culture

After watching the TV news of the ground-breaking ceremony of the project for building a new street in the Sopho area of Pyongyang in February, the old couple of Jong Man In and Kim Yong Ae, living in neighbourhood unit No. 75 in Sokjon-dong, Hyongjesan District, Pyongyang, could hardly get to sleep.

Because they were so moved by the image of General Secretary Kim Jong Un who shovelled the first spadeful of earth for the ground-breaking together with his beloved daughter with the grand plan for building a new modern street in the Sopho area to provide Pyongyang citizens with wonderful houses in the wake of the ground-breaking ceremony of the second-stage flat construction project in the Hwasong area which had been held in the same month.

After discussing with her husband, Kim Yong Ae went to meet Jong Hye Yong, head of their dong, and handed over to her lots of aid materials, saying she brought them with the single mind to contribute even a bit to the construction of the new street to be built up near their house.

The dong official was so touched by the old woman’s sincerity. She couldn’t say anything for a while. 

“Kim Yong Ae is a rare patriot who got her four loving daughters to serve the army saying they should first defend the country firmly when it was undergoing difficulties due to the imperialists’ anti-DPRK moves to isolate and stifle it and successive natural disasters and who did many good things whenever the government put forward a new plan,” said Jong Hye Yong.

Until then, few people knew how so many aid materials were prepared.

“Whenever our siblings tried to prepare a spread to celebrate the birthday of our mother who had taken great pains to look after us, she would dissuade us from doing so, saying she would do even one more thing helpful to the country with the money we collected for the birthday spread. This time, too, she donated the collection associated with her children’s sincerity for the young builders of the new street,” said the eldest daughter Jong Pom Sun.

As the four daughters followed suit, all members of the old couple’s family became honorary shock brigade members at the street construction site in the Sopho area to devote themselves to builders.

The couple, along with their daughters and grandchildren, have frequented the construction site to work with young builders, hand aid materials over to them and give artistic performances.

Their performance is simple.

But hearing their songs, young builders realize the desire of the old woman to devote the rest of her life to the good of the country and her hope that her children and grandchildren will take their cue from her.

Therefore, the builders call her family the family of honorary shock brigade members and Kim Yong Ae the patriotic grandma.

“Her family’s devotion to the new street construction gives us builders of younger generation great encouragement and teaches us how to follow the patriotic road for the country,” said Jo Kwang Il, commander of a battalion of the Paektusan Hero Youth Shock Brigade.