One day in November Juche 79 (1990), Chairman Kim Jong Il received a letter of thanks from a Cuban couple working in the DPRK.
In the letter they asked the Korean leader to name their son, who had recently been born at the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital.
The following is a moving story about it.
The couple were linguists working as Spanish copy editors. There was one thing more than any other that made them anxious; they had no child eight years after their marriage.
Having suffered several miscarriages, the wife got pregnant again and was admitted to the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital. The couple was in part delighted, in part worried, because it was three months before the expiry of their visa, and they were obliged to leave Pyongyang.
Their anxiety worsened as the days went by.
Informed of the situation, Kim Jong Il made sure that their stay was extended to allow her to give birth at the hospital.
Afterwards, the woman had an easy delivery, giving birth to a son.
The Cubans wrote a letter of thanks to Kim Jong Il, in which they requested him to name their baby after the Korean fashion.
Kim Jong Il was delighted to learn that the foreign couple had produced their first son and said that it would be a good idea to call him Saeppyol (Morning Star in Korean) as the morning star is seen everywhere in the world.
He sent the baby presents, including cloth, clothes, quilts, condensed milk and sugar.
The Cuban couple were very grateful to receive the name and presents.
There are more similar examples of babies being named by Kim Jong Il, such as Jindallae of Palestine and Sol Gwang of China.
