Following the Mount Paektu ascent of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Dec 4., the entire North Korean army has received new educational materials. They outline the guerrilla warfare tactics Kim Il Sung, the first leader of North Korea, used in his fight against Japanese colonial forces.
According to Daily NK sources, military companies and platoons have studied and debated the materials thoroughly, and have devoted themselves to memorizing and completely mastering Kim Il Sung’s tactical skills.
On Dec. 10, North Korea’s General Political Bureau reportedly distributed the training materials titled “Guerrilla warfare strategies created by Great Leader Kim Il Sung during his fight against the Japanese” to the army. A military source told Daily NK on Monday that soldiers are currently studying the instructions.
Daily NK was able to acquire a copy of the teaching materials, most of which deals with “Kim Il Sung strategies.” They outline different warfare tactics including, for example, how to turn enemies against each other in a siege, distract enemies and attack them from the opposite direction, or attack hostile support forces while laying siege to their bases. The strategies are credited to the “ingenuity of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung, who soundly defeated the enemy [the Japanese] by a variety of means.”
PREPARING AN “INVINCIBLE ARMY”
Sources quoted one of the instructors in charge of lecturing on the materials, who reportedly said: “Only if you have embraced these strategies with your entire being you will be ready to become the mighty soldier the Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un, expects you to be.”
He further stressed that “we must arm ourselves with the guerrilla strategies of Mount Paektu – the site where our revolution began – and where the three great commanders of Mount Paektu [Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un] have left their sacred marks.”
According to a source, the instructor also emphasized that North Korea’s military had to prepare itself both politically and ideologically in order to become invincible.
GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS
The publication of the educational materials has been interpreted as a call to all soldiers to remain steadfast, strengthen their solidarity, and rally by “drawing on the revolutionary traditions of Mount Paektu.” This claim is mainly based on the fact that the instructions were issued in a time of “crucial [military] tests” and heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula. It is thus highly likely that North Korea’s propaganda campaigns will further intensify.
The prevailing mood among soldiers is one of irreverence toward the lectures, sources revealed to Daily NK.
“Most soldiers treat political education as something to be endured,” one source added.
*Translated by Violet Kim and edited by Laura Geigenberger
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
