Pyongyang, August 16 (KCNA) -- A delegation of the State Duma of the Russian Federation led by Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin left here for home on August 15 after paying a congratulatory visit to the DPRK at the invitation of the Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Choe Ryong Hae, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, first vice-president of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, saw off Vyacheslav Volodin at Pyongyang International Airport.

The delegation was sent off by Kang Yun Sok, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the SPA, Pak In Chol, chairman of the SPA, Kim Jong Gyu, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, Ri Chol, director of the Academy of Medical Science of the Ministry of Public Health who is concurrently chairman of the DPRK-Russia Friendship Parliamentary Group, Aleksandr Matsegora, Russian ambassador to the DPRK, and staff members of his embassy.

The plane carrying the Russian friendship mission took off amid the warm send-off by the masses. -0-