Kim visits military unit ahead of Ulchi drills

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center in front row, sits with his wife Ri Solju and military officials during an inspection of Korean People’s Army Unit 552 in this photo released by the North’s Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday. (Photo : Yonhap)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a military unit, Pyongyang’s state media reported Tuesday, amid a spate of harsh rhetoric against upcoming Seoul-Washington military drills.

Kim’s inspection of the Korean People’s Army Unit 552 swings attention back to the military following the regime’s recent focus on economic matters. It was seen as a response to the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills beginning Aug. 20 that Pyongyang alleges are a rehearsal for invasion.

Inspecting a sub-unit, Kim stressed the need for war preparedness as well as the “politico-ideological education” of soldiers, said the North’s Korean Central News Agency.

“He gave them a pair of binoculars and an automatic rifle as gifts … expressing expectation and belief that they would defend the very dear socialist country as firm as an iron wall,” the KCNA reported.

The annual computerized command and control drills mobilize some 56,000 South Korean troops and about 30,000 U.S. soldiers and focus on defending South Korea from a North Korean attack.

The North last year reportedly fired shells twice near the western sea border Wednesday ahead of the drill last year. It was more brazen in 2010, firing some 130 artillery shells into waters near the western inter-Korean maritime border.

Seoul has bolstered its military presence near the NLL, following the North’s deadly artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island on Nov. 23 last year, which killed two Marines and two civilians.

Kim made frequent visits to military sites following the death of his autocratic father Kim Jong-il late last year in a bid to consolidate his military grip. More recently, he has focused on economic sites as he seeks to win the support of the impoverished population.

Tensions remain high with the Lee Myung-bak administration and Pyongyang recently announced that it would rethink its nuclear policy in response to Washington’s “hostile policy.” The North is thought to have refrained from a third nuclear test following its failed rocket launch in April under pressure from ally China.

The North moved towards the resumption of the six-party talks in February by agreeing to suspend its uranium enrichment program at Yongbyon and other steps in return for U.S. nutritional assistance. But it scuttled the deal with the rocket launch, seen as a test of ballistic missile technology.
Tensions remain high near the NLL, which has been the scene of several bloody conflicts in recent years, largely because Pyongyang does not respect the line, arguing that it should be redrawn farther south.

The two Koreas remain technically at war after the Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. <The Korea Times/Kim Young-jin>

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