Pyongyang, July 28 (KCNA) -- All the people and service personnel of the DPRK are grandly celebrating July 27, the day of great war victory recorded in the history of the country with immortal gold letters. They are extending sincere respect and warm congratulations to the defenders of the country in the 1950s, the most heroic generation and indomitable models that brought about the eternal glory of a powerful Korea.

The legendary feats the victorious wartime generation performed in saving the state and nation and their future, honourably defending peace and security of mankind and laying a solid foundation for building a rich country with a strong army, true to the ideology and guidance of the leader, are shining forever along with their noble name, and the matchless ideological and spiritual strength the brave warriors displayed in the war serves as an invincible might guaranteeing the steady and victorious advance of the cause of Juche.

A meeting with the victorious wartime generation took place in Pyongyang, the capital city of the DPRK, on July 27, the 71^st anniversary of victory in the Fatherland Liberation War with the sense of mission of the successors developing to firmly carry forward the great spirit of defending the country and the tradition of victory.

The Pyongyang Indoor Stadium, venue of the meeting, was filled with the pride of the victorious wartime generation that provided a precious asset to be handed down to posterity with ardent patriotism, loyalty and devotion and the ideological and spiritual heritage of the country and its people, and the warm respect of the younger generation for the revolutionary elders and the great pride of all the participants in being citizens of the victor nation.

The participants greeted with enthusiastic applause the war veterans and persons of wartime merits who were entering the venue of the meeting, wearing orders and medals shining with the proud feats of defeating the U.S. imperialists amid the playing of the light melody of the song "July 27, Our Victory Day."

Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, was present at the meeting.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un arrived at the Pyongyang Indoor Stadium and met war veterans who had worked for a long time at important posts of the Party, government and military, and exchanged warm greetings with them.

When Kim Jong Un appeared on the platform together with war veterans amid the playing of welcome music, all the participants broke into enthusiastic cheers of "Hurrah!" looking up to Kim Jong Un, incarnation of the great dignity and strength of our invincible Party and powerful state and the banner of all victories and glory.

Children presented bouquets to Kim Jong Un and war veterans.

Waving back to the enthusiastic cheering crowds, Kim Jong Un extended warm congratulations to war veterans and all the civilians and service personnel across the country on the anniversary of victory.

Members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and other senior officials of the Party, government and military were present there together with the participants in the celebrations of the 71^st anniversary of victory in the Fatherland Liberation War, officials of the Party Central Committee, service personnel, officials and persons of merits of ministries, national agencies and Pyongyang Municipality, students of revolutionary schools, university students and schoolchildren.

Present there at invitation were diplomatic envoys and members of missions of foreign countries in Pyongyang.

The national anthem of the DPRK was played.

Ri Il Hwan, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK, made a speech.

On the authorization of Kim Jong Un and the Party and the government, he warmly congratulated the war veterans, all the civilians and service personnel who greeted the V-Day with precious memories and great pride, and paid high tribute to the heroic soldiers and patriots who fell in the sacred war for defending the country.

It is the pride of our state and people and fortune of the younger generation that we have a significant meeting with creators and personifiers of the great history on the most precious holiday of the country, he said, adding that it is the honour of our generation to remember not only with pain but also with honour the dramatic era that turned the years of the most disastrous war into those of greatest victory.

Thanks to the honour of war victory, our state could have a remarkable strength that can be gained only by a victor nation and the Korean people could have acquired a valuable spiritual wealth which could not be obtained in ordinary days and which could not be learned by reading thousands of books, he said.

It is the proud tradition and characteristics of the Korean revolution to have created and defended the more than 70 years with the wartime spirit, he said, stressing that the defenders of the country in the 1950s who honourably safeguarded the glorious DPRK and provided the immortal heroic spirit are genuine patriots and models of ardent revolutionaries who would be praised and learned from for ever.

He said that today's grand festival is the peak of honour provided together by the generation who won victory in the war and the successors' generations who have bravely carried out the mission of defenders while turning the decades, which were no less arduous than the war, into the ones of legendary miracles and leaps forward in defence of the victory.

The spirit of the victorious wartime generation is the immortal soul that makes us demonstrate our dignity as an eternally powerful and great people, and we will win greater and more valuable victories by dynamically carrying it forward, he said, extending once again heartfelt thanks and best wishes to the war veterans who devoted their great soul to the ever-lasting history of victory and to the ever-victorious country.

The participants watched a video showing the feats and fighting spirit of the victorious wartime generation.

The war on the newly-built DPRK, a genuine people's country in the eastern part of the earth, was the enforcement of the U.S. imperialists' strategy for world domination aimed at enslaving our country, Asia and, furthermore, the whole of mankind. The confrontation with the arrogant imperialist ringleader with more than 100 years of history of aggressive war was an enormous challenge to our country with a history of less than two years after its founding.

The scenes showed that the Korean war forced by the U.S. imperialists was a war of unprecedented massacre, during which innocent people, nearly one-sixth of the total population of the DPRK at the time, were killed, outnumbering the fallen soldiers, and a great turmoil beyond human imagination in its brutality, atrocity and cruelty.

The war veterans and persons of wartime merits recalled the shock of 70-odd years ago, when all the people turned out in the do-or-die resistance for the future of a powerful country to change the course of history and define the direction of the course only with victories cherishing the solemn mission to prove that the DPRK was no longer a weak country and its people were never a weak people and the unbreakable self-respect.

Other scenes showed that the rifles, which were used to kill more enemies with bayonets than bullets in battles where the difference in forces between the enemy and the DPRK could not be compared, were loaded with all the strength of miracles and indomitable spirit that brought about the great war victory.

The participants keenly realized the soul and spirit the victorious wartime generation had cherished, seeing the soldiers who carved on the rock a pledge of loyalty to the leader before death-defying, hand-to-hand fight, the soldiers who pressed the trigger of heavy machine-gun with the jaw after being wounded in the arms and legs and who blocked the enemy’s pillboxes with their chests when hand grenades ran out, and the flags of the DPRK that were hoisted on the hills at the cost of blood and lives of the soldiers.

The historic scenes proved that the rear was also the front for the people who fought for victory in the war, with ardent love and bitter hatred, the day of victory was brought earlier and the precious tradition to be preserved and glorified forever was prepared thanks to the all-people movements including the movement of volunteering for military service on the front, emulation drive for increased production, drive for extra-haulage, women’s movement to plough the fields, high-yield movement and the campaign for donating grains for the front.

All the participants realized once again that the wise leadership of President Kim Il Sung, who led the war with his outstanding military strategic ideas and tactics and brought up ordinary people into the masters of the heroic era with his warm love and trust unprecedented in history, and the unshakable faith of all the people and service personnel that they were sure to win as they were led by him were the key to winning victory in the war.

The scenes showing the might of the DPRK which defends its sovereignty, national interests and genuine peace with matchless self-defensive capability that can defeat any formidable enemy impressively taught all those who grew up in this powerful country free from the worries of the outbreak of war the truth that the history of winning the victory is great, but the history of succession which has defended and steadily carried it forward is still more ennobling.

The bouquets presented by the younger generation to the war veterans, who devoted themselves to the victory only and to the great power associated with the desire of their comrades-in-arms, were an expression of boundless reverence and ardent respect for them.

All the participants renewed their firm will to carry forward the glorious tradition of victory for ever by remaining loyal to the ideas and leadership of the great Party Central Committee which is cementing the military powerful strength for the future of the revolution and the nation.

Army Colonel Ri Un Ryong and Navy Lieutenant Commander Yu Kyong Song, officers of the Korean People's Army, made oath-taking speeches.

Expressing their impression of seeing the fateful moments on the screen that the victorious wartime generation faced and the days of the fierce war, the speakers said that the matchless bravery and feats of many heroic soldiers who won the great victory, made them more keenly aware of the important mission of the defenders standing on the defence line of the country.

They said that our revolutionary armed forces have grown to be a personifier of extraordinary courage, strength and dignity, confident of victory, looking down at any formidable enemy, thanks to the revolutionary spirit and immortal feats of the victorious wartime generation, who turned the fateful years which could have ended in tragedy into the most proud ones.

Out of surging hatred against the U.S. imperialists and the puppet ROK military gangsters hell-bent on provoking a nuclear war beyond the southern border of the DPRK even at this moment, they expressed their will to glorify with greater miracles and victories the feats of the guards units which struck the enemy with fear of ruin and brought about brilliant results in the battles and the legendary tale in the world history of naval battle, in which four torpedo boats sank a heavy cruiser of the U.S. Navy.

The speakers solemnly pledged before Kim Jong Un and the Party and the state to become brave fighters in defending the sovereignty, territorial integrity and the territorial waters of the country, bearing in mind the lifetime intentions and requests of the war veterans, and to bolster up the thoroughgoing capability to cope with war and fighting efficiency in every way so as to make an overwhelming attack on the enemy anytime and without delay and annihilate them once Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un gives an order.

When the meeting was over, enthusiastic cheers resounded in the venue again.

Kim Jong Un wished for long life in good health of all the war veterans, who have lived with struggle and devotion for the prosperity of their beloved country and happiness of their descendants and left beautiful traces in their life, and extended warm greetings to all the participants for a long time, hoping that they will all cherish the sacred dignity and honour of being citizens of the victor nation and firmly carry forward the soul of the victorious wartime generation.

All the participants were deeply moved by his world of noble revolutionary obligation and comradely love for the war veterans.

The meeting with the victorious wartime generation held on the occasion of the 71^st anniversary of victory in the Fatherland Liberation War marked a significant occasion for redoubling the unshakable faith, courage, enthusiasm and fighting will of all the people and service personnel of the country to firmly carry forward the history and tradition of the sacred victory, glorify them for all ages and achieve without fail the great cause of building a rich country with a strong army as desired by the victorious wartime generation under the leadership of the great Party Central Committee.