Love Associated with a Water Supply System in a Rural Village

Chairman Kim Jong Il said:

"Comrade Kim Il Sung personifies love for the people at the highest level."

President Kim Il Sung said that installing water supply systems in rural villages was an honorable task that freed women from the work of carrying water in the water pitchers, which they used to carry on their head, and was an important work to prevent various diseases in the countryside, and he devoted his painstaking efforts to this work.

One day in March Juche 62(1973), President Kim Il Sung, who was on his way of field guidance, visited a rural village in Changdong-ri, Sukchon County, South Phyongan Province. When he reached the village of Podok at the far end of Changdong-ri, he saw a woman with a water pitcher on her head walking into the village, and asked to stop the car. Getting out of the car, he watched the woman, who was already turning the corner of her house with difficulty. The he noticed another woman washing clothes in the ditch beneath the big road, and slowly walked up to her. Seeing the fatherly leader, whom she had always dreamed of seeing, the woman was at a loss for a while, and then, rose to her feet and bowed politely to the leader. Warmly returning her greetings, President Kim Il Sung asked her how many years she had lived in Changdong-ri and what water they drank normally in the village. Listening to her frank reply that the villagers kept the irrigation water in a small drinking-water reservoir and used it for drinking water, the great leader kept silent for a long time, looking at the reservoir some distance away.

After saying good-bye to the woman, President walked slowly towards the village. On the way he came across a farmer dragging a cart, and school children coming back from school, and each time he asked them in detail whether the village had a water supply system, whether the villagers boiled water to drink it, and if there was anyone suffering a disease from drinking water. Although they answered unanimously that they had no problem with their health because the water they drank was the clean water coming from Lake Yonphung, President, still anxious, walked to up the drinking-water reservoir and looked at the sedimented water for a while.

He spent a long time meeting the villagers and enquiring about the situation in detail, and when he got to the seat of ri, he asked the officials why the water supply system had not been installed. Then he said that he was not happy to hear that the villagers still had to bring drinking water from the reservoir. The officials felt so guilty for worrying the President about the drinking water. A moment later, one of the officials told the great leader about the actual situation regarding the water supply system and his fault in delaying the installation of the water supply system for the village. President, who was carefully listening to the official's answer, said that if there were any problems, they should not just sit worrying about them, but actively raise them for solution, and that he should hold a consultative meeting of officials concerned to take a decisive measure.

After leaving the village, President discussed with officials the problem of the water supply system of Changdong-ri until late at night, even putting off his dinner. Giving a long remark of concern about tap water sill not available for the farmers in the village, he said to the senior official of the county that the reason he was displeased was that he had come to Sukchon County several times before and instructed to solve the water problem for the people in Changdong-ri, but they still lived drinking water from the ditch because nothing had been done about it. Then he sternly criticized the officials for their misguided view of the people and their irresponsible attitude; they had not taken any steps even though they knew that people drank water from the ditch.

So concerned about the water supply for the rural village, the great leader convened a consultative meeting in which all the working personnel took part the next day and took concrete measures to install a water supply system in Changdong-ri. After that, he made a number of long-distance calls to the officials concerned to inquire about how the project went on and solved the problems which came up with it, sending competent construction experts to help them technically. Thanks to the great concern and care of the President, the installation of the water supply system in Changdong-ri was successfully completed in less than three months.

On receiving a report that the construction of the water supply system was finished in Changdong-ri, in June Juche 62(1973), the President changed his tight schedule for on-the-spot guidance and visited the water tower in Yonphung village in Changdong-ri to see how the water supply system worked. Then he personally took water samples and went to Pyongyang to have the water quality tested at the specialized research institute. When he was informed of the test result that the quality of water was very good, the President was very pleased and sent an official to the village to inform the results of the test.

The water supply system in Changdong-ri was the fruit of the love of the great leader, who regarded man as the most precious being in the world and devoted his all to the more affluent and civilized life of the working masses. It is also associated with his noble intention of training the officials as the people's loyal servants who would devotedly serve them with a correct viewpoint on the people.