In late July a record downpour struck the DPRK, leaving thousands of inhabitants in different parts of the city of Sinuiju and Uiju County of North Phyongan Province isolated in the zones vulnerable to flooding.

Person Who Came First

“When we were stranded as our villages and streets were flooded in a moment, a helicopter of the People’s Army was flying to us unexpectedly. And when the helicopter carrying us landed in a safe zone, we were surprised to see the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un watching us. He came first to the afflicted area and commanded air rescue operation for our safety for long hours.”

“When I and three other teachers of our school were at a loss what to do as we failed to escape from the flooded area, a People’s Army helicopter was flying to us to our surprise. Overjoyed, we waved at it.

The helicopter pilot told us that the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un was commanding the rescue operation at a windy air base and that he asked him to fly back to the afflicted area for the last time, saying that there might still be some more people there. Hearing him, we were so deeply moved.

His benevolent care rescued all of over 5 000 people who had been isolated in the zones vulnerable to flooding.”

These are what flood victims of Uiju County said after they saw General Secretary Kim Jong Un of the Workers’ Party of Korea at a windy air base on July 28.

That day he looked round the afflicted areas by driving through water as high as wheels and chassis of his car. The following day he toured the areas again on a rubber boat and convened an emergency enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee on the spot.

“Having lost our homes and properties, we stayed collectively in the tents temporarily put up at various places including the playground of the Uiju Junior Middle School. The state provided us with living conditions and the people in all other parts of the country continued to send us aid materials. We were living without any inconvenience under the responsible care of the Party and the state.

But the General Secretary visited the makeshift shelters before anybody else, even before the parents of flood victims. He entered the damp tents and seated himself to learn in detail about our living conditions. He kindly took me by the hand, gave kids the confectionary and clothes he personally brought with him and helped them try on them. We could not resist shedding tears when he said that it would be hard for us to live away from home, calling on us to endure the difficulty a little more until the day when a paradise will be built on the ruins left by the natural disaster and we will lead a better life.” said Kang In Nam, an old man in Soho-ri, Uiju County.

His wife Hong Sun Nyo said after her husband,

“The respected General Secretary made a speech before us flood victims, and every word of his speech was replete with paternal affection.

When he made public such an important measure as to put into operation an emergency system whereby during the restoration work all the students and other children of the afflicted families are brought to Pyongyang to be provided with care and education in a safe and convenient environment entirely at state expense, and to offer in Pyongyang state-sponsored protective benefits to the old and sick, honoured disabled ex-soldiers and nursing mothers, we felt as if we were in a dream.”

Person Who Values People

According to a rough estimate, more than 13 000 children, students, the old and sick, honoured disabled ex-soldiers and nursing mothers among the afflicted families in North Phyongan, Jagang and Ryanggang provinces have come to Pyongyang.

The flood victims were provided with the April 25 Hostel and the base for military parade training in Pyongyang as their living quarters.

The April 25 Hostel is used to accommodate delegates to significant national conferences, and the military parade training base is specially furnished to provide the conditions and environment necessary for the participating service personnel.

On August 15, Kim Jong Un visited the April 25 Hostel to meet the flood victims and warmly wished all of them would spend pleasant and memorable days in peace and comfort while staying in the capital city of their motherland.

He said that the Party and the state would do their best while paying meticulous attention to the health and comfort of the victims, regarding them as their absolute criteria so that the victims could live happily doing what they wanted to do. What he said touched the heartstrings of the victims and all other people in the country.

When he dropped in at a dining hall for children, he tasted the biscuit and milk offered by the children and asked them to eat heartily and grow up healthily to be children who would add happiness and pleasure to their families and country.

The next day he came back to the victims’ quarters and showed utmost concern about the nursing and education of children and students.

Looking round temporary classrooms for junior and senior course students in the hostel to acquaint himself with the preparations for their education, he told the accompanying officials to pay special attention to the children and work with all sincerity so that they could attend to their studies, because all of them who were to study there were children the people in the flood-hit areas left in the care of the Party and the government, placing their wholehearted trust in them.

Pak Kyong Song, a third-year junior middle school student, said:

“We met the respected Marshal Kim Jong Un at the resting site of the hostel. He helped us shoulder the satchels, pleased to see us happy to receive new school uniforms and things, and said with satisfaction that in new school uniforms we all looked smart and that our mothers who came up to Pyongyang with us would feel pleased. Then, he requested us to study harder and do physical training to bring delight to our families and country.”

Still the flood victims stay in Pyongyang, enjoying cordial hospitality everywhere. Children and students are studying to their heart’s content in the remodelled education rooms, play rooms, classrooms and labs and practical training rooms.

Why do they receive such treatment?

Once Kim Jong Un said: In view of the important role you flood victims are playing in actively supporting our Party and state, and considering your position as future buttresses of the country, you justly deserve the best possible hospitality and services.

This can serve as the answer to this question.