Gold Medal of Yesenin Chairman Kim Jong Il received Gold Medal of Yesenin from the Moscow Committee of the Union of Russian Authors and Editorial Board of Moscoviya Literaturnaya in March 2008. Monthly Journal (753) C O N T E N T S 3 Into “Gold Mountains,” “Treasure Mountains” In Korea there is under way a vigorous all-people drive for afforestation and conservation of forests. 5 Forest Resources Increase 8 Forest Designers 10 Efforts Go into Afforestation 12 Planting Trees Personally 13 Product of Growing Demand 14 Makers of Pine Brand Backpacks 16 Light-burned Magnesia Products Grow Popular 18 Talented Young Scientists 20 For Underground Resources Development Monthly journal Korea Today is printed and posted on the Internet site www.korean-books.com.kp in English, Russian and Chinese. 1 21 High Aim to Beat World 22 Using New Teaching Methods 24 Worthwhile 26 Under Free Medical Care 27 Songyo Koryo Medicine Factory 28 Star of Gymnastics 28 National Intangible Cultural Heritage (28) Koryo Medicinal Dietary Therapy Front Cover: Saplings are tended well at the Mun- 30 Motive Force for Victory dok County Forest Man- agement Station in South 32 Believe in Yourself Phyongan Province 34 Women’s Profi le Photo by Ra Phyong Ryol 36 Patriotic Family 37 Changing Scenery of Taedong River 40 White Herons Fly over Land of Sangwon 41 Country Rich in Mineral Water 42 Mt Kumgang (1) 44 Myongnimdabbu, a Hundred-year-old Veteran Commander 45 To Usher in Heyday of Peace, Prosperity and Reunifi cation 46 Demonstration of Ardent Patriotic Spirit 48 Japan’s Old Crime of Sexual Slavery Revealed (2) Back Cover: A mass drive Inside Back Cover: National Tree—Pine is under way to plant trees Photo by An Kang Rim Common Knowledge 4 Forest Fire Extinguishing Agent Developed 13502 ㄱ – 198019 15 Gold Spring Discovered Edited by An Su Yong Address: Sochon-dong, Sosong District, Pyongyang, DPRK E-mail: fl [email protected] © The Foreign Language Magazines 2019 2 Into “Gold Mountains,” “Treasure Mountains” A new history of “gold mountains” 1947, and that he would hand down the book from generation to generation. HE EXPRESSION “GOLD MOUNTAINS” Then the leader said: You had better write Tbegan to be used in the country two years after “Gather gold from all mountains,” and hand it its liberation from the Japanese imperialists’ mili- down to your descendants. tary occupation. The next day Kim Il Sung sat to- There was the Kuji village in a gether with the people of the village, valley in Yangdok County, South and taught them how to use moun- Phyongan Province. The valley is OST OF KOREA’S tains to improve their life quickly. deep and thickly wooded, so it is said territory consists Later, the local people carved M on a steep, huge rock near the low- that one cannot fi nd one’s ox when it of mountains. It is one hipped log cabin the leader’s instruc- hides in the valley. Though the coun- of the main policies of try was liberated the village people tion for the old man to write “Gather the Workers’ Party of were still making their living by do- gold from all mountains,” and hand Korea (WPK) to turn all ing farming on slash-and-burn fi elds. it down to his descendants. the mountains into “gold In September 1947 Kim Il Sung, The instruction of the leader be- leader of the new Korea, visited the mountains,” “treasure came a famous aphorism, encourag- village, the poorest one in the county. mountains.” ing the whole country to strive to To go there he had to cross stepping- open a new history of “gold moun- stones covered with fur, cut the way through bushes tains.” And a nationwide campaign was conducted and climb up a rugged mountain slope. He dropped to comprehensively use mountain resources, and in at Ri’s home and sat on a straw mat, having a increase the valuable assets by protecting them talk with the elderly man. When the leader asked well and developing new ones. Ri what kinds of wild fruits, edible herbs and trees were there, he replied that there were wild grape, What is true patriotism? fruit of tara vine, wild pear, pine nut and acorn, and went on to say that they mixed acorns with Socialist patriotism is not an abstract concept, foxtail millet or potatoes to supplement their food, but a specifi c ideological sentiment that sprouts that other wild fruits were used for children’s eat- and develops from treasuring even a single blade of ing between meals, and that medicinal herbs were grass or tree of one’s motherland. Those who are well crushed to stick on injuries. aware of the beauty of their own country and love it Then the leader pleasantly said: Wild fruits, ardently will sacrifi ce their lives for the sake of the edible herbs and medicinal herbs might produce Party and the leader, the country and the people. a great income without investments. If you collect This is an aphorism that refl ects Chairman medicinal herbs, wild fruits and edible herbs and Kim Jong Il’s view of life. He paid deep attention sell them to the state, it will produce medicines and to afforestation of the country throughout his life. foodstuffs needed for the promotion of the people’s On October 10, 1950, during the Korean war, living standards, and thus mountain people can get young Kim Jong Il planted two young pine-nut a lot of income as they only have to gather and sell trees on Mt Jangja to mark the founding anniver- those things without any investment. sary of the WPK. The next morning he watered the Realizing belatedly that the man he was hav- trees, and said to the accompanying offi cials that if ing a talk with was the leader of the country, the the Americans burned one tree, they had to plant old man took out a small notebook from his pocket, ten, even a hundred trees to make the country’s and with a pencil butt suspended with thread from mountains and fi elds greener. the book, neatly wrote something on it while mois- Now lots of saplings cultivated from the seeds tening the pencil on his lips. Then he said to the of the trees have grown in thick verdure across the leader that he had written on the book that General country. Kim Il Sung visited his house on September 29, One day after the war Kim Jong Il planted ► No. 3, 2019 3 ► various trees around his school together with other of the country and devotes one’s heart and soul to students, and said to them that now there were no looking after them. Forest Resources Increase undamaged trees anywhere in the country, and that they should plant and take care of even a sin- Call of patriotism gle more tree. Once the Chairman visited a unit of the One November day in 2014 Supreme Leader of everything and diffi cult and other provinces also built Korean People’s Army and planted trees together Kim Jong Un inspected the Central Tree Nursery. conditions, they built a modern land-saving and labour-saving with its soldiers. And referring to planting and He said: I remember the General [Kim Jong Il] provincial tree nursery by their tree nurseries to suit their own own efforts. The nursery consists actual conditions. tending trees as a worthwhile undertaking for the saying with great pleasure that he seemed to see of a sapling production district Offi cials and working people eternal prosperity of the country and the happiness the future of the country covered with verdure as with plastic panel greenhouses, of Jagang Province, in accordance of all generations to come, he earnestly said that he saw the proud appearance of the tree nursery. an outdoor cultivation ground, with the characteristics of their they should vigorously wage an all-people campaign He was a peerless patriot who valued and loved the a light substrate production mountainous locality, created to hand over a beautiful land and rich resources to mountains and rivers of the country like his own area, a circular cutting bed, a forests of economic value, the posterity. fl esh. seed selecting and sowing place, reserved forests and scenic During his fi eld guidance he meticulously ex- Then he said that the entire Party, the whole a seedling display ground and forests in a rational way, actively amined long-term plans of afforestation scheme put army and all the people, regarding forest restora- other facilities, covering an area introduced mixed forestry and of scores of hectares. Thus the agroforestry and concentrated up at workplaces, and when he visited factories, he tion as a struggle to improve nature, should turn province laid a solid material efforts on planting trees in was more pleased to see their buildings surrounded out in the forest restoration campaign like the OOKING AT THE and technical foundation for due season, thus fi nishing the by lush verdure with birds chirping on them more whole country had risen from the ashes during the Lverdant mountains in the producing over twenty million province’s task of tree planting than their updated production processes. And when postwar reconstruction. country I, as one of forestry saplings a year. The nursery is in the optimum season and in a he inspected a KPA unit and saw persimmon trees He said: It is the unshakable determination management offi cials, cannot a land-saving and labour-saving qualitative way. encircling its barracks, he pleasantly called it a and will of our Party to turn all the mountains into help but think of the devoted one where saplings are produced Amidst collective zeal for Persimmon-tree Company.