Pyongyang, May 21 (KCNA) -- 79 years have passed since the ceremony for starting the Pothong River improvement project was held in the liberated Korea under the wise leadership of President Kim Il Sung.

Now the DPRK people are recollecting with deep emotion the immortal exploits of the President who led to brilliant victory the Pothong River improvement project, the first great transformation of nature after the liberation of Korea.

Before the liberation, the Pothong River was a synonym of disaster and symbol of misfortune that caused huge human and material losses as it overflowed its banks even though little rain fell.

The President, who initiated the Pothong River improvement project to put an end to the people's misfortunes owing to the Pothong River, personally broke ground first at the ceremony for starting the project on May 21, 1946.

The first shovel taken by the President at the Pothong River improvement project was a solemn prelude to the start of the great transformation of nature for the prosperity of the liberated country and the happiness of all generations.

That day, he said that our happiness should be discovered by our own efforts and achieved through struggle, expressing the belief that all Pyongyang citizens would overcome all difficulties and display great strength in the patriotic work for great transformation of nature.

True to the noble patriotic will of the peerlessly great man, the Korean people removed hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of earth with indomitable spiritual strength and worked a miracle that they finished the vast project within 55 days, 15 days earlier than its schedule.

With the completion of the project, the river water going round the Pothong plain flowed along the new waterway to the Taedong River and the bank of the Pothong River was turned into the one of paradise that is free from flood damage forever.

The completion of the Pothong River improvement project was a brilliant fruition of the ardent love of the President for the country and people, and the first victory won by the Korean people rallied close around their leader in the great transformation of nature for building a thriving nation. -0-