Brilliant Leadership

Peerlessly Great Man of All-round Knowledge

It happened in a year when President Kim Il Sung was on a visit to a country in Europe. One day he had a talk with the leader of the country. Discussed in the talk were some issues of mutual concern in such fields as politics, economy, culture, military affairs, etc. The talk lasted from the morning to the afternoon. Eventually, the talk was coming close to an end, when suddenly the hall witnessed a spectacle unprecedented in the history of diplomacy. The leader of the country hesitantly rose from the seat to glance at the small pocketbook laid before the President, which was a breach of etiquette. In the center of the attention of the dumbfounded people, he asked, “President Kim Il Sung, may I ask what is in the mysterious pocketbook? You have been talking smoothly on the issues in all fields only relying on it without even an outlined plan for the talk.” With a generous smile on his face, the President showed the blue-covered pocketbook to him. Gazing into the “mysterious” pocketbook, the leader was amazed. It was because he could find only a few symbols and three or four lines of keywords. It was beyond his understanding because right from the beginning of the talk he had been dependent on the thick file of detailed plan of the talk prepared by the subordinate officials. ‘President Kim Il Sung has had no outlined plan throughout the whole course of the talk, but he has talked over that palm-sized pocketbook only before him.’ That evening he expressed his feeling to the President. “President Kim Il Sung, you are a peerlessly great man of all-round knowledge, if ever there was one!”

Lesson of “A Car without a Steering Wheel”

On June 21, 1979, President Kim Il Sung was stressing the need to maintain independence in carving out the destiny of a nation, when he told King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia a humour story “A Car without a Steering Wheel”, which was popular among the people in Eastern Europe. It goes like this. General secretary of the communist party of a European country gave the counterpart of the ruling party of another country a car with no steering wheel but a hook only at the front, as a gift. When the latter complained that he could find no steering wheel, but only a hook attached to the front of the car, the former said: It would cause no problems. You can sit comfortably when the car is hooked to the back of the car in front. All you have to do is to sit still in your car when I drive the front car. The President looked at Norodom Sihanouk as though he was asking for the lesson gained from “A Car without a Steering Wheel”. Noting that the story teaches politicians a serious lesson, Sihanouk said, “Now I have realized that the steering wheel a politician should grab firmly in carving out the destiny of a nation is none other than independence.”

From Empty Envelope to Rich

Several decades ago, there was a farm recorded as “empty envelope farm” on the workmemo of President Kim Il Sung. It is Jangchon Vegetable Farm of Sadong District. The President devoted great efforts to turn the farm, which had been called “pultongchon” as it was a reddish muddy land unfavorable for farming, into a thriving one. When he visited the Jangchon village in a suburb of Pyongyang for the first time, the President heard that the girl agricultural engineer had received an empty envelope at the time of income distribution because of the poor harvest. Feeling so sad about it, he noted down every detail of the actual situation of the farm, and said he would be responsible for it. Since then, the President made a ceaseless journey to it, regardless of all weather conditions and even on holidays. Repeatedly walking along the muddy lanes across the fields, he learnt about the farm, which had been accepted as a land only for foxtail millet or wild millet. On this basis, he turned it into a vegetable farm and led them for bumper vegetables. This farm, which is associated with the warm love of President Kim Il Sung and the scrupulous guidance of Chairman Kim Jong Il, was newly born to be a model farm of socialist rural culture and a rich farm, under the great love of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.

To Lead Officials to be True Servants of People

More than ten years ago, the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un gave the officials the following earnest instructions. The lines and policies of the Workers’ Party of Korea are all for the people, and whether the Party’s policies for the people are thoroughly implemented or not depends entirely on how the officials strive. Deeply aware that they are shouldering the destiny of the Party’s policies, the officials should ensure that the validity and vitality of the Party’s policies are demonstrated in the people’s living. With extraordinary determination to devotedly work to solve the problems arising in improving the people’s livelihood, they should make tireless efforts. He continued: They should look back upon what they have done for the people every day, whether or not they failed to do something feasible, and if they did anything wrong working with people or they showed any rude behavior. If they found that they had made some mistakes, they should make intentional efforts to correct them. He stressed that by reviewing their daily work by themselves, all the officials should temper their Party spirit, do a great deal in revolutionary self-culture and prepare themselves to be faithful servants of the people.

Amid Blessings of Love

On June 6, 1946, a joint meeting of the children’s union organizations of Pyongyang City to form the Korean Children’s Union was held in Pyongyang. Before all the pressing affairs for the construction of a new country, President Kim Il Sung attended the meeting in person. Warmly waving back to the thunderous cheers of the schoolchildren, the President expressed his expectation that all of them would grow up to be the pillars of the future and bring this new Korea into full bloom, bearing in mind the great pride in having their own country. Then, he wished that befitting the treasures of new Korea and masters of new Korea, they all would grow up healthily and learn enthusiastically to become heroes to build their new democratic country. The President repeated the expression “new Korea” several times in his few remarks of blessing, which was full of great expectation and conviction. As though he was picturing the new history of our nation where children’s union members would become the masters of the future, the President, wearing a broad smile on his face, cast his eyes with great trust on the schoolchildren present at the meeting. Amid such blessings of love by the President, the Korean Children’s Union, political organization of children in our country, was founded the year after liberation.

Refurnished Lounge

In October, 2014, the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un visited Pyongyang Orphanage and Pyongyang Baby Home, which were newly built on a scenic bank of the Taedong River. Feasting his eyes on the panoramic view of the picturesque orphanage and baby home, he said that such fine homes for children would be found nowhere in the world, expressing great pleasure over and over again. He first headed towards the baby home, where he showed great care. He saw to it that the floor of the entrance hall was covered with rubber plates lest naughty children should slip over while running around, and that the LCD TV set in the playroom was moved to the center of the front wall. Then, he stepped into the lounge, which was prepared for the meeting of children and adults including the parents of triplets. Looking round the lounge with chairs around a table, he explained to the officials accompanying him that the arrangement of the chairs and the table was not convenient for parents and their children. Then, he warmly instructed that sofas be put on both sides of the room so that parents and their children could talk closely seated with each other. Thanks to the meticulous care of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, the lounge was refurnished to provide parents and children with friendly environment.