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First Democratic Elections in Korea

Date: 02/11/2021 | Source: KCNA.kp (En) | Read original version at source

Pyongyang, November 2 (KCNA) -- The first democratic elections in Korea were conducted on November 3, Juche 35 (1946).

Samdung-myon of Kangdong County in South Phyongan Province (at that time), a common rural village, came to be well known as the place where President Kim Il Sung was elected to be a people's deputy after Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule (August 15, 1945).

One day in 1946 when the whole country was seething with preparations for the first democratic elections, the President met in Pyongyang the delegates from Samdung area to learn in detail about the living conditions of its inhabitants and the regional farming situation and gave teachings on the first democratic elections.

In October that year he visited the Samdung area in consideration of an earnest desire of its inhabitants who nominated him to be a candidate for membership of the South Phyongan Provincial People's Committee. The inhabitants spread several rolls of cotton cloth on the way to a welcome meeting venue for him. However, he refused to accept their sincerity, saying that he couldn't walk on those rolls of cloth as they should be used for the people to make their clothes.

That day, he made a historic speech in front of the regional people. In the speech, he said that November 3 is an auspicious day when the Korean people elect members of the People's Committee, their genuine government, for the first time in history, stressing that, through the elections, the people's power would be further strengthened and the successes of all democratic reforms consolidated.

All the inhabitants in Samdung area voted for him in the first democratic elections. -0-

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