Top DPRK leader attends ceremony marking completion of Samjiyon construction

PYONGYANG -- Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the township of Samjiyon county in the northern part of the country marking the completion of the county's construction, official media reported on Tuesday.

The Samjiyon county, where Kim's father Kim Jong-il was born, "has turned into an example of a mountainous modern city under socialism," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

After Kim cut the ribbon on Monday, fireworks were shot up and balloons were released into the sky. Then there was march-past of the builders of the 216 Division of the army who helped build the Samjiyon county, the report said.

Present at the ceremony were Choe Ryong-hae and Pak Pong-ju, both of whom are members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Premier Kim Jae-ryong, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK, also attended the ceremony.

The builders preserved the nationality, modernity and the specific feature of the northern tableland in the formation of the township division and construction and "opened a new phase of practicality, diversity and the formative art," the KCNA reported.

Thus they built the township of Samjiyon county into "an example of a mountainous modern town, an epitome of modern civilization and created a model of successfully realizing the party's idea of local construction," it added.

Kim has attached great importance to the construction of the Samjiyon county by paying several visits to the construction site and giving field guidance over the past two years.