Kim Jong Suk, Woman Commander of Mt. Baekdu

 

Kim Jong Suk (December 24, 1917--September 22, 1949) is a heroine of Korea who is highly lauded as a great personality, a commander and a heroine in the national history of Korea along with President Kim Il Sung of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Chairman Kim Jong ll of the National Defense Commission of the DPRK.

Many trees bearing the slogans written by the anti-Japanese guerrillas in those days were found in many districts, including northern Korea around Mt Baekdu (the highest ancestral mountain of Korea, and a revolutionary mountain inseparable from 15 years of anti-Japanese war for Korean liberation) where the headquarters of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army (the anti-Japanese guerrilla army) was located during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Many slogans are dedicated to Kim Jong Suk. They read:

"Twenty million Koreans, Kim 11 Sung and Kim Jong Suk are independence commanders of Korea."

"General Kim Jong Suk, an anti-Japanese woman commander of Mt Baekdu, is a peerless heroine born of Korea."

"The woman commander of Mt Baekdu beats Japs, suddenly appearing and disappearing, and shortening distance."

"The woman commander of Mt Baekdu appears in Sinhung and Dancheon. She kills a hundred Japs at a shot. Her name is Kim Jong Suk. She is a bodyguard of General Kim ll Sung."

It is noteworthy that she was praised as a woman commander of Mt Baekdu in the slogans.

Kim Jong Suk was born into a patriotic family during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea. From her childhood she bitterly experienced the sorrow of national ruin. In her teens she boldly embarked on a revolutionary struggle under the banner of Korean liberation held high by General Kim Il Sung who was looked up to as the sun of the nation and a legendary hero by all the Korean people. She grew up into a staunch fighter through her underground revolutionary struggle and her activities in guerrilla zones. She then joined the KPRA in September 1935, and participated in the anti-Japanese war till the liberation of Korea in 1945.

Many great women admired as heroines are recorded in history, but it is hard to find women like Kim Jong Suk who fought bloody battles in arms for a decade, crossing the deadline.

Being unusually intelligent and tactful, Kim Jong Suk rendered immortal meritorious services to the sacred war for national liberation as a commanding officer of the KPRA.

The achievements made by Kim Jong Suk as a bodyguard of Commander Kim II Sung and as his soldier during the anti-Japanese war are extraordinary.

She regarded it as the supreme purpose of her life and struggle to defend the headquarters at the cost her life. She told the KPRA soldiers that they should always be eyes and ears and serve as castle walls to defend the safety of Kim Il Sung, the heart and brain of the Korean revolution, and dedicated her all to his safety and health.

There are no end of legendary stories about the fact that she risked her life shielding Kim Il Sung from danger with her own body at critical moments at the fierce battles fought in Hongqihe, at the entrance to Dashahe and in the walled town of Fusong County. When she encountered an unexpected situation in the rigors of winter, she held in her bosom the wet underclothes she had just washed and dried them before giving them to Kim Il Sung. She cut her hair and made shoe liners for him with it. There are countless anecdotes about her warm sincerity and lofty loyalty concerning her devotion to his safety and health.

Her invariable faith in Kim Il Sung's ideas, lines, orders and instructions and her spirit of carrying them out unconditionally afforded a model for the KPRA soldiers. One year a man      in charge of a secret camp in Qingfeng vilified the policies advanced by the commander. She sternly denounced him for this perfidy at the risk of her life, and fought stoutly against him. When Kim Il Sung issued an order to make 600 suits of military uniforms, she executed the order with a sewing machine in twenty days in cooperation with several women soldiers. This is only part of the stories about her loyalty.

She was also a general who performed heroic feats in numerous fierce battles during the arduous anti-Japanese war with uncommon military wisdom and stratagems, matchless courage and audacity, and wonderful marksmanship.

The former anti-Japanese fighters recall that many Japanese army troops were so scared even at the mere mention of her name that they ran away for dear life.

She was commended by Kim Il Sung for her meritorious services for victory in the grand counteroffensive battles fought in the spring of 1938 and was presented with a gold ring.

The history of the anti-Japanese armed struggle shows that she made great efforts to strengthen the KPRA into an invincible revolutionary army.

She was not only a prominent commander renowned for her extraordinary military resources, protean commanding art and wonderful marksmanship but also a competent political activist possessed of uncommon organizing ability and mass influence, and a peerless great woman remarkable for her sublime love for the country, the nation, humans and comrades, and for her high moral repute.

The distinguished services rendered. by Kim Jong Suk to the anti-Japanese war for the liberation of the country and for the freedom and emancipation of the people will shine forth in the national history of Korea as a woman commander of Mt. Baekdu and a legendary anti-Japanese heroine.