The full text of the message of congratulations reads as follows:

I, in the name of the people in the homeland, extend warm congratulations and compatriotic greetings, along with the hearts of the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, to all the teaching staff, students and graduates of Korea University who are celebrating their university's 60th founding anniversary at a meaningful time when the dignity and national strength of our Democratic People's Republic of Korea are being demonstrated on the highest level and a new era of prosperity is dawning in the country.

The 60-year history of Korea University is a history of the deep, warm and ennobling affection for the compatriots and the nation cherished by the peerlessly great men of Mt Paektu, who made every possible effort for the education of the younger generations of Chongryon (General Association of Korean Residents in Japan), and a history of patriotic devotion with which the officials of Chongryon and other compatriots resident in Japan worked to safeguard their democratic national rights and promote national education.

Until the last period of his life since he had Korea University built in the heart of Japan as the supreme temple of democratic national education during the difficult period of postwar rehabilitation, President Kim Il Sung showed unstinting affection and benevolence for the development of Chongryon and Korea University.

It was under his warm care that, even when the country was facing economic difficulties, a large amount of educational aid funds and stipends were sent to the students of Korea University on a yearly basis; such a legendary tale of great love is unprecedented in the history of overseas compatriots' movement.

General Kim Jong Il made painstaking efforts to build up Korea University, which was developed under the President's close concern, into the base for training Chongryon officials where the ideological and leadership system of Juche has been thoroughly established, and into the "pedigree farm" for training native talents.

Despite his tight schedule for the Songun-based revolutionary leadership, the General met the teaching staff and students of Korea University, according them the greatest honour, and showed particular care and benevolence for the bright future of the university.

The paternal love he showed to train the children of Chongryon-affiliated compatriots into dependable successors to the patriotic cause permeates the whole of Korea University?faculties, educational system, curriculum, modern educational equipment, specimens of animals and plants, and campus.

Indeed, the President and the General were the founder and builder of our Korea University, benevolent fathers and mentors of its teaching staff and students, and Korea University is, both in name and in reality, the university of the President and the General, the DPRK's dignified, Juche-oriented university for overseas compatriots, which was founded and built up under the great leaders' benevolent care.

Over the past 60 years since its establishment Korea University, as the supreme temple of national education, centre of scientific research and bulwark for the preservation of the national identity, has rendered a great service to building up the organizations of Chongryon and developing the movement of Koreans in Japan under the wise guidance and warm care of the great leaders.

In the past the teaching staff of the university have devoted their all to the national education of Chongryon without pursuit of any personal fame or reward, and its graduates have performed with credit the core role in developing the movement of Koreans in Japan by taking over the baton of love for their homeland and nation.

Recorded in the chapters of the proud history traversed by the university are the ardent patriotic loyalty and devoted efforts of the university graduates and their parents and other compatriots from all walks of life in Japan who have worked with devotion for the development of Chongryon and the future of the movement of Koreans in Japan.

Because we have such dependable patriots who strive not for their own wealth and prosperity but solely for the development of national education and Chongryon, invariably following the road of patriotism on which nobody can easily embark in an alien land where money talks, the dignity of our country is further exalted and the baton of the patriotic cause of Chongryon is being carried forward reliably.

Korea University, the one and only university in the world for a country's overseas compatriots, is indeed a source of great pride and honour for our country and nation and a precious asset for Chongryon and Korean compatriots in Japan.

I extend warm thanks to all the teaching staff of the university, officials of Chongryon and other Korean compatriots in Japan who, as gardeners and foundation for cultivating the flower garden of national education of Chongryon, have rendered a positive contribution to founding and developing Korea University, upholding the great leaders' Juche-oriented idea of national education and leadership.

Today, when the movement of Koreans in Japan has entered a historic stage of ushering in its new heyday holding the great Comrades

Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in high esteem in the vanguard of the Juche-oriented overseas compatriots' movement, Korea University shoulders a very heavy responsibility.

In accordance with the historic mission and basic duty it has assumed before the times and the country the university should train all its students to be the backbone of the movement of Koreans in Japan and reliable successors to the patriotic cause, who are possessed with an ennobling spirit and profound knowledge, so as to continuously demonstrate its prestige and fame as the university of the overseas citizens of the dignified DPRK.

The tradition of loyalty and love for the country and nation is the original feature and lifeblood of Korea University.

Korea University should champion and add eternal brilliance to the great leaders' immortal leadership exploits associated with it and establish in it the ideological and leadership system of Juche in a more thoroughgoing way, so as to train all its students to be the youth core who are fully equipped with the Juche-oriented outlook on the world and are ready to share life and death with their socialist homeland whatever the situation.

It should produce a larger number of competent experts ideologically steadfast and well-versed in science and technology as demanded by the organizations of Chongryon and the community of Koreans in Japan, by establishing the Juche orientation in national education and putting the contents and methods of education on a patriotic, scientific and IT footing in line with the requirements of the movement of Koreans in Japan and the new century.

In order to train students to be reliable youth core and patriotic talents who can shoulder the future of the movement of Koreans in Japan, teachers, who are in direct charge of education and edification, should become genuine revolutionaries and educationists.

Teachers of Korea University, by steadily improving their political and ideological, scientific and technological qualifications, should ensure political and ideological character, scientific accuracy and applicability of the contents of education, and conduct all forms of education, including lessons and seminars, in conformity with the levels of the students and their ages and psychological features.

Cherishing a high aim and beautiful dreams and ideals to shoulder the future of Chongryon and the movement of Koreans in Japan, all the students of Korea University should learn and learn zealously, keep up-to-date with the reality of their prospering socialist homeland and breathe the same air as it all the time.

The committee of the Korean Youth League in Japan at Korea University should prepare all the students as pillars of the patriotic cause, who are steadfast in their faith and ready to devote their all to their organization and collective, by establishing a revolutionary habit of studying and effectively conducting five-point education among students.

National education is the lifeline and great foundation of the movement of Koreans in Japan which has a bearing on the destiny of Chongryon and determines the success or failure of its patriotic cause.

Organizations, affiliates and other organs of Chongryon at all levels including its Central Standing Committee should bear deep in mind that the lifeline of the movement of Koreans in Japan is guaranteed by Korea University, the supreme temple of national education, take warm care of its students as their own flesh and blood, and vigorously advance the educational work of the university as an undertaking involving the whole community of Koreans in Japan.

Bright and promising is the future of Korea University shining together with the august names of the peerlessly great men of Mt Paektu, and definite is final victory for Chongryon and the movement of Koreans in Japan as there is a large contingent of reliable successors who are studying at this university, the "pedigree farm" for training the core of Chongryon.

I firmly believe that Korea University will fully guarantee the long-term development of the Juche-oriented movement of Koreans in Japan by training reliable successors to the patriotic cause of Chongryon as intended and desired by the great leaders.