Kim Jong Il Endowed with Love and Trust

 “If there is an omnipotent entity in this world, it is none other than the masses.”

This is one of the aphorisms of Kim Jong Il (1942-2011), eternal Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Regarding the people as the most valuable beings, the great beings, in the world, he loved and trusted them more than anything else, thus making the whole society into a great harmonious family of single-hearted unity full of affection and tenderness, trust and obligation.

Regarding “The people are my God” as his lifelong motto, he administered benevolent politics, politics of love for the people.

His was politics of love for the people; the first of all considerations in his thoughts and practical activities were for the good of the people, who for him were members of his family.

Etched in the history of his devoted leadership for the people is his visit to the Kwangbok Area Supermarket in Mangyongdae District, Pyongyang, on December 15, 2011 in the last days of his life. 

Applying a digital system from warehousing to the sale of goods, the supermarket had been turned into a base for providing correct and fast service for the convenience of the customers.

Making the rounds of this centre, Kim Jong Il said to the relevant officials: 

I had long thought of providing a larger amount of goods to the people by building a modern commercial centre. Now I feel a bit relieved. You have done a good thing for the people. 

After pointing out the problems arising in fully performing its mission and playing its role as a service centre for the people, he said that it was his intention to have his people use all the good things in the world.

This is an example of the world of love Kim Jong Il cherished all his life. 

In August 1975 he received a report that three miners of a coal mine in the northernmost part of the country were in critical conditions with serious burns. He had a military helicopter carrying competent doctors and medicines dispatched in consideration of the weather conditions. Thanks to him the miners were rescued from the jaws of death.

In August 2007, while visiting a mining machinery factory, he saw that its employees were working in an old building; saying that health of the workers should be considered before production, he took measures to pull down the old building and set up a modern one.

When he met an ex-soldier couple, he, at the request of the hostess, named their child yet to be born.

Such are among countless stories telling his love and devotion for the people. 

Trust produces loyalty, mistrust betrayal–this was his creed in administering politics of trust. His heart was always full of absolute trust in the people.