Present there on invitation were the congratulatory groups of overseas Koreans and compatriots staying in the socialist homeland.

Kim Yang Gon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Kang Ji Yong, director of the Bureau of Service for Overseas Compatriots, and other officials were on hand.

The secretary, in his speech, warmly welcomed all the overseas compatriots who came to the DPRK to celebrate the February holiday with the people in the homeland.

He said that thanks to the patriotic devotion of Kim Jong Il, world-startling events and miracles are being made everywhere in the DPRK.

He called on the overseas compatriots to remain true to the leadership of Kim Jong Il and leave traces of worthwhile lives in the sacred road of building a thriving socialist nation and achieving national reunification.

Head of the congratulatory group of the Koreans in Japan Pae Jin Gu, vice-chairman of the Central Standing Committee of the General Association of Korean residents in Japan, extended the warmest congratulations to Kim Jong Il, reflecting the profound loyalty of all the overseas Koreans.

The sacred life of Kim Jong Il is the one of devotion and labor for the eternal prosperity and happiness of the country and the nation and the cause of building a great prosperous and powerful nation, he said.

He called upon the overseas compatriots to keep pace with the forced march of Kim Jong Il and make a positive contribution to hastening the day of building a thriving nation and thus fulfill their duties and obligations.