A kick-off meeting took place at the plaza before the statue of the Chairman in Samjiyon City of Ryanggang Province on Feb. 15.

Present at the ceremony were Kang Sin Chang, secretary of the Ryanggang Provincial Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, and members of the expedition.

The participants placed a floral basket and bouquets before the statue and paid tribute to it.

Jang Ryong Gil, vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the Socialist Patriotic Youth League, made a report to be followed by speeches.

The reporter and speakers stressed the need for the officials in charge of the ideological work of the youth league to arm themselves more firmly with the indomitable revolutionary spirit of Mt Paektu during the study tour, bearing in mind the lofty intention of the respected fatherly Marshal Kim Jong Un who made them tour the sacred revolutionary battle sites in Mt Paektu.

They expressed the determinations to carry on the march to Mt Paektu with a firm confidence in victory, sounding the bugle of advance generation after generation just as the anti-Japanese guerrillas did following the sacred course associated with the feats of the heaven-sent great man in the revolutionary battle sites of Mt Paektu.

After the ceremony the expedition members left Samjiyon City, flying red flags in the van of the ranks.