The great Workers’ Party of Korea has vigorously led the second revolution in national defence industry aimed at making the Korean People’s Army stronger in terms of military technique after declaring at its historic Eighth Congress a grand national defence development strategy on developing the KPA into an elite army equipped with ultra-modern weapons by highly developing national defence science and technology and researching and developing more ultra-modern weapons and combat equipment.

 The WPK Central Committee headed by the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un set it as the most important and priority task for defending the country, revolution and people to highly develop the country’s war deterrent with nuclear force as its pivot and has stubbornly propelled the struggle for its implementation. By doing so, it has uninterruptedly accelerated great quantitative, qualitative and technological changes in bolstering up the country’s capabilities for self-defence and thus steadily increased the combat super power for defending national sovereignty and peace.

 The military hardware exhibition Defence Development-2024 opened with splendour in Pyongyang, the capital of the DPRK, on November 21, demonstrating the increased power that knows no limit and radical leap forward of the DPRK.

 The exhibition brought together the latest creations by the national defence scientific and technological group of the DPRK, mainly the strategic and tactical weapons which have been updated and developed once again in the light of modern and advanced characters and precision and power of strike and have drawn the world’s attention through continuous development of their new type.

 Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, attended an opening ceremony of the exhibition.

 When the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un arrived, the participants raised the stormy cheers of “Hurrah!” out of the absolute trust and respect of the DPRK’s armed forces for him, the might of the powerful and matchless DPRK and the representative of its great dignity, who is leading to brilliant victory and glory the revolutionary struggle for achieving the great historic cause of building a rich country with a strong army, a long-cherished desire of the nation with a 5 000-year history, with his brilliant wisdom, extraordinary leadership ability and tireless devotion.

 There was a demonstration of the flying corps of the KPA Air Force on the occasion of the opening ceremony.

 Three-colour vapour trails were seen in the sky over Pyongyang.

 The opening ceremony of the exhibition took place.

 Enthusiastic applause burst out when Kim Jong Un took the platform together with senior officials in the field of the defence and munitions sector and commanding officers of the Ministry of National Defence.

 Present at the ceremony were members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee and other members of the Party central leadership body, major commanding officers of all military and political organs of the Korean People’s Army and workers, scientists and officials in the field of munitions industry.

 Jo Chun Ryong, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the WPK Central Committee, delivered an opening address.

 At this moment when another milestone is to be set up in the course of building a rich country with a strong army, all of us are overwhelmed by the absolute trust and boundless reverence for the great Comrade Kim Jong Un who ushered in a new era of the development of the Juche-oriented defence industry and enabled our country and its people to possess high dignity and matchless might, and visitors here would realize his ardent patriotic spirit and world of boundless creation reflected in the entities of great strength, he said, and declared the exhibition open.

 The national anthem of the DPRK was played solemnly.

 Kim Jong Un delivered a significant speech.

 Pointing to the political and military significance of the exhibition, he said with pride that the brilliant successes in the field of national defence are enough to convince us that we have the capability and firm security guarantee for actively coping with not only various threats being posed by the enemies to us but also the prospective security threats which we may face in the future, and our defence industry has been updated into an ultra-modern industry which supports the military activities most appropriately and thoroughly as required by each stage, each period and each circumstance of the revolution and has been further strengthened into a strategic fortress firmly defending the position of our state, the world’s military power.

 As long as the forces infringing upon our sovereignty exist, it is necessary to steadily update various weapons and equipment and develop them into ultra-modern ones as required by the security environment of our state, he noted, affirming that our Party and government will defend the DPRK, our glorious country, by dint of national defence by making all efforts to build up higher military and technical force and powerful military capabilities.

 When he concluded his speech, all the participants paid the highest glory and respect to the peerlessly brilliant commander who is constantly writing the history of power of justice for achieving the eternal prosperity of the country and defending the peace of the people and hardened their solemn resolution to go all out for the sacred cause of bolstering up the national defence capabilities with a single mind.

 Kim Jong Un, together with the visitors, looked round the exhibition.

 Going round the weapons and equipment on display, he highly appreciated the noble patriotism and loyalty of the WPK’s red national defence soldiers who are devoting themselves to defending the dynamic breathing of the Korean revolution winning victory after victory and upholding the invincibility and mightiness of our state.

 He said that the inexhaustible military and technical edge of the armed forces of the Republic and the eye-opening progress of the self-supporting defence industry which firmly supports it are the pride and costly victory which can be won only by our great people who have unconditionally and absolutely supported the WPK’s line of building a powerful army and its national defence policy, without the slightest deviation, while unyieldingly overcoming all hardships and trials.

 The military hardware exhibition Defence Development-2024, which opened with splendour, demonstrating the grandiose development and signal prospects of the national defence capabilities of the DPRK, will serve as a significant occasion redoubling the pride of all the people across the country in the spirit, ideal and might of the DPRK outpacing the world and dynamically encouraging them in their heroic advance toward comprehensive national rejuvenation.