During the Fatherland Liberation War (June 1950-July 1953), the peoples and soldiers of the DPRK and China set a noble example of fraternal friendship in the joint struggle against the allied imperialist forces.

One day early in January Juche 41 (1952), Luo Shengjiao, a secretary of a scouting company of the Chinese People’s Volunteers, found that one of Korean children sledging on the Piryu River slipped into an ice hole.

Piryu River tells

He plunged into the river without hesitation to save the boy, in spite of cold weather at a temperature of 20℃ below zero. He finally found the boy in deep water and pushed him up several times to put him on the ice, but he couldn’t come out of the ice hole.

He was 21 years old at that time.

On June 25, Juche 42 (1953), he was honoured with Order of the National Flag 1st Class and Order of Soldier’s Honour 1st Class of the DPRK.

A monument to internationalist martyr Luo Shengjiao stands on the bank of the Piryu River meandering through Songchon County, South Phyongan Province.

A Chinese Woman’s Son

A Chinese people’s consolation team visited the DPRK in November Juche 42 (1953). Among its members was the mother of Qian Guihua, a CPV soldier who died a heroic death during the Fatherland Liberation War.

She asked Korean officials concerned to find her son named Kim Ui Dok, and told them as follows:

During the war, Kim Ui Dok’s subunit of the Korean People’s Army and her son’s subunit of the CPV fought together on a hill.

One day, the enemy bombarded at random the vicinity of their observation post. In that critical situation, Kim Ui Dok got wounded seriously by covering the CPV soldier with his body. He fell unconscious and asked for water.

The CPV soldier went down the hill even in the shower of the enemy’s bullets in order to bring water for the Korean soldier. On his way back, he was shot dead by the enemy.

For this reason, she asked the officials to meet with Kim Ui Dok as her own son.

An Order Awarded after 40 Years

In October Juche 79 (1990), a ceremony was held at the Mansudae Assembly Hall of the DPRK to confer Order of the National Flag 1st Class on ex-CPV soldier Li Yu’an.

Then, what sort of man is the Chinese soldier being honoured with the Order about four decades after the war?

One of the fiercest battles the CPVs had fought during the war was the battle on Songgol Peak. At that time, a KPA soldier discovered a CPV soldier who was fatally wounded by the enemy’s fire.

Thinking that he might lose a comrade-in-arm if he hesitated even a moment, he ran toward a village carrying the latter on his back. In order to bring him back to life, all the villagers took warm care of the Chinese with sincerity as they would do their own flesh and blood. Afterwards, the CPV soldier was taken to several hospitals for treatment before returning back to his homeland.

Since then, he has never told about his military feat for about 40 years. He took it for granted to bleed for his country in the struggle against the common enemy.

Recollecting the days of the war, Li Yu’an said:

The DPRK highly appreciated his feat.

If it were not for the Korean comrades-in-arms and brothers and sisters who saved me at the cost of their lives, I should have been already buried at the foot of Songgol Peak.