Kim Jong Un, chairperson of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, said that events held to mark the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party showed "the civility and might of our state."
The Korean Central News Agency reported on the 13th that Chairperson Kim delivered a speech, including these remarks, while watching a military parade with participants and the mass gymnastics and art performance "Long live the Workers' Party of Korea" on the 12th.
North Korea stages mass gymnastics for various anniversaries and large-scale events. Participation ranges from thousands to tens of thousands, and participants hold their urine and bowel movements for more than six hours and cannot eat.
In his speech that day, Chairperson Kim said, "This time, amid the extraordinarily roused and galvanized passion of people across the country, and under the world's attention and watch, we celebrated the 80th anniversary of our party's founding in a grand yet perfect way," adding, "Unfavorable weather persisted during the events, but even so, everyone performed their share so perfectly, so excellently." In Pyongyang, it rained all day from the night of the 9th, when the eve event for the celebrations was held, through the 10th, the day of the military parade.
In addition, Chairperson Kim paid his respects at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun that day. The bodies of President Kim Il Sung and National Defense Commission Chairperson Kim Jong Il are enshrined there. Chairperson Kim also paid his respects at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on the 70th and 75th anniversaries of the party's founding in 2015 and 2020.
Chairperson Kim said, "Today, the high authority and invincible might held by our republic, and all the achievements made in the revolution and construction, cannot be thought of apart from the sacred names of the Great Leader and the Great General," adding, "The revolutionary exploits of the Leader and the General, who laid the eternal cornerstone for the permanent existence and ever-victorious development of our party and state, will be eternally immortal along with the vigorous strength of socialist Korea."