the face of so many tasks, were
eagerly waiting for his teaching than to visit his native home
and his grandparents. Thus for the great cause, he passed by
his native home, although he was so near it...
October 14, 1945! A Pyongyang City mass meeting in wel-
come of the triumphant return of General Kim II Sung was held
at the public playground at the foot of the Moranbong Hill.
“General Kim Il Sung is appearing at the meeting!” This
news threw all Pyongyang into a joyous tumult. The Moran-
bong Hill and Pyongyang had never received such happy news.
Even before the appointed time, large crowds of people began
to stream to the playground from the streets and suburban
villages. The autumn day of golden sunshine, the smiling azure
sky like a mirror without a speck of cloud : In a flash a mass of
over a hundred thousand people crowded in and around the
meeting place, and the nearby Moranbong Hill was covered
with overflowing white-clad crowds.
Among the people were those from Mangyungdai, including
the General’s aunt (Mrs. Hyun Yang Sim, the wife of Mr.
Kim Hyung Rok, who is the General’s uncle) who came rush-
ing over the distance of 12 kilometres.
The meeting began at one p. m. According to the pro-
gramme of the meeting, General Kim Il Sung, whom all the
people had longed for, showed his imposing and vigorous figure
on the platform. At that moment, the voice of wonder swept
through the meeting place like a fiery wind, and thunderous,
enthusiastic cheers burst forth, shaking the earth. The great
human mass that cheered manse and danced with joy, em-
bracing each other, was like ocean waves under a spring wind.
513
 1HE GENERAL’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO...

General Kim Il Sung answered the cheering mass of people

with his raised hand and a smile that was like sunshine. That
was indeed the greetings of great love to the fatherland and the
people, by the General who had travelled the long, long path
of flames and snowstorms throughout the many years of the
anti-Japanese war. It was also the greeting of blessing by the
peerless hero, the Leader of the nation who promised resurrec-
tion and glorious victory to the sacred soil of Korea.
The smiling face of the General surrounded by the bouquets
of flowers offered by young maidens! The face beaming with
future prosperity and happiness to be enjoyed by the nation!
How long the people had waited for the General! General
Kim Il Sung whom everyone dreamed of as the only ray of
hope of deliverance during the long years of darkness when
people suffered as slaves, the General who pressed upon and
frightened the big army of Japanese imperialism which dev-
astated all Asia with fire, General Kim I] Sung who dashed on
the blood-stained road of anti-Japanese struggle for 15 years,
holding high the smoke-blackened red flag and the programme
of national prosperity. He, now in the bosom of the 30 million
Korean people, was smiling, surrounded by flowers!
The mass of people who had been cheering, now choked
with joyful emotion, shed silent tears.
The General’s aunt could no longer keep still. She wanted
to see the General from a closer spot. She went forward through
the waving crowds and looked up at the General. How long it
has been since the parting! The image of a child which still
lingers somewhere in the heroic countenance of the General.
The unforgettable dimple and teeth, and the commanding eyes
shining with wisdom—it is Jeungson (great grandson)! It is
Sung Joo himself! Our General Kim Il Sung!
Crying, beside herself, “I am the aunt of General
Kim Il Sung!” to the guards checking her, his aunt ran to the
520
 KIM IL SUNG

foot of the platform.

Presently the General gave his moving historic speech:
“...Our people have won liberation and freedom from a life
of darkness which lasted for 36 years, and our fatherland, the
land of 3,000 rż, has begun to shine with a bright hope like
the brilliant rising sun. The time has come when we Korean
people have to unite our strength and advance together to build
a new democratic fatherland. A party or an individual alone
cannot accomplish this great mission. Those with strength, let
them dedicate strength; those with knowledge, let them devote
knowledge; those with money, let them offer money! All the
nation who truly love their country, love their people, and love
democracy, must unite completely in their effort to create our
fatherland as a democratic, independent state....”?
The General ended his speech, which touched the hearts of
all the people, with the slogan “Long live Korean independ-
ence!”
Another burst of manse and cheers shook the meeting place
which had been quiet till then.
The General descended from the platform, met his aunt
amidst a storm of cheers and excitement and left straight for
Mangyungdai.
The day on which he gave his first greetings to the masses
of people after his triumphant return, the General drove home
to his native place, Mangyungdai for the first time.
All the people of Mangyungdai rushed out to cheer the
General. Because it was the village where the General was born
and grew up, because it was the village where the parents and
uncle of the General who had dedicated themselves to the
liberation of the fatherland, had lived, this village had suffered
from brutal persecution at the hands of the Japanese imperial-
ist army and police. That Mangyungdai was now a hill of
bubbling joy and excitement.
521
 THE GENERAL’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO...

“Oh, you’re back at last. Am I dreaming or waking?”

His white-haired grandmother burst into tears, flinging her-
self into the General’s arms. The General embraced his grand-
mother, calling her. Never had a hero of any romantic legend
so moving a meeting. This was the most touching moment of
the actual historical drama of the nation.
“Am I dreaming or waking?” In her words were implied
all the feelings of the grandmother who realized such great
happiness after long years of misery. Twenty years since the
day of parting, what years they were!
Long ago, her two sons and a daughter-in-law left their home
with her grandchildren for faraway Manchuria. Days went
by while the grandmother was waiting and longing for them.
But what came to her was painful sadness. The news came
that her eldest son had died in the fighting. Before her sorrow
was healed, she heard that her daughter-in-law had also passed
away. Then came the news that her youngest son had died
in Seoul Prison. In the meantime, a rumour was afloat that
General Kim I] Sung, who, coming and going over Mt. Baik-
doo had fought and defeated the Japanese aggressors and had
won such fame, was no other than her eldest grandson, Sung
Joo. Much surprised and proud, the grandmother had hardly
slept. The Japanese authorities surrounded her house closely
and ran wild in the house every day. How many times they
searched every nook and corner of the house, even turned over
the floor stones!...
One day, she heard the news that her second grandson Chul
Joo had died in battle against the Japanese aggressors, and there
was a rumour that her youngest grandson Yung Joo was miss-
ing. Ah, was this possible? The police substation and myun
office spread a dreadful rumour that General Kim Il Sung too
had died in battle. (The Japanese imperialists repeated such
false propaganda in order to discourage the Korean people who
922
 KIM IL SUNG

rose up in the anti-Japanese struggle, adoring the General who

was defeating the Japanese aggressors.) The rumour was too
surprising for the grandmother to believe. However, because
of the persistently repeated false propaganda, there were even
neighbours who secretly brought wine for condolence. For the
grandmother, they were days of nightmare. But it could not be
true. As was expected, another happy rumour came, that
General Kim Il Sung was still actively operating in the high
and steep mountains, giving death blows to the enemy.
But who were the men in Western clothes who frequented
her house? They were Li Jong Rak and Pak Cha Sik, traitors
and dogs serving Japanese imperialism. The enemy, with their
help, threatened the grandmother. They wanted her to urge her
grandson to “surrender.” They at last took her out at the point
of the bayonet and roamed about in search of the General in the
mountains and fields of Manchuria. The grandmother treated
them with anger and dignity as became the General’s grand-
mother and poured fiery denunciations upon them for their
vicious acts, so that the enemy had no choice but to send her
home.
The dark and dreary days never seemed to end. Time pass-
ed and the grandmother’s hair became whiter, and news of the
General was not frequent....
However, as is said, pleasure follows pain; the days of dark-
ness were gone, and her sufferings had disappeared like mist.
Was she dreaming or waking? Her eldest grandson General
Kim Il Sung, whom she had waited for till her black hair had
turned silver, came back to her bosom! Her beloved grandson
came back as the Leader of the country, and the sun of the
nation!
Grasping the hands of the cheering villagers one after an-
other and exchanging greetings, the General stepped in through
the little gate of his old home.
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 THE GENERAL’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO...

His grandfather, who was ill in bed, came staggering out

into the garden barefoot, and cried:
“My grandson is here, once we thought him dead!”
Tears rained down the deeply furrowed face of his grand-
father.
“Grandfather! How much you must have suffered on account
of me!”
The General held him tightly in his arms, took him into the
house, and greeted him heartily. The moment when the
General entered the room, the thatch-roofed house, weather-
beaten by wind and snow, seemed as if it were a sparkling,
gorgeous palace.
Many people came into the room and sat down.
The grandmother said in a choking voice, wiping her tears
with the edge of her chima (Korean skirt).
“When I look at you, I feel my lifelong sorrows all melting
away!...”
“... But...Why have you come alone? Where have you left
your father and mother?... They should have come with youl...”
Hearing these heartrending words, the people who sat
around wiped their tears silently.
It was the children who broke the spell of sadness. The
innocent children came to sit on the General’s lap, and he took
them up in his arms with a cheerful smile.
His grandmother smiled too.
“Liberation is a good thing, indeed.... How glad your father
and mother would be in their graves!...”
The General was full of thought. How long it has been since
he was home last! How many years have passed since he saw
the people of his home village! Their too great joy did not
allow the people to speak. People simply wiped their tears but
could not speak. Words lost their meaning during this moment.
After a while a simple feast was given. On the table at which

524
 KIM IL SUNG

Moving scene of reunion with his family after his triumphant

return to the fatherland (from left: Grandmother, uncle,
General, grandfather and aunt)

the General sat together with his grandparents, the wine he had
brought was served also, and the old people drank to the
General’s health and his glorious return. What magnificent
banquet can be happier and more meaningful than this simple
one! The entire house was filled with laughter.
The aunt could not restrain her feelings and began singing.
It was a nursery song which Mr. Kim Hyung Jik and Mrs.
Kang Ban Suk had often sung the General to sleep with, in
their arms long ago. Her thin voice, faintly trembling with
emotion, brought back dear memories of the days gone by, and
the listening people thought of the beautiful and noble flow of
time which this thatched house had witnessed.
Suddenly the aunt recalled what the General had told her
when they met amid the cheers at the Pyongyang City mass
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 THE GENERAL’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO...

meeting.
“Aunt!... Today you take the place of my mother!...
”

But who in this world could take the place of a mother? If

I were his real mother, not aunt, how happier this day and this
place would be for the General! Ten aunts cannot take the place
of a mother! At these thoughts, hot tears streamed down her
cheeks, as she sang, eyes closed. The General, with warm
feelings welling up in his heart, was still smiling cheerfully, but
a faint shadow of sadness lurked in his eyes.
Soon the rooms and courtyard of the house which had been
so quiet were resounding with songs and dancing again.
The grandmother went out into the courtyard and danced,
too. It was a quiet dance overflowing with hidden passion and
joy. The entire village rejoiced with dancing and laughter.
That day, the General, as a pure and innocent grandson of
a peasant as in his childhood, enjoyed this pleasant time with
his beloved grandparents, uncle Hyung Rok and aunt, and other
relatives and old friends.
When it was known that the General had tendered the
greetings of his triumphant return to the people, all the publica-
tions in the country vied with each other to print interviews
with him and introduce the General’s figure to the nation.
Reporters for the “Seoul Shinmoon” who visited the General
on December 29, 1945, wrote as follows:
“A dimpled smile, gentle eyes and the light of genius
glittering in them.
Our hero General Kim Il Sung.
... This reporter is now meeting General Kim Il Sung,
our peerless hero and military genius our nation has ever
seen. During the period when our people were sunk in a
miserable situation under the oppression of Japanese imper-
ialism, the presence of General Kim Il Sung was, as his name
indicates, the sun and hope of our nation. How many youths
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 KIM IL SUNG

were encouraged by his name and rose up in the great strug-

ele.... Let me present the appearance of the General in detail.
Sunburnt brown complexion, short, modern-style hair, gentle,
double-lidded eyes, dimples appearing when he smiles—he is
a perfectly handsome youth. His height is probably about five
feet six, and he is not so plump. Generous, open and cheerful
character and modest, yet clear-cut attitude make people feel
as if they have been his friends for a long time. It is difficult to
guess where his ambitious spirit and daring are hidden. Though
not piercingly sharp, his eyes flash sometimes when he turns
his eyes right and left; a feeling of vitality hovering around his
eyebrows... sonorous, powerful voice, these are... characteristics
of his person. At the age of 19, he organized a partisan army
and started the anti-Japanese struggle. Since that time the
General’s activities have harassed the Japanese imperialists
to such a degree that they allotted 15 divisions to cope with
General Kim’s army.... The General uses simple and clear
expressions. He is modesty itself, and when asked if he had
any intention of becoming a statesman, he answered that he is
not fitted for such a name. When youthful people or students
call him General, he replies, ‘I am not a General, but your
friend. Please call me dongmoo (friend)’....
He loves the masses of people; above all, young people he
loves deeply; he meets everyone with good grace, listens to them
with sincerity, and answers their questions with kindness....
General Kim is now among the people as a simple citizen. How
his youthful wisdom and courage will reflect themselves in the
development of our nation must be a great matter of concern of
Korea. ”’
Responding to the nation’s great expectations and interest,
the General led them vigorously on the road towards the con-
struction of a new democratic Korea.
The people confidently saw the bright future of the new
a
 THE GENERAL’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO...

Korea in the road indicated by him and rallied ever closer a-

round him.
Glorious victory alone was in store for the Korean people
who had General Kim Il Sung as their great Leader.

528
 CHAPTER 13

THE SUN OF THE NATION

1. Great Struggle, Brilliant Revolutionary Traditions

KOREA is liberated. Korea has again become the Korean

people’s. The heroic armed anti-Japanese struggle waged under
the leadership of General Kim Il Sung ended in a great and
glorious victory.
We know of many heroic struggles carried on for national
independence and class liberation in the history of international
revolutionary movements. Every one of them was an extremely
complicated, difficult and splendid struggle.
But such a great, heroic fight as the anti-Japanese armed
struggle of the Korean Communists, organized and led by
General Kim II] Sung is rare indeed.
The anti-Japanese armed struggle waged under the leader-
ship of General Kim Il Sung was a protracted arduous struggle,
such as is rarely seen in the history of revolutionary movements,
and it was a most brilliant, magnificent struggle marking
an epoch-making turn in the development of the national
liberation struggle of the Korean people and the communist.
movement in Korea.
As we look back, our fatherland which had been reduced to
a colony of Japanese imperialism, was like a boat wandering ona
dark, stormy sea of raging waves without a compass or a rudder.
Therefore the people were longing from the bottom of their
hearts for the appearance of their great Leader who would
B29
 KIM iL SUNG

deliver their iatherland from the misery of hell and lead the
nation to the realization of their bright ideals.
But the Leader to appear in such a situation would have to
be a great man in every sense of the word. He would have to
have piercing vision to detect a light shining in faraway
shores even through a raging storm, and immense courage
which would conquer the angry ocean waves. In the face of
staggering obstacles and a strong enemy he would have to renew
his lofty sense of mission and rush ahead through them.
The great Leader of the Korean people, answering all these
calls, who came to take upon himself all this, was General
Kim Il Sung. He alone could hold aloft the brilliant programme
for the restoration of the fatherland which was the aspiration
and hope of the people, and for 15 years traverse the road of
great exploits, leading the fighters in battles to defeat the enemy
who outnumbered them a hundred times, a thousand times.
For the first time in the history of the national liberation
struggle in our country, General Kim I] Sung applied Marxism-
Leninism creatively to the specific conditions of the Korean
revolution, set forth the correct revolutionary line in the stand
of Juche and organized and led the anti-Japanese armed strug-
gle, and developed the national liberation struggle in our country
and the communist movement of Korea to a new, high stage.
The anti-Japanese armed struggle was a glorious struggle
through which the Korean people upheld their national honour
and demonstrated their indomitable revolutionary mettle to the
world.
The anti-Japanese armed struggle was indeed the decisive,
main form of the Korean national liberation struggle to single-
handedly overthrow the Japanese imperialist aggressors who
devastated the fatherland, and regain the lost country. It was
a many-sided political struggle closely linked to the struggle
to found a Marxist-Leninist Party, and the anti-Japanese
530
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

national united front movement.

The anti-Japanese armed struggle was a struggle waged on
the basis of scientific strategy and tactics for the first time in
the national liberation struggle of the Korean people. Following
the revolutionary line laid down on the stand of Juche and the
scientific strategy and tactics, the anti-Japanese armed struggle
was able to write such a glorious page of history.
The anti-Japanese armed struggle reflected the unanimous
aspirations of the masses of the people, including workers and
peasants, and was a struggle to champion their interests. It was
firmly rooted among the people and was waged with their
positive support.
The anti-Japanese armed struggle shines brightly because it
was the most arduous struggle waged during the grimmest days.
Under the hard conditions that they had neither rear base
nor support of the state, but only the help of the revolutionary
masses, the anti-Japanese guerrillas had to procure arms, am-
munition, food, clothing and all other necessary things through
battles with the enemy. They advanced thousands of miles
through fire and water, routing in the spirit of self-reliance the
enemy who were coming on ceaselessly as waves.
‘Through the long history of our people, has there ever been
such an arduous, trying, yet brilliant struggle as the anti-Japa-
nese armed struggle?
The 5,000 years of Korean history has never known such a
great struggle.
The appearance of General Kim Il Sung and the anti-Japa-
nese armed struggle waged under his leadership are, indeed, the
Korean people’s greatest pride and glory.
General Kim Il Sung not only personally organized and led
the anti-Japanese armed struggle, but in the course of it, built
the glorious revolutionary traditions which are the most precious
assets of the Korean people.
531
 KIM IL SUNG

The fundamental contents of the revolutionary traditions

established in the flames of the anti-Japanese armed struggle are
the sublime communist revolutionary spirit and the firm ideas of
Juche, the popular work style and the revolutionary work
method, the precious revolutionary exploits and the rich, varied
experience.
In the flames of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, the living
examples of the noble communist revolutionary spirit and the
ideas of Juche were established for the first time in Korea.
The guerrillas and the Communists educated and trained by
General Kim Il Sung trusted the Leader of the revolution and
were boundlessly faithful to him. They always defended with
their lives the Headquarters where General Kim Il Sung stayed,
and carried out faithfully the revolutionary tasks set by the
revolution and the Leader through thick and thin.
They struggled staunchly to oppose, overcome and liquidate
factionalism and opportunism which impaired the dignity of
the Leader, and indulged in wicked subversive activities within
the communist ranks to snatch away “hegemony.”
During the anti- Japanese armed struggle Juche was establish-
ed for the first time in the history of the Korean revolution,
and the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance was thoroughly em-
bodied there.
The question of establishing Juche in the revolution was
one of the most important tasks faced by the Korean Commu-
nists in the 1930’s.
General Kim Il Sung settled everything originally from the
stand of Juche that the Korean people should believe, above all,
in their own strength in the revolution, do their own thinking
and settle all problems arising in the Korean revolution for
themselves, and he broke through manifold difficulties and bot-
tlenecks in the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance. He fought
unyieldingly against flunkeyism and great-power chauvinism at
532
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

the risk of his life and saved the Korean revolution.

So the anti-Japanese national liberation movement and the
Korean communist movement were able to march triumphantly
onward, relying firmly on their own revolutionary forces, and
the Korean Communists faithfully discharged their international
duties.
The guerrillas and the Communists were filled with socialist
patriotism and proletarian internationalism.
They ardently loved their fatherland, their native places and
their people, and fought to make of their fatherland, a socialist
paradise on earth free from exploitation and oppression. Their
socialist patriotism was closely combined with proletarian inter-
nationalism.
The guerrillas and the Communists were thoroughly armed
with the Marxist-Leninist world view, and so had an immovable
belief in the victory of the revolution. Never daunted by any
kind of difficulty, they held fast to their revolutionary constancy
and displayed an unbending fighting spirit.
In the course of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, the pop-
ular work style and the revolutionary work method formed an
unshakable tradition.
The Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army was a voluntarily united
group of the fine sons and daughters of the Korean people
including workers and peasants who shared one ideology and
aim. Consequently, among the guerrillas, an indestructible
principled unity was formed and noble revolutionary comrade-
ship was displayed to the full.
The anti-Japanese guerrillas regarded it as their duty to
love the people and fight for them. The General always educated
his men in the spirit that “as fish cannot live out of water, so
the guerrillas cannot live apart from the people,” and himself
set this example for them. At any time and at any place, the
guerrillas always fought for the good of the people with all
539
 KIM IL SUNG

devotion, and defended the people at the risk of their lives in ali
adversities. They were simplehearted, modest and courteous to
the people. They were quick to grasp the demands of the mass-
es, looked after them with all sincerity, and always shared life
and death, joy and sorrow with them. That is why the guer-
rillas always enjoyed the boundless love, respect and absolute
support of the people.
The ties of kinship with the masses of the people were the
source of strength of the anti-Japanese guerrillas and a guarantee
of their victory.
In the course of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, many
noble revolutionary exploits were achieved, and a rich, varied ex-
perience in the revolutionary movement was built up. The anti-
Japanese armed struggle was not only a national liberation strug-
gle against Japanese imperialism, but also a great revolutionary
movement which successfully carried out all the historic tasks
set before the Korean revolutionary movement—the founding
of a Marxist-Leninist Party, the formation of a broad anti-Japa-
nese national united front on the basis of the worker-peasant
alliance, the establishment of people’s power, the building of
the people’s armed forces, and the creation of revolutionary
bases.
From the outset of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, the
General paid great attention to the preparatory work for the
founding of a Party, and fought energetically for it. The General
pushed ahead the struggle for the founding of a Party, com-
bining it closely with the armed struggle. He brought up many
trained and seasoned Communists of worker and peasant origin,
and through the resolute struggle against factionalism and all
kinds of Right and “Left” opportunism, defended the unity and
cohesion and the purity of the communist ranks and established
the firm mass foundation for building a Party. Thus the organ-
izational and ideological basis for founding a Marxist-Leninist
534
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

Party was firmly laid.

From the early days of his revolutionary activities, the
General showed deep interest in the unity of the anti-Japanese
forces, and while struggling for the realization of joint action
with the broad anti-Japanese forces, organized various revolu-
tionary mass organizations in many places, and carried on
vigorously the anti-Japanese national united front movement
on the basis of these. During the first half of the 1930’s, the
main forces of the Korean revolution were formed with the
anti-Japanese armed ranks, the leading force of the Korean
revolution, as their centre, and the patriotic forces rallied around
them. Upon the basis of these forces the General founded the
Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland, an anti-
Japanese national united front body.
During the anti-Japanese armed struggle, the root of the
people’s power was formed, and the precious experience of its
foundation and administration was accumulated. The General
rejected all kinds of rightist and leftist assertions with regard to
the question of power, and on the basis of the scientific analysis
of the character of the revolution and the balance of forces
between the classes in our country, he set forth the original] line
of the people’s government, and through the people’s revolu-
tionary government, enforced all democratic policies. In this
course the root of the people’s power was formed for the first
time in our country.
The Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army founded personally by
the General was an armed force which was aimed at the na-
tional and social liberation of the Korean working masses, and
a revolutionary army which was guided by Marxism-Leninism.
The General embodied thoroughly the ideas of the unity be-
tween men and officers and unity between armymen and people
among the anti-Japanese guerrillas, and put into practice the
military line of arming all the people in the liberated areas with
SB:
 KIM IL SUNG

the guerrillas as the core. Many excellent military workers

were reared by the General, and rich combat experience gained.
While unfolding the armed struggle, the General set forth
the line of setting up guerrilla bases which were the centre of
guerrilla activities and the strategic base for the Korean revo-
lution. To follow this line in keeping with the strategic phases
of the armed struggle, he set up different forms of bases, and
utilizing these bases, he carried on the anti-Japanese armed
struggle forcefully and developed the Korean revolution vigor-
ously. In this course he acquired valuable experience on creating
the revolutionary bases.
These revolutionary traditions built up under the leadership
of General Kim Il Sung are all the more precious and prouder
because they were established in the flames of rigorous armed
struggle. The revolutionary traditions are incomparably rich and
profound because they not only contain all the complex prob-
lems of the revolutionary struggle in a unified way, but also
systematize scientifically the demands both of the present and
the future.
General Kim Il Sung built up such brilliant revolutionary
traditions through the long years of the arduous struggle! When
we call General Kim Il Sung the Leader of the nation, what a
proud meaning is embraced by the words!
The revolutionary traditions built up under the leadership of
the General, indeed, are the invaluable wealth of our people
that cannot be exchanged for anything, and the priceless where-
withal and deep roots of the Korean revolution. The roots of
the revolutionary traditions are planted deep in the soil of
Korea and’ in the mind of the nation, and cannot be shaken
by any storm er by any convulsion of the world. The unjust
is ephemeral; the true is lasting. Even after all traitorous and
reactionary elements are washed down the sewer of history, the
glorious revolutionary traditions and exploits created under the

536
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

leadership of General Kim Il Sung will last for ever with the
people.
Thanks to the revolutionary traditions which tower as an
imposing monument shedding light on the long history of our
country, the inherent wisdom and abilities of the Korean people
have come into full bloom and the land of natural beauty, full
of valuable resources, now shines on the globe.
Thanks to the revolutionary traditions, the Korean people
have come to see the bright future of new history, leaving the
darkness behind, and can pronounce proudly the name of their
fatherland and walk with the head erect before the world.
As a result, a wide road has been opened before the great
aspirations of General Kim I] Sung, to construct in the father-
land of beautiful mountains and clear rivers a new society, a
paradise on earth of the working people, where the entire
Korean people enjoy freedom and happiness, after defeating
and driving away the aggressors.

Dod.
2. Great Leader of the 40 Million Korean People

THE WORLD has seen many renowned heroes. But in no

age nor in any country has there been found a national hero
such as General Kim Il Sung. None has ever waged so arduous
and protracted revolutionary campaign, full of such innumera-
ble exploits, an armed struggle beyond all understanding, such
as the General organized and led in the anti-Japanese armed
struggle.
However, the story of the great anti-Japanese armed strug-
gle alone cannot fully explain General Kim Il Sung, because the
revolutionary activities of the General have continued ever since
the August 15 Liberation, moving as a gigantic stream. General
Kim I] Sung has led and is victoriously leading the Korean
revolution with his all-penetrating foresight and perfect master-
hand as Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers’
Party of Korea since the Liberation, and as General Secretary
of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea since
it was changed to the Secretariat system in October 1966, and
as Chairman of the North Korean People’s Committee, the first
central government organ ever established in North Korea and
as Premier of the Cabinet since the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea was founded in September 1948. From the deep roots
of the brilliant revolutionary traditions, a gigantic tree of so-
cialism rises high in the sky, and fragrant, beautiful flowers
538
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

are blooming on its luxuriant branches like shining clouds.

General Kim Il Sung put forth his famous line of building a
democratic base in North Korea under the complicated situation
with the U.S. imperialist aggressor troops stationed in South
Korea, and the North and South forced to proceed along entire-
ly different roads. This was the extremely important line of
establishing a base for anti-imperialist struggle and building up
the revolutionary forces to accomplish the unification and inde-
pendence of the divided country. This line rapidly began to
bring its great vitality into fuller play with the founding of the
Party.
On October 10, 1945, General Kim Il Sung founded a Marx-
ist-Leninist Party, the general staff of the revolution, on the
basis of the organizational and ideological preparations for
founding a Party made by him during the anti-Japanese armed
struggle, and developed it into an invincible mass political Party
in a short space of time. Under his guidance, the Workers’
Party of Korea became the great vanguard of the revolution,
breaking through all raging storms, the affectionate mother
warmly embracing and bringing up all the Korean people and
the organizer of all the creations and victories of the Korean
people.
General Kim Il Sung rallied all the people around the Party
and vigorously led them to implement the line of democratic
base. The General kept on changing with his really brilliant
sweep the face of the northern half with each passing day.
Not only in the history of our country but in the history of the
East, the first people’s government was created, various demo-
cratic reforms including the land reform and nationalization of
industries were carried out with thoroughness amid the cheers
of the people, and the Korean People’s Army, the regular
army of the revolution, was organized with the anti-Japanese
guerrillas as its backbone, all combining to present a picture of
539
 KIM IL SUNG

a torrential flow of molten steel. These great national events

shone with all the more brilliance when the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea was founded in 1948 according to the
unanimous will of ail the Korean people in the North and
South. With great joy the Korean people unanimously recom-
mended General Kim Il Sung as Premier of the Cabinet of
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, he who had been
the accepted Leader of the nation since the 1930’s.
Being the full-fledged masters of the country, its power and
all its wealth, the people welcomed a golden age of abundance
and freedom for the first time in Korean history.
Because the revolutionary base was built in this way in a
short time, the Korean people were able to emerge victorious in
the fierce, bitter war ignited by the U.S. imperialists. This
war, imposed upon the infant Republic, was a grave ordeal
vitally affecting the fate of the revolution and the people.
During the Fatherland Liberation War, Premier
Kim Il Sung, as Chairman of the Military Committee of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Supreme Com-
mander of the Korean People’s Army, commanded the infant
People’s Army and the entire people with superior commanding
art and operational tactics acquired in the anti-Japanese armed
struggle, and mercilessly crushed the reactionary armed forces
composed of 16 countries led by the U.S. imperialists, boastful
of its “mightiness,”’ and the Syngman Rhee puppet clique.
Premier Kim Il Sung was honoured with the Title of Marshal
and the Title of Hero of the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea in recognition of his outstanding military strategic skill
and shining achievements in the anti-Japanese armed struggle,
in founding, strengthening and developing the Korean Peo-
ple’s Army, the armed forces of the Korean people, and in the
Fatherland Liberation War against the U.S. imperialist armed
invaders and for the defence of the freedom and independence

540
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

of the country.
While the entire land had been turned into a sea of flame,
the rocks burnt, and when even the rivers boiled, the Korean
people, in response to the call of the Leader, converted the whole
land into an impregnable fortress of enemy-smashing heights,
badly mauled the large forces of the enemy attacking from the air
and ground, and buried all of them in the mountains and rivers
of the fatherland.
U.S. imperialism was defeated. This, as their dejected
warmongers admitted, was the first and most miserable defeat
ever sustained in the history of the United States. Over piles of
one million casualties the aggressors hung their bandaged heads
and signed the armistice agreement.
As a result, the name of Premier Kim Il Sung, ever-victori-
ous, iron-willed brilliant commander, coupled with the name of
Heroic Korea, became a symbol of justice, courage and might
to the whole world.
During this hard struggle, many South Korean people came
through the war fires to the bosom of Premier Kim Il Sung.
Among them were many young men and women who had
joined the People’s Army as volunteers and heroically fought
the U.S. imperialist aggressors, taking their guns in their
hands. With infants on their backs, many South Korean work-
ers and peasants crossed high and steep mountains and deep
valleys and entered the North. Also among them were white-
haired scholars and professors who came to the North following
the People’s Army, walking the thousand-7z, long, long way,
bringing with them their students and pupils. Boys and artists
continued their travel only towards the North, singing loudly
the “Song of General Kim I! Sung,” defying the rain of bombs
from U.S. planes.
Premier Kim Il Sung took all of them into his broad bosom,
providing them with a happy life and trained them as workers
541
 KIM IL SUNG

for socialist construction and the unification of the fatherland.

After defeating the U.S. imperialist aggressors, Premier
Kim I] Sung mobilized the entire people and reconstructed the
demolished country in a short span of time, to the further
wonder of the whole world.
He led the people along the shortcut to victory in socialist
revolution and socialist construction that nobody had ever
trodden.
Postwar construction was as bitter a struggle as the war.
Villages, cities and factories lay in ruins.
It was difficult to get even a piece of brick or a bag of
cement.
: The iron and steel mills were reduced to piles of scrap iron
and covered with weeds.
Construction—but where to begin, with what? This was.
not a problem such as could be easily solved. The enemy claimed
that Korea would not be able to stand up again for 50 years,
100 years, perhaps never. But, this was a balderdash.
Premier Kim Il Sung, who always believed in the strength
of the people, presented an unique basic line of economic con-
struction, by giving priority to the development of heavy in-
dustries and at the same time developing light industries and
agriculture, with the heroism with which he had smashed the
U.S. imperialist aggressors, and inspired the people to all-out
reconstruction.
The basic line of economic construction put forth by Premier
Kim I] Sung was the key which made it possible to most cor-
rectly and boldly solve the questions of rapidly rehabilitating
the economy, developing it and building an independent econo-
my and improving the people’s livelihood.
According to this line, the entire country was turned into a
huge sparkling construction site. The birds which built nests in
the ruins had to fly into the forests.

542
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

Immediately after the ceasefire, Premier Kim I] Sung went

out to the places of construction and solved the knotty problems
one by one with workers and technicians. Construction work
was carried on day and night. Even housewives and children
competed in drawing water and carrying gravel. Everybody
tightened his belt and worked heroically for the sake of the
happiness of compatriots and unification of the fatherland and
the prosperity of the generations to come.
Thus, less than 40 days after the armistice, the Kangsun
Steel Works began to produce molten iron again. Beginning
with the Hwanghai Iron Works and big factories in the Chung-
jin and Heungnam areas, larger and more modern factories
than the prewar ones were constructed in various parts of the
country and began production. Not only that, Pyongyang and
many other beautiful, magnificent big cities and civilized farm-
ing villages sprang up like stars across the country.
The revolution developed swiftly. With his unique skill,
Premier Kim I] Sung paved the way to socialist cooperativization
of agricultural management and socialist transformation of
private trade and industry. According to his plan, socialist
transformation was completed in town and countryside in the
shortest period of time and smoothly. He converted the country-
side into a rich, civilized socialist countryside by completing
the cooperativization of agricultural management without blem-
ish in only four or five years and established a world-historic
example in winning the peasants to the side of the workers as
their unshakable ally, and strengthening the politico-moral
unity of the masses of people.
So in the northern half a society was constructed free from
exploitation and oppression, a socialist system, a paradise of
labour and freedom, for which working people had long yearned
and for which the revolutionaries fought, shedding blood under
the leadership of Premier Kim Il Sung, and a reliable base for

543
 KIM IL SUNG

the Korean revolution was built like an iron wall.

Premier Kim I] Sung devoted all his energies to building an
independent national economy in postwar rehabilitation work,
which had been a consistent policy since the Liberation.
Stressing that the Korean people must build an independent
national economy in order to construct a new society with their
own strength, he said:
“The building of an independent national economy means
developing the economy in a diversified way, equipping it with
up-to-date techniques and creating our own firm raw material
bases, thus building up a comprehensive economic system in
which all branches are organically interlinked with each other,
so as to turn out domestically, in the main, all the heavy and
light industrial products and agricultural produce needed for
the prosperity of the country and the improvement of the people’s
living conditions.”
This is an embodiment of the stand of Juche, the revolu-
tionary spirit of self-reliance in economic construction which
Premier Kim Il Sung has consistently maintained from the time
of the anti-Japanese armed struggle.
He put forth a series of creative policies and measures such
as construction of independent and self-sustenant heavy in-
dustries, parallel development of central and local industries,
huge nature-remaking, extensive training of national cadres,
full-scale technical revolution and cultural revolution. The pat-
riotic people whose faith in the guidance of the Leader knew
no bounds, achieved great successes in constructing an inde-
pendent economy for their country.
This was really a great wonder. Starting with production of
13,000 machine tools besides the state plan through the “ma-
chine-tool-begets-machine-tools” movement during one year
only, some 1,000 local industrial factories were built within
three months, with materials and labour power latent in local
544
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

areas, and also within a few months a huge irrigation system

was successfully constructed, covering 370,000 jungbo (one
jungbo approximates one hectare) of farm lands. These were
part of what happened in Korea.
In this course was built powerful, self-supporting independ-
ent national economy which produces all necessary goods for
domestic use and provides the people with sufficient food,
clothes and comfortable houses.
With regard to industries, an independent industrial system
was established, consisting of heavy industrial bases with ma-
chine-building industry as the mainstay and light industrial bases
with central and local industries. Asa result, the Korean people
are now in a position to manufacture with their own techniques
and strength, tractors, electric locomotives, electric cars, bull-
dozers, motor cars, 3,000-ton presses, eight-metre turning lathes
and many other kinds of heavy industrial products, and textiles,
foodstuffs and many other kinds of light industrial products,
virtually everything necessary, and can manufacture anything if
they will. The whole land was been covered with a network of
factories, and production was sharply increased as their equip-
ment was modernized. As early as 1964, per capita production
of not a few products such as electricity, pig iron, granulated
iron, steel, coal, textiles, exceeded or became equal to that of
Japan. In 1964, in comparison with South Korea, per capita
production of electricity was 11 times, steel 20 times, coal 3.5
times, chemical fertilizer 36 times and cement five times.
Changes in the countryside were also remarkable. In the
countryside advanced socialist agricultural management was set
up, which efficiently produces sufficient foods and raw materials
for industry and which knows no bad crop but harvests rich
crops every year. A close network of irrigation covers the
countryside, various machines including tractors and motor cars
take over the laborious work of peasants, with the result that
545
 KIM IL SUNG

the peasants gather good harvests without excessive labour. In

fact, the northern half of the Republic where food was once
short, has become a land abundant in food.
Conspicuously striking successes were also registered in all
of science, education, health, culture and the arts.
The country once shackled to colonial slavery in a corner of
Asia, a country once reduced to ashes by war, has emerged as
a powerful socialist state with a strong independent national
economy and as a civilized country, and become a beacon of
Asia shedding its light upon the world.
Under the circumstances with socialism triumphing in town
and countryside, and an independent national economy
established, Premier Kim Il Sung put forth a historic task of
finally settling the peasant and agrarian questions by eliminat-
ing the differences between cities and villages and class differ-
ences between the working class and peasants. This was clarified
in his famous “Theses on the Socialist Agrarian Question in Our
Country.” As regards the principles and methods for solving
them, the Theses clearly indicate that the differences between
town and countryside should be removed by means of promoting
the ideological, technical and cultural revolutions in the coun-
tryside, conducting responsible Party and State guidance and
assistance to the countryside, guiding and running agricultural
management with the same enterprise methods as in industry
and constantly bringing cooperative ownership closer to all-
people ownership.
This is the first scientific clarification ever made in the world
of the means for full-scale construction of socialism and gradual
transition to communism. New changes and innovations have
taken place in the countryside in the course of realizing the
Theses.
Premier Kim Il Sung, promoting ceaselessly the revolution
and construction with extraordinary revolutionary sweep, has
546
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

placed important stress on the strengthening of the national

defence power of the country and firmly held to the line of self-
defence. In view of the complex and tense stiuation in which
Korea is situated, Premier Kim Il Sung set forth the revolu-
tionary, strategic line of carrying out economic construction and
defence buildup in parallel. He also advanced the military line
of building up the People’s Army into a cadre army and mod-
ernizing it, putting all people under arms and converting the
whole land into a fortress. Thanks to the implementation of
these wise lines and policies, the northern half of the Republic
has been made into an impregnable fortress which will annihi-
late any imperialist aggression on the spot and safely protect
the fruits of the revolution won at the cost of blood, and which
will achieve the unification of the fatherland.
As the country became richer and stronger, all working
people were freed from all worries about food, clothing and hous-
ing, with their material and cultural living standards improved
as a whole. All people are leading a stable life with fixed jobs.
They all are enjoying free medical services and their children are
attending school at no cost. All the incapacitated, helpless
old men and women and all orphans are guaranteed a stable life
by the State.
These lines and policies are inspired with the boundless love
for the people of Premier Kim Il Sung who has waged arduous
bloody struggles only for the freedom and happiness of the
people.
He extends kindred solicitude to the people in all areas of
life from the question of supplying them with more rice and
subsidiary foods to that of children’s dresses and shoes, and
teaches construction workers to build more and better houses
for working people.
In this course, the politico-moral unity of the masses of
people has been exceptionally strengthened. Needless to say,
547
 KIM IL SUNG

socialist revolution and socialist construction have been accom-

panied by severe class struggles. All manoeuvres on the part of
a handful of the overthrown exploiting class and reactionary
elements have been smashed and wiped out in time by the
united might of the people. Premier Kim Il Sung set forth the
line of working-classizing and revolutionizing the peasants and
intellectuals on the basis of the strengthened leading role of the
working class and its ever-expanding revolutionary influence,
and of strengthening the politico-ideological unity of the whole
society and connecting it closely to the class struggle against
the hostile elements’ intrigues and machinations. Always seeing
the fundamental roots of the counterrevolutionary forces in a
handful of the hostile classes, Premier Kim I] Sung has won
the people in all walks of life and rallied them, and has gone
so far as to educate and train with fatherly love into socialist
workers even those people whose origins and past political lives
were complicated. Thus, the whole society has become a great,
united and harmonious, Red family in which all people advance,
trusting and helping each other. All members of the Workers’
Party and all people are firmly rallied around Premier
Kim Il Sung, the great Leader, and are thoroughly armed with
one ideology that they think and act as he thinks, and are ready
to go through fire and water in order to carry out his demands
and win the revolution together with him to the last. There is
no force in the world which can withstand this invincible unity
of the Leader and the Party and people.
In the northern half such great transformations as our fore-
fathers never imagined, have taken place.
Therefore, the Korean people and foreign friends are speak-
ing about such prosperity with the impressive words,
“Kim Il Sung Era” or “Era of the Workers’ Party,” and peoples
of Asia, Africa and Latin America are looking upon Korea as
the standard-bearer of anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. struggle, and
548
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

Juche.
Each of these things is totally attributable to the correct
leadership of Premier Kim II Sung.
Premier Kim I] Sung has always established Juche thorough-
ly in guiding the revolution. This is a brilliant tradition which
he built during the period of the anti-Japanese armed struggle.
What is it to establish Juche? He said about this: “By the
establishment of Juche we mean holding to the principle of
solving for oneself all the problems of the revolution and con-
struction in conformity with the actual conditions at home, and
mainly by one’s own efforts. This is the realistic and creative
stand, opposing dogmatism and applying the universal truth of
Marxism-Leninism and the experiences of the international
revolutionary movement to one’s country in conformity with
its particular historical conditions and national peculiarities.
This is an independent stand, rejecting dependence on others,
and displaying the spirit of self-reliance and solving one’s own
affairs by oneself under all circumstances.”
Premier Kim Il Sung has always firmly maintained Juche in
ideology, independence in politics, self-sustenance in the econo-
my and self-defence in national defence.
In formulating all policies he has based himself always on
these Juche ideas. All the policies formulated by him correctly
represent the interests and demands of the Korean people, and
precisely for this reason they display great vitality.
Indeed, all successes and great changes made in the north-
ern half are the great fruits of the Juche ideas of Premier
Kim Il Sung and the polices based on them.
Premier Kim Il Sung has not only worked out the most
correct lines and policies from the stand of Juche but skilfully
organized and mobilized the masses of people to the struggle to
implement them.
He makes it a principle to fulfill all revolutionary tasks by
549
 KIM IL SUNG

always believing in the strength of the masses and giving active

play to their strength and creative wisdom. All the year round,
at all seasons, dressed in quiet clothes, Premier Kim I] Sung
always goes among the masses, talks with them, educates them
and organizes and mobilizes them, thereby achieving great feats.
There is no place in our country which has never received on-
the-spot guidance of Premier Kim I] Sung.
Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett, who visited Korea
and was received by Premier Kim I] Sung, wrote about his
impression:
“I was fortunate enough to have spent one hour with him.
He has that quality that only great men have, of ease and
simplicity, dealing with every complex questions in simple, easily
understandable terms. When he put questions to me about my
own life and work, I could easily picture him, sitting down un-
der a tree or at a factory bench, and discussing problems with
peasants and workers, putting them at their ease immediately,
getting them to speak out about the problems of their life and
work, with a view to finding a solution. ”
Such wise leadership of Premier Kim I] Sung has found its
concentric expression in initiating and guiding the Chullima
Movement which has become widely known as a synonym for
Korea. The Chullima Movement started at the end of 1956
when he went among the workers, discussed with them the
measures for overcoming the tense situation and difficulties con-
fronting economic construction, and called forth their revolution-
ary passion, in the difficult days when the U.S. imperialists and
the Syngman Rhee clique were kicking up the “march north”
rackets, and while the counterrevolutionary, anti-Party faction-
alists were frantically engaged in their manoeuvres. Quickly
grasping the demands of the revolution and ardent desire of the
people for a leap forward, he caused a whirlwind-like advance
on all fronts of socialist construction under the let-us-ride-
550
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

Chullima-and-gallop slogan.
In all areas, collective innovation movements started.
All people were inflamed with revolutionary passion, with
their hearts beating like a drum for new creations. Any
and every foreign visitor to Korea was amazed at the un-
precedented speed of construction. People smashed passivism,
conservatism and technical mysticism, advancing at the speed of
Chullima, and ran up the staircase of exploits to glory, day in
and day out, while thinking boldly and acting boldly in response
to the call of the Leader.
The Chullima Movement developed into a great revolutionary
movement of millions of working people which greatly promoted
socialist construction, shaking off all sorts of backwardness
and making ceaseless innovations in all the fields of the econo-
my and culture, ideology and morality, and became the general
line of the Party in socialist construction.
To give free scope to the inexhaustible strength and creative
power of the people in conformity with the new realities of
socialist construction, Premier Kim I] Sung suggested the work
method of superiors helping his inferiors, higher organs helping
the lower organs and all functionaries conducting work with
the masses successfully, thereby bringing into full play their
creative initiative and positiveness. This is the famous Chung-
san-ri method that Premier Kim I] Sung created while con-
ducting on-the-spot guidance at Chungsan-77, Kangsu county,
South Pyungan Province.
In economic management, he also suggested not a one-man
unitary management system, but an enterprise management
system of realizing collective guidance of a Party Committee
and not only superiors helping their inferiors in the spirit of
unity between the superior and inferior, but producer masses
directly taking part in the management of their enterprise,
thereby further evoking their responsibility and revolutionary
SSi
 KIM IL SUNG

passion. This is the Daian Work System that he created in the

course of his on-the-spot guidance at the Daian Electric
Appliances Factory.
This work method and enterprise management system put
more spurs to the advance of Chullima.
Today, Korea which has become the “Country of Chullima”
is a country where miracles are being done every day in a surging
atmosphere, a paradise where red flowers of socialism are in
full bloom, a country where working people take part in govern-
ment in fact as well as in name, and no exploitation or oppres-
sion is found, a country where all the people are united as a
great Red family, a country where all people enjoy equality and
freedom and once despised labour is a joy and honour, a country
where a thatched house and an underground shack are things
of the past, where all live in civilized houses, receive free med-
ical treatment and take rest and study through university free
of charge, a country which has flourishing huge independent
industries and developed rural economy free from bad
crop, a country which abolished all agricultural taxes for the
first time in the world and enforced the nine-year universal
compulsory technical education system for the first time in the
East, a country which has a brilliant socialist national culture
and world-first-rate “golden arts’—this is the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea!
So our compatriots living in Japan, too, feel deep pride in
being citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
and large numbers of Koreans in Japan have already returned
and more are now returning to the bosom of the socialist father-
land where is Premier Kim Il Sung, bidding good-bye to their
hard life in an alien country.
In this way, Premier Kim Il Sung has authored a great
socialist epic on the soil of the fatherland with his glorious and
titanic life, which is a great model to the world.
392
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

Premier Kim Il Sung’s wise leadership, his genius insight

and foresight, his love for the people and his care for the nation
are also fully manifested in his plan on the South Korean
revolution and unification of the fatherland and his guidance in
the struggle to carry it out.
Premier Kim I] Sung described the revolution for the South
Korean people to carry out, as an anti-imperialist, anti-feudal,
democratic revolution whose task is to settle the contradictions
between the opposing two forces, the U.S. imperialist aggres-
sor forces, and their allies the landlords, comprador capitalists
and reactionary bureaucrats on one side and people in all walks
of life including workers, peasants, intellectuals and youth and
students on the other, and as an important component part of
the whole Korean revolution. On this basis, he made clear that
the basic duty of the South Korean revolution is to liquidate the
U.S. imperialist colonial rule, ensure democratic development
of the South Korean society and accomplish the unification of
the country in unison with the socialist forces in the northern
half.
Premier Kim I] Sung, clarifying the character and duty of
the South Korean revolution, has indicated the road for the
South Korean people to follow by making clear the means of
carrying out the revolution and the task of struggle at the proper
time in each stage of the revolution and is boundlessly encour-
aging and inspiring them in their revolutionary struggle.
On rainy evenings or at snowstormy dawns, he is always
thinking of the South Korean people who are suffering miserably
from all sorts of exploitation and absence of rights. Not a few
times Premier Kim Il Sung proposed kindred help to South
Korean flood victims, unemployed and orphans. Each time the
Yankees have stood in the way, however.
From the Liberation till today, Premier Kim I] Sung has
never forgotten for a moment the liberation of the South Korean
558.
 KIM iL SUNG

people and the unification of the fatherland. Whenever he

met with peasants, he told them to grow more rice for the
starving South Koreans, and whenever he visited a factory, he
told the workers to make machines with which to rehabilitate
South Korea. It was for the purpose of unifying the country and
providing a happy, new life to the North and South Korean
people that he let all people ride Chullima to gallop and build a
rich, powerful revolutionary base in the northern half.
To drive out of South Korea the U.S. imperialist aggres-
sor army, the very author of the national split, and unify the
country with the independent might of the Korean people, is
the line that Premier Kim II Sung has stuck to all along.
Premier Kim Il Sung has positively proposed the just and
reasonable unification policy in each stage of the development
of the situation in order to settle the question of the unification
of the country with the internal forces of the Korean people.
In accordance with lines indicated by Premier Kim Il Sung,
in particular the basic line at the present stage of preserving the
revolutionary forces in South Korea from the suppression by
the enemy and constantly accumulating and expanding them in
active preparation for the great revolutionary event, the South
Korean people are now raising higher the flames of struggle
against U.S. imperialism and its stooges. This anti-U.S.,
national salvation struggle is tolling the knell for the enemy.
The day will come soon when the Yankees and their lackeys
will be smashed by the united might of the North and South
Korean people and when the 40 million Korean people sing
about their unity and great nationwide prosperity, rallied rock-
firm around Premier Kim I] Sung, their respected and beloved
Leader,
Premier Kim Il Sung’s outstanding leadership is unthinkable
apart from his contribution to the world revolution, and the
international communist and working-class movements.
554
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

By wisely leading and promoting the Korean revolution, he

is faithfully discharging the internationalist duty assigned to the
Korean Communists in a most exemplary way, contributing
greatly towards the development of the world revolution. Not
only that, by resolutely opposing Right and “Left” opportunism
from the independent and principled stand based on the interests
of the Korean revolution and the international revolution, and
by resolutely struggling, upholding the revolutionary banner of
Marxism-Leninism, the banner of anti-imperialism and anti-
U.S., the banner of struggle for national liberation and socialism
and the banner of unity and cohesion of the socialist camp and
the international communist movement, he has made a valuable
contribution to the development of the international revolution
and is still doing so.
Today, the international reputation of Premier Kim II Sung
as the outstanding Leader of the socialist revolution and anti-
imperialist, anti-U.S. struggle has been so firmly established
that it can never be shaken. Many works and speeches of
Premier Kim Il Sung on the socialist revolution and construction
in Korea, anti-imperialist national liberation struggle and inter-
national communist movement are producing great repercussions
in broad areas of the world and are read and studied by the
peoples of the world as their guide to action.
Prime Minister Fidel Castro of revolutionary Cuba, said
about Premier Kim I] Sung who has made outstanding achieve-
ments in theory and practice:
“Comrade Kim Il Sung is one of the most distinguished,
outstanding and heroic socialist leaders in the present world. His
history is one of the most beautiful histories a revolutionary
serving the cause of socialism is able to write.”
Edward F. Ndlovu, deputy secretary in charge of the
National Affairs of the African People’s Union of Zimbabwe,
who visited Korea, said:
DI
 KIM IL SUNG

“Premier Kim Il Sung is one of the greatest men of our

times, one of the greatest men in modern history, the out-
standing Leader of the revolution and such a person as we want
for all hopes and successes in the struggle for justice and
construction of socialism.”
This man is precisely Premier Kim I! Sung, the great Leader
of the 40 million Korean people, peerless patriot, national hero,
ever-victorious, iron-willed brilliant commander and one of the
outstanding leaders of the international communist movement
and working-class movement.
As we have seen, only shining victory and happiness are in
store for the Korean people who have the great Premier
Kim Il Sung as their Leader! The great achievements scored
by him over long years will shine for ever through generations!
The feeling of gratitude and respect to him of the 40 million
Korean people becomes the “Song of General Kim Il Sung”
which even children and mothers sing together with all com-
patriots at home and abroad, and echoes through the mountains
and rivers of the 3,000-ri land, the song of the whole nation.

Marks of blood on every ridge

of the Jangbaik,
Marks of blood on every reach
of the Amrok.
Still now over the blooming
free Korea
Those sacred marks shed
brilliant rays.
O dear is the name,
our beloved General!
O glorious is the name,
General Kim Il Sung!

556
 THE SUN OF THE NATION

Tell, ye snowstorms in the

wilderness of Manchuria,
Tell, ye long, long nights of
deep forests,
Who is the partisan unrivalled
in all time!
Who is the patriot peerless
through all ages!
O dear is the name,
our beloved General!
O glorious is the name,
General Kim Il Sung!

397
 Chronological Table of General Kim Il Sung’s
Major Activities

(April 1912—August 1945)

1912 April 15 Born, eldest son of Mr. Kim Hyung Jik

and Mrs. Kang Ban Suk at Mangyungdai-
ri, Mangyungdai District, Pyongyang City
(then, Nam-ri, Kopyung-myun, Daidong
county, South Pyungan Province)

1917 March 23 Mr. Kim Hyung Jik, father of the

General, organizes ““Korean National
Association,” an anti-Japanese under-
ground organization.

1917 Autumn-1918 Mr. Kim Hyung Jik, father of the

Autumn General, wages struggle in Pyongyang
Prison.

1919 Summer-1923 Via Joonggangjin, Linchiang, studies at

January primary school in Pataokou.
Mr. Kim Hyung Jik, father of the
General, continues anti-Japanese struggle
in Joonggangjin, Linchiang and Pataokou.

1923 February-1925 Studies at Changduk School in his native

Beginning place.

1925 Beginning Crosses the Amrok River, with lofty

(14 years old) aspiration to restore the fatherland.

1926 June 5 Mr. Kim Hyung Jik, father of the

General, passes away.

558
 KIM IL SUNG

1926 Summer-Autumn Enters Hwasung School in Huatien

county. Organizes ‘“‘T.D.’’ (Down-with-
Imperialism Union), an illegal organiza-
tion. In autumn, quits Hwasung School,
and organizes “‘Sainal Children’s Corps”
in Fusung.

1927 Spring Enters Yuwen Middle School in Kirin

where he studies Marxism-Leninism.

1927 Spring-1928 Organizes first ‘“‘Communist Youth

League” in Kirin. Organizes ‘“‘Anti-
Imperialist Youth League.” Leads
“Korean Ryoogil Students’ Society” in
Kirin.
Refutes An Chang Ho’s national reform-
ist speech in Kirin.
Mrs. Kang Ban Suk, mother of the
General, engages in activities in Fusung
as Chairman of the Women’s Association.

1928 October-November Organizes and leads the struggle against

Kirin-Hoiryung railway project.

1929 Spring Attends Meeting of General Federation

of Youth in South Manchuria and issues
statement in Sanyuanpu accusing nation-
alists of splitting activities.

1929 Organizes and leads a strike of youth and

students against reactionary Manchurian
warlords.

1929 Latter Half-1930 Wages struggle in Kirin Prison. Studies

Spring problems of national liberation in colonial
countries, and line of the Korean revolu-
tion.

a9
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE...

1930 Summer-1931 Presents Marxist-Leninist revolutionary

Beginning line of Korean revolution on stand of
Juche. Forms Korean Revolutionary
Army, an armed organization of Com-
munists, for anti-Japanese armed struggle.
Leads organizations of Communist Youth
League in Chitung district. Acts among
peasants in areas of Chialun, Kuyushu,
Wuchiatzu, Tunhua, Antu, etc. Conducts
military training for young men in villages.

1930 August Organizes and sends armed group into

homeland in first attempt at armed strug-
gle. Mr. Kim Hyung Kwon, uncle of
the General, leader of the group, operates
in Poongsan and Hongwon, etc. Captured
by Japanese imperialists and dies in
Sudaimoon Prison, Seoul, 1935.

1931 Autumn Expounds line of anti-Japanese armed

struggle at meeting of leading function-
aries of revolutionary organizations in
Antu area after “‘Manchurian Incident”
on September 18.

1931 November Attends Mingyuehkou Meeting and dis-

cusses line of organizing Anti-Japanese
Guerrilla Army.

1931 Autumn-1932 Organizes and mobilizes peasants in Choo-

Spring soo (Autumn Harvest) Uprising and
Choonhwang (Spring Lean Season) Upris-
ing of Korean peasants in Chientao.

1932 April 25 Founds Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army.

1932 Summer Negotiates with Ryang Se Bong, com-

mander of ‘“Korean Revolutionary Army,”
the Independence Army, to call for na-
tional unity.
560
 KIM IL SUNG

1932 July 31 Mrs. Kang Ban Suk, mother of the

General, passes away.

1932 Summer-1935 Sets up guerrilla bases-liberated areas in

counties of East Manchuria.
Establishes People’s Revolutionary Gov-
ernment in the bases and leads socio-
economic reforms including land reform.

1933 June Negotiates with Wu I-cheng, leader of

“anti-Japanese unit.”

1933 September Leads Battle of Attack on Tungning

County Seat.
1933 December-1934 Leads Battle in Defence of Hsiaowang-
January ching Guerrilla Base.

1935 February-March Criticizes leftist line and other deviations

revealed in struggle against ““Minsaing-
dan” at Tahuangwai Meeting and Yao-
yingkou Meeting.

1935 June-1936 February Leads Laoheishan Battle.

Leads expedition to North Manchuria.
Units advance to South Manchuria, East
Manchuria, and many places in homeland.

1936 February Holds Nanhutou Meeting, and presents

line for carrying on more positively anti-
Japanese national united front movement
and preparatory work for founding a
Party, and advancing guerrilla units to
southwestern part of Mt. Baikdoo along
Amrok River.

1936 May At Tungkang Meeting makes more con-

crete lines set forth at Nanhutou Meeting.

561
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE...

1936 May 5 Founds Association for Restoration of the

Fatherland.
Issues 10-Point Programme and decides
to publish “Samil Wolgan”’ as its organ.
Elected Chairman of Association for
Restoration of the Fatherland.

1936 August 17 Leads Battle of Attack on Fusung County

Seat.

1936 Latter Half Establishes Mt. Baikdoo bases.

1937 January Under leadership of the General, Korean

National Liberation Union formed as
one of lower organizations of Association
for Restoration of the Fatherland, in
Kapsan area.

1937 June 4 Leads Bochunbo Battle. Issues Procla-

mation to the Korean people.

1937 June 30 Leads Chiensanfeng Battle.

1937 September Issues appeal to the people in homeland

in relation to “‘July 7 Incident’’—Japanese
imperialist provocation of Sino-Japanese
Wer.:

1937 November-1938 Guides military-political studies at

March Matangkou.

1938 November Criticizes ‘“Left’’ adventurist line—‘‘Jehol

expedition” at Nanpaitzu Meeting. Forms
three district armies there.

1938 December-1939 ‘Arduous March’? from Nanpaitzu to

April Changpai.

562
 KIM IL SUNG

1939 May 1 Makes speech at May Day celebration

meeting at Hsiaoteshui, Changpai county.

1939 May 18-23 Leads Battle in Moosan Area.

1939 Autumn-1940 Leads large-troop circling operation in

Beginning northeastern areas of Mt. Baikdoo.

1940 August Calls Hsiaohaerhpaling Meeting, Tunhua

county, in relation to outbreak of World
War II, presents line to make prepara-
tions for final decisive battle against
Japanese imperialists at the meeting.
Switches to small-unit activities.

1941 Spring Leads military and political activities of

small units and small groups in Wang-
ching, Yenchi, Tungning counties and
homeland.
Small groups act in Rajin and Woonggi
areas.

1941 December Presents line of activities for People’s

Revolutionary Army to cope with Japa-
nese imperialist launching of Pacific War.

1942-1945 August Pushes forward preparations for final

decisive battle in view of change in war
situation. Small groups active in East
Manchuria, Pyongyang, Hoiryung,
Woonggi, Chungjin and Rajin areas.

1945 August 8 Issues order to Korean People’s Revolu-

tionary Army to make final attack on
Japanese imperialists on occasion of Soviet
Union’s declaration of war on Japan.

563
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE...

1945 August 9-15 Korean People’s Revolutionary Army

wages battles to liberate Rajin, Chung-
jin, Ranam and Wonsan, including the
Woonggi county area.

1945 August 15 Liberation of Korean people from Japa-

nese imperialist colonial rule. Triumphal
return of Korean People’s Revolutionary
Army to the fatherland.

564
 NOTES

CHAPTER. 1

1. Birthplace—Mangyungdai
1 In Korea it is a long-standing practice for a woman to use her
maiden name even after her marriage without adopting her hus-
band’s name.
2 The War of Imjin is the war waged by the Korean people
against the Japanese aggressors in the years 1592-98.

2. Parents of the General

1 The Kabo Peasant War refers to a war waged by the masses of
the Korean peasants in 1894 against the mediaeval oppression
and exploitation of the feudal rulers and in resistance to foreign
aggressors.
2 Eulji Moon Duk was an outstanding military strategist and
great patriot in the 7th-century Korea, who by clever strategy
repulsed the attacks mounted by Sui, which sent an army of
three million soldiers to Kogooryu in 612.
(a Li Soon Sin was a patriotic admiral who drove back a Japanese
invasion force at sea sent by Hideyoshi Toyotomi in the 16th
century. The iron-clad tortoise boats perfected by him showed
surprisingly great combat effectiveness and contributed much
to the victorious conclusion of the war.
A The inhabitants of the village and his disciples erected a monu-
ment in Chilgol-dong (formerly called Bisuk village), Man-
gyungdai District, in memory of his services which would go
down through generations. The monument is inscribed with the
words, ‘‘The Monument Dedicated to Mr. Mookkye, Kang Don
Wook.” Mookkye was the popular name by which people called
him affectionately.
n A traditional Korean device to heat the house by passing smoke

through ducts installed under the floor.

565
 KIM IL SUNG

3. A Bright Boyhood
1 A patriotic general and able statesman of the Koryu period, who
defeated a huge army of the Kitans which had invaded Korea
from the 10th to 11th centuries, so preserving the independence
and honour of the country.
2 A patriotic general of 15th century Korea. Known for his
military prowess in boyhood, he was appointed Minister of the
Army at the age of 26 because he had repelled the invasion of
the Nuchen tribe.

4, Until I See You Again, My Fatherland!

1 A five-article pact by which the Japanese imperialists forcefully
gained control over Korea, signed in 1905, the year of Eulsa.
2 ri is a unit of distance, and 10 ri approximates four kilometres.
Three thousand ri means the whole of Korea.

CHAPTER

2. Standard-Bearer of Youth and Student Movement

1 Choi Hyung Woo: “‘A Short History of the Korean Revolution-
ary Movement Abroad,” Eastern Culture Company, Seoul,
Vol. I, pp. 28-39, 1945.

3. Blow to Hamperers of Cohesion

1 Formed in 1925 in South Manchuria, integrating more than 10
military organizations.
2 Formed in August 1924 in Tunghua county, South Manchuria.
3 Formed in March 1925 in North Manchuria, integrating several
military organizations.

5. Scene of Activities Moved to Villages

1 Choi Hyung Woo: ‘‘A Short History of the Korean Revolution-
ary Movement Abroad,” Eastern Culture Company, Seoul,
Vol. I, p. 31, 1945.

566
 NOTES

CHAPTER 3

1. The Great Call to Arms

1 By Juche, we mean abiding by the principle of solving all prob-
lems of the revolution and construction independently in accord-
ance with the actual conditions of one’s own country and prima-
rily by one’s own efforts. This implies creative application of
the general truth of Marxism-Leninism and the experience of
the international revolutionary movement in keeping with the
historic conditions and national peculiarities of one’s own coun-
try. It also signifies independent solution of one’s problems in
the revolutionary struggle and construction by displaying the
spirit of self-reliance.

2. Birth of Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army

1 In earlier times, legs of low Korean tables were shaped like
pistols.
2 Consisting of a mixture of dynamite and red pepper, it produces
terrific sound and affects the eyes and throat.
3 So named because it was developed at the guerrilla base at
Wangyukou, Yenchi county.

3. First Ordeal
1 In July 1931 at the instigation of the Japanese aggressors, a
bloody clash took place between Koreans and Chinese at
Wanpaoshan, near Changchun. The Japanese aggressors used
this as a pretext for starting what they called the ‘‘Manchurian
Incident.”

4. Bold Negotiations
1 Village set up by the Japanese imperialists with a view to forcibly
containing the local population in specific areas in order to cut
the people off from the guerrilla units, well to facilitate surveil-
lance over them.
2 Located on high ground outside the West Gate in the walled
city, the battery was heavily guarded by many heavy and light
machine guns. The battery was also linked to the headquarters

567
 KIM IL SUNG

of the Japanese troops within the stronghold by means of deep

trenches, so that reinforcements might be thrown in whenever
needed.

CHAPTER 4

2. Creation of a New Society

1 Magazine ‘‘Dong-a,”’ 1934 edition.
2 So called because Korea then had 13 Provinces.
3 “Recent Security Conditions in Korea,” May 1943.

4, Battle in Defence of Hsiaowangching Guerrilla

Base
1 “General Situation of Korean Residentsin Manchuria,” Vol. VII.

CHAPTER. 9

1. Saving the Revolution from Crisis in Person

1 “A Study of Communist Bandits in Manchuria,” the Advisory
Section, the Department of the Army, ‘“‘Manchoukuo Govern-
ment,’ Part I, p. 113, 1936.

3. Ambitious Plan for a Long March

1 A group of Chinese soldiers who had been enlisted in the Na-
tional Salvation Army which was fighting against the Japanese.
These groups, harassed by the enemy’s constant suppression,
fled into mountains, and were living by plundering peaceful
residents.
2 This refers to the line of General Kim Il Sung on advancing the
anti-Japanese guerrilla units into broad areas to enable them to
fight on the offensive.
3 “A Study of the Present State of Recent Communist Movements
in Manchuria,” the Police Department of the Japanese Imperial
Embassy in Manchoukuo, 1935.

568
 NOTES

CHAPTER 6

3. Battle of Attack on Fusung County Seat

1 Secret bases set up in mountains, complete with barracks, a
clothing depot, a military factory, a sewing room, etc.
2 “The Situation of Bandits Across the Border,” Police Depart-
ment of South Hamgyung Province, pp. 99-101, May-August,
1936.

4. Guerrilla Bases Around Mt. Baikdoo

1 ‘“‘Samchunri’’ (means the whole of Korea), a magazine, Decem-
ber issue, 1937.
2 “The Shinpyo,’’ a Japanese magazine, Vol. VIII, pp. 42-43,
1966.

5. Banner of Fatherland Restoration Unfurled

1 Inaugural issue of the “‘Samil Wolgan,”’ pp. 56-58, December,
1936.
2 Inaugural issue of the “‘Samil Wolgan,’’ December, 1936.
ie) Inaugural issue of the “Samil Wolgan.”’

4 Commander Choi Yoon Koo served as staff of the People’s

Revolutionary Army Command but died in Huatien, in Decem-
ber, 1938.
5 Inaugural issue of the “Samil Wolgan,’’ December, 1936.
6 “Interrogation Documents on the Hyesan Incident”? at Hyesan
Police Station, p. 12.

CHAPTER'S

1. Beacon Fire at Bochunbo

1 “Kannan Keiyu,” the Police Department of South Hamgyung
Province, pp. 6-7, 1937.
2 “Kannan Keiyu,’’ the Police Department of South Hamgyung
Province, 1937.
3 “Dong-a Ilbo,” June 9, 1937,
4 “Kannan Keiyu,” the Police Department of South Hamgyung

569
 KIM IL SUNG

Province, pp. 17-20, 1937.

2. The September Appeal

1 “The State of Public Peace and Order,” the Police Department
of South Hamgyung Province, p. 47, 1938.

CHAPTER 9

4. Battle in the Moosan Area

1 “‘Chosun Ibor May 25, 1939.
2 The Appeal of the Association for the Restoration of the
Fatherland, June 11, 1939.

CHAPTER i

2. Small-Unit Activities
1 “‘Information...on the Other Side of the Amrok and Dooman
Rivers,” p. 23, 1941.
2 One hundred and fifth day counting from the winter solstice.
This day people dine on cold food without lighting a fire, and
visit the graves of their ancestors.
3 Mid-Autumn Festival to commemorate the dead, on August 15
of the lunar calendar.

4, 30 Million Follow the General

1 “Document on Iron Factory Hands’ Plots for Korean Independ-
ence and Others,” the Police Department of South Pyungan
Province, 1944.
2 “Thought Control External Affairs Monthly,” the Police
Department of the Government-General of Korea, August, 1943.
3 “Monthly Report on Arrests of Ideological Offenders,” the
Police Department of North Hamgyung Province, p. 177, 1942.
4 “Thought Control External Affairs Monthly,’’ No. 48.
5 “Thought Control External Affairs Monthly,’’ No. 51, pp.
10-11, 1944.

570
 NOTES

6 “Document on the Incident of Rounding up the ‘Strong Group’

Aimed at Winning Independence of Korea,’’ Police Department,
South Pyungan Province, pp. 14-17, 1944.
7 “Thought Control External Affairs Monthly,’’ September, 1943.
8 “Report on the Security Conditions in South Hamgyung Prov-
ince,” 1942.
9 “A New Story about Korea,” by Sawaichiro Kamata, p. 384,
July, 1952.
10 “History of the Pacific War,” the Japan History Study Society,
Vol. IV, p. 64.

CHAPTER 12

2. The General Enveloped in the Cheers of the Entire

Nation
1 A steel foundry situated near the Daidong River which is about
10 kilometres southwest of Pyongyang. It is now a part of
Pyongyang City.
2 Inaugural issue of ‘‘Pyongyang Minbo,”’ October 15, 1945.
3 “Seoul Shinmoon,”’ p. 2, January 10, 1946.

« * *

Spelling of places in Manchuria is based on the Wade system

571
 A Note on the American Edition

The Guardian, America’s largest left-wing weekly newspaper, is

publishing this official biography of Premier Kim Il Sung of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in an attempt to shed light on
an area of the world that the U.S. government would prefer remained
in darkness. It is an act of solidarity with the people and the
government of North Korea who, together with the Vietnamese and
the Cubans, have borne the greatest brunt of U.S. imperialist armed
oppressive might.
If the true story of Korea and the struggle of the Korean people for
independence were made known to the American people, it would be
all the more difficult for the U.S. government to continue its constant
provocations against the people of the DPRK and its support of the
fascist dictatorship in South Korea.
This biography of Kim Il Sung—printed exactly as written in the
DPRK-~—should help in this necessary endeavor. While specifically
recounting the life of the Korean leader, the book also provides a
picture of the turmoil and strife out of which socialist North Korea
developed. The growth of the people’s movement for independence;
the successful struggle against the Japanese; the fight for survival
against the U.S. and United Nations invasion and the truly heroic
reconstruction and industrial development after the war, when the
DPRK had to build a new nation in the rubble of destruction
following the war—all of these historic achievements are detailed
through the life of Kim Il Sung, one of the most remarkable national
leaders of our time.

The Guardian, New York, 1970

 Note by Translation Committee
This is a translation from the original Korean edition of
““General Kim Il Sung, the Sun of the Nation,” Vol. I, published
by Inmoonkwahak-sa (Cultural Sciences Publishing House), the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in February 1968.
Marshal Kim Il Sung has led the Korean revolution straight
along the one road to victory, taking upon himself the destiny of the
fatherland and the nation for 40-odd years since, born into a revolu-
tionary family, he took the road of revolution in his early years.
So, the entire Korean people now boundlessly respect and adore
Marshal Kim Il Sung as the great Leader of the 40 million Korean
people and the sun of the nation.
Marshal Kim I] Sung commands the boundless respect of the
revolutionary people of the whole world for his outstanding contribu-
tion to the development of the world revolution, as wel] as the
Korean revolution.
Indeed, everywhere in Asia and Europe, Africa and Latin Ameri-
ca where the people are carrying on the revolution, unstinted admira-
tion and praise for Marshal Kim Il Sung are rising higher.
This volume portrays Marshal Kim I] Sung in his great history
of the revolutionary struggle, from his revolutionary family, early
revolutionary struggles, 15-year-long arduous anti-Japanese armed
struggle, to the following liberation of the fatherland.
We sincerely hope that this will help the world-wide readership
understand the great Juche ideas of Marshal Kim Il Sung, his shining
history of revolutionary struggles and exploits, his wise leadership and
lofty virtues, and will greatly contribute to deepening friendship and
international solidarity between the Korean people and the peoples of
the world.
We would also like to inform our readers that the English edition
of “KIM IL SUNG: Biography,” Vols. II and III, will shortly
come off the press.
The volumes deal with the great history of the revolutionary
struggle of Marshal Kim Il Sung from his triumphant return to the
fatherland, the peaceful construction, the great Fatherland Liberation
War, the postwar reconstruction, to the socialist revolution and
 KIM IL SUNG

socialist construction, and with Marshal Kim I] Sung’s struggles for

the unification of the fatherland and the anti-imperialist revolutionary
struggle, and his strategy and tactics for them.

On the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the founding

of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

The Committee for Translation of

“KIM IL SUNG: Biography”

September 9, 1969
A GT parak, of the leader of di revolutionary
struggle for independence and socialism in Korea

KIM ILSUNG
Premier of the Democratic Pegle:s ee of Korea
(North Korea)

by
BAIK
BONG
”

The Korean peninsula has been subject to colonial domina-

tion for hundreds of years. Liberation from Japanese occupa-
tion came in 1945, with the defeat of Japan in World War II.
The country was then artificially divided at the 38th parallel
by the allied victors in the war, as a result of the Potsdam
agreement.
At that time, the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army had
been waging its war of independence for 15 years. Kim Il Sung,
the leader of that army became Premier of the Democratic Peo-
ple’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) established in the north.
The world situation makes it important for Americans to know
more about the Korean people and their ieaders. The U.S. has
been deeply involved in that country since 1945. It is the over-
riding force in determining the major decisions of the government
of South Korea and still has important military installations there.
In the Korean war in the 1950s, Washington made a massive
effort to crush the DPRK. It failed--in a preview ofthe fate of
the U.S. expeditionary force in Vietnam in the next decade—
because of the people’s war ofresistance led by Kim Il Sung
and the revolutionary government in Pyongyang.
= This book was originally printed iin English in Japan and the
text in this American edition iis reproduced exactly from the
~ origiinal.
c a