In the early 20th century Korea was reduced to a colony of the Japanese imperialists and the Koreans experienced colonial slavery from 1905 to 1945.

During their national ruin, they were deprived of even their elementary human rights, to say nothing of their national sovereignty, and their territory was turned into a huge prison.

Only after General Kim Il Sung liberated the country and enforced all democratic reforms including the agrarian reform could the Koreans become a people of a full-fledged independent sovereign state and true masters of land and the country, thus fulfilling their centuries-old desires.

But, the US imperialists, who became extremely arrogant after the Second World War, launched a large-scale armed invasion against the two-year-old DPRK in June 1950, only five years after Korea’s liberation (August 1945) from Japanese military rule.

The Korean people rose up in a do-or-die resistance, as they could never lose everything dear to them again and become the slaves of the imperialists again.

Under the wise guidance of Supreme Commander Kim Il Sung, a brilliant military strategist and peerless patriot who had led the arduous anti-Japanese war to victory, all the people dealt a decisive blow to the enemy with matchless bravery, self-sacrificing spirit and definite strategic and tactical superiority.

In the fierce battles, the soldiers of the Korean People’s Army blocked the enemy’s pillboxes with their chests to open up the route of advance of their units. They defended the heights of the country as they fought against enemy troops, who attacked the heights dozens of times a day after dropping and firing lots of bombs and shells, with hand grenades when they ran out of bullets and with rocks when they had no more grenades. Among the brave KPA fighters there were those who threw themselves under the enemy tanks with anti-tank grenades after seriously being wounded.

A Western journalist wrote in his article that the matchless self-sacrificing spirit and heroism displayed by the service personnel of the Korean People’s Army in the Korean war were really amazing and that the world history of wars recorded stories about the feats of some heroes but not the fact that such large numbers of soldiers fought heroically like them, adding that it was necessary to go to the Korean battlefields in order to know the truth that the spiritual strength of humans is more powerful than any military and technical means.

The brave KPA soldiers also blunted all the edges of the US by positively applying the original tactics and war methods created by Kim Il Sung such as the immediate and decisive counteroffensive action, formation of the second front behind enemy lines by regular units, tunnel warfare and anti-aircraft team and anti-tank team movements.

The KPA combatants successfully carried out the operation for liberating Taejon, which was recorded as a brilliant example of modern siege warfare, pulled direct-firing guns up on heights 1 000 metres above sea level and set up solid gun emplacements to fire showers of revenge on the enemies and fought the naval battle of Jumunjin to destroy a US heavy cruiser with four torpedo boats.

A US army officer, who took part in the Korean war, later said about the operation for liberating Taejon in the “Chronicles of the Korean War” to the following effect:

The Korean People’s Army mounted a frontal attack against the US 24th Division to deny it freedom and retreat, and relied on the tactics of advancing to the rear of the defending forces by means of detour or infiltration to block their retreat.

It was a tactic that the American commanding officers, who had gained the experience of European way of maintaining a well-arranged front, could not understand before it was too late.

Under the commandership of Kim Il Sung, the Korean people finally beat back the aggressors and greeted the historic second liberation day in July 1953.

Fireworks went off in the clear sky of the country that won victory in the war.