culture

Ri Tong Gyu, the lathe workteam leader of machine workshop No. 1 of the Ryongsong Machine Complex, has been operating the 20-metre lathe embossed with a hero medal for decades.

When he first became the operator of this large machine, he was more worried than joyful, he said.

Because he was anxious about whether he, a man of small build, could handle such a big machine.

A worker who had worked for a long time in the complex told him: "Hey, young man. I don’t think this giant machine is run only by any physical force. Everyone can be the master of this large lathe if they have a mind to value it like their own flesh and blood and patriotic enthusiasm for the country. To do so, you must have a big heart like this magnificent 20-metre lathe.” 

Keeping his words deep in mind, he made tireless efforts and in the course of it he grew to be a skilled worker capable of machining any part of the custom-built equipment without difficulty.

One June day more than 20 years ago, he received the news that Chairman Kim Jong Il gave an instruction to award the title of hero to his lathe, which had done a meritorious service while “breathing the same breath” with the workers of Ryongsong for the past several decades. He was so excited to hear it that he could not sleep for a long time.

He made up his mind to operate the hero machine known to the whole country carefully and effectively and thought up a circuit which could be heard only at textile mills.

He put numbers on every element of the machine and kept close watch on every nook and cranny of the large lathe even in the course of his intense work to operate it at full capacity.

He produced the workpieces needed for the gasification project of a large fertilizer factory by breaking the existing precedent that it was impossible to process high-speed rotating parts with his machine. He also finished the production of important products for an iron production base in a month, which had been believed to take over six months, by applying several cutting tools to an enormous workpiece at the same time. These were the result of his heightened awareness that he would live and work heroically as an operator of the lathe honoured with the title of hero by the country.

In those years he was also honoured to attend national conferences.

Last year, too, he succeeded in the trial introduction of his invention, thus further raising the processing capacity of the machine.

He has always gained fame as a labour innovator with pride in being the operator of the hero lathe.