The Indomitable Revolutionary Faith of the Anti-Japanese Revolutionary Fighters

On the occasion of the 81st anniversary of national liberation, all the Korean people recall the indomitable revolutionary faith of the anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters who accomplished the historic cause of national liberation by overcoming the 20-year-long anti-Japanese war under the wise leadership of President Kim Il Sung.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un said:

"Revolution means faith and a person devoid of faith cannot become a revolutionary."

The anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters who grew up to be revolutionaries under President's care, were strong in faith and cherished in their hearts the truth that they would surely emerge victorious under the leadership of President Kim Il Sung even in the tempest of the revolution.

The firm faith in sure victory and indomitable fighting spirit displayed by the fighters are well known through the stories including the struggle of Ri Tu Su and other fighters, who are still called as the phoenix among the Korean people.

In February 1937, Ri Tu Su, who was shot at the battle of Hongtoushan, was undergoing medical treatment in a hospital, which was in a rock cave, with Ri Kye Sun, Pak Sun Il and some other sick people. It was just a hospital only by name, they had no medicine, no injection, no scalpels, and Pak Sun Il, a serious patient, had his feet rotted because he had not received treatment in time.

In those arduous days, the fighters received the letters of love and trust sent by President Kim Il Sung which read that he wished to meet all of them on the battlefield in good health after surviving an illness, with various items of food, medicines, summer uniforms and shoes.

The fighters cherished the great care of President who showed the love and affection to them, regarding each revolutionary soldier as his own flesh and blood, which should never be lost on the arduous road of revolution, buckled down to their medical treatment.

Photo. The group sculpture depicting the struggle of the anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters

Pak Sun Il who wanted to get well quickly and return to the revolutionary post, cut himself his rotting feet with a tin saw made by himself out of cans singing revolutionary songs for full six days.

Then one day, Pak Sun Il, who first discovered the enemy, in a desperate attempt to save his comrades, he shouted that the enemy's punitive troops were coming. He died a heroic death, holding the enemy soldier who was running to capture him with his arms and falling over a precipice.

Thanks to Pak Sun Il's report, Ri Tu Su who left the hospital to cut down the trees could easily escape, but the others including Ri Kye Sun were captured by the enemy and the rest were killed. He was left alone in the mountains without his comrades, without food and a hut.

He sustained his life chewing horsetails that wild boars eat, and in the blistering cold of Mt Paektu he had to keep his clothes covered with a scrap of ragged bag and live like a primitive man.

When Ri Tu Su felt there was no hope to survive, he thought it is advisable to die.

But at the moment of his determination, Ri Tu Su thought of the last of Pak Sun Il who had fallen over a precipice for the safety of his comrades and the earnest request of President Kim Il Sung who wished to see him on the battlefield in good health.

"I have no right to die. To choose death by myself is a betrayal of the comrades who saved me at the expense of them. To live and return to the battlefield is an order given to me by the commander. I have no right to disobey that order."

Even though he had been alone in the deep mountains without food or clothing for as many as 20 days, but he finally saved his life by a miracle and stood in the revolutionary ranks again.

The anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters were the incarnations of faith and will whose spirits never change like the peak of Mt Paektu, though their bodies would disappear as a dot of dust.