Delayed Groundbreaking Date
Once the deadline for the construction of Sosong Street (now Chollima Street) was set, the officials of the project headquarters got fretted.
The reason lay in the fact that those living in the one-storey houses on the construction site had not yet been dishoused. This resulted in the failure in groundbreaking although it was really challenging to complete the project by the Fifth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
One day in January, 1970, President Kim Il Sung made a phone call to an official in Pyongyang to ask if the construction of Sosong Street had started. Having been told that the construction project was at a standstill because of the delay of dishousing, the President declared that they should give a start to the project in April.
At that moment, the official could not help doubting his own ears. He could not understand why it should be put off for as long as 3 months as there was no time to lose even in the case of the groundbreaking at the beginning of the year.
Fathoming his heart, the President warmly explained:
Those who are supposed to move to other places in winter will have many difficulties in their lives. We should push ahead with the building of the dwelling houses that began last year so that the dishoused households can move there after completion. After that, we should start the new construction project and we should not violate the Party’s mass line when dislodging the owners.
It was not until then that the official grasped the meaningful intention of the President. He found himself so choked that he could not say anything.
The official came to realize their fault. Providing the households to be dishoused with temporary rooms for living, the officials had persuaded them to overcome inconvenience for a few months soothing them that they would have better houses.
The official said, “President, we were inconsiderate.”
Indicating that Korean people found it difficult to live without kimchi, the President said that if they moved in winter, they had to dig large kimchi pots out, which could cause inconvenience and trouble for them.
The instruction penetrated in the mind of the official more deeply than hundreds of scolding words.
This was how the project finally commenced in spring. They need not have worried about keeping the completion date as miracles and innovations beyond imagination were created day after day as soon as the story of the warmest love for people spread throughout the construction site.
