The North Korean military’s General Staff Department (GSD) recently issued a special order to frontline corps that exempts units engaged in various military business activities — such as farming and fishing — from summer exercises.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in the North Korean military told Daily NK on Monday that the GSD issued a plan on Saturday that contained instructions regarding the military’s summer exercises, which are scheduled to begin on July 1. The plan contained instructions aimed at achieving orders by the military’s party committee to bolster the combat power of frontline corps units and improve the effectiveness of training.
In the plan, the GSD stated that, unlike past summer exercises that focused on completing preparations for combat, this year’s drills must strengthen the political ideology and military techniques of frontline corps while also firming up supply lines and other logistics-related infrastructure. In fact, the plan said that efforts on supply and logistics-related issues should account for 50% of the time used for summer exercises.
“In past summer exercises, units got high marks in their reviews only if a lot of personnel participated,” the source said. “However, this year, nutritional teams, side-business teams, and work teams of frontline corps units have been excluded from training, so their activities will not be reflected in the training reviews.”
In the past, frontline corps used to withdraw their personnel employed in side businesses or outside work and include them in military drills to earn good reviews.
After learning of this situation, the GSD ordered that frontline personnel employed in side businesses or outside work be excluded from the exercises and their activities are not reflected in the reviews so that military units can concentrate on unit-to-unit supply issues.
New plan suggests that frontline units suffer from supply issues
The GSD’s plan was sent only to certain frontline military units, including the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Corps, suggesting that frontline corps suffer from supply-related issues.
The General Staff Department stressed in its plan that it is of the utmost importance to accurately classify which personnel from each frontline unit should be excluded from the exercises, and that military units should concentrate on using their remaining personnel to participate in the drills.
The source said that military units are responding positively to the plan. “Unit commanders in frontline corps focusing on preparations ahead of the start of summer training are saying the GSD took practical measures, allowing them to accelerate improvements to logistics and supply issues during the summer training period,” he said.
The GSD also issued a separate order calling on frontline corps soldiers employed in teams focused on improving nutrition, engaging in side-businesses, and participating in other kinds of work to faithfully carry out their duties during the summer exercises.
“The General Staff Department said the goal during the summer training period is for nutrition teams to improve the nutrition of soldiers, for side-business teams to carry out farming and fishing activities, and for outside work teams to complete the state-designated tasks to which their units were assigned,” he said.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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