culture

Rim Chun Ran, aged 65, lives in Chilgol-dong No. 3, Mangyongdae District, Pyongyang. She has three sons.

The eldest one is a technician at an important institution, the second an officer of the Korean People’s Army and the youngest a lecturer at Kim Il Sung University and PhD in his thirties.

As they had good brains, they received excellent education under the genius education system of the country from the middle school days. All of them have fulfilled their wishes today. Referring to the key to success in their careers, they say in unison that the image of their mother always encouraged them to redouble efforts.

What then is the image of their mother engraved on their mind?

Chun Ran had worked for nearly 40 years in a public health institution as a nurse and senior nurse.

Nurses’ job is so important and difficult that the international day of nurses was set and has been observed worldwide. It was an everyday occurrence that she had not enough time for family affairs as she had to nurse patients and she did not return home when there were serious cases.

However, Chun Ran never neglected her family duty of caring for her husband and three sons, that is, four men.

And at the time when her sons grew up fast, the country had a hard time, called the Arduous March, casting a blight over the life of her family.

But she got more resilient, shouldering the burden of both her job and household affairs.

She never failed to supply food to her children though she continued to tighten her belt. On Sundays she did not have a rest, but did laundry and household chores till late at night and then went to work as usual the following day.

The image of their mother, who was strong and resolute yet careful in learning about the study of her children and meticulous in correcting their mistakes, was a silent “textbook” for the children.

“One day, I returned home late at night after playing outdoors without doing my homework. My mother, who had generously forgiven me for other mistakes, scolded me severely at the time. Since then I had acquired a habit of doing my homework correctly in time and told my younger brothers to follow suit,” said Kim Jin Hyok, the eldest son.

“I used to do household chores in leisure hours to help my mom. I thought she would be glad, but she said she would be happier to see me study well like my elder brothers and encouraged me to compete with them and win,” recalled Kim Jin Hyon, the youngest.

The three brothers still remember the time when they studied at their mother’s hospital more often than at home.

They followed their mother who was on night duty on holidays and sometimes when there was an electricity blackout in the dwelling houses they studied until late at night in the nurses’ room of the hospital, they said.

The three brothers finished middle school and university courses with flying colours thanks to those days and nights of devotion of their mother.

Now, they got married and live in fine houses provided by the country. But they often visit their mother's house where the desks and bookcases of their favourite use are left intact, and how to please their mother more is always their major conversational topic, they said.

“No mother regards it as a trouble to bring up her children. And under the socialist free education system all my children learned to their heart’s content without paying even a penny. But the country invited me to the Fifth National Conference of Mothers and showed me favour greater than filial piety of my children, in full consideration of the natural ‘trouble’ of a mother. I only hope that my sons would do their work well for this benevolent embrace," said Rim Chun Ran.