The Veterans of the Fatherland Liberation War Are the Most Heroic Generation of Our Republic
A speech made by Suprem Leader Comrade Kim Jong Un at the celebration of the 69th anniversary of the great victory in the War on July 27, 2022

Esteemed comrade veterans of the Fatherland Liberation War,
Comrade lecturers and officials engaged in the administration of revolutionary
relics associated with the victorious war, service personnel and students of
universities and revolutionary schools present in this meaningful place with the
revolutionary elders,
Dear Pyongyang citizens,
Dear all the other people,
Comrades,
This is the victorious July 27, which we have greeted again with a feeling of
great pride and with precious memories.
Although as many as 25 203 days have passed since the birth of the epochmaking miracle, the delight in and glory of victory in the war are just as those of
yesterday. As we have felt these feelings every year, our emotion and pride are
also infinite again today.
Comrades,
I warmly congratulate you on the great Victory Day that brought imperishable
glory and honour to our motherland.
Esteemed comrade war veterans,
The country's situation is difficult and recently we have experienced a public
health crisis, but until today you have maintained sound in your precious bodies. I
am very grateful for this.
Thank you, indeed.
Comrades,
At this moment the whole country is recollecting the glorious lives of the
martyrs of the DPRKorean People's Army and other revolutionary martyrs who
dedicated their youth and lives in defence of the sovereignty and honour of their
motherland, and is paying an ennobling tribute, praying for the immortality of their
great souls and spirit.
Countless war martyrs, both sung and unsung, have left us and many war
veterans are not with us in this place, but they all live in the embrace of the
country they defended at the cost of their blood and lives, and they are greeting
the glorious night with us at this moment.
Hoping that you, comrade war veterans, will live in good health and the
conference of war veterans as glorious as this one will be held continuously, I, on
behalf of the Workers' Party of DPRKorea and the government, pay a noble tribute to
the victors in the 1950s, who gave our people the privilege and infinite honour of
celebrating the great victory in the war year after year, and extend warm
greetings to the war veterans and other people of wartime merits across the
country, who laid the foundation of the existence and development of our
socialist state and are still giving us an encouragement as a spiritual pillar.
My gratitude also goes to the family members of the war veterans and to all
others who are devoting their efforts and sincerity for the preservation of health
and the living of the war veterans.
Availing myself of this opportunity, I pay a noble tribute to the martyrs of the
Chinese People's Volunteers, who shed their precious blood without hesitation
sharing the same destiny as our soldiers and people in the same trench against
the imperialists' aggression. I also send warm greetings to the veterans of the
Chinese People's Volunteers.
Comrades,
Of all the meaningful and auspicious holidays of our state, July 27 is an
extraordinarily dignified holiday in that we celebrate victory.
For every country and people, there is no other proud and brilliant glory and
honour than the victory in a do-or-die war.
The past Fatherland Liberation War was, for our Republic, a war for defending
the existence of its territory and people, as well as a fierce confrontation, the first
of its kind after the Second World War, between the two poles, the democratic
camp and the imperialist camp.
The fact that the US imperialists hurled not only their troops but also a large
number of troops of their vassal states to the Korean front shows the fierce
nature and international character of the Korean war.
The fight by the young army of the newly-emergent, two-year-old Republic
against the imperialist aggressive army of the United States, which was the most
ferocious on the earth, and its vassal forces was the one against too heavy odds.
However, as etched in history correctly, the arrogant aggressive ambition of
the United States to occupy our territory at a stroke and expand the sphere of its
influence met at its first step an unprecedentedly strong counterattack and terrific
bravery and was completely frustrated with the signing of an armistice agreement
after their three-year desperate war.
The military capability of the US imperialists and their allies sustained a
serious defeat in this war.
We defended the dignity, honour and sovereignty of our Republic,
safeguarded the environment for the independent development of our state,
checked the US ambition for world supremacy, and defended peace of mankind
by preventing a new world war. Herein lies the great significance of the
Fatherland Liberation War in the history of our nation and the world history of
wars.
The great victory in the Fatherland Liberation War, in which we staunchly
defended the most dangerous first line of the anti-imperialist struggle in an
eastern part of the earth, is a victory of defenders over aggressors, a victory of
justice and the progressive over injustice and the reactionary, and a victory of
significance in human history, which proved the iron truth that no aggressors,
however strong and superior they may be, cannot overwhelm an army and
people that have turned out in a do-or-die resistance.
Those who wrought this legendary miracle are none other than you, war
veterans present here, and the numerous comrades-in-arms you still recollect.
The numerous battles the brave defenders of the country fought under the hail
of bullets and bombs in the war produced the priceless glory of victory, and the
flag of our Republic, which they held in the vanguard of advance and which
became redder by the precious blood of the sons and daughters of heroic Korea,
became known to the whole world as a symbol of bravery, victory and justice and
as an immortal banner of the anti-imperialist struggle.
Comrades,
The unyielding spirit of the war veterans, who unhesitatingly rose to the crisis
of a life-or-death war in the grim times of the country, is felt more valuable now
when the country is experiencing difficulties.
As everyone knows well, the veterans of the Fatherland Liberation War were
quite ordinary young men and women, but they were laudable sons and
daughters of the nation who were not ordinary at all in the battles for defending
their country.
Simple as they were at workplaces and schools, they were courageous
enough to volunteer to join the army and confront the aggressive army of the US
imperialists. This was because they had a firm belief in their Party and
government and a conviction that they would surely emerge victorious, as well as
a strong will to safeguard their rights as the masters of their new country and new
life.
With the love for their benevolent system, native homes, workplaces, parents
and siblings and with the hatred against the enemy who were trying to deprive
them of these all, our war veterans stoutly surmounted grim trials and
heartrending pains of loss and displayed unequalled mass heroism, striking terror
and despair into the hearts of the brutal and heinous invaders.
Our great Fatherland Liberation War clearly showed that something
miraculous can be created when a people, though simple and ordinary, turn out
in defiance of death to defend what belong to them.
Although they defended the dignity and honour, the territory and sovereignty of
their country at the cost of their blood, our war veterans have continued to work
selflessly, steadfastly, honestly and devotedly for their country throughout their
lives, setting a model of a patriotic life for posterity. Herein lie the true features of
a human being, ennobling traits, which can be found only in them.
Our priceless socialist system and our great state of today, which is growing
stronger, are unthinkable separated from the imperishable feats of the veterans
of the Fatherland Liberation War, both sung and unsung, and the pure devoted
service of the victorious wartime generation.
Indeed, the war veterans are the most heroic generation that laid an
unbreakable foundation of our Republic in the face of upheavals of history, and
they are models of the great, unyielding Korean people.
The loyalty, bravery and patriotism you have demonstrated throughout your
life are now pulsating in the hearts of the tens of millions of people. Because our
revolution has the great and excellent features created in the flames of the grim
war in the 1950s as its genetic quality, it is indomitably carving out its cause by
its own efforts down through generations without any setback or retreat in the
face of difficulties.
Comrades,
For us, the V-day is not merely a celebration day of commemorating and
looking back to the chapter of resistance in the heroic era.
The day serves as a valuable and significant occasion for us to judge whether
we can proudly say before the embodiment and witnesses of history, who
brought about the greatest victory in the harshest and grimmest annals, that our
current struggle is an inheritance of the great tradition and to renew confidence
and courage, passion and mettle.
We are now entrusted with the heavy historic duty of exalting to the height of
the current times the brilliance of the glory and honour which the victorious
wartime generation achieved 70 years ago and of ensuring that they are stoutly
inherited to the next generation.
Just as the victorious wartime generation did, so should we exert ourselves
without let-up for the next generation.
To further consolidate the nation's defence capability on the strength of the
heroic spirit displayed during the war is a fundamental guarantee for defending
the national interests of the Republic and its independent development.
Our revolution has been in sharp confrontation with the United States which
has bluntly resorted to nuclear threat against us since the Fatherland Liberation
War. This historical environment demanded that we, above all else, raise our
state's self-defence capability onto a due level, and we have realized this
pressing historic task through an arduous struggle.
Our Republic has firmly safeguarded socialism and built up formidable selfdefensive strategic potentials in the fierce confrontation with the United States,
which spanned nearly 70 years after the war. This is a victory which is no inferior
to, even greater than, the victory in the Fatherland Liberation War.
However, we cannot rest content with this.
The United States which did our nation the gravest harm in its modern history
still perseveres with dangerous hostile acts against our Republic.
While instigating the south Korean authorities to suicidal anti-DPRK
confrontation on the pretext of solidifying "alliance," the United States, in pursuit
of military confrontation with us, persists in spreading groundless rumours of
"threat" from us.
It is the US's habitual method of executing its policy to fabricate such rumours
and spread them so as to make them sound authentic before using them as a
justification for bringing pressure to bear upon us.
As they always did, the US imperialists have recently spread rumours against
the DPRK in the international arena assiduously, describing our state as the
"main culprit" in damaging the stability of the regional situation and as a
"dangerous state."
The United States, while describing all the usual actions of our armed forces
as "provocations" and "threats," is openly waging large-scale joint war games,
which gravely threaten the security of our state. Such a double-dealing behaviour
is just that of a gangster, and this is driving the DPRK-US relations to a limiting
point, a point of fierce collision, which cannot be reversed any further.
The US imperialists are obsessed with making a "devil" of our state by
manipulating the international understanding and opinion of it. This is nothing but
a stereotyped method of camouflaging their aggressive nature as a world peace
breaker and justifying their illegal hostile policy.
I have already made it clear that we should be ready both for talks and
confrontation and more fully for confrontation in particular in order to reliably
guarantee the security of our state.
The arrogant nature of the US imperialists has remained unchanged as ever.
We must confront the US imperialists to the end on the strength of ideology
and arms.
I reaffirm that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is thoroughly
prepared to cope with any kind of military clashes with the United States.
If the United States continuously attempts to impair the image of our state and
make a serious infringement of our security and fundamental interests, it will only
compel itself to put up with greater uneasiness and crises.
The government of our Republic would like to take this opportunity to send a
serious warning to the south Korean conservative regime and its hawks that run
amuck, indulged in abnormal excessive covetousness and confidence in strength,
and stand in the van of implementing the US's hostile policy towards the DPRK.
Even tonight, nay, at this moment, when the fireworks light up the nocturnal
sky in celebration of the V-day, the hideous warmongers and rogues on the land
south of the 250km-long front line, in a high fever of military craziness, are
resorting to various military manoeuvrings, which are threatening our state.
The south Korean conservative regime which took office this year is resorting
to the extremely atrocious confrontation policies towards their fellow countrymen
and acts of worshipping big countries and selling the country. These policies and
acts surpass those of any of the previous conservative regimes and driving the
situation on the Korean peninsula into the brink of war.
The new south Korean regime has re-designated our government and army as
their "archenemy" and, obsessed with useless fear that they must prepare
themselves to confront their fellow countrymen, are raising the pitch of their
malicious voices and resorting to all sorts of evil and inappropriate acts.
They are brazen-faced enough to advocate "peace based on strength" and
"security based on strength," and have put up a bold front, claiming that they
would not hesitate in launching a "preemptive strike" to neutralize the war
deterrent of our state.
At this very moment, south Korea is growing more frantic to develop weapons
and strengthen its defence industry in a bid to recover, even a little, its military
inferiority as compared with ours, and it is planning to bring in nuclear strategic
weapons of the United States in large numbers and expanding war drills under
various pretexts.
However, we should see that the more frequent vainglorious remarks and
various hues of shameful conducts recently made by the south Korean
authorities with regard to their security come from their inevitable sense of
uneasiness that they have to live under the very nose of a nuclear state.
This and that vainglorious remark by the south Korean authorities may be
understood as reliable and steel-strong security and advanced military strength
to the relief of their people, but to me, they are seen only as being so frightened
and at their wits' end.
Having established the concept of what they call the "three military systems of
the south Korean style," the south Korean authorities are making frantic efforts to
promote their core fighting capacity. But south Korea cannot help but accept their
military inferiority to us as their fate and it can never retrieve the inferiority at any
time.
It is unreasonable and very dangerous self-destructive action to talk about
military actions against our state which possesses absolute weapons that they
are actually most fearful of.
If the south Korean regime and military ruffians think about confronting us
militarily and that they can neutralize or destroy some parts of our military forces
preemptively by resorting to some special military means and methods, they are
grossly mistaken!
Such a dangerous attempt will be punished at once by a powerful force and
Yoon Suk Yeol regime and its army will be annihilated.
The conservative regime of south Korea must admit before too late that it has
already gone too far from its beginning, and that it should think seriously upon
the actions that may invite danger to itself.
We correctly remember what Yoon Suk Yeol said and did on several
occasions before and after taking office.
We have also listened to the recent imprudent remarks made by the military
ruffians of south Korea, and are watching all the noteworthy military actions they
conduct with the United States.
We can no longer sit around seeing Yoon Suk Yeol and his military gangsters'
misdemeanours and blind bravery.
If they continue to commit the acts of today like aggravating military tension by
carrying on picking a quarrel with our exercising of the right to self-defence and
threatening our security by invoking the robber's logic, they will pay dearly for it.
If they are to get rid of the stigmas as a president on a chopping board and a
regime exposed to the gravest peril, they should be more prudent and use their
brains more than their mouths. And they are well advised to refrain from finding
fault with us now and then; or not to deal with us at all may be a better way for
them.
Comrades,
Our armed forces are now fully prepared to cope with any sort of crisis, and
our state's nuclear war deterrent is also fully ready to demonstrate its absolute
power accurately and promptly true to its mission.
I affirm that the safety of this land and the system and sovereignty of this
country you, war veterans, defended at the cost of your blood are thoroughly
guaranteed by more powerful self-defence capabilities and stout spirit.
We will grow stronger.
The government of our Republic will safeguard our state, people and
sovereignty by dint of ever-growing, out-and-out military capabilities and a
resolute anti-imperialist and anti-US spirit and approach to the south and the
enemy.
The situation of our revolution, in which we should overpower and crush more
thoroughly the enemy's desperate manoeuvres for arms race and dangerous
military attempts, demands a more rapid change in our military capabilities. In
order to carry out this responsible historic task, our Party Central Committee has
recently decided on the tasks related to the strategy for developing the national
self-defence capabilities, and is leading the effort for their accurate
implementation.
War is a merciless conflict between forces. Its victory, however, always is in
store for the side that is possessed of fervent love and strong faith. This truth can
never be changed even in today's warfare, in which state-of-the-art military
techniques are mobilized in full force.
Our People's Army will keep channelling its main efforts into fully displaying its
political and ideological superiority, the source of its mightiness and invincibility.
By doing so, it will grow into the world's strongest army that demonstrates its
formidable striking power with a steadfast revolutionary spirit, unparalleled
bravery and indefatigable fighting spirit.
As the victorious wartime generation did, so should all the people associate all
their personal joys and sorrows with the destiny of the country, brave all
hardships in the way of advance with the spirit of devoting sincerity on the
patriotic road and strive for socialist construction with unyielding will.
When we achieve innovative successes at our posts and workplaces with
thoroughgoing class consciousness, always mindful of the fact that the antiimperialist class struggle is a struggle for defending not only our destiny but also
our country, this will accelerate our creation and construction and deal heavier
blows at the hostile forces.
Those who have to inherit the heroic spirit of the victorious wartime generation
splendidly and adorn the future of the country with great victory are none other
than our rising generations.
Our Party and government will always give priority to preparing the millions of
young people to be ardent revolutionaries and patriotic fighters who will stoutly
carry forward the spiritual baton bequeathed to them by the war veterans.
Like the war veterans who demonstrated how one should be brave in the
theatres of war and defend their national flag, young people should all devote
their burning hearts to the sacred road of national defence; they should also
glorify theirs as another new heroic era by performing miracles and labour feats
with youthful passion and mass heroism on all fronts of socialist construction.
The lecturers and officials across the country in the sector of administration of
revolutionary relics associated with the victorious war must fulfil their
responsibility and duties as powerful disseminators and educators in deeply
implanting the outstanding exploits of Comrade Kim Il Sung and our Party that
led the war to victory and the heroic fighting spirit of the defenders of the country
in the 1950s in all the people, service personnel and rising generations.
Comrades,
Although time passes and rivers and mountains change, one generation is
replaced by another, forming a single living organism with inexhaustible vitality
connected with the heroic fighting spirit – this is the source of indomitable
strength peculiar to our state and our people.
Our Republic that invariably carries forward the history and tradition of the
great victory in the war will be ever-victorious.
The exploits of the war veterans, who saved our state and nation and
defended their future in the grimmest years, will remain forever along with our
Republic that will be ever prosperous.
Esteemed comrade war veterans,
By carrying forward the souls and spirit of the heroic wartime generation and
struggling more powerfully and bravely, we will build without fail a powerful and
prosperous socialist paradise on this land which you defended.
I say once again: Even if you do nothing more than remain healthy, that will be
a great encouragement to us.
Asking you once again to be careful with your health, I sincerely wish every
one of you a long life.
Comrades,
Long live our great July 27!
Long live the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, our glorious motherland!