On June 25, 1950 when the aggressors ignited a war, the army and people of the DPRK responded with great patriotism and the will to annihilate the enemy, united close around their outstanding leader.

Soon after the outbreak of the war, more than 2,800 students of Kim Il Sung University volunteered to join the army, and most of youth and students throughout the country turned out in the do-or-die resistance war against the U.S. imperialists in three to four days. Enthusiasm for joining the army shown by the victorious wartime generation in the 1950s is the valiant spirit of our people, the great patriotic tradition peculiar to the Korean revolution and a priceless creation of the spirit of devotedly defending the country.

Since the gunfire of war ceased, many years have passed and generations have been replaced. But the extremely dangerous military provocations by the hostile forces have escalated every moment. Under such situation, the noble spirit of those who volunteered to join or rejoin the Korean People's Army to turn out in the sacred struggle for defending the country and revolution has been invariably carried forward to serve as an inexhaustible source giving birth to fresh victories and miracles.

The U.S. imperialists, who had schemed to invade Korea from more than one hundred years ago, mounted a surprise armed aggression on the northern half of Korea through the 38th parallel area on June 25, 1950.

In hearty response to the radio speeches President Kim Il Sung delivered to all the Korean people on June 26 and July 8, Juche 39 (1950), working people from all walks of life and youth and students in the country volunteered to join the army.

Amid a campaign for volunteering to join the army launched in the liberated areas of the southern half of Korea, too, the number of those volunteers in the whole of Korea reached 1,249,000.

Such admirable spirit and trait of the victorious wartime generation have been creditably carried forward in the arduous struggle to defend socialism.

In January 1968 and in the 1970s when the incident of Pueblo, a U.S. imperialist's armed spy ship, and the Panmunjom incident were witnessed to shock the world, hundreds of thousands of youth and students throughout the country petitioned to join or rejoin the army.

Young people, students of universities, colleges and middle schools and even women across the country volunteered to join the People's Army in the 1980s when the large-scale Team Spirit joint military exercises were frantically staged by the enemies and in March 1993 when the DPRK declared its withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The decades-long confrontation with the U.S. and the south grew more acute in the new century of Juche.

1,747,493 young people and students in the country volunteered to join or rejoin the army from 12:00 March 2, 2012 to 12:00 the next day after a spokesperson for the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army issued a statement that those who dare to hurt the dignity of the DPRK supreme leadership even a bit would have no place to live.

When the situation of the country was inching close to the brink of an explosion due to the reckless political and military provocations of the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppets in August 2015 and March 2023, all the young people in the DPRK turned out in the struggle to defend the country, zealously petitioning to join or rejoin the army.

Such zeal and tradition is the proud mental wealth for the eternal victory of our country and people, and it is now greatly inspiring our people to a fresh struggle.