Opinion

December 30 is the anniversary of appointment of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un as supreme commander of the armed forces of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Eleven years have passed since the issue of succession to leadership over the Korean People’s Army, which is of important significance in carrying on and accomplishing the revolutionary cause of Juche, was satisfactorily settled. In the period, he trained the KPA as an ever-victorious, strong revolutionary army and ushered in the period of upswing for strengthening and developing the revolutionary armed forces, demonstrating his personality traits as an outstanding great man.

With the faith that military strength is just national power and the prosperity of the country and happiness of the people lie in consolidating the military strength in every way, he put his heart and soul into opening up a golden age of buildup of the Juche-oriented revolutionary armed forces.

On the grand march in the new century of the Juche era, he clarified modelling the whole army on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism as the general objective of army building.

His ideas of buildup of military strength, including those of thoroughly establishing the Party's unified command system in the entire army, constantly maintaining its revolutionary nature as the army of the Party and making the army the reliable pathfinder and strong fulcrum of the revolution, served as the important guidelines for opening up a golden age of buildup of the military strength.

He organized the fourth and fifth conferences of company commanders and political instructors of the KPA and other conferences of the whole army to make them significant milestones in further strengthening the might of the revolutionary armed forces.

Whenever he inspected KPA units, he looked round halls dedicated to education with revolutionary relics and rooms dedicated to the history of the units to make sure that they constantly add lustre to the outstanding military ideas of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il and their exploits performed in army building. He also organized the march of officers of the KPA combined units for the study tour of revolutionary battle sites in the area of Mt Paektu so as to kindle the flames of education in the revolutionary tradition throughout the whole army.

His extraordinary leadership was a motive force that helped all KPA officers and men grow into those who are strong in ideology and faith and keep the revolutionary faith to the death and who are strong in morals and obligation and a vitamin for making them perform feats.

Kim Jong Un boosted the military and technical strength of the KPA in every way, thus turning the DPRK into a world military power.

At the historic meetings for improving the military capabilities and sometimes in military exercise grounds and trenches clouded with powder smoke, he taught service personnel about the mission and duty of armed soldiers and value of their life and the meaning of feats and kindled the flames of the movements for winning the title of guards unit and that of crack shot, guiding the actual drills and training competitions of KPA units on the spot.

Under his outstanding leadership, a revolutionary turn was brought about in the mode, content and method of training of the revolutionary armed forces and the KPA could become the first death-defying corps and invincible army which creditably defends the security and safety of the country and people, always keeping itself highly alerted with great courage and will to crush invaders at a stroke.

This year, too, Juche weapons of new generations were developed one after another according to the strategic plan of the Workers' Party of Korea, showing off the inexhaustible military power, and the ground-to-ground intermediate range ballistic missile was fired on October 4 and the new-type ICBM Hwasongpho-17 was successfully test-fired on November 18, fully demonstrating the might of the DPRK as a military power true to the name.