Politics 2024.12.14.

Chairman Kim Jong Il always paid deep attention to providing our people with happy living conditions in his whole period of leading the revolution. Among the touching stories born during the period is one about the moved site of a smeltery.

One September day in 1980 a senior official of South Hamgyong Province received a call from Chairman Kim Jong Il.

The Chairman asked the official how far it was from Hamhung to Sinhung. Confused, the official answered the question.

After repeating the distance to himself, the Chairman asked in a serious voice whether the construction project in Sinhung would not have any impact on the supply of drinking water for the citizens in Hamhung.

Now the official understood why he was asking about the distance and said: Sinhung is in the upper reaches of the Songchon River, so if a smeltery is built there, the river will be polluted by refuse from the factory. This will jeopardize the safety of drinking water for Hamhung residents.

After listening to his explanation the Chairman said that he was telephoning him because some days previously officials had proposed building the smeltery in Sinhung and he was concerned about the drinking water for Hamhung residents. Then he said in a resolute voice that the site of the smeltery must be moved.

After a while the Chairman said that he would dispatch officials concerned to the province and the official of the province should fix the site through careful consultation with them, before hanging up the phone.

Later, the Chairman was pleased at the news that a suitable site had been fixed for the construction of the smeltery.

He said that provision of raw materials, transportation and other factors should be taken into account when selecting the site of a factory, but it was most important to carefully consider the impact it would have on the people’s living conditions.

Then he stressed that we must never give a green light for the project that would have a detrimental effect on the people’s living condition, however great its economic benefit may be.

We must never give a green light for the project that would have a detrimental effect on the people’s living conditions!

This is, indeed, the decision made only by the Chairman, the benevolent father of the people who loves the people the most in the world.

Rodong Sinmun