The respected Comrade
"The world knows no such leaders as our great Generalissimos who, calling children the kings of the country, ensured that caring for them was the most important of the affairs of the Party and state, and devoted their whole lives to the good of the children."
The Korean people vividly remember the benevolent image of the President who visited the children in new school uniforms and took photos of them for a long time with great satisfaction.
It was April 12, Juche 66 (1977), a few days before the 65th birthday of the President.
After receiving a report that children and students all over the country had received school things, uniforms and even shoes, he visited the then Yonphung Senior Middle School in Anju early in the morning, wishing to see the schoolchildren in new school uniforms.
Warmly saluting the teachers and students of the school cheering with enthusiasm, he said that he was very pleased to hear that school uniforms, school things and various gifts had been provided to the kindergarteners and students all over the country. He looked at the uniforms and school things of the students for a long time.
With a bright smile on his face all the time, he took a piece of thread from the uniforms and judged the quality of the nylon-made KCU(Korean Children's Union) tie, asking the schoolgirls whether their sweaters fit them.
Looking at the students' uniforms from top to bottom one by one, he turned his eyes to the shoes of the students.
He bent himself down and pressed the head of a young girl's shoes several times, asking her to take off her shoes.
He held the muddy shoes of a girl student who was at a loss what to do and asked her if her feet hurt, putting his hand into them. He warmly told her to put on the sports shoes when she was doing sports because she was not likely to walk long in them.
After a while, he looked at the boys wearing a deep-blue tetron suit and synthetic leather shoes near the schoolgirls and laughed a hearty laugh, saying that they looked gentler than he was.
Then he saw a naughty student wearing a cap without a badge in the ranks of boy students.
Looking round the officials, he said with paternal love that students might lose their badges, but if they lose, they should buy them, so it is necessary to make them available.
Throughout the history, the world knows no such leaders as our President who sent a complete set of new school uniforms and school things to the children all over the country and visited the students in their uniforms, and even solved the problem of making many new cap-badges for the young students just in case they should lose them.
Indeed, the benevolent image of the President was the image of the parents who bought new clothes and shoes for their children even in a hard life and looked at them with great joy, without thinking of their sufferings. And he was just like a mother who was worried about what to do when something fell down because of her naughty child.
Looking satisfactorily at the students in sweaters of various colors, shoes and bags, he said he would take photos of them.
Teachers and students of the school were so happy that they embraced one another.
At that time he was sixty-five years old. As old age has been said not to be hidden, when people get older, everything is not the same as before, and photography is a thing that needs focus on the eye, and it is very tiring for the elderly.
But he was so pleased to see the children in new school uniforms laughing boisterously that he said he would take photos for them, not thinking of his own efforts at all.
He corrected the position of the children who stood in order with great joy in front of the camera, saying that they would not be photographed well when they were in shadow. Saying that the young kindergartener whose shoulder had risen with tension would have good photographs only when he lowered his shoulder, he relaxed his tension. And he took photos with his knees on the playground focusing on the children who were too short to be focused.
After taking photos repeatedly, he often took off his glasses and looked far away into the sky, saying quietly that he couldn't see well.
The officials and teachers beat their hearts filled with remorse and anxiety at his image, crying that they would not have photos taken.
Looking at the officials and teachers, he told them to have a photo taken all together, saying that the children who had no chance to have a photo taken were sorry.
Looking at the teachers and students who were preparing for a group photo, he said with paternal love that they would have a picture taken with male and female students respectively, because their faces would become smaller if all students had a photo taken together.
Indeed, the great image of the President holding a camera and pressing the shutter with his hand for the bright smile and future of the rising generation, and the happy faces of the students who were pleased to have photos taken are a picture of the great love that can be seen only in our country where the President is our father.
