The respected Comrade
The rostrum was taken by Kim Tok Hun, Jo Yong Won, Choe Ryong Hae and Ri Pyong Chol, Members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK, and other senior officials of the Party and the government, Chief Secretaries of the Provincial Committees of the WPK, leading officials of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, the Cabinet and the working people's organizations and war veterans.
Kang Sun Nam, Minister of National Defence of the DPRK; Jong Kyong Thaek, Director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army; Pak Su Il, Chief of the General Staff of the KPA; and other commanding personnel of the Ministry of National Defence, and the commanders of services and large combined units of the KPA came out to the rostrum.
The rostrum was also taken by Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, and Li Hongzhong, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China.
Attending the meeting were war veterans and people of wartime merits who are the masters of the great era of heroes, activists in the assistance to the army, meritorious persons, labour innovators, descendants of martyrs, young builders, officers and men of the KPA and students of the revolutionary schools.
Invited to the meeting were the members of the military delegation of the Russian Federation and the party and government delegation of the People's Republic of China on a visit to the DPRK to participate in the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War and foreign diplomatic representatives in the DPRK.
Ri Il Hwan, Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK and Secretary of the Party Central Committee, made a speech in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Fatherland Liberation War.
He, upon the authorization of the Party and the government, extended sincere greetings to the respected war veterans and people of wartime merits who participated in the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the war victory.
He warmly congratulated the people across the country and the service personnel of the People's Army on the V-Day.
He sent heartfelt thanks to the Communist Party of China, the government of the People's Republic of China and the entire Chinese people for invariably supporting and encouraging the just cause of the Party and people of Korea and warm regards to the veterans of the Chinese People's Volunteers and their bereaved families.
He said the Fatherland Liberation War was a war for defending our sovereignty, territory and people from the invasion of the formidable foreign imperialists and, at the same time, an all-out war between progressives and reactionaries for defending socialism and democratic camp from the arrogant attempt of the US imperialists to dominate the whole world and safeguarding peace of humanity, which left unprecedented records in its arduousness and fierceness.
Along with the war victory, the DPRK was clearly imprinted in the sight of the world as a bulwark in the East defending independence and justice in the resolute fight against the most ferocious and formidable US imperialists and the name and flag of our dignified country could shine all over the world as a symbol of heroism and banner of victory in the anti-imperialist struggle, the speaker said and referred to the historic significance and profound meaning of the victory in the Fatherland Liberation War.
He went on to say:
The legendary decades and watersheds of turning point that admired the world people in the past 70 years from the day of war victory were provided unexceptionally in the period of complicated external and internal situations and national crises, and the numerous heroic feats that excited the times were all associated with the revolutionary spirit of the victorious wartime generation.
It is the greatest pride and honour of our Party and people to have the history of victory which will defend the strong breath of the ever-victorious Korean revolution and glorify the mightiness and invincibility of the DPRK forever.
The WPK and the DPRK government have dynamically covered the road of strengthening the military capability, regarding the self-reliant national defence as a basic policy despite all sorts of challenges and severe trials of history. The history remembers how peace is kept and defended for a long time in this country which becomes the venue of fierce confrontation between the two poles opposed ideologically and institutionally.
70 years ago, the Korean people waged a heroic struggle with selfless mental and material assistance from the peace-loving people of the world and thus wrote a great history in which justice wins against injustice and progressives against reactionaries.
During the Fatherland Liberation War, the Chinese party and government sent their excellent sons and daughters to the Korean front in spite of difficult conditions, thereby making a sacrificial contribution to the war victory and rendering great services to defending the security of their country and defending the socialist post in the East, he added.
The speaker warmly welcomed once again General Sergei Shoigu, Defence Minister of the Russian Federation, a friendly neighbour, who came to Pyongyang in congratulation of the great holiday of the DPRK, and extended sincere militant regards to the Russian government, army and people in their historic struggle to defeat those threatening and destroying their power rights, security and interests and build a powerful Russia.
He affirmed that the Korean people would struggle indomitably in firm unity around the great Comrade
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu read the congratulatory speech sent by the Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin to the participants in the national meeting for celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Korean people's victory in the Fatherland Liberation War on the occasion of the V-Day.
At the meeting, Jo Yong Won, Member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK and Secretary for Organizational Affairs of the Party Central Committee, conveyed the congratulatory message of the Party Central Committee to the entire people and service personnel of the People's Army who rendered immortal services to glorifying the tradition of victory of heroic Korea.