On August 31, Juche 89 (2000), Chairman Kim Jong Il visited the Songgan Forestry Station.
Going all the way round the worker’s village, power station, bathhouse and funfair in the mountainous area, he expressed his satisfaction.
Hearing of his visit belatedly, the villagers rushed to see him.
An old worker elbowed his way through the crowd towards where his car was. Having run on slippery roads in the rainy season, the car was splashed with mud. The old man began to wipe away the mud with his sleeves.
An official in Kim Jong Il’s company tried to hold him back, saying that his coat got dirty and the car had a long distance to cover.
The worker “protested.”
“We workers cannot bear to see the General’s car spattered with mud. I myself don’t mind my coat stained with it. As we all know, he is making painstaking efforts crossing the rugged mountains to pave the way for the prosperity of our people. It is a unanimous desire of our workers to lay a silk carpet on the roads to be traversed by the General.”
That evening, listening to what the official had to say, Kim Jong Il was moved and said: It would be hard to find such a good people as ours in the world. Though I have failed to provide them with everything necessary, they support me with all sincerity. I feel very sorry and remorseful for this. We should make redoubled efforts to build a paradise for them as soon as possible.
