The square was packed with at least 100,000 citizens.

Senior party and state officials were among those present there.

Mun Kyong Dok, alternate member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea who is chief secretary of the Pyongyang City Committee of the WPK, delivered a report at the rally.

He said that the joint New Year editorial called for accelerating the development of light industry once again this year to bring about a decisive turn in the improvement of the people's standard of living and the building of a thriving nation.

It is like a militant banner encouraging the entire party, army and all the people to conduct a fresh general offensive, he added.

He underscored the need to speed up the construction of 100,000 flats in Pyongyang and other major projects, spruce up the streets, villages and work sites in a hygienic and cultured manner and turn the capital city into the more beautiful and modern city.

A letter sent by the employees of the complex to all the working people across the country was read out to be followed by speeches.

Kim Yong Nam, manager of the Pyongyang Daily Necessities Factory, who spoke on behalf of the workers called on the workers in the capital to channel efforts into the offensive so as to bring about great innovations and leap forward in the production of mass consumption goods in response to the military call of the Party and to the letter sent by workers of the Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex.

Jong Yong Suk, chairwoman of the management board of the Rihyon Vegetable Co-op Farm in Sadong District, who spoke on behalf of the agricultural workers, called on them to boost the per-unit grain output by introducing high-yielding choice seeds, increasing the area for double-cropping and actively applying latest farming methods and technologies including organic farming method.

Choe In Sop, secretary of the Pyongyang City Committee of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, who spoke on behalf of the young people called on them to work miracles in the difficult and labor-consuming work sites including the Paektusan Songun Youth Power Station. He also urged them to play a pivotal role in pushing back the frontiers of science and technology in all domains.

Kim Chol Ho, dean of a faculty of Kim Chaek University of Technology, who spoke on behalf of the intellectuals, underlined the need to register and introduce valuable research achievements as many and as fast as possible and thus dynamically speed up the offensive to put the economy on an indigenous and Juche basis.

The rally was followed by a mass demonstration.