Present there on invitation were Choe Thae Bok, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the WPK Central Committee, Kim Yong Jin, chairman of the Education Commission, Hyon Sang Ju, chairman of the C.C., the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea, Ri Chang Gun, vice department director of the WPK Central Committee, Kim Hyong Jun, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, and officials concerned.

The ambassador said at the reception that they are happy to join the Korean people in celebrating Kim Jong Il's reelection as general secretary of the WPK and its 65th birthday.

The friendly relations between the two countries are further developing under the deep care of Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Abbas, he said, expressing belief that the WPK would perform miracles in all fields under the wise and tested leadership of Kim Jong Il.

Choe Thae Bok said in his speech that it is a great political event to have invariably had Kim Jong Il at the top post of the WPK and the revolution and this strikingly demonstrated the steadfast faith and will of all the servicepersons and people to accomplish the cause of building a thriving socialist power of Juche.

It is the consistent stand of the DPRK government to steadily develop the traditional relations of friendship between the DPRK and Palestine provided by President Kim Il Sung and President Yasser Arafat, he said, adding:

We will extend invariable support and encouragement to the Palestinian people in the just cause of founding an independent sovereign state.