Women's Company, Flower of the Revolutionary Army Organized Under the Care of General Kim Il Sung

The women guerrillas of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, who fought bloody battles against the brigandish Japanese imperialists on the first line of the anti-Japanese revolution, were the brilliant examples of the Korean women and heroines who could be regarded as genuine models in the history of the struggle for human liberation.

They were the forerunners who achieved the social and ethical equality of women before their counterparts in other countries and pioneered the road of women's liberation in Korea at the cost of their blood.

The important factor of the great feats they performed during the 20-year-long arduous anti-Japanese struggle was the benevolent care of President Kim Il Sung, who led them along the road of revolution and struggle and took meticulous care of them.

As the preparations for an armed struggle were matured and guerrilla units were formed one after another in different parts under the leadership of General Kim Il Sung, the women's enthusiasm to join the armed ranks with arms in their hands soared.

But many people opposed their enlistment in the guerrilla army, claiming that it was an ancestral custom for women to look after household affairs and they were incapable of conducting guerrilla activities, which even men guerrillas found difficult to bear.

But many women, who had been working in underground revolutionary organizations, came to the guerrilla army without permission and refused to leave, and their number began to increase.

As the number of women soldiers increased, General Kim Il Sung thought that they should be taken better care of. Although under arms, women were women. Even under the difficult circumstances of guerrilla warfare, he had to make sure that they lived like women

Since women joined the guerrilla army, General Kim Il Sung had special treatment accorded to them as their sisters.

The guerrilla units gave them the best guns, arranged their beds in the most comfortable places, and selected the best trophies for them.

In this course, he felt a need to upgrade their special treatment and form a separate unit for them in order to establish a single organization for their daily routine and military action. He believed that a separate women's company would inspire them with greater revolutionary pride and enthusiasm, encourage them to display their self-consciousness and combat power to the maximum, and relieve them from life's discomforts.

They burned with a unanimous desire to take up arms and take revenge on the enemy by killing at least a few of them, as this enemy had murdered their parents and brothers. At the sewing unit, at the hospital and cooking unit General Kim Il Sung heard their voice, this earnest desire unanimously.

When he was forming a new division in Fusong he came to a firm decision to organize a separate women's company directly under the headquarters.

At that time there were some women soldiers. They include Jang Chol Gu and Kim Hwak Sil who were former "Minsaengdan" suspects, others like Pak Rok Gum who came individually and many others who came in groups, together with small units, which had been operating independently, and were admitted to the new division.

When he was busy in Manjiang preparing for the formation of a women's company, a composite unit of men and women came. Although a composite unit, it contained only four or five men, with the remainder made up of women, including Kim Chol Ho, Ho Song Suk, Choe Jang Suk and Hwang Sun Hui.

The courage, audacity and fortitude the women soldiers displayed in a battle they fought on their way to Manjiang were no less inferior than those of the men guerrillas, and struck others with great admiration.

General Kim Il Sung formally announced the birth of the women's company in a forest near Manjiang in April 1936.

The women's company was the first of its kind in the development of the armed forces in our country.

The birth of the women's company signified that the Korean women, locked up in feudal fetters in back parlours for ages, now stood on the first line of revolutionary battle.

As an independent combat unit, consisting of only women, was formed under his meticulous care, the ardent desire of women to take part in the armed resistance was realized.

Later President Kim Il Sung said:

"The women's company was the pride and rare flower of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army."

Immediately after its appearance, the women's company attracted public attention. Wherever they went, the women soldiers were loved and respected by the people.

The existence of a women's company in the revolutionary army and its combat efficiency, which was no inferior to male units, soon became known to the whole nation and amazed the world as a whole.

The women soldiers defended the headquarters of the revolution at the risk of their lives in many battlefields including the battle of Fusong County town and performed brilliant feats in them. They left famous tales in those battles.

They distinguished themselves especially at the Daying and Donggang battles.

At the battle of Daying, Jang Jong Suk, sparing her ammunition, knocked out an enemy sentry with her fist to open the way to a charge.

At the battle of Donggang, Kim Hwak Sil and two other women delivered one shot each in the dim moonlight and cut off the telephone line of the enemy. The event became legendary.

The police department of South Hamgyong Province under the Korean Government-General left many records of the actions of the women's company. The records contained information that Pak Rok Gum and forty other women soldiers attacked the puppet Manchukuo garrison force at Xinancha, Fusong County, early in the fifth month by the lunar calendar in the eleventh year of Showa (1936), and that around the same time they raided Daying and captured about a dozen rifles and uniforms.

Indeed, the women's company was the pride and rare flower of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army.