N. Korean leader observes anti-tank firing contest

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected an anti-tank firing contest of a front-line infantry division, his first military-related public activity of this year, Pyongyang's state media said Wednesday.

He guided a "recoilless gun firing contest" of units under the first infantry division, said the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It did not specify the date and location of the activity.

"He called for intensifying the military drills in the new year too and decisively raising the quality of training," it said.

In his New Year's address, Kim called for a "fresh change" in efforts to bolster the communist nation's defense capability in 2015. He said his military will actively develop cutting-edge weapons.

Kim was accompanied by his younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, who serves as a deputy director of the Workers' Party of Korea, and several other top military officials, including Defense Minister Hyon Yong-chol, the KCNA added.

Meanwhile, North Korea promoted an army officer responsible for the 2010 shelling of the Yeonpyeong Island to a general in charge of the artillery forces of the military.

Among Kim's entourage was Lt. Gen. Yun Yong-sik, director of the artillery bureau of the General Staff, which seems to be a new position.

Yun led the North's deadly artillery attack on the South's western border island in November 2010. At that time, he was a colonel commanding the artillery brigade of the fourth division based in Haeju, a region near the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea.

The North was also found to have replaced Gen. Pyon In-son with Lt. Gen. Kim Chun-sam to work as first vice chief and director of the operational bureau of the General Staff, showed the KCNA report. (Yonhap)