A national celebration of the DPRK founding anniversary took place in Pyongyang with great rejoicing, the reserved seats for invited guests of Kim Il Sung Square being taken by many people who devoted themselves to the prosperity of the country. Among them was Ri Myong Ok, workteam leader of the Moranbong District road facilities management station and a Central Meritorious Person of Socialist Patriotism.

Ri has devoted herself to road administration for more than 20 years until now since she volunteered as a road repairer, one of the most difficult and toilsome jobs.

She rightly deserves respect from others only for it. And surprisingly, she is the wife of a special-class honoured disabled soldier who shoulders a heavy burden as a woman who has a house to keep.

It was over 20 years ago that she had made a decision to get married to a disabled soldier.

She was just a girl in the prime of life at the time when lots of young people in the capital city of Pyongyang had turned the great sorrow over the loss of President Kim Il Sung into strength and courage and volunteered to work at labour-consuming sectors.

One day, she happened to know a special-class honoured disabled soldier.

Seeing him unable to use the lower half of his body and even two hands, she imagined herself being in the shoes of the wife of this man.

She felt an irresistible urge to jump into the trend of the times as a youth.

But deciding what was required and actually doing it were two different things.

She faced strong opposition from the disabled soldier and his mother and even the nurse in charge of him, who she had believed would willingly support her decision, dissuaded her.

She could understand the man and his mother who didn’t want others to sacrifice themselves for him, but was stunned by the nurse’s attitude, Ri recalled.

So Ri visited her house one evening.

“To my surprise, I was greeted by her husband who was also an honoured disabled solider. The sight of him brought back into my mind her remark that if I stopped halfway, it would rub salt into the wound of the disabled soldier,” she said.

After reconsidering her decision, she hardened her resolve.

She visited his house more frequently and finally tied the knot with him.

“It was not easy to become the wife of an honoured disabled soldier, but more difficult was to discharge my duty as his wife,” said Myong Ok.

She had to change the position of his body frequently and attend to the invalid from washing to feeding and putting on/off clothes.

While tending her husband with sincerity for 20-odd years, she went to work without a day’s absence and was always the first to look round the roads and correct any faults whenever it rained or snowed.

She also volunteered as a member of the night support shock brigade at the construction sites in the capital city, while making strenuous efforts to turn her workteam into a harmonious group overflowing with virtue and affection.

She is also deputy to the district people’s assembly.