Present there on invitation were Pak Ui Chun, minister of Foreign Affairs, Mun Jae Chol, acting chairman of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, Kim Hyong Jun, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, and officials concerned.

Staff members of the Palestinian embassy were on hand.

Riyad Shehada in his speech at the reception said that Kim Jong Il has defended the gains of the revolution, shattering the imperialists' moves to stifle the DPRK, and turned it into an impregnable bulwark by pursuing his unique Songun politics.

Referring to the fact that Kim Jong Il kindled the torch of a new great revolutionary surge to bring about a historic turn on all fronts for building a thriving nation, he expressed the belief that the Korean people closely united around Kim Jong Il would open the gate to a great prosperous and powerful nation in 2012.

Pak Ui Chun in his reply noted that the birth of Kim Jong Il as a bright star of Mt. Paektu was the greatest fortune of the Korean people and a historic event of the nation as it guaranteed the eternal prosperity of the country and the inheritance and accomplishment of the Juche revolutionary cause.

It is the consistent stand of the DPRK government to boost the relations of friendship between the DPRK and Palestine forged by President Kim Il Sung together with President Yasser Arafat, he said, adding that the DPRK government would send invariable support to the just cause of the Palestinian people to regain their legitimate national rights.