One day when the national liberation of Korea was near at hand, President Kim Il Sung met Zhdanov, who was a member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at that time.
Zhdanov asked the President what kind of assistance he needed in the effort for building the country after Korea`s liberation.
The President answered that assistance would be gratefully acknowledged of course, but the Koreans are going to build the country by their own efforts if possible. Though difficult it may be, he said, it is good for the future. Flunkeyism has been the deep-rooted cause of the ruin of the country throughout the Korean history, he noted, adding it is the determination of Koreans to eliminate the evil legacies of flunkeyism in the building of a new country.
Deeply impressed by the President’s words, Zhdanov told him that when he met someone from an East European country, the man immediately asked for help saying his country was originally backward in the economy and suffered serious damages during the war and likening the Soviet Union to the “big house”.
“What a striking contrast it is,” Zhdanov said in earnest. “Maybe it is the difference between the East and West, the difference between the country of sunrise and that of sunset.”
