Amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula in early 2024, North Korea’s leadership recently ordered the commands of all armed forces to introduce a multi-command training videoconferencing system on a trial basis, Daily NK has learned.
“On Jan. 3, the Supreme Command sent an order to the commands of all the armed forces to improve ways of issuing operational and tactical orders during wartime through the introduction of a new system of multi-command training videoconferencing,” a Daily NK source in the military said on Jan. 8, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Based on the results of the trial of the multi-command training videoconferencing system, the military plans to formally introduce the new system in the command training evaluation for the military’s winter training period (December 2023 to March 2024), which will be held in March.
Until now, the North Korean military has conducted military-wide multi-command exercises using wired, wireless, telegraphic, and encrypted communications. Now, the military plans to introduce a videoconferencing system to more efficiently conduct joint training between land, sea, air, and strategic military unit commands.
“The introduction of a multi-command videoconferencing system for training will allow the Supreme Command, the General Staff, and the field operational commanders of all armed forces commands to discuss operational tactics in real-time via video, which will improve the ability of all armed forces units to coordinate with each other and shorten the time for decision-making and response on the battlefield,” the source said.
“Earlier, the authorities said the DPRK would ‘reunify’ South Chosun [South Korea] by force, but now it is emphasizing an acceleration of training to ‘capture’ or ‘pacify’ the South by force, which has made the situation very tense,” the source said, adding: “Under these circumstances, the military is implementing the Supreme Command’s first order of the new year in a tense and mobilized posture.”
Indeed, tensions within the North Korean military appear to be palpable, as Kim Jong Un declared at a party meeting in late December that the country must “further accelerate preparations for a large-scale operation to pacify the entire territory of the South.” He then upped the ante when he met with the heads of the Korean People’s Army and key commanders on Dec. 31, telling them that they should “accept that an armed conflict could break out at any time.”
Translated by Robert Lauler.
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January 10, 2024 at 05:30AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)