The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un made a speech welcoming the people who have arrived in Pyongyang from the flood-hit areas on August 15.

The full text of the speech is as follows:

Dear citizens from North Phyongan, Jagang and Ryanggang provinces,

Respected residents from several regions,

How are you?

First of all, I would like to express my thanks to you for trusting in and following the measures adopted by the Party and government.

All of you must have taken much trouble coming all the way here.

It is my pleasure to be receiving you with a hearty welcome in Pyongyang.

And you, students, my beloved children,

I welcome you here.

To me, it is a great relief that hostels with fairly good conditions can be provided to the elderly, nursing mothers, honoured disabled ex-soldiers and children, who have lived in discomfort in the flood-hit areas along the border lines and the northern inland region of the country.

Here, the April 25 Hostel and the base for military parade training are fully prepared to receive you with all sincerity and provide every convenience for you.

We will make further efforts to ensure a comfortable living for all of you.

We will also pay due attention to working out schedules so that you can spend a pleasant, memorable time at the tourist attractions and bases for leisure activities in the capital city.

The April 25 Hostel, where you will stay starting from today, has been used to accommodate delegates to significant national conferences, and the base for military parade training is specially furnished to provide the conditions and environment necessary for the participating service personnel.

Several national events are already slated for the latter half of this year, but we have decided to commit these facilities to the exclusive use of the people from the flood-hit areas.

I hope you will feel at home here, enjoying yourselves without any worry.

Some of you may be physically unfit to move freely, and some others may experience inconveniences that are beyond their physical abilities. We will do our best to ensure that you live happily doing what you want to do, and in doing so, our absolute criteria will be meticulous attention to your health and comfort.

This is an impressive and happy day.

Our Party and government are most proud of such days.

You are justifiably entitled to such grand welcome and sincere hospitality, and our Party and government are obliged to take full responsibility for the life and health of all the people within the territory of our Republic.

This is a mandatory obligation and top priority for our Party and our state.

All of you, who are present here, as precious members of our people, have remained faithful to our Party all your lives, working with devotion for the prosperity and development of our state; even when left homeless in the aftermath of an unexpected disaster, you treasured your trust in our Party more than your personal property or houses that had been lost, and your confidence in it remains fundamentally unchanged.

In view of the important role you are playing in actively supporting our Party and state, and considering your position as future buttresses of the country, you justly deserve the best possible hospitality and services.

I believe that this time, while staying in Pyongyang, you will spend pleasant and memorable days thanks to the utmost sincerity of Pyongyang citizens and their tender care.

This time Pyongyang citizens showed heartfelt sincerity and tender solicitude towards the afflicted people by joining our Party and government in their initiatives to remove those people’s sufferings as soon as possible. I was deeply moved by the citizens’ ennobling spiritual world.

At this moment, large numbers of Party members and young people from the capital city are working hard to restore the flood-hit areas, and relief supplies from Pyongyang are continuously being sent to these areas.

It is heartbreaking that people in some parts and regions of the country experienced mental pain owing to the unexpected natural disaster, but in the face of the pain and trials our grand socialist family has been rallied more closely and united more firmly with an ennobling feeling.

And our confidence in changing today’s disaster to a watershed for transforming regions has become more unwavering based on this unity of the whole society.

We will transform regions.

This is our ideal, and we are capable of turning it into reality.

The natural disaster was a stumbling block to our advance, but in these trials we have found another driving force for defending our ideal and bringing it into full bloom.

By dint of this force, we will renovate your home villages, workplaces and schools, precious parts of our country, more beautifully and more wonderfully.

This time we are not going to confine ourselves to simply rebuilding the afflicted areas, but we will turn them into a model and textbook of regions becoming urbanized, modernized and civilized.

Soon the places destroyed by flooding and landslides will become transformed and richer beyond recognition without fail.

Therefore, please, all of you, have a good, happy time here without any worry.

I hope that the officials and employees of the April 25 Hostel and the base for military parade training, as well as others concerned, will work hard so that these disaster victims can be in a better condition than before, when returning to their dear native places that will be transformed beyond recognition.

I entrust these elderly people, mothers and children to the members of the mobile education teams in charge of the teaching and edification of the children, and to the members of the mobile medical teams who are responsible for patient treatment and elderly care. I am in firm belief that these mobile team members will show utmost sincerity and selfless devotion.

Availing myself of this opportunity, I would like to extend my thanks once again to you for invariably trusting and supporting our Party.

Dear citizens,

Comrades,

The trust placed in us by our people–this is our biggest and most valuable asset which cannot be compared to any material wealth.

I reaffirm that we are ready to go through thick and thin to prove ourselves worthy of the great trust shown by our people, and that we will work with devotion for the good of our great people and faithfully serve them.

Today it is a significant holiday, which marks the liberation of our country.

I hope that the elderly, women and all others from the flood-hit areas will enjoy this holiday happily and have an unforgettable and significant time while staying in the capital city of their beloved motherland.

Thank you.