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Foundation of Regular Revolutionary Armed Forces


Pyongyang, April 25 (KCNA) -- The Worker's Party of Korea accomplished the historic cause of army building by re-organizing the Korean People's Revolutionary Army (KPRA) which was founded on April 25, 1932 into regular revolutionary armed forces, while leading the building of a new society after liberation. The President Kim Il Sung laid down the principle of building a regular revolutionary army with sons and daughters of workers and peasants and other working people, anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters being its backbone, in his speech made before military and political cadres on august 20, Juche 34 (1945).

Guided by this principle, the WPK energetically pushed ahead with the work to strengthen and develop the KPRA into regular revolutionary armed forces. There were many bottlenecks and difficulties in the process of founding the regular armed forces. Korea at that time lacked military and political cadres equipped with modern military science and technology and the material foundation for the army building was also weak. But the WPK tackled all the problems from the stand of Juche.

It saw to it that anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters steeled in the hard-fought anti-Japanese armed struggle played a key role in building revolutionary armed forces and the training of military and political cadres was made in conformity with the specific conditions of Korea. The Pyongyang Institute, the Mother Institution for Training Military and Political Cadres, was founded in February 1946 to be followed by the appearance of the central security officers school. Many core military and political cadres were produced by those military schools to positively contribute to the creation of the KPA, regular revolutionary armed forces.

The WPK channelled efforts into building core units of the regular revolutionary armed forces and organizing new units of different arms and services needed for the building of a revolutionary army. Security officers training centers were established in various local areas with graduates from the Pyongyang institute as their core officers and their branches created. A battalion, companies, platoons and squads were organized under each branch. The Korean aviation association was formed through the merger of local aviation associations and developed to be an air corps. Cadres of naval forces were trained to lay the foundation of naval units.

The core units, units of various arms and services of the regular army were created under the leadership of the WPK. Full preparations were thus made for strengthening and developing the KPRA into a regular army. On the basis of these arrangements, Kim Il Sung proclaimed the birth of the KPA, regular revolutionary armed forces, at the parade of the KPA held on February 8, Juche 37 (1948). The Korean people thus came to have their own strong revolutionary armed forces.


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