Story of Patchy Quilt

Anti-Japanese War Heroine Kim Jong Suk gave continuity to the vitality of Korean revolution by bringing up Chairman Kim Jong Il strongly as a son of the fatherland and nation, thus leaving us the greatest, most valuable and immortal revolutionary heritage, which can't be compared with any treasure.

President Kim Il Sung said:

"If there is any heritage she left with us, it is that she brought up Comrade Kim Jong Il to be the leader of the future, and presented him to the motherland and the Party. You say I brought him up to be my successor, but in actual fact the foundation was laid by Kim Jong Suk. This is the greatest service she rendered for the revolution."

Mother is the first teacher of your life.

Mother is an educator who teaches you how to take your first step and to speak and indoctrinates you in principles of life. Intellectual and moral education from your mother is the source of your lifetime and spiritual nourishment which builds up your character and view of life.

So, there is a saying "A great mother is always behind the great man.

In hearty response to the high intentions of President Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Suk devoted herself with the noble aspiration to bring up her son to be the son of Mt. Paektu.

Looking at the patchy quilt which is still treasured up in the native home in the secret camp of Mt. Paektu, people come to know how much she put her heart and soul into raising her son as the son of the fatherland and nation.

On Mt. Paektu, which is called the ancestral mountain of Korean people and sublime mountain of revolution, stands the native home of Chairman Kim Jong Il.

The Chairman was born in this simple log cabin built four-cornered.

People can see guerrilla haversacks hanging on the wall of the native home, a patchy quilt and a wooden pistol on the small desk.

These historic relics show the childhood of Chairman Kim Jong Il.

Patchy quilt!

It implies the simple and peculiar growth of the Chairman who grew up in the heavy snowstorms of thick forests of Mt. Paektu, hearing commands and bugle notes as if they were lullabies, having meals of guerrillas and wearing shortened military uniforms.

His birth was the most auspicious event for all the Koreans as well as the soldiers of Korean People's Revolutionary Army.

However, at that time, there wasn't enough cloth to make a quilt for him in the secret camp.

Kim Jong Suk wrapped her son in her own uniform.

President Kim Il Sung later looked back upon the days with deep emotion and said that he thought at that time that how happy his parents would have been, if they had been alive, and probably they would have loved their grandson very much as his grandparents did, calling him the ‘eldest grandson' of the family. He also mentioned that his son had no grandparents, though it is said that grandchildren are lovelier than one's own children.

As the President recalled, what Chairman Kim Jong Il gained, who was born in the deserted primitive forests of Mt. Paektu, was not the quilt with flower patterns or children's wear soaked with warm love and blessings of the family, but only faded military blanket and the clothes shortened from his mother's military uniform.

In February, there were only a few women guerrillas and small unit members with Kim Jong Suk who should have been blessed by the whole nation.

Women guerrillas felt so sorry for her that they burst into tears as they were only able to serve her with boiled corn and soup of edible grass and salt.

Then, one day in late February, a woman guerrilla visited the log cabin where Kim Jong Suk and her son stayed.

Kim Jong Suk, who was mending something, smiled brightly as usual, and said that they had much trouble through the cold weather.

The woman guerrilla turned her eyes to young Kim Jong Il, who fell asleep beside his mother.

But then, she froze as if rooted to the ground, because he was putting on a rough military blanket.

She couldn't repress her tears and said that though it was hard times, how they could wrap the noble son of the Commander in a shabby military blanket, and asked her appealingly to request small units or underground organizations for good cloth and cotton for a quilt.

Looking at her with thoughtful eyes, Kim Jong Suk put her hands on the guerrilla's shoulder and said she also wanted to raise her son in a cradle and in the nicest and prettiest quilt, like all the other mothers in the world, but because his son was the son of Mt. Paektu who should succeed the Commander, military blanket absorbed with cold blizzards of Mt. Paektu and scorched by cannon smoke was more suitable.

Though she said quietly with smiling, the woman guerrilla felt deeply impressed by Kim Jong Suk's lofty idea comprised in the words.

It was her desire she kept in her heart to raise him as the son of Mt. Paektu, who would succeed the idea of the Commander, and the son of Guerillas, who personified their strong personality and the spirit of Mt. Paektu.

Returned to quarters with deep impression, she almost had a sleepless night thinking of the ways to raise him in better conditions.

Next morning, she told the fellow guerrillas about the fact that young Kim Jong Il was putting on a military blanket.

"That's impossible. How could we leave it alone?"

"That's right. We couldn't wrap the Commander's successor in the military blanket."

All of them agreed unanimously, but they couldn't make a new quilt as Kim Jong Suk never allowed them to go down to enemy-controlled areas or to request underground workers for that matter.

In the end, they decided to extract cotton from the military uniform they were wearing, gather pieces of clothes kept in their sacks and make a patchy quilt which was never seen or heard anywhere until then.

They extracted cotton and gathered pieces of cloth, but as they were remnants of military uniforms, not a single of them was big enough to make a quilt.

The guerrillas patched and joined together piece after piece in tears, made a small patchy quilt and ran to Kim Jong Suk.

"Please accept it as a small token of our wishes."

Taking the quilt full of love and expectations of comrade-in-arms, Kim Jong Suk thanked them with smile and said that the patchy quilt filled with their sincerity was the nicest.

"I will never forget your warm sincerity. After the motherland is liberated, let's gather together, talk about this as reminiscence with laugh." said Kim Jong Suk. She added that after the liberation, they would build a number of good nurseries everywhere and raise children with nothing to envy in the world.

Mothers' love for children is expressed in their wish to feed and dress their children better than others. It is a common thinking of mothers to provide their children with nice clothes, delicious food and rich life.

But in her mind, Kim Jong Suk had a lofty idea that couldn't be compared with the feelings of others in the world. For her, young Kim Jong Il was the son of guerrillas and nation who will succeed the Commander.

That is why she raised him in a small log cabin in the thick forests of Mt. Paektu, holding him in a patchy quilt, not in a warm and comfortable cradle.

With her noble intention, she sang a lullaby to him.

A lullaby is a song which brings sweet dreams to the children. Lullabies of Mozart, Schubert and Brahms, which are called the World Three Lullabies, reflects the mother's warm love whishing their children to sleep well with sweet dreams until the morning comes.

While all mothers in the world bringspatchy quilt, secret camp of Mt. Paektu, circumstance the land of dreams, flowers and stars with lullabies, wishing their children's happy future, Kim Jong Suk implanted the great and patriotic dream of the country's liberation in her young son.

For this reason, reporters and personalities all over the world praise that Mt. Paektu is the sublime mountain of revolution, which shows the immortal revolutionary feats of President Kim Il Sung and the great sacred place of independent era, where the noble aspiration of the brilliant Commander was born and grew, and admire Kim Jong Suk, who gave a steadfast continuity to the vitality of the revolution, as "the Mother of Korea", "noble Mother" and "great Mother".

The love of Anti-Japanese Heroine Kim Jong Suk for her son was the greatest love which could not be compared with love of any mother in the world, for her lofty idea and devotion.