In his opening address he said the meeting of secretaries of cells, the fourth in the glorious history of the WPK, is a significant meeting which was convened at the behest of leader Kim Jong Il, eternal general secretary of the WPK.

Recalling that Kim Jong Il considered the development of the party cells as a main link and master key to strengthening the whole party, successfully carrying forward President Kim Il Sung's cause of building a revolutionary party, he pointed out that Kim Jong Il lucidly penetrated into the requirements of the period of historic turn in accomplishing the revolutionary cause of Juche with his brilliant wisdom and rare far-sightedness and gave important teachings on organizing a meeting of secretaries of party cells with an attendance of 10 000 persons in the future so that the secretaries of the cells might contribute large shares to strengthening the party cells.

The current meeting will be an epochal turning point in increasing the party's capability in every way as required by the new era of the Juche revolution by decisively enhancing the function and role of the party cells, he noted, and continued:

We are facing tasks to further glorify the eternal revolutionary feats the great Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il performed in their lifetime, holding high the immortal banner of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism, and give steady continuity to building a thriving country and achieving the cause of national reunification.

In order to successfully carry out the important tasks of the party, it is necessary to change the appearance of the party as a political staff leading the revolution and construction and a mother party sharing life and death with the working popular masses.

The party cells, the grass-roots organizations of the party in strengthening it organizationally and ideologically, consolidating the ties of blood between the party and the people and powerfully mobilizing all service personnel and people to the building of a thriving country and scouts in implementing the party's policies, have very important duties to perform.

If hundreds of thousands of party cells active in all regions, fields and posts of the country are fully prepared, it will be possible to put fresh spurs to the party work and overall affairs of the state and encourage all service personnel and people to perform world-startling miracles.

When all party cell secretaries unite close around the Central Committee of the WPK and hundreds of thousands of party cells become unshakable cornerstones supporting it and fortresses, the prestige and capability of the party as a leader will remarkably increase and the red flag of the WPK will flutter on the eminence of a thriving nation.

The Central Committee of the WPK is determined to make this meeting a decisive occasion of bringing about a great turn in the overall party work by reviewing the successes, experience and defects in the past period and radically improving and strengthening the work of the party cells.

Expressing the belief that the meeting will satisfactorily carry out its work thanks to great enthusiasm and active participation of the comrades present and thus provide a historic landmark in strengthening and developing the party and building a thriving socialist nation, he declared the meeting open.