PYONYANG, February 17 (Itar-Tass) — A grand performance under the slogan “We Will Be Loyal down through Generations” was held in Pyongyang’s Indoor Stadium to mark the 70th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s birth that was celebrated on Thursday as the “Day of the Shining Star.”
Present to view the performance was Kim Jong Un, supreme leader of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the state and army of the DPRK, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported on Friday.
It was also enjoyed by Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly Kim Yong Nam, Prime Minister Choe Yong Rim, Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) Ri Yong Ho and other senior party, state and army officials, officials of party, armed forces and power bodies, social organisations, ministries and national institutions, scientific, educational, cultural and art, public health and press organs and men and officers of the KPA and the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces.
Present to watch it were the overseas compatriot delegations and individuals including a delegation of Koreans in Japan to commemorate the Day of the Shining Star, the chief of the Pyongyang mission of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front, representatives of embassies of different countries and international organisations and members of the military attaches corps here, the agency said.
According to KCNA, the performance included mixed duet and chorus “Cantata to Comrade Kim Jong Il,” an all-people hymn sung by the Korean army and people in every period of the revolution. Among them are also choruses “Old Home Covered with Snow” and “The General Is the Son of the Guerrillas,” piano duet and chorus “O Korea, I Will Add Glory to Thee,” female solo and chorus “Snowflakes Falling in the Night Sky,” male solo and male chorus “Song of Comradeship,” male chorus “The General Uses the Art of Compressing Space” and male solo and mixed chorus “We Will Never Forget,” glorifying the immortal merits of Kim Jong Il, which over the past 17 years pursued the policy of Songun (Army first policy).
On the same day the North Korean parliament's head gave a state reception on the occasion of such an important date for the DPRK. Invitations to attend the event were extended to the heads of diplomatic missions operating in the country and international humanitarian organisations.
On Thursday, KPA soldiers and officers gathered at the square in front of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace where are the tombs of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, and swore allegiance to the new leader of the country. KPA soldiers of KPA pledged “to bravely safeguard” Kim Jong Il’s youngest son, who, after the sudden death of his father become the head of the army, party and state, pledged to “share his destiny,” as well as actively participate “in building a powerful and prosperous nation.”
Kim Jong Un at the rally wore a dark double-breasted overcoat. Against the background of a huge portrait of a smiling Kim Jong Il in the square, Kim Jong Un as the supreme commander received a parade of the KPA with military equipment – multiple rocket launchers, armoured personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, howitzers and anti-aircraft guns.