Bud and Flower

One day in October Juche 57 (1968) Chairman Kim Jong Il, on a tour of field guidance in the then Anju County, visited a nursery attached to a work team of the then Ryonghung Cooperative Farm.

The nursery was silent because the children were having an after-lunch nap. Officials hurried to usher him in.

Declining gently to enter, he looked at the sleeping children affectionately through the open window. Then he looked carefully around the nursery lest he should wake the children. After a while, he said to the officials that since the nursery was situated by a road, it was dusty and the children might wake during sleep due to the noise of automobiles and even an accident might happen. He stressed that nurseries and kindergartens should never be built on the roadside in the future.

Then Kim Jong Il asked how many toys the nursery had. Hearing that there were not so many toys, he was so sorry and said that he could not understand why enough toys had not been provided when they were easy to make and that it was because officials lacked right attitude towards nurseries and kindergartens.

He continued to say that close attention should be paid also to the intellectual development of children. Then he strolled in the yard, engrossed deep in thought. After a while, he looked at the lovely children in sound sleep through the window again. At the moment a plump, pretty child wore a smile on his face in a dream, showing dimples. An affectionate smile appeared on the leader’s face.

Presently he said to the officials that it was important to bring up children well who were the reserve force of the revolution, and that just as a healthy bud could turn to be a big and beautiful flower, a bright future would be assured when children were brought up well from their nursery days.