▲ This file photo, released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Oct. 10, 2025, shows an event at May Day Stadium in Pyongyang the previous day to celebrate the 81st anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea. In an address, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged to turn the country into an "affluent" socialist "paradise." (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

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SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is building a festive mood and stirring public loyalty ahead of the 81st founding anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPA), with various events under way.

The Union of Agricultural Workers of Korea, one of the country's four labor organizations, held its celebration Wednesday, the Rodong Sinmun reported.

Participants at a debate session called for stronger party leadership and more rigorous ideological education. They also stressed the need to meet the party's grain production targets, the paper said.

Art events have also taken place ahead of the Oct. 10 anniversary.

A performance by the Youth Central Art Propaganda Team took place Wednesday. On the same day, party cadres and artists attended the opening ceremony of the National Art Exhibition at the Korean Central Art Gallery.

The paper ran a front-page article urging readers to carry on the party's history, ideology and founding spirit.

It also reported that crowds of people have been visiting the Party Founding Museum in the capital in time for the anniversary.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Thursday that flower baskets from foreign leaders have begun arriving. Leader Kim Jong-un has received baskets from the presidents of Laos and Palestine, as well as from the corps of military attaches in North Korea, the KCNA said.

A senior official at South Korea's unification ministry told reporters that Seoul does not expect anything on a grand scale, since this year's anniversary is an interim one.

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, it staged a massive late-night military parade at Kim Il Sung Square, unveiling the Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which is believed to be capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads and reaching the U.S. mainland.

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