PYONGYANG, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The Olympic torch relay in Pyongyang, the 18th leg of the 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.

　　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 broke out in applause.

　　Chong told Xinhua that the marathon is a symbol of the Olympic Games, and the Olympic torch relay has a special meaning for her as a former marathoner.

　　"Holding the last torch and running to the cauldron reminded me of making the final dash in the marathon," she said.

　　Tens of thousands of dressed up Koreans, Chinese businessmen and overseas students in the DPRK watched the ceremony, cheering and holding up banners that 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, and Chang Ung, the DPRK representative of the International Olympic Committee, attended the closing ceremony.

　　The Olympic flame, which had stopped in 17 nations before arriving in Pyongyang early Monday morning, will leave for Ho Chi Minh City, the capital of Vietnam, this evening.

　　The 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 that 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 the streets to welcome the Olympic flame. Both sides of the route were decorated with banners and billboards that bore the Beijing Olympic torch relay logo as well as the slogan -- "Light the Passion Share the Dream."

　　Starting with former national soccer team player Pak Tu Ik, 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, each ran a 20km route that covered the city's main streets and most of the landmarks.