The runners are to arrive in Pyongyang through east and west coastal areas.

A meeting was held on the top of Mt. Paektu Monday to kick off the race.

Jon Yong Nam, chairman of the C.C., the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, made a report there.

Reflected in the torch relay race is the noble intention and great expectation of the dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un that the five million young vanguard would continue to display the spirit of devotedly defending the leader and carry forward the tradition of single-minded unity and heroic struggle, following the great Workers' Party of Korea by inheriting the brilliant history and tradition of the Korean youth movement, the reporter said.

The Korean youth movement has greeted a new heyday of its development as it is holding Kim Jong Un in high esteem as the supreme leader of the party, state and army, he stressed.

The movement is more dynamically advancing thanks to Kim Jong Un's politics of attaching importance to the youth and loving them, he added.

As the torch relay race was declared, the ranks set off, divided into east and west coastal areas, holding high the torches with the flags bearing the portraits of smiling President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il in the van.