This is an Attack

Submission 7,767

Part of a series on North Korea. [View Related Entries]

About

"This is an Attack" (Korean: 공격전이다, Gonggyeokjeonida), known in Japan as "Kongyo" (Japanese: コンギョ), "攻撃戦だ" (Kougeki Sen Da) or its official Japanese title "攻撃の勢いで" (Kougeki no Ikioi de), is a North Korean song in 2010. It's been popular among Japanese niconico users since late 2010s.

Origin

According to Wikipedia^[1], "This is an Attack" was made to follow "Economical All-Out Attack" (경제 총공격전)^[2], North Korea government's slogan to achieve their economic objective of 2010. This song was composed by An Jong-Ho (안정호) from Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble^[3] and its lyrics was written by Yun Du-Geun (윤두근) from Korean Writers' Alliance, a division in Korean Federation of Literature and Arts.^[4] Its title and lyrics were first published on Rodong Sinmun^[5], the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, on January 5th of that year. Since then, This song's original version sung by Yun Hye-Yeong (윤혜영)^[6] has been often aired on Korean Central Television (KCTV)^[7] (shown below) and North Korea's domestic radio Korean Central Broadcasting Station^[8]as well as its international radio service Voice of Korea.^[9]

[This video has been removed]

Translation:

Raise the red flag and in to attack
Gun barrels in front and charge
Leading the single-hearted ranks of ten million in advance
There flies the flag of Songun

(Chorus)
Attack, attack, attack, forward
The respected General’s revolutionary method is
Attack like the lightning of Mt. Paekdu
Attack like the thunder of Jong Il Peak
Attack, attack, this is an attack

Even blocking mountains, our footsteps cannot be stopped
Even if the enemy surges, we cannot be defended against
Without stopping a moment to meet head-on
This tactic is invincible

[Chorus]

Our goal, a strong and prosperous nation, is a summit of hope
The peak that guides our way is victory by Juche’s legendary exploits
Tempests envelop the straight path of songun
These footsteps of a march

[Chorus]

Attack like the lightning of Mt. Paekdu
Attack like the thunder of Jong Il Peak
Attack, attack, this is an attack

Via: The NKpop Blog^[10]

Spread

In Japan, this song which heroic melody reminds viewers of good-old anime and tokusatsu songs in 1970-80s became to be known gradually around the latter half of that year via videos reprinted to online video-sharing sites. As of September 2019, the first reprinted video uploaded to niconico in December 2010^[11] had been watched over 1.5 million times, partly because people had gathered to North Korea-related videos every time when the country unleashes missile tests. In a 2014 article by Japanese online news media Cyzo, the chief of Daily NK^[12] Tokyo explains that the song is one of the most popular "NK-Pop" songs in Japan.^[13] Additionally, it gave the further increase of visibility of this song that niconico's news section launched all-day streaming of KCTV in the middle of April of 2017.

Along with the increase of its online presence, the song became to a subject for parodies, musical remixes and singing covers on the Japanese video sharing service around the middle of 2010s.^[14] It's also been often used as BGM for "Let's play" and other videos that are unrelated to North Korea. Particularly, this song is favored by the devotees of niconico's "That Thingy" (例のアレ) category, where A Midsummer Night's Lewd Dream and other inappropriate contents are pushed into, from the very beginning.

Various Examples

Original Performances

For this song, there are several original performances that have aired on KCTV or released in DVD: (from top left to bottom right) Live version by Yun Hye-Yeong & Wangjaesan Light Music Band^[15], Mixed chorus version by Unhasu Orchestra^[16], Light-music version by Moranbong Band^[17] and Drum&dance performance version titled "Be a powerful country at the speed of Huichon^[18]" (희천속도로 강성대국 향하여).

[This video has been removed]