Benevolent Father of Mankind

President Kim Il Sung established friendly relations with a number of foreigners and bestowed benevolence on them throughout his life.

Among them was a Bulgarian woman named Vasilka Nikiforoba who rendered material aid and moral support to the Korean people during their hard-fought Fatherland Liberation War (June 1950 to July 1953).

She wrote in her reminiscences as follows:

“I thought that assistance to the Korean front was not a simple work to send materials there but a class struggle to encourage the working masses who had regarded themselves as fatalistic beings of history and the people who turned out in the struggle to defend their dignity.”

Though she was not well off, she not only took the lead in sending relief materials to the DPRK but also visited a large number of families in Sophia, calling on them to support the Korean people.

At that time, Bulgaria and other socialist countries were taking care of the Korean children orphaned in the war.

Nikiforoba took warm care of the Korean war orphans as their parents would do.

She also took care of the Korean students with maternal affection when they came to her country for studying after they had been recalled from the front.

Through her opportunity of meeting with the Korean students, she felt profound respect of the Korean people for Kim Il Sung and began to cherish a desire to meet such a great man.

In Juche 45 (1956) she had a chance to meet with Kim Il Sung on a visit to Bulgaria.

She presented a bouquet to him who had defeated the imperialists and defended global peace by leading the Fatherland Liberation War to victory.

In 1975 when Kim Il Sung made his second visit to Bulgaria, Nikiforoba had the honour of presenting him a bouquet again.

One day in 1984 when Kim Il Sung was about to leave Bulgaria after winding up his visit to it, he said that Nikiforoba and her family had rendered distinguished services for the DPRK. Noting that he should meet them without fail though he was busy, he sent officials for them.

She, together with her daughter and granddaughter, made a deep Korean bow to him and presented him a bouquet.

Kim Il Sung had a photo taken with her family members and drank a toast with them, having talks in an atmosphere of a happy family.

Noting that he and they were as good as members of a family though they lived in different countries, he kindly asked them to visit the DPRK.

Next year, he invited Nikiforoba and her family members to the DPRK and bestowed favours on them.

The memory of Kim Il Sung was so precious in her life that she published a book, titled, “60 years together with Kim Il Sung’s Korea”.

In the book, she highly praised him as a great saint of ennobling virtue, broad magnanimity and warm human love and a benevolent father of mankind who had no equal in the world.