Hero Of Labour.

[reichsrommel]

Hi, Dear Guys

Here are my collection of North Korea Labor Gold Star Medals (Labor Hero of DPRK Title). Conditions are very mint. And these are screw back, which are definately manufactured by Soviet.

Tang Si

[CtahhR]

Here is the Hero Of Labour (로력영웅) Type 1 Variation 1. The Hero Of Labour was founded at the height of the Korean War on 17th July 1951 and based on the Soviet "Hero Of Socialist Labour". The Title is constructed from Gold-Plated Silver and Enamel and features a five pointed star and the emblem of the Korean Worker's Party. It is unknown how many of the were awarded during the Korean War or to date but they are a common site during the large scale parades in Pyongyang and also on the chests of almost every DPRK athlete that has competed at an international event.

This particular early (almost certainly Korean War) awarded Star has been very well worn as can be seen though the wear on not only the Star and suspension but the polishing caused on the screwplate by what could be presumed constant wear. I personally added the plastic "cover" to the ribbon to protect it from additional dust or dirt. This type of plastic protection is also common practice with many awardees so it does not detract from the overall look. When I received this award it was absolutely caked in dirt which was lovingly cleaned off with water a soft brush and a fluffy towel. The cleaning process probably took about 12 hours spread over 3 week or so as some of the dirt was very firmly attached. This award takes pride of place in my collection as I believe it will be a long time before I can afford a lower serial numbered piece. The enamel around the top ray of the star is discoloured and since hot enamel is not porous this error must have occurred during production.

For the "obvious" reasons I have defaced the serial number which is in the large early font and is numbered in the 100-150 range.

[Simon]

In 1946, Junior Lieutenant Novichenko caught and covered by his body a grenade thrown at Kim Il Sung. Novichenko lost his hand and miraculously survived. In 1984, Kim Il Sung during his visit to USSR met his savior. Since then, every year Novichenko and his family vacationed in North Korea. Both men died in 1994.

[CtahhR]

Outstanding! Would you happen to have any information upon when this was awarded? as the event was a considerable time before the title (and nation) existed.

[Simon]

In 1946, when Novichenko was still in a hospital, Kim Il Sung sent him a cigarette case with an inscription "To hero Novichenko from Chairmain Kim Il Sung". According to this source Секретные войны Советского Союза (Александр Окороков) - Vidimfigu, Central People's Committee of DPRK issued a decree for a Hero of Labor ??? title on 28 маy 1984. A joint NK-Soviet 1985 movie "A second for a heroic deed" shows the reenactment of the award presentation in Korea in the 1980's. The movie can be seen Яков Новиченко – Герой Северной Кореи � Единая Корея – информационно-аналитический портал , the ceremony takes place in the first part at 0:07:40.

[GabrielMk3]

Lovely research!
Thank you very much for sharing this!

CtahhR will probably explain why he received Hero of Labour...

I think he deserves the Hero title for freaking throwing himself over a nade...

[CtahhR]

Junior Lieutenant Jakov Tihonovich Novichenko was awarded the Order "Red Banner" on 30th May 1951 according to the podvignaroda site. No additional information is known on that award as of yet.

With his "Hero Of Labour" title he received the Order Of The National Flag 1st Class. It also seems that he was awarded the Order Of The National Flag 3rd Class but as for the date of that award it is as yet unknown.

As shown in the photograph of him with Kim Il-Sung he was also awarded the Soviet Medals "For Victory Over Japan" and "For Combat Merits" but no DPRK commemoratives for service in the liberation/foundation of the DPRK.

His "Hero Of Labour" star and accompanying Order will be most likely unnumbered.

Just how different would 20th Century history be if this self-sacrificing heroic deed had failed and Kim Il-Sung had been assassinated?

[Simon]

According to Russian wikipedia and Корея » Blog Archive » Герой КНДР , Hero of DPRK title by statute is reserved for citizens of DPRK, while Hero of Labor doesn't have such restriction.

The article Линин Александр Иванович. Советский герой Корейской республики describes that during the summer of 1984 visit to Korea, Novichenko was decorated by Order of National Flag 2 class; next summer Novichenko returned to Korea and was awarded the hero title. This source contradicts the one cited earlier on this thread, mentioning that the decree for the hero title was signed in May 1984 :( .

RB was bestowed for a wound during GPW as indicated on the attached case cover. Having skimmed over Novichenko's bio, I didn't see a mention of any wounds besides those suffered after the grenade catch.

[CtahhR]

I would definitely say that Novichenko is wearing a 1st and 3rd Class Order Of The National Flag in the picture as the 1st Class Order is 127.5% the size of the 3rd Class and in this picture the top Order is 32 pixels and lower is 25 pixels in width. There is also a slight shape difference in the 2nd and 3rd Class Orders which would suggest that this is definitely a 3rd Class.

The Soviet made 1st Class Order is around 124% larger than the Soviet made 2nd Class Order which may have caused confusion in recognising the lower award if you go by size difference in Soviet made awards which were definitely not awarded in the 1980's.

[Bob]

Inflation Korean style:
Rodong Sinmun

Over 910 Labor Heroes Produced in New Century

According to data available, over 910 labor heroes have been produced in the new century. Among those, more than 60 are women.

This clearly proves once again the truth of history that when the leader is great, the people become heroes and realize their noble ideal with an unbreakable will.

Already long ago leader Kim Jong Il put forward the call "Let Us All Live and Struggle Like Heroes!" and highly praised the brilliant feats of those who faithfully supported the Party and the leader in the efforts for effecting revolutionary upsurge in socialist construction.

The service personnel and people in DPRK are intensely loyal to the Party and the leader with a firm faith "When the Party Is Determined, We Can Do Anything!" They gave full play to the revolutionary soldier spirit and thus erected lots of monumental structures of the Songun era across the country.

The officials and builders of the June 18 Shock Brigade worked hard to brilliantly carry forward the revolutionary traditions, the eternal assets of the Korean revolution in the difficult condition in which all things were lacking. They admirably built up great structures of the Songun era such as the objects of construction in the Mt. Paektu area revolutionary battle sites and revolutionary sites.

The soldiers and builders in charge of the second stage construction of the Anbyon Youth Power Plant also made strenuous efforts to carry through the order of Kim Jong Il and thus finished the project in a short span of time.

Kim Jong Il named the Pyongyang-Nampho Motorway Youth Hero Motorway to glorify the feats of the young shock brigade members and soldier builders and saw to it that over 30 young people were awarded the title of labor hero.

Lots of heroes were also produced in the struggle to realize our Party’s far-reaching plan for grand nature-remaking project.

The officials and builders in the gigantic land realignment project, Kaechon-Lake Thaesong Waterway, Paekma-Cholsan Waterway and Miru Plain Waterway projects performed labor feats by giving full play to the spirit of devotedly defending the leader and the spirit of regarding the Party lines as absolute and implementing them without any reservation, thereby powerfully demonstrating the might of the singe-minded unity of the Korean people.

Kim Jong Il spoke highly of the participants in Taegyedo tideland reclamation saying that they worked well as befit the descendents of President Kim Il Sung when they constructed another monumental structure with the single aim to support the country with tideland reclamation. He gave them special thanks and ensured that many innovators were awarded the title of labor hero.

The national economy of the DPRK was laid on the Juche-oriented basis thanks to the patriotic devotion of Kim Jong Il to build a thriving nation on this land at any cost true to the behests of President Kim Il Sung.

In those days more than 70 labor heroes were produced at the February 8 Vinalon Complex at a time and many workers were awarded the title of labor hero at the Namhung Youth Chemical Complex, Rakwon Machine Complex, Hungnam Fertilizer Complex and Komdok Mining Complex.

The list of heroes also included writers and artistes who produced revolutionary and militant literary and artistic works of high ideological and artistic value that eulogized the greatness of the WPK and met the requirements of the times and the desire of the people.

Ordinary scientists, too, greatly contributed to boosting the might of the Juche-based industry.

Kim Jong Il renamed the Taehung Youth Mine Taehung Youth Hero Mine after it performed a vanguard role in making the national economy Juche-oriented.

He also saw to it that the Ryongsong Machine Complex was conferred the title of labor hero when it manufactured the latest facilities, large equipment and devices with its own efforts and technology in a short time.

Kim Jong Il was pleased to see anything made by women and gave prominence to them. Under his loving care many women have grown into labor heroes. They included labor innovators in different sectors of the national economy, sportspersons who demonstrated the heroic stamina of Songun Korea, teachers and patriotic peasants.

There are women heroes who took care of orphans and brought them up into pillars of the country in the Songun era.

It is a great pride of the WPK and DPRK to have such a large number of heroes who support the Party and the leader faithfully under the unfurled banner of Songun.