Kim Jong Un Inspects IV Army Corps Units

Kim Jong Un (2nd R) watches members of an artillery company training during an inspection of IV Army Corps in South Hwanghae Province (Photo: KCNA-Yonhap)

DPRK media reported on 25 February (Saturday) that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) inspected several units under the Korean People’s Army [KPA] IV Corps, including its 4th battalion which was responsible for the artillery shelling of  Yo’np’yo’ng Island on 23 November 2010.  According to KCNA he was accompanied by Gen. Kim Myong Kuk, Gen. Kim Won Hong, Gen. Pak Jae Gyong, Col. Gen. Hwang Pyong So, Col. Gen. Kim Chun Sam and personnel of the KPA Supreme Command.

He inspected the 1st and 4th Battalions under KPA Unit 403 stationed in the forefront area.

He gave the service personnel of the battalions pairs of binoculars and automatic rifles as souvenirs before having photo sessions with them.

He inspected combat positions of the 4th Battalion to learn in detail about its combat preparations.

The battalion is a proud sub-unit well known to the world as it turned Yonphyong Island into the one in flames by retaliating against south Korean puppet warmongers’ reckless shelling into territorial waters of the DPRK side to launch aggression through merciless shelling.

He highly appreciated the feats the soldiers performed by showing what the arms in the hands of the powerful revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu and the battle fought by it were like.

He went round a soldiers’ bedroom and wash-cum-bath house of a company under the battalion and took deep care of their living.

After viewing the combat positions of the sub-unit in the light of terrains and combat preparation, he said the present deployment of the sub-unit was not suitable from a tactical point of view, setting forth a task to courageously transfer and deploy its forces in new positions.

He went round a soldiers’ bedroom, education room and various other places of a company under the 1st Battalion to take warm care of the soldiers’ living.

He inspected a forward command post of KPA Unit 688 stationed in a forefront area.

He mounted the forward command post where he learned about the deployment of reinforced forces and equipment of the unit defending Yonphyong Island of the south Korean puppet army.

Feasting his eyes on vast defence theatres in the forefront area and the land of the south whose sky is overcast with dark clouds of war due to the enemy’s preparations for a new war of aggression such as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises, he learned in detail about the terrains, the distribution of forces of the unit and its guard duty.

He put forward the important tasks which would serve as guidelines for increasing the combat capability of the unit in every way and consolidating the defence theatre as firm as a rock in view of provocations of the enemy.

He continued his journey to inspect a battalion under KPA Unit 493 stationed in a forefront area.

He mounted a watch post of a costal artillery battalion under the unit where he looked over Paekryong Island near from it and learned about its guard duty.

Asking if there is any change in the enemy’s recent movements and how combat and technical equipment and forces are deployed, he underlined the need to further increase the density of firing in the future and steadily revise and supplement the proposal for sharing the firing duties and using equipment as required by a modern warfare and the changing deployment of enemy’s forces.

He guided soldiers of Artillery Piece No. 1 of the Second Company under the battalion in firepower training.

He inspected a battalion under KPA Unit 641 stationed in the forefront area.

He gave the soldiers of the battalion a pair of binoculars, automatic rife and machinegun as souvenirs before having a photo session with them.

Making the rounds of an education room, bedroom, mess hall and other cultural and educational and supply service facilities, he paid deep attention to the service and living of soldiers.

The southwestern sector of the front is a hot spot where a war may break out any moment due to the enemy’s reckless provocations for aggression, he noted, calling for keeping the service personnel on utmost alert in view of the touch-and-go situation. He ordered them to make a powerful retaliatory strike at the enemy, should the enemy intrude even 0.001 mm into the waters of the country where its sovereignty is exercised.

Kim Jong Un (2nd R) visits a coastal defense position during an inspection of the IV Army Corps (Photo: KCNA-Yonhap)

Kim Jong Un (2nd R) looks through binoculars from a command post, as part of an inspection of the IV Army Corps. Also seen in attendance are Gen. Kim Won Hong (L), Col. Gen. Pyon In Son (2nd L) and Gen. Pak Jae Gyong (R) According to South Korean media, Col. Gen. Pyon, a former deputy defense minister, assumed command of IV Corps in August 2011 (Photo: KCNA-Yonhap)

KJU’s appearance was reported not long after the DPRK’s National Defense Commission [NDC] published a report in state media that threatened “a sacred war to counter of our own style and protect the security of the nation and the peace of the country” as a reaction to the annual joint US-ROK military exercises Key Resolve/Foal Eagle.  The NDC’s statement was released as US and DPRK diplomats concluded a third interaction over the DPRK’s nuclear weapons program in Beijing.

The Lee Myung Bak group of traitors has embarked upon the road of kicking off again DPRK-targeted Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises in league with the brigandish U.S. imperialists, defying strong domestic and foreign public protest and condemnation.

Huge troops of the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces and their strike means have already been deployed in south Korea and in its vicinity and huge forces of the three services of the puppet army have been put on a wartime posture.

Key Resolve and Foal Eagle are unpardonable war hysteria kicked up by the hooligans to desecrate our mourning period and an unpardonable infringement upon our sovereignty and dignity.

This is, at the same time, a blatant challenge to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and an undisguised act of disturbing them.

The on-going development goes to prove that the Lee group which is more dead than alive, forsaken by the times, is still resorting to the last-ditch moves for war, backed by its American master.

In view of the prevailing situation, the National Defence Commission of the DPRK clarifies the following principled stand internally and externally:

First. Our army and people will foil the moves of the group of traitors to the nation and warmongers at home and abroad for a new war with a sacred war of our own style.

We have so far made every possible effort to avert a war and defend peace with a high degree of patience and magnanimity.

The Lee group and the warmongers at home and abroad are, however, unhesitatingly plunging to the road of an adventurous war, dreaming of “Egyptian style change” and “Libyan style victory”, ignorant of who their rival is.

War maneuvers staged against the belligerent party are, in essence, a silent declaration of a war.

The declaration of the war is bound to be accompanied by a corresponding physical retaliation.

Now that a war has been declared against us, the army and people are firmly determined to counter it with a sacred war of our own style and protect the security of the nation and the peace of the country.

The target of this war is the Lee group and hordes of warmongers at home and abroad.

The Lee group is hordes of traitors for all ages as it is rubbing salt into the wound of the compatriots grieving over the great loss to the nation through a renewed saber-rattling, not content with the high treason it had already committed during that period.

The U.S. imperialists are the sworn enemy keen to launch another war of aggression to impose “American style political mode” upon us, not content with the painful tragedy of division forced upon our nation, the tragedy that has lasted for more than half a century.

The sacred war will make a clean sweep of the Lee group and those warmongers from this land by the war mode of our own style, our strong striking means unknown to the world.

Second. The just struggle of the people in the south and overseas compatriots will be further intensified to bring down the Lee regime under the motto of peace against war.

The Lee group is nothing but human scum which had been forsaken by all Koreans already long ago.

“Myung Bak, quit” and “Let’s judge the Lee Myung Bak regime and set up a new government for national reconciliation.” This is the shout of the political and social circles in south Korea and the mind-set there.

The Lee regime is little short of a ship in distress which began sinking in face of the stormy waves of the angry public.

We admonished the group enough to make it understand and set an example in the four years of its office and showed it through an actual battle what our strike that turned waters into a sea in flames.

This being a hard reality, the Lee regime is still persisting in sycophancy, submission and treachery, failing to come to its senses.

That is why we branded the group of traitors as the one which should not be let to go scot-free.

In response to the mind-set in the south, our army and people will encourage and firmly back the people in the south and overseas compatriots in their nation-wide struggle to bring down the Lee regime in the idea of attaching importance to the nation and putting it above anything else and from a patriotic stand.

Third. Our army and people will show the U.S. imperialist warmongers hell-bent on war of aggression and intervention what their arms and real war are like.

It is the U.S. imperialist aggressors who are chiefly to blame for having driven into a phase of war the unstable situation on the peninsula where neither war nor peace has persisted for such a long period. It is again those warmongers who have staged ceaseless provocative war maneuvers in south Korea and in its vicinity, pursuant to their scenarios for a war of aggression against the north to confirm their feasibility.

In view of the intensified moves of the U.S. imperialists to ignite a war against the DPRK, they will shatter reckless military provocations, arms build-up and war maneuvers with increased posture to fight a resolute battle against the U.S. and launch a struggle of high intensify to drive out of this land the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces, the main hurdle lying in the way of achieving peace and security on the peninsula.

They will always keep the bases of the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces and centers for their military operations against the DPRK within striking range and wipe them out at a single blow, should they provoke us.

Nuclear weapons are not the monopoly of the U.S. We have war means more powerful than the U.S. nukes and ultra-modern striking equipment which no one has ever possessed.

The U.S. is sadly mistaken if it thinks it is safe as its mainland is far away across the ocean.

There is no limit to the striking intensity and range of our army and people to wipe out the aggressors.

It is their unchangeable stand to show the enemy what their arms and real war are like.

The ongoing struggle to bury the group of traitors and warmongers at home and abroad is a patriotic struggle on which the destiny of the nation in the new century of Juche year hinges.

No force on earth can overpower the single-mindedly united army and people of the DPRK.

Under the leadership of the peerless brilliant commander of Mt. Paektu they will usher in a new era of national reconciliation and peace and prosperity proudly and forcefully, shattering every war move of the enemy.

Kim Jong Un Visits KPA Unit #169

Kim Jong Un waves to personnel of KPA Unit #169 in an image released by DPRK media on 18 January 2012. Seen walking behind him in grey parkas are Gen. Kim Myo'ng-kuk (R) and Gen. Kim Wo'n-hong (2nd R) (Photo: KCNA)

Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) was reported by DPRK media on 18 January (Wednesday) to have inspected Korean People’s Army [KPA] Unit #169, which is linked to the IV Army Corps in South Hwanghae Province.  KJU’s last public appearance, reported on 15 January, was his attendance of a music and dance performance at the 25 April House of Culture.  Kim Jong Un was reported to have attended a field inspection of KPA Unit #169 and observed field exercises on 30 November 2011.  On that occasion he accompanied Kim Jong Il who was engaged in a vigorous inspection tour of KPA units.

At his latest visit to the unit KJU was reported to have been accompanied by Party Central Military Commission Members VMar Ri Yong Ho (Chief of the KPA General Staff), Gen. Kim Myong Kuk (Chief, GS Operations Bureau), Gen. Kim Won Hong (Chief, Military Security Command), as well Gen. Pak Jae Gyong (Deputy Director, KPA General Political Department) and Lt. Gen. Ri Tu Song.  KCNA reports:

Going round the room dedicated to the education of the revolutionary history and the room devoted to the history of the unit, he recollected with deep emotion the undying leadership feats of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il associated with the proud course covered by the unit shining with heroic feats.

He called upon the unit to conduct the combat and political training well, not forgetting the loving care Kim Jong Il showed for its service personnel by having a picture taken with them as he had promised them four years ago while inspecting their unit in November last year, the last period of his life. He, at the same time, urged them to live up to the deep trust Kim Jong Il reposed in them by encouraging them to stand at the head of the whole army, calling the unit the unit like a tiger of Mt. Paektu.

Kim Jong Un acquainted himself with the training of the unit.

Noting that the unit has a very important duty to perform, he set forth the important tasks which would serve as guidelines for increasing the combat capability of the unit in every way.

The primary duty of the soldiers is to conduct training well, he said, underlining the need to concentrate all efforts on intensifying training and prepare the service personnel of the unit as all-round fighters capable of satisfactorily and independently discharging any combat duty, in particular.

Making the round of the soldiers’ hall and library, he expressed satisfaction over the fact that the unit has conducted political and ideological education of the soldiers in a unique manner to suit their characteristic features by keeping diverse materials for ideological and cultural education and building sufficient facilities for that purpose.

He stressed the need to continue paying primary attention to the political and ideological education of soldiers so that they may become fighters strong in idea and faith.

Looking at the photos of combat heroes, he said that the unit would produce more heroes in the future. He called on it to improve the education by use of materials on combat feats to train all its service personnel as heroes.

Stopping before the photos of the officers whom soldiers call “our officers,” he appreciated the officers who have warmly loved their soldiers, regarding them as revolutionary comrades-in-arms.

Then he dropped in at a mess hall and looked at the program for observing the “day for soldiers.” He was pleased to learn that commanding officers and families of service personnel have made every sincere effort to take good care of soldiers.

Going round a bedroom, an education room and training and lecture rooms of a company under the unit, he took care of the soldiers’ living as their real father would do.

He invited the commanding officers of the unit which Kim Jong Il visited in the last period of his life to have a picture taken together.

Calling upon them to take warm care of the living of the soldiers, he said only by doing so, they will make success in training and it is possible to bolster the combat capability of the unit. He earnestly told the officers to make long and difficult marches for training all together this year and thus finish the combat preparations of the unit without fail as desired by Kim Jong Il.

KJU Officially Named KPA Supreme Commander

At a 30 December (Friday) meeting of Political Bureau of the Korean Workers’ Party Central Committee, Kim Jong Un was formally identified Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army [KPA].  The last reported (publicized) Political Bureau meeting occurred on 6 June 2011.   KCNA published two separate items on the 30 December meeting.  The first reported on KJU’s assumption of the position which occurred on 8 October 2011:

The dear respected Kim Jong Un vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea, assumed the supreme commandership of the Korean People’s Army at the behest of leader Kim Jong Il on Oct. 8 Juche 100 (2011).

A second item detailed the proceedings of the Political Bureau’s meeting.  The first item on the agenda was the announcement of KJU’s appointment as KPA Supreme Commander, after this announcement KCNA reports that “all the participants stood up to welcome him with enthusiastic applause.”  The remainder of the Political Bureau meeting, as reported by KCNA, focused on reviewing the joint calls of the Party Central Committee and Party Central Military Commission for the 100th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth and the endorsement of a statement and general policy guidance under the heading of “On Affecting a Great Surge in Building a Thriving Nation True to the Behests of the Great Leader  Kim Jong Il.”  In the reading and execution of KJI’s will, the Political Bureau established Jong Un “as the only center of unity, cohesion and leadership of the WPK”:

Standing at the helm of the Korean revolution is Kim Jong Un, the only successor to Kim Jong Il, the decision said, calling upon all the party members, servicepersons and people to turn sorrow into thousand-fold strength and courage and more dynamically struggle to win a great fresh victory in the Juche revolution under the leadership of Kim Jong Un.

Underlining the need to hold Kim Jong Il in high esteem as the eternal leader of the WPK and revolution and glorify his sacred revolutionary life and undying revolutionary feats forever, the decision referred to the relevant decisions.

The decision also called for more dynamically accelerating the cause of building a thriving socialist nation true to the behests of Kim Jong Il.

It underlined the need to hold Kim Jong Un in high esteem as the only center of unity, cohesion and leadership of the WPK, devotedly defend him politically and ideologically and give fuller play to the might of the political and ideological power.

It called for giving fuller play to the might of the socialist military power and firmly defend the gains of revolution, invariably adhering to the Songun idea and the Songun revolutionary line of Kim Jong Il.

Stressing the need to make the torch lit by Kim Jong Il in South Hamgyong Province, the torch for the industrial revolution in the new century, flare up all over the country to effect a great surge in building a socialist economic power, the decision set forth relevant tasks.

The decision called for turning the country into a highly civilized power in the 21st century where Kim Jong Il ’s Juche-based idea of cultural construction is blooming in all fields.

The meeting discussed the joint calls of the Central Committee and the Central Military Commission of the WPK on the centenary of birth of Kim Il Sung.

On or around 9 October, DPRK media reported that Kim Jong Il conducted guidance tours at a factory in P’yo’ngso’ng and at the Central Tree Nursery in the northern section of Pyongyang.  It is likely these visits occurred on 7 or 8 October.  If KJI was formulating and dictating final instructions and orders behind a potential power transfer, then the more relevant public appearance was his attendance of a concert by the U’nhasu Orchestra in central Pyongyang which was reported on 11 October.

Kim Jong Il talking with the heads of the Unhasu Orchestra in October 2011. Seen in attendance in the rear (L-R) are: Kim Jong Un; VMar Ri Yong Ho; CC KWP Secretary Choe Tae Bok; Gen. Kim Jong Gak; Jang Song Taek; and a musical director (Photo: KCNA)

This event gathered a number of key secretaries, party department directors and security officials.  Images of the central leadership from that event show many of the same people whose names are currently being bandied about by Pyongyang watchers such as Kim Jong Gak and Ri Yong Ho.  Also in attendance were Gen. Hyon Chol Hae and Gen. Pak Jae Gyong.  Until their respective 2007 appointments to other positions, Gens. Hyon and Pak constituted two-thirds of the public face of the KPA Supreme Command’s apparatus.  During the early 2000s, they were the most frequently reported members of KJI’s retinue.  Approximately one week after secretly appointing Kim Jong Un as KPA Supreme Commander, KJI attended a concert by a KPA art squad, which Gens. Hyon and Pak were reported and photographed as having attended.  Gens. Hyon and Pak would go on to attend a number of visits and inspections with KJI and Kim Jong Un from October into early December.

Gen. Hyon Chol Hae (L) and Gen. Pak Jae Gyong (3rd R) attending a KPA art squad performance in October 2011 (Photo: KCNA-Yonhap)

Between 17 October and his death in December, Kim Jong Il conducted eleven field inspections of KPA units;  until mid-October KJI had only been reported as having inspected three KPA units.  On 24 November the KPA Supreme Command published in DPRK media what it termed a report which denounced ROK exercises in the West Sea.  On 26 November KJI was reported to have visited forward-deployed units under the IV Army Corps in South Hwanghae Province.  During all of these military visits, included among senior officials identified by name, KJI was reported to have been accompanied “by staff members of the KPA Supreme Command.”

Gen. O Kuk Ryol Steps Forth From the Shadows

Kim Jong Un (L) shakes hands with Gen. O Kuk Ryol on 21 December 2011 (Photo: KCNA)

In the aftermath of Kim Jong Il’s death, Gen. O Kuk Ryol (O Kuk-yo’l) has emerged as a key member of the DPRK leadership.  The 80-year old Korean People’s Army [KPA] General was elected Vice-chairman of the National Defense Commission in February 2009.  Since his promotion to the NDC, Gen. O has been responsible for daily general management of military intelligence and directing policy, planning and implementation of crisis management.  Hours after Kim Jong Il expired Gen. O, along with Kim Kyong Hui and Jang Song Taek and several others, participated in a principals’ meeting.  This meeting began the order of operations which publicized KJI’s demise and taking on KJI’s remaining administrative and command mechanisms.

Pyongyang watchers (including, on occasion, this one) had written Gen. O out of the leadership circles.  Some pointed to the fact that at the 3rd Party Conference Gen. O retained his membership on the Party Central Committee, but was elected to neither the Political Bureau nor Central Military Commission nor was he listed as a party department director.  There were also rumors that as NDC Vice-chairman he experienced difficulty managing the behavior and actions of his subordinates.  In early 2011 another rumor surfaced that officials with personal or patronage links to Gen. O had been purged.  Instead, given his daily responsibilities, Gen. O blended into the woodwork of what DPRK media identifies as “senior officials of party, state, army, security organs and national institutions,” and regularly attended various Pyongyang-based events such as national report meetings and concerts.

Gen. O was likely tapped by KJI to serve as a transitional leading official of the KPA, another eminence grise-cum-guardian for Kim Jong Un.  He has managed DPRK special forces, is former chief of the KPA General Staff and has links to the Guard Command.  Gen. O is technologically savvy and highly respected within the DPRK military.  O Kuk Ryol has been tied to the Kim Family for nearly seven decades.  He was looked after by KJI and Kim Kyong Hui’s mother, Kim Jong Suk (Kim Cho’ng-suk).  O and his family have been loyal supporters to KJI and the Kim Family over the years.

Over the short term Gen. O will likely assist in the daily management of the KPA, supporting (perhaps in the form of counter-signing) orders or instructions issued by Kim Jong Un or Ri Yong Ho, chief of the KPA General Staff.  It is highly likely that during KJI’s visits to China in 2010 and 2011, and his visit to Russia this past August, this power arrangement was tested and tweaked.  The 19 December 2011 order to the KPA to suspend its winter training cycle and return to barracks most likely had Gen. O’s bureaucratic footprints.

Kim Jong Un Ordered Suspension of Military Training After KJI Death

In one of his first acts as central leader of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un ordered the suspension of the Korean People’s Army’s [KPA] annual winter training cycle prior to DPRK media publicizing the death of Kim Jong Il.  After the July 1994 death of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il issued a similar order and many KPA officers and service members remained in barracks.  Yonhap reports:

The North’s state media reported Kim Jong-il’s death Monday, two days after it occurred. The Seoul source said before the passing was announced, Kim Jong-un ordered all military units to halt field exercises and training and return to their bases.

“This is a direct example showing Kim Jong-un’s complete control over the military,” the source said, adding the move also indicated that the younger Kim is poised to become the top commander of the North’s military.

Kim Jong-un became vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party and a four-star general last year, indicating Kim Jong-il’s intentions to make his youngest known son the country’s next leader.

South Korean intelligence officials had previously believed Kim Jong-un had not yet assumed full control over the armed forces in the aftermath of his father’s sudden death.

Officials were only able to confirm that Jong-un’s order two days after he’d issued it. Won Sei-hoon, head of Seoul’s National Intelligence Service, and Kim Kwan-jin, the South’s defense minister, came under fire Tuesday after admitting the service learned of Kim Jong-il’s death from television news coverage.

South Korean officials said they have not observed any unusual activity from north of the border, but that the North has reinforced its security forces at the Joint Security Area near the border.

Kim Jong Il Conducts KPA Field Inspections After “Sea of Fire” Statement

Kim Jong Il (6th L) stands for a commemorative photo following his inspection of KPA large combined Unit #233. (KCNA-Yonhap)

A view of Kaemori, South Hwanghae Province (Photo: Google image)

Kim Jong Il traveled to South Hwanghae Province and inspected two Korean People’s Army [KPA] units, one day after the KPA Supreme Command issued a report that threatened “a sea of fire” in the south.  DPRK media reported on 26 November that he inspected KPA Air Force (KPAF) Unit #1016 and KPA large combined unit (taeyonhap pudae) #233, described by KCNA as being in “the western sector of the front.”  KCNA reports:

He expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the commanding officers and servicepersons of the unit have turned all operational theatres into impregnable fortresses to devotedly protect the Party, the revolution, the country and its people and firmly guarantee the great revolutionary surge with a powerful military force and are fully prepared to beat back any enemy’s surprise invasion in good time.

He praised them for standing firm guard over the forefront of the country with strong fighting spirit and faith in sure victory to wipe out all enemies on this land with just retaliatory blows and get the Korean people’s long-pent up grudge settled without fail if they disturb the DPRK’s legitimate exercise of sovereignty through reckless saber-rattling.

He expressed expectation and conviction that all servicepersons of the unit would boost its combat capability in every way to cope with the enemies’ provocations and consolidate all its defense theatres as firm as a rock, thus performing laudable military feats on the sacred road of defending the country.

This photo shows a graveyard (circled in red) in the North Korean border county of Kangnyong in South Hwanghae Province. The photo was taken from an observatory on South Korea's western border island of Yeonpyeong on Nov. 21, 2011, the first anniversary of North Korea's indiscriminate bombardment on the island. Scores of tombs were built recently in the graveyards, sparking off assumptions that they might be coastal positions. (Yonhap)

Kim Jong Il visits a stone factory in an image broadcast on KCTV 26 November. Also seen in attendance are Kim Jong Un (R) and Gen. Hyon Chol Hae (2nd R) (Photo: KCNA-Yonhap)

Kim Jong Il’s visit to the area followed reports that the KPA added or reinforced a number of coastal artillery positions.  According to ROK media, some coastal artillery guns may have been placed and concealed in a cemetery in Kangryong County.  Incidentally, Kim Jong Il was reported to have visited a stone factory on 25 November.  During his KPA inspections KJI was reported to be accompanied by Pak Jae Gyong, Kim Won Hong, Jang Song Taek, Kim Jong Un, Ri Yong Ho, Hyon Chol Hae and Kim Kyong Ok.  Also reported to be in attendance were “staff members of the KPA Supreme Command.”    On 24 November (Thursday) the KPA Supreme Command published a report denouncing ROK military exercises held in the West Sea:

The military warmongers dared to announce that the rehearsal is aimed to remind the DPRK of victims and lesson from the Yonphyong Island Shelling and review their “perfect readiness for counteraction.”

It is also intended to show their will to decisively punish “not only the base of provocation but also commanding posts of all echelons including supporters in the north” with the combined forces of three services in case the DPRK starts a military action, they asserted.

As for last year’s Yonphyong Island shelling, it was a legitimate self-defensive step against the provocateurs who dared to make a clumsy fire on the inviolable territorial waters of the DPRK despite its army’s advance warning.

This being a hard reality, they launched the anti-DPRK war rehearsal far from drawing due lesson on the first anniversary of the shelling. It is little short of a new political and military provocation to the army and people of the DPRK.

Such disgusting behavior by the military warmongers, who go recklessly without knowing about the present trend of situation and their domestic condition, will arouse criticism and ridicules from among the people at home and abroad.

They should not forget the lesson taught by the Yonphyong Island Shelling one year ago.

They should be mindful that If they dare to impair the dignity of the DPRK again and fire one bullet or shell toward its inviolable territorial waters, sky and land, the deluge of fire on Yonphyong Island will lead to that in Chongwadae and the sea of fire in Chongwadae to the deluge of fire sweeping away the stronghold of the group of traitors.

The DPRK revolutionary armed forces are in full readiness to go into a decisive battle to counter any military provocation.

This report was one of several missives issued by the DPRK during the week that marked one year since the 23 November 2010 Yo’np’yo’ng Island artillery shelling incident which resulted in the death of two ROK Marines and two civilians.  According to Yonhap, the first mention of the anniversary appeared in a 22 November essay on Urminjjokkiri which said West Sea exercises were “clearly an attempt to create another military provocation like the Yeonpyong-do incident, and ultimately carry out an all-out attack on the North.”  This essay was similar to information bulletin #987 released by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea [CPRK]:

They are seriously mistaken if they think they will go scot-free after they commit provocation in the future, too.

The puppet group is kicking off the sinister confrontation racket, instead of drawing due lesson from last year’s Yonphyong Island shelling case. Such action will bring itself to shame and reveal its colors as a war hawk more glaringly.

The reality clearly shows that “flexibility of the policy toward the north” much touted by the group is no more than wordplay to deceive the public opinion.

The puppet group has only the extreme hostility toward fellow countrymen and sinister intention to go for confrontation and war with the DPRK.

Its reckless confrontation moves are a last-ditch effort to arrest the daily growing demand of the South Korean people for switchover in the policy toward the north, quell the desire for reunification through alliance with the north and free itself from the wretched plight into which it has been driven at home and abroad due to its serious ruling crisis.

The army and people of the DPRK are now in full readiness to go into action and annihilate the enemy, with surging indignation at the evermore pronounced anti-DPRK smear campaign and war moves of the puppet group.

ROK officials did not respond to the DPRK’s statements.  Yonhap reports:

“We don’t find it worth responding to North Korean rhetoric that flies in the face of common sense,” a military official said on the condition of anonymity. “If North Korea wants to engage in dialogue, it should stop clinging to irrational logic and immediately apologize for its torpedoing of the Cheonan warship and its shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.”

The official was referring to two deadly armed provocations by North Korea last year, which killed 50 South Koreans, mostly soldiers.

Another official at the Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, also made a similar comment on the North’s latest harsh rhetoric.

On Thursday, the North’s military threatened to turn Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea’s presidential office, into “a sea of fire.” It came a day after South Korea held military exercises in the Yellow Sea to mark the first anniversary of the Yeonpyeong shelling.

The South Korean official said these exercises only strengthened the military’s defense posture and its determination to strike back against future North Korean provocations.

“If North Korea provokes again, our forces will thoroughly punish them and make them regret their action,” the official said.

Sources said North Korea put its forces on heightened alert as South Korea staged exercises in the Yellow Sea.

KPA To Begin Abbreviated Winter Drills on December 1

The Korean People’s Army [KPA] and Worker-Peasant Red Guards will begin the winter drill on 1 December.  Yonhap, citing a DPRK source, reports that the annual winter drills will last until 20 December which was described as “short than usual”:

The news of the planned drills came weeks after North Korea test-fired anti-ship missiles twice by using its IL-28 bomber in the western waters.

North Korea has also reinforced coastal artillery gun positions near its base close to the tense western sea border with South Korea, in an apparent response to Seoul’s move to bolster its artillery bases on its border islands.

Last year, the North torpedoed a South Korean warship and shelled the South’s border island of Yeonpyeong, killing 50 people and driving relations between the sides to the lowest point in decades.

South Korea has recently held a large-scale annual exercise across the country to strengthen its defense readiness against possible North Korean provocation.

Meanwhile, after the reported promotion of Gen. U Tong Chuk, another rumored senior KPA appointment has surfaced.  Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (Kim Kyo’k-sik) has returned to the Korean People’s Army General Staff Department [GSD] in the position of Vice Chief.    From February 2009 to August 2011 he served as commander of the forward-deployed IV Army Corps on the DPRK’s west coast in South Hwanghae Province.

Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (L) (Photo: KCNA)

Gen. Kim had a command role in the artillery shelling of Yonpyong Island on 23 November 2010, and a planning or advisory role in the March 2010 sinking of the ROK naval corvette Chonan.  During early August 2011, according to one report, he inspected coastal artillery units on Yongmae Island, possibly one of his last official acts as commander of the KPA’s forces in the western zone.  Gen. Kim’s return to GSD has caused some Pyongyang watchers to wonder if he was replaced by a corps commander tied to Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n).  Chosun Ilbo reports:

Immediately before the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, leader Kim Jong-il and his son and heir Jong-un visited Hwanghae Province, where they reportedly met Kim Kyok-sik.

A former senior North Korean official, who has defected to the South, said Kim’s return to the General Staff is “a kind of reward for his work in the field. It’s not clear whether it’s a promotion, but it’s not a demotion,” he said.

Another South Korean government official said it seems Kim Kyok-sik was replaced as part of Kim Jong-un’s efforts to replace aging frontline commanders with younger generals. “It’s too early to see his dismissal from the Fourth Corps as part of the North’s attempt to seek rapprochement with South Korea,” he added.

From 2007 to 2009 Gen. Kim served as chief of the KPA General Staff.  His February 2009 replacement by current GSD head Ri Yong Ho was interpreted as a demotion.  However, during his time heading GSD, Gen. Kim may have planned the aggressive, forward-leaning policies he enacted as IV Corps commander.  JoongAng reports:

“On Sept. 9, when a military pageant was held to mark the founding of the North Korean regime, Commander Kim was seated separately from other generals,” the source told the JoongAng Ilbo on Wednesday.

“Recently, we witnessed an inauguration of a new commander for the 4th corps and a luxury foreign car appeared at the ceremony,” the source continued. “[Among many scenarios] we are weighing the possibility of his being replaced.”

For South Korea, the hawkish commander’s replacement could be a sign of the North trying to improve ties.

“Kim’s replacement could be in response to our constant demands for apologies and the North taking responsibility for provocations such as the torpedoed Cheonan warship and Yeonpyeong Island,” a government official said.

Some government sources suggested that Kim maybe have been made vice defense minister or deputy chief of the KPA general staff.

“When Kim was transferred to head the 4th corps in 2009 from being the chief of the general staff, some said he was demoted,” a source told JoongAng Ilbo. “However, it turned out later that Kim was in charge of an important task to direct a military clash between the two Koreas near the Northern Limit Line. It could be that he was assigned another important task from the North Korean leader.”

Kim Jong Il walks by KPA general officers after the Foundation Day parade by the Workers' Peasant Red Guards in September 2011

Kim Kyok Sik Inspected Coastal Artillery Units on Yongmae

KPA Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (R) greeting the head of a Myanmarese delegation during a November 2008 visit. At the time Gen. Kim was Chief of the KPA General Staff

Yongmae (Ryo'ngmae) Island (Photo: Google image)

KPA Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (Kim Kyo’k-sik) reportedly inspected coastal artillery units on Yongmae Island in early August.  During the afternoon and evening on 10 August 2011 DPRK and ROK forces exchanged fire, after the DPRK launched rounds of artillery shells several of which landed near or across the NLL.  The DPRK denied that it fired artillery shells and ascribed the sounds to an ongoing land reclamation project on Yongmae.  The exchange of fire between ROK and the DPRK occurred six (6) days prior to the commencement of the US-ROK Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) exercises.  This caused Chinese commentators to observe that the DPRK may have fired artillery shells as a way to alleviate frustration (“a kid venting anger”) within KPA units deployed near the NLL.  Dong-a Ilbo reports:

Seoul intelligence learned that the North Korean officer inspected the combat preparedness of a coast artillery base on a Yellow Sea island on Aug. 10.

“It was an unprecedented move for a high-ranking North Korean military officer to visit Yongmae Island base, which is close to the Northern Limit Line,” the source said. “(South Korean) military intelligence focused on identifying the senior officer and finding out about his whereabouts.”

The officer who visited Yongmae was likely Kim Kyuk Sik, commander of the 4th Corps of the (North) Korean People’s Army. After being appointed to his post in early 2009, Kim led a naval skirmish with the South Korean Navy in November the same year.

He is also believed to have been deeply involved in the North’s torpedo attack on the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan and shelling of the frontline island of Yeonpyeong.

In addition, either Ri Yong Ho, chief of the Korean People`s Army General Staff, or Kim Yong Chol, director of the reconnaissance general bureau of the North`s People’s Armed Forces Ministry, are known to have inspected the unit.

Former KJI bodyguard and current head of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, Kim Yong Chol (Kim Yo'ng-ch'o'l) (L)

Ri Yong Ho (Ri Yo'ng-ho), current chief of the KPA General Staff

Photo of DPRK radar jamming factory from a November 2008 visit to the country by a Myanmarese military delegation

Prior to being appointed to his current command in February 2009, Kim Kyok Sik met and signed agreements with a Myanmarese military delegation.  The Myanmarese delegation visited a number of KPA and military industrial sites in November 2008, including a factory that produces radar jamming equipment.  Interestingly,  Arirang News (via Chosun Ilbo) reports on the DPRK’s development of a GPS jammer:

North Korea is developing a GPS jamming device that is capable of disrupting signals more than 100 km away, according to a Defense Ministry report to the National Assembly’s Defense Committee.

The report says North Korea has some 20 different kinds of communications and radar jamming equipment from the former Soviet Union and is currently developing new equipment which includes the GPS jamming device.

The North is said to have scores of military bases specializing in electronic warfare operations in various positions including some in the capital Pyongyang.

Vehicles and radar jamming equipment at a DPRK factory shown in a photo taken by a Myanmarese military delegation during their November 2008 visit to the DPRK

Robert Lee writes in Korea Herald:

The report by the Ministry of National Defense said the North imported some 20 different kinds of communication and radar jamming instruments from the then Soviet Union.

Submitted to the National Assembly’s Defense Committee, the report said the North is now believed to be developing new electronic warfare devices capable of jamming GPS signals within a radius of more than 100 km.

It is speculated that the North currently has deployed vehicles mounted with Russian-made GPS jammers with a range of 50 km to 100 km in two or three areas near the Military Demarcation Line.

The ministry has confirmed that the North has electronic warfare units in key locations throughout the country, including in a regiment in Pyongyang and in each of the frontline corps.

The ministry was unclear as to whether the North has developed electromagnetic pulse bombs, which can disrupt electronic devices through surges of electromagnetic radiation.

“No confirmation (of EMP bombs in the North), but considering the North Korean military’s tendency to develop electronic warfare devices and other countries’ efforts to develop EMP bombs, the North is likely to look to develop such bombs,” said an official.

According to military officials, when the North jammed GPS signals in Seoul and surrounding areas last March, it had some effect on the navigation systems of weapons that use common GPS signals. But the officials added that radar and inertial navigation systems were unaffected and that the military plans to replace common GPS signals with military GPS signals.

DPRK Denies Firing Artillery Shells

The DPRK representative to the North-South military talks denied that the KPA fired artillery shells near the NLL.  The DPRK claimed that the noises heard by ROK forces were explosions from ongoing construction projects in South Hwanghae Province.  Xinhua reports:

South Korea on Thursday dismissed a claim by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) that it did not fire artillery shells into waters near a western sea border a day ago. On Wednesday, South Korea fired shots in response to what it said was a sound of artillery shells presumably fired by the DPRK, one of which fell near the disputed maritime border Pyongyang refuses to acknowledge. Pyongyang later claimed through its state media that what Seoul heard was an explosion at a construction site, but the defense ministry here told Xinhua on Thursday such an ungrounded claim is “not worthy of a response.” The maritime border in question was the scene of a deadly exchange of fire last November between the two Koreas. The incident, which Pyongyang said was provoked by a military drill between Seoul and Washington, killed four South Koreans.

The DPRK’s firing of artillery shells occurred while ROK media reported of an assassination plot targeting ROK Defense Minister, Kim Kwang-jin.  Choe Sang-hun wrote in the New York Times:

The South Korean military’s Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff said it believed that one of the shells landed at the Northern Limit Line, a border drawn by the United Nations at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The South accepts and patrols the line, but the North rejects it, insisting on a border line farther south. South Korea responded by broadcasting a warning and then firing three artillery shells on the northern line. At 7:46 p.m., North Korea fired two more shells, one of them hitting the water close to the northern line, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. In response, South Korean marines fired three artillery rounds on that area. “We fired to warn them,” said a Defense Ministry spokesman, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity. “We are watching the situation carefully and maintain our readiness.” But North Korea accused the South Korean military of mistaking construction noise for artillery, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported. “It was a tragicomedy that they indiscriminately reacted to what happened with counter-shelling even without confirming the truth about the case in the sensitive waters,” the news agency reported. The South Korean military has maintained high vigilance since North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells at Yeonpyeong last November, killing two marines and two civilians. At the time, South Korea responded with an artillery attack on North Korea. The attack on Yeonpyeong and the sinking of a South Korean warship in March last year chilled inter-Korean relations to their lowest point in years. South Korea blames a North Korean torpedo attack for the ship’s sinking, which killed 46 South Korean sailors. North Korea denied responsibility. North and South Korea remain technically at war; they suspended hostilities in 1953 with a cease-fire rather than a peace treaty. The two sides have never agreed on a western sea border, subjecting the waters around Yeonpyeong to rival claims and occasional military clashes. Hundreds of South Korean fishermen operating in the waters have been taken into custody by the North Korean Navy. The two navies fought skirmishes in 1999, 2002 and 2009. Earlier Wednesday, South Korean news media reported that the Seoul authorities were searching for an assassination squad assigned by North Korea to murder the South Korean defense minister, Kim Kwan-jin. But neither the Defense Ministry nor the government’s main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, would confirm or deny the reports. North Korea, which had earlier threatened to “execute” Mr. Kim for his hawkish remarks, had not yet reacted to the news reports.