“Nostalgia” is a song personally created by President Kim Il Sung in the period of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle.

“Nostalgia” of guerrilla army

Korea was under Japanese military occupation in 1912 when the President was born. The Korean people, who had been deprived of their sovereign rights and right to existence by the Japanese imperialists, were compelled to come under the yoke of a homeless nation.

Kim Il Sung, who grew up bitterly experiencing the sorrow of a colonial nation from his childhood, set out on the road of revolution with a lofty aim to win back the country lost to the Japanese imperialists and founded the Korean People's Revolutionary Army on April 25 1932.

The anti-Japanese armed struggle was a hard and arduous struggle to fight with the one million-strong Kwantung Army of Japan, without state backing or assistance from a regular army. The biting cold and severe food shortage threatened the lives of the guerrilla army and bloody battles and relentless marches continued.

Despite such difficulties, General Kim Il Sung never forgot even for a moment his native place, Mangyongdae, a scenic spot renowned along with the eight tourist attractions in Pyongyang since olden times, the stream meandering round the beloved village, the voice of his mother who saw him off when he left for the protracted fighting and the faces of his dear younger brothers.

His tender affection for the native place and love for his parents and brothers were embodied in each line of the lyrics and turned into melodies he sang.

When I left home my mother saw me off

And through her tears she said a “Farewell!”

That is still ringing in my ears.

He sang the song “Nostalgia” at the campfires of the secret camps and during breaks of the marches. Singing the song, he thought of his native place, keenly realized the sufferings of the distress-torn country and nation, and hardened his resolve to liberate the country at any cost and return to his native place without fail.

Hearing the song which sings of love for their own flesh and blood and yearning for their native places, the anti-Japanese guerrillas strengthened their will to annihilate the enemy. And they kept in mind more deeply their consciousness that if they gave up, Korea would never revive again and their mission that they had to defeat the Japanese imperialists who occupied their native places and liberate the country at any cost.

Singing the song, the KPRA members waged the arduous anti-Japanese war, finally achieving the historic cause of national liberation on August 15 1945.

His lifelong theme song

President Kim Il Sung often sang the song in his lifetime.

In August 1950 during the Fatherland Liberation War, he visited the headquarters at the front and climbed Mungyong Pass located in the frontline. At this high and rugged place, which was little short of a battle site where the enemy's bullets or shells might fly at any moment, he acquainted himself with the situation of the front and touched on the operational and tactical issues. Then he sang the song quietly.

When he met the DPRK heroes and exemplary combatants in June 1951, he also sang the song “Nostalgia”.

Hearing the song and singing the song, the soldiers of the Korean People’s Army bore in mind more deeply the value of the country. The words of the song were engraved as a valuable thing on the minds of the warriors, the service personnel of the People’s Army, who unhesitatingly dedicated their youth and lives to the defence of the destiny of the country and nation by displaying matchless bravery in the fierce battles and who defeated the US imperialists, who had boasted of being the “strongest” in the world, to create the unprecedented legend of war victory in the three-year Fatherland Liberation War (1950-1953).

After the war the President made an endless journey of devotion for the country and people, singing “Nostalgia” in his mind. Singing this song in good and hard times, he led the postwar reconstruction and socialist construction to victory and established the socialist system under which the masses of the people have become masters of the country.

In the early 1990s, too, when the imperialists prattled on about the “end” of socialism and “eternity” of capitalism by taking advantage of the collapse of socialism in different countries, he sang the song with a resolute will to firmly defend and glorify socialism, the life and soul of the people.

“Nostalgia” the President enjoyed singing till the last period of his life teaches the philosophy that the dignity and happiness of humans can be guaranteed only when the native places and the country are firmly defended.

The song is highly expressive for its beautiful, gentle yet powerful poetic rhythm.

The song, which comes on intensely lyrical in combination with its soft melody, has been arranged as masterpieces of female trio and pangchang, violin concerto, orchestra and piano solo and chorus.

Group sculptures of a grand monument and art works of national treasure value were also produced on the theme of this song.

The song “Nostalgia” consistent with love for the native place and the country is widely sung as a famous song of the times.

A lovely spring at Mangyongdae with the Taedong River flowing by,

O I do not forget this sweet home even in my dreams.

I shall return when the country is set free.