At that time, the Korea-China border was said to have been tightly guarded by the Japanese imperialists with four cordons, for the original three had been found to be unsatisfactory. There were as many as 300 police stations and substations in the northern border area, manned by repressive, highly mobile forces several thousand strong.

Grasping the enemy deployment and topographical conditions, the President ordered the main force of the KPRA to build a raft bridge and cross the River Amnok to steal into the homeland.

His outstanding stratagem was also verified by setting the attack target in keeping with changes in situation.

When he was informed that a KPRA unit was encircled by the enemy in the area of Pegae Hill on its way to the Musan area, he diverted the attack target of the main force from Hyesan to Pochonbo to attain the purpose of its advance into the homeland as well as rescue the encircled unit.

In this regard, the President said in his reminiscences "With the Century" as follows:

If we attack Pochonbo, the enemy concentrated on the Pegae Hill area will find itself in a danger of being surrounded by both our main forces and Choe Hyon's unit. They will then be forced to abandon their plan of encirclement and pursuit and will withdraw from the line they have reached. Moreover, an attack on Pochonbo will have as strong an impact on the homeland as an attack on Hyesan. Therefore, our aim of advancing into the homeland will also be achieved.