In October Juche 35 (1946), President Kim Il Sung visited the then Samdung Sub-county, Kangdong County, South Phyongan Province (present Samdung-ri, Kangdong County, Pyongyang Municipality).
Coal miners and farmers were cheering “Long live General Kim Il Sung!” with thunderous applause along the street decorated with many flags and slogans.
Kim Il Sung entered the village, waving back to the cheering crowds.
He headed towards the village, exchanging greetings with a grandfather and stroking lovely children’s heads. Then, he suddenly came to a halt as the road in front of him was carpeted with cotton cloth.
The villagers had had serious discussions on how to greet Kim Il Sung.
They racked their brains about how to express their gratitude to him who had led to victory the bloody anti-Japanese armed struggle to win back their lost country and save the Korean people from miserable fate, and provided them with all rights and pleasure by distributing land to peasants and putting forward workers as the masters of factories.
After discussion, they decided to sweep the road and roll out cotton cloth they had kept in good care. And they eagerly waited for his visit to their village.
Kim Il Sung was impressed with their simple sincerity at the sight of cotton cloth carpet, but he declined to walk over it, saying that they are cloth for making the villagers’ clothes. He asked an official, who came to greet him, to withdraw it.
That day, he unceremoniously sat together with the villagers, explaining for hours the future of the country and the prospect of building a new country.
