Pyongyang, August 28 (KCNA) -- On the occasion of the Navy Day (August 28), the DPRK people extend warm congratulations to the officers and men of the Navy of the heroic Korean People's Army who are firmly defending the seas of the country.

After liberation, President Kim Il Sung named the regular naval force which had been expanded and strengthened with the maritime security force as its parent body "Korean Fleet" and declared the founding of the KPA Navy on August 28, 1949.

In July 1950, during the Fatherland Liberation War, the KPA Navy sank the U.S. imperialists' heavy cruiser that boasted of being the "island of the sea" with only four torpedo boats, and in the 1960s it captured the armed spy ship Pueblo in our territorial waters.

The naval force of the DPRK has now developed into a service equipped with comprehensive combat power with the nuclear weapons, the strong treasured sword for defending justice and peace, as the main force under the guidance of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.

Kim Jong Un visited the Command of the Navy of the KPA on the occasion of the Naval Day in August 2023 and clarified the Party's idea of attaching importance to the navy and strategic and tactical issues arising in developing the naval force into an invincible service.

The ceremony of launching the tactical nuclear attack submarine of our own style held on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK and the ceremonies of launching destroyers of the KPA Navy in April and June this year demonstrated to the whole world the rapid development of the Juche-oriented naval force.

In his speeches at the launching ceremonies of the destroyers of the KPA Navy, he said that the DPRK should now build a fleet for ocean operations which has been recognized as a synonym for imperialist aggression, and stressed that it is an indispensable option for defending the state sovereignty and security interests to possess the operations capability on the ocean and exercise naval power there.

The leadership of Kim Jong Un, who is devoting himself to developing the navy into a powerful Juche-oriented service, is becoming a source of strength that enables our sailors to defend the seas of the country impregnably. -0-