Pyongyang, May 6 (KCNA) -- The following is the full text of the opening address made by supreme leader Kim Jong Un at the Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) on May 6, Juche 105 (2016):

    Dear delegates,

    Today we are opening the historic Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea amid a grand struggle in which the whole Party, the entire army and all the people, imbued with an iron nerve and confident of achieving final victory in the Juche revolution as soon as possible, are courageously conducting an all-out, general onward march, thwarting all the threats and desperate challenges by the imperialists.

    Reflecting the infinite loyalty and ardent reverence of the delegates, Party members, service personnel and all other people across the country, I would like first to extend the noblest tribute and highest glory to the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the founder and builder of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the incarnations of its invincible might, and the eternal leaders of our Party and people.

    Comrades,

    During the period under review our Party and people waged a sacred yet arduous struggle to defend socialism and advance the cause of the Juche revolution to victory under the wise leadership of Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

    I n this period our Party's ranks were deprived of such anti-Japanese revolutionary war veterans as Comrades Kim Il, Choe Hyon, O Paek Ryong, O Jin U, Choe Kwang, Rim Chun Chu, Pak Song Chol, Jon Mun Sop and Ri Ul Sol who, holding the great leaders in the highest esteem, devoted themselves wholly to the country and people on the long road of the Juche revolution.

    They were bereft of many other faithful revolutionary comrades, including Comrades Ho Tam, Yon Hyong Muk, Kim Jung Rin, Ho Jong Suk, Kim Kuk Thae, Kim Yong Sun, Kim Yang Gon, Jon Pyong Ho, Pak Song Bong, Ri Chan Son, Ri Je Gang, Ri Yong Chol, Kang Ryang Uk, Ri Jong Ok, Kim Rak Hui and An Tal Su, who worked with devotion to strengthen and develop our Party and for the victory of the socialist cause.

    We also lost Comrades Jo Myong Rok, Kim Kwang Jin, Kim Tu Nam, Jon Jae Son, Yun Chi Ho, Ri Tong Chun, Kim Ha Gyu, Ri Jin Su, Sim Chang Wan and other valuable comrades-in-arms in the Songun revolution who had performed heroic exploits in the struggle to strengthen and develop the revolutionary armed forces.

    In addition, Ri Sung Gi, Im Rok Jae, Chon Se Bong, Paek In Jun, Yu Won Jun, Ri Sang Byok, Pak Yong Sun and other academicians, professors, doctors, writers, People's Artistes and People’s Athletes, who had focused all their energies and wisdom on developing science, culture, the arts and sports, and Han Tok Su, Choe Tok Sin, Ri In Mo, Rim Hon Sik, Kim Kwang Thaek and other unforgettable revolutionary comrades and pro-reunification, patriotic figures, passed away.

    These people gave their all unsparingly for the victory of the cause of the Juche revolution, the reunification of the country and national prosperity, loyally supporting the Party and the leader. The brilliant victory of our revolution and the present glory of our socialist country are attributable to the precious blood they spilt and their self-sacrifice.

    In memory of the anti-Japanese revolutionary war veterans, patriotic martyrs, unforgettable revolutionary comrades-in-arms of our Party and pro-reunification, patriotic figures who laid down their precious lives in the struggle for socialist construction, national reunification and the cause of global independence, I propose to observe a minute’s silence.

    Comrades,

    The Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea has been convened at a historic time when we have entered the phase of a leap forward in implementing the cause of the Juche revolution.

    The last decades since the Sixth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea were characterized by a grim struggle and glorious victory for our Party and people.

    During the period under review our revolution faced a very grave and complex situation.

    Amid the unprecedented hardship when the world socialist system collapsed and the allied imperialist forces concentrated their anti-socialist offensive against our Republic, our Party and people were compelled to stand alone in fighting them.

    The imperialists made the situation strained for decades to prevent our people from living in peace for even a moment and attempted to block all their routes to economic development and survival through blockades, coercion and sanctions.

    In the face of the harsh and manifold difficulties and ordeals, and the hardship and suffering that were worse than in wartime, our Party and people became united more firmly around the Party Central Committee, holding Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in the highest esteem as the centre of unity and leadership; they made strenuous efforts to defend and advance the socialist cause, following only the revolutionary line of Juche put forward by the great leaders and braving the storm of history without the slightest hesitation or vacillation.

    Thanks to the wise leadership of the great leaders and the might of single-hearted unity of the Party, army and people around the leader, we were able to record proud and historic victories, smashing the schemes of the allied imperialist forces to stifle the DPRK at every step and safeguarding the red flag of socialism and the gains of the revolution.

    During the period under review, the Workers' Party of Korea embodied Comrade  Kim Jong Il's Juche-oriented line of party building to become a powerful body, ideologically pure and organizationally integrated, in which unity has been achieved in ideology and leadership; it developed into a motherly party assuming the responsibility for the destiny of the masses of the people, an ever-victorious party with seasoned and sophisticated leadership, and a steel-strong and promising revolutionary party.

    This year, when we are holding the Seventh Party Congress, our service personnel and other people achieved great successes in a first hydrogen bomb test and the launch of the earth observation satellite Kwangmyongsong 4; these events, landmarks in the nation's history of 5 000 years, raised the dignity and might of Juche Korea to the highest level possible. In high spirits, they conducted a dynamic 70-day campaign of loyalty, performing great feats and achieving unprecedented labour successes in all fields of socialist construction.

    The service personnel and all other people throughout the country, by displaying the spirit of carrying out the policies of the Party to the last in response to its militant call for launching the 70-day campaign, recorded the greatest-ever successes and a leap forward in all sectors of the national economy and achieved the brilliant result of surpassing the targets for the campaign set by the Party.

    During the campaign, the electric-power, coal-mining and metallurgical industries and rail transport sector strove hard to increase output and transport so as to bring about a surge in production, and many units in different sectors of the national economy, including the machine-building, chemical, building-materials and light industries and agriculture, raised a powerful wind of modernization and domestic production of our style and of an upswing in production, thus achieving the signal success of fulfilling their national economic plans for the year or for its first half ahead of schedule.

    The heroic working class of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the scientists and the technicians waged an unyielding struggle on the principle of giving priority to self-development in order to design and manufacture new machinery and equipment based on domestic efforts and technology; these they presented as gifts to the Congress of the motherly Party. Others across the country, in a short span of time before the Congress, admirably completed numerous major construction projects, which will be highly conducive to developing the economy and improving the people's living standards, to send reports as an expression of their loyalty to the Party Central Committee.

    Those in the national defence science sector, who produced a magnificent prelude to this significant year with the thrilling explosion of Juche Korea’s first hydrogen bomb, went on to create momentous miracles in defending our national dignity and sovereignty, thus concluding the 70-day campaign and opening wide the door to the Seventh Party Congress, full of pride in being victors.

    All sectors and all units, their hearts burning with ardent loyalty to the Party and outstanding patriotic enthusiasm, stepped up the grand revolutionary march to celebrate the Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea as a glorious meeting of victors.

    This fully demonstrated the firm faith and will of our service personnel and other people, who are triumphantly building a thriving nation before the eyes of the world by smashing the hostile forces' vicious manoeuvres for sanctions and strangulation; it also displayed to the world the indomitable spirit, daring mettle and inexhaustible strength of heroic Korea.

    The numerous eye-opening events that took place one after another in the run-up to this significant Party Congress–all these achievements are permeated with the precious sweat, ardent passion and unassuming effort of Party members who have always shared their destiny with the Party and adorned the golden age of socialist construction with an uninterrupted revolutionary upsurge.

    I would like to extend heartfelt thanks and militant greetings, on behalf of the Party Central Committee, to all the delegates, Party members, service personnel and other people who have adorned the sacred history of the Workers' Party of Korea with the sweat and blood of patriotism and made such a great contribution to celebrating the Seventh Party Congress as a meeting of victory and glory by clasping the weapons of revolution, hammer, sickle and writing brush, with the firm conviction that they will follow one road for ever, behind our Party.

    On the occasion of our Party’s great Congress my warm greetings go to the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front, Korean Social Democratic Party, Chondoist Chongu Party, south Korean people, General Association of Korean Residents in Japan and other overseas Koreans' organizations and all our compatriots overseas that are working hard for the country's reunification and prosperity.

    On behalf of the Party Congress, I also extend warm thanks and greetings to political parties and organizations, Juche idea study groups, friendship and solidarity organizations and personages from all walks of life in different countries of the world and representatives of diplomatic missions and international organizations in the DPRK, that have rendered positive support and encouragement to our revolution and sent congratulatory messages, letters and baskets of flowers to mark the Seventh Party Congress.

    Comrades,

    The Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea will review the brilliant successes and invaluable experience our Party and people gained during the period under review; it will put forward a strategic line and fighting tasks for continuing to usher in a great golden age of socialist construction and will set out the direction of advance for our revolution.

    This Party Congress will be another historic milestone in the struggle to develop the glorious Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist party and accomplish the socialist cause.

    In all, 3 467 delegates have the right to vote at the Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea and 200 delegates have the right to address it; all of them are present here, having been elected at conferences of Party organizations at different levels.

    Among the delegates 1 545 represent Party and other political officials, 719 service personnel, 423 state administrative and economic officials, 52 officials of working people's organizations, 112 officials in the sectors of science, education, public health, culture, the arts and the mass media, and 786 hardcore Party members involved in field labour, in addition to six anti-Japanese revolutionary war veterans and 24 former unconverted long-term prisoners.

    Of the total, 315 are women.

    Present at the Congress are also 1 387 observers.

    Fully convinced that this Party Congress will perform its work with credit with the support of the high political enthusiasm of all the delegates and thus become a historic meeting that will leave an outstanding mark on the development of our Party and revolution and a meeting for general advance to hasten the final victory of the cause of the Juche revolution, I declare the Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, open. -0-