One day in January Juche 46 (1957), a plenary meeting of the Cabinet was held in the presence of President Kim Il Sung to discuss the state budget for that year.

That day the President examined the detailed items set forth in the draft budget one by one and asked what item is on the educational aid fund and stipends for the Korean children in Japan.

When he was told that the educational aid fund and stipends were not included in the state budget due to the tight financial situation, he earnestly said that it is our national duty to send money to the compatriots in Japan who are in difficulties to let their children study even though we can't build one or two factories.

The participants in the meeting were moved to tears with great emotion.

The President continued that the national education of Koreans in Japan should not be viewed merely as an educational work and that it is an important patriotic work for defending the nation.

Thanks to his outlook on the rising generation, a new item of "educational aid fund and stipends for the education of the children of Koreans in Japan" came to be listed in the state budget of the DPRK, an item unprecedented in the financial history of any country.

The first educational aid fund and stipends were sent to the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan on April 8 that year.

The Koreans in Japan shed tears of thanks for the benevolence of the President who sent them precious funds despite the difficult situation in the homeland.

Indeed, the educational aid fund and stipends sent by the President were the benevolent ones that provided a great flower garden of democratic national education in the alien land. -0-