Pyongyang, August 26 (KCNA) -- Ya. T. Nobichenko, an ordinary Russian, was one of the foreign people who led a happy life under deep care of President Kim Il Sung.

Nobichenko was an internationalist soldier who protected the President from danger at the risk of his life.

When the President was addressing a mass rally in Pyongyang just after the liberation of the country from the Japanese colonial rule, one of the hostile elements present at the rally threw a handgrenade towards the platform.

At that critical moment, Nobichenko covered the explosive with his body, saving many people and leaving himself seriously wounded.

At that time, he was admired by all people for his heroic deed. With the passage of years, however, he had faded out of their memory.

It was only the President who had always kept the internationalist in his memory.

One day Kim Il Sung told officials that Nobichenko, though injured, might be alive in view of his age. He then asked them to find out Nobichenko.

When he was told that Nobichenko was spending his remaining years in his home village in Siberia, he felt great pleasure.

He met Nobichenko in May Juche 73 (1984) when he was on a historic visit to the Soviet Union.

They had an emotion-packed meeting after nearly four decades.

Kim Il Sung told officials that it was heroic for Nobichenko, a foreigner, to display such self-sacrificing spirit and suggested he be awarded the title of Labor Hero of the DPRK.

So, Nobichenko became Labor Hero of the DPRK some days after he met the President.

Kim Il Sung, regarding Nobichenko as his close friend and younger brother, invited him to visit the DPRK several times to spend a good time with every possible convenience available for him.

Whenever Nobichenko visited the DPRK together with his family, the President met them and bestowed many kindnesses on them.

He also appreciated Nobichenko's wife for her devotion to her handicapped husband and all other family members.

Nobichenko, though he lost one of his arms, had enjoyed a happy life with his family under deep care of the President.

In his lifetime, Nobichenko respected the President as his elder brother, admiring his strong sense of moral obligation.