Kim Jong-un, chair of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, took commemorative photos with participants of the 9th Congress of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea (GFTUK), a workers' organization outside the Labor Party, on the 14th, the Korean Central News Agency reported on the 15th.
The GFTUK, along with the Socialist Women's Union (Women's Union), the Socialist Patriotic Youth League (Youth League), and the Union of Agricultural Workers (Agricultural Workers' Union), is called one of North Korea's "four major workers' organizations." The groups spread ideology and encourage implementation so that policies and lines decided by the party can be carried out, and young people, women, workers, and farmers, respectively, are required to join.
The Chairperson said at the photo session, "All members of the working class and the GFTUK should hold high the banner of the three revolutions, lead the changes of the times, and powerfully steer the entire country toward conquering the new five-year goals."
The leader added, "The grand period of upheaval that has come before us demands the unwavering, vanguard activities and extraordinary struggle of the working class, the main force of creation and construction," and emphasized, "Bringing the fighting spirit of self-reliance and self-support to bear even higher across all fields of ideology, technology, and culture is the basic task now before the working class and GFTUK members at the current stage of socialist construction."
On the same day, the Chairperson met and congratulated Ri Won-jong, the newly elected chairperson of the 9th Central Committee of the GFTUK, and the vice chairpersons, and recognized the efforts of GFTUK members who made contributions. The GFTUK also held the performance "Follow the great party, forward the vanguard unit!" by the Central Workers' Art Propaganda Troupe and primary propaganda workers at the Central Workers' Hall to mark the 9th Congress.
Earlier, the 9th GFTUK Congress was held in Pyongyang from the 11th to the 12th. The agenda included a general review of the work of the GFTUK Central Committee, revisions to the rules, and elections for the central leadership bodies. At the time, the Labor Party Central Committee emphasized strengthening the GFTUK as an ideological education organization and taking the lead in implementing the decisions of the 9th Party Congress.