The rallies were held in North Phyongan and South Hwanghae provinces on Sunday.

Present there were officials of the local party, armed forces and power organs and working people's organizations, service persons of the KPA and the Korean People's Internal Security Forces, officials and other people of industrial establishments and co-op farms and teachers and students of universities and colleges.

The statement of a spokesman for the KPA Supreme Command was read out at the rallies by Ri Man Gon, chief secretary of the North Phyongan Provincial Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, and Pak Yong Ho, chief secretary of the South Hwanghae Provincial Committee of the WPK, respectively.

Then followed speeches.

The speakers said the statement of a spokesman for the KPA Supreme Command was an expression of the steadfast faith of the army and people of the DPRK to finally settle accounts with those who infringe upon its independent dignity.

Branding the U.S. as the arch criminal which compelled the DPRK to conduct the underground nuclear test for self-defence, they bitterly denounced the U.S. for wantonly violating the legitimate right of a sovereign state to launch a satellite and kicking up a highhanded campaign to stifle the DPRK, straining the situation to an extreme phase.

It is the final conclusion and will of the DPRK to settle accounts with the U.S., the sworn enemy of the Korean nation, with arms only, they said, noting that all the service personnel and people are fully ready to fight a decisive battle with the enemy.

They called for resolutely shattering the reckless war moves of the U.S. imperialists and other hostile forces and accomplishing the historic cause of national reunification, rallied close around the great party as firm as a rock.