Rejecting Any Special Favour or Privilege for Himself

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un said:

"Even though he was held in high respect and admiration by our people and progressive people around the world, he rejected any special favour or privilege for himself, and always led a simple and frugal life with his people."

There are many anecdotes about the popular traits of President Kim Il Sung, who regarded it as his motto to believe in the people as in heaven all his life and turned it into a reality, never allowing any special privileges as the leader of a nation, but living as humble and simple as the common people.

It was one August day, in 1977 that President began his work in the then newly-built Kumsusan Assembly Hall.

President who had just come back from a several-day-long field guidance across the country, suddenly stopped in front of the front hall corridor as he was entering the porch.

He asked an official near him, who was not aware of the situation, why he had so many lights on in the corridor.

At that time, the corridor was lit with lamps every 3 to 4 meters along, which were set up to ensure that President had no difficulty in going down the corridor. The day was cloudy, so the corridor was darker than usual, and when he heard that President was coming back, he had turned all the lights on in the corridor.

Listening to him, President's face instantly got dark. His husky voice sounded that the people were feeling uncomfortable due to the electricity scarcity, and we should not keep so many lamps turned on. Then President told him to turn the lights on very sparingly only when the corridor got dark.

Whenever President was seen walking along the dimly-lit corridors, the official would feel so guilty about it. The official felt sorry thinking that it should be the duty of the entire Korean people to ensure the good health of President although the electricity condition in the country was very tight.

So, he turned the front hall lights on again.

Seeing this as he came out into the corridor, President criticized him in a severe tone that he couldn't understand how much labor force was used and how hard the workers were working to supply the electricity to this place. Then President continued that the country's energy scarcity was so critical that no more factories were being built.

He said that the issue of saving electricity had been discussed about as a nationwide campaign at several meetings and even he should not be excluded from the civil duty. Then President persuaded him to turn the lights on only in some necessary places.

The fatherly leader lived such a humble and frugal life.

His humble way of life undoubtedly stemmed from the noble inner world of a great man who did whatever he could for his populace and their wellbeing.

Indeed, President Kim Il Sung, who loved his people and devoted all his heart to the last day of his life to make his people well off with nobody and nothing to envy in the world, was the people's benevolent father who never allowed even a little privilege for himself.