The poem has its origins in Cho's fascination with the anti-Japanese guerrillas, including Rim Chun-chu and Choe Hyon, with whom he had met. The creation of the epic was politically motivated, too, as the Soviets, who had dispatched Cho to North Korea, wanted to strengthen Kim Il-sung's grip on power. Publications presenting him as a legendary anti-Japanese hero were needed, and so Mt. Paektu was born. The work is dedicated to the glorious Soviet Army that liberated Korea, and is written with the Soviets and not the Koreans in mind.