View of an April 11, 2017 military ceremony in front of Ku’msusan Memorial Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang marking the 105th birth anniversary of late DPRK President and founder Kim Il Sung (Photo: Rodong Sinmun).
The Korean People’s Army [KPA] conventional forces gathered at Ku’msusan Palace of the Sun on April 10 (Monday) to mark Sun’s Day, or the 105th birth anniversary of DPRK founder and president Kim Il Sung (Kim Il-so’ng). The ceremony included loyalty oaths to current leader Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n). In attendance were KPA General Political Department Director and State Affairs Commission Vice Chairman VMar Hwang Pyong So (Hwang Pyo’ng-so), Chief of the KPA General Staff VMar Ri Myong Su (Ri Myo’ng-su), Minister of the People’s Armed Forces Gen. Pak Yong Sik (Pak Yo’ng-sik), former Minister of the People’s Armed Forces and current Dean of Faculty at the Kim Il Sung Military University Post-Graduate School Kim Jong Gak (Kim Cho’ng-kak), Vice Chiefs of the KPA General Staff, Vice Ministers of the People’s Armed Forces, Deputy Directors of the KPA General Political Department, other members of the KPA high command and service members and officers of the KPA Ground Forces, the KPA Navy and the KPA Air and Anti-Air Force.
The KPA Military Band gathers in a formation at the start of the ceremony (Photo: KCNA).
The KPA Military Band played a musical interlude to begin the ceremony and then participants “paid high tribute to portraits” of KIS and late DPRK leader Kim Jong Il (Kim Cho’ng-il). A 21-gun salute was fired and then VMar Hwang Pyong So delivered a speech which paid “high tribute” to KIS and KJI and vowed “to remain loyal” to Jong Un.
VMar Hwang Pyong So, KPA General Political Department Director, delivers a speech and loyalty pledge during the ceremony (Photo: KCNA).
Hwang remarked that “Kim Il Sung founded and successfully embodied the immortal Chuch’e idea and So’ngun (military-first) idea, worked such a miracle as defeating the most ferocious US and Japanese imperialists in one generation and built a socialist power independent in politics, self-supporting in economy and self-reliant in national defense on this land” and that “Kim Jong Il, hewing out the thorny path of the So’ngun (military-first) revolution, won a series of victories in the struggle for defending socialism and in the confrontation with the US and laid an eternal foundation for the prosperity of the posterity by dedicating himself to the country.” Hwang pledged “the faith and will of all the service personnel to hold Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in high esteem as the eternal leaders of the party and the people and bring earlier the day of the final victory under the leadership of Kim Jong Un.”
Cadets of DPRK military academies and revolutionary schools march through Ku’msusan Plaza carrying images of KIS and and KJI (Photo: KCNA).
After VMar Hwang Pyong So’s speech, KPA service members and officers, joined by students of DPRK military academies and revolutionary schools participated marched through Ku’msusan Plaza.
KPA service members march through Ku’msusan Plaza in Pyongyang on April 10, 2017 following a ceremony marking Sun’s Day (Photo: Rodong Sinmun).
Filed under: 2007-2010 kpa management, 2017 Day of the Sun, Central Committee, Central Military Committee, Col. Gen. Choe Yong Ho, Col. Gen. Kim Hyong Ryong, Col. Gen. O Kum Chol, Col. Gen. Pak Jong Chon, Col. Gen. Son Chol Ju, colonel general, corps command, corps commanders, Gen. Pak Yong Sik (MPAF), Gen. Ri Myong Su, gsd, gsob, Guard Command, Hwang Pyong So, Hwang Pyong So (GPD; KPA VMAR), ideological slogans, Kim Family, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, KJI Personal Secretariat, Korean People's Army (KPA), Korean People's Air Force, Korean People's Air Force [KPAF], Korean People's Army Air Force, Korean Workers' Party (KWP), KPA General Political Bureau, KPA General Political Department, KPA General Propaganda Department, KPA General Staff, KPA infantry corps, KPA Large Combined Units, KPA Military Band, KPA Organization Department, KPA Party Life, KPA supernumerary organizations, KPA West Sea Command, KPA WPK Committee, Mechanized Command, Military Affairs, military security command [msc], Ministry of the People's Armed Forces (MPAF), MPAF GPB, Navy Command, Organization and Guidance Department, Political Bureau, Public Events, State Affairs Commission, Tank Command, VADM Ri Yong Chu, VMar Kim Jong Gak