Enthusiasm for Volunteering for Army Displayed in 1950s

 Pyongyang, June 28 (KCNA) -- The DPRK people from all walks of life turned out as one in the sacred Fatherland Liberation War to defeat the provokers who invaded the country. It was clearly evidenced by their great enthusiasm for volunteering for the army.
Young students and working people volunteered for the army, in response to the historic radio speech "Go All Out for Victory in the War" made by President Kim Il Sung on June 26, 1950.
Most of the students vowed to join in the army just three or four days after the outbreak of the war. Among them were more than 2 800 students of Kim Il Sung University and 500 students of Pyongyang College of Technology (then).
Workers of the then Pyongyang Railway Factory, the Sadong Briquette Factory and many other factories and enterprises pledged to go to the front at the meetings of the employees. Workers in the industrial districts organized workers' regiments and went to the front.
Peasants who became masters of the land after the liberation of Korea (August 15, 1945), held meetings of activists and volunteered to go to the front. Intellectuals in the fields of science, education, culture, art and public health joined the ranks of volunteering for the army.
KCNA on July 1, 1950 reported that a large number of working youths including men and women students from Kim Il Sung University and other universities and colleges and senior middle schools petitioned to join in the army. The number of young patriots who volunteered to go to the front has already reached 81 858.
Rodong Sinmun on July 15, 1950 said that young people were volunteering to go to the front with burning patriotism. The number of young people who volunteered for the army exceeds 740 000 and of them, the number of women youths are 230 000.
The enthusiasm of volunteering for the army that swept the whole country more than 70 years ago was a manifestation of the Korean people's ardent will to disallow the aggressors to occupy their country which was the only cradle of life liberated by the President again.
The transparent spirit of defending the country displayed by the wartime generation in the 1950s is still carried forward as the proud tradition of our Republic. -0-