Events marking the 79th anniversary on Thursday were relatively low-key compared to some years in the past, when North Korea held large military parades showing off its latest weapons and visits from high-ranking Chinese officials.
Kim praised the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) as the world's longest-ruling party, which has overcome unprecedented difficulties to devote all its energies to building a powerful nation that has thwarted threats from outside powers.
In a lengthy message published in the official Rodon Sinmun newspaper, Kim said North Korea faces challenges both internally and externally, and said the party must take the lead in achieving a revolutionary communist victory. .
"Workers must be ideologically educated and cultivate party discipline in the conditions of a hell of criticism and struggle,” he said.
"The success of the work of growing the workers into true communist revolutionaries who profess the fundamental ideology and spirit depends largely on the role of the party organization.“
Kim attended a performance at the Central Party Cadre Training School and a banquet, which was filled with “joy of the participants welcoming the significant day marking the 79-year history of the administration”, the official KCTA news agency reported.
A photo on state media shows Kim arriving at the banquet with her daughter, in a Russian ``Aurus'' limousine. in the background, possibly one of the cars Russian President Vladimir Putin gave Kim as a gift.
Russian ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora was mentioned prominently as a guest of Kim, underscoring the sharp strengthening of ties between the two countries, according to Reuters.
Official media does not mention China's presence.