One day in November Juche 34 (1945), when Korea was just liberated from the Japanese military rule, women delegates in Sinuiju, North Phyongan Province, arranged a simple party at a hotel and earnestly requested General Kim Il Sung to be present there.

Busy as he was, Kim Il Sung went to the party together with his entourage.

Meeting the women delegates, he encouraged them, saying that it was praiseworthy that they had turned out in nation building.

He then asked them if their parents-in-law or husbands were unhappy with them.

When they answered that they were not, Kim Il Sung gave a hearty smile, saying that their husbands and parents-in-law seemed to be progressive and considerate.

He said that three months had passed since the country’s liberation, but we had not yet built a completely independent and sovereign state, asking them to tell him without hesitation what kind of country they wished to be built in the future.

A woman rose and said, in reflection of the feelings of all other delegates, that she wished a democratic state.

He affirmed that it was a very good idea, adding that all of us should rally as one under the banner of democracy in order to build on this land a democratic, independent and sovereign state in which there were no landlords, capitalists and other exploiting classes and the people were equally well-off.

He continued: Women’s organizations should not be formed only by a few like-minded women; they should enrol the broad masses of women in their organizations and educate them well so that they could join their efforts for the building of a democratic, independent and sovereign state; to this end, it is necessary to form a democratic women’s union involving all women of different social strata by merging small organizations.

Holding a chopstick on the table, he said that if one broke a chopstick, it would break easily, but if a handful of them are tied together, it will be impossible to break them. Likewise, he noted, only when all women are united closely as one, can they make greater efforts in building a new Korea and building ours into a prosperous independent and sovereign democratic state as soon as possible.

Moved by his instructions, a woman delegate said that they had been taken in by others, and had been at odds with one another as they had been unable to distinguish between right and wrong, and they would unite in the women’s union as one as he instructed and take an active part in nation building.

Looking at the women, he said that the women are also the masters of building a new society who had to turn one of the two wheels of history in our society.

The women delegates rose and applauded enthusiastically.