North Korea looking to be green energy powerhouse

Kim Jong Un has pledged to improve the lives of his people and boost the economy. Picture: AFP/Getty

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ERIC TALMADGE

North Korea is racing to boost its electricity supply by up to 50 per cent with the completion of several generating stations by the end of the year and is pushing alternative resources like solar, to ease its chronic shortages, a government expert said.

In an unusually high-profile campaign, the North has mobilised legions of “shock brigades” to complete two large hydro-power projects by 10 October. As is common with major North Korean construction efforts, the deadline is a date of national significance: the 70th anniversary of its ruling party.

Officials hope a noticeable increase will provide tangible proof that the party is working to improve the impoverished and heavily controlled nation’s standard of living.

Kim Kyong Il, a senior researcher at Pyongyang’s Academy of Social Sciences, said the goal is a 20 to 50 per cent increase in power compared with the 2014 level.

How effective its latest “speed campaign” will be is an open question. Even achieving its target would leave North Korea with a small fraction of what it needs to fuel a vibrant economy or even meet some basic needs of its population.

Experts stress the North needs more than just new power stations – it must improve its infrastructure to get the electricity where it is needed, secure spare parts and conduct sustained maintenance to keep the plants themselves going.

Supplying its industries and 24 million citizens with even a bare minimum of electricity has long been one of North Korea’s biggest problems, particularly after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

Since then, the international community has offered to help the North expand its power grid, if it agrees to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme, but to no avail.

North Korea’s total nationwide electricity output is believed to be about 15 terawatt hours a year. That would only be about enough to power Seoul, the South Korean capital of ten million, for less than four months.

It has been estimated, though never confirmed by Pyongyang, that about one-fifth of North Korea’s electricity is diverted to its one million-strong military. Moreover, a disproportionate amount of the nation’s power is used to light up Pyongyang, where less than one-tenth of the population resides.

Mr Kim, the government expert, said the North is shifting its focus in line with leader Kim Jong-un’s promise to improve the lives of his people and invigorate the economy.

He said North Korea is exploring wind and tidal power sources and added that solar already provides as much as half of the electricity in some rural areas. Small solar panels, seen by outside experts as a grassroots coping mechanism where state-provided energy is woefully lacking, are a common sight on apartment balconies and some countryside farms.

“Our country regards electricity as the engine of the national economy, so the state is increasing investment in this field,” he said. He added that a major portion of the 2015 national budget that didn’t go to defence has been earmarked for investment in the power sector, though he refused to give precise figures.

The expert added two major projects – Mount Paektu Songun Youth Power Station units No1 and No2 and Huichon Power Station units 5, 8, 9 and 10 along the Chongchon River – are expected to be completed in time for the anniversary.

The hydro-power station on Mount Paektu, near the Chinese border, was started under Kim Jong-un’s father, the late Kim Jong-il, but had been plagued by delays.

State media in the North have portrayed the race to complete the mega-projects as a heroic demonstration of national will.

“The young people have gone through thick and thin to flatten mountains, empty seas and conquer space,” the ruling party’s newspaper said recently.

Crossing Mount Bainang

Note the rugged terrain. Later, Kim Il Sung's family moved to the Chinese town of Lim-gang (Linjiang)

across Yalu.

Crossing Mount Bainang was hard on Mother. She carried my 3-year old brother Chul Ju on her back

and a bundle on her head. Her shoes wore out and her feet were a mess of bleeding blisters. Joong-gang

was a letdown for me. It was teaming with Japanese, not much different from the Hwang-gum or

Sehmun regions of Pyongyang. While we Koreans were forced to leave our home villages and wandered

around in alien places, why do these Japanese follow us even to the most remote boondocks and lord

over us? •Father told me that everywhere Koreans are, Japanese are there, too. I saw that Joong-gang

had a Japanese police station, a jail and a military police station. Joong-gang made me realize that all of

Korea was a gigantic dungeon.

More than half of Joong-gang was occupied by the Japanese immigrants and there was Japanese school,

a Japanese hospital and Japanese shops. I learned from Jung-gang residents that the Japanese occupation

began some ten years ago. Japan took over the rights to our timber in Ulsa Agreement and set up a timber

processing plant at Sinyiju and a branch at Joong-gang and brought Japanese woodcutters to settle in

Joong-gang. Among the woodcutters were many battle-hardened Japanese army veterans and they were

in fact paramilitary units ready to do battle at any time. In addition, there were a number of armed

Japanese police and regular army troops.

The main reason why Father moved us there was because Joong-gang was a hub of Korean nationalist

movement. He wanted to set up a hospital there and promote anti-Japan activities. He believed that being

a medical doctor, he would be less subject to Japanese surveillance and would have more degree of

freedom to move around; also, being a doctor would make it easier for him to see people.

We moved in Kang Ki Rak's lodging house. Kang gave us the cleanest and quietest room he had. After

getting out of prison, Father traveled in Kan-do and stayed in the this very room whenever he came to

Joong-gang. Kang Ki Rak ran the lodging "Yuh In Hotel" and also, a dental clinic and a photo shop. He

was a liaison for the Korean People's Association. Father operated from Kang's hotel room and

maintained contacts with Korean nationalists in Lim-gang, Jang-baik, Joong-gang, Byuk-dong, Chang-

sung. Chosan and other towns in the Yalu region.

Kang Ki Rak was well known in Joong-gang and visited the town hall at will. He passed on whatever

intelligence he gathered from the unsuspecting town officials to Father, which was invaluable to Father's

work. I worked for Father as a lookout and took care of the nationalists who came to see Father. I also

carried secret messages to Joong-sang and Joong-duk for Father.

One of the most memorable events in Joong-gang that I recall is the wrestling match I had with a

Japanese fellow. He was much bigger than I was but I won the match by doing a belly-throw on him. I

was called in to go after any Japanese kid that hassled Korean kids, which made the lodging proprietors

fear for Japanese reprisal. Father told him that we should never kowtow to anyone who look down upon

us, and he blessed my actions.   PAGE 40

Stateless Vagabonds in Foreign Places

Father changed his operations base often and so, my family moved several times when I was young. The

first move was when I was five. In the Summer, we moved to Bongwha-ri, leaving behind Grandpa,

Grandma and other close relatives. Because of my tender age, I felt no sad feeling parting with them. I

was too excited about our new home.

But our move to Jung-gang in the Fall was entirely a different matter. It was a sad move. Our relatives

were sad that we were moving so far, to the northern tip of the country. Grandpa, who normally stood

behind Father and supported his decisions, was aghast at Father's decision to move us away more than a

thousand ri. Father saw what was going through Grandpa's mind and did his best to calm him down.

Father sat next to Grandpa and helped with his handcraft work for the last time and said: "Dad, I am on

the blacklist of the Japanese police and I cannot do anything in Korea. They told me to stay home and

work the farm when I was released from prison. I will go on fighting, even if they jailed me ten times

more. Japanese are savages and merely shouting for independence will not bring it."

Uncle hugged Father and told him to write often, if he moved far away, too far to come home; he begged

Father never to forget the home and wept openly. Father held onto Uncle's hands for a long time. Father

consoled Uncle: "Hey, I will never forget our home. How on earth can I forget our home? We are forced

to part because of the bad times we are having, we shall meet again when Korea is freed and live happily

together again. Since our childhood, you have been cleaning up the mess I created and now I am leaving

and you have to be the man of the family now. I am very sorry."

"Dear elder brother, don't talk like that! I will care for Mom and Dad and you don't worry about them.

You keep your mind on your work and make sure you succeed. I will be here waiting for your success."

I was moved by their tearful farewell and wept with them. Although Mother told me that we would be

back home when Korea became independent, I wondered when that will be. I had no clear idea. In fact,

Father and Mother passed away in foreign places and this was their last moment with the family.

I kept on looking back toward our old home; I did not want to leave Grandpa and Grandma behind. I did

not want to leave the home, the mountains and rivers I grew up in, but I was happy that we were moving

far, far away from that prison in Pyongyang. Even after Father was released from prison, I was uneasy

about that prison. I feared that Father might get arrested and jailed there again. I was so naive that

moving to a remote village, away from Seoul and Pyongyang, we could find a safe haven from the

Japanese savages.

I asked how far Joong-gang was from Pyongyang and was told that it was one thousand ri. This sounded

like a safe distance because I thought no Japanese would come that far to get Father. It was said that

Joong-gang is the coldest place in Korea, but I did not mind as long as Father was safe theRE..PAGE 37

Righteous aspiratioN

Photo: Kim Hyong Jik - Father

'Righteous aspiration' has little to do with achieving worldly fames or getting rich and powerful, but

rather, it deals with achieving happiness and satisfaction from fighting for Korea, year in, year out, from

generation to generation, however long it may take to liberate Korea. It is the basic foundation of our

revolutionary spirit.

Father had explained why one should have grand visions. The visions were for free and prosperous

Korea, for the Korean people's fight for independence. The Yi Dynasty was weak militarily. Prior to the

Yi Dynasty, Korea used to a strong nation. It had powerful military might and its culture bloomed,

spilling across the Korea Strait to Japan. But 500 years of reign by corrupt Yi kings bankrupted and

emaciated Korea to the point that Korea could not stand on her feet, and fell, she did.

A few years before my birth, Japan conquered Korea with guns and sabers; there were Korean traitors

who sold out their own country and people to the Japanese. The traitors sold our land to the enemy, but

they could not sell our soul. Common people, all across Korea, rose up carrying spears to drive out the

invaders and their puppets. Our independence army troops killed hundreds of Japanese invaders with

muskets, and civilians, armed with no more than stones, fought pitched battles with heavily armed

Japanese police and soldiers. They died shouting freedom and justice, appealing to the conscience of

humanity and human rights advocates of the world, in vain.

Choe Ik Hyon, a Righteous Army leader, was captured and exiled to

Formosa, which was under Japanese rule at the time. He starved

himself to death than to eat Japanese food. Lee Jun committed suicide

in front of a world meeting of imperialist powers. He demonstrated the

Korean people's firm determination to regain independence. Ahn

Joong Gun shot and killed Ito, the Japanese architect of imperialism, at

the Harbin rail station. Ahn kept on shouting - "Long Live Korea".

until he was subdued by the Japanese police. Kang Wu Gyu, well past

60 years of age, threw a bomb at Saito, Governor General of Korea.

Lee Jae Hyong stabbed Lee Wan Yong, Korea's number one traitor.

Min Young Whan, Lee Bum Jin and Hong Bum Do wanted to liberate

Korea by military means. (Lee Wha Rang photo: Choe Ik Hyon, 1833-

1907).

There was a nation-wide movement to raise money to pay back debts owed to Japan in the aftermath of

the Russo-Japanese War. The Yi King burrowed 13 million won from Japan, but he could not pay it back

and forced the people to shell out money for him. Korean men stopped smoking to save their tobacco

money, King Kojong himself stopped smoking. Women skimped on grocery bills to save money for the

King, marriage-age girls donated their dowry; servants and maids working for rich people donated their

meager savings; rice-cake vendors, straw-sandal hawkers, vegetable vendors - all of them chipped in to

pay off our national debt. In spite of such outpouring of patriotism, Korea could not be saved.  (PAGE 18) 

My Father and the Korean People's Association

My father lived by "ji-won", 'Righteous Aspirations', for all of his life. He preached his

way of life not only to his family but also to his associates at Sunwha and Myongsin

schools and other places. He exhibited his calligraphy of ji-won, two Chinese characters,

whenever he had chance. Even today, his calligraphy of ji-won pops up here and there. He

liked calligraphy. (Photo: My father's calligraphy - Ji Won).

In those days, people worshipped Chinese calligraphy and the works of famous people and

authors were much valued; they were made into hanging picture scrolls or folding

screens. It was a fad of the time. I, too, was swept up in this fad - I did not know any better then. My

father posted his writings wherever he could without any framing or decorations.

When I was old enough, Father began to lecture me on the importance of patriotism; he taught me that in

order to love Korea, I must think big. Ji-won, righteous aspirations, stands for grand ideas for doing

good. There is nothing new or significant about a father teaching his son to have a grand vision. But

realizing one's vision in a real world requires diligence and years of hard work.  

FAMILY OF KIM SONG IL (2)

Mother, not wanting to wake the neighbor, would squat down by the neighbor's house, listening for the

clock's hourly chimes.

Years later, when I returned home from Paldogu, my uncle's wife asked me how my father was and then

she told me how relieved she was that I lived so close to my school in Paldogu. She recalled how tough it

was to send my father to school on time without a clock in the house. Our family home did not have a

clock until the day of Liberation.

Dirty poor though we were, it was our family tradition to share whatever we had with needy neighbors

and relatives. Even though we lived on rice gruel more often than not, we helped other people as much as

we could.

Grandpa used to tell us - "You can live without money, but you cannot live without kindness.", which

became my family tradition and way of life, our philosophy. My father was eager to learn new ideas and

had a high level of scholastic aptitude. He wanted to attend formal schools after learning the one-thousand-

character prose from a traditional village scholar..

In the year of the Hague Secret Mission incident, students from Sunwha, Chuja, Chilgol and Sinhung

gathered at Sulmae for an athletic competition. My father attended the gathering representing Sunwha.

He competed in iron-bar, wrestling, running and other athletic events. He won all but the high-jump,

because his hair knot caught the bar. He was so angry that he went to a nearby hill after the game and

chopped off the offending knot. Tying up man's hair into a knot was a Korean custom several hundred

years old and chopping it off without parents prior permission was a dead serious breach of filial piety.

Upon learning of my father's act, Grandpa wailed as if the world was about to come to an end.

Father, realizing belatedly the seriousness of his misdeed, stayed away form Grandpa and spent the night

hanging around outdoors. My great grandma saw him and took food out to him during the night. My

father was her favorite offspring and she was the one who made it possible for my father to attend the

school. She was the one who had persuaded Grandpa to send my father to school. Grandpa, a stalwart of

feudality, did not think much of modern schools. Father started at Sungsil in the spring of 1911, a year

after our nation was lost. In those days, Korea was still in Dark Ages and even rich yangban families were

reluctant to send their kids to a modern school. Sending a kid through middle school education was,

indeed, unusual, especially for such a poor household as ours that barely subsisted.

The school tuition was two won in those days. To get two won, my mother collected and peddled clams

from Sunwha River, Grandpa raised sweet melons, Grandma worked fields and even my 15-year old

uncle worked to raise my father's tuition. My father, too, worked at his school's experimental farm for

long hours after the classes, after which he studied at the school library for several hour before walking 30

ri to home. He would have no more than two hours to sleep before the breakfast time for another grueling

day.

Ours was a farm family, not uncommon in villages all over Korea. We were honest, hard-working, poor

farmers. We had nothing outstanding; we were just a normal farming family. One thing different about us

was that we were passionately patriotic, willing to die for our country. My great grandfather was a mere 

grave caretaker for a landowner, but he was an ardent nationalist. The General Sherman, an American

merchant marine, invaded our land and sailed up Taedong River to Turu Island, killing many Koreans

with rifle and cannon fire. My great grandpa was one of those villagers who gathered up straw ropes and

strung them up across the river from Kongyu Island to Mangyong Peak, to blocked the escape path of the

American invaders. They threw rocks at the invaders.

Lee Wha Rang notes: Modern Pyongyang maps show Turu and Konryu islands. The General Sherman

was stranded near Turu, which sailed up this far on flooded Taedong River. Kim Il Sung's great

grandfathers was among the villagers who helped destroy the ship. Kim Il Sung was born in Mangyong-

dae (bottom-left corner). At age seven, Kim Il Sung walked across a wooden bridge over Potong River to

visit his father in prison. It is not clear which bridge he crossed.

The invaders advanced to Yang-gak Island, shooting cannon and rifles at the crowd, pillaging and raping

along the way. Mt great grandpa led his villagers to the Pyongyang Fort and joined the soldiers and

volunteers from other villages gathered there. They placed firewood on small boats and sent them burning

to the enemy ship. The enemy ship and her entire crew were eliminated. After the Sherman incident, the

American imperialists dispatched the warship Shenandoah, which pillaged our villages at the Taedong

estuary. Once again, the Mangyong-dae villagers took up arms to repel the invaders.

Grandpa used to tell us - "It is proper for man to die fighting the enemy", and told us to serve our nation.

Grandpa proudly sent his children and grandchildren to the battle ground of anti-Japanese movement

FAMILY OF KIM IL SUNG

Lee Wha Ran notes: Kim Il Sung's birth name was Kim Sung Ju, he adopted Kim Il Sung as his nom de

guerre. Kim Yong Woo's father, an impoverished farmer, moved to North Korea from South Korea in mid-

1800. Kim Yong Woo caretaker of a rich landowner's ancestral burial ground near Mangyong-dae. Kim

Bo Hyon was a farmer. Kim Hyong Jik was a school-teacher and became a medical doctor when Kim Il

Sung was about 7.

Mangyng-dae is a beautiful village with clean air and green mountains around it. Mount Namsan rises

left to my home and one gets breathtaking panoramic views of Taedong River from its summit. For this

reason, many rich people from far away places and high government officials competed to buy up the

mountains in this region for their ancestral graves. A mighty Pyong-ahn governor was supposedly buried

there.

My family eked out living farming a tiny patch of land. To make the matter worse, after three generations

of one-man-child, my grandfather, Kim Bo Hyon, and grandmother gave birth to six children, raising the

family size to about ten mouths to feed. Grandpa worked day and night to put bread on the table for us.

He got up early in the morn when others were still in bed, and collected wastes from neighboring villages.

Late into the night, when other had gone to bed, he stayed up making straw ropes, sandals and sacks

under a dim kerosene lamp.

My grandmother, Lee Bo Ik, ported water every night. My mother, Kang Ban Suk, my uncle's wife,

Hyong Yang Sin, and my aunts, Kim Gu Il, Kim Hyong Sil and Kim Hyonf Book, worked the fields

 during the day and ran errands during the night. Because of our abject poverty, my uncle, Kim Hyong

Rok, never set foot in a classroom, the closest to formal education he had received was the one-thousand

character prose. He worked the field for grandpa since his childhood.

In spite of our hard work, we had barely enough to eat; there were days when we could not afford even a

small bowl of thin rice gruel. Unprocessed grains were often served; I still recall how much trouble I had

swallowing those course hard-to-digest grains, which were normally fed to domestic animals. Fruits or

meats were beyond our reach. Once I had a growth on my neck and Grandma somehow brought home a

tiny bit of pork. The pork in my stomach made the growth to go away. Since that time on, I often wished

that the growth would come back, so that I could taste pork once again.

Lee Wha Rang notes: Kim Il Sung's family - from left to righ, Kim Sung Ju (aka Kim Il Sung), his father

Kim Hyong Jik (holding Kim Young Ju, was tortured to death by the Japanese), Kim Chul Ju (killed by

the Japanese in battle) and his mother, Kang Bang Suk, circa 1920. Only Kim Il Sung and Kin Young Ju

survived World War II. Courtesy: North Korean government archives.

When I was a child growing up in Mangyong-dae, Grandma often lamented over the fact that our family

owned no clock. Grandma was not keen on material wealth, but she did envy the wall clock of our

neighbor next door, the sole household with a clock in our village. Grandma's clock obsession began with

my father's schooling. She was dead afraid that my father might be late for school and used to wake up

several times during the night to check the time. She had no clock and so, she had to guess the time by

looking at the sky and other natural time pieces. Many times, she got up and, misreading her natural

clocks, got the breakfast ready hours prior to the actual breakfast time.

My father's school, Sung-sil Middle School, was about 30 ri from our house and Grandma would not

think of sending her son to school on empty stomach. Many days, Grandma would get up hours before

the time and hanged around the kitchen; she would send my mother to the next door to get the time

My Family

My life began in the 1910s when Korea had suffered the worst tragic calamities. By the time I was born,

Korea was already under the Japanese colonial rule. Korea was under the thumb of Japanese Emperor

through a Japan-Korea Annexation agreement. The Korean people became slaves of Japanese Governor

General of Korea. Korea, with her long, brilliant history, with rich natural resources and clear waterways,

had become the stomping ground of Japanese boots and gun carriage wheels.

The Korean people seethed with anger and wept with sorrow over the loss of their nationhood. Countless

patriots could not bear the tragedy that had befallen on Korea and opted to end their lives than to live

under the Japanese yoke. They chose honorable death over shameful submission to the much despised

Japanese.

Police and civil servants - and even school teachers - wore uniforms and carried samurai swords, and

Korea was subjected to the most barbaric secret police state terrorism ever known to man. Under

Emperor's direction, the Governor General commanded the military in Korea and yielded life and death

powers over the Korean people. All Korean political organizations and scholastic entities were disbanded

by the Governor General.

Our patriots were beaten with cowhide whips in Japanese torture chambers and prison cells. Japanese

police applied the notorious Tokugawa Shogunate torture methods on our patriots; red-hot iron rods were

mercilessly thrust into their bodies.

The Governor General issued edict after edict to enslave the Korean people: we were forced to color our

traditional white attires; Japanese businessmen swarmed over Korea and took away our land and natural

resources. They stole our national treasures and took them to Japan.

I have been to several nations that had been colonies and found no former colony that was forced to

change family names and was forbidden to speak their native language; no colony was forced to give

people's cooking pots and eating utensils to their colonists. No imperialists, with the sole exception of

Japan, had perpetuated such inhuman acts.

Korea in those days was a living Hell, unfit for human habitation. The Korean people were, in all aspects,

walking stiffs; their spirits were dead, alive though their bodies were. Lenin's prediction that "Japan's

hitherto unparalleled savage tortures of the Korean patriots and barbaric exploitation of Korea will

continue, no matter what" was right on the mark.

The years of my childhood saw various imperial powers fighting over colonial spoils. In the year I was

born, US Marines stormed Honduras, France made Morocco her protectorate, and Italy took Turkey's

Rotus island. In Korea, the Land Examination Law was imposed by the Japanese to legitimize their land

grab.

In short, it was my misfortune to be born in an era of evil events and to grow up seeing the worst of the

Japanese savagery. These left indelible marks on my memory and shaped my future activities. My father

told me how Korea got herself into the sat situation she was in, and I became angry at the elite of Korea

who had let it happen. I swore then and there to devote the rest of my life to the task of driving out the

Japanese colonists from Korea.

While other nations went about in mighty warships and rode shiny trains, our feudal leaders rode filthy

scrawny donkeys wearing horse-hair hats and had wasted several hundred years in a stale state of stupor

and suffocating economic stagnation. They kowtowed to foreign gunboat diplomacy and opened up the

gate for foreign invasion and exploitation; Korea became an easy prey for the imperialists.

The Queen of Korea, still a sovereign nation in 1895, was cut to pieces in front of her own palace by

foreign troops, and so-called King was locked up in a foreign legation for over a year in his own country.

The King's father was kidnapped by a foreign power and Korea had to apologize for the incident.

Guarding the palace was delegated to foreign troops. Who were to protect the nation and care for the

Korean people in a situation such as this?

Though a tiny speck in the scheme of the Universe a family may be, it is an essential part of the world and

it cannot live outside the world. The misfortune of Korea hit my family without mercy like a tidal wave.

My family stood firm amidst the disasters and threats, weeping and laughing with the nation, and stood

tall in the eye of the tornados sweeping the nation.

I was told that my great-great grandfather came from Chun-ju, North Chul-ra Province, in search of a

better life in north Korea. My great grandfather, Kim Ung Woo, settled in Mangyong-dae in 1860. He

was born in Jung-sung-ri, Pyongyang, and eked out a living farming. Lee Pyong Taek, a landowner in

Pyongyang made him a caretaker of Lee's ancestral burial ground in Mangyong-dae. That was how we

got to be in Mangyng-dae.

..with the century by prezident/PAGE 1-2) 

KIM IL SUNG    

Kim Jong Un Provides Field Guidance to Wonsan Baby Home and Orphanage

Posted By: Official USA DelegatePosted date: June 02, 2015in: Children, Kim Jong UnNo Comments

Pyongyang, June 2 (KCNA) — Kim Jong Un, first secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, first chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, Monday provided field guidance to the Wonsan Baby Home and Orphanage in the run-up to a ceremony for their completion.

Watching the portraits of smiling President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il displayed on the front wall of the Wonsan Baby Home and Orphanage, he noted with great pleasure that they were prominently displayed with due respect and that children came to move into new houses under blessings from Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

How pleased they would have been if they had seen palace-like new buildings for children, he noted, adding that it has become possible to realize the lifetime wishes of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il who were always concerned for the orphans.

Recalling that he proposed having a tape-cutting ceremony on June 1, International Children’s Day, by giving a good finishing touch to the project during his visit to the baby home and orphanage last April, he said he could keep the promise with the children as soldier-builders successfully wound up the construction of the buildings into the structures reflecting the will and desire of the people in a short span of time true to the Party’s intention. He appreciated the great efforts made by them.

He proposed letting children cut tape at the ceremony so that they might always remember this day even after they have grown up, adding how pleasant the President andKim Jong Il would have been if they had seen those children cutting the tape.

He went round the baby home and orphanage to learn in detail about the preparations for their operation.

He was satisfied with the fact that the soldier-builders and officials of relevant fields have perfectly completed the project and made thorough preparations for the operation of the baby home and orphanage.

He gave instructions which would serve as guidelines for successfully operating them.

He said that the Wonsan Baby Home and Orphanage look very nice, adding such splendid palace for children could be hardly found in any other part of the world. He noted with pleasure that this is a proud structure eloquently and strikingly demonstrating the advantages of the socialist system under which the party and the state take care of the orphans in a responsible manner.

Whenever such edifices as the Wonsan Baby Home and Orphanage appear one after another, this adds brilliance to the whole country and will please all Korean people, he said, stressing that this is a true picture of the Korean-style socialist system which capitalism can neither imitate nor imagine.

How gratifying we feel after providing the orphans with excellent cradle, true to the intentions of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, he noted, adding the orphans would surely follow the party and country as their real father and mother and happily and cheerfully grow to be reliable pillars of the country. Thinking of this helps harden our determination to work harder for the sake of the younger generation day by day and spare nothing for them, he emphasized.

Saying the appearance of the baby home and orphanage added to the precious treasures of the country, a happy event in Kangwon Province, he instructed officials to hold the ceremony for their completion with splendor.

He was accompanied by Hwang Pyong So, Ri Jae Il and Jo Yong Won. -0-