In the Sobaeksu Valley at the foot of Mt Paektu, there is the Paektusan Secret Camp which holds a brilliant place in the history of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle as the strategic stronghold and heart of the Korean revolution.

The secret camp was created in September 1936 in accordance with the line set forth by President Kim Il Sung at the Nanhutou meeting held in late February 1936 to establish a new-type guerrilla base in the boundary area centered on Mt Paektu.

Regarding the secret camp as the center for leading the Korean revolution and a strategic base, the President led to victory the overall Korean revolution centered on the anti-Japanese armed struggle and thus accomplished the historic cause of national liberation.

Preserved in the secret camp are the site of the headquarters tent where he spent the first night in the homeland in September 1936, a log cabin that the headquarters had seated from the latter half of the 1930s to the first half of the 1940s, log cabins of guards and sewing team, check point, etc.

Also preserved there are trees bearing such revolutionary slogans as "General star rose up in the sky over Mt Paektu. It brightens the whole of Korea" written by anti-Japanese war heroine Kim Jong Suk, sites of tents, campfire place and many other revolutionary relics and remains.

Leader Kim Jong Il was born in the Paektusan Secret Camp as the Shining Star of Mt Paektu on February 16, Juche 31 (1942),

Seen behind the secret camp is Jong Il Peak, the main peak among the peaks in this area. And there is the granite monument inscribed with the poem "Shining Star" composed by President Kim Il Sung on the occasion of the 50th birth anniversary of leader Kim Jong Il.

An endless stream of people from all walks of life, overseas Koreans and foreigners visits the secret camp every year.