Pyongyang, July 28 (KCNA) -- A military delegation of the Russian Federation led by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu left here on Thursday after paying a congratulatory visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War.

Flags of the DPRK and the Russian Federation were fluttering at the flagstaffs at Pyongyang International Airport and the guards of honor of the Korean People's Army (KPA) lined up at the station before the airport terminal.

Present there to see off the delegation were Kang Sun Nam, minister of National Defence of the DPRK, Jong Kyong Thaek, director of the KPA General Political Bureau, Pak Su Il, chief of the KPA General Staff, and other commanding officers of the Ministry of National Defence, Im Chon Il, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, and Alexandr Matsegora, Russian ambassador to the DPRK, and staff members of his embassy.

There was a farewell ceremony.

The national anthems of the Russian Federation and the DPRK were played.

Conducted by Kang Sun Nam, Sergei Shoigu reviewed the KPA guards of honor.

The plane carrying the goodwill mission of Russia, which made a meaningful contribution to further developing the traditional DPRK-Russia relations of friendship, took off amid the warm send-off by the KPA service personnel. -0-