Kim Jong Un, Chairman of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, inspected a special operations unit on November 1, the day the South Korea-China summit was held, reaffirming his commitment to strengthening military power.
On November 2, the Korean Central News Agency reported that Chairman Kim had visited the command of the 11th Corps of the Korean People's Army the previous day.
The 11th Corps, known as the "Storm Corps," is North Korea's elite special operations unit. Last year, it was dispatched to the Kursk region in Russia to learn modern warfare tactics.
Chairman Kim first toured the unit's revolutionary history museum, stating, "It is the will and aspiration of our Party to turn the entire army into a strong force that always wins, like this unit, and to build a heroic military."
After receiving a briefing on military action plans for various scenarios, he presented strategic directives and key tasks to further develop special operations capabilities, according to the news agency.
Chairman Kim also mentioned "the need to implement organizational and structural measures to strengthen the core capabilities of our military power," and indicated that the Party Central Military Commission would begin a full review of organizational restructuring.
He further emphasized, "Ideology is the fundamental factor that determines victory or defeat in war and battle." While observing the training of the troops, he referred to the enemy as "the most base and despicable adversary in the world," but did not directly mention South Korea or the United States, nor did he explicitly express hostility toward them.
This inspection was accompanied by Park Jongchun, Vice Chairman of the Party Central Military Commission; No Kwangchol, Minister of National Defense; Ri Yonggil, Chief of the General Staff; and Jeong Kyungtaek, Director of the General Political Bureau.
Meanwhile, North Korea issued a statement under the name of Park Myungho, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, criticizing the South Korean presidential office's announcement that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was an agenda item at the South Korea-China summit, calling it a "pipe dream." However, there was no mention of this issue in the reports that day.
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