April 21 is the 129th birth anniversary of

Kang Pan Sok

, mother of the great leader

Kim Il Sung

. She was born at a simple farmhouse in Chilgol of Pyongyang.

Kang Pan Sok

was a woman revolutionary who devoted herself with boundless devotion, self-sacrificing spirit and fervent love for the country and people.

When Korea was reduced to a colony of the Japanese imperialists at the beginning of the 20th century, she helped

Kim Hyong Jik

, an outstanding leader of the anti-Japanese national liberation movement of Korea, in his revolutionary work, fully discharging her sacred duty as the wife of a revolutionary.

She also organized the Anti-Japanese Women's Association, the first revolutionary women's mass organization of Korea, under the leadership of

Kim Il Sung

. Together with members of the women's association, she dedicated herself to founding the Anti-Japanese People's Guerrilla Army, making military uniforms and providing military provisions.

She was convinced that defeating the Japanese imperialists with arms in hands is the only way to achieve independence of the country and freedom and liberation of the people.

Hers was a noble life of the great mother who was boundlessly faithful to the responsible yet heavy duty calling for bringing up her children wonderfully to work for the country.

In Juche 21(1932)

Kim Il Sung

dropped in at his house before leaving for expedition, leading the Anti-Japanese People's Guerrilla Army which had been just founded.

He was reluctant to leave readily because of her mother in sickbed.

Kang Pan Sok

sternly said to him: If you intended to call at the house because of such cares, don't show up at this gate. I will never meet such a son.

That was the last day when he saw his mother.

Kang Pan Sok

would bring down a star from the sky and go into the fire without hesitation for her son.

But her love for

Kim Il Sung

was not simply motherly love. It was true revolutionary affection with which she regarded him as the son of the nation rather than her own son and awakened him to the need to give priority to loyalty to the country over filial piety towards his parents.

Unable to forget his mother even after many years,

Kim Il Sung

warmly recollected: Her whole life served as a textbook for me in implanting in me a true view on life and on the revolution.

Kang Pan Sok

lived only 40 years. Her life was too short but she performed great exploits for the country and revolution. So the Korean people erected her bronze statue in the historic Chilgol where she was born.

Kang Pan Sok

devoted the love for her children and the happiness of her family to the country and revolution. She is kept deep in the hearts of the Korean people as a paragon of the great mother.