Pyongyang, December 16 (KCNA) -- Chairman Kim Jong Il is a peerlessly great man who devoted his whole life to the prosperity of the country and happiness of the people.

The figure, over 1 674 610 ri (one ri is 392.73 meters), well known to all the Korean people is the total length of the course of field guidance made by Kim Jong Il in the whole period of his revolutionary leadership.

The length is equivalent to nearly 17 rounds of the earth's circumference. It includes a way of snowstorm for field guidance in Jagang Province reaching to over 6 000 ri in distance and a forced march reaching to over 1 000 ri in distance that he made for a night from the east coast to the west coast of the country.

The Korean people are now recalling with deep emotion the stories about the days when he had a few roasted potatoes for a meal at the head of a windy field in the northern part of the country and his long journey for field guidance to factories and construction sites of power stations, even forgetting his meals.

He had never accepted the people's earnest desire for his well-being, but he did his best for the people.

Thanks to his patriotic devotion and leadership, the national power of the DPRK grew stronger and such precious assets for the people as the Thaechon Power Station and the Kaechon-Lake Thaesong Waterway appeared one after another in the country.

At this moment of marking the 13th anniversary of his demise, the Korean people keenly feel that his high-intensity forced march for field guidance was a long journey of patriotic devotion unprecedented in history. -0-