Great Comrade Kim Il Sung early on elucidated the philosophical principle that the gun barrel is the life of the nation and also victory of the revolution, and founded the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army — which is the first revolutionary armed forces of chuch’e-style — with brilliant sons and daughters of the people in the forest of Paektu, 80 years ago from now. With the founding of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, our people came to have a true army of their own for the first time in history, and the honorable history of the Korean Revolution which advances through the might of the gun barrel started from this.

Comrade Kim Il Sung — who paid foremost attention to strengthening the revolutionary armed forces throughout the entire period of the long revolutionary activities — performed the military miracle of the 20th century of defeating the two most outrageous imperialisms in one generation, and prepared a powerful military guarantee for sovereignty of the country and prosperity of the nation for all ages by raising the people’s army into a revolutionary strong army of one-a-match-for-a hundred, and arming all the people and fortifying the whole land. Great Comrade Kim Jong Il — who put forward inheriting and completing the military-first revolutionary cause of chuch’e pioneered by Comrade Kim Il Sung as his lifelong mission — opened the highest stage of the development of our revolutionary armed forces with his extraordinary sagacity, outstanding art of command, and matchless pluck. During the period of the gravest ordeal for our revolution, Comrade Kim Jong Il strengthened! and developed the people’s army into the most elite combat ranks, led to constant victories, the unprecedented battles to protect socialism, and achieved the great historic feats of enhancing our country to the status of a world-class militarily powerful state through the ever-victorious military-first politics.

Under the care of great Comrade Kim Il Sung and Comrade Kim Jong Il, our revolutionary armed forces have displayed in full, the majestic appearance as the revolutionary strong army with clear revolutionary character and infinitely strong military temperament and might. On the path of proud struggles on which our revolutionary armed forces have walked were grand construction battles to consolidate an everlasting foundation for the prosperous and powerful fatherland as well as grave life-and-death decisive battles against powerful imperialists. In those days, our revolutionary armed forces were infinitely loyal to their foremost mission as the true army of the leader and true army of the party and brilliantly answered the expectations of the fatherland and the people. The noble spirit of death-defying defense of the leader — which was created by anti-Japanese guerrillas — has served as the absolute motto and fundamental source of spiritual strength and combat s! trength of our army, and has become a noble tradition that has been passed on from generation to generation. Holding aloft the banner of death-defying defense of the leader before everything else and resolutely defending the lifeline of the chuch’e revolution at the forefront in days of honor and in days of ordeal as well is the greatest exploit of all the exploits that our people’s army has made before the revolution.