North Korea’s summer military exercises have more or less been halted because many soldiers have been ordered to focus on relief work in flood-ravaged areas, Daily NK has learned.
The military’s Supreme Command issued an order to all military units in mid-August to “minimize” their participation in the summer exercises and help rebuild areas damaged by flooding, according to a Daily NK military source on Tuesday.
The order came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Unpa County in North Hwanghae Province from Aug. 6 to Aug. 7 to inspect the damage wrought by flooding in the area. Since his visit to the country, a large number of troops has been deployed to the region.
Ri Pyong Chol, the vice chairman of the party’s Central Military Commission – who is known to be in charge of the country’s development of strategic weapons (nuclear arms and missiles) – also made a trip to South Hwanghae Province to oversee efforts to rebuild after Typhoon Bavi. Ri’s visit to the site suggests that a large number of high-level military officials, not to mention ordinary soldiers, have been sent to participate in recovery efforts.
“Given the fact that this year’s summer training was to be conducted while the front lines maintained ‘top combat-ready posture,’ [the exercises] were expected to be more intense than ever,” the source said, who asked for anonymity citing security concerns. “The Supreme Commander’s order to focus on helping out areas affected by flooding, however, has effectively brought the exercises to a standstill across the entire military.”
Other factors are in play as well. For example, up to 23,000 troops were recently pulled out of the summer exercises to prepare for a military parade planned for Oct. 10 to celebrate the founding of North Korea’s communist party.
Soldiers are also being tasked with repairing barracks and storage facilities damaged by the monsoon rains, and soldiers are also needed to harvest soybeans at farms operated by military units. Some soldiers are reportedly saying that “we can’t even dream about [engaging in] the exercises” right now because of all the other work to be done, the source said.
According to the source, some military units are struggling with shortages of soldiers, likely because soldiers are being mobilized at random rather than as part of a well-crafted personnel mobilization plan.
“Members of even the same military units are spread out here and there, which means [the units] have lost their cohesion,” the source explained. “The government continues to order the deployment [of soldiers to various locations] but is unable to provide proper rations, so loyalty to the regime will have no nowhere to go but downwards.”
On Aug. 31, Daily NK reported that soldiers deployed to rebuild houses in flood-ravaged Unpa County have been breaking into private homes and stealing goods.
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