The Paektusan Secret Camp is the secret base that Comrade Kim Il Sung (April 15, 1912-July 8, 1994), the commander of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, set up as the leadership centre of the Korean revolution and used as the centre of activities of the main force of the KPRA during the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle, and a sacred place of the revolution, where Comrade Kim Jong Il (February 16, 1942-December 17, 2011) was born.

The camp nestles in the forest of the Sobaeksu Valley at the foot of Mt Paektu.

In the latter half of the 1930s, Kim Il Sung unfolded a grand plan of building a leadership base of the overall Korean revolution in the area of Mt Paektu and dispatched excellent military and political officials to the area.

In late September 1936, he gave field guidance over the construction of the secret camp.

The secret base, a hub of the secret camps established in the area of Mt Paektu and all other parts of the country, was not exposed to the enemy from the late 1930s until Korea’s liberation (August 15, 1945).

Regarding the secret camp as a strategic base, Kim Il Sung organized and led the overall Korean revolution centred on the anti-Japanese armed struggle to brilliant victory.

In the camp there are the log cabin of the KPRA headquarters, the site of the headquarters tent, Kim Jong Il ’s birthplace, barracks of guerrillas and slogan-bearing trees.

Inside the log cabin there are a table with a military map and coloured pencils on, a chair, a stove and maps of Korea and world hanging on the walls, all used by Kim Il Sung .

The native home of Kim Jong Il stands at the foot of Jong Il Peak.

Preserved there are a wooden pistol and other toys he used in his childhood, a low table and a small chest with a patchwork quilt and blankets on, as well as an army tin, a water pail and other kitchen utensils used by the anti-Japanese war heroine Kim Jong Suk.

In order to hand down to posterity the immortal revolutionary exploits of the peerlessly great persons associated with the secret camp, the Korean people restored it to its original state and held an opening ceremony in February 1987.

Though decades have passed since it was built in the primeval forest of Mt Paektu, the camp is still preserved in its original appearance, conveying the sacred history and undying revolutionary exploits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and implanting in the minds of the Korean people the indomitable fighting spirit and revolutionary faith of the anti-Japanese forerunners.

Every year it is visited by an endless stream of working people, youth and students and servicepersons of the Korean People’s Army.

Kim Hyok