Daily Schedule of a Centenarian

There lives an old woman named Jon Saeng Won in Neighbourhood Unit No. 8 of Chukjon-dong No. 2 in Mangyongdae District, Pyongyang.

Though she is over 100 years old, she gets up at 5:30 every morning. After washing up, she begins to tend the pots in the verandahs of her flat. Then she sometimes assists her granddaughter-in-law in preparing breakfast and setting up the table, and urges her family to have their breakfast quickly lest they should be late for work.

After breakfast, she has a walk and tends the flower garden. Although her flat is on the 20th floor, she often walks down without using the lift.

After having an after-lunch nap for about an hour, she cleans her house and does other chores like needlework. Her son, daughter-in-law and the rest of the family often tell her to have a rest.

She enjoys singing the song Arirang. On her 100th birthday in June she sang the song so nicely without making any mistake that her guests were much surprised.

Possibly, her optimistic and lively character, rational and balanced diet composed mainly of vegetable dishes and diligent lifestyle are a key to her long life.

She brought up four sons and four daughters admirably and devoted efforts for the unity and harmony of society and the collective while working as the head of a neighbourhood unit for a long time.

She often asks her children to work harder for their benevolent socialist system.