In March when spring is felt everywhere tree planting is well under way in the DPRK. March 2 is the Tree Planting Day in the country. The institution of the day is associated with the following story.
On March 2, 1946, the year after Korea’s liberation from the Japanese imperialists’ military occupation (August 15, 1945), Kim Il Sung, leader of the new Korea, went up Moran Hill situated in central Pyongyang. Moran Hill was the one he had always remembered and told his soldiers about by the campfire during the anti-Japanese armed struggle. Now, however, the hill he saw after national liberation was a denuded one. Recalling that formerly the hill was covered with trees, he said in distress that after their occupation of Korea the Japanese aggressors cut down trees at random in the hill. And he stressed the need to plant the hill with trees and flowers in large numbers and turn it into a park for the recreation of Pyongyang citizens. Going round the hill, he taught in detail the ways and means for the work of nationwide tree planting and for the bettering of the city.
Later the DPRK government instituted the day as the Tree Planting Day of the country.
On April 6, 1947 Kim Il Sung went up Munsu Hill without minding a cloud of dust, planted a tree in person and firmed it carefully lest even a single root hair should be wounded and the tree fall in the wind.
During the war unleashed by the US imperialists in the 1950s, too, he took various measures to conserve forests of the country. He saw to it that certain soldiers were recalled from the front to be appointed as foresters and the military committee issued an order on tree planting. Scientists were assigned important research tasks pertaining to creation of mixed forests.
Under his wise leadership, mountains of the country turned into thickly-wooded ones.
