Sixty-eight years have passed since the fireworks set off in the sky over Pyongyang on July 27, 1953 in celebration of victory in the Fatherland Liberation War (June 1950-July 1953).

A lapse of time buries many things in oblivion, but the Korean people never forget the precious victory achieved in the early 1950s.

The Fatherland Liberation War was a grim war which was fought to defend the DPRK and the destiny and future of the tens of millions of the Korean people. At the same time, it was the first all-out war fought at the start of the Cold War that followed the Second World War, between the forces aspiring after independence and those of domination, and between socialism and capitalism. Therefore, the confrontation was unprecedented in its ferocity and gravity.

That the Korean people, who had been liberated from the colonial rule of the Japanese imperialists five years ago and had its state and army founded only two years ago, emerged victorious in the war against the imperialist allied forces headed by the United States, was an unheard-of miracle in the world history of war.

The Fatherland Liberation War proved that even a small nation can achieve victory, when it is led by an outstanding leader and firmly united around him, and fights death-defyingly against the aggressors.

When the war broke out, President Kim Il Sung said in the following vein: The Yankees are looking down upon the Korean people; as there goes a saying that cudgelling is the fittest for a wolf, we must show the mettle of the Koreans to them who dare to attack us recklessly.

His matchless courage and pluck inspired all the Korean army and people to turn out in the righteous war, cherishing confidence in sure victory.

Juche-oriented and original strategies and tactics he advanced in every period and at every stage of the three-year-long war and his outstanding commandership were the source of the invincible strength with which the Korean people smashed the enemy’s numerical, military and technical superiority and took the initiative in the war. And ardent comradely love, trust and energetic guidance of the President, sharing weal and woe with the army and people during the whole period of the war, were the essential nourishment that enabled the Korean army and people to perform miraculous feats.

Heroic soldiers of the Korean People’s Army liberated Seoul just three days after the war, sank an enemy heavy cruiser with four torpedo boats and shot down enemy jet fighters with propeller ones. They defended every inch of the country with their blood true to the pledge they had made before the Supreme Commander and blocked enemy pillboxes with their chest to open up the way to charge.

Ordinary people and children across the country formed guerrilla units and fought bravely against invaders, and those in the rear struggled to ensure the wartime production.

As a result, the Korean army and people overcame the most arduous and grimmest trials in the national history and emerged victorious in the war by displaying unparalleled mass heroism and bravery, dealing an ignominious defeat to the US imperialists for the first time in history.

The US threw into the Korean front a huge armed force of over two million, including one-third of its ground force, one-fifth of its air force, the greater part of its Pacific Fleet and some of its Mediterranean Fleet, plus troops of 15 vassal states, the south Korean puppet army and Japanese reactionaries, and spent 165 billion US dollars on the military expenditure. And the loss it had suffered during the war was nearly 2.3 times as much as that the US had suffered in the Pacific War of four years. It was the first and severest defeat in its 100 odd-year long history of overseas aggression.

So, in regard to July 27, Truman, former US President, said that the Korean war should be called a war terminated hastily after suffering a defeat rather than a war terminated expeditiously. After the armistice agreement was signed, the then US President Eisenhower, in his speech at the White House, confessed that the war cost much, and that it was tragic and painful.

MacArthur, former commander of the US Armed Forces in the Far East, who drew up the plan for the Korean war, lamented that never before had the prestige of the US been impaired so badly as it was now.

Victorious July 27 created the proud traditions and wealth based on which the Korean people could achieve lasting victory, transformed the global political landscape, and forcefully propelled the trend of the times towards independence and socialism.