North Korea Holds Kim Jong-il's 80th Birthday Rally... Kim Jong-un Attends but No 'Speech' (Summary)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] North Korea held a central reporting meeting near Baekdu Mountain in Samjiyon City to commemorate the 80th birthday of Kim Jong-il, Chairman of the National Defense Commission, with Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party, in attendance.

Korean Central News Agency reported on the 16th, "The central reporting meeting celebrating the 80th birthday of Comrade Kim Jong-il was held on February 15 in the revolutionary sacred place Samjiyon City, in front of the statue of the great General we highly revere.

On that day, General Secretary Kim attended the reporting meeting, laid a flower basket in front of the statue, and greeted the statue of Kim Jong-il together with party officials. However, there was no separate report on whether he delivered a message.

The event was attended by Choe Ryong-hae, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, Jo Yong-won, Party Organization Secretary, Kim Tok-hun, Premier of the Cabinet, and Kim Yo-jong, Deputy Department Director and sister of General Secretary Kim.

Party Secretary Ri Il-hwan, in a report titled 'Let us complete the great Comrade Kim Jong-il's cause to the end with the revolutionary spirit of Baekdu,' stated, "We will hold fast to the great Kim Il-sung?Kim Jong-ilism as the lifeline for inheriting and completing the Juche revolutionary cause for 100 years, 200 years to come, and on the path of realizing it, we will welcome the complete victory of socialism and the communist society."

Samjiyon City near Baekdu Mountain symbolizes the 'root of the Baekdu bloodline' as claimed by North Korea and is the hometown of Kim Jong-il.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.