Pyongyang, September 20 (KCNA) -- The Pyongyang Publishing House recently published a full-length novel "Woman of Pyongyang".

It is based on the life of Paek Son Haeng, who donated all of the money she earned penny by penny through all sorts of hardship, to fellow countrymen.

Born as a daughter of a day laborer in Pyongyang, Paek gets married at the age of 14 but becomes a widow when she is 16 years old. Her husband dies of illness, unable to take any medical treatment for lack of money.

After his death, the widow begins to do anything to survive from poverty, like selling leftovers, vegetables, bean curds and medical plants. Although she becomes one of the wealthiest in South Phyongan Province in her sixties, she continues to live a simple life, always eating gruels and wearing cotton-made skirt and coat and black rubber shoes.

Deeply aware that the nation and the country are more valuable than her property, she spends money for building a bridge and aiding a school.

She invests 200 000 won in building a public hall for Koreans in front of Ryongwang Pavilion. At that time, 5 or 6 won was enough to buy a straw-sack of rice.

During the period of the Japanese colonial rule, she sells a rocky mountain in her possession to a Japanese businessman at a price much higher than its cost. The fact is often told among local people as an interesting tale.

Appreciating her patriotic practice, people call her Son Haeng (good deed).