It was when leader Kim Jong Il visited the Sinuiju cosmetics factory.
After looking round several workshops, leader Kim Jong Il went to the cosmetics workshop.
“Kumgangsan”- and “Noana”-brand cosmetics were on the worktable at that time.
He took one of those cosmetics and asked the officials if there was anybody who had ever seen “Noana”- and “Kumgangsan”-brand cosmetics.
Nobody answered.
After a while, one of them told the leader that he had ever seen “Noana”-brand cosmetics, but he had never seen “Kumgangsan”-brand ones.
Then leader Kim Jong Il gently said that it was impossible for the people to see such cosmetics because the officials had never seen them.
It was not the first time that leader Kim Jong Il thought the people and said like this while looking at good-quality cosmetics.
In the previous year when leader Kim Jong Il saw the goods produced in several sectors of North Phyongan Province, he took one of the cosmetics and looked at it for a while like that day and strictly scolded the officials, saying that it was their mistake to export such good cosmetics instead of selling them to the people.
However, the officials did not yet put his intention into practice. That is why leader Kim Jong Il said it again that day.
He asked with strong accent of displeasure whether the factory was to export or to contribute to the improvement of the people’s living standard.
The officials couldn’t give any answers to him. Actually raw materials for cosmetics were imported. If the cosmetics were sold to the people in soft currency, reproduction funds could not be obtained.
Leader Kim Jong Il read the official’s mind and earnestly told them to supply the cosmetics to the people before exporting them, saying that the state should pay for their production.
As a result, department stores and shops of the country were provided with good-quality cosmetics produced by this factory and lots of people were always seen in front of the cosmetics stands.
