Early in March 1980 when he had a talk with officials, Chairman Kim Jong Il asked them suddenly if they knew what day it was. He said that it was Jongwoldaeborum(the 15th day of the first month by the lunar calendar). Distributing Korean glutinous rice jellies to the officials to taste them, the Chairman told ardently that the Korean people created the excellent folklore tradition not only in such holiday pastime as the lunar New Year’s Day but in labour life, cultural life, dietary, clothing and housing life, morality, etc. and that they were valuable national heritages that should be preserved, inherited and developed through generations.
He also continued the folklore tradition created and defended by the ancestors through generations reflect the Korean people’s noble ideological sentiments, decorum and morals, peculiar style of life, liking and characteristics of the nation. Emphasizing that it is necessary to keep high sense of pride of having the noblest and most beautiful national folklore in the world and add lustre to the national characteristics of the Korean people, the Chairman said that one may be deprived of his nation if one neglects folklore.
His saying contains the valuable truth that folklore has spirit and soul, peculiar customs and footprints of the nation instead of simple life and manners of the nation and that they can be deprived of the nation if they ignore folklore.
