20100118 N Korean leader observes drill

N Korean leader observes drill
　

‘SEA OF FLAME’: Korean Central News Agency reports said Kim Jong-il watched as troops ‘showered merciless barrage’ on the enemy group, ‘shattering it to pieces’

AFP, SEOUL
Monday, Jan 18, 2010, Page 5
　

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il watches combined maneuvers of the three branches of the Korean People’s Army at an undisclosed location in the North in this undated photo released by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency yesterday .
PHOTO: AFP

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has watched an armed forces joint drill, state media said yesterday, in the first such disclosure since he took command of the military almost two decades ago.

In what appeared to be fresh saber-rattling against Cold-War foe South Korea, Kim watched his troops “shattering the ‘enemy camp’ to pieces and turning it into a sea of flame” during the drill.

Kim, who inspected the field drill of the army, navy and airforce from an observation platform, expressed great satisfaction, the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

It did not disclose when or where the maneuvers were held.

It is the first time North Korea has released news of Kim inspecting such a joint drill since he was named supreme commander of the armed forces by his father Kim Il-sung in December 1991.

“With the order for the start of the maneuvers, flying corps, warships and ground artillery pieces of various kinds showered merciless barrage at the ‘enemy group’ in close coordination, thus shattering the ‘enemy camp’ to pieces and turning it into a sea of flame,” KCNA said yesterday.

Yang Moo-jin of Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies said the KCNA dispatch was a follow-up to Pyongyang’s saber-rattling at Seoul last week.

Pyongyang threatened on Friday to break off all dialogue with South Korea unless Seoul apologizes for an alleged contingency plan to handle potential political instability in the communist state.

“The North Korean news release of Kim watching the massive military maneuvers is designed to display a show of force against South Korea in part of its ­psychological warfare,” Yang said.

Unconfirmed South Korean news reports say officials in Seoul have drawn up a plan to administer the North in the event of regime collapse, a coup or a popular uprising there.

The North’s powerful National Defense Commission (NDC), headed by Kim, denounced the alleged plan as a “crime” and said it would stage a “holy war” against those who drew it up.

In a statement on KCNA, it termed the alleged document a plan to overthrow its socialist system.

The North said on Monday it wanted talks with the US on a treaty to formally end the 1950 to 1953 Korean War before it makes any further moves towards nuclear disarmament.

South Korea, the US and Japan rejected the Pyongyang’s proposal for early peace talks, saying it must first return to a nuclear disarmament forum. The North abandoned the six-party forum in April, a month before staging a second nuclear test.

A South Korean defense ministry spokesman said yesterday North Korea’s military was in a regular field exercise but showing no unusual movements.

Some 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea in support of a 655,000-strong South Korean military that faces the North Korean People’s Army of 1.1 million troops.