calendar>>October 6. 2008 Juche 97
Patriotic Life of Kim Ung U
Pyongyang, October 4 (KCNA) -- Today commemorates the 130th anniversary of the death of Kim Ung U, great grandfather of President Kim Il Sung.

The ardent patriotism of Kim Ung U who devotedly fought for the country and people is still kept in the minds of the Korean people.

He ardently loved the country and people and resolutely opposed feudal bureaucrats and foreign invaders.

He often told to villagers about the Korean people's history of struggle and beauty of mountains and rivers of the country to implant national pride in their hearts. And he said that the people would be well off only when they beat down the exploiters and invaders.

He with the lofty patriotic will positively aroused the people to the struggle against the reactionary bureaucrats and foreign aggressors and fought in the van.

When the U.S. imperialist aggressors' ship "General Sherman" sailed up the River Taedong and anchored at Turu Islet, he, together with some other villagers, collected ropes from all the houses and stretched them across the river between Konyu Islet and Mangyong Hill and then rolled stones into the river to block the way of the pirate ship.

Upon hearing the news that the invaders, throwing off the mask of "trade", had sailed up the river threatening and blackmailing Koreans and been engaged in espionage, murder and robbery, Kim Ung U rushed to the Walled City of Pyongyang at the head of the villagers.

And he saw to it that the people of the city, with the government army, loaded a lot of small boats with firewood, tied them together, set them on fire and floated them down towards the aggressor ship, so that the ship was set on fire and sank.

After the sinking of the "General Sherman", the U.S. imperialist aggressors sent another vessel, the warship "Shenandoah" which sailed into the mouth of the River Taedong, where its crew committed murder, incendiary attacks and pillage. Kim Ung U, again, aroused the people to the struggle for smiting the enemy.

His ardent love and devotion for the country and the people are illustrated by the fact that he mobilized even the government army, to say nothing of the people, to the battle against the invaders without any governmental or military position.

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