He was accompanied by Kim Ki Nam, secretary of the WPK Central Committee.

Kim Jong Il looked round the monument to President Kim Il Sung's field guidance and the room dedicated to the history of the farm.

He recalled with deep emotion the proud course covered by the farm, saying that the farm, which was once called a barren land, a place unfit for human inhabitation, had turned into a paradise of happiness enjoying rich harvest under the wise leadership and meticulous care of the President.

Being briefed on the farm before the map on its panoramic view, he learned in detail about the construction of the farm village.

He expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the village has been turned into a beautiful rural town, after looking at the modern dwelling houses lined up at the foot of Mt. Tongbong and cosy and neat school, kindergarten, people's hospital, cultural hall, shop and other cultural and welfare facilities.

Going round the Tongbong shop located in the heart of the village, he learned about the supply of commodities to the farmers and indicated the orientation and ways for further improving the supply of goods.

He met and had a cordial talk with Mun Kum Nyo, a woman of merit in the Songun era, and highly praised her for having faithfully discharged her duty as a workteam head for decades.

One of the most important problems in opening the gate to a great prosperous and powerful nation is to boost the agricultural production, he said, advancing the tasks to be fulfilled by the farm.

The main factor that helped radically increase the farm produce on the Tongbong Co-op Farm in recent years lies in the fact that the farm has thoroughly implemented the policy of bringing about innovation in the selection of seed, he said, stressing the need to steadily push ahead with the drive to introduce the good seeds suited to the climate and soil of the farm by giving full play to the creativeness of the officials and agricultural working people.

He said that a key to solving the food problem in our country where crop area is circumscribed is to decisively increase the per-hectare grain yield. To this end, it is necessary to steadily increase the fertility of soil and, at the same time, do farming on a scientific and technological basis as required by the Juche method of farming, he stressed.

The comprehensive mechanization of agriculture should be realized to successfully ease the strain on the labor force in keeping pace with the steady increase of the level of intensification and scientification of agriculture, he said, showing deep love and benevolence for the farm by making it sure that necessary machines are provided.

Noting that a solid foundation for radically boosting the agricultural production has been laid through the dynamic drive for rural construction in different parts of the country in recent years of trials and hardships, he said that this signal achievement serves as a sure guarantee for successfully building a thriving nation by finally solving the agricultural problem, the problem of peasants and the rural question in our country.

He said: The three revolutions are being dynamically carried out in the countryside and the support to it and the state guidance to the co-op farms have been intensified. Thus, the assimilation of farmers to the working class and the industrialization of agriculture have been rapidly realized and the appearance of the countryside renewed with each passing day, considerably decreasing the distinctions between towns and the countryside.

This is a vivid manifestation of the validity and the great vitality of the socialist rural theses set forth by the President and the advantageous socialist agricultural system in our country, he said.

Stating that the drive for rural construction is a sacred work to turn our countryside into affluent and modern socialist countryside equipped with state-of-the-art technology, he called for directing sustained and big efforts to it.

The agricultural front is one of the major fronts for the building of a great prosperous and powerful nation, he said, urging the whole country and all the people to continue concentrating all-out efforts on farming so as to bring about a radical turn in the agricultural production.