In 2017, the Central Bank of DPR Korea issued a silver commemorative coin to mark the 80th Anniversary of Victory in the Pochonbo Battle.
Carved on the central front of the coin is the image of the charging anti-Japanese guerrillas in the Pochonbo Battle. On the upper part of the front are letters reading “★80th Anniversary of Victory in the Pochonbo Battle★” (★보천보전투승리80돐★).
On the central back of the coin is the national emblem of the DPRK. Seen in the upper part of the back are the letters “The Central Bank of the DPRK” (조선민주주의인민공화국중앙은행) and in its lower part are the degree of purity, weight, face value and minting year.
The face value of the silver coin is 50 won.
The size of the silver coin is 40 mm in diameter and 3 mm in thickness.
The silver coin contains 31g of 999 silver.
Its mintage is 500 pieces.
Here is a piece of information about the “Pochonbo Battle”,
Battle of Pochonbo
The situation in the mid-1930s urgently demanded that the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army instil confidence in national liberation into the minds of people by advancing into the homeland in great strength and dealing heavy blows to the Japanese imperialists.
Kim Il Sung convened the meeting of the military and political cadres of the KPRA in Xigang, Fusong County from March 29 to 31, 1937.
In the meeting he advanced the policy of large-scale operation of advance into the homeland.
He said: By advancing into the homeland in great strength to deliver a blow at the Japanese imperialist aggressors and set the enemy’s bulwark ablaze, we should clearly demonstrate to the people that the KPRA is on the move and going from victory to victory in the solemn struggle for the country’s liberation, and should make it known to them that as long as our KPRA exists Korea will win its independence for certain.
While he was frequently informed of the activities of the KPRA units that advanced into the border areas along the Tuman and Amnok rivers, and of the enemy’s movements, it was reported to him that the unit moving in the Musan area was on the verge of complete encirclement by the enemy. In order to kill two birds with one stone–to save the unit and achieve the purpose of advance into the homeland, he immediately took a countermeasure to change the target of attack from Hyesan to Pochonbo.
On the night of June 3, Kim Il Sung, in command of the main-force unit, crossed the Amnok River by raft at the Kouyushui Barrage and bivouacked overnight on Konjang Hill. Next day, he organized a scouting of the town of Pochonbo. Based on the scouting and other reconnaissance information he had already obtained through different channels, he issued concrete combat orders to each group.
After dark on June 4, the unit descended Konjang Hill, approached the town of Pochonbo and occupied its designated positions.
Kim Il Sung took up his command post under a poplar tree that stood at the edge of town. The distance from there to the police substation, one of the major targets, was no more than 100 metres.
The KPRA soldiers destroyed the police substation, subcounty office and other enemy’s administrative centres in a flash, and liberated the Pochonbo area. Fires blazed high in the air over the town of Pochonbo.
The political workers put up in the streets of Pochonbo the Proclamation and the Ten-Point Programme of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland drawn up by Kim Il Sung, and distributed various appeals and handbills.
The people enthusiastically welcomed General Kim Il Sung, shouting, “Long live General Kim Il Sung!” and “Long live the independence of Korea!”
Kim Il Sung called on the cheering crowd to turn out as one in the sacred anti-Japanese war for national liberation, inspiring them with confidence in sure victory.
The KPRA’s large-unit march into the homeland, where the Japanese imperialists’ Government-General of Korea had been so confident of its iron rule, and destruction at a stroke of their local ruling machinery in a subcounty seat of Pochonbo, were a historic event that shook the Japanese imperialist colonial rule to its foundations.
Naenara
