Among those visiting the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun where President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il lie in state is Giancarlo Elia Valori, honorary director of the Board of Directors of the Kim Il Sung-Kim Jong Il Foundation and president of the Italian International Group.
His feeling of fascination and reverence for President Kim Il Sung, which gripped him while reading the books recording the President`s revolutionary activities and listening to his mother`s stories, reached acme after receiving the President during his first visit to the DPRK in 1975.
He said in an article as follows:
“His image was, in the real sense of the meaning, the look of the sun. I could not help getting fascinated by him without even noticing it.
“At the first moment of the meeting, I felt as if I met the sage at the Heaven that my mother used to talk about.”
At that time the President explained in plain language about the features of the present times, the natural demand of human and ways of their realization.
Valori has never hesitated nor bent his will as he met many high-level personages. But he was completely fascinated by the President who made him aware of the philosophical principle of distinguishing clearly everything in the world in a moment.
The valuable relationship formed with the President continued with the benevolence of Chairman Kim Jong Il.
The Chairman met him in 1994 and had a meaningful photograph taken with him, telling him to come to Korea often as in the past when the President was alive.
The Chairman arranged a banquet congratulating Valori on his birthday in Pyongyang and sent the statuette of his mother as a birthday gift. Written on it were letters reading “Kim Jong Il. January 1997.”
The Chairman also sent him a basket of flowers and a gift on his 70th birthday.
