President Kim Il Sung visited the Hungnam Fertilizer Factory at lunchtime on June 4, Juche 37 (1948).
He called an official of the factory in charge of house construction and examined a blueprint of dwelling houses for workers to learn about their location and structures.
Noting that the Korean workers led a miserable life without their own houses during the military occupation of the Japanese imperialists, he looked out of the window. Then, he said the dwelling district should be moved to a clean place free from the smog of the factory.
The official and others were surprised at his remarks as they had never thought that a housing construction site should be changed because of air pollution .
He also stressed that smog is harmful to the growth of children. When he was told that some houses were floored with rush mats, he instructed that a floor-heating system should be introduced into construction and all the houses built in Japanese lifestyle should be rebuilt to meet the tastes of the Korean people.
After learning about the current shortage of houses for workers, he stressed the need to solve the problem as early as possible. He said that officials should take good care of workers in their life so as to free them from any worry and that it would lead to a brilliant success in production. And he encouraged the workers of the factory to take the lead in the campaign for fulfilling the yearly economic plan.
As a result, the site for the workers’ dwelling houses was moved to a clean place free from air pollution.
