Advent of new Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un with the people's thunderous cheers at Kim Il Sung Square on April 15, 2012.

By Ri Sung IkIn April 2012, Kim Jong Un was elected first secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and first chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK.This was an expression of the Korean people's total support for and trust in him.They have deeply been fascinated by his total devotion to the people and outstanding leadership ability.His exceptional leadership ability can be seen through the DPRK's recent anti-epidemic measures against the world-sweeping COVID-19 among others.As he foresaw the catastrophic consequences of the rapidly spreading epidemic, he made sure that the national hygienic and anti-epidemic system was switched over to an emergency anti-epidemic system and that its degree was ratcheted up gradually.Although no one was infected with the disease in the DPRK at the time, the people did as instructed by him, with the result that the DPRK still remains a clean land in the worldwide hubbub over the pandemic.Underlying their unflagging support for and faith in him is the noble view on the people held by the Supreme Leader who loves them the most and spares nothing for them.He said he would always stand shoulder to shoulder with his comrades, sharing the same destiny with them, in his speech at the military parade held to mark the centenary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung in April 2012 and swore to become a true servant loyal to the Korean people who faithfully supports them with a pure conscience in his New year Address in 2017.And he has always honoured this pledge in practice.In 2012 alone, he provided guidance to lots of units including Changjon Street and the Ryugyong Health Complex which had been built in line with the requirements of the new century and the Pyongyang Vegetable Science Institute which had been rebuilt on an expansion basis, and whenever a structure sprang up he would ask first if the people liked it.On his visit to a working people's family, who moved to a new flat on Changjon Street, he asked them about their living and their children's hopes, through which the people saw the image of a benevolent father.Such heart-warming episodes are not confined to the year 2012.Over the past eight years, the leader would feel happiest whenever he received the report that the people liked a newly built structure for them and a good thing was done for them, and would fret about their inconveniences most and sort out the problems on a priority basis.In 2016 when a northern area of the DPRK was afflicted by the strongest ever storm and heaviest downpour the country's meteorological observation had ever recorded since its liberation in 1945, he shifted the focus of the 200-day campaign towards the rehabilitation and under his guidance the service personnel and people performed a miracle of rebuilding the stricken area wonderfully in a few months.At present, a Pyongyang General Hospital is under construction in the country.At its ground-breaking ceremony, the Supreme Leader said that the modern hospital project has been a long-standing aspiration of the Workers' Party of Korea and broke ground first and pressed the button of the blasting device to signal the start of the project.Only a little more than 200 days are left until the 75th anniversary of the WPK and such a courageous decision to complete such a huge construction project in the set time cannot be made without great love for and trust in the people.(Pyongyang Times - April 4, 2020)