Pyongyang, August 22 (KCNA) -- A grand banquet was given at the Mokran House in honor of the commanding officers and combatants of the overseas operation unit of the Korean People's Army and bereaved families of the martyrs.

The banquet hall was filled with boundless emotion, joy and excitement of the commanding officers and combatants honored with high glory and happiness of their lives under the care of the motherland and the great brilliant commander they have yearned for even in a dream.

Leading officials of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and leading commanding officers of the Ministry of National Defence attended the significant banquet together with the commanding officers, combatants of the overseas operation unit of the KPA and bereaved families of the martyrs.

Pak Jong Chon, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the WPK and secretary of the Party Central Committee, made a speech at the banquet.

At the decisive battlefields for defending the absolute authority of the Party Central Committee and safeguarding the dignity and honor of the DPRK and the appellation and tradition of the KPA, officers and men of the KPA wrote the immortal combat records at the cost of their blood, created a new great history of the KPA with their militant courage and legendary military merits that put the stories of heroes in the human history of war to shame and recorded a new glorious page in the history of war victory of the DPRK in gold letters, the speaker said.

The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK will always emerge victorious in the sacred war to be faced with in succession regarding the brilliant and heroic life of the brave soldiers who participated in the war as an example, he said, stressing that all divisions, brigades, regiments and battalions and service personnel of the whole army will courageously advance along the road of victory the brave soldiers who participated in the war have won.

The commanding officers and combatants of the KPA overseas operation unit pledged to keep glorifying the dignity and honor of the KPA with the priceless military merits of the present generation in the militant journey of opening up a new era of building a rich country with a strong army, regarding the trust and love of the Party as the lifeline of their destiny and the spirit of their courage. -0-