The North Korean military’s General Staff Department is holding a large number of tactical drills and inspections from June 10 to 30, Daily NK has learned.
“Large-scale tactical drills and inspections began today at randomly designated units according to orders transmitted on June 1 by the Combat Training Bureau of the General Staff Department,” a source in the North Korean military told Daily NK on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The primary goals of the inspections and tactical drills are (1) assessing units’ combat readiness, (2) evaluating units’ ability to plan and execute operations, (3) verifying their command and control structures and (4) evaluating tactical maneuvers and joint operations.
According to the source, the General Staff Department said the exercises are being carried out “to strengthen the military’s fighting ability given the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula and to better equip it for using the latest tactics and equipment.”
Notably, the General Staff Department said that an important goal of these drills is evaluating the military’s combat readiness so that it can rapidly respond to an inter-Korean military clash, which is now much more likely to occur because of political developments.
The fact that the drills were planned for June, while much of the military is mobilized for various projects (including farm assistance and barracks and base construction and maintenance), suggests that the North Korean authorities are taking the inter-Korean tensions very seriously.
“The inspections and tactical drills that began today will run through June 30. Any units that are randomly selected by the General Staff Department’s Combat Training Bureau during this period will have to carry out drills at the designated training site and major strategic locations,” the source said.
“These drills and inspections cover such topics as joint operations for infantry and mechanized units, assassination and rear disruption tactics in alpine and urban regions, and various forms of nighttime combat and special operations. The drills will also cover the operation of equipment such as cutting-edge tanks and armored vehicles, anti-air missile defense systems and drones,” the source went on to say.
Along with ordering all units to inspect their equipment and supplies at least five days before the drills and inspections as a preparatory measure, the General Staff Department has reportedly emphasized that a medical support team be present at the field command and ready to respond to any accidents that might occur during the drills.
Each unit is supposed to draft a report of the drills within a week of their conclusion and submit that to the responsible staff department along with an assessment of major achievements and areas for improvement.
“The orders also noted that the random assignment of units for inspections and drills is considered highly classified information and that any leaks of that information will be severely punished. Each unit’s operations department was also instructed to keep soldiers from getting lax before the beginning of the summer exercises, which run from July 1 to Sept. 30,” the source said.
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