Mun Kwang Il, A researcher at the Vocational Training School for Persons with Disabilities, is a man with physical disabilities.
When he was two, he became unable to speak and walk properly owing to cerebral palsy. With the passage of time he determined to fight against the fate of having to depend on the help from other people all his life. While getting Koryo medicine-based treatment and acupuncture from doctors of the Koryo Medicine General Hospital, he made persistent efforts to translate his determination into reality.
He spent several years doing difficult physical exercise for the purpose of getting rid of his motor neuropathy, thus becoming able to walk by himself. And he recovered the speaking faculty as well. Later some people advised him to get vocational training for hairdressing, beauty treatment or other easy job. He however entered a middle school like normal children.
His teachers and classmates sincerely helped him with his study and life. Thus he graduated from the school with good marks and was enrolled at Phyongsong College of Medical Sciences. At first, he had wished to become an engineer. But just before graduating from the middle school he made up his mind to specialize in medical science hoping to help physically handicapped people like his teachers and classmates had done him.
While majoring in Koryo medicine at college, he witnessed some people fall ill without any certain diseases. Then he found out the reason: Their immunity weakened, and thus their resistance to pathogenic radiation also dropped.
With the belief that the problem could be solved by raising the immunity of the human body, he started the relevant research. He pushed ahead with the project while having two or three hours of sleep a day. His mother, a Merited Scientist and doctor of the foodstuff engineering, gave him a lot of assistance.
Through his studies he knew that royal jelly is capable of raising the immunity of the human body and effectively preventing damage by pathogenic radiation, radioactive rays, in particular, as it is highly nutritive.
A dozen years of research brought him the success in developing eight kinds of royal jelly products. Among them are the royal jelly-based peach tree stem granules and the royal jelly-based hirudin capsules which won a gold medal and a bronze medal respectively at the 16th national inventions exhibition. His inventions are favourably commented upon in the neighbouring countries as well as at home. He is engaged in education of persons with disabilities. He prepared a new teaching program to suit the psychology and physical conditions of students with disabilities. It is now applied to a lot of student.
Mun says, “In my country persons with disabilities are given preferential treatment and social protection. But I don’t think it’s good they always expect help. The real trouble lies in mentality. Just stay out of the mental trouble, and you will be able to shake off your physical trouble.” Mun is enthusiastically engrossed in research and education.
Article: Ri Je Ryong
