A Grand Monument Instead of a Marker

The area of Mt. Paektu in northern Korea has battle sites associated with the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle waged by the great leader Kim Il Sung.

In July Juche 57 or 1968 the great leader Kim Jong Il, together with anti-Japanese revolutionary veterans, visited the Samjiyon Revolutionary Battle Site. The veterans were excited to visit the historic land with many stories. Kim Jong Il told them that the Lake Samji would refresh their memories and give them food for thought. The veterans told him about their excitement, impressively looking back upon the unforgettable days when they had hardened their conviction of national liberation on the shore of the lake during the advance into the Musan area under the command of Kim Il Sung.

Kim Jong Il affirmed what they said and pointed out that the shore of the Lake Samji has the footprints of the anti-Japanese fighters who had advanced into the homeland under the command of Kim Il Sung and that the place should be built up well in the future. Then he asked the veterans what should be done to build up the Samjiyon Revolutionary Battle Site. They told him that it would be good to rezone the battle site and its surroundings well to create an educational atmosphere and at the same time, to build a marker of revolutionary battle site so that all visitors could know it.

Lost in deep thought for a while, he repeated the word of marker to himself and emphatically said:

A grand monument should be built here instead of a marker, and it is my resolve to build an eternal grand monument to the revolutionary site to tell forever the revolutionary history and immortal revolutionary exploits of the fatherly leader Kim Il Sung.

He meant to build a grand monument for education in the revolutionary traditions to immortalize the history of the glorious anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle of Kim Il Sung.

This is how the Samjiyon Grand Monument was built in the Samjiyon area to tell the immortal revolutionary exploits of the great Kim Il Sung generation after generation.