He said:

Paying a congratulatory visit to the headquarters of the Navy on the occasion of the Navy Day, I would like to convey a floral basket to extend warm congratulations to all the officers and men of our Navy upon the authorization by our Party and government.

I pay militant salute to all the commanding officers and soldiers of the navy, who are reliably defending the sovereignty, territorial integrity and peace of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, flying the flags of warships associated with feats even at this moment, and extend warm greetings to the families of the service personnel of the Navy who are lavishing affection and love on defending the territorial waters along with the sailors.

To strengthen the naval force has always arisen as an essential task for the national defence and the army building in the DPRK, a maritime country surrounded by the sea on three sides, in view of the historical and practical requirements, he said, and went on:

So far, the tentacles of aggression against our country have been stretched mainly through sea, and our people had been compelled to undergo miserable suffering for a long time.

On August 28, 1949, the historic day 74 years ago, we finally proclaimed the establishment of a fleet, the solemn start of the proud history of the Navy, and have trained our own naval force since then. This brilliant course has so far played a really great and important role in defending peace of this country.

Recorded in the sacred history of our People’s Army, which has reliably defended the sovereignty and dignity of the Republic with arms since its founding day up to now, is the distinguished contribution by the Navy which has covered a militant course full of peerless heroism and bravery, and its role in rapidly changing military theory and practice is being further prioritized with each passing day.

In modern warfare, the navy is a comprehensive war force that has various strike means and even the nuclear deterrence of the state and operates them. It is possible to defend the security of the country with fully prepared naval force only.

For the important role of the navy and, in particular, the geopolitical peculiarity of our state, it is even contended that the ground, naval and air forces should be called the naval, ground and air forces in the future.

Our navy should play the biggest role in defending the sovereignty, dignity and development and interests of the DPRK in the future, too, as well as in contingency.

In order to acquaint myself with the urgent problems arising in strengthening the naval force of such great significance on the spot and to propose a series of important measures, I inspected the Guards 2nd Surface Ship Flotilla of the East Sea Fleet some days ago and have visited the Navy Command ahead of the Navy Day.

Saying that he could hardly repress his deep reverence for the sacred 70-odd years of the KPA Navy as he came to see the brave frontline soldiers defending the Party and the revolution on the long sea route and the commanding officers of the Navy who have kept to the route of loyalty, firmly holding fast to the helm of faith without any change even in the raging waves, he continued:

Born from scratch with the indomitable spirit as its lifeblood, our Navy has recorded the annals of the revolution with victories and miracles by fully displaying the mettle and courage of boldly fighting against any formidable enemy without fear.

The glorious history of the Navy spanning over 70 years is constituted by the brilliant records of the great self-sacrificing spirit and the heroic struggle of the sailors who were able to defend the country and the revolution only with victory.

Although our Navy had not been armed with up-to-date weapons and combat equipment, the military merits it had performed were by no means inferior to those of other services, but great achievements of more weighty significance than any other services.

The blue sea guarded by you has become the theater of the lingering fiercest confrontation with the hostile forces even today, to say nothing of the period of the Fatherland Liberation War and the postwar period.

The sea represented the dignity and honor of the country and the victory or failure of the battle in the sea always decided the result of confrontation decisive of the destiny of the country and the people.

The enemy our Navy faced for the first time and those it had to fight against constantly were the powerful forces boasting of the naval warfare history of one hundred and tens of years, but our sailors fought more bravely and stubbornly without flinching even an inch because their battles were directly linked to the victory of the country.

From the postwar period up to now, our sea has never been in peace, but has always been clear and blue thanks to the indomitable spirit and bravery of our naval fighters and has been firmly defended as rich resources and wealth of the country and the people.

Thanks to our Navy, indeed, there has been no space in the sea for the invaders to intrude, though it is very vast over the horizon.

Whenever the country faced grave challenges and crises, the indomitable images of our sailors stood out in bolder relief and our proud naval flags fluttered at the battlefields where the honor of heroic Korea was demonstrated in peacetime, not wartime.

The invulnerable bravery, displayed in the sea battle against the pirates, incomparably huger in the light of combat personnel and military equipment, made the characteristics peculiar to our People's Army and the secret of its invincibility be known widely, and the history of our victorious Navy bringing world-startling combat results adds glory to the long history of army building.

The fame of the KPA Navy is brilliantly inscribed as the symbol of bravery and faith of our indomitable people and as the honor of the foremost defender of our Party and revolution.

Invincibility must be an unchangeable banner of our Navy and the honor of the country should go along with the feats of the sailors in the future, too.

He said that it is the supreme task facing the naval force to develop into a powerful Juche-based service capable of perfectly carrying out its historic mission for the defence of the territorial waters and the preparations for a revolutionary war.

The Eighth Congress of the WPK set forth the militant tasks for developing our revolutionary armed forces into a genuine army of the Party modeled on the monolithic idea and an ultra-modern army and radically improving the modernity and fighting capacity of the Navy in a short span of time in conformity with the requirements of the developing revolution and the state security and the new world trend of military development.

To achieve the successes in rapidly developing the naval force has become a very urgent issue in view of the enemies' recent aggressive attempts and character of military actions.

Recently, the U.S. imperialists are getting more frantic than ever before in the joint naval military exercises with their vassal forces in the waters around the DPRK, while putting the deployment of reinforced nuclear strategic assets in the waters around the Korean peninsula on a permanent basis.

Recently, the gang bosses of the U.S., Japan and the "Republic of Korea" were closeted with each other, where they announced that they would conduct on a regular basis the tripartite joint military exercises under different codenames, and set about its implementation.

Owing to the reckless confrontational moves of the U.S. and other hostile forces, the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been reduced into the world's biggest war hardware concentration spot, the most unstable waters with the danger of a nuclear war.

The prevailing situation requires our Navy to put all its efforts into rounding off the war readiness to maintain the constant combat alertness, and get prepared to break the enemy's will for war in contingency and carry out the military strategy of the Supreme Headquarters.

What is most important to this end is the extraordinary fighting spirit of the commanding officers and soldiers who are filled with the combat spirit and bravery to annihilate the enemy, cherishing in mind the honorable mission and duty of the defence of the sea entrusted with by the country.

If our Navy is to fulfill its mission, the military technical growth should be accompanied and prioritized, of course, now, but the most important thing is to firmly maintain the political, moral and ideological superiority of our army and further cultivate it since fight is a spiritual and ideological confrontation as proven by history.

If we are strong ideologically, the enemy can not attack us.

High ideological spirit of our seamen - this is what the arrogant aggressors' strike group is afraid of and why it dares not intrude into our territorial waters although it sails around the world oceans at its will. And as our people trust that spirit as firm as a rock, they are pushing forward with production and construction for prosperity.

Saying that the political and ideological superiority should be followed by military technical development in a balanced manner, he indicated the plan of our Party and the tasks to be fulfilled immediately to radically increase the modernity and combat capability of the navy by putting spurs to the modernization of the naval weapons and equipment.

Noting that units of different services would be equipped with new weaponry according to the policy of expanding the tactical nuclear weapons operation specified in the line of building the state nuclear force, he stressed that the navy of the DPRK would become a component of the state nuclear deterrence carrying out the strategic duty.

He set it as the most important requirement to more thoroughly establish the Party Central Committee's monolithic command system throughout the navy in developing as early as possible the KPA Navy into a powerful service which is fully ready for war.

To strengthen the monolithic command system is the basis of the development of the naval force and the fundamental guarantee for its improvement, he said, and went on:

You should always keep in mind that the combat capability of the Navy, which can be mobilized most quickly and accurately and perform its duty under the order of the Party Central Committee, is provided on the basis of the spirit of absolute loyalty and obedience.

All the Party and political organs of the Navy should focus on making all the naval officers and men correctly follow the course drawn by the Party in the boundless ocean where there are no signs and guides, and completely destroy the attack target set by the Party Central Committee without fail within the set time.

He said that it is necessary to give priority to the mental training of all the service personnel as it is always the keynote of strengthening the power of the Navy to surely maintain the superiority of the ideological and spiritual strength.

War is a showdown of ideologies, isms and morality, before being the one of technology and equipment, he said, adding:

No matter changes in our strength and methods of fighting a war and in the patterns of enemy’s military actions, our fighting method and tradition of victory based on political, ideological, mental and moral superiority can never change.

Actually necessary in battlefields is not the numerical and technical superiority of weaponry but the overwhelming ideological and spiritual might of the soldiers who handle them. This is the revolutionary philosophy and unique war doctrine of the heroic Korean People’s Army.

Our Navy should be overflowing with the creed that there is neither an unbeatable enemy nor an unwinnable fight for a soldier armed with indomitable spirit. And it is important to ensure the continuity of such unique tradition without an iota of concession or deviation.

In particular, it should strive to follow the heroic spirit of the preceding generations.

The colors of the glorious naval forces of the DPRK are shining with the indomitable fighting spirit displayed by the brave naval fighters of the preceding generation, including Hero Kim Kun Ok and Hero Chae Jong Bo, the noble example set by them at the cost of their blood and lives.

Seeing the glorious colors and warship flags day and night, the naval officers and men should get militant encouragement from the feats of the heroes of the preceding generation associated with the colors and flags, and make intentional efforts to successfully carry forward their great sailor spirit. And this should become a part of their daily routine.

All the officers and men of the Navy should personify the indomitable fighting spirit of the brave fighters of the preceding generation forever, further enhance it and thus steadily glorify the honor of the revolutionary naval force which has humbled the bluffing enemy and always emerged victorious by dint of their steadfast ideology and excellent moral traits.

When the officers and men of the Navy harden their comradely cohesion and smilingly break through any hardship and difficulties by dint of the unity and courage, which are peculiar to the brave seamen, who do anything in a vigorous and ambitious manner and with immeasurable strength anywhere and anytime, and which are unique to the heroic sailors sharing life and death, they will be able to remain boundlessly loyal to the mission and duty they assumed before the Party, the revolution, the country and the people.

He stressed that the key to rapidly improving the combat capability of the Navy lies in dynamically pushing forward with the modernization of arms and equipment and properly conducting practical actual maneuvers in an actual war environment at the same time.

He underlined the need to fully arm the officers and men of the units and sub-units at all levels with our Party’s Juche-oriented naval and underwater war methods and focus on developing new strategic and tactical plans for getting familiar with ever-changing patterns of naval warfare and countering the enemy’s methods of war for aggression and war tactics at present.

He also stressed the need to always pay attention to maintaining the current performance of warships, weapons and equipment in service and heightening their combat readiness, urging the personnel in charge of training to continue to set high targets and organize and carry on the actual maneuvers, which are close to actual war as much as possible, in an increasingly diverse and purposeful manner and on the principle of remarkably augmenting the combat capabilities for definitely deterring the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces' and their followers' ever-escalating reckless moves to provoke a nuclear war.

He said that all the officers and men of the Navy should successfully carry out all kinds of combat duties, including maritime guard duty, with a high degree of alertness and awareness that the security and peace of the territorial waters of the Republic depend on their strength and efforts, thus thoroughly ensuring the prosperity of the country and the security and happiness of the people militarily.

Recalling that the revolutionary spirit and mettle of the sailors, who remain loyal to the cause of the Party and ardently love the country, are fully displayed at the sites of grand socialist construction and they are praised by the people, he said that sailors should always remember the trust and expectations of the Party and the people and sincerely live up to them as usual.

Noting that he is most proud of our Navy, he said our people’s navy is the elite navy with such prominent fighting efficiency and heroism as its sailors are fully determined to dedicate without regret and hesitation their youth and life to protecting the security of the country and the peace of its territorial waters.

He hoped that the Navy would demonstrate its honor as the revolutionary one that plays a core and vanguard role not only in defending the territorial waters of the country but also in socialist construction and produce the best and richest results.

He went on:

All the officers and men of the naval force!

I believe that you will strengthen your unity in good health, wage an arduous struggle for the eternal prosperity of the DPRK and the happiness of its people, and surely usher in a golden age of the development of the Juche-based naval force.

Let us all struggle courageously and stubbornly to the end to achieve fresh successes in the preparations for a revolutionary war for accomplishing national reunification, continue to fully demonstrate the mightiness of the heroic people's navy and add luster to its honor.

Long live the heroic Navy of the Korean People’s Army!