Listening To The Whisper Of A Young Lathe Operator With Pleasure

Among numerous anecdotes written on the traces of the revolutionary leadership of Chairman Kim Jong Il, who has devoted himself to the country and the people all his life, is the moving story of him finding the pride and honor of being a revolutionary in an ordinary worker's simple words of gratitude.

Chairman Kim Jong Il said:

"I feel the happiest when I have done something for the good of the people. I find my happiness and pleasure just in those of the people."

One day in mid-December Juche 90(2001), the Chairman visited a machine factory in Jagang Province, regardless of the cold weather in the north.

He looked slowly round the factory, warming himself with the revolutionary enthusiasm in the workshop, which was packed with machinery continuously processing finished goods with deafening sounds.

It was when the Chairman was passing by a machine.

Suddenly, a pretty young lathe operator stopped the machine, stepped forward to the Chairman and respectfully bowed to him.

Then, with tears in his eyes, he approached the Chairman more closely and started whispering.

Bending towards the young man, the Chairman smiled, listening carefully to his voice which was quite inaudible because of the machines' noises.

It was out of the officials' expectation.

When an official, who thought he was doing too much impudent action, hurried to him, the Chairman gestured for the official not to come close and listened to the young operator to the end with all his attention.

To the wondering officials, the Chairman said, with great pleasure, that the operator thanked him for the supply of chicken and eggs from the newly built chicken farm. And he was very satisfied that the people, who were supplied with the meat and eggs produced by the chicken farm, had a such great impression that the first greetings in every machine factory were words of gratitude for the meat and egg supply.

In retrospect, the love that the Chairman had devoted to the working people in Jagang Province was indeed deeper than an ocean.

Shortly after the Arduous March when everything was still scarce, the Chairman saw to it that a modern chicken farm was built for the people in Jagang Province and made sure that the chicken and eggs from it were supplied to the working class and other people in the province. Thanks to his loving care, a family working at a machine factory was supplied with 12 kilograms of chicken and 60 eggs at a time, adding yet another happy story.

The young operator felt so grateful for the love of the Chairman that he extended such unpolished yet artless words of gratitude.

After inspecting several factories and enterprises in the province without a moment's rest, the Chairman returned to the lodging in the dark. When the officials asked him to have a break, he recalled the young lathe operator with pleasure, saying that he gained strength from the lad's words and never felt tired of working overnight those days.

The Chairman said with deep emotion that listening to the voluntary thanks of the lathe operator, he felt the worth of hardships they had in building the chicken farms.

Then he warmly said that he had nothing to wish but the well-being of the people and that he found his own felicity in the happiness and joy of them.

Even a simple whisper could give him such a great pleasure as he could hear the sound of happiness of our people through it.

Indeed, Chairman Kim Jong Il was a great father of our people, who brought happiness to them at cost of his painstaking effort.

That's why all the Korean people are praising his exploits, all of which are accomplished only for the benefits of them, as the feats wider than an ocean and higher than the sky.