Chairman Kim Jong Il once worked at the Pyongyang Textile Machine Manufacturer (then name) during his revolutionary activities at Kim Il Sung University. While personally operating Lathe No. 26, he set a good example of taking care of equipment.

Since then, a brisk public campaign for winning "Lathe No.26" Model Machine Prize has been waged in the DPRK, witnessing big successes in keeping machines and equipment in good state and effective operation, updating them and boosting the production capacity.

About 1,400 units and machines have been honored with the prize (including twice and thrice winners) for the past 10 years.