North Korea Leadership Watch

Research and Analysis on the DPRK Leadership

Torchlight Parade Held

View of torch light procession and fireworks in Pyongyang to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK held during the evening of September 10, 2018 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun).

A torchlight parade and fireworks display by elite members of the Youth League was held during the evening of September 10 (Monday) to mark the 70th birthday of the DPRK.

Coming out to the platform were Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] Presidium President Kim Yong Nam (Kim Yo’ng-nam), State Affairs Commission Vice Chairman and Premier Pak Pong Ju (Pak Pong-chu), Korean People’s Army [KPA] Senior Adviser and Operations Command Group member VMar Ri Myong Su (Ri Myo’ng-su), SPA Presidium Vice President Yang Hyong Sop (Yang Hyong-sop) WPK Vice Chairmen Thae Jong Su (T’ae Cho’ng-su), O Su Yong (O Su-yo’ng) and Choe Hwi (Ch’oe Hwi), WPK Central Inspection [Control] Commission Chairman Jo Yon Jun (Cho Yo’n-chun), Pyongyang WPK City Committee Chairman Kim Nung O (Kim Nu’ng-o) and Youth League head Pak Chol Min (Pak Ch’o’l-min) along with various other senior officials of the party, state, army and security forces and WPK Provincial Committee Chairmen.  Foreign VIPs such as Cuban Vice President Salvador Antonio Valdes Mesa and senior Ba’ath Party official Hilal Hilal sat on the platform.

DPRK Premier and State Affairs Commission Vice Chairman Pak Pong Ju shakes hands with senior Syrian Ba’ath party official Hilal Hilal prior to the torchlight process and fireworks display on September 10, 2018 (Photo: KCTV).

Kim Yong Nam, members of the central leadership and foreign VIPs sit on the platform for the torch light process and fireworks display hosted by the Youth League (Photo: KCNA/Rodong Sinmun).

Also in attendance were various chief functionaries and cadres of the WPK Central Committee, DPRK Cabinet Ministries and Commissions, various national institutions, service members and officers of the KPA and Korean People’s Internal Security Forces and various workers and functionaries who have received state titles and awards.  Various delegations of Koreans from other countries were also in attendance, as well as other foreign guests and diplomats, defense attaches and NGO reps resident in the DPRK.

KPA Senior Adviser and WPK Political Bureau Member VMar Ri Myong Su looks at the refreshments after arriving on the platform for the torchlight procession and firework display commemorating the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK (Photo: KCTV).

With the opening of the torch process declared, characters spelling out “September 9” and “Celebrations 70” were formed whilst the song “The Glorious Country” played.  Open-topped limousines bearing Kim Il Sung (Kim Il-so’ng) and Kim Jong Il (Kim Cho’ng-il) portraits rode through Kim Il Sung Square under the escort of young DPRK citizens bearing torches.

(Photo: KCNA/Rodong Sinmun)

DPRK students and young people formed torch-illuminated characters spelling out “Kim Il Sung’s Nation” and “Kim Jong Il’s Korea” and showing the sun.  They depicted the Party’s emblem and characters spelling out “Kim Jong Un’s (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) era,” “Supreme Leader,” and “Banner of Victory.”

The torchlight process continued forming characters which read “Heroic Korea” and “Single-minded Unity.”  The formations were tightly choreographed “demonstrating the dignity of socialist Korea” and represented “figures portraying the torchlight holder of the Tower of the Chuch’e Idea and Monument to Party Founding.”  The torchlight display reflected “the best wishes of all the people and youth for Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un,” and the fireworks “of celebration went off to significantly decorate the end of the torchlight procession.”

Information

This article was written on 12 Sep 2018, and is filled under Central Broadcasting Committee, Central Committee, Central Military Committee, Central Party Affairs/Cadres 5th Section, Choe Hwi (PAD], Culture Section (bureau), DPRK 70th Anniversary (September 9, DPRK Cabinet, DPRK Diplomat Corps, DPRK External Relations, DPRK music, DPRK Premier, DPRK-Cuba relations, DPRK-Cuba relatons, DPRK-Latin America Rels, DPRK-Middle East relations, DPRK-Syria Relations, DPRK-UNESCO Relations, DPRK-United Nations Relations, DPRK-Vietnam relations, Executive Policy Bureau, Foundation Day (September 9th), Gen. Ri Myong Su, General Affairs, Guard Command, ideological slogans, Jo Yon Jun (OGD), Kim Family, Kim Il Sung Youth League, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, Kim Nung O (NPyongan WPK), Kim Phyong Hae (Cadres/NPYPPC), Kim Yong Nam, kisyl, Ko In Ho, Korean People's Internal Security Forces, Korean People's Army (KPA), Korean Workers' Party (KWP), kpif, Ministry of Culture, ministry of people's security, Ministry of State Security, North Korean press, O Su Yong, Pak Chol Min [KISYL], Pak Pong Ju, Party elders, Party History Institute, party life, Party Life Guidance, Political Bureau, primary party committees, Propaganda and Agitation Department, Provincial Party Committees, Public Events, Pyongyang City People's Committee, Pyongyang Defense Command, Pyongyang WPK Committee, Secretariat, social control, State Affairs Commission, State Security Department, Supreme People's Assembly, Tae Jong Su, Workers' and Social Organizations, WPK Economic Affairs Dept, Yang Hyong Sop, Young Red Guard, Youth Shock Brigades.

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