Pyongyang, February 8 (KCNA) -- Today is a significant day when the Korean people achieved the historic desire to have their regular armed forces.

After the liberation of Korea (August 15, 1945), President Kim Il Sung set it as an essential requirement for building an independent and sovereign state to build a regular revolutionary armed forces and set forth the line to build a regular revolutionary army with the anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters as its backbone and with the sons and daughters of the working people.

He saw to it that military educational institutions were set up to train military and political cadres.

He chose the site for the Pyongyang Institute, the first base for training military and political cadres, and personally named it. He also made sure that the Central Security Officers Training School capable of training military and political cadres of all services and arms was built.

He organized the Security Officers Training Centre for training core members of the regular army and, on this basis, founded and expanded various units of different services and arms and sub-units.

He made sure that the newly-formed units of the services and arms applied Korean-style military regulations, manuals, methods and tactics for commanding and managing units and laid material and technical foundations for building a regular army by providing various kinds of weapons and equipment and military supplies.

On the basis of such preparations, the President declared before the whole world the founding of the Korean People's Army on February 8, 1948.

As the KPA was founded thanks to his energetic leadership, the DPRK could demonstrate its might and dignity as a full-fledged independent and sovereign state with the revolutionary regular armed forces of Juche type. -0-