In the DPRK, mountains account for more than 80 percent of its territory.

For this reason, tending mountains well is consistently important in developing the economy and improving the people’s living standards.

New history of “gold and treasure mountains”

From olden times, the DPRK has been called a tapestry-like land for its beautiful mountains and clear water. But the heinous colonial exploitation of the land by the Japanese imperialists after their military occupation of Korea turned its mountains into seriously bare ones.

After achieving the historic cause of national liberation and returning home in triumph, General Kim Il Sung grieved over the terrible conditions of the mountains and rivers of the country. On March 2 1946, a spring day of the first year after liberation, he climbed up Moran Hill in Pyongyang to give instructions to plant trees a lot.

In a historic talk “Let Us Launch a Vigorous Tree Planting Movement Involving All the Masses” he had with officials taking part in tree planting on Munsu Hill on April 6 1947, he unfolded a far-reaching plan to cover all mountains of the country with thick forests and turn it into a beautiful paradise for the people.

Whenever he visited mountain villages though busy leading the building of a new country, he pointed to the need to plant many useful trees in mountains so as to benefit from them, thus making a new history of “gold mountains”.

The Korean war (1950-1953) unleashed by the US imperialists plunged the mountains, which had been turning green after liberation, into flames again.

Out of surging hatred against the enemies, Korean People’s Army soldiers on heights and the people in the rear strenuously planted young pine trees in burnt mountains with confidence in their victory.

President Kim Il Sung saw to it that forest restoration took place through an all-people campaign and recalled thousands of soldiers from the front to dispatch them as foresters. He personally grew metasequoias in flowerpots with care to spread them across the country.

Underlining the need to introduce the cyclic felling method and plant ten trees after cutting a tree, he made sure that forests of economic value and mixed ones were created a lot on mountains. Thanks to his wise leadership and painstaking efforts, mountains of the country were covered with green woods, which produced all kinds of fruits.

Always thinking of green mountains and green fields

In his childhood Kim Jong Il mounted Munsu Hill together with General Kim Il Sung to plant trees, developing love for the country. During the Fatherland Liberation War, he planted two pine-nut trees on Mt Jangja with sincerity on the occasion of the fifth founding anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

In March 1957, when he was attending middle school, he planted trees together with his fellows, saying that they had to plant acacia, which is faster in growth than other trees and which has thick foliage and fragrance, in order to heal the war wounds and cover mountains with green woods.

The classic works “On Bringing about a Fresh Change in Land Management” and “Let Us Build Our Country into a Beautiful Land of the Age of the Workers’ Party Through Effective Forest and Water Conservation” which he made public while leading the Korean revolution were the important works setting forth tree-planting as an important task in land management and clarifying the principled issues arising in afforestation.

During the Arduous March which the DPRK was compelled to make due to successive natural disasters and severe sanctions by the hostile forces, Chairman Kim Jong Il saw to it that the famous mountains of the country were turned into superb scenic beauties and inspired all the people to conduct the general mobilization movement for land management.

When he was reported about a good species of tree during a foreign visit, the Chairman, who always thought of green mountains and green fields, took measures for its transport and spread. And he put forward as patriots and heroes of the times the ordinary working people who dedicated all their lives to tending thick forests.

A big stride was made in landscaping the whole country thanks to the Chairman’s noble patriotism and ardent devotion.

To turn whole country into people’s paradise thick with green foliage

Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea who is faithfully implementing the intentions of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il, saw to it that the Korean People’s Army set an example in the van of forest restoration from his early days of leading the Party and the state. In November 2014, he called upon all the Party members, people and KPA officers and men to turn out in the forest restoration campaign, regarding forest restoration as a war with nature, just as the whole country had turned out for reconstruction on the debris after the war.

On February 26 2015, he made public the work “Let the Entire Party, the Whole Army and All the People Conduct a Vigorous Forest Restoration Campaign to Cover the Mountains of the Country with Green Woods” to indicate important guidelines for the victory of the forest restoration campaign.

Under his deep concern, there were built an exemplary tree nursery on a fully scientific, industrial and intensive footing and other tree nurseries in all provinces which can produce good species of tree saplings in large numbers. Thus mountains of the country are getting green day after day.

On March 2 2022, the General Secretary planted two fir trees in the Hwasong area, where a new street would be built for the people, together with the participants in the Second Conference of Secretaries of Primary Committees of the WPK, thus making the flames of patriotism further flare up across the country.

Besides, he ensured that the capital city of Pyongyang became the first to set an example in landscaping and clearly indicated the orientation and ways for properly doing landscaping to suit the surrounding environments and topographical features of relevant areas in implementing the programme for the rural revolution in the new era and the regional development policy. As a result the appearance of the country has changed for the better beyond recognition.

The General Secretary’s idea of further beautifying the country as a socialist paradise better to live in and a precious asset to be handed down to posterity is turning into reality.