Kim Jong Il’s last onsite inspection of 2010 was to the home of the No. 105 Ryu Kyung Su Tank Division.
News of the visit was reported by Chosun Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 31st, quoting Kim Jong Il as saying, “All soldiers must be prepared as fighters to defeat one hundred, equipped with high level combat abilities by the establishment of the spirit of training, so that training may be undertaken like a real fight, holding aloft the slogan, ‘Training is also a battle.’”
Kim Jong Il’s last onsite inspection of 2010 seems to show that the existing line, “Military-first politics,” is set to be a constant in 2011.
One unit of the No. 105 Ryu Kyung Su Tank Division was the one which first occupied Seoul during the Korean War and raised the North Korean flag on the top of the central governmental building. The number, 105, is the number of the tank with which the unit advanced south, and Ryu Kyung Su was the commander of the unit.
The division was named by Kim Il Sung. Highly symbolic, the North Korean authorities claim that August 25th, 1960, when Kim and son Kim Jong Il carried out an onsite inspection of the division, represents the birth of military-first politics.
The No. 105 Ryu Kyung Su Tank Division, which is nowadays armed with the Soviet era T-55 tank, is said to represent a model for North Korean military ability, the lives of soldiers and discipline.
