The Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army (AJPGA) was founded on April 25, 1932.

Later, it was reorganized into the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army (KPRA), the first revolutionary armed forces of Korea.

In the period when the dark clouds of national ruin hung over Korea, there were few people who knew about the birth of the armed ranks which declared resistance against the gangster-like Japanese imperialists armed to the teeth. However, the ranks of the Korean guerrilla army were in high spirits and confident of victory as they turned out in the sacred war to win back their country lost to the Japanese imperialists.

On the day when Comrade Kim Il Sung proclaimed the founding of the KPRA on the tableland in larch forests of Antu County in the northeast of China, he looked back upon the path of bloody struggles he had hewed out to found the first revolutionary armed forces, and said:

“Comrades,

“We are the first contingent of the proud Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army, with the mission of shaping the destiny of the country and the people. The future of the country and the people depends entirely on how we fight. We must carry out our duty to the country and the people with credit, surmounting whatever difficulties and obstacles may arise. Let us all raise higher the red banner of the revolution and launch a vigorous armed struggle against Japanese imperialism in order to win the historic cause of national liberation.”

On May Day of Juche 21 (1932), the AJPGA entered the county town of Antu and marched in parade.

Many people turned out and extended a warm welcome to them, dancing with joy and shedding tears.

The founding of the KPRA was an event of national importance; it was a declaration of death-defying resistance to imperialism under the unfurled banner of achieving the national liberation and independence by the efforts of the Korean nation itself. It was also a historic event that ushered in a new era of the Juche revolution relying on powerful revolutionary armed forces.

The true significance of that event is not confined only to the fact that the Korean people, who were forced to live a pitiable life at a tumultuous time in history, acquired their own national army and hope for their revival; it also lies in the fact that they declared at home and abroad the Korean revolutionaries’ steadfast, anti-imperialist revolutionary commitment to settle accounts once and for all by force of arms with those who had infringed on the dignity and sovereignty of their nation, as well as their unyielding determination that, come what may, the Korean people themselves would win their freedom and liberation and the victory of the revolution.

The fine sons and daughters of the Korean people, when they held their revolutionary weapons aloft, expressed the soaring spirit of the independence of the Korean nation, their hopes, and the great banner of their unity. Those weapons were a force that instilled the mettle of self-dependence and Herculean strength in the tear-stained fists of the Korean people.

It was thanks to those armed forces that a far-reaching plan for the Korean revolution could be developed, an unyielding spirit and formidable strength with which to prevail over the imperialist tyranny could be nurtured, and the great traditions that were fundamental and enduring in the development of the Korean revolution could be established.

The KPRA achieved the great cause of the country’s liberation and the nation’s revival through an unprecedented bloody struggle. Later, it was developed into the Korean People’s Army, and repulsed the armed invasion of the US-led allied imperialist forces through a display of its unrivalled spirit of heroism, and defended with honour the sovereignty, dignity and security of the country. By displaying an ennobling self-sacrificing spirit, it has defended the ruling Party, the government, the territory and the people throughout the historical course of the socialist revolution and construction, and performed great exploits in creating a new history of socialist construction and enhancing the dignity and honour of the state.

Today, the KPA led by the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un is demonstrating its might as an invincible revolutionary army equipped with cutting-edge military hardware.

Yang Ryon Hui