The battle in the Musan area was the largest-scale action of the greatest significance in the military operations the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army performed in Korea under the command of President Kim Il Sung in May 1939 during the period of anti-Japanese armed struggle.

The Japanese imperialists, who had occupied Korea by force of arms in 1905, were hell-bent on their economic exploitation and fascist suppression of the Korean people, entering the latter half of the 1930s. While spreading a rumour that the KPRA had perished, they launched frenzied “punitive” offensive against it. Many Koreans, deceived by their false propaganda about “complete destruction” of the guerillas, lost confidence in national liberation.

At this juncture, Kim Il Sung convened a meeting of cadres of the KPRA at Beidadingzi (present Changbai County in Northeast China) in April 1939 and set out a policy of advancing into the Musan area in the homeland.

After the meeting, the main force of the KPRA crossed the Amnok River on May 18, 1939 through the strict cordon of the Japanese aggressors and advanced into the homeland. It arrived in Mupho via Chongbong, Konchang, Pegae Hill and Lake Samji.

There Kim Il Sung called a meeting of commanding officers, at which he set forth the task of pushing into the Taehongdan area and dispatched the unit in two directions of Sinsadong and Singaechok.

He personally led the 8th Regiment and the Guard Company to Sinsadong, where he made a speech called upon the people to actively turn out in the anti-Japanese struggle to hasten national liberation. The 7th Regiment, which had advanced into Singaechok, annihilated the enemy there, captured many war supplies from them and conducted political work among the locals.

He foresaw that the enemy would naturally chase the unit and, on May 23, ordered the guerillas to lay in ambush on the Taehongdan tableland with favourable terrain features. Under his command the guerillas dealt a crushing blow to the Japanese army and police troops trailing close behind the 7th Regiment. The enemy made desperate efforts to make a counterattack on the flanks and rear of the KPRA, but to no avail. Most of them were killed after firing each other between the runaway troops and their reinforcements.

The operation in the Musan area showed that the KPRA had not only been still alive but grown stronger and was fighting against the Japanese aggressors.

Following the battle, workers, peasants and other people from all walks of life turned out in the struggle against the Japanese imperialists with firm confidence that as long as the KPRA remained alive, the day of national liberation was close at hand.

The Korean people erected the Monument to the Victorious Battle of the Musan Area on the Taehongdan tableland in the Mt Paektu area in order to convey for all eternity Kim Il Sung’s exploits of national liberation.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victorious battle in the Musan area.