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August 15 Grand National Festival Opens

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS)

    Seoul, August 14 (KCNA Correspondent) -- The August 15 Grand National Festival for Independence, Peace and Reunification opened in Seoul on Sunday. Prior to the festival a grand march for national reunification took place. After speeches made by heads of marchers from the north, south and overseas sides, there was a ceremony of making a torch for marchers with the torches lit on Mt. Paektu and Mt. Halla.
    Present at the opening ceremony of the festival were heads of the authorities delegations of the north and the south Kim Ki Nam, vice-chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, and Jong Tong Yong, minister of Unification of south Korea, the co-chairmen of the preparatory committees for the joint functions of Koreans in the north, the south and overseas to implement the June 15 joint declaration, representatives of political parties, public organizations and from various fields of the north side, representatives of political parties and different circles, fields and regions of the south side and representatives of pro-reunification organizations, peace organizations and other organizations of various fields in China, Russia, Japan, the United States, Canada, Europe and other countries and regions of the world.
    When the festival was declared open, there took place a ceremony of igniting the flame holder with torches lit from Mt. Paektu and Mt. Halla and a huge Korean Peninsula Flag was hoisted amid the playing of the song "Arirang."
    After the opening address was made, Chairman Paek Rak Chong declared the festival open.
    Kim Ki Nam, in his congratulatory speech, said that the historic June 15 joint declaration ushered in the era of reunification guided by the idea of "By our nation itself" in the new century and enabled the Korean nation to pull down the thick barrier of confrontation by the concerted efforts of the Koreans.
    Mun Tong Hwan, co-chairman of the preparatory committee from the overseas side, noted in his speech that the June 15 joint declaration is a great declaration on reunification that helps the Koreans, who had lived in one territory as a homogeneous nation for 5000 years, peacefully reunify the country and live as one reunited nation. Jong Tong Yong called on the Koreans to shape the destiny of the Korean Peninsula, the only country in the world still remaining divided as a leftover of the Cold War, by their own efforts, totally remove the possibility of war from this land and build up a foundation for peace and co-prosperity.
    At the end of the opening ceremony there took place the August 15 north-south reunification men's football match.
    Ri Hae Chan, prime minister of south Korea, hosted a reception in honor of the authorities delegation of the north participating in the festival in the evening. Meanwhile, some members of the authorities delegation and the non-government delegation of the north side visited the "State Memorial House" that day.