Two years ago a performance was given in the presence of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the great victory in the Fatherland Liberation War. The Korean people still remember a war veteran who said on the stage:
“Comrades, do you know for what we unsparingly devoted our youth and lives and what was a source of our power for defeating the enemy? ‘For the Party and the leader’—this represented the source of our strength and the spirit of Korea in the war. I request you again and again. Please cherish this spirit as your lifeline, and our country will surely win. We will emerge victorious forever.”
What he said was a summing-up of his life and expression of his faith. He was Ryang Jin Ryong living in Ryongsong District, Pyongyang.
He cherished the slogan as an element of his faith throughout the three-year bloody war.
During the war he was a liaison officer of the then 12th Andong Infantry Division.
One day at the third stage of the war, when fierce battles went on, he received an urgent order.
His mission was to promptly convey to a company the order of the division headquarters to defend its height to the end to ensure the success of a future operation of the division. The company had been out of contact.
As soon as he managed to reach the height through hails of bullets and bombs, he called an officer of the company.
But all the officers had died in battle and only a small number of rank-and-filers remained alive.
After Ryang conveyed the order of the division headquarters, a private handed a singed sheet of paper to him.
Written on the paper were names under the slogans “For the Party and the leader!” and “For the country!” It was the list of the fallen soldiers.
Hardly keeping back tears, he looked round. Though their number was small, there was no trace of pessimism or vacillation on their faces, but firm resolve to avenge the death of their comrades-in-arms was shown.
“There they come again,” shouted an urgent voice. The soldiers went out to the trench. Ryang joined them in the battle.
As he shot at the enemy, someone urged him to leave.
Others also requested him to leave, saying that they would defend the height to the last man and asking him to report to the division headquarters that they had fought for the Party and the leader to the last moments of their lives.
The phrase “For the Party and the leader” rang in his mind.
He cherished it all his life. It was a slogan of faith which resounded in all other battlefields during the war.
Now new generations are growing stoutly on this land, inheriting the soul and spirit of the victorious wartime generation as a precious legacy.
