Pyongyang, August 25 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il's visit to the Siberian and Far East regions of the Russian Federation reminds the Korean people of the history of the DPRK-Russia friendship provided by President Kim Il Sung.

In the early period of the anti-Japanese armed struggle the President put forward a slogan "Let Us Defend the Soviet Union with Arms!" and, under this slogan, encouraged the Korean People's Revolutionary Army (KPRA) to the struggle against the Japanese imperialists.

The slogan represents the Korean revolutionaries' strong will to safeguard the victorious revolution in the first socialist state at the cost of blood. It also mirrors their proletarian internationalist spirit and justice-valuing moral obligation.

Under the command of Kim Il Sung, the KPRA dealt a telling political and military blow to the Japanese imperialist aggressors whenever they threatened the Soviet Union militarily.

In particular, it attacked the Japanese imperialists in the rear in Lake Khasan in 1938 and Khalkhin-Gol in 1939, contributing to defending the world revolution and providing an international environment favorable for the Korean revolution.