Story about the Inspection of a Nursery

Chairman Kim Jong Il said:

"The destiny of the country and the nation together with the future of the revolution depends largely on how the younger generation is trained."

It was one day in October Juche 57(1968) when Chairman Kim Jong Il was providing field guidance in the then Anju County, South Phyongan Province. He visited the nursery at a workteam of the then Ryonghung Cooperative Farm.

Children were having a nap and the nursery was quiet. The officials tried to usher him inside hurriedly.

Lightly holding them back, he affectionately looked at the sweet sleeping kids through an open window. After looking around the nursery for a while, he told the officials that as the nursery was at the roadside, it might be dusty above all, the children might wake up startled by the sound of vehicles and the accident might happen. He added that nurseries and kindergartens should never be built at the side of main roads in the future.

He inquired about the number of children's toys at the nursery and expressed his regret over the fact that there were not many toys, saying that there should be various kinds of toys for the growth and intellectual development of children. He continued: I can't understand why there are not so many toys though they are easy to make. This is attributable to the officials' wrong viewpoint on nurseries and kindergartens. You should pay close attention to the intellectual development of children.

A fairly long time passed and it was nearly lunchtime. But he approached the window again to see children falling in a fast asleep peacefully and told the officials that they should bring them up well with a high sense of responsibility to tend the precious buds of flowers born as the reserves of the revolution. Only when the buds are large, can the flowers be large and beautiful, he said, stressing that when children are brought up well from the nursery days, there can be promising future.

Listening to his meaningful instructions, the officials came to realize the noble intention of Chairman Kim Jong Il who found time to visit the nursery in a rural village despite his busy timetable of field guidance tour.

As seen above, Chairman Kim Jong Il was not only an extraordinary statesman and outstanding leader recognized by the world but also a benevolent father and greatest man who loved children boundlessly.