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| In this 2020 April file photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, military leaders write down instructions given by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, sitting, during an inspection of a mortar firing drill. Yonhap |
North Korea's official newspaper on Wednesday called for the military's absolute obedience to the ruling Workers' Party as the country marked the 61st anniversary of its Army-First Day.
North Korea celebrates the Day of Songun, or Army-First Day, on Aug. 25 to mark late leader Kim Jong-il's visit to the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su Guards 105th Armored Division in 1960. The unit is known to have entered Seoul for the first time among North Korean troops during the 1950-53 Korean War.
"For a military to demonstrate strength as an invincible combat force that can defeat any powerful enemy, it should be well-prepared not only in its ideology but also in terms of military technology," the paper said in an editorial.
The paper, however, made no mention of any specific military achievements, including nuclear weapons, intercontinental ballistic missiles or submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
It called on the military's "absolute loyalty" and "absolute obedience" to the ruling party, saying no other organization has remained as loyal to the party than the military.
Songun means putting priority on the military. It was a trademark policy of the late leader Kim Jong-il, under which he put much of the country's scarce resources into weapons development and other efforts to build stronger armed forces, even though ordinary North Koreans struggled with hunger.
After taking office in late 2011, the current leader Kim Jong-un pushed to strengthen functions of the ruling party in an apparent shift from his late father's emphasis on the military-first policy. (Yonhap)
