When the war had entered a phase of stalemate along the 38th parallel, the government had time to officially launch the decoration, originally under the name Korea Hero of Labor.

[2] Hero of Labor was probably scheduled to be established in the summer of 1950, but the breaking up of the Korean War halted the plans.

[3] It was initially promulgated as Korea Hero of Labor, using the Korean word Choson (조선).

He received one only on 7 September 1958, probably because he had consolidated his position in power following the 1956 attempted coup d'état known as the August Faction Incident.

Kim Jong Il was never awarded one, leading observers to conclude that the prize did not have much political value at least at that time.