Kim Jong-un guides military drill amid human rights criticism
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un guided a joint military drill to highlight improved combat readiness, the country's official news agency said Sunday, amid the North's repeated threats of retaliation against a recent United Nations resolution on its human rights situation.
Kim guided the combined drill of two Korean People's Army (KPA) units that included simulations of a coastal landing and attacks on enemy troops, said the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), monitored in Seoul. As is customary, the report did not disclose when the drill was conducted.
Kim guided the entire drill and was satisfied, the KCNA's English-language report said, quoting him as saying that "They are fighting well and no enemy troops would come to their senses when they are exposed to such attack."
The latest report follows Pyongyang's repeated protests against the unusually strong U.N. resolution on the North's human rights violations adopted last week, as well as a recent joint military drill by South Korean troops.
The resolution adopted by a U.N. committee calls for the referral of the North to the International Criminal Court for human rights violations.
The North has also criticized Seoul's Hoguk joint drill that involved all branches of South Korea's military. The North denounced the 12-day drill, which ended two days ago, as a cause of worsening inter-Korean ties.
The KCNA said Kim instructed his country's military to conduct frequent war rehearsals to be better prepared for modern warfare.
"I used to create circumstances all of a sudden any moment to personally organize and guide drills of units because the present drill is directly linked with the future fight and destiny of our country," Kim said during his guidance.
Kim also stressed the need to frequently stage such combined joint rehearsals "in order to bolster up the capability of units at various levels to conduct operations and improve the operation commanding ability of commanding officers by focusing main efforts on rounding off the close coordination among units of services and arms of the army and ensuring promptness, rapidity, unity and accuracy in combat actions," the KCNA said.
A number of high-ranking military officials accompanied Kim, including Hwang Pyong-so, the military's chief political officer, as well as Ri Yong-gil, chief of the KPA General Staff, the KCNA said. (Yonhap)