President Kim Il Sung draws up the 10-point program of the ARF
KIM IL SUNG
THE
INAUGURAL DECLARATION OF THE
ASSOCIATION FOR
THE
RESTORATION OF THE
FATHE
May
5, 1936
Compatriots, brothers and sisters at home
and abroad,
It is already 26 years since the 20 million
Korean people with a long history of five thousand years were robbed of their
dear homeland by the enemy, the Japanese imperialists. Under the colonial
oppression of Japanese imperialism, our compatriots lead the miserable life of
a ruined nation, worse than that of animals, undergoing all manner of hardships
and privations and dripping with sweat and blood. No longer able to endure the
Japanese imperialist tyranny, large numbers of our fellow
countrymen were compelled to leave their beloved home villages and
wander about in quest of a livelihood. Even in strange lands, all alone, they
are subjected to every form of humiliation and contempt and are being trampled
underfoot and slaughtered everywhere they go.
Our nation is, indeed, in an unheard-of
wretched plight. Which road should our people take now, deprived of their
homeland and weighed down with a terrible misfortune? For our nation there is
no alternative but to fight against the Japanese imperialist marauders. This is
the only way to usher in the dawn of national liberation.
That explains why tens of thousands of
Korean youths burning with love for their country joined the Korean People¡¯s
Revolutionary Army and are fighting bravely against the Japanese imperialists
with arms in hand. Now, in all parts of the country the struggles of workers,
peasants, youth and students against Japanese imperialist colonial rule are taking
place one after another,
In the past, too, the ardent patriotism of
our nation was displayed fully. A great many people took part in the Righteous
Volunteers¡¯ Army Movement and fought bloody battles for several years against
Japanese imperialism¡¯s occupation of
However, the aim of national independence
and liberation was not achieved, though in the past many patriots had fought
courageously, falling and dying- The principal cause is that all movements for
the country¡¯s liberation were not conducted according to a unified political programme and a correct line of struggle, and that an
unsupported fight was fought without achieving the solid unity and cohesion of
the anti-Japanese patriotic forces. Not only that. An allied front against the
common¡¯ enemy, the Japanese imperialists, was not built up in close contact
with countries and nations opposed to
We put forward the main political programme and the struggle tasks to fulfil
the sacred duty for the liberation of the country on the basis of the bitter
lessons and experience of the past. In accordance with this programme,
we are setting up the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland as a
general leading body for uniting as one all the anti-Japanese forces at home
and abroad and ensuring a unified leadership for them, and are adopting its
Ten-Point Programme.
On the basis of the main content of the
Ten-Point Programme of the ARF, we declare to all our
compatriots at home and abroad as follows:
1. The whole Korean nation will fight in
unity against the enemy, the Japanese imperialist aggressors, irrespective of
class, sex, social status, party affiliation, age and
religious belief, so as to win back the country and establish a genuine
people¡¯s government in
We 20 million Korean people are leading the
life of a homeless race, condemned to indescribable national oppression and
ill-treatment and cruel exploitation under the colonial rule of predatory
Japanese imperialism. The Korean nation¡¯s liberation is the supreme task facing
all Koreans.
If all 20 million of us, united in a body,
join the anti-Japanese national-liberation front, those with money contributing
money, those with food donating food and those with skill and knowledge
devoting their skill and knowledge, whether men or women, young or old, regardless
of all distinctions, the Japanese imperialists will be destroyed and our
national liberation and independence will be achieved.
2. Koreans living in Manchuria will strive
to overthrow the aggressive machines of Japanese imperialism and its puppet state
¡°
The national autonomy of the Koreans in
Manchuria we assert has nothing in common with the ¡°autonomy in Jiandao¡± advertised by the predatory Japanese imperialist
aggressors and their agents to hoodwink and alienate the Korean and Chinese
nations from each other. All Koreans in Manchuria will achieve genuine national
autonomy for the Korean residents in Manchuria by resolutely opposing the
deceptive enemy-vaunted ¡°autonomy in Jiandao¡± and
overthrowing the Japanese-Manchurian rule in close alliance with the
anti-Japanese masses in
3. For the liberation of the fatherland, we
will expand and strengthen the revolutionary armed ranks. The Japanese
imperialists and their agents are villainous aggressors and hangmen armed to
the teeth. We must counter the armed foes with arms.
We can topple the accursed system of
colonial rule and achieve the independence of
4. In order to build a wealthy and mighty
independent and sovereign state, we will carry out economic and cultural
policies that are genuinely popular and democratic.
We will unconditionally confiscate
factories, mines, landed estates, shops, banks and all other property owned by
the predatory Japanese imperialist aggressors and treacherous pro-Japanese
agents, promote the steady development of national industry, agriculture and
commerce, ensure our people freedom of speech, press, assembly and association
and equality of the individual, abolish the system of slave education and
introduce an eight-hour day for the workers.
In order to facilitate the cause of
national liberation, we will receive special donations and other forms of
active assistance from capitalists with national conscience and from
conscientious patriots and personages.
5. We will form a common front against the
enemy, the Japanese imperialist aggressors, in close alliance with states and
nations which express goodwill and maintain neutrality towards the Korean
national-liberation movement.
We should crush the robber-like Japanese
imperialist aggressors in close alliance with
We must regard as friends the countries and
nations which sympathize with the Korean national-liberation movement and
approach it with good faith and treat as enemies those who help the Japanese
imperialist marauders and oppose the Korean nation.
Compatriots, brothers and
sisters, who love their country and nation and want to cast off the yoke of
bestial slavery and lead a worthwhile and hopeful existence as human beings.
We sincerely hope that you will immediately
form organizations of the ARF in the factories, mines, railway service
establishments, schools, ¡°newspaper offices, army
barracks, shops and elsewhere in the urban and rural areas and will wage a
vigorous struggle to win back the country through the concerted action of the
whole nation under the banner of the Ten-Point Programme
of the ARF.
The cause of our people fighting in firm
unity for the country¡¯s liberation is invincible.
Let us all fight for the complete
independence of the country and the freedom and liberation of the nation!
Long live the Association for the
Restoration of the Fatherland!