The army led by Choe was one of the main targets of the Japanese during a phase of the Pacification of Manchukuo that began in 1939. Dennis Halpin concludes in "The National Interest" that "Choe Hyon may well have been the key leader in the anti-Japanese colonial struggle in Manchuria and along the Korean border". According to Halpin, this discredits the revolutionary legitimacy of the Kim dynasty and lends it to Choe Hyon's son, Choe Ryong-hae, instead. North Korea has subsequently edited photographs from this era to emphasize Kim's role.