The North Korean army, by contrast, had been the beneficiary of the Soviet Union's outdated Soviet WWII-era equipment, and had a core of hardened veterans who had fought as anti-Japanese guerrillas, or alongside the Chinese Communists.

In August 1932, a unit of 2,000 men deserted their garrison at Wukimiho, taking their weapons over to the anti-Japanese guerrillas.

While inspecting an army unit recently, North Korea's leader admired how the soldiers had "spruced up" their post, showing the revolutionary ardor "required by the party's slogan: Let us train, study and live like the anti-Japanese guerrillas."

But it is not fitting for a nationalist hero to be born in the Soviet Union, and so it was ordained that Kim Jong Il was born in a secret camp of anti-Japanese guerrillas on Mount Paekdu, in the mountainous north of the peninsula.

In the North, a former anti-Japanese guerrilla and communist activist, Kim Il-sung gained power through Soviet support.

Mr. Ferrer was an anti-Japanese guerrilla during World War II.

The cabin was in a secret camp of anti-Japanese guerrillas his father commanded on Mount Paektu, a holy piece of land in Korean mythology.

More recent figures for military war dead, include 7,000 in the Battle of the Philippines (1941-42), 8,000 anti-Japanese guerrillas and 42,000 (out of 98,000) POWs in Japanese captivity.

He said he had been searching a village for anti-Japanese guerrillas when he saw a stack of dried reeds with an arm sticking out, holding a gun.

From then on, Reagan, impressed by Marcos's exaggerated stories of his exploits as an anti-Japanese guerrilla, counted him among the world's "freedom fighters" in the struggle against Communism.