North Korean students on their way up to the holy mountain Baekdu (2744 m above sea level), the highest mountain in North Korea. Kim Jong-il's official biography states that he was born in a secret military camp on Baekdu Mountain. Dense forest around the mountain provided bases for Korean armed resistance against the Japanese occupation, and later communist guerrillas during the Korean War. The Baekdu Mountain has been worshipped by the surrounding peoples throughout history. Both the Koreans and Manchus consider it the place of their ancestral origin.