Esteemed Comrade Ambassador,

Dear Russian comrades and friends,

Today I am visiting the Russian Federation’s embassy in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to congratulate Russia on the 80th anniversary of its victory in the Great Patriotic War, pay ennobling tribute to its heroic wartime generation and convey my best wishes to all the Russian people on this V-day.

I feel pleased to have the opportunity for personally extending the Korean people’s tender feeling and intention running towards the Russian people on the day of great victory and celebrating this historic day with the Russian friends.

First of all, I, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the government of the DPRK, the armed forces of the DPRK and all the Korean people, extend heartfelt congratulations to the respected Comrade President of the Russian Federation–my most intimate friend and comrade–the Russian leadership, the courageous Russian army and all the Russian people that are greeting the great V-day.

And I pay the most ennobling tribute to all the Russian war veterans and others who performed imperishable feats in the righteous war for eliminating fascism.

My warm congratulations also go to the esteemed Comrade Ambassador and all other comrades in the Russian embassy in the DPRK.

Dear comrades,

I am visiting the Russian embassy for the first time on the occasion of the May 9 holiday.

It took me just over 80 seconds to come by car to this embassy, which is a stone’s throw from the headquarters building of the Central Committee of our Party. It is such a short distance.

During those just over 80 seconds I was reminded of the history of the relationship between our two countries that have written countless and indelible chapters of friendship and solidarity over the past more than 80 years, its roots, the spiritual intimacy between Pyongyang and Moscow that surpasses the geographical concept, and the ever-deepening friendliness and fraternal feelings between the two countries.

And taking the first step in the compound of this Russian embassy, part of the sacred territory of great Russia, I strongly felt as if I was entering Red Square in Moscow, where columns of victors will be parading in fine array.

Why should I not?

May 9 is a holiday of the Russian people, as well as a holiday common to mankind, a holiday of the Korean people and a holiday of mine.

In the do-or-die struggle fought in the 40s last century against brigandish fascism that was ruthlessly violating the destiny of mankind, the Soviet army and people, by courageously overcoming all the unimaginable trials and pains, performed great, historic feats of firmly defending the sovereignty and safety of their motherland and saving the peace of this planet and human civilization.

In the grimmest years they defended at the cost of blood not only the dignity and sovereignty of their country but also global peace and security, put the dangerous current of world politics to rights and brought an epochal victory to mankind. These are the immortal feats the wartime generation of Russia performed, and herein lies the special and eternal historic significance of the feats which nothing can tar or cover up.

Had great Russia not destroyed fascist Germany, a brutal empire of evil, at the cost of lives of tens of millions of people, there would not have been modern civilization nor our happy life of today.

Furthermore, had there not been May 9, V-day for Russia, there would not have been August 15, liberation day for Korea and the rest of the Eastern countries, and the historical course the Korean people have traversed would have been thornier and more arduous.

We must not forget that the destiny of mankind was decided at the battles of Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad and Kursk.

I say we must never forget that we are happy today thanks to the priceless, self-sacrificing struggle of Russia that saved the world.

The May 9, 1945 victory, which the Soviet army and people won at the cost of their precious lives, is not merely one of the many moments recorded in the human history of war; it is the hallmark of the precious tradition to be carried forward for ever in the future, too.

Russians are the last people to tolerate injustice and yield to any formidable enemy; they win final victory without fail by making incomparably persistent and inexhaustible exertions; their spirit commands universal praise from around the world, and their great spirit of defending their country at any cost serves as a spiritual model for our people.

Esteemed Russian friends,

The peoples of the DPRK and Russia have dedicated their blood and lives to defending and supporting each other in the struggle for their common ideals and purposes since a century ago. Through their life, not in words, they have experienced that their destinies are inseparably intertwined with each other, and they have got a clear idea that it is far more costly to defend their sovereignty and dignity than to build a place of comfortable life.

From this point of view, it is quite natural for me to be here today at the Russian embassy in the DPRK on the May 9 holiday, and I am sure this is also my duty as I have to give the world a fresh understanding of what the DPRK-Russia relations are like at present and should be in the future and of the spiritual value of the friendship between the two countries.

This is another moment for me to feel proud and honourable over the fact that we have set the great DPRK-Russia friendship on a footing of admirable alliance.

On June 19, 2024, nearly a year ago, I signed the treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation together with Comrade President Putin. This was the clearest manifestation of the determination of the leaderships and peoples of our two countries to share weal and woe as eternally fraternal nations and allies and to make proactive contributions to global peace and strategic stability.

Thanks to Comrade President Putin’s outstanding foresight and decision, the DPRK-Russia relationship has regained its original features befitting allies and made the choice which could not be substituted by anything else for all its fate.

I deem it a source of immense honour that I have President Putin, seasoned leader of a powerful state, as my closest friend and comrade. And my people also regard it as a source of the greatest pride and honour that they have fraternal relations with the great Russian people and are in alliance with the great Russian Federation.

We are absolutely sure that the blood-sealed bilateral relationship will continue to be in its heyday in the future, making a perfect demonstration of its inexhaustible potential in all realms.

Comrades,

The international community, in the current turmoil of the world situation, is watching with great apprehension the rapid rise of the vicious reactionary group, a modern version of Nazism, which is trying to distort history while disparaging the precious achievements the heroic generation made at the cost of their blood and lives.

The revival of Nazism that attempted to reduce mankind to its slaves last century is a crucial problem that has a direct bearing on the destiny of mankind, a serious threat that can never be tolerated.

No one is allowed to distort or emasculate the heroic feats of the Red Army that saved the world from Nazism.

Today, I am celebrating with my Russian friends the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. This itself is the very expression of the unshakably strong will of our two countries to frustrate the challenge by neo-Nazism and contribute to peace of the world and safety of mankind.

Today the service personnel and other people of Russia, as descendants of the legendary victorious wartime generation, have again shouldered the heavy responsibility of defending global peace and security of their own accord, resolutely executing the special military operations against Ukraine.

As for the hostile forces’ adventurous military moves of blatantly violating the sovereignty and security of Russia, our fraternal country, I promptly shared with Comrade President Putin my view of this as something tantamount to an invasion of our own state and my decision to discharge our treaty obligations with sincerity. Then I ordered the combat sub-units of our Republic’s armed forces to join in the Russian armed forces’ action to wipe out the neo-Nazi occupiers from Ukraine and liberate the Kursk area.

The most excellent sons of the Korean people, in answering the call of their homeland, fought shoulder to shoulder with the Russian soldiers in the same trenches, shedding blood amid the flames of battles against the common enemy, as they regarded the territory of our ally as that of their own country.

All these proud sons of our Korean people, who were involved in the Kursk operations, are heroes and supreme representatives of honour of this country, I think.

They proved the durability of the DPRK-Russia alliance at the cost of their blood, demonstrating the highest strategic level of the strong militant friendship, alliance and fraternal relations between the peoples of the two countries.

Even at this moment our government is closely watching Kiev’s unreasonable behaviour.

A few days ago, the Kiev authorities committed a reckless and adventurous act of enlisting armed bandits in another heinous and dangerous assault on the territory of the Russian Federation.

We condemn this in most vehement and resolute terms as a hysterical action that can be taken only by the Kiev neo-Nazis with the transplanted genes of unreason and inhumanity.

Those who are finding fault with our armed forces’ involvement are advised to think it over.

And they need to examine what the openly declared, and not secret, treaty between the DPRK and the Russian Federation stipulates.

If they had not committed a heinous crime of encroaching upon the Russian territory, the invaders could have avoided the fate of becoming dead souls, hit by our swords and spears.

Our involvement in the war was justifiable, and this belongs to our sovereign rights.

Let us consider this.

If they are allowed to grow undisguised in their military actions against the territory of the nuclear power, the Ukrainian puppets will naturally become brazen enough to make more outrageous and daring attempts, and the troops in Seoul, who are most faithful lackeys of the United States, will likewise become increasingly reckless.

Such recklessness will spread like a highly infectious virus.

We should be responsible enough to perform the duty of putting these dangerous wrongs to rights.

If the henchmen of the United States and the West, with their tacky, defective munitions, attempt another assault on the Russian Federation, our fraternal country, instead of giving up their dangerous attempt for military invasion, I, according to the corresponding article of the DPRK-Russia treaty and its spirit, will unhesitatingly issue an order on using the armed forces of the DPRK in repelling the enemy’s invasion.

I regard this as part of the sacred mission we must execute for our brothers and comrades-in-arms.

May 9–this is just the day that has been inscribed in history as a symbol of powerfulness and imperishability of the great Russian nation. Along with this, Russia will, in the future, too, exalt its prestige as a representative of justice advancing only along the road of victory and a strong defender of multipolarized world order.

My dear friend, respected Comrade President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin,

You and your Russia will for ever be called a representative and incarnation of great fame and glory.

The Russian people will certainly emerge victorious.

The history of the victor nation will surely be carried forward, and justice and victory belong to Russia.

Comrades,

Though we are in Pyongyang, far away from Moscow, our hearts are with Comrade President Putin, all the Russian people and the Russian army in Red Square, the venue for a military parade of victory.

Firmly convinced that the leadership of the Russian Federation and its people, under the outstanding guidance of Comrade President Putin, will surely accomplish the cause of building a great power, I sincerely wish the fraternal Russian people lasting prosperity and happiness.

I wholeheartedly hope that as they advance, the fraternal Russian people are always under a clear sky, and that happiness and prosperity are in store for them.

Long live the great day of victory!

Long live the eternal DPRK-Russia friendship!