Zhou Enlai’s Statue Erected in Hamhung
It was spring in 1979.
President Kim Il Sung
was reported that Deng Yingchao, widow of Zhou Enlai, former premier of
China, hoped to visit the DPRK. Quite pleased, he said to the officials
concerned to immediately send agreement and convey his invitation to
her.
Later
he gave instructions on several occasions on such issues as reception
and welcoming on the road. He said that Zhou Enlai’s statue should be
built in the country.
That year marked the third anniversary of Zhou Enlai’s death. In fact, his statue was yet to be built even in his motherland.
Busy as he was with the affairs of the state Kim Il Sung concerned himself with the erection of Zhou Enlai’s statue.
Where should the statue be erected? How should he be portrayed?
He
thought over and over. Determined, he said to the officials: In 1958
Zhou Enlai visited Hamhung and made a speech in front of the workers of
the Hungnam Fertilizer Factory; it would be advisable to erect his
statue there; the statue should portray him making a speech there.
True to Kim Il Sung’s instruction, Kim Jong Il
sent to the sculptors a photograph of Zhou Enlai making the speech; he
went over the draft of the statue and the finished work on several
occasions and fixed the heights of the statue and plinth.
Under
the direct guidance of the two leaders of the country, the statue and a
monument were erected on the spot at the end of May that year.
Kim Il Sung
went to Hamhung on May 31 in company with Deng Yingchao on a visit to
the DPRK, and attended the unveiling ceremony of Zhou Enlai’s statue and
monument.
Deng Yingchao was happy to see Kim Il Sung, and she was all the more moved to see her husband’s statue erected in an industrial city of her neighbouring country.
“The statue is excellent, indeed, Comrade Kim Il Sung. I extend my heartfelt thanks to you for having such an excellent statue erected.”
In summer that year a Peking opera troupe visited the DPRK. In a talk with Kim Il Sung,
the head of the troupe said that the 970 million Chinese people were
very impressed by the fact that Zhou Enlai’s statue was erected in the
DPRK.
Kim Il Sung
said, “In the light of Comrade Zhou Enlai’s achievements and his
contribution to the friendship and unity between the peoples of the DPRK
and China, it is natural for us to erect his statue. I always remember
him.”