The Monument to Victory in the Battle of the Musan Area
The Monument to Victory in the Battle of the Musan Area has been built at the revolutionary battle site where the battle was fought in May Juche 28 (1939).
The battle of the Musan area commanded by President Kim Il Sung was a historical battle demonstrating the invincible might of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army dealing heavy political and military blows to the Japanese imperialists. It showed the will of the Korean people to fight against the Japanese imperialists to the bitter end for the independence of the country.
The Monument has been erected on the occasion of the 63rd anniversary of the victory in the battle. Covering a total area of over 11,000 square metres, the Monument consists of a statue of the President, a rifle obelisk, large sub-thematic sculptural groups in relief and a monument to the memory of the revolutionary achievements.
The statue of the President at the middle of the Monument’s front depicts vividly the young General in his twenties, one hand holding binoculars and the other raised to direct the battle. It makes people look back on the President’s feats in achieving the great historical cause of national liberation.
The large sub-thematic sculptural groups, 35 metres long and 4.1 metres high, have their front and back embossed.
The façade shows a scene of the “Battle of the Musan Area” with embossed carvings of over 30 persons including the anti-Japanese heroine Kim Jong Suk conducting military and political activities in the area and the KPRA soldiers and people engaged in the battle. The back is divided into two sections--“Reclamation” and “Blooming Taehongdan” – dedicated to the history of the radical change effected in this region after the country’s liberation. They show the President’s instructions to reclaim this slumbering land, the new highland settlers working in earnest to cultivate the land, the leader Kim Jong Il’s signed letter saying that Taehongdan is a nice place to live in, and the Taehongdan people leading a happy life today.
The monument to the memory of the revolutionary achievements is a granite monolith, 12 metres long and 4 metres high. Carved on its front is an inscription under the title “Shine Forever the Victorious Battle of the Musan Area”, and on the back are the words of the song “The Vast Expanse of Taehongdan”.
The 39.523 metre-high rifle obelisk at the center with the large sub-thematic sculptural groups in relief and the monument to the memory of the revolutionary achievements arranged on its flanks is the main features of the Monument. It depicts elegantly in formative artistic representation the history of the Korean revolution which was started with arms and which is making a successful journey with them and the leader Kim Jong Il’s profound philosophical idea on arms that the present socialist system and happy life of the people are defended and guaranteed by arms.
The new and unique Monument is a grand memorial which will convey eternally the immortal revolutionary achievements of President Kim Il Sung, the leader Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Suk and the history of the Korean revolution which has won one victory after another with arms.
KOREA PICTORIAL, Pyongyang, DPRK
Juche 92 (2003)