One day in June 1948 President Kim Il Sung visited South Hamgyong Province.

When he met the chief engineer and other technicians of the then People's Factory in Hungnam District, he said that he called them to discuss the matter of establishing a scientific research institute in the Hungnam area and asked the chief engineer how many technicians there were at the five major factories in the Hungnam area.

Having been told that the technicians at several factories amounted nearly to 100, he asked again what the technicians were engaged in and what they were working on.

The chief engineer said that they had worked on several projects for carbide, glacial acetic acid, alcohol, sulfide dye and others, thus making it possible to produce more than 20 kinds of chemical products.

Appreciating his report, Kim Il Sung said that the Hungnam area was possessed of a material foundation and technical force with which to develop the country’s chemical industry in a far-sighted manner and that it seemed to him that the relevant five factories had been rebuilt with their production mainly put on a normal track thanks to the sincere efforts of the local workers, scientists and technicians.

Noting that it was needed to establish a research institute as soon as possible and it was a very important undertaking for the future development of the country’s science and technology, he stressed that scientific research ensures the country develops science and technology and chemical industry on a long-term basis.

After a while, he asked what about organizing a research institute by bringing together the technicians from the experimental stations of the five factories, rather than recruiting scientists and technicians from other units.

The officials cheered. They agreed that it would be the most reasonable to organize the institute by merging the experimental stations as he suggested, given that chemical engineers were concentrated in the area.

He told them to integrate those experimental stations into a research institute and to build it into a comprehensive base as it would be the first of its kind to push the sci-tech development of the country’s chemical industry.

Thus, the Hungnam experimental station was inaugurated in the Hungnam area under the chemical industry management bureau of the Ministry of Industry as the first chemical research institute.

This was precious fruition of the painstaking efforts of the President who opened up a new vista for building a prosperous country with unusual wisdom and outstanding leadership.

Ko Chol Hwa