Present on the occasion were Members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK Jo Yong Won and Ri Pyong Chol, Minister of National Defence of the DPRK Kang Sun Nam, Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and other senior officials of the Party and the government, commanding officers of the Ministry of National Defence and commanders of the services, large combined units and combined units of the Korean People's Army.
Before the banquet, the Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu courteously conveyed the gift of the Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin to
When he entered the banquet hall with Sergei Shoigu, all the attendants greeted them with enthusiastic applause.
Ri Pyong Chol made a speech at the banquet.
He warmly welcomed Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, the closest comrade-in-arms and brother, and the entire members of the Russian military delegation to the significant banquet arranged on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the great war victory. And he stressed that this visit has become an occasion of powerfully demonstrating the might of unity and solidarity between the two countries which were forged with blood on the road of realizing the common ideal and objective and get firmer with each passing day.
He said the DPRK-Russia friendship provided and cultivated with care by the revolutionary forerunners of the two countries while fighting bloody battles together is being developed into the invincible relations of comrades-in-arms and the eternal strategic relations under the special concern of
The armies and peoples of the DPRK and Russia are defending peace and security of the region and the world and the international justice by pooling their efforts while keeping the power rights, development and interests of the state and powerfully supporting and encouraging each other at defiance with the brigandish strategy of the United Sates for world domination by dint of ideology and by force of arms, he added.
Upon the authorization of
He expressed the belief that the armies and peoples of the DPRK and Russia would be firmly united and invincible forever as genuine comrades and comrades-in-arms as long as there are the deep friendship between the leaders of the two countries and the tradition of victory and lofty spirit handed down by the victorious wartime generations.
Then, Sergei Shoigu spoke.
He extended his sincere congratulations to the entire Korean people on the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Fatherland Liberation War, representing the minds of the Russian people.
He emphasized that the Korean People's Army has gloriously carried forward the militant tradition of the guerrillas of Mt. Paektu and the respected generation and striven to build a powerful army in firm unity around its Supreme Commander, and thus become the most powerful army in the world.
He also said the KPA is reliably defending the country from the threats of the imperialists, devoting itself to the people and making an active contribution to the economic construction under the leadership of the WPK.
He prayed for long life in good health of all the veterans involved in the Fatherland Liberation War and for friendship and welfare of the peoples of the two countries and expressed the will of the Russian Federation to consistently develop many-sided cooperation with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
A performance was given in welcome of the military delegation of the Russian Federation at the banquet.
During the banquet,