Festive Pyongyang ready for momentous conference

"Congratulations to the Opening of the Party Conference!" "Warmly welcome WPK Delegates!" read some of the posters, banners and billboards set up at public sites throughout the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as the city is awaiting a long-expected conference of the ruling party.

The capital city brimmed with a jubilant ambiance on Monday, with flags and posters suggesting it is ready for the historic conference of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).

On the eve of the WPK assembly slated for Tuesday, national and party flags, large and small, are fluttering across the host city, both on lampposts and buildings along main streets and at entrances to the subway.

Under the flapping flags were vehicles and pedestrians travelling in order. Beside them, sanitation workers were cleaning the streets and gardeners trimming roadside lawns.

At the Kim Il Sung Square, hundreds of teenagers, wearing white caps, white shirts and black trousers and holding red and blue silk fabric, were rehearsing for the WPK's 65th birthday on Oct. 10.

Close to the famous site, the Mansudae Assembly Hall, the locale of the upcoming event, looked quiet. A banner was hung across its facade, reading "Be United Wholeheartedly and Defend the Great Party with Life!" Before the hall were 21 party flags flapping in the breeze on high masts.

In an article titled "Invincible Party: An Ideologically Pure Organization and An Organizationally Integral Whole," leading DPRK newspaper Rodong Sinmun congratulated the forthcoming opening of the WPK conference, the first of its kind in 44 years.

The article noted that on the occasion of the historic gathering, all the troops and civilians are immensely proud of their invincible and powerful party.

Its invincibility can be proved by, among others, the fact that "the whole party is faithfully translating the intentions and determinations of the leader into realities in a do-or-die spirit," said the newspaper.

The DPRK public will remain united under the leadership of the WPK led by General Secretary Kim Jong Il, strengthen the might of the party and push forward the country's revolutionary cause, the article added.

The country's official KCNA news agency said that WPK delegates had arrived in Pyongyang by Sep. 26 for the conference, where they were expected to elect the party's highest leading body and amend its policies.

The meeting is required as the country's revolutionary cause and its endeavor to build a powerful socialist nation have entered a decisive era, said the Politburo of the WPK Central Committee in a decision announced in June.

The event was originally slated for early September, and the WPK has not explained the delay so far. Among the speculated causes was a spate of severe flooding that hit several parts of the country from mid-August to early September.

Previously, the DPRK'S ruling party held two similar conferences, respectively in March 1958 and in October 1966.

Source: Xinhua