President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un for the fist time wearing his Admiral uniform during the parade to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Army. Photo: Rodong.
This April 25, 2022, a grand military parade to be remembered in Korea’s history was held at Kim Il Sung Square in the capital city of Pyongyang, the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army (KPRA), the first revolutionary armed forces of Juche type.
The military parade began with a magnificent demonstration of skills by paratroopers who landed on the square, fluttering a large national flag. The State Merited Chorus in charge of playing music for the parade entered the square.
On April 25, 1932, Juche 21 was the day when the dawn of national liberation was brought to the Korean people who had been deprived of even their language and names for having no army guarding the territory of their nation. President Kim Il Sung, the legendary hero of the anti-Japanese war, founded the KPRA on that day.
Columns of cutting-edge military hardware were on standby on the avenues to the square. They showed well the appearance of the armed forces of the DPRK that have dramatically developed from the first armed group of Koreans who declared death-defying resistance against aggressors with only 100-odd rifles on the day 90 years ago.
When Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and supreme commander of the armed forces of the DPRK, arrived at the square together with his wife Ri Sol Ju, a solemn ceremony of receiving him was held by the honor guard of the Korean People’s Army (KPA).
Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju were presented with bunches of flowers by members of the Children’s Union. Kim Jong Un later made a celebration speech.
Referring to the profound and great significance of the birth of the first genuine armed forces of Korea 90 years ago in the history of our revolution and the nation and in the future development of our state and people, he said that the arms of revolution held by fine sons and daughters of the Korean people in the forest of Mt Paektu was an expression of the ever-growing Korean nation’s spirit of independence, hope and banner of great unity and the motive force that provided the Koreans with the spirit of self-respect and invincible strength. Then, preparations for the parade were reviewed.
Vice Marshal of the KPA Ri Yong Gil, minister of National Defence of the DPRK, made a report to KPA Marshal Pak Jong Chon, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the WPK, that parade units were ready to be reviewed.
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A column of soldiers representing the period of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, when the first generation of our revolutionary armed forces set a shining example of devotedly protecting the leader for the first time in history and established the traditions of winning victory with idea and faith, marched past the square with a red flag fluttering.
Then columns of tanks and armored vehicle divisions and motorized infantry divisions including the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su Guards 105th Tank Division and the 425th Motorized Infantry Division of the KPA, powerful strike groups that are prepared to immediately secure any strategic areas indicated by the Supreme Headquarters, marched proudly under the uplifted sacred colors bearing the letters “April 25,” displaying the might of the invincible revolutionary Paektusan army that stoutly preserves the glorious traditions of the anti-Japanese war.
Columns of students at revolutionary schools who had prepared themselves as pillars of the Juche revolution while reliably succeeding to the lineage of Mangyongdae, the lineage of Paektu at the educational seats for the sons and daughters of revolutionary martyrs associated with the idea of continuous revolution and love for the younger generation and future of the WPK went past to the tune of a march.
A column of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards, which have been strengthened into reliable armed forces for safeguarding the socialist country and defending hometowns by inheriting the tradition of all-people resistance created during the anti-Japanese war, marched through the square, carrying the flags of provincial worker-peasant red guards with the chief secretary of the Pyongyang City Party Committee as its head and the chief secretaries of provincial Party committees in the van.
Air squadrons, in formations depicting the five-pointed star and laurel tree, flew past the sky above the square while letting off fireworks to brighten the sky.
The great Comrade Kim Jong Un advanced the outstanding military idea and theory that the true defense capabilities precisely mean strong attack capabilities and has built up the great attack capabilities and overwhelming military capabilities for preventing war, ensuring the national security and surely containing and controlling any threats and blackmail by the imperialists.
A column of super-large MLRS, one of absolute weaponry of the DPRK without an equal in other parts of the world that is capable of carrying out a scorched-earth operation any moment through successive strike with major targets of strike in the operational zone in its firing range, roared past the square.
Columns of strategic missiles entered the square, demonstrating the strong capabilities for executing a war making it possible to react to any warfare in the sky, land, sea and outer space and decisively contain and frustrate the enemy.
At that moment the spectators raised loud cheers, greatly excited to see the giant ICBM Hwasongpho-17 which soared into sky on March 24 to demonstrate the absolute power of Juche Korea and the strategic position of our Republic to the world.
The military parade for celebrating the 90th founding anniversary of the KPRA served as an event of great significance that demonstrated once again before the world the invincibility, mightiness and radical development of the armed forces of the Republic that guarantees the succession and implementation of the revolutionary cause of Juche, while demonstrating the might of the revolutionary army of the Party that remains absolutely loyal to the idea and leadership of the WPK and as the reliable defender of peace. It marked a historic occasion for greatly encouraging the Korean people in their heroic struggle of adding glory to the great era of Kim Jong Un and a new era of building a prosperous and powerful nation.
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The following is the full transcript of Kim Jong Un speech:
All the brave officers and men of the armed forces of our Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
Officers and men of the units participating in the military parade,
Comrade war veterans, exemplary soldiers and merited persons invited to this square of celebration,
Esteemed Pyongyang citizens,
Dear comrades,
Today we are holding a grand military parade in celebration of an anniversary, significant and glorious for our great party, state and people.
At this moment overflowing with the glory of the long history of our army building, we are all here filled with a great pride in having the armed forces that firmly defend the Party, the revolution, the country and the people, and reliably guarantee peace and stability.
Seeing the dependable elite units massed in this Kim Il Sung Square with their victorious colours and feeling, through them, the level of the modern character of the armed forces of our Republic, all the people across the country will realize once again the profound and great significance of the birth of their country’s first genuine armed forces 90 years ago has had in the history of our revolution and nation and will have in the future development of our state and people.
The founding of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army was an event of national significance that declared a death-defying resistance against imperialism under the unfurled banner of winning national liberation and independence by our own efforts, as well as a historic event that ushered in a new era of the Juche revolution that relies on powerful revolutionary armed forces.
The major meaning of this event is not confined only to the fact that our people, who were forced to live a pitiable life in the turmoil of history, could have their own national army and the hope of their revival; it also lies in the fact that the event declared at home and abroad the steadfast idea of anti-imperialist revolution of the Korean revolutionaries to settle accounts to the end and by force of arms with those who infringed upon the dignity and sovereignty of our nation and their unyielding will to win the people’s freedom and liberation and the revolution’s victory without fail by the internal forces.
History has clearly proved that this determination and will of the Korean revolutionaries opting to carve out the destiny and future of their people was absolutely correct.
The revolutionary weapons the fine sons and daughters of our people held aloft in the forests of Paektu were an expression of the soaring spirit of independence of the Korean nation, their hope and the great banner of their unity, as well as the force that loaded the mettle of self-dependence and Herculean strength in the tear-stained fists of the Korean people.
Thanks to these armed ranks, a far-reaching plan of the Korean revolution was matured, the unyielding spirit and formidable strength with which to prevail over the imperialist tyranny were nurtured, and the great traditions, basic and everlasting in the development of our revolution, were created.
The ideology, faith and traditions, which our revolutionary army cherished and succeeded from the outset of its founding, constituted the basis of the spiritual strength and ever-victorious guarantee that made it possible to display an undying heroic and self-sacrificing spirit in defending the Party, the revolution, the territory and the people in the fiercest-ever anti-imperialist confrontation, in the first line of grim class struggle and in the ever-changing circumstances of history, mindful of its intrinsic revolutionary and class nature and mission. This army achieved the great cause of the country’s liberation and nation’s revival through an unprecedented bloody struggle, repulsed the armed aggression by the US-led allied imperialist forces and defended with honour the sovereignty, dignity and safety of the country with an unrivalled heroic spirit; it has recorded ever-victorious feats while defending the ruling party, the government, the territory and the people throughout the historical course of the socialist revolution and construction with an ennobling self-sacrificing spirit. Our party and people regard it as a source of their greatest honour and pride to have such a brave, steely and loyal army.
All our priceless gains, plus everything else on this land, are associated, first of all, with the services of our revolutionary army. This we should keep in mind.
Not only as the main force for national defence but also as a powerful force for national development, our revolutionary army, true to the Party’s intentions, has always made devoted efforts to carry out the ambitious revolutionary undertakings aimed at attaining lofty ideals. By doing so, it has performed such great exploits, which no others could do, in creating a new history of socialist construction and enhancing the dignity and honour of our great state. Regarding it as its lifeblood and top honour to be faithful to the party, the government and the people, our revolutionary army has kept the lineage of the Korean revolution safe and sound and defended the ideology and cause of the Workers’ Party of Korea resolutely, and reliably guaranteed the existence and development of our state and the welfare of our people. Thanks to these exploits of lasting value it has performed over the past 90 years, the annals of the Korean revolution spanning a century are resplendent with victory and glory.
We will remember for all ages that our great armed forces have always opened up the way for advance in the vanguard at each of the difficult revolutionary stages and that the glorious and worthwhile victories of our republic have been won at the cost of the priceless blood and sweat our revolutionary army shed and the noble self-sacrifice it made.
The glorious history of our armed forces is embodied in the proud and honourable successors, that is, the officers and men from the elite units of the Republic’s armed forces, who will march in fine array across this square of victors, and all other soldiers standing guard at the air, ground and naval posts and performing feats of labour at sites of grand socialist construction throughout the country.
Availing myself of this meaningful opportunity, I, on behalf of our party and government, would like to pay noble tribute to the anti-Japanese revolutionary forerunners and martyrs of the People’s Army, who dedicated their precious lives in the struggle for national sovereignty and independence and the people’s liberation, for the build-up of the revolutionary armed forces and for the victorious advance of the socialist cause. I also offer hearty congratulations to all the officers and men of the Korean People’s Army and all other members of the armed forces of our Republic, who are making a great journey of faithful succession to their revolutionary forerunners.
In addition, I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all the families on this land, which have had their dear husbands and children stand at the forefront of national defence.
Comrades, the glorious 90-year journey our revolutionary armed forces have made safeguarding the prosperity and development of the country by force of arms, should be continued for another hundred, nay a thousand years.
In the era we are living in now, we should continue to exalt the glory of the powerful army and change to be more powerful at a fast speed incomparable with the past 90 years.
In the present world where different forces collide fiercely with one another, a nation’s dignity and sovereignty and reliable genuine peace are guaranteed by powerful defence capability that can overpower any enemy.
We should continuously grow stronger.
There is no satisfaction or accomplishment in cultivating strength for defending ourselves, and, whoever we confront, our military supremacy should be more secure.
The revolution demands this, and the future of all the generations to come depends upon this.
Our general line of building the revolutionary armed forces is to make the People’s Army an ever-victorious army.
An ever-victorious army this must be the eternal name of our people’s army and shine as a priceless honour belonging only to our revolutionary armed forces.
The people’s army should hold fast to our party’s orientation and general line of army building and dynamically open up a new phase of its development.
To do so, it should define it as the core target to strengthen itself politically and ideologically and make itself strong in military technology, and give a stronger impetus to consolidating itself into an army, strong in ideology and faith, which is absolutely loyal to the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea and boundlessly faithful to its revolutionary cause and into an elite force possessed of courage, capability and self-confidence for responding to any type of war and crisis without any hesitation.
Strengthening it politically and ideologically is the main aspect and first strategic task of our building of the army.
The political and ideological preparedness of the army and the ideological and spiritual preparedness of the masses of the soldiers, the motive force of the armed forces, are basic in the effort to make our revolutionary army fulfil its mission as the army of the party, people and class and actively respond to any type of war and crisis.
The staunch revolutionary spirit and class awareness of the army we have to further cultivate in the future will play a decisive role in building up the fighting efficiency of our army and defence capabilities of the nation.
The unique character of our revolution is that one generation of the revolution is continually replaced by another and we have to face for a long period of time the imperialists who grow ever more ferocious with each passing day. This presents it as a crucial strategic task of army building and anti-imperialist struggle to stoutly carry on the baton of the great revolutionary ideology and spirit which originated in Paektu. When we carry out this task as the core in army building, we will surely be able to maintain and consolidate the qualitative supremacy of our revolutionary armed forces.
All the Party organizations and political bodies of the people’s army should continue to stoke up the flames of the ideological revolution and focus their all-out effort in cultivating the revolutionary ideology and spiritual strength of the soldier masses.
Regarding it as our top-priority task to develop the people’s army into an army strong in ideology and faith, we should prepare all the service personnel to be ideological guardsmen who fight only in line with the revolutionary ideology and will of the Party Central Committee, who cherish staunch class awareness and indomitable fighting spirit as part of their mental qualities, and who never allow a single misfire or an inch of deviation from the centre of the target designated by the Party Central Committee.
We should also strongly push ahead with building it up into an army strong in military technology with a view to radically improving its fighting efficiency.
The global trend of military development and rapidly-changing style of warfare at present demand that we modernize our army at a faster rate in terms of military technology.
Holding aloft the slogan of modernizing the army, we should strive to the utmost to develop our people’s army into a powerful army equipped with highly advanced military technology.
By pressing ahead with the modernization of the military talents training system, we should bring up a larger number of officers who are fully capable of commanding units of different arms and services at all levels. And we should make all the units and sub-units of the army fully ready to carry out any combat missions by modernizing their operation and combat training.
The sectors of defence science and munitions industry should continue to develop and deploy for actual combat cutting-edge military hardware of new generations so as to ceaselessly increase the military power of the people’s army.
In particular, the nuclear forces, the symbol of our national strength and the core of our military power, should be strengthened in terms of both quality and scale, so that they can perform nuclear combat capabilities in any situations of warfare, according to purposes and missions of different operations and by various means.
The prevailing situation demands that more proactive measures be taken to provide a firm and sustained guarantee for the modern character and military technological supremacy of our Republic’s armed forces.
To cope with the rapidly-changing political and military situations and all the possible crises of the future, we will advance faster and more dynamically along the road of building up the self-defensive and modern armed forces, which we have followed unwaveringly, and, especially, will continue to take measures for further developing the nuclear forces of our state at the fastest possible speed.
The fundamental mission of our nuclear forces is to deter a war, but our nukes can never be confined to the single mission of war deterrent even at a time when a situation we are not desirous of at all is created on this land.
If any forces try to violate the fundamental interests of our state, our nuclear forces will have to decisively accomplish its unexpected second mission.
The nuclear forces of our republic should be fully prepared to fulfil their responsible mission and put their unique deterrent in motion at any time.
Comrades, officers and men of the people’s army,
Our armed forces are now fully prepared for any type of war.
If any forces attempt military confrontation with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, they will be perished.
All the armed forces of the DPRK, with the heroic Korean People’s Army as their core, should always firmly believe in their cause, march forward valiantly against all challenges filled with confidence, remain faithful to their sacred mission of defending the safety, dignity and happiness of the people, and securely guarantee the development of our socialism by maintaining their invincible military supremacy.
All the officers and men of the armed forces of the republic,
As long as your hearts are pulsating with the precious blood and noble spirit of the revolutionary forerunners and as long as the revolutionary armed forces are always standing at the vanguard of the revolution as the embodiment of the ideology and will of the Workers’ Party of Korea and of the strength of our state and people, the cause of socialism of our own style will be ever-victorious in the future, too.
Commanding officers and men of the KPA and all other armed forces of the DPRK,
For the safety and happiness of our great people,
For the eternal glory and victory of our great state,
Let us fight vigorously.
Long live our great revolutionary armed forces!
Long live our great country, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea!
Featured image: President of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un for the fist time wearing his Admiral uniform during the parade to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Army. All photos: Rodong.
(Rodong) with Orinoco Tribune editing
OT/JRE/DD
