Seoul ¨C North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called on top military officials to bolster front-line units and turn the country¡¯s southern border into an ¡°impregnable fortress,¡± state media reported Monday.
Kim gave the instruction at a meeting on Sunday where a photo released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) showed him presiding over commanding military officers wearing full dress uniform.
The North Korea leader told the military officials that a ¡°great change¡± would be made in an effort to deter war and that the commanding officers should raise their ¡°outlook on the arch enemy,¡± an apparent reference to South Korea.
Kim ¡°set forth plans for ... strengthening the first-line units and other major units in military and technical aspects as an important decision to more thoroughly deter war,¡± the KCNA report said.
The plans, which experts say appeared informed by developments in Russia¡¯s war with Ukraine, come at a low point in relations with South Korea and with Pyongyang unresponsive to Seoul¡¯s repeated offers for dialogue.
The meeting took place the same day the North Korean women¡¯s football team landed in South Korea ¡ª the first such visit in eight years, which raised hopes of a slight thaw in frosty ties.
Kim also talked about the ruling party¡¯s ¡°policy of territorial defence on strengthening the first-line units in the southern border and turning the border line into an impregnable fortress,¡± according to KCNA.
Projects to modernize the military ¡°should be stepped up to newly define the concept of operations in all spheres,¡± he was also quoted as saying.
Hong Min, a senior analyst at Korea Institute for National Unification, said the instructions reflected lessons learned from Russia¡¯s war against Ukraine, in which Pyongyang has supported Moscow by providing troops.
¡°This phrase reflects awareness of drone warfare, precision strikes, electronic warfare and multidomain battlefields observed in the Ukraine war and Middle East conflicts,¡± he said.
Kim¡¯s plans also ¡°suggests a multidomain operational concept extending beyond land, sea and air to include underwater, space, electronic and cyber domains.¡±
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