Choe Yun Sik, vice-chairman of the Pyongyang city people's committee, in his welcome address stressed that Ri's defection is an expression of deserved resistance to the South Korean society and earnest yearning after the Korean style socialism centred on the popular masses. He said Ri will enjoy an independent and creative life to his heart's content together with the people in the DPRK, a people's paradise which will demonstrate the might of a powerful socialist nation before long.
Ri Ki Won in his reply speech said the miserable situation of South Korea, which is now suffering a big turbulence owing to the economic depression and trusteeship is the inevitable result of the U.S. colonial enslavement policy and the South Korean rulers' flunkeyist traitorous moves and corrupt politics. He noted that what impressed him most in the north was that all the state policies are for the sake of the working people. He said such social system of people's welfare is the fruition of General Secretary Kim Jong Il's noble politics of love and benevolence. Under the leadership of Kim Jong Il the DPRK has become an unchallenged powerful country in ideology and politics in the international arena, he said. He expressed his determination to devote himself to the struggle for national reunification and building of a powerful socialist nation.