Present there were Kim Yong Nam, Pak Pong Ju and other leading officials of the party and state, the chairperson of a friendly party, deputies to the Supreme People's Assembly, officials of the armed forces and power bodies, the Cabinet, working people's organizations, ministries and national institutions, heroes, people of merit, the congratulatory group of Koreans in Japan, overseas compatriots and the chief of the Pyongyang mission of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front.

Present there on invitation were diplomatic envoys representatives of international organizations and military attaches of foreign embassies here and their wives and other foreign guests.

Kim Yong Nam, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK, made a speech at the banquet.

He said that the history of the DPRK is the one of miracles in which the weak colonial country, once eclipsed in the world map, turned into an invincible power demonstrating its dignity before the world and the proud one in which it has paved a new road for nation-building in the era of independence.

He extended the highest tribute and eternal glory to President Kim Il Sung, founder of the DPRK, who built a genuine people's power, the first of its kind in the history of the nation spanning thousands of years, and leader Kim Jong Il who provided an eternal foundation for the country's eternal prosperity for all generations to come.

He noted that the DPRK government would regard it as its general goal to build an economic power and improve the people's standard of living, translate the beautiful dream and ideal of the people into a shining reality and thus make hurrah for the Workers' Party and socialism resound forth across the country for all ages.

He stressed that no force can block the dynamic advance of the great Paektusan nation full of conviction, making a leap forward with youthful vigor under the leadership of Marshal Kim Jong Un, and the DPRK will always emerge victorious.