There is a moving story in the history of external activities of President Kim Il Sung.
In May Juche 73 (1984), he had an emotion-filled reunion with Ya. T. Novichenko in Novosibirsk Station, “the capital of Siberia”, during his trip to Moscow.
Novichenko, a soldier of the Soviet Red Army who had safeguarded Kim Il Sung at the cost of his life in March 1946 after Korea’s liberation, now became an ordinary old man living in Siberia.
But the President recognized him at a single glance and hugged him warmly. Asking after Novichenko’s health and living conditions, he recollected his exploits which had been faded with the passage of time. After taking leave of him, the President instructed to make a feature film depicting his exploits as an internationalist fighter.
Later, the Central People’s Committee of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea awarded him the title of the DPRK Labour Hero.
After his foreign visit, the President invited Novichenko and his family members to Pyongyang and met with them during his guidance trips to local areas.
Noting that he is a brave, heroic fighter who used his body to smother a hand-grenade thrown by the enemy, the President gave him a wrist watch bearing his name.
