Kim Jong Un Visits a KPA Fishery Station

Kim Jong Un (1) talks with senior KPA officials prior to touring a fishing boat during a visit to the 25 August Fishery Station of KPA Unit #313. Also seen in attendance are Chief of the Chief of the KPA General Staff Operations Bureau Col. Gen. Ri Yong Gil (2), Chief of the KPA General Staff Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (3) and Director of the KPA General Political Department VMar Choe Ryong Hae (4) (Photo: Rodong Sinmun).

DPRK state media reported on 28 May (Tuesday) that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) visited the 25 August** Fishery Station subordinate to Korean People’s Army [KPA] Unit #313***.  His last observed appearance was his field inspection of KPA Navy Unit #291.  Attending Kim Jong Un’s visit to the fishery station were VMar Choe Ryong Hae (Director of KPA General Political Department), Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (Chief of the KPA General Staff), Gen. Jang Jong Nam (Minister of the People’s Armed Forces), Col. Gen. Ri Yong Gil (Chief of the KPA General Staff Operations Bureau), Col. Gen. Son Chol Ju, Col. Gen. Ryom Chol Song, Col. Gen. Jon Chang Bok (1st Vice Minister of the People’s Armed Forces), Col. Gen. Yun Tong Hyon (Senior Deputy Director of the Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] Organization Guidance Department), Col. Gen. Jo Kyong Chol (Chief of the Military Security Command), Maj. Gen. An Ji Yong, Lt. Gen. Kim Su Gil and Hwang Pyong So (Deputy Director of the KWP Organization Guidance Department).

Kim Jong Un (1) on the deck of a fishing vessel during a visit to the fishery station of KPA Unit #313 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun).

Kim Jong Un (1) poses for a commemorative photograph with managers and employees of the 25 August Fishery Station of KPA Unit #313. Also seen in attendance is Minister of the People’s Armed Forces Gen. Jang Jong Nam (2), Director of the KPA General Political Department VMar Choe Ryong Hae (3) and Chief of the KPA General Staff Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (4) (Photo: Rodong Sinmun).

Kim Jong Un began his visit to the fishery station greeting military and civilian personnel who manage the fishery.  According to KCNA, he said “the fishery station should catch a lot of fishes with good fishing boats and supply the soldiers on the forefront with them all the year round so that the fishing boats provided by the Party may pay off profusely.”  He climbed aboard a fishing boat and toured the engine room to learn about the ship’s engine and fuel consumption.  He also toured the cabins utilized by the fishing crew and said that “an experience gained by a fishery base in effectively using spent fuel, underscoring the need to make sure that fishermen can have rest in a warm place as their hands are wet in cold water of rough sea.”  Kim Jong Un also instructed that each fishing boat should catch 1,000 tons of fish per year and that the fishery station managers should “write a letter to the Supreme Commander when they honor their plan.”  Whilst touring the fishing boat, Kim Jong Un mentioned that the KPA is engaged in a campaign to grow soybeans,”calling for successfully conducting both soybean growing and fishing operations to provide the soldiers with soybean and fishes all the year round.”  He also  named the fishing boat he toured “naming it ‘maple,’ symbolic of autumn.”

Kim Jong Un also visited a historical exhibition about the fishery and a monument denoting late leader Kim Jong Il’s visit to the fishery station on 25 August 1973.  He also toured a tackle shop and a refrigeration unit.  According to KCNA, Kim Jong Un “called on the fishery station to undertake aquaculture on a large scale while catching a lot of fishes in order to boost aquatic products, adding that it is necessary to cultivate seaweed, tangle, mussel, etc. in a big way” and he said he “visited the supply base on the east coast under KPA Unit 639 a few days ago where he saw it providing good supply service and catching a lot of fishes by putting fishing operations on a scientific basis, urging them to follow the working style and experience of the officials at that unit.”  Kim Jong Un ended his visit to the 25 August Fishery Station of KPA Unit #313 by posing for commemorative photographs with the fishery station’s military and civilian managers and employees.

Kim Jong Un’s visit to the 25 August Fishery Station was the first public event in which all of the senior KPA officials affected by personnel changes during February to May 2013 were present.  This was the first observed occasion in DPRK state media that gathered Col. Gen. Ri Yong Gil (Chief of the KPA General Staff Operations Bureau, appointed February 2013), Gen. Jang Jong Nam (Minister of the People’s Armed Forces, appointed May 2013), Col. Gen. Jon Chang Bok (1st Vice Minister of the People’s Armed Forces, appointed May 2013) and Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (Chief of the KPA General Staff, appointed May 2013).

 

 

**The fishery station of KPA Unit #313 is named after the date (25 August) in 1960 when Kim Jong Il inspected the 105th Tank Division.  The DPRK’s official history marks this as the beginning of Military-First (so’ngun) politics.

***In previous mentions in DPRK state media, KPA Unit #313 had been identified as “KPA Large Combined (taeyonhap pudae) #313.”  It is not clear whether DPRK news writers streamlined the nomenclature of the KPA unit or if KPA Unit #313 had been downgraded from a large combined unit (a KPA unit consisting of several combined units) with its assets merged or migrated to other KPA units as part of a force restructuring process in the KPA.

Kim Jong Un Visits Ku’msusan and Attends Banquet to Mark KPA Anniversary

Kim Jong Un (8th L) and senior members of the DPRK’s national security community pay their respects to statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at the Ku’msusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang on 25 April 2013, the official 81st anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People’s Army.(Photo: KCNA)

DPRK state media reported that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) visited the Ku’msusan Memorial Palace of the Sun and attended a banquet on 25 April (Thursday), to mark the official 81st anniversary of the foundation Korean People’s Army [KPA].  KJU’s last reported public appearance was his attendance at a rally and military “march-past” on Ku’msusan Plaza.  KJU first visited the preserved remains of his grandfather, late DPRK President and founder Kim Il Sung, and his father, late leader Kim Jong Il, at the Ku’msusan Memorial Palace.

Floral baskets (C) and honor guards representing (L, R) the KPA’s three conventional service branches at Kumsusan on 25 April 2013 (Photos: KCNA)

He was accompanied by Kim Yong Nam (Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] Presidium President), Pak Pong Ju (DPRK Cabinet Premier), VMar Choe Ryong Hae (Director of the KPA General Political Department), Jang Song Taek (Vice Chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission [NDC]), Gen. Hyon Yong Chol (Chief of the KPA General Staff), Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (Minister of the People’s Armed Forces), Kim Kyong Hui (KWP Secretary and KJU’s aunt), Pak To Chun (KWP Secretary), VMar Kim Yong Chun (Vice Chairman of the NDC and Director of the KWP Civil Defense Department), VMar Ri Yong Mu (Vice Chairman of the NDC), VMar Hyon Chol Hae (1st Vice Minister of the People’s Armed Forces and Director of the KPA General Logistics Department), Gen. Kim Won Hong (Minister of State Security), Gen. O Kuk Ryol (Vice Chairman of the NDC), Col. Gen. Choe Pu Il (Minister of the People’s Security), Ju Kyu Chang (Director of the KWP Machine-Building Industry Department), Col. Gen. Kim Chang Sop (Director of the Ministry of State Security’s Political Bureau), Col. Gen. Ri Pyong Sam (Director of the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces Political Bureau) and “commanding officers of the WPK Central Military Commission, the National Defence Commission of the DPRK and the KPA.”

KJU and the KPA’s high command first visited a room containing statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.  Floral baskets from Kim Jong Un, the Party Central Committee the Party Central Military Commission and the NDC were placed in front of the statues.  KJU then visited the rooms containing the preserved remains of his grandfather and father where he “made bows. . .in the humblest reverence,” according to KCNA.

A banquet hosted by the DPRK National Defense Commission at Mokran House in central Pyongyang on 25 April 2013, to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People’s Army. (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

Kim Jong Un also attended a banquet hosted by the NDC at Mokran (Moknan) House in central Pyongyang.  Attending the banquet were “senior party, army and state officials, members of the WPK Central Military Commission and the NDC of the DPRK, commanding officers of the KPA, officials of the party and armed forces organs, ministries and national institutions and service personnel of the KPA and the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces” and “diplomatic envoys of foreign countries and military attaches of foreign embassies here and their spouses.”  Before the banquet, the Moranbong Band gave a performance.

After the performance, a toast speech was delivered by Jang Song Taek (Chang So’ng-t’aek; Jang Song Thaek), Vice Chairman of the NDC, Director of the KWP Administration Department and Kim Jong Un’s uncle.  According to KCNA, during his speech, Mr. Jang “paid highest tribute to the great Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il who strengthened the KPA into the matchless revolutionary army and led it to the road of victory and glory, breathing with arms all their lives” and that “upon the authorization of Marshal Kim Jong Un, supreme leader of our party and people and supreme commander of the KPA, he warmly congratulated the service personnel defending the sky, land and seas of the country as firm as a rock and all the people dynamically struggling to build a thriving nation.”  Mr. Jang “noted that the revolutionary armed forces are ushering in the greatest heyday of their development as they are holding Kim Jong Un, who is identical to the Generalissimos, in high esteem as supreme commander” and he “stressed the need to steadily bolster nuclear force for self-defence both in quality and quantity and perform new miracles and feats in building a thriving socialist nation in the spirit of the historic March, 2013 Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the WPK.”

Kim Jong Un Attends KPA Event at Kumsusan

Kim Jong Un (2nd R) points to something at an event held at the plaza in front of Ku’msusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang on 25 April 2013 to mark the KPA’s official 81st anniversary. KJU is seen talking to his uncle, Jang Song Taek (R), Vice Chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission and Director of the KWP Administration Department. Also in the image are Gen. Hyon Yong Chol (L) and VMar Choe Ryong Hae (2nd L) (Photo: KCTV-Yonhap)

DPRK state media reported on 25 April (Thursday) that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) attended a rally and “march-past” at Ku’msusan Plaza in Pyongyang to mark the official 81st anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People’s Army [KPA].  KJU’s last reported public appearance was his attendance at a concert by the U’nhasu Orchestra, given on Sun’s Day (Day of the Sun; Kim Il Sung’s birth anniversary).  Joining Kim Jong Un on one platform were VMar Choe Ryong Hae (Director of the KPA General Political Department), Jang Song Taek (Vice Chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission [NDC]), Gen. Hyon Yong Chol (Chief of the KPA General Staff), Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (Minister of the People’s Armed Forces), Pak To Chun (Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] Secretary), VMar Kim Yong Chun (Vice Chairman of the NDC and Director of the KWP Civil Defense Department),VMar Ri Yong Mu (Vice Chairman of the NDC), Gen. O Kuk Ryol (Vice Chairman of the NDC), VMar Hyon Chol Hae (1st Vice Minister of the People’s Armed Forces and Director of the KPA General Logistics Department), Gen. Kim Wo’n-hong (Minister of State Security [MSS]), Ju Kyu Chang (Director of the KWP Machine-Building Industry Department), Col. Gen. Kim Chang Sop (Director of the MSS Political Bureau), Col. Gen. Choe Pu Il (Minister of People’s Security [MPS]), Col Gen. Ri Pyong Sam (Director of the MPS Political Bureau), Gen. Ri Pyong Chol (Commander of the KPA Air and Anti-Air Command), Col. Gen. Kim Myong Sik (Commander of the KPA Navy) and Lt. Gen. Kim Rak Gyom (Commander of the KPA Strategic Rocket Force Command).

Watching the rally and demonstration from another platform were Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] Presidium President Kim Yong Nam, DPRK Cabinet Premier Pak Pong Ju, KWP Secretary and Kim Family head Kim Kyong Hui, KWP Secretary and Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department Kim Ki Nam, KWP Secretary and SPA Chairman Choe Tae Bok, SPA Presidium Vice President Yang Hyong Sop, DPRK Cabinet Vice Premier Kang Sok Ju, KWP Secretary and Director of the United Front Department Kim Yang Gon, KWP Secretary and Director of the International Affairs Department Kim Yong Il, KWP Secretary and Director of Cadres’ Affairs Kim P’yo’ng-hae, KWP Secretary and Director of Planning and Finance Kwak Pom Gi, 1st Vice (senior deputy) Director of the KWP Organization Guidance Department Jo Yon Jun, along with “vice-premiers of the Cabinet, diplomatic envoys of foreign countries and members of the military attaches corps here.”  Watching the event were “officials of the party central leadership organ in Pyongyang, officials of the party and armed forces organs, working people’s organizations, ministries and national institutions, officers and men of the KPA and the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces, people from all walks of life, the chief of the Pyongyang mission of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front and overseas Koreans.”

The anniversary event began with speakers, led off by VMar Choe Ryong Hae.  According to KCNA, Choe said “the 80 odd year-long history of the KPA is one of glory in which it has steadily grown stronger as the main force for accomplishing the revolutionary cause of Chuch’e under the care of the peerlessly great men of Mt. Paektu and one of victory and feats in which it met every vicious challenge and shattered war provocation moves of the enemies and reliably defended the party, the leader, country and people” and he “expressed the pledge of all the service personnel to carry to completion the revolutionary cause of Juche that was started with arms in the forests of Mt. Paektu by taking the lead in upholding the leadership of the Supreme Commander as instructed by the great Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.”  KPA Navy Commander Kim Myong Sik said in his speech “even though the U.S. imperialist aggressors try to browbeat the DPRK with super-large carriers and nuclear-powered submarines, they will never evade the fate of the U.S. heavy cruiser Baltimore, which was buried at sea in waters off Jumunjin during the last Korean War, by the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK equipped ultra-modern strike means” and that “seamen waiting for the time of a dueling battle will send to the bottom of the sea all the pirate ships of aggressors, once ordered, and turn the South Sea of Korea into the burial sea of the enemies.”

KPA Air and Anti-Air Force Commander Ri Pyong Chol said “the men of his force are waiting for a final attack order to put an end to the enemies, with firm determination to devotedly safeguard the Party Central Committee headed by Kim Jong Un and the Ku’msusan Palace of the Sun” and that “the flying corps of a-match-for-a hundred stalwart pilots, once given a sortie order, will load nuclear bombs, instead of fuel for return, and storm enemy strongholds to blow them up.”  Strategic Rocket Force Commander Kim Rak Gyom said “the DPRK’s inter-continental ballistic missiles have already set the dens of the brigandish U.S. imperialists as their first target and officers and men of the Strategic Rocket Force are one click away from pushing the launch button.  If the U.S. imperialists and their followers dare make a preemptive attack, they will be made to keenly realize what a real nuclear war and real retaliatory blows are like and their stooges be made to feel the taste of horrible nuclear holocaust.”

Following the speeches, KPA units marched past Kim Jong Un.  According to KCNA KJU “saluted the columns marching past the tribune of honor in fine array.”  The event also included a fly-over by KPA Air and Anti-Air Forces jets.

 

Kim Jong Un Visits Kumsusan Memorial Palace of the Sun

Kim Jong Un (7th L) and members of the Party Central Military Commission and DPRK National Defense Commission visit Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyong at midnight on 15 April 2013 on the 101st anniversary of the birth of his paternal grandfather the late DPRK President and founder Kim Il Sung (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

DPRK state media reported that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) visited the Ku’msusan Palace of the Sun at midnight on 15 April (Monday), the 101st anniversary of the birth of the DPRK President and founder, Kim Il Sung. KJU’s last reported public appearance was at the 7th session of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] on 1 April.

Attending KJU’s visit to Ku’msusan were VMar Choe Ryong Hae (Director of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] General Political Department), Jang Song Taek (Vice Chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission [NDC] and Director of the Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] Administration Department), Gen. Hyon Yong Chol (Chief of the KPA General Staff), Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (Minister of the People’s Armed Forces), Pak To Chun (KWP Secretary), VMar Kim Yong Chun (Vice Chairman of the NDC and Director of the KWP Civil Defense Department), VMar Hyon Chol Hae (1st Vice Minister of the People’s Armed Forces and Director of the KPA General Logistics Department), Gen. Kim Won Hong (Minister of State Security), Col. Gen. Choe Pu Il (Minister of People’s Security), Ju Kyu Chang (Director of the KWP Machine-Building Industry Department), Kim Kyong Ok (Senior Deputy [1st Vice] Director of the KWP Organization Guidance Department), Col. Gen. Ri Yong Gil (Chief of the KPA General Staff Operations Bureau), Gen. Kim Yong Chol (Chief of the Reconnaissance General Bureau and Vice Chief of the KPA General Staff), Col. Gen. Son Chol Ju (Staff member, KPA Supreme Command), Lt. Gen. Ryom Chol Song, Col. Gen. Jo Kyong Chol (Chief of the Military Security Command), Gen. Yun Tong Hyon (Deputy [vice] Director of the KWP Organization Guidance Department), Col. Gen. Kang P’yo Yong (Vice Minister of the People’s Armed Forces), Lt. Gen. Pak Jong Chon, Gen. Ri Pyong Chol (Commander of the KPA Air and Anti-Forces), Col. Gen. Kim Myong Sik (Commander of the KPA Navy), Lt. Gen. Kim Rak Gyom (Commander of the KPA Strategic Rocket Forces) and Yun Jong Rin (Chief and Director of the Guard Command).

Kim Jong Un arrived at Ku’msusan’s chamber containing the statues of his paternal grandfather, Kim Il Sung, and his father, late leader Kim Jong Il.  Floral baskets were placed in front of the statues, sent by KJU, the Party Central Military Commission and the DPRK National Defense Commission.  According to KCNA, the floral baskets’ ribbons contained the message “‘The great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il will always be with us’.”  Kim Jong Un and the other members of the KPA high command bowed to the KIS and and KJI statues.  They visited the chamber where Kim Il Sung’s preserved remains lie in state and paid their respects, then visited the chamber where the preserved remains of Kim Jong Il lie in state and also paid their respects with the “humblest reverence,” according to KCNA.

KPA General Staff Says It “Will Take Powerful Practical Military Countermeasures”

Gen. Hyon Yong Chol, Chief of the KPA General Staff (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

Graphic of the control channels of the KPA General Staff. Some of what DPRK state media calls “strategic rocket” units reside at the corps level, but are commanded by the KPA Strategic Rocket Force Command. The green line indicates dual command between the NDC and CMC (Graphic by Michael Madden/NK Leadership Watch)

DPRK state media released a statement (tamhwa) on 4 April (Thursday) from a spokesman from the Korean People’s Army [KPA] General Staff which said the “”the towering resentment of the DPRK’s army and people has reached an irrepressible phase as they are all out in the all-out action to defend the sovereignty and prevent a nuclear war of the U.S.” and that “no one can say a war will break out in Korea or not and whether it will break out today or tomorrow.”  The KPA General Staff also announced that it is “in charge of all operations will take powerful practical military counteractions in succession as the KPA Supreme Command had already solemnly declared internally and externally.”

According to the KCNA, the KPA General Staff’s spokesman statement said:

A touch-and-go situation is prevailing on the Korean Peninsula.

U.S. formation of B-52s based on Guam flew into the sky above South Korea all of a sudden to stage a drill under the simulated conditions of a nuclear strike at the DPRK and formations of F-22s took off from Japan proper and Okinawa and were deployed in the Osan air force base in south Korea to watch for a chance to make a surprise strike.

B-2s flew into the air over waters of the West Sea of Korea from the U.S. mainland and nuclear- powered guided missile submarines and guided missile destroyers of the U.S. Navy which had been operating in waters of the Western Pacific are busy sailing in the West and East Seas of Korea.

It was reported that super-large nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and its group will enter the waters off the Korean Peninsula soon after leaving waters of the Indian Ocean or the western coast of the U.S. mainland.

South Korea and waters around it are turning into places for display of various types of nuclear strike means of the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces and a dangerous hotbed of a nuclear war in the true sense of the word.

The U.S. high-handed hostile policy toward the DPRK aimed to encroach upon its sovereignty and the dignity of its supreme leadership and bring down its social system is being implemented through actual military actions without hesitation.

Days and months have passed on this land amid the constant danger of war but never had the whole Korean Peninsula been exposed to such danger of a nuclear war as today.

Under this situation the towering resentment of the DPRK’s army and people has reached an irrepressible phase as they are all out in the all-out action to defend the sovereignty and prevent a nuclear war of the U.S.

In view of the prevailing situation the world people who love justice and value conscience are unanimously becoming critical of the U.S. and its followers for their disgraceful behavior of prodding the UN Security Council into adopting “resolutions on sanctions” against the DPRK and vocal expressing concern over the situation on the peninsula.

The moment of explosion is approaching fast.

No one can say a war will break out in Korea or not and whether it will break out today or tomorrow.

The responsibility for this grave situation entirely rests with the U.S. Administration and military warmongers keen to encroach upon the DPRK’s sovereignty and bring down its dignified social system with brigandish logic.

In view of this situation, the KPA General Staff in charge of all operations will take powerful practical military counteractions in succession as the KPA Supreme Command had already solemnly declared internally and externally.

We have already sent a strong message to the present puppet authorities and military of South Korea following in the footsteps of traitor Lee Myung Bak so that they may understand our position.

As a matter of fact, puppet military gangsters such as Kim Kwan Jin are human rejects not worth becoming targets of the DPRK’s revolutionary armed forces.

We formally inform the White House and Pentagon that the ever-escalating U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK and its reckless nuclear threat will be smashed by the strong will of all the united service personnel and people and cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means of the DPRK and that the merciless operation of its revolutionary armed forces in this regard has been finally examined and ratified.

The U.S. had better ponder over the prevailing grave situation.

 

 

 

DPRK Premier Tours Islet Defense Detachments

DPRK Cabinet Premier Choe Yong Rim (3rd L) tours the Mu Islet Hero Defense Detachment (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

DPRK state media reported on 27 March (Wednesday) that DPRK Cabinet Premier Choe Yong Rim toured the Jangjae Islet and Mu Islet Hero Defense Detachments.  Choe toured the bases on the islets and visited the living quarters and other facilities of Korean People’s Army service members deployed to the islet defense detachments.  According to KCNA Choe “stressed that there is nothing to be afraid of even though tens of millions of enemies come in attack as long as there is the dear respected Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un in the van of the revolution” and “noted that no one can escape the strike by the powerful revolutionary Mt. Paektu (Paektusan) army to mercilessly sweep away the hotbed of evils if the enemies continue the reckless saber-rattling.”  Choe said that “the army and people of the DPRK have now turned out as one in the all-out action with the U.S. imperialists because the sovereignty of the nation is more valuable than their own lives.”  In his inspection of the living facilities on the islets, according to KCNA, Choe Yong Rim “learned about problems urgently essential for improving the material and cultured lives of the soldiers as well as those issues arising in turning the detachments into impregnable fortresses, and pressed for necessary measures.”

View of West Sea islets where DPRK Premier Choe Yong Rim visited defense detachments (Photo: Google image)

View of West Sea islets where DPRK Premier Choe Yong Rim visited defense detachments (Photo: Google image)

Kim Jong Un Observes and Commands Live Fire Joint Exercises of KPA Large Combined Units #324 & #287 and KPA Navy Combined Unit #597

Kim Jong Un observes live fire joint exercises by DPRK ground, naval and artillery forces on the country’s east coast on 25 March 2013 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

DPRK state media reported on 25 March (Monday) that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) commanded live fire joint exercises by Korean People’s Army [KPA] Large Combined (taeyonhap pudae) Units #324 and #287 and KPA Navy Combined (yonhap pudae) Unit #597.  The joint exercises simulated defense of the country east coast, naval landings on a beach by DPRK ground forces.  It utilized light infantry, multiple-launch rocket systems [MRLS] and artillery.  KJU’s last reported public appearance was his attendance at a concert rehearsal by the KPA Song and Dance Ensemble, inspection of musical instruments and clothing produced by KPA factories and a review of historical artifacts designated for the reconstructed war museum in Pyongyang.  Among those attending KJU’s observation and command of the live joint exercises was Gen. Hyon Yong Chol, Chief of the KPA General Staff, Lt. Gen. Pak Jong Chon (staff member, KPA Supreme Command) and Lt. Gen. Rim Kwang Il.  According to KCNA this was an impromptu joint exercise  and KJU “issued an order for drills without any notice and finally examined the landing and anti-landing capabilities of the large combined units of the KPA Ground Force and the KPA Navy combined unit situated in the eastern sector of the front and the east coastal area.”

Kim Jong Un reviews an operations plan during joint live exercises on the country’s east coast on 25 March 2013. Also seen in attendance is Chief of the KPA General Staff, Gen. Hyon Yong Chol (L) (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

Hovercraft (ACVs) of KPA Navy Combined Unit #597 land on the country’s east coast whilst ground forces charge toward simulated targets on the beach (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

Women members of the 1st platoon of KPA Large Combined Unit 324 participate in artillery drills (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

The first phase of the joint exercises involved MRLS in coastal defense “striking and wiping out landing enemies in the waters took place”, followed by the landing of air cushion vehicles [ACVs] (hovercraft) which deployed ground troops.  As KJU watched the beach landing, according to KCNA, he said that service members “look highly-spirited and if it were an actual battle, the enemies would have no time to come to their senses.”  The next phase involved a women’s artillery platoon using MRLS.  KCNA reported that Kim Jong Un “personally designated a firepower position beside him and set a target without any notice before giving an order to destroy it” and the platoon “rapidly took the firepower position and accurately hit the target.”  After this phase of the drill KCNA reported that KJU “shook their hands one by one, praising them as great soldiers and crack shots.”  According to KCNA Kim Jong Un said, “They performed their duties well though he had set without any notice a target which was not envisaged in the drill program and assigned to them duty to destroy it.”  He then took a commemorative photograph with the women warriors and remarked “How praiseworthy Korean women are and a-match-for-a-hundred members of the women’s multiple rocket system can never be compared with nukes.”  KCNA reported that KJU was “earnestly telling them to conduct training better and launch a dynamic campaign to become one-beats-a hundred crack shots at ordinary times and hero artillery women by sending enemy warships to the bottom of the sea in the decisive battles.”

CMC Meetings Shown in DPRK Documentary on Kim Jong Un’s Military Activities

On 5 March DPRK state media released a documentary film which compiled film footage of Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) inspecting Korean People’s Army [KPA] units, observing training exercises and visiting construction projects utilizing KPA personnel from his accession in January 2012 to live fire exercises in 2013.  Loosely translated as Unleashing a New Heyday of the Formidable Forces of Mt. Paektu, the 80 minute film consists mainly of footage that has previously appeared in short documentaries about KJU’s activities.  Aside from a few new, brief scenes of KJU talking with note taking senior officials, the films includes footage of the expanded meeting of the Korean Workers’ Party Central Military Commission [CMC] meeting held late in the afternoon on 3 February 2013.  The meeting was a key event preceding the DPRK’s third nuclear test on 12 February 2013.  The CMC meeting ended with Kim Jong Un, assisted by Chief of the KPA General Staff Hyon Yong Chol, giving meeting participants handguns in presentation boxes.  

External establishing shot showing the KWP flag over the KWP #1 Office Building in Pyongyang (L); The 3 February 2013 expanded CMC meeting (C); Kim Jong Un chairing the meeting (R) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

Kim Jong Un chairing the 3 February 2013 expanded CMC meeting (top) and 3rd generation KPA commanders and officials (middle and bottom) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

CMC Members attended the 3 February 2013 meeting (L-R) Jang Song Taek; Pak To Chun; VMar Kim Yong Chun; Gen. Kim Won Hong; and Gen. Ri Myong Su (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

CMC Members and senior officials attending the 3 February 2013 meeting. In this image are VMar Kim Jong Gak (front row, R), Ju Kyu Chang (front row, 2nd R), Gen. Yun Jong Rin (front row, 3rd R) and Gen. Pak Jae Gyong (2nd row, R) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

CMC members applaud during the meeting. Among those in the front row in this image are Jang Song Taek (L), Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (2nd L), Pak To Chun (3rd L) and VMar Kim Yong Chun (4th L) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

Presentation boxes (L) containing an autographed message from Kim Jong Un (C) of handguns (R) presented to meeting participants (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

Presentation ceremony of handguns at the end of the 3 February 2013 expanded CMC meetings. Among those presented with these guns were: VMar Choe Ryong Hae (1.), Jang Song Taek (2.), Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (3.), Pak To Chun (4.), VMar Kim Yong Chun (5.), VMar Hyon Chol Hae (6.), Gen. Kim Won Hong (7.) and Gen. Kim Yong Chol (8.) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

Over view of presentation ceremony at the end of the expanded CMC meeting (L) Gen. Hyon Yong Chol handing a presentation box to Kim Jong Un (C) and meeting participants applauding at the conclusion of the meeting (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

The film also included footage of another expanded meeting of the Party Central Military Commission, held between February and March 2012.  This would have been a key event preceding the 13 April 2012 launch of the U’nha-3 rocket, which crashed shortly after it was launched.  Unlike the February 2013 CMC meeting, KWP civilian officials are attired in KPA dress uniforms.  Based on the protocol from the February ’13 meeting, it is likely then-Chief of the KPA General Staff, VMar Ri Yong Ho, participated in the handgun presentation ceremony at the meeting’s conclusion, however VMar Ri is not shown in this film.

Overview of expanded CMC meeting held in February or March 2012 (L), Kim Jong Un chairing the meeting (C) and a view of CMC members and meeting participants (R) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

CMC members attending the 2012 meeting. In the front row are Ju Kyu Chang (L), Choe Ryong Hae (2nd L) Pak To Chun (3rd L) and Kim Jong Gak (4th L) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

CMC members standing at the 2012 meeting: Choe Ryong Hae (L), Pak To Chun (C) and Kim Jong Gak (R) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

CMC members stand during the meeting in 2012. In the front row are: Gen. Kim Kyong Ok (L), Gen. Kim Won Hong (2nd L), Gen. Jong Myong Do (3rd L) and Gen. Ri Pyong Chol (4th L) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

CMC members stand during the 2012 meeting. In the front row in this image are VMar Kim Yong Chun (R), Jang Song Taek (2nd R), VMar Kim Jong Gak (3rd R), Pak To Chun (4th R), Choe Ryong Hae (5th R) and Ju Kyu Chang (6th R) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

CMC members and senior security officials stand during the 2012 meeting. In this image in the front row are: Gen. Ri Myong Su (L) Hyon Chol Hae (2nd L), Choe Kyong Song (3rd L), and Gen. Yun Jong Rin (4th L) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

Overview of an expanded Party Central Military Commission meeting held in February or March 2012 with images of Kim Jong Un speaking, and 3rd generation KPA commanders and security officials (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

Presentation box of a handgun (L) presented to participants at the 2012 CMC meeting. The grip contains KJU’s autograph (R) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

Presentation ceremony of handguns at the end of an expanded CMC meeting held in early 2012. Among those presented with handguns are: VMar Kim Yong Chun (1.), Jang Song Taek (2.), VMar Kim Jong Gak (3.), Choe Ryong Hae (4.), Ju Kyu Chang (5.), Kim Kyong Ok (6.), Gen. Kim Won Hong (7.) and Gen. Jong Myong Do (8.) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

Presented with handguns at the conclusion of the expanded CMC meeting in early 2012 were: Gen. Ri Pyong Chol (1.), Gen. Choe Pu Il (2.), Gen. Yun Jong Rin (3.), Gen. Ri Myong Su (4.), Col. Gen. Jo Kyong Chol (5.), Gen. Pak Jae Gyong (6.), Lt. Gen. Pak Jong Chon (7.) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

Kim Jong Un (L) concludes an expanded meeting of the Party Central Military Commission (R) held in early 2012 (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

DPRK Premier Visits Sites in Kangwon Province

Choe Yong Rim visits the Sep’o Tableland project in Kangwo’n Province (Photo: KCNA)

DPRK state media reported on 16 March (Saturday) that DPRK Cabinet Premier Choe Yong Rim visited the Munp’yo’ng Smeltery, the Sep’o Tableland (grasslands) and several cooperative farms in Kangwo’n Province.  Choe visited the Sep’o Tableland, a project of Korean People’s Army [KPA] personnel.  He toured several area of the tableland project “to encourage the service persons and members of shock brigade in their drive for carrying out the great nature-transforming project.”  He held a meeting with managers and employees of the project, a grasslands reclamation project for livestock.  According to KCNA Choe “recalled that the dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un unrolled a gigantic plan to reclaim the Sepho tableland for providing better living conditions to the people and is wisely leading this drive with deep loving care” and he “underlined the need for all officials, service persons and members of shock brigade to finish the reclamation project in the spirit of “At one go” and took measures for settling issues arising in the project.”

Choe also visited the Namchang Cooperative Farm, the Pisan Cooperative Farm and the Anbyon Potash Fertilizer Factory.  According to KCNA Choe “called on all farms to increase the production of quality organic compound fertilizer, while boosting the production of livestock products through the introduction of cyclic production system and on the fertilizer factories to radically lift the production for the purpose of attaining the grain production goal this year without fail.”

Choe Yong Rim visits a cooperative farm in Anbyo’n County, Kwangwo’n Province (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

DPRK Premier Choe Yong Rim (R) talks with light industry workers participating in a national meeting, whilst visiting their Pyongyang accommodations (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

On 14 March, DPRK state media reported that Choe visited the Pyongyang accommodations of participants in a national meeting of light industry workers.

Choe visit to Kangwo’n Province occurred as South Korean (ROK) media reported that strategic rocket units under Wo’nsan Corps test launched two KN-02 short-range missiles “into the East Sea.”  It was not clear when or where the KN-02 launches took place, however KN-02 testing has occurred or was planned at test sites in and around Anbyo’n County, where Choe was reported to be present.  Given the Sep’o Tableland project labor has been supplied by the KPA, it is likely Choe inspected other KPA activities in the area and observed the KN-02 test launches.  Choe may also have inspected preparations for upcoming large-scale joint military exercises by the KPA, which will reportedly be staged from Kangwo’n Province, along the DPRK’s East Coast.

Overview of areas in Kangwon Province visited by DPRK Premier Choe Yong Rim, including the possibility he observed test launches of KN-02 short-range missiles (Photo: Google image)