KPA service members (C) watch a fireworks display (L, R) held after a loyalty meeting near Kim Jong Il’s mythic birthplace on Mt. Paektu on 12 February 2013 to commemorate KJI’s birth anniversary (Photos: KCTV screengrabs, Rodong Sinmun)
DPRK state media reported on 12 February that the annual loyalty meeting was held near Kim Jong Il’s mythic birthplace next to Mt. Paektu. Attending the ceremony, held the same day as the country tested a nuclear device, were KWP Secretary Kim Ki Nam, National Defense Commission Vice Chairman VMar Kim Yong Chun, Director of the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces’ Political Bureau Ri Pyong Sam, Chairman of the Kim Il Sung (Socialist) Youth League Jon Yong Nam, Vice Minister of the People’s Armed Forces Gen. Kan Phyo Yong and “officials of the party and armed forces organs, working people’s organizations, ministries and national institutions, service personnel of the Korean People’s Army and the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces and people from all walks of life.”
KWP Secretary and Department Director Kim Ki Nam speaks during a loyalty meeting held near Mt. Paektu on 12 February 2013 (Photo: KCTV screengrab)
Vice Minister of the People’s Armed Forces Gen. Kang Phyo Yong (C) delivers a speech at a loyalty meeting held near Mt. Paektu on 12 February 2013 to commemorate Kim Jong Il’s birth. Also seen in attendance in this image behind Gen. Kang are Col. Gen. Ri Pyong Sam (L) and VMar Kim Yong Chun (R) (Photo: KCTV screengrab)
Several speeches were made before “fireworks were displayed in the sky above the Paektusan Secret Camp.” Kim Ki Nam said that “Kim Jong Il developed the WPK into the glorious party of President Kim Il Sung, the invincible guiding force and laid an eternal foundation for accomplishing the revolutionary cause of Chuch’e” and “stressed the need to achieve the final victory in an all-out action against the U.S. in the new century and build the most powerful country and the people’s paradise on this land looked up to by the world, under the uplifted banner of the WPK led by the dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un.” Gen. Kang Phyo Yong** said “The revolutionary feats of Kim Jong Il who provided the invincible military muscle and single-minded unity, holding arms and with intense love for the country and people, will shine long.” Jon Yong Nam said “Kim Jong Il enforced the policies of attaching importance to youth and loving youth and brought them up to be the reliable political reserves of the party and the successors of the revolution” and “resolved to display the pride of being reserve combat unit and detached force of Kim Jong Un and win the final victory in building a thriving nation, holding high the torch of revolution given by Kim Jong Il.”
**Kang Phyo Yong may have been promoted as he was last known to hold the rank of KPA Colonel-General (sangjang)
Filed under: 2013 Day of the Shining Star (KJI Birthday), Central Committee, Central Military Committee, Civil Defense Department, Col. Gen. Ri Pyong Sam, colonel general, corps command, Culture Section (bureau), DPRK Cabinet, DPRK Civil Defense Forces, Events Management Section, Gen. Kang Phyo Yong (MPAF), Guard Command, Jon Yong Nam (KISYL), Kim Family, Kim Il Sung Youth League, kim jong suk, Kim Jong-il, Kim Ki Nam, kisyl, KJI Personal Secretariat, Korean People's Army (KPA), Korean People's Internal Security Forces, Korean Workers' Party (KWP), KPA General Political Bureau, KPA General Political Department, KPA supernumerary organizations, kpif, Mangyo'ngdae Revolutionary School Alumni, ministry of people's security, Ministry of the People's Armed Forces (MPAF), MPAF GPB, National Defense Commission (NDC), national holidays, North Korean press, Organization and Guidance Department, Party elders, party life, Political Bureau, Propaganda and Agitation Department, Provincial Party Committees, reserve training units, Secretariat, VMar Kim Yong Chun, worker peasant red guard, Working Organizations
