The Resolve of a Great Patriot

At the foot of Moran Hill in Pyongyang, the capital of Juche Korea, stands the Arch of Triumph, a proud monumental edifice in the era of the Workers' Party. And its four pillars are inscribed with significant numbers "1925" and "1945" in praise of President Kim Il Sung's exploits for national liberation.

Photo. Arch of Triumph

The number "1925" symbolizes the year when President Kim Il Sung embarked on the 250-mile journey for national liberation in his teens, making a firm determination to liberate the country, and "1945", the year when he achieved the historic cause of national liberation and returned home.

"1925" and "1945"

Reading these years quietly brings back the noble image of President Kim Il Sung, who crossed the River Amnok with a firm resolve not to return home before liberating the country, defeated the brigandish Japanese imperialists through 20-year-long armed struggle and accomplished the historic cause of national liberation.

He was the great leader and the benevolent father of our people, who devoted his all to their freedom and happiness since he embarked on the road of revolution in his early years.

Chairman Kim Jong Il said:

"There is no leader in the world as great as our leader Comrade Kim Il Sung, who at such an early age embarked on the road of revolution for his motherland and people with the lofty aim of winning back the lost country."

One day in January Juche 14 (1925), a few months before he left Changdok School, President Kim Il Sung came to hear that his father Kim Hyong Jik had been arrested again by the Japanese police. He soon set out on the 250-mile journey for national liberation with a grim resolve to fight at the risk of his life against the Japanese imperialists.

On the thirteenth day after his departure from Mangyongdae, he reached the Phophyong Ferry, and there he hesitated to cross the River Amnok.

The mountains and rivers of his motherland held him back from crossing over to Badaogou. He was held back by a vision of his grandfather and grandmother who had seen him off at the brushwood gate weeping, stroking his hands, adjusting his dress, and worrying about possible snowstorms.

And, looking back at his motherland in misery at the bleak border he could scarcely suppress the impulse to rush back to his home town, to the house where he was born.

He had spent only two years back in his homeland after the 250-mile journey for learning, but he had learned and experienced much in those years.

His most valuable experience was that our people were simple, and industrious yet brave and strong-willed. They were staunch people who did not yield, whatever the adversity or hardship; they were polite and kindhearted and yet resolute and uncompromising against injustice.

From the image of them he felt an undaunted sense of national dignity and unbreakable spirit of independence and he believed that he could liberate the country if he organized their efforts properly.

President Kim Il Sung wrote in his reminiscences "With the Century" about the unforgettable psychological experience of that time that he made a grim resolve not to return before Korea had become independent, picturing in his mind the miserable reality of the motherland.

The determination made by the President on the shore of the River Amnok at the age of 14 was a resolve of faith and will derived from the noblest sense of mission to achieve the independence of the country by the efforts of the Korean nation itself and a patriotic pledge to defeat without fail the brigandish Japanese imperialists and build a people's paradise.

After crossing the River Amnok with a firm determination not to return before Korea had become independent, President Kim Il Sung fought against the brigandish Japanese imperialists and accomplished the historic cause of national liberation, braving the sea of blood and the sea of flames without any solid rear in the cold Manchurian plain for 20 years.

Thanks to the firm resolve made by the President on the shore of the River Amnok, the Korean people who had been subjected only to maltreatment and contempt in the past as colonial slaves who lost their country have become the most proud and dignified people in the world enjoying the true life and happiness of human beings to their hearts' content and the DPRK is shining in the world as a paradise where the people are masters, a powerful socialist country independent in politics, self-supporting in economy and self-reliant in national defense.

The immortal revolutionary exploits of President Kim Il Sung, who made a firm resolve in his teens not to return to Korea before winning back the lost country and achieved the historic cause of national liberation through the bloody anti-Japanese war, will shine forever along with the ever-prospering country under the wise guidance of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.