One day in March Juche 90 (2001), Chairman Kim Jong Il sat with the officials and gave instructions to actively encourage the children’s folk custom of painting their fingernails red with the balsam flowers, to widely produce and use the fine-toothed bamboo combs and camellia oil, and to plant sponge cucumbers to produce living necessities like lotions.

   The custom of painting fingernails red with the balsam flower has long been practiced reflecting the sentiments unique to our people. In the lyrics Painting Fingers Red with the Balsam Flower Ho Ran Sol Hon, a famous 16th-century poetess, said that "Kum Dong’s balsam flower glistens with red coloured dew and what beautiful slender ten fingers". It is also recorded in the 19th-century historical books Tongkuksesigi and Rimhaphilgi that painting fingers with mashed petals of balsam flower mixed with alum was an emotional game which had been enjoyed by girls and young children before the Koryo period.

   From olden times Korean women have widely used bamboo comb and camellia oil for decorating themselves. The slender and fine-toothed bamboo combs made of bamboo twigs were mainly used to remove impurities in hair. On the other hand, camellia oil extracted from the seeds of camellia has been particularly favoured by women for its fragrance. It is recorded in the Rimwonsipryukji written by So Yu Gu, an 18th-century practical scientist, that large amount of camellia nuts, the raw material of camellia oil, were sold in 326 markets across the country at that time and it shows the Korean women’s preference for camellia oil.

   Sponge cucumber is one of the industrial crops that our people have planted in the vegetable garden and widely used since long ago. In the past, it was called "Chonrak" for its peculiar aroma, "Chonraksa" for its natural fibre, and "Ujayop" for its thorny leaves. It was also used for varied purposes. At the time of aggressive growth, the spa from the cut vines was used as lotion. Ripen fruits were peeled off and the core from which the seeds were removed was fibrous suitable to make oven wipers, shoe liners, and hat interlinings. In addition, it has been widely used as an effective medicine for detoxication, diuretic, antifebrile, galactagogue, etc.

   Noting that the tendency of neglecting the folklore and emotional life should be eliminated in the future, the Chairman earnestly stressed the need to find out the folk and emotional customs of our people practised from the olden times and make active efforts to sustain them.

   Thanks to his warm love and benevolence for actively encouraging the folk and emotional customs socially, the children’s folk custom of polishing their fingernails red with balsam flower are now actively encouraged and various daily necessities such as bamboo comb and camellia oil and sponge cucumber are produced to make an active contribution to the folk and emotional ways of life of Korean people.