North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un chaired a high-level party meeting focused on bolstering the country’s military capabilities on Wednesday, and personally oversaw an artillery drill the following day, state media outlet KCNA reported on Friday.
War Ready
In an expanded meeting of the 8th Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Kim emphasised that roles of party organisations carrying out measures from the central leadership should be strengthened to solve “all the problems arising in the army building and military activities.”
Kim also said it is “very important to frequently organize firing contests close to the actual warfare environment” to build a powerful military force, KCNA said.
This was the latest in a series of moves by Kim reported by KCNA focused on strengthening the military in the past weeks.
During May alone, Kim visited tanks and munitions plants, led a short-range missile test and an air drill, and condemned a failed warship launch as “criminal“, according to state media.
Partners In Crime
Meanwhile, a report tabled by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, a group comprising 11 UN members, found that North Korea enabled Russia to increase missile attacks against critical Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and supplied more than 20,000 containers of munitions.
The group, launched in October last year to monitor UN sanctions against North Korea after a Security Council panel was scrapped by Russia and China, also said Moscow helped the North improve missile performance in return by supplying data.
As many as nine million rounds of artillery and rocket launcher ammunition was shipped from North Korea to Russia by Russian cargo vessels as part of military cooperation between the two countries in violation of U.N. sanctions, it said.
Official Confirmation
On April 28, Pyongyang officially confirmed for the first time that it has deployed troops to support Russia in the ongoing war in Ukraine, following direct orders from leader Kim Jong Un. The regime claimed its forces played a role in recapturing Russian territory previously held by Ukrainian forces.
The two countries are also constructing a road bridge that will span the Tumen River.
(With inputs from Reuters)
