On March 24, Juche 88 (1999), giving field guidance to South Hamgyong Province, Chairman Kim Jong Il asked an accompanying official whether he had been to the Pon-gung (main palace).

   He meant the historic site where Ri Song Gye came down to Hamhung to live in and named his house Pon-gung after being fed up with the bloodstained fights among his princes for the scepter. The official answered that he had been but the site was not well managed and its surroundings were in disorder.

   The Chairman asked the same question to a senior official of the province.

   The senior official replied he had never been there. The Chairman asked again the reason why he had not.

   The official hesitated for a moment and answered honestly that he didn’t go there because it was the house of Ri Song Gye.

   The Chairman said that although he was a negative figure who had left a bad name in the history, it would make a big gap in the history to totally deny his regime, and instructed the official to go there as soon as possible to take proper measures.

   The Chairman continued that many of our officials had a narrow-minded view on the history and we should maintain well the shrine in the house of Ri Song Gye to suit to the principles of conservation and management of historic sites and relics, not for publicizing him. Mentioning that the Party was emphasizing to value and keep well the national cultural heritage since many years but our officials were not doing so, he stressed that we should become ardent patriots as well as steadfast revolutionaries.

   The officials who received the teachings of the Chairman thought over and over again what it really means to be a revolutionary and a patriot.