Remarks Made by the respected Comrade KIM JONG UN Before the Families of the Fallen Soldiers of the Overseas Military Operation

Comrades!

I would like to say a few words on this occasion of meeting the families of the martyrs who dedicated their precious lives defending the dignity and honor of our country.

Facing your figures who are steadfastly overcoming the unbearable pain of loss, I cannot help but feel a solemn and warm heart.

The thought of the families who had no idea about the life or death of their beloved children and husbands and then received such a shocking news continues to make my heart tremble, and I simply cannot focus on any work.

I feel regretful for not being able to raise and bring back our officers and soldiers who fell in the foreign battlefield, and with a sorry heart for not being able to protect their precious lives, I apologize once again to all the families.

When I met the families at the national commendation ceremony, I thought a lot about those who could not attend.

Therefore, wishing to comfort all the families of the heroes separately like this and alleviate their grief and sense of loss, I arranged today's meeting.

I express my deep condolences to all the families who came here bearing the painful wound of losing their flesh and blood, to this place where they should have been with their loved ones amidst the blessings of the entire nation.

When I engraved the faces and names of our outstanding and brilliant heroes one by one on the wall of remembrance, I also pictured the figures of the parents who gave birth and raised such splendid sons, and placed side by side the figures of their wives and children whom they loved so dearly.

Without excellent parents, how could there be such excellent sons? And without true love for their parents, wives, children, and homeland buried in their hearts, how could they have been so brave until the last moment of their lives?

From the heroic exploits of the heroes who charged into death following the order of the fatherland, we saw the firm figures who implanted and rightly nurtured love for the fatherland and homeland in pure hearts, and vividly felt the tender hands that became support and added strength and courage in the days of true service.

Our army is an heroic army that does not know how to yield, does not know impossibility, and fights to win, because they are sons born and raised by the most resilient, patriotic, and righteous people in the world, the great heroic people who have shared destiny with this country through generations of unyielding life and struggle.

Although they departed with blue youth and high aspirations, their unyielding spirit and revolutionary spirit, which wrote a new chapter of victory for our country with blood and ignited the fierce flames of nationwide heroism, will live forever in all our hearts.

The Party and the government will honor the excellent people who rightly raised and brought forth the heroes respected and revered by the entire nation alongside them on the podium of honor, and will do our best so that the beautiful life of the fatherland defended by the sacrificed martyrs with their lives reaches you first.

Seeing those young children, my heart aches even more.

Our officers left behind children like their own flesh, left behind beloved women.

Our soldiers left while picturing the caring eyes of their mothers.

While bidding farewell in their hearts to all they loved and facing death, they left writings wishing for the prosperity of the fatherland, the prosperity of Pyongyang, and ended their lives shouting Long live the Democratic People's Republic of Korea!

I think that although they did not leave me a short letter when they left like that, they entrusted their families and beloved children to me.

Surely they entrusted them to me.

That request is not read in lines.

It is not heard with ears.

Because it is heard with the heart, with faith, I heard those requests.

As they wished, I will take care of the families and the children.

Here, the directors of the revolutionary schools are also present.

The guiding officials of our country are also here.

We will send the children left by the heroes to the revolutionary schools, and I, the state, our army will take full responsibility and raise them well, and bring them up as firm and brave fighters like their fathers into the core ranks of our revolution.

Now, in Taesong District, Pyongyang City, as in the song, a new street will be built for the families of the fallen soldiers who shone like new stars and departed with their blue youth intact, and we propose to name that street Saebyol Street, praising the shining exploits of our soldiers like stars.

And right in the best site of the arboretum in front of it, we will lay to rest the remains of the martyrs and erect an immortal monument to the combat exploits to remember the great warriors who defended the resilience of the Korean people and the dignity and honor of the Korean People's Army.

So that the entire nation can always visit and remember them and share all glory and joy.

The Party and the state will wholeheartedly help the families start a happy life in Pyongyang amidst the respect and admiration of the entire nation.

On behalf of all the soldiers of our army and in the name of all the people of the nation, I bow once again to the hearts that steadfastly overcome the sorrow of losing loved ones, and proudly regard and support the noble lives and final decisions of their children and husbands.

I hope all the families overcome today's pain as quickly as possible.