Present there on invitation were Choe Thae Bok, chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, Ri Ryong Nam, minister of Foreign Trade, Jong Yong Su, minister of Labour, Kim Jong Suk, chairwoman of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, and officials concerned.

Staff members of the Iranian embassy were on hand.

The ambassador said in his speech at the reception that the friendly relations between Iran and the DPRK forged by the leaders of the two countries have grown stronger in the fields of politics, economy and culture.

Noting that the Iranian government has paid special attention to the development of friendly relations with the DPRK, he expressed the hope that the Korean people would grandly commemorate the centenary of birth of President Kim Il Sung.

Choe Thae Bok said in his speech that the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries provided by President Kim Il Sung together with leaders of Iran are growing stronger even under the complicated international situation.

He stressed that the Korean people would as ever set store by the above-said relations and make effort to boost them in various fields.