PYONGYANG - The Olympic torch relay in Pyongyang, the 18th leg of its global tour, was completed at around 15:00 local time as the last torch bearer kindled the Olympic cauldron in the Kim Il Sung Stadium.
Kim Yong Nam, the top legislator of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, passes the torch to the first torchbearer, Park Tu Ik, a veteran soccer player, at the start of the 18th leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay in Pyongyang, capital of DPRK, April 28, 2008. [Xinhua]
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Chong Song Ok, crowned at the 1999 world athletics championships and hailed as "Marathon Queen" by DPRK media, ran up to the cauldron in the Kim Il Sung Stadium. When she kindled the Olympic cauldron with the flame, the spectators burst out a storm of applause.
Chong told Xinhua that marathon is a symbol of the Olympic Games and as a former marathoner, the Olympic torch relay has a special meaning to her.
"Holding the last torch and running to the cauldron reminded me of making a final dash in marathon," she said.
Tens of thousands of full-dressed Koreans, Chinese businessmen and overseas students in the DPRK watched the ceremony, cheering and raising banners which read "Congratulations to the Successful Completion of Olympic Torch Relay in Pyongyang," "Cheer for Beijing, Cheer for Pyongyang, Cheer for the Olympic Games," "China-DPRK Friendship Passed on from Generation to Generation."
Kim Yong Il, premier of the DPRK, Chang Ung, the DPRK representative of the International Olympic Committee, attended the closing ceremony.
The Olympic flame, which had travelled 17 nations before arriving in Pyongyang early Monday morning, will leave for Ho Chi Minh City, capital of Vietnam, this evening.
Head of the Beijing Olympic flame delegation, Li Binghua, who is an executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games (BOCOG), said that the torch relay in Pyongyang "made him extremely excited" and he will "remember it forever."
The torch relay kicked off at around 10:15 a.m. local time on the sunny Monday morning, at the Tower of the Juche Idea.
Hundreds of thousands Pyongyang residents lined streets to welcome the Olympic flame. Both sides of the route were decorated by banners and billboards which bore the Beijing Olympic torch relay logo as well as the slogan -- "Light the Passion, Share the Dream."
Starting from Pak Tu Ik, former national soccer team player, 80 torch bearers, selected from different walks of life including government officials, famous athletes, working people in different fields, overseas Koreans and Chinese in the DPRK, had run a 20km route that covered the city's main streets and most of the landmarks.
