North Korea’s premier has stressed the importance of improving inter-Korean relations as a way of realizing a “self-reliant unification.”
 
Speaking at an event on Tuesday marking the 66th anniversary of the country’s founding in Pyongyang, North Korean Premier Pak Pong-ju said the regime will spare no strength in opening a new chapter of self-reliant unification by improving inter-Korean relations.
 
North Korea’s top leader Kim Jong-un was absent at the event, but other senior leaders of the country, such as Kim Yong-nam, the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea, were in attendance. Some of the party secretariats, Choe Ryong-hae, Choe Tae-bok and Kim Ki-nam, were also present.
 
Heo Jong-man, the chairman of the Federation of Korean Residents in Japan, also attended the speech. Heo launched a visit to the North on September 6. 
 
The North usually holds the speech on September 8, a day earlier than the North’s founding day. But, this year, it was held on September 9, as September 8 this year coincided with the Chuseok thanksgiving holiday, the major holiday celebrated in both Koreas.