In praise of Great Man :: Weekly Blitz

On the occasion of April 15, the birthday of President Kim Il Sung, Humberto Ortiz Flores, general manager of Voluntad Publishers of Ecuador, published an article entitled President Kim Il Sung, Eternal Sun of Our Destiny. Narrating that as he has lived and worked holding Kim Il Sung his teacher, he is proud of his life in his concluding years, he notes that he wrote the article to express his yearning for the President, the feeling that recurs to him every April.

In the first section of the article under the subtitle Great Mentor in Life the author recalls how he came to know about the Juche idea for the first time and regard the President, the founder of the idea, as his teacher.

Humberto aimed high in his childhood, and it was one day in the early 1970s that he, who had been groping for a genuine road of life, happened to get works of the President from a friend, who was a writer and journalist, for the first time. What impressed him especially was On Some Problems of Our Party's Juche Idea and the Government of the Republic's Internal and External Policies, answers to the questions raised by the journalists of the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun. The work clarifies that the Juche idea, in a nutshell, is the idea that the popular masses are masters of the revolution and construction and that they are also the motive force of the revolution and construction, in other words, the idea that one is the master of one's own destiny and that one has the power to hew out one's own destiny. Humberto felt as happy as a man, who was dying of thirst, found an oasis in a vast stretch of desert. He did not hesitate to become a follower of the Juche idea and came to regard it as his duty to spread the idea among Ecuadorians. So he began to publish the President's works at Voluntad Publishers which he was running.

Later, during visits to the DPRK, he was honoured with audiences with the President on 12 occasions. In the course of this he came to know better about the greatness of the President, the Juche idea, the cream of respect for and support of man and the only precious sword for hewing out man's destiny, and the country where the idea is fully applied. He thus became the President's disciple and began to work hard for social progress and justice.

In the second section under the subtitle Benevolent Father in Life the author describes that President Kim Il Sung was the greatest of the great men in the world. On October 9, 1974 he was received by the President for the first time. The President came out in person to meet the guest, and holding his hands, thanked him for his long journey to Korea. The Ecuadorian learned the great personality of the President from his bright smile, gentle eyes, affectionate voice and unaffected, broad-minded manners. What especially impressed the author was the fact that the President called him his friend and discussed with him—who was no more than a publisher—big and small political matters of the world.

When the author said that the DPRK was an industrialized and developed country, the President modestly mentioned that his was a young country and only laid the foundations enabling them to stand on their own feet and to develop their country through their own efforts. The President went on to say that without economic independence it would be impossible to ensure political independence, that his country was not subordinated to anyone because it had built a solid, independent economy, that the newly independent countries must continue their struggle for economic independence, and that the economic independence necessitates not only the political unity of developing countries but also their close economic and technical cooperation. And he explained the ways and possibility in simple language. At luncheon he asked the author to visit his country often and bring his wife and children the next time.

From that time on the President treated the author as a friend, brother and comrade, and showed his family warm affection for two decades. The President made sure that he was invited to a world press conference and the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students—both held in Pyongyang. And having acquainted with his health, the President made sure that he was put to treatment in a hospital of the country. Whenever receiving him and his family, the President gave them gifts suited to their tastes. The author stresses: "The paternal affection he showed for me and my family is a legend that should be handed down generation after generation in Ecuador and it is so great that we are unable to repay even with all our devotion."

The last section under the subtitle We Will Uphold the Great Sun of Our Life Generation after Generation is about the author's four children who are followers of the Juche idea and are giving worldwide publicity to the Juche idea and the Songun idea.

On August 21, 1977 the author and his family visited Pyongyang and were received by the President. At that time his eldest daughter Paola was 14 and his eldest son Nelson 16. It was just at luncheon and the President welcomed them as if he met his children after a long separation and led them to a table. Putting dishes on their plates, the President told the children to help themselves, sometimes telling them to chew the food well before swallowing.

Encouraged by the President's kindness, Paola stood up abruptly and said she would like to sing a song to him. (She and Nelson had already practised Korean songs at home, in the plane and in their lodgings in Pyongyang so as to sing them before the President.) He clapped his hands in applause. The girl sang the immortal revolutionary hymn Song of General Kim Il Sung in Korean and just like an adult, bowed respectfully to the President. Stroking her hair, the President highly appreciated her singing. Excited by his praise, she proposed to sing another song and sang the Korean song We Are the Happiest in the World in Korean. The author and his family could hardly notice the passage of time, wrapped up in a happy atmosphere.

After dinner the President had an angling match with the guests. Some time after they chose the spots to their liking, the President asked if anyone had caught a fish. There were no answers, and then Paola called out in a cheerful voice that she had caught a fish. When the President asked how big the fish was, she opened both her hands. She seemed to be a little girl before her grandfather. With a hearty laugh the President praised her, saying that she was the winner. The happy moments of the day became the author and his family's eternal memory.

Later Paola strove to be the first to publish the leader Kim Jong Il's work On the Juche Idea in Latin America while even postponing her wedding ceremony. To dispose of Paola who was engrossed in the dissemination of the Juche idea, a ruffian shot her when she was watching TV one evening. Mercifully the bullet went past by the top of her head. Then the enemy tried to cajole her by means of money. She and her family, however, refuted to their faces, saying that they hated becoming shabby sorts of persons by bartering their obligation to the President for money, and turned out the ruffians.

At present Paola is preparing for publishing works of the President and the leader Kim Jong Il and books on the DPRK in numbers by purchasing new printing machines; Nelson and his brother are giving worldwide publicity to the Juche idea and the Songun idea at the Tele Andina 23 TV and Voluntad Publishers respectively.

In conclusion the author says that great ideology, outstanding achievement and noble human qualities are eternal and that President Kim Il Sung, an incarnation of such ideology, achievements and human qualities, is eternal together with the progressive peoples including his many disciples like him in all continents of the world and the second and third generations like their children who are succeeding to their parents' aspirations.

Related Topics: Special Supplement receive the latest by email: subscribe to weekly blitz's free mailing list