From “The Secret to Chukjibeop,” an article published in the May 20 edition of Rodong Sinmun, a state-run newspaper in North Korea. Chukjibeop refers to the power to bend time and space, which the state has for decades said was held by Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea. This is the first time the government has admitted that Kim could not bend time and space. Translated from the Korean.

One day in November of 1945, our Great Leader attended a humble banquet prepared by a committee of the People’s Militia in what was then Ryongampo. During the banquet, a chairman of the farmers’ association implored the Great Leader to regale them with tales of how he used chukjibeop to battle against the Japanese imperialist thugs in the Manchurian wilderness. The Great Leader began to tell the following story.

“At the time, the Japanese imperialists had mobilized vast troops against anti-Japanese guerrilla forces. They had planted spies to detect the guerrilla fighters and attack them on all fronts. Even so, the people were able to inform our command of the details of their activity. A commanders’ meeting was held to plan operations. We decided to make it appear as if the guerrilla forces were in one place—the Japanese would be distracted while the troops slipped away to lie in ambush. Cocksure and oblivious, the Japanese imperialists were lured in, only to realize that not a single guerrilla fighter was to be found there. Before they could retreat, the Japanese were annihilated by the guerrillas in a firefight. This is how the Japanese imperialists came to wail in fear of the guerrilla forces and their chukjibeop.

“In truth, it is not possible for a person to suddenly appear and then vanish, or to fold the ground they walk upon. The reason we were able to battle and win against the imperialist Japanese plunderers, who were armed to the teeth, was because we had the active support and assistance of the masses. If there is such a thing as chukjibeop, then it is the chukjibeop of the people.”

Upon receiving the Father-Leader’s weighty teaching that the mysterious secret of the chukjibeop lay in unity with the masses, the banquet-goers were deeply touched.