North Korea has highlighted the spirit of anti-Japan revolutionary patriotic martyrs ahead of next week's Liberation Day.

The ruling Workers' Party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said Saturday that the martyrs’ indomitable spirit of struggle is a vital ideological and psychological force, inspiring the people to become self-reliant fighters.

The paper described the spirit of self-reliance, in which the anti-Japan forces created something out of nothing and made the impossible to become possible, as a noble tradition that must be upheld forever.

It added that development of the regime's next-generation multipurpose destroyer and other powerful, self-reliant military equipment reflects the results of learning from the spirit of the anti-Japan fighters.

The paper is believed to be referring to the North's first five-thousand-ton-class destroyer, "Choe Hyon," unveiled in April, and the second destroyer, "Kang Kon," launched in June.