Pyongyang, (Samajweekly) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has presided over a Central Military Commission meeting to discuss the discipline among the military officials and stricter control over the younger officers, state media reported on Thursday.
At the expanded military commission meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party on Wednesday, Kim stressed on the importance of establishing “revolutionary moral discipline” particularly among the younger generation in the Army, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
“To establish the revolutionary moral discipline within the KPA is not just a technical issue, but a fatal issue related to the existence of the KPA and success or failure in the army building and military activities,” Kim said, referring to the People’s Army, Yonhap reported.
Kim also called for intensified education and control to ensure that the commanding officers of the “new generation have the proper political consciousness and moral point of view.”
The meeting also saw a discussion of “a series of shortcomings revealed in the military and political activities and moral life of KPA commanding officers.”
Kim’s criticism appears aimed at tightening discipline among military officers amid challenges from global sanctions and the country’s prolonged fight against the global pandemic.
Several major commanding officers were dismissed or appointed at the meeting, reflecting an apparent generational change in the organisation.
Kim Song-gi was appointed as the Commander of the North’s Navy, while Kim Chung-il was appointed the Commander of the Aviation Force.
The tile of the Vice Marshal was also conferred on Defence Minister Kim Jong-gwan and Kwon Yong-jin, Director of the General Political Bureau of the North Korean Army.
