President Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), eternal leader of the Korean people, was a peerlessly great man who attracted the world with his ennobling affection for mankind and virtues.
All his life he met over 70 000 foreigners including political and social figures. All those who met him were attracted to him regardless of their ideologies, political views, nationalities and religious beliefs.
A former justice minister of Austria said: President Kim Il Sung is possessed of warm affection for man and humane feelings that make all follow him; just as beautiful flowers give out fragrance to attract bees and butterflies, so the warm affection for man, humane feelings and humane fragrance of President Kim Il Sung have attracted many people; indeed, he is a boundlessly polite, unceremonious and generous man before being a statesman.
With magnanimity, Kim Il Sung met figures from all social strata around the world, including US evangelist Billy Graham, German authoress Luise Rinser and so on.
His humane feelings produced many anecdotes: When Emile Tompapa, general director of a broadcasting station of Guinea, was at the jaw of death during his visit to the DPRK, he ensured that an emergency medical treatment was organized so as to bring him back to life; when Bruno Kreisky, former Austrian prime minister, suffered troubles in his legs, he sent a group of efficient doctors of the DPRK to the country to cure his disease. There are many people who were brought back to life by his great generosity.
Based on the principle that man is the most precious and powerful being in the world, President Kim Il Sung authored the Juche idea that illumines the way for an independent man to shape his destiny, and indicated the road ahead for the progressive people. Attracted by his ideology and humane feelings, Takagi Takeo, famous Japanese journalist, Kanemaru Shin, a former Japanese deputy prime minister, and many other people made a dramatic U-turn in their life.
His ennobling sense of obligation reached beyond national boundaries.
He took care of the family of Zhang Weihua, his Chinese comrade-in-arms, and his offspring even after dozens of years had passed since Zhang died; when Zhou Enlai, former Chinese prime minister, passed away, he ensured that a bronze statue of Zhou was set up in the DPRK for the first time as the one of a foreigner.
In the days of the anti-Japanese war for the liberation of his motherland, Kim Il Sung led the Korean revolutionaries to defend the Chinese revolution and the Soviet Union at the cost of their blood. During the period of the operations to liberate Northeast China, he saw to it that large quantities of war supplies were sent to China though his country was in a difficult situation as it had been liberated from Japanese colonial rule not long ago. The Chinese leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai said that the five-star red flag of the People’s Republic of China was associated with the red blood shed by the Korean revolutionaries.
Many people across the world established unique friendship with him, and this relationship produced many anecdotes about his love for mankind. Among those people were Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam, King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, Che Guevara, Chilean President Salvador Allende, Chairman of the International World Group of Italy Giancarlo Elia Valori, and Novichenko, a former army officer of the USSR.
He rendered an outstanding contribution to the independent development of the countries in their building of a new society. When Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Algeria, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia and other countries were experiencing hardships in building a new society, he ensured that efficient experts and technicians were sent to these countries, so as to render sincere assistance to the development of various sectors, ranging from building a party, state and armed forces to developing industry, agriculture, education, public health, sports and so on.
For his ennobling sense of internationalist obligation, he enjoyed high respect and trust of many political leaders across the world, including Stalin, Mao Zedong, Sukarno, Tito and other famous persons in the 20th century.
The attraction to his personalities and humane feelings pulled down even the barriers of hostile relations.
Former US President Jimmy Carter said that President Kim Il Sung was greater than the three American presidents, who had represented nation building and destiny of the United States–George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln–put together. Former Deputy Prime Minister Kanemaru Shin of Japan said that there was no other ennobling person equal to President Kim Il Sung in the world, and that he would dedicate the rest of his life to living up to his expectations. As the former Portuguese President Gomes said, Kim Il Sung was a great man who moved the world by his humanity.
