A. Usupbayev, chairman of the Central Council of the People Unity

"Kyrgys El" Republican Party who is chief of the Group for the Study of the Juche Idea, said:

Kim Jong Il was born in Mt. Paektu, a pivotal base of the anti-Japanese armed struggle led by President Kim Il Sung, at the time when Korea was under the military occupation by Japan.

At that time the revolutionaries and people of Korea regarded his birth as a great event promising the bright future of the nation.

Kim Jong Il firmly protected the sovereignty of the country and socialism from the imperialists' moves for aggression, holding high the banner of Songun as befitting the son of guerillas.

The Korean people always cherish Mt. Paektu in their mind.

February 16 will always be remembered by the Korean people and progressive mankind.

Constantin Rotaru, chairman of the Romanian Socialist Union, praised Kim Jong Il as the great leader who turned the DPRK into an impregnable socialist power.

Daniel Dediu, chairman of the Romanian Workers' Association, said Kim Jong Il was the great leader and father of people who dedicated himself to the prosperity of the country and its people's happiness all his life.

The Korean people are holding him in high esteem as the eternal general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and celebrating his birth anniversary as the Day of the Shining Star, he added.