culture

There is a truck crane operator loved by builders at the construction site of Hwasong Street.

She is 21-year-old Mun Won Ok at the heavy machine workshop of the Pyongyang Construction Commission.

"Everyone chooses their job according to their ideals. Mun Won Ok volunteered to become a truck crane operator though other girls hesitate to become that," said Pak Sung Hyok, department head of the Pyongyang Construction Commission.

Whenever they see the girl on a 50-ton truck crane easily lifting building parts and elements, builders praise her as an indispensable treasure at the construction site, he added.

"Of course I looked for a job of my choice, but I became a shift operator of the crane of my father,” Mun recalled.

Some years ago when she was about to finish her middle school course, Won Ok went to the construction site in a Pyongyang suburb where her father Mun Kwang Han worked in order to discuss her job after leaving the school.

They had not seen each other for a long time. Won Ok said she wanted to become a poet, teacher or doctor and asked his advice. Then the father asked her if she had no idea of becoming a crane operator.

Though she had visualized her as a poet, teacher or doctor, but never a truck crane operator. She hesitated, debating which job she would take. Her choice would determine her future, her whole life.

Then the father revealed his wish for her to become a truck crane operator like him, though she was a girl, saying there is nothing more fulfilling than becoming a worker in the world of workers.

"Frankly, I had complained about the job of my father as he was always out there at work with no time to care for his family," said Won Ok.

But whenever she went to a construction site seething with activities to see him, his fellows told her he was a treasure with deep respect for him. And after completing each project, he would return home with a decoration on his chest, which made her think about the worth of life.

Therefore, she volunteered to work as a truck crane operator before graduating from middle school and became his father's shift crane operator a few months later.

At that time, the construction project began for 50 000 flats in Pyongyang and builders set about building dwelling houses in the Songsin and Songhwa area.

She was determined to possess high skills like his father, but it was not that easy to drive a truck crane to any destination and move large quantities of materials, unlike common truck drivers.

It greatly troubled her that she failed to put building parts and elements on proper places, which made her shed bitter tears.

Every time, her father was there with her to give her confidence, saying she should not expect too much from the outset.

She wanted to stand on her own feet, so she practised crane operation, placing dozens of times a day the pulley block on a thing in a circle she drew and studied hard to master techniques and principles of operation of the crane parts, always carrying a small handbook with her.

Thanks to such efforts, she made remarkable progress in her skill day after day and became recognized as an indispensable person at construction sites.

Whenever asked if she feels regret for having chosen the job, she says: “Nothing is more beautiful than the choice made for our society where the sweat of honest and diligent labour is regarded as much more precious than any wealth or honour.”