One day in May Juche 59 (1970), President Kim Il Sung called an official of the People’s Committee of Pyongyang City to Tokchon area where he was giving field guidance.

   The President said that after hearing the news that some households salted autumnal radishes to eat till next spring and summer he had visited one of the households, had a taste of it and found it very nice without any unpleasant flavour, which was called “soil kimchi” by the locals. He continued that, therefore, he had summoned the official to taste that kimchi.

   The official couldn’t say anything, deeply moved by the President’s ardent love for the people, who even tasted the plain soil kimchi made by the local people and devoted his all to make the capital citizens enjoy the special kimchi.

   After a while, the President had the official sit next to him and taught details of making and processing methods of soil kimchi.

   He said that the pickling of soil kimchi was very simple; radishes should not be cleaned with water but only with a brush, for, if not, it might smell unpleasant afterwards; put one layer of radishes in a jar and sprinkle salt on it, and repeat the process until the jar was full; seal the jar to prevent air infiltration till the next spring for serving. He continued that inside the jar at early spring after winter the radishes would be found soaked in water, and the salted radishes should be taken out, cleaned clearly and left in cold water for several hours to draw yellowish juice. He concluded that it would be just as refreshing as Tongchimi (watery radish kimchi) if the yellowish juice was served with the radishes cut into pieces, and it would be also a delicate food if the sliced radishes were seasoned with chillies, Welsh onions and so on.

   Thanks to benevolent measures of the fatherly leader who devoted all his life for the good of the people, soil kimchi, a peculiar kimchi which officials didn’t know even by name, was newly served on our people’s tables afterwards.