Present there on invitation were Choe Thae Bok, chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, Pak Ui Chun, minister of Foreign Affairs, Pak Kyong Son, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Pak Jae Gyong, vice-minister of the People's Armed Forces, Kung Sok Ung, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, and officials concerned.

Staff members of the embassy were on hand.

The Russian ambassador said in his speech that the august name of Kim Jong Il who has paid deep attention to the development of the friendly, good-neighborly and cooperative relations with Russia is widely known as the leader of the party, the army, the state and the people of the DPRK and an outstanding statesman.

He hoped that under the leadership of Kim Jong Il the friendly Korean people would make new success in their struggle to open the gate to a great, prosperous and powerful nation in 2012, the centenary of birth of President Kim Il Sung, the founder of the DPRK.

Choe Thae Bok in his speech said that the birth of Kim Jong Il was a great fortune of Korea, a great auspicious event of the nation as it heralded a rosy future of the revolutionary cause of Juche, adding that he has led the Korean revolution and the human cause of independence to victory with his extraordinary wisdom, outstanding political caliber, strong will and matchless courage.

Referring to the fact that Kim Jong Il has paid deep attention to the development of the relations between the DPRK and Russia, he added that it is the consistent stand of the DPRK to steadily develop the traditional friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries in accordance with the intentions of the top leaders of the two countries and the spirit of the joint documents signed between the two sides.

He sincerely hoped that everything would go well in the neighborly Russia in the future, too.