Kim Jong Un calls for 'actual war' training by combat units
SEOUL, July 24 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called on the military to ramp up combat and artillery training to prepare for "coping with a war anytime and destroying the enemy in every battle without fail," state-run media reported Thursday.
Kim made the remarks while overseeing an artillery firing contest among units of the Korean People's Army on Wednesday, the official Korean Central News Agency said.
The contest called for artillery units to fire at offshore targets after simulating a night march and sudden combat deployment.
Kim "expressed great satisfaction over the contest that was conducted like an actual war," KCNA said.
The North Korean leader stressed the need to develop "artillery tactics and combat methods in an innovative way in keeping with the harsh and acute environment of the daily-changing modern battlefields."
"The courage, abilities and self-confidence with which to actively cope with any war and crisis are cultivated in the furnace of the training revolution," Kim said, according to KCNA. "The surest war deterrent is the most thoroughgoing outlook on the arch enemy."
He was joined at the contest by senior officials, including Defense Minister No Kwang Chol and Vice Chairman Pak Jong Chon of the ruling party's Central Military Commission.
Kim oversaw a similar firing contest in May.
The North's emphasis on real-world combat training comes as Pyongyang sends weapons and thousands of troops to Russia to aid Moscow in its war against Ukraine.
North Korea has deployed some 14,000 troops to help recapture lost territory in Kursk Province from Ukrainian forces, according to a recent report by an 11-country sanctions monitoring team.
Russian media reported last month that the North is sending an additional 6,000 military workers and combat engineers to help rebuild the Kursk region.
Moscow and Pyongyang have grown closer since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The two signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty in June of last year, which includes a defense clause that calls for mutual military assistance in the event either country is attacked.
Kim reaffirmed North Korea's support for Moscow's war against Ukraine during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week.
Kim told Lavrov that the North is "ready to unconditionally support and encourage all the measures taken by the Russian leadership as regards the tackling of the root cause of the Ukrainian crisis," KCNA reported.
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