NK Workers' Party fetes 55th anniversary

Marking the 55th founding anniversary of the ruling Worker¡¯s Party on Tuesday, North Korea held mammoth celebrations with simultaneous military parades and people's demonstrations as North Korean Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-Il looked on. This marks the first time for Kim to attend a public function in eight years and six months, since he attended the 60th anniversary of the North Korean People's Armed Forces on Apr. 25, 1992.

In the ceremony, Chief of Staff of the North Korean Army Kim Yong-Chun asserted in his congratulatory speech that the Army and the people, upholding the party's guidance as the life-line, would faithfully follow policy lines emphasizing party ideology and science and technology, and safeguard and brighten socialism and build a powerful state armed with self-reliant socialist ideology.

Meanwhile, the North Korean media outlets made no mention of the 42 South Korean visitors. Related South Korean officials commented that Pyongyang seems to be refraining from making a big deal out of the South Koreans' participation in the rituals.