THE EMBASSY OF THE DEMOCRATIC
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA TO SWITZERLAND
Pourtalésstrasse 43 Tel: +41-31 951 6621
3074 Muri/Bern Switzerland Fax: +41-31 951 5704
E-mail: dprk.embassy@bluewin.ch
No. 71/22 August 25, 2022
1. August 25 and the Meaning of the Day for the DPRK
2. Immortal Feats of Leading Army
3. Blasting of Ukishimamaru
4. Striped Jacket–Korean National Costume for Children
August 25 and the Meaning of the Day for the DPRK
August 25, 1960 is the day when Chairman Kim Jong Il (1942-2011) commenced his leadership over the revolutionary armed forces of his country, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The DPRK celebrates this day as a meaningful one.
By leading the Korean People’s Army for several decades since then, Kim Jong Il safeguarded the security of the country and regional peace and turned the DPRK into a world-class military power.
One of the important meanings of August 25 is that the day was a watershed in the effort to make the KPA an army loyal to the Workers’ Party of Korea and the leader. As is acknowledged by many military experts of the world, the spirits unique to the KPA including the thoroughgoing spirit of defending the country and the spirit of devotedly serving the people were formed and consolidated under the leadership of the WPK and Chairman Kim Jong Il.
When he inspected Seoul Ryu Kyong Su Guards 105th Tank Division of the KPA on August 25, 1960, he attached the greatest importance to making the KPA an army absolutely faithful to the leadership of the WPK.
After his inspection of the tank division, he directed special attention to consolidating the WPK organs and other political bodies in the KPA and intensifying the ideological education of the service personnel. In the course of this the WPK’s command system, Kim Jong Il’s command system, was thoroughly established in the KPA.
Since the mid-1990s when the imperialists’ aggressive manoeuvres grew ever more undisguised and the country’s economic situation was difficult, Chairman Kim Jong Il firmly safeguarded socialism by placing the KPA in the vanguard. He continually visited KPA units, leading the service personnel to reliably defend the foremost posts of the country, and on the other hand, he dispatched them to major sites of economic construction so as to ensure that the KPA played a great role in laying a firm foundation for building the country into a socialist power.
Another meaning of August 25 is that the day made it possible to remarkably consolidate the fighting efficiency of the KPA and the nation’s defence capability, to creditably defend the sovereignty and dignity of the country.
Kim Jong Il energetically led the work for strengthening the fighting efficiency of the KPA with extraordinary strategic wisdom and outstanding art of command.
The DPRK always emerged victorious whenever the US made provocative manoeuvres including the incident of Pueblo, a US armed spy ship, and the incident of EC-121, a US large espionage plane, in the 1960s. The country owed these victories to his wise leadership.
There is another example.
In 1983 the US conducted the Team Spirit 83 joint military exercise which was planned to be climaxed with the landing of air-borne troops on an imaginary point in north Korea and gave wide publicity to the landing drill. Later the US, to its utter surprise, came to know that their dropping point was identical with the point Kim Jong Il had selected for the KPA to conduct an anti-air-borne troops drill.
Kim Jong Il directed great efforts to developing the national defence industry and thereby provided a guarantee that the KPA can win victory in confrontation with any enemy. With a noble sense of duty to defend the destiny of the country and people to the end, he channelled primary efforts into developing the national defence industry even in the period when the imperialists’ manoeuvres to isolate and stifle the DPRK went to extreme. Under his leadership the national defence industry of the DPRK developed into a modern and self-sufficient industry which can make necessary military equipment by its own efforts. In addition, the DPRK became a nuclear power. This ensured the strategic balance in the region and consolidated peace and security of the Korean peninsula.
In those days the US media organs commented that if a war broke out, over 70 percent of the population of south Korea would be killed and the total amount of loss would be worth 21 020 440 million dollars. The world media unanimously voiced that the formidable war deterrent of the DPRK improved the situation and safeguarded peace on the Korean peninsula.
Immortal Feats of Leading Army
August 25 is a day of historic significance when the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il left his first traces of guidance on our revolutionary armed forces.
The great General visited the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su Guards 105th Tank Division of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) on August 25, 1960. For 50-odd years since that day, he staunchly safeguarded the country, revolution and socialism by performing immortal feats for the building up of revolutionary armed forces.
During those historic days, he set the strengthening and developing of KPA into the army of the leader and the Party as a fundamental issue in the building of revolutionary armed forces and exerted the greatest effort to model the whole army on the revolutionary idea of the leader and to strengthen and develop it into the single-heartedly united military rank based on the spirit of defending the leader at the risk of one’s life.
Taking advantage of the collapse of socialism in several countries including the former Soviet Union, the allied imperialist force launched an intense, anti-socialist offensive against our country at the end of the last century. In the face of this, the great General braved all the difficulties of history by enhancing the fighting capacity of the army in every way, holding up the KPA as the main force and the pillar of revolution and conducting energetic field guidance, saying that socialism and the prosperity of the country and nation are guaranteed only by strong arms.
The great General, always in his plain field jacket, led the anti-U.S. confrontation and the battle for defending socialism to victory and also saw to it that the KPA would work miracles and perform feats not only as the main force of national defense but also as the vanguard unit and shock brigade in the main fronts of socialist construction for enhancement of people’s livelihood. His tireless effort is what shattered to pieces the anti-DPRK moves of the U.S. and what opened up a bright prospect for building a powerful, prosperous nation. The world people, therefore, express their admiration as follows: The DPRK, though it’s not big in terms of size, gained decisive military ascendancy over the “sole superpower” of the world – the U.S. – and its allied forces against their isolation and stifle offensive in the face of adversity that would have collapsed any other country ten times over, a miracle that is ascribable to leader Kim Jong Il’s politics of attaching importance to national defense and his Songun revolutionary leadership.
Indeed, in the jungle of the world where incessant ravages of war generate millions of refugees wandering about, having deprived of their homes, our people’s safeguarding of independent dignity and worthwhile life cannot be thought of apart from the long journey of Songun made by the great General.
Today, our people are in their heyday of the development of the revolutionary armed forces as we have in high esteem, respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, the peerless, brilliant commander.
Under the sagacious leadership of respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, our revolutionary armed forces have been strengthened yet further as the one and only revolutionary armed forces of the Party in the world and our fatherland is now enjoying its prestige as the military power of the world that have in store the absolute guarantee for safety and future of the country and people.
The immortal feats of great General who led the army and the cause of socialist construction of our own style to victory against the tribulations of history with the People’s Army as the main force of revolution will shine forever with the new history of Juche Korea thanks to respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.
Blasting of Ukishimamaru
About 17:20, August 24, 1945, there were three to four sudden loud explosions in the sea off Shimosabaga nearly 300 metres away from the coast on the mouth of the port of Maizuru of Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. With the explosion, Ukishimamaru, 108.43m long, was broken into two parts and submerged into the sea with many Korean people aboard it.
This was the Ukishimamaru blast incident, which was associated with the dreadful conspiracy the Japanese military authorities intentionally planned and perpetrated.
On August 19, 1945, some days after Korea’s liberation from the military occupation of Japan, the transportation headquarters of the Japanese Ministry of Navy sent a telegraphic message to the chief of staff of the Ominato navy guard unit, ordering the departure of the Ukishimamaru.
According to the order, the guard unit appeased and forced the Koreans drafted to Japan and their families to take the ship, saying that it would sail to Pusan of Korea and it was the only ship that would sail to Korea, thus making much more people get aboard it.
Then, did the Japanese reactionaries, who had occupied Korea for decades and brought untold pain and misfortune to its people, intend to apologize for such crimes by ensuring the return of the forcibly drafted Koreans to their native places being obsessed with the sense of crime belatedly?
Never. They planned to avenge their defeat by killing the Korean people as well as to keep their atrocities from being known to the world by killing them, living witnesses to their crimes as they had forcibly drafted a large number of the Koreans, mercilessly killing them and committing all inhuman acts against them.
Immediately after the blast of the ship, Japan explained that the ship hit mines while entering the port according to the order of the military government of the US to hold up the voyage of all ships.
But that was a completely illogical lie.
There are so many data which reveal it: the ship made the entrance after receiving the information of completion of mine-clearing; of the many ships that had sailed from and to the port, only it exploded; there was no water spout which had to be followed by an explosion by mine; the iron sheets of the bottom of the ship which was hauled in 1954 were bended outwards; before the explosion, all the Japanese aboard the ship escaped from it by boat.
The souls of the victims still call for the Korean people to take revenge upon the Japanese reactionaries a thousandfold, condemning them who organized and committed the massacre.
Striped Jacket–Korean National Costume for Children
 | |||
 | |||
 | |||
Striped jacket, the Korean national costume for children, gives pleasure to viewers for its beautiful and attractive colours, patterns and forms.
 | |||
 | |||