Chairwoman of the Peace and Unity Party of Russia Sazhy Umalatova was an energetic politician with a strong sense of justice.
On February 19, 1999, General Kim Jong Il met the Russian figure at the foot of Mt. Paektu in the northern part of the country.
That day it was freezing outside.
He walked out of his lodgings to greet the guest and apologized for making her travel such a long distance. She congratulated Kim Jong Il on his birthday, though belatedly, and said that she witnessed things were going more briskly in his country than the previous year.
Now the Korean people are striving to solve everything in the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance under the slogan of building a thriving country, he noted, adding that they were concentrating efforts on potato farming to ease the strain on food. He reminded her that the former Soviet Union had defeated Hitler-led fascist Germany as it had averted famine thanks to the large-scale potato cultivation in Siberia.
The chairwoman expressed her views on the activities of her party and other Russian parties. Kim Jong Il listened attentively to her.
In talking about life he joked intermittently, but was vehement in his denunciation of the US and its vassal states that were hell-bent on blockading and suffocating the DPRK.
He stated: I never forgive anyone who looks down on our country or tries to impair its dignity. To fight them death-defyingly until they surrender is my conviction and will. I advanced a slogan No one in the world can match a man ready to risk his life, and the US, disheartened by this fighting spirit, dares not provoke us. I am determined to fight the US to the end if it dares attack our country. Poorly armed as it was, the anti-Japanese guerrilla army, headquartered in Mt. Paektu, defeated its formidable enemy on the strength of its indomitable revolutionary spirit. As we are possessed of the revolutionary spirit of Paektu, we do not fear any strong enemy.
After three hours of talking, Kim Jong Il proposed to pose for a photograph with the Russian guest against the background of snow-covered Mt. Paektu. They strode out into the howling blizzard, which was blasting drifts of white snow all around.
Noting that he was accustomed to the biting cold in the mountain, Kim Jong Il said that those who would visit it for the first time might feel very cold. You will feel freezing if you hug yourself against the cold, he remarked. He said with a laugh that one could test one’s courage in Mt. Paektu.
Then he urged the guest to pose for a photograph.
On the way back after her parting with Kim Jong Il, the chairwoman said to a Korean official, “The respected Comrade Kim Jong Il is an outstanding statesman, a brilliant military strategist and a great man sent from Heaven. His spirit and faith, his will and courage are all reminiscent of Mt. Paektu.”
