Kim Jong-un watches flight drill amid anger over propaganda leaflets
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un smokes a cigarette during a flight combat drill of the Korean People's Army in this image released by the North's state media, Saturday. (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observed a flight combat drill in his reclusive state, its state media said Saturday.
Kim, the supreme commander of the North's 1.1-million-strong military, watched the drill by fighter and bomber groups under the Korean People's Army (KPA), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a report.
The report, monitored in Seoul, gave no further details, including when and where the training was held.
The report gave weight to the news by saying that Kim met with Col. Gen. Choe Yong-ho, the commander of the KPA Air and Anti-Air Force, and Maj. Gen. Choe Hak-song, chief of staff to the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea prior to the drill and gave them instructions for the drill.
The media also lashed out at the Seoul government, which it claimed is doing nothing about an ongoing anti-North Korean campaign under which North Korean defectors in South Korea frequently send propaganda leaflets by balloons across the border.
The report vilified those North Korean defectors "vile human scum."
In his New Year's Day address, Kim said he is willing to hold a summit with South Korean President Park Geun-hye if certain conditions are met. The North's media said that a halt to the leaflet campaign and join South Korea-U.S. military exercises is one of the conditions.
The North's No. 1 newspaper Rodong Sinmun also echoed Pyongyang's frustration over the leaflet campaign and Seoul's inaction in stopping it.
"They should ... stop confrontation rackets such as anti-DPRK leaflet scattering operations and 'human rights' campaign and sincerely come out for dialogue and negotiations for improved inter-Korean relations and independent reunification," the newspaper said in an English article, carried by the KCNA.
The two Koreas remain divided since 1945. (Yonhap)