Korean People’s Army Is Powerful Sword for Defending Country, People and Peace: Kim Jong Un
Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, makes a congratulatory speech at the military parade on February 8, 2018.
Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, made a congratulatory speech “On the Occasion of the 70th Founding Anniversary of the Korean People’s Army” at the military parade celebrating the 70th KPA founding anniversary on February 8, 2018.
The full text of his speech is as follows:
Officers and men of the heroic Korean People’s Army,
Commanders and combatants of the units participating in this parade celebrating the 70th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army,
Dear Pyongyang citizens and other people across the country,
Today, to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding by the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung of the Korean People’s Army, our revolutionary regular armed forces, we are holding a grand parade of combat units of the Korean People’s Army.
The first parade by the regular armed forces held 70 years ago in the square in front of Pyongyang Railway Station demonstrated the proud image of the newly-emergent Korea, and today’s military parade will demonstrate the mettle of the powerful Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which has developed into a world-class military power.
Availing myself of this opportunity when we are looking back with deep emotion on the proud militant history of the heroic Korean People’s Army, and as a reflection of the great emotion overflowing in the hearts of all our service personnel and people, I would like to extend the noblest respect and infinite glory to the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, who founded and built up our Juche-oriented revolutionary armed forces.
I would also like to extend noble respect to the fighters in the anti-Japanese revolution and the soldiers of the People’s Army who fought with revolutionary arms in hand, devoting their youth and even their lives without hesitation for the reunification and sovereignty of their country, for the liberation of their fellow people and for socialist construction, and on this army founding day, I offer my warm congratulations and militant salute to the war veterans, discharged soldiers and all the officers and men of the army.
My heartfelt thanks go to the working class, agricultural working people and other people across the country who have readily placed their sons and daughters, whom they had nurtured with such great care, at the posts of national defense, and who have provided, as a matter of priority, even in the face of trials and difficulties, everything the army needs for increasing its combat capabilities.
Comrades,
Along with April 25, when Comrade Kim Il Sung founded the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, February 8, when he founded the Korean People’s Army as our revolutionary regular armed forces, is a day of historic significance in building up our revolutionary armed forces and accomplishing the revolutionary cause of Juche.
Our people, who had to experience the miserable fate of a ruined nation due to the lack of an army worth mentioning, ardently desired a powerful army of their own.
This centuries-old desire of our people was achieved 70 years ago on February 8, under the wise leadership of the great Comrade Kim Il Sung.
After the country’s liberation the great Comrade Kim Il Sung made founding a powerful regular army a prerequisite for developing the country into an independent, sovereign state. Having stepped up the cause of army building by dint of his outstanding ideas and energetic leadership, he founded the Korean People’s Army, the revolutionary regular armed forces of a Juche type, in less than three years.
The Korean People’s Army is, both in name and in reality, a revolutionary army that inherited the traditions of the anti-Japanese struggle, in other words, the indomitable revolutionary spirit of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army and its rich fighting experience and adroit art of warfare.
Thanks to the founding of this Juche-oriented regular army our Republic, from the very outset of its founding, enjoyed the prestige of being a dignified people’s country with its own powerful armed forces; by defeating the imperialist aggressor forces that had been boasting of being the “mightiest” in the world, it achieved a great victory in the Fatherland Liberation War.
April 25, 1932, when our revolutionary armed forces began to take historical root, was a key date in vanquishing the brigandish Japanese imperialists and realizing the sacred cause of national liberation; February 8, 1948, when our regular armed forces that inherited the traditions of the anti-Japanese struggle were formed, was crucial to the great victory in the Fatherland Liberation War and the successful advance of our socialist cause.
Throughout its whole course, the historic development of the Korean People’s Army has been accompanied by constant tension and tense confrontation in the world’s most dangerous powder-keg, with the ever-present danger of the outbreak of war.
Being faithful to its mission of defending the country, the revolution and the people, our army has smashed the enemy’s reckless provocations at every step, upholding the military line of self-reliant defense and the banner of “a-match-for-a-hundred.” In the course of this, it has developed into an invincible combat force capable of defeating any enemy, however formidable, at a stroke.
In the grimmest and most difficult period, when it had to resist the allied imperialist forces of the world single-handed, with no protection on the flanks and with no outside support, our People’s Army performed remarkable exploits by waging a heroic, do-or-die struggle on the front line of the revolution under the leadership of the great Comrade Kim Jong Il.
Because this elite revolutionary army played the role of standard-bearer and cornerstone in the defense of socialism and the revolution on the anti-imperialist military front and in the construction of a prosperous country, our Republic could win one brilliant victory after another in the battle to safeguard socialism, and gain the reputation of a world-class military power.
Nowhere in world history can there be found any other nation that accomplished the great cause of army building from scratch by relying on its internal forces and that built an elite army in spite of the protracted, worst-ever challenges and blockade; the brilliant exploit of building a powerful army for the sake of national prosperity is a miracle that could be wrought only by the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the peerless patriots and iron-willed commanders.
Officers and men of the People’s Army,
The Korean People’s Army, which first appeared in a magnificent parade 70 years ago, has become what it is today by hoisting the flag of victory on fierce battlefields where it has defended the country and people.
Our army, which has grown into a world-class powerful army, is a solid pillar preventing the catastrophe of war and defending peace on the Korean peninsula and in the region; it is a force that is achieving breakthroughs in the vanguard on the grand march of our people towards the final victory of the socialist cause.
Our people today regard it as a source of great pride to have our brave People’s Army that is imbued with the spirit and endurance of Paektu, and are gaining fresh strength and courage from the militant might of our army, which is growing stronger by the day.
The People’s Army has won the genuine affection and trust of the people at the cost of blood, sweat and death-defying devotion; it has achieved unity with them and enjoys their enthusiastic support and assistance, and it has performed great feats on the frontline of the defense of the country and the construction of socialism.
It is a source of pride for our Party and state and great fortune for our people that they have such a dignified and powerful revolutionary army, an army of the people.
I deem it the highest honour to have assumed the heavy responsibility of supreme command of the courageous revolutionary army.
On behalf of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the government of the Republic and all the people, I once again warmly congratulate all the officers and men on the occasion of the 70th founding anniversary of the heroic Korean People’s Army, and I extend militant greetings to them.
Combatants in the units participating in this parade and all the other officers and men of the People’s Army,
As the Party and the country have such high expectations of it and the people are so sincere in their affection for it, the People’s Army must defend the country and the people dependably through faithful service and devoted struggle, as befits the army of the Party and people.
The People’s Army should enhance its political and military capabilities to the maximum, as suited to the status of our dignified state, so as to meet the demands of the times and the developing revolution, and should firmly guarantee by force of arms the struggle of our Party and people to accomplish the socialist cause.
The central task facing the People’s Army at present is to perfect its combat capabilities as befitting a revolutionary army by holding aloft the banner of modelling the entire army on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism and implementing to the letter the strategic lines and tasks for increasing its military strength put forward by the Party.
The People’s Army should be boundlessly loyal to the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
The Korean People’s Army is the army of our Party which was founded and built up in the embrace of the Party; the source of its might lies in the Party’s revolutionary ideas and leadership.
It should become the first death-defying corps and first guards unit, sharing its fate with the Workers’ Party of Korea and defending its Central Committee with arms.
It should firmly establish the unified leadership system of the Party within itself, create a revolutionary military climate in which all its service personnel move as one under the command of the Party, and organize and conduct every manner of military activity on the basis of the Party’s lines and policies.
It should maintain as its two major tasks, that of strengthening itself politically and ideologically and that of making itself morally sound, and should concentrate all its efforts on preparing itself as an army that is strong in ideology and faith, like the 7th Regiment during the anti-Japanese war and the Guards units during the Fatherland Liberation War.
It should raise more fiercely the flames of the revolution in its training to fight a war.
Training is a way of defending the socialist country and people, and the most efficient way of making the People’s Army a powerful army is to make the most exacting demands on its soldiers in training.
It should steadily improve the content, style and method of its training in line with the Party’s ideas on military strategy and tactics, the demands of Juche-oriented tactics and the demands and features of modern warfare, and should not stop its practical training in a virtual combat environment, even for a day.
In the present situation, in which the United States and its vassal forces are making a fuss around the Korean peninsula, the People’s Army should remain on full alert and step up its efforts to perfect its combat preparedness.
In this way we can prevent any forces of aggression from violating or impinging on the dignity and sovereignty of our sacred country in the slightest.
Units of all the services, arms and corps must intensify their training aimed at mastering their military hardware and improving their specialist skills, so as to make full preparations for waging hi-tech warfare in any operational environment.
In particular, the People’s Army must promote as an important strategic task, its development into an army which is excellent in all aspects, in line with the requirements of the new, higher stage of turning the entire army into an army of cadres and modernizing it, and give top priority to its implementation.
The People’s Army must establish rigid ethos and assume the appearance of a perfect regular army.
All the service personnel, from privates to generals, should be well versed in the military regulations and manuals, and make it their habit to abide by them; thus they can ensure that all units and sub-units, and everywhere there are soldiers, always appear presentable.
All the officers and men of the army, bearing in mind that the People’s Army cannot exist even for a moment separated from the people, must boundlessly respect and love them, and constantly sustain the fine traits of a revolutionary army whose soldiers will defy death if it is for the sake of the people.
The People’s Army must not question the importance of undertakings intended for the people, but regard it as its revolutionary military duty to devote its all to them with the most honest attitude.
Holding higher the patriotic, revolutionary slogan “Let us take upon ourselves both national defense and socialist construction,” it should give free rein to its unexcelled heroism in all places where the people’s dreams and ideals are being translated into reality by displaying fortitude and creativity, not knowing the word impossible, and should always take the lead in the struggle for transforming the country into a more beautiful land.
Comrades,
As long as imperialism exists on the globe and the United States persists in its hostile policy towards our country, the mission of the People’s Army, as a powerful sword for defending the country, people and peace, can never be altered.
Final victory belongs to our Party and people who are fully equipped with the arms of the revolution.
Our Party and people are absolutely convinced that the Korean People’s Army, which provides the military guarantee for the revolutionary cause of Juche, will continue to defend the Party and the revolution, the country and the people reliably, and increase its strength in every way possible in order to safeguard justice and peace.
As long as we have the Korean People’s Army that is unfailingly loyal to the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea, our glorious motherland–the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea–will grow more powerful and more prosperous.
All service personnel of the People’s Army,
The flag of the ever-victorious Workers’ Party of Korea will always lead the way ahead for you, giving you great encouragement and rousing you to renewed struggle and victory.
Let us fight bravely for the Party and the revolution, the country and the people.