Accompanying him were Pak Jong Chon, Secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK and Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the WPK, and No Kwang Chol, Minister of National Defence of the DPRK.
He was greeted on the spot by Ri Yong Gil, Chief of the General Staff of the KPA, and the commander and other commanding officers of the large combined unit.
The moment he arrived at the headquarters, all the officers and men raised stormy cheers of “Hurrah!” looking up to the great iron-willed commander who has ushered in a great period of upswing in developing the revolutionary armed forces with his outstanding military strategy and ideas and unexcelled art of command and is strengthening ours into an ever-victorious and invincible revolutionary army.
There was a ceremony of receiving the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the DPRK.
Together with the officials accompanying him,
He recalled with deep emotion the undying commanding feats of our Party recorded on the sacred, praiseworthy and glorious course of development of the unit.
Noting that the unit, organized during the hard-fought Fatherland Liberation War, produced more than 100 heroes of the DPRK, including a twice hero of the DPRK, by displaying matchless bravery during the battles behind the enemy lines and the active positional defence, and has maintained its reputation as the birthplace of the slogan “A match for a hundred” from one decade to the next and from one century to the next, he said its history is the praiseworthy epitome of the brilliant military achievements and innumerable feats of the People’s Army which is reliably supporting on the strength of arms the great cause of building a rich country with a strong army.
Saying that a sure guarantee for victory in combat and war lies in overpowering the enemy ideologically and spiritually, he stressed that when the unshakable Juche-oriented viewpoint and stand on the enemy and war is established and maintained, our army will always demonstrate its might as the most invincible one in the world.
Guided by the commander of the corps, he went to its command post.
After being briefed on the enemy situation by the commander, he acquainted himself with the combat readiness of the brigades under the corps, which have switched over to a combat readiness footing.
Meeting the major commanding officers of the corps, he went over important documents that reflect the unit’s military action plans for coping with different types of developments, and said:
The serious security circumstances around us urgently demand that our army continue to concentrate all its efforts on bolstering up the war-fighting capability and take more perfect military measures for reliably defending the security of the country through constant overwhelming combat readiness.
The impact of the changed nature of the ROK-US alliance and of the enemy’s more developed different military manoeuvring of aggressive nature on our state’s security highlights more clearly the importance of strengthening its nuclear deterrent and proves the validity of its efforts.
After going over the documents, he said that the corps worked out proper military action plans to cope with different possible circumstances. And he approved the determination of the corps. Then he said:
Our army should keep in mind once again the stark fact that the ROK is a foreign and indisputable enemy state. We completely blocked the roads and railways linked to the territory of the ROK two days ago through blasting. It means not only the physical closure but also the end of the undesirable relationship with Seoul, which persistently lasted century after century, and the complete removal of the useless awareness about fellow countrymen and unrealistic idea of reunification. It also means the last declaration that when our sovereignty is violated by the ROK, a complete enemy state, our physical forces will be used unhesitatingly without being tied to the conditions any longer. As we have already declared, if our offensive forces are used under the precondition of “if,” it will be a lawful retaliatory action against the enemy state, not the fellow countrymen.
Only the peace defended with the strength powerful enough to control and deter the enemy is a reliable, safe, lasting one, and herein lies a sure guarantee for the well-being and future of our state and people.
Then he reaffirmed that our army must grow more powerful and will become powerful without fail for such genuine peace.
That day, he had a photo session with the officers and men of the headquarters of the unit.
When he came to the venue of the photo session, the officers and men broke into enthusiastic cheers with great gratitude to the invincible and iron-willed commander who taught them ever-victorious tactics and instilled matchless bravery and confidence in them and is leading our army along the road of victory.
The shout of “Death-defying defence” let out by the soldiers looking up to him resounded far and wide in the sky of October.
All the officers and men pledged to fight death-defyingly for the great Comrade