The meal he had with a worker's meal ticket

 2023.3.2.

Chairman Kim Jong Il said:

"Comrade Kim Il Sung was also an outstanding revolutionary, a great man and the benevolent father of the people."

President Kim Il Sung was a benevolent father for people, whose life was a noble history etched with warm love and care for them. Among a number of anecdotes in such a great history, there is a story which conveys deep affection of President who paid special attention to the workers' dietary conditions, having a meal with an ordinary worker's meal ticket.

It was February 21st, 1953, the third spring of the Fatherland Liberation War.

At the break of dawn that day, President came to meet the working class of a factory. Having looked around the production sites, he dropped in at a mess hall. There the workers who had finished their night shift were having breakfast at the table. They met President so unexpectedly in a humble mess hall that they couldn't find a proper word to express their feelings. Seeing them standing at the table, not knowing what to do, President repeatedly said to sit down and continue to have their meals before the soup got cold. He also told them to have meals in time.

As if he was their father, he carefully watched the rice bowls and dish plates and asked one worker to show him a meal ticket if he had any. After getting the ticket, he went to the pass-through and asked for a meal with it.

Seeing that the person asking for a meal with a meal ticket was none other than the great leader, the cooks were so embarrassed that they hesitated, not knowing what to do. The great leader, with a smile on his face, told them to give him an ordinary worker's meal without any particular preparation.

After a moment, he sat at the same table with the workers around him to have meals together. It was not until the workers started eating that he took his meal.

Tasting uncrushed maize and dishes in an unceremonious manner, he grasped diet conditions of the workers. Then, he looked around the kitchen and gave important instructions.

Before leaving the kitchen, he said that workers were more precious than gold and put special stress on improving their diet conditions despite the adverse circumstances of the war.

Time flies like an arrow. About 70 years passed since then, but the benevolent image of the great leader having a meal with workers is cherished forever in Korean people's hearts. Indeed, he was always on tours of field guidance for his people and his lifelong motto was to believe people as in heaven. The history of revolutionary leadership of President Kim Il Sung will be handed down generation after generation.