With KPA Assets in Syria and Rumors of Moscow Trip, Gen. Kim Kyok Sik Remains PY Man of the Hour

KPA officers meet a man injured during the Syrian civil war at a hospital in Syria in 2012 (Photo: SANA/NKLW file photo)

Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported on 3 June (Monday) that Arabic-speaking Korean People’s Army [KPA] personnel are serving as military advisers on artillery tactics and providing logistical support to the Syrian Armed Forces, currently defending the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s ongoing civil war. Citing information from a pro-Assad militia,  Rami Abd-al-Rahman, director of the the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,’ told Al-Sharq al-Awsat “that North Korean officers are taking part alongside the regular forces in the fighting in Aleppo” and that “the overall number of these officers is unknown but there are certainly between 11 and 15 North Korean officers and the majority of them speak Arabic. . .(they) are deployed at several fronts such as the defense factories southeast of Aleppo and at the regular forces’ bases inside the city itself.” He went on to point out that “these officers are not taking part in the field battles but offering logistical support in addition to drawing up the military operations maps. They are also supervising the regular army’s artillery shelling.”

The last observed, credible reports about DPRK military assistance to Syria during the unfolding civil war were in May 2012 and involved dedicated shipments of vehicle parts, munitions’ component parts and ordnance.  DPRK cargo vessel ODAI docked in the Syrian port cities of Latakiya and Tartus during 29 to 31 May 2012.  According to Haaretz, citing elements of the Syrian opposition, reported that “North Korea is also continuing to send arms to Syria. The shipments arrive by air and sea and they are being paid by a special slush fund that the Iranian government set up for this purpose.”   The DPRK has made several public demonstrations of support to its embattled ally including meetings between DPRK and Syrian officials in July 2012, DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Pak Kil-yo’n referring to Syria’s civil war in address to the United Nations General Assembly in October 2012 and a number of exchanges of gifts and congratulatory letters between President Assad and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n).  

The DPRK began contacts and exchanges with Syria in the early 1960′s and established former diplomatic relations in 1966.  Syria was the DPRK’s major conduit through which it provided military equipment, training and advisers to freedom fighter and radical Muslim groups in the Middle East and Africa from the 1960s on.  KPA assets assisted Syria during the October War (Yom Kippur War) in 1973 and provided support, at Syria’s behest and participated in the Lebanese Civil War.  In 1982, KPA advisers were present when Syrian forces quelled an uprising in Hama and later that year KPA forces were deployed to Syria and Lebanon during the 1982 Lebanon War.  Since the 1970s the DPRK and Syria have had an extensive military exchange relationship which has included numerous arms shipments and the deployment of KPA strategic and logistical advisers.  The DPRK Foreign Ministry and DPRK state media have also publicly defended Syria, including issuing official denials that the two countries were cooperating on nuclear weapons development after the Israeli Air Force bombed an alleged nuclear facility in Syria on 6 September 2007.

The Korean People’s Army General Staff, led by Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (Graphic: Michael Madden/NK Leadership Watch)

One of the DPRK’s major players in its military relationship with Syria is current Chief of the KPA General Staff, Gen. Kim Kyok Sik.  Gen. Kim served as a deputy military attache at the DPRK Embassy in Damascus for almost decade starting in 1971.  Gen. Kim managed a number of military cooperation projects with the Syrian Armed Forces, including rehabilitating Syrian military forces in the mid-1970s and coordinating shipments of multiple-launch rocket systems and other military support to various radical organizations.  With the DPRK and its core leadership providing both public and substantial support to Syria during the civil war, and given Gen. Kim’s experience and extensive ties to Damascus, it is likely his recent public profile and switching one senior KPA position for another after six months are partially linked to the DPRK’s continued support for Syria.

Gen. Kim Kyok Sik was also rumored to to have been selected to lead a senior DPRK delegation on a visit to Moscow.  Kyunghyang Shinmun reported “Chief of the Korean People’s Army General Staff Kim Kyuk Sik is being tapped as the (North Korean) envoy and the number of the North’s delegation is likely to be six or seven” and that Gen. Kim and the delegation would arrive on or around 7 June (Friday), timed to occur whilst US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet in California.  On 3 June, Interfax quoted an anonymous official in the Russian Foreign Ministry that “no high-level visits are being planned at the moment” between the DPRK and Russia.

Kim Jong Un Watches U’nhasu Orchestra Concert

Kim Jong Un (1) watches a concert by the U’nhasu Orchestra at the People’s Theater in Pyongyang. Those watching the concert with him include: Chief of the Military Security Command Col. Gen. Jo Kyong Chol (2), Minister of the People’s Armed Forces Gen. Kim Kyong Sik (3), Director of the KPA General Political Department VMar Choe Ryong Hae (4), Gen. Kim Yong Chol (5) and Deputy Director of the KWP Organization Guidance Department Hwang Pyong So (6) (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

DPRK state media reported on 3 May (Friday) that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) watched an U’nhasu Orchestra concert at the People’s Theater in central Pyongyang.  KJU’s last observed public appearance was his attendance at a May Day (International Labor Day) sports competition of public health workers.  Attending the concert, also given to celebrate May Day, were: VMar Choe Ryong Hae, Gen. Kim Kyok Sik, Hwang Pyong So, Kang Phil Hun, Lt. Gen. Ryom Chol Song, Col. Gen. Jo Kyong Chol, Gen. Kim Yong Chol, Lt. Gen. Pak Jong Chon, Col. Gen. Jon Chang Bok, along with “Pyongyangites and local people of different social strata staying the capital city.”

Based on DPRK state media reporting, Kim Jong Un’s attendance was impromptu.  According to KCNA when he arrived at the venue, “the audience, who had been waiting for the start of the concert, broke into the rousing cheers of “hurrah” with tears of emotion when Kim Jong Un appeared in the auditorium unexpectedly.”  The concert began with the DPRK’s national anthem.  Included among the tunes performed were “mixed chorus ‘May, Month of Victory’, male solo ‘Ch’o'llima Gallops Forward’, female solo ‘For Another Great Surge under the Uplifted Banner of Self-reliance’ and orchestra ‘We Will Never Forget” and “orchestra and mixed chorus ‘The Dear Home in My Native Village’ and female solo and mixed chorus ‘Peace Is Guaranteed by Our Arms.’”

May Day concert by the U’nhasu Orchestra at the People’s Theater in Pyongyang (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

Kim Jong Un (1) and senior officials of the Korean People’s Army watche a May Day-themed concert by the U’nhasu Orchestra at the People’s Theater in Pyongyang (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

DPRK athletes who received gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics and employees of the Pyongyang Children’s Foodstuffs Factory performed “What Did We Cherish Deep in Our Hearts” and “We Will Never Forget.”  According to KCNA “the performers sang high praises of the glorious history of the struggle in which the Korean people worked world-startling miracles from debris after the war and paved a wide avenue for prosperity despite difficulties and trials under the wise leadership of the peerlessly great men and a bright future of the great Mt. Paektu nation advancing under the line of simultaneously pushing forward the economic construction and the building of nuclear force.”  The concert ended with “mixed chorus ‘The Leader and the General are Together” encore performances were given of “The Dear Home in My Native Village” and “Peace is Guaranteed by Our Arms,” at Kim Jong Un’s request.

Kim Jong Un “warmly congratulated the artistes, expressing great satisfaction over their splendid performance which is distinct in its ideological and thematic content and style and represents the ardent aspiration and desire, high awareness and determination of the Korean people.”  KJU also described the U’nhasu Orchestra as “as outpost and reliable agitator on the ideological front of the WPK (Workers’ Party of Korea; KWP).”  According to KCNA, Kim Jong Un also said:

The U’nhasu concert marking May Day instills the spirit of defending the socialist country, the will to annihilate the enemies, faith in victory and optimism into the army and people with its might as powerful as a nuclear bomb, he noted, adding it is an excellent concert electrifying the audience and fully reflecting the revolutionary stand and principle of the DPRK.

Noting “The Dear Home in My Native Village”, a wartime song strong in philosophical nature and full of patriotism, was excellently represented in the spirit of the era, he said the service personnel and people of the DPRK would turn out in a decisive battle, singing such wartime songs once the second June 25 war breaks out on this land.

“Peace Is Guaranteed by Our Arms” is a very good song which one wishes to listen again and again, he said, adding: This song fully reflects our principled stand toward the enemies who haven’t dropped their wicked design to stifle our socialist country.

Thanks to such revolutionary and militant songs as “The Dear Home in My Native Village” and “Peace Is Guaranteed by Our Arms”, our service personnel and people will win only victory in their final decisive battle against the enemies, he stressed.

He expressed his expectation and belief that the creators and artistes of the orchestra would powerfully encourage the army and people through creation of arts and performing activities.

KJU Visits Health Complex

Kim Jong Un (2nd R) and his wife Ri Sol Ju (R) visit a teppanyaki griddle in the restaurant of the Haedanghwa Health Complex in east Pyongyang (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

DPRK state media reported on 27 April (Saturday) that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) visited the recently constructed Haedanghwa Health Complex in Pyongyang.  KJU’s last reported public appearance was his attendance at a banquet commemorating the 81st anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People’s Army [KPA].  He was joined by his wife, Ri Sol Ju (Ri So’l-chu).  Madame Ri’s last reported public appearance was in late February, when she watched a basketball game and attended a banquet with Dennis Rodman.

Also attending the visit were DPRK Cabinet Premier Pak Pong Ju,  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 Kyong Sik (Minister of the People’s Armed Forces), Kim Kyong Hui (KWP Secretary and KJU’s aunt), Kim Ki Nam (KWP Secretary and Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department), Choe Tae Bok (KWP Secretary and SPA Chairman), Kang Sok Ju (DPRK Cabinet Vice Premier), Kim Yong Il (KWP Secretary and Director of the International Affairs Department),  Kim Yang Gon (KWP Secretary and Director of the United Front Department),  Kim P’yo’ng-hae (KWP Secretary and Director of Cadres’ Affairs), Kwak Pom Gi (KWP Secretary and Director of the Planning and Finance Department), Mun Kyong Dok (Chief Secretary of the Pyongyang City [municipal] KWP Committee), Col. Gen. O Il Jong (Director of the KWP Military Affairs Department), Han Kwang Sang (Deputy Director of the KWP Finance and Accounting Department) Paek Kye Ryong (Director of the KWP Light Industry Department), Kim Kyong Ok (Senior Deputy [first vice] Director of the KWP Organization Guidance Department), Gen. Kim Yong Chol (Chief of the Reconnaissance General Bureau and Vice Chief of the KPA General Staff) and Jon Il Chun (Deputy Director of the KWP Finance and Accounting Department), among others.

Kim Jong Un began his visit at Haedanghwa Health Complex’s basement garage.  According to KCNA, KJU “was pleased to see the completed complex, adding that he appreciated its design and construction after examining the information on it presented to him by the relevant field.”  He also visited the store and dining rooms on the complex’s first two levels.  He “highly praised the builders for constructing not only the shop but the dining rooms to suit their nature and meet the requirements of formative art,” according to KCNA.  KJU visited the restaurant where he remarked that “cooking is a science and art, [he urged] the cookers to steadily improve their skills and display creative ingenuity to serve customers with varieties of tasty and highly nutritive dishes” and had a commemorative photograph taken with the chefs.  KJU then went to the second and third levels of the Haedanghwa Health Complex where he visited the public baths, saunas a barber shop, hair salon skin treatment center, workout room, billiard room and other recreational facilities.  KCNA reported that Kim Jong Un “personally checked the temperature of water at the bath and learnt about service provided at a face treatment room” and “was pleased to see the wading pool. He was also pleased to go round various saunas built with peculiar building materials such as halite, agate and yellow earth.”  KJU also “learnt in detail about what kinds of sports apparatuses are there in the fitness hall and table-tennis hall” and whilst “watching the clock in the shape of billiard balls and billiard table on a wall of the billiard room, he praised the builders for having constructed the room in such a perfect manner that everything there is impeccable.”

KJU then visited the health complex’s e-library and, according to KCNA, said “a relevant field should systematically send various data and videos on cooking to the e-reading room” and he “stressed the need to supply a sufficient quantity of foodstuff necessary for cooking practice so that apprentices may acquire workable knowledge, saying that theory is not enough to acquire cooking skill.”  He also visited a coffee shop on the complex’s fifth floor.  According to KCNA Kim Jong Un said that “it is the firm resolution of the WPK to enable the Korean people, the best in the world, to fully enjoy wealth and glory under socialism, without tightening their belts again, he noted, underlining the need to build more modern service centers such as the Haedanghwa Health Complex impeccable in any aspect.”

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 Denies Cyberattack on ROK

Chief of the KPA General Staff, Gen. Hyon Yong Chol (L) and an organizational graphic of the KPA General Staff (R) (Photo: Rodong Sinmun; graphic by Michael Madden/NK Leadership Watch )

DPRK state media reported on 12 April (Friday) that a spokesman for the Korean People’s Army [KPA] General Staff denied that DPRK operatives working under the Reconnaissance General Bureau [RGB] engaged in cyberattacks on South Korean [ROK] financial and media institutions on 20 March.  On 10 April ( Wednesday) South Korean authorities announced that a preliminary investigation traced the cyberattack to the DPRK.  Yonhap reported that “Three South Korean banks — Shinhan, NongHyup and Jeju — and their insurance affiliates as well as three TV broadcasters — KBS, MBC and YTN — were hit by the cyber attack as malicious code infected some 48,000 computers in their networks on March 20.  Following the initial attack, 58 YTN affiliate servers and 14 anti-Pyongyang Web sites, including those operated by North Korean defectors, also suffered another round of attacks on March 25 and 26.”  At a Seoul press conference, Lee Seung-won of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said that “an analysis of cyber terror access logs, malicious code and North Korean intelligence showed that the attack methods were similar to those used by the North’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, which has led hacking attacks against South Korea.”

Kim Jong Il tours the Chongjin University of Mining and Metallurgy’s E-library in December 2009 (Photo: KCNA).

Kim Jong Un sits at a computer workstation at the E-Library at the KPA Exhibition of Arms and Equipment in September 2012 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

The KPA General Staff spokesman told the military’s newspaper Joson Inmingun “that those who fabricate the groundless story about the “work done by the north” would be labeled as the second traitor Lee Myung Bak.”  According to KCNA, the KPA General Staff spokesman also said “the south Korean puppet group’s claim that ‘the March 20 hacking case’ was ‘the work done by the north’ is a deliberate provocation to push the situation on the Korean Peninsula to an extreme phase by taking advantage of the U.S. nuclear war racket and another anti-DPRK confrontation hysteria as it is a replica of the Cheonan warship sinking case. “

On 8 April the editorial bureau of Uriminzokkiri issued the country’s first observed response to the 4 April cyberattack on its website.  While the cyber activist group Anonymous claimed credit for the outage of the DPRK web outlet, Uriminzokkiri‘s editorial bureau accused South Korean authorities writing that “the hacking of our homepages that ‘Anonymous’ committed this time can never be tolerated as a grave crime against Internet activities. The problem is that this was not merely a reckless act of an international hackers group, and this is why the crime is more seriously grave.  Stating the bottom line up front, the hacking crime committed by ‘Anonymous’ this time is a fabrication of South Korean agents, the gang of puppets.”

(Photo: Uriminzokkiri)

According to Uriminzokkiri‘s editorial:

There is a lot of evidence.

More than anything else, the motive that the criminal group called “Anonymous” offered immediately following the incident, while raving that the hacking was its act, was the sophistry about “the threat from the North,” “the introduction of liberal democracy,” and so on, and this is not different at all from the gang of puppets’ confrontational vituperation against their fellow countrymen.

In addition, most of those that are mentioned in the “list of members” and “the data on the members’ registration” — which are claimed to have been obtained through the hacking — are the organizations that seek peace and reunification. This clearly shows the purpose they are trying to achieve through the game of disclosing such data. Mysteriously, no sooner had the criminal act been committed that the fascist ring, such as the puppet Public Prosecutor’s Office, Police Agency, Intelligence Service, and Defense Ministry, talking about the information that “Anonymous” has obtained through the hacking of the “Uriminjokkkiri” homepage, is blatantly revealing its suppressive intention, while regarding all classes and circles, such as the Unified Progressive Party, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union, journalists, and professors, that seek peace and reunification, as the targets of present-day witch-hunt. Cronies of the “Saenuri Party,” too, clamoring that “pro- North forces should be rooted out,” are running amok in trying to obliterate the reunification forces of patriots and to reinstate the “Yusin” era of the fascist dictatorship by taking advantage of the incident this time. How can this be regarded as being a mere accident?

And this is not all.

The one who claims that the hacking this time was his act was using both English and Korean on Twitter, and “Anonymous” said that he would kick up an anti-Republic smear racket in the middle of Seoul a few days later, wearing a mask representing the puppets. By these facts alone, it is all too clear that the claws of the gang of puppets, including its agents, were stretched out deep in committing the hacking this time.

This is fully proved also by the fact that “Anonymous” is planning another hacking crime against the Internet sites of the Republic again on the anniversary of the day when the US imperialists provoked the Korean war on 25 June.

At present, among South Korean journalists and the people of all classes and circles, suspicion is growing every day that maybe puppet agents were behind the incident this time, and the y are strongly maintaining that the gang of puppets’ maneuver aimed at abusing such a criminal act as Internet hacking in kicking a racket of “eliminating pro-North Forces” can never be overlooked as an even more atrocious crime.

All the facts clearly show that the sinister, hostile force’s hacking maneuver against our Internet homepages this time was a fabrication of the gang of puppets.

Then, why is the gang of puppets continuing to orchestrate such endlessly ugly burlesques?

As was made known, our army and people have recently proclaimed a relentless sacred war of retaliation to resolutely smash the United States and the gang of puppets’ atrocious maneuver of a war of northward aggression and confrontation with fellow countrymen.

As a result, the gang of traitors is being strongly condemned by the South Korean public sentiments and by the whole nation and thus is on pins and needles being driven into an extreme quagmire. The gang of puppets is trying to find a way out from another shocking incident and from kicking up a “racket against the pro-North forces.” For this purpose, the gang of puppets, with the nonsensical sophistry about so-called “Internet Protocol addresses,” “cyber warfare via Internet,” “giving an inciting order regarding the major pending issues in South Korea,” and so on, has openly revealed since long ago its wicked intention of suppressing the people who seek peace and oppose the United States and the belligerent military group’s anti-Republic provocations and their racket of a war of northward aggression by branding them as “pro-North forces.”

It is precisely under these circumstances that the criminal hacking incident of “Anonymous” has occurred, and subsequently another smear racket of disclosing the “list of members” and “eliminating the pro-North forces” has been kicked up.

It is all too clear that all these things can never be overlooked as a mere accident.

Up until now, the puppets have linked all the hacking incidents in South Korea to us in far- fetched manner and have thus shamelessly schemed to whip up anti-Republic hostile sentiments and to mislead the public opinions at home and abroad. However, through such a racket, they have only revealed of their own accord that the real culprits behind the hacking incidents were none other than themselves. How barefaced and despicable their smear act is has been once again clearly disclosed to the whole world through the incident this time.

The ugly behavior of the gang of puppets — which is trying to avoid the condemnations and denunciations to them even by committing hacking crimes and kicking up the racket of anti- Republic smear act and against “pro-North forces” even by using an international hackers group — is indeed the last-ditch effort that those who are horrified by our ultra hard-line position are making in their death throes. Reality clearly shows that the gang of puppets is indeed a herd of unparalleled traitors under heaven and a group of extremely wicked unforgivable criminals.

We will never tolerate the gang of puppets’ anti-Republic confrontational racket and its ugly, evil practice of harming their fellow countrymen.

The hostile forces at home and abroad can never obstruct our cause of justice, no matter how despicably they may scheme.

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.

 

 

 

Kim Jong Un Convenes Meeting and Orders Strategic Rockets “To be on stand-by”

Kim Jong Un (seated) reviews military operations plans, prior to ordering the DPRK’s missiles and strategic rockets to be “on stand-by.” Behind him (L-R) are Lt. Gen. Kim Rak Gyom (Commander of the KPA Strategic Rocket Force Command), Col. Gen. Ri Yong Gil (Chief of the KPA General Staff Operations Bureau), Gen. Hyon Yong Chol (Chief of the KPA General Staff) and Gen. Kim Yong Chol (Chief of the Reconnaissance General Bureau and Vide Chief of the KPA General Staff) (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

DPRK state media reported that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) convened a meeting and signed military operations orders at 00:30 [12:30 am] Korean Standard Time [KST] on 29 March (Friday).  KJU’s last reported public appearance was his attendance on 28 March (Thursday) at a commemorative photo session with participants in a national meeting of Korean People’s Army [KPA] information personnel.  Attending the operations planning meeting were Gen. Hyon Yong Chol (Chief of the KPA General Staff), 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) and Lt. Gen. Kim Rak Gyom (Chief of the KPA Strategic Rocket Force Command).

Kim Jong Un signs military orders on 29 March 2013 (Photo: KCNA)

Kim Jong Un participates in an operational planning meeting on 29 March 2013. Briefing KJU in these images is Lt. Gen. Kim Rak Gyom (L), commander of the KPA Strategic Rocket Force Command (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

Kim Jong Un participates in an operational planning meeting in central Pyongyang on 29 March 2013 (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)

KCNA reported that “not content with letting B-52 make sorties over south Korea in succession despite the repeated warnings, they made B-2A stealth strategic bomber and other strategic strike means fly from Whiteman air force base in Missouri State, the U.S. over south Korea on March 28 for the first time in history to commit such dangerous provocation as openly staging a drill for striking ground targets of the DPRK” and “fully proves that the brigandish ambition of the U.S. imperialists for aggression to stand in confrontation with the DPRK has reached an extreme phase defying the meaningful warning made by its revolutionary armed forces in the March 26 statement of the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army.”  Under these circumstances, DPRK state media reported that Kim Jong Un “convened an urgent operation meeting on the KPA Strategic Rocket Force’s performance of duty for firepower strike at the Supreme Command at 00:30 Friday.”  During the meeting, Gen. Kim Yong Chol briefed KJU “on the information about the nature of action of the nuclear strike means of the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces.”  KJU was also briefed by Lt. Gen. Kim Rak Gyom “on the technical conditions of the strategic strike means of the KPA.”  After Lt. Gen. Kim’s brief, according to KCNA, Kim Jong Un “made an important decision.”

KCNA reports:

He said he has judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation.

If they make a reckless provocation with huge strategic forces, the KPA should mercilessly strike the U.S. mainland, their stronghold, their military bases in the operational theaters in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in south Korea, he said. He examined and finally ratified the plan of the Strategic Rocket Force for firepower strike.

The U.S. imperialists let B-2A make sorties over south Korea in succession, indicating once again that their hostile acts against the DPRK have entered a reckless phase, going beyond the phase of threat and blackmail, he said.

B-2A’s flight to the sky above south Korea is not a simple demonstration of forces in reaction to the tough stand of the DPRK but an ultimatum that they will ignite a nuclear war at any cost on the Korean Peninsula, he noted, underlining the need to put a definite end to the times when they could threaten and blackmail the DPRK with nukes.

He declared the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK would react to the U.S. nuclear blackmail with a merciless nuclear attack, and war of aggression with an all-out war of justice.

He finally signed the plan on technical preparations of strategic rockets of the KPA, ordering them to be standby for fire so that they may strike any time the U.S. mainland, its military bases in the operational theaters in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in south Korea.

He said the enemies are bringing dark clouds of a nuclear war testing the DPRK’s self-restraint, adding the DPRK can no longer tolerate this. He ordered the KPA to blow up and reduce everything to ashes at a single strike, if an order is issued.

He said the heroic service personnel of the KPA and all other people, their hearts burning with irrepressible resentment at the reckless war provocation moves of the U.S. imperialists, are now waiting for a final order of the WPK Central Committee, hardening their will to turn out in a do-or-die battle with the enemies.

The KPA will never remain a passive onlooker to the U.S. imperialists’ frantic moves for aggression but do its best to defend the destiny of the country and nation, he said.

It is the truth confirmed by history that no force on earth can hold in check the people all out for the just cause, he noted, stressing if an undesired war breaks out on this land again due to the consequences of the unpardonable action of the U.S. imperialists, it will bring them a shameful ruin and the Korean nation will greet the bright day of national reunification.

The important decision made by him under the grave situation where the Korean Peninsula has been pushed to the brink of a nuclear war by the U.S. imperialists will mark a turning point in putting an end to the history of the long-standing showdown with the U.S. and opening a new phase of history.

** Col.. Gen. Ri Yong Gil has been appointed Chief of the KPA General Staff Operation Bureau and ex aequo 1st Vice Chief of the KPA General Staff.  Previously commander of V Army Corps, Col. Gen. Ri replaces Gen. Kim Myong Guk, a member of the Party Central Military Commission and KJI confidante, who held the position twice.