The Unforgettable Day I Met Kim Il Sung

Han Mi Hwa, teacher of the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren´s Palace, says:

“In my accordion circle room, there is a photograph which firstly catches my eyes. My circle members and I had the photograph taken with the great Generalissimo Kim Il Sung when he visited the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren´s Palace on September the 4th, Juche 78 or 1989. What happened that day is vivid before my eyes. I couldn’t calm down myself when I thought he would drop in at my circle room. I was happy and at the same time, a little strained because I was a young inexperienced teacher. But the moment he entered the room, I was relieved and felt as if I met my father. He brightly smiled all the time, listening to the accordion concert performed by my circle members. His endearing image reminded me of what had happened when I was young.

On September the 1st, Juche 61 or 1972, the first day of the universal 11-year compulsory education enforced in our country, I entered the then Pyongyang Taedongmun Primary School and Generalissimo Kim Il Sung came to the school. He approached the new pupils, took the schoolbag of a child in front and saw the textbooks, notebooks, pencils and others one by one and praised that preparations were good. At that time I was innocent and only envied the children in front. I learned later that he said to the officials that the bag was heavy and it would be good for the children to carry the bags on the back rather than sling them on one shoulder.

I entered the school under such warm love and congratulations and learned the accordion and participated in the accordion concert in the New Year celebration held in the presence of Generalissimo Kim Il Sung two years later. He clapped before others with a bright smile on his face. I played the accordion in the middle and it seemed that he was smiling at me. Afterwards, too, I participated in the New Year celebrations several times and played in front of him. I felt as if I had monopolized all happiness in the world. And now I could meet Generalissimo Kim Il Sung again as a teacher of the newly built Mangyongdae Schoolchildren´s Palace. That day, he had a picture taken with us as we desired. When the first photo was taken, he said the schoolchildren in the back were not shot well and had another photo taken with them in the front.

25 years has passed since the unforgettable day. Many schoolchildren learned the accordion in my circle room visited by him and foreign visitors greatly admired our children who were the happiest in the world. Then I used to look up at the photograph hung in the circle room. It seems that he is looking at our schoolchildren fully developing their talents and tells me to teach them well. I will teach better the schoolchildren loved so much by the great Generalissimo Kim Il Sung, remembering the meaningful day.”