A Song Kept in His Heart All His Life

“Nostalgia” is a song kept in the heart of the great leader President Kim Il Sung all his life, who liberated Korea, covering a protracted arduous road of revolution.

When I was leaving my dear hometown
Standing at the gate, my dear mother
With tears in her eyes, said to me good-bye
Her words of farewell, oh, ringing in my ears
… … …

President Kim Il Sung loved and often sang the song in his lifetime. During the bloody anti-Japanese war, he sang the song by campfire in the secret camp under the bright moon and sometimes by a stream with azaleas in bloom, infusing the guerrillas with love for the country.

This happened in Manjiang in April Juche 25 or 1936. The newly formed main force of the Korean People´s Revolutionary Army led by President Kim Il Sung stayed in Manjiang for several days. One day President Kim Il Sung was looking round the camp and happened to hear the anti-Japanese heroine Kim Jong Suk and other woman guerrilla singing a song of the home, washing clothes by the stream in the woods. He approached the stream and said they seemed to be thinking of their homes.

Then he warmly remembered his home village Mangyongdae and unforgettable stories spun around it, saying:

“Those far from the homeland specially yearn for the spring at home all the time. Our Korea is very beautiful at this time. Mangyongdae lost in flowers in April was picturesque.”

And he impressively looked back upon unforgettable stories about his father who had covered the road of revolution full of trials with great ambition for liberation of Korea, about his mother who had helped him in his revolutionary activities while undergoing all sorts of sufferings, though unwell, true to the last will of her husband and about the last parting with his mother who was seeing him off when he was leaving for the south Manchurian expedition, leading the newly organized Anti-Japanese People´s Guerrilla Army. After finishing his story, he was lost in deep thought, and quietly sang the song “Nostalgia”.

Looking up to him, Kim Jong Suk deepened her love for the country and nation and the guerrillas frequently sang the song “Nostalgia” sung by him and cherished Mangyongdae as native home dear to their hearts.

President Kim Il Sung liberated Korea overcoming countless trials, often singing the song to himself in the days of the bloody anti-Japanese war. Even in his 80s, he sang the song in a resonant voice with ardent love for the country and the people. As aforesaid, “Nostalgia” is a song of revolution, song of eternal struggle sung by President Kim Il Sung who devoted his all to the country and the people, keeping it in his heart all his life.