North Korea's Kim Jong-un Inspects Airborne Troops Training: "First, Second, and Third is War Preparation"

Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, emphasized war preparedness while observing airborne infantry (airborne troops) training the day before.

Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea. [Image source=Yonhap News]

North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported on the 16th that Chairman Kim guided the training of airborne infantry units on the 15th.

The agency stated that the purpose of the training was to "inspect the readiness of airborne infantry to be mobilized according to any operational plan issued under sudden wartime conditions," describing the training situation as "transport aircraft flying over the training ground and combatants pouring down like hail onto the simulated enemy positions."

Chairman Kim said, "The fundamental mission of the People's Army is, first, second, and third, war preparation," and ordered that "all soldiers in the entire army must be firmly armed with a resolute will to defeat the enemy and a thorough war mindset, determined to rewrite history if war breaks out."

He added, "Only when any training in the People's Army is directly connected to actual combat training can soldiers be prepared as genuine fighting forces who will unconditionally fight and win in the grim decisive battles of life and death in emergencies."

The training that day was accompanied by Pak Jong Chon, Vice Chairman of the Party Central Military Commission, and was welcomed on site by Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam, Chief of the General Staff Ri Yong Gil, Air Force Commander, and the commander of the 11th Corps.

Chairman Kim has been inspecting military exercises daily in response to the South Korea-U.S. joint exercise "Freedom Shield" (FS), which took place from the 4th to the 14th.

He supervised actual troop maneuver training on the 6th, presumed to simulate the capture of frontline guard posts (GP) and breakthrough of general outposts (GOP), self-propelled artillery and multiple rocket launcher firing drills on the 7th, and tank unit combat training involving new tanks on the 13th.