Kim Jong-un attended a Pyongyang performance with his wife and daughter as North Korea marked the Workers’ Party anniversary without major military displays.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends a celebration performance for the 81st founding anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea at Pyongyang Indoor Stadium on Oct. 10, in this photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency the following day.YONHAP
North Korea has held a celebration performance for the 81st founding anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in attendance, state media reported Sunday.
Patriotic songs, acrobatics and dance filled Pyongyang Indoor Stadium the previous day in a show that stressed loyalty to the party and Kim, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
Kim, whom the article described as “representing the dignity and mightiness” of the country, waved to the audience “as a token of his congratulations to all the participants on the party founding day” and expressed satisfaction with the performance, KCNA said.
A photo released by KCNA shows Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, and daughter, Kim Ju-ae, accompanying him.
Diplomatic envoys and members of foreign missions sat alongside senior party and military officials and Pyongyang citizens, according to the report.
Kim did not issue a statement marking the anniversary.
Senior North Korean officials, including members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Workers’ Party Central Committee, pay their respects at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang on Oct. 9 to mark the party’s 81st founding anniversary, in this photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency the following day.YONHAP
The performance capped a series of events and gatherings marking this year’s anniversary, which were modest in scale.
North Korea considers anniversaries ending in zero or five to be milestone years, and has traditionally marked them with large-scale military parades, mass gymnastics displays and weapons exhibitions.
Last year, the North staged a massive late-night military parade at Kim Il Sung Square, unveiling the Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile.
A separate KCNA dispatch said party officials visited the Party Founding Museum, where they were briefed on Kim’s October 2025 visit to the museum, without specifying when they went.
The report said Kim “is ushering in a great heyday of building our Party in the new era and achieving comprehensive national rejuvenation.”
