There he looked round the monument to on-site guidance of the peerlessly great persons of Mt. Paektu and rooms devoted to the education in revolutionary history and to the history of the dockyard.

Seeing the historic mementoes and data, he recalled with deep emotion the course of development of the dockyard, which was built as the country's first base for warship repair in July 1947 at the instruction of President Kim Il Sung.

And he noted that when visiting the dockyard in the last year of his life, leader Kim Jong Il gave the important tasks that would serve as guidelines in operating it, underlining the importance of its duty.

Thanks to the far-sighted wisdom of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the East and West Sea Fleets of the KPA Navy could have solid material and technical foundations whereby to repair any type of warship in a short period, he said.

Then the Supreme Commander went round the engine repair work-team, trial operation ground, dock, quay and other parts of the dockyard to learn in detail about the repairing of warships and working conditions and living environment of its employees.

He stressed the need for the dockyard to update its production processes in line with the requirement of the age of knowledge-based economy so as to successfully carry out the task of repairing warships and contribute to the modernization of warships.

He instructed officials to give the dockyard a complete facelift to make its interior and exterior quite different from what they used to be as well as to build cultural and welfare establishments and a scientific and technological dissemination room in a perfect way.

He also said that the dockyard should be equipped with better sewage disposal facilities in conformity with the scientific and technological requirements to prevent the industrial waste water from polluting the sea.

The October 3 Dockyard has a very important role to play in developing the navy, he said, and called for turning it into a model and standard dockyard in the country, adding that the party would solve all problems arising in doing it.

He expressed belief that the dockyard would be successfully renovated on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the WPK to make a tangible contribution to the repair and modernization of various battleships and the development of the nation's shipbuilding industry.

Accompanying him were Army Col. Gen. Yun Tong Hyon, vice-minister of the People's Armed Forces, and Hong Yong Chil, vice department director of the WPK Central Committee.