---
title: '"결사옹위" (defend to the death): roadside sign with armed figures, North Korea (photographed 2017)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dprk-defend-leadership-to-the-death-roadside-sign-2017/
description: A free-standing billboard on a steel frame beside a street shows a gold star on a wreath above three helmeted figures, one holding an assault rifle, on a…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[!["결사옹위" (defend to the death): roadside sign with armed figures, North Korea (photographed 2017)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dprk-defend-leadership-to-the-death-roadside-sign-2017.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dprk-defend-leadership-to-the-death-roadside-sign-2017.jpg)

# "결사옹위" (defend to the death): roadside sign with armed figures, North Korea (photographed 2017)

A free-standing billboard on a steel frame beside a street shows a gold star on a wreath above three helmeted figures, one holding an assault rifle, on a red field. The only text is the four-syllable slogan 'Gyeolsa-ongwi', 'defend [the leadership] to the death'. The tell: the slogan names no threat and no object of defence in words; the leadership is understood and loyalty is cast as a duty of every armed citizen.

## Text on the object

Original (Korean) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
결사옹위
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Defend [the leadership] to the death
```

Single four-syllable slogan read from the hosted photograph. The bracketed object is implied by the standing usage of the slogan, not printed. Translation by machine, not verified by a fluent reader.

[← Welcome to free Eritrea: painted flag sign on a street corner in Asmara](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eritrea-welcome-to-free-eritrea-sign-asmara-2017/) [Newspaper page on a Pyongyang Metro reading stand: Kim Jong-un at Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, New Year 2017 (photographed 2017) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dprk-newspaper-kumsusan-new-year-visit-subway-stand-2017/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Our job is to beat the Hun. Vote Union Government (Canada, 1917 election)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/our-job-is-to-beat-the-hun-union-government-1917/) (Canada · 1917 · Name-calling, Identity fusion). Content note: Ethnic slur ('Hun') for Germans in the slogan.
- [Julistus (Proclamation): Red Guard committee denies rumours and orders rumour-spreaders arrested](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/punakaarti-julistus-huhut-1918/) (Finland · 1918 · Identity fusion)
- [Salzburg 20-Kronen "Anschluss" voucher (1921)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/salzburg-anschluss-voucher-20-kronen-1921/) (Austria · 1921 · Identity fusion)
- [The Bombay Chronicle, article on a foreign-cloth bonfire (July 30, 1921)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bombay-chronicle-cloth-bonfire-1921/) (British India · Jul 30, 1921 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)
- [L'Unione Sarda, 24 March 1929: 'Il voto di oggi, è atto di fede' (plebiscite day front page)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/unione-sarda-plebiscito-front-page-1929/) (Fascist Italy · Mar 24, 1929 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)
- [Ein Volk, ein Führer, ein Ja (One People, One Leader, One Yes)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ein-volk-ein-fuehrer-ein-ja-1933/) (Nazi Germany · Nov 1933 · Identity fusion)
- [Palazzo Braschi dressed for the 1934 plebiscite: rows of "SI" around the Duce](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/palazzo-braschi-si-1934/) (Fascist Italy · Mar 1934 · Identity fusion, Bandwagon)
- [The tricolour 'SI' ballot of the plebiscite of 25 March 1934: 'Approvate voi la lista dei deputati designati dal Gran Consiglio?'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/scheda-plebiscito-si-1934/) (Fascist Italy · Mar 25, 1934 · Transfer, Identity fusion)