KPRA, Worthy of Note in the History of Guerrilla Movement in the World
KPRA, Worthy of Note in the History of Guerrilla Movement in the
World
The guerrilla movement of
mankind against foreign aggressors has a long history and many world-renowned
guerrilla units have been recorded in its history. The position of the Korean
People’s Revolutionary Army, which fought against the Japanese imperialist
aggressors, is unusually outstanding.
First, the KPRA set the
longest record in terms of the period of guerrilla struggle.
The history of guerrilla
struggle in many countries, including that in the period of the Second World
War, is five years on average. But the KPRA fought guerrilla warfare for over
ten years from its founding on April 25, 1932 to the liberation of Korea in
1945. The period can be counted to be 15 years in total when it includes the
period of the Korean Revolutionary Army, a preparatory period for the
anti-Japanese armed struggle.
Second, the KPRA won by
fighting the formidable Japanese imperialists in the worst conditions and
situation, in which it had no state to support it in the rear or any foreign
aid.
At that time, Korea was under
the complete military occupation by the Japanese imperialists. Therefore, there
was no state that could support the KPRA, and no assistance could be expected
from any other country. It had to obtain all the necessary weapons, ammunition,
clothing, food, medicines and so on through battles against the enemy. This
provided a complete contrast to the guerrillas that fought during the Second
World War under the strong support of the anti-fascist camp. The KPRA also had to overcome the continental cold of 40 degrees
below zero and constant shortage of food and clothing.
Third, the KPRA was a special
military and political group which carried out political tasks as well as
military tasks.
While waging an armed
struggle, the KPRA performed the political mission of educating the people and
rallying them organizationally to encourage them to turn out in the
anti-Japanese resistance. It also conducted its independent intelligence
activities. Each soldier of the KPRA had to prepare
himself as a skilful political worker as well as a competent military activist.
Thanks to their efforts, subordinate organizations of the
Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland, a national united front body,
mushroomed like a spider net even in Japan where Koreans were forcibly drafted
and taken to, not to mention in different parts of Korea and Northeast China.
These organizations had their own armed units under different names and made preparations
for an all-people resistance. They also organized lawful and unlawful struggles
against the Japanese imperialists and conducted intelligence activities in different
fields.
Fourth, the KPRA created
traditions the Korean people should carry forward for ever.
In the arduous anti-Japanese
armed struggle, it cherished as its faith the steadfast spirit of independence,
the spirit that one is responsible for carrying out one’s own country’s
revolution on one’s own efforts, and created the revolutionary spirit of
self-reliance and fortitude, the revolutionary method of work of solving all
problems by relying firmly on the masses and enlisting their strength, and the
people-oriented style of work of respecting the people and sharing life and
death, weal and woe with them. These are traditions the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea values as its very lifeline and firmly carries forward, and a hallmark
of socialist Korea.
It was President Kim Il Sung
(1912-1994), founding father of socialist Korea, who founded and led the KPRA.
He
created many Juche-oriented and outstanding guerrilla tactics and methods unheard-of in
the world history of war, winning one victory after another in the struggle
against the Japanese imperialists, and rallied all
the people as one, thus achieving the
historic cause of national liberation (August 15, 1945)
through an all-people resistance.
