Posted on 08/03/2007 10:36:15 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
For three straight days, he made visits to military units associated with missile or nuclear test
Ahn Yong-hyun
2007.08.04 03:32
For three straight days, Kim Jong-il made visits to military units. It has been three months since his (last) military inspection, in which he visited 'Oh Jeung-heup 7th Regiment' on May 5th. In particular, the military units he visited are predominantly the ones in N. Hamkyung Province, where missile test (Jul. 2006, translator's note: a long-range missile test which failed) and nuclear test (Oct. 2006) of last year were conducted.
N. Korea's KCNA reported that he toured a company under KPA Unit No. 4318 on Aug. 1, the command headquarter of KPA Combined Unit No. 264 in Aug. 2, and KPA Unit No. 136 on Aug. 3.
Among those, KPA Unit No. 4318, which is suspected to be a shore defense unit, and KPA Combined Unit No. 264, headquartered in Kyung-sung, N. Hamkyung Prov., are the ones Kim visited in last May prior to a missile test and a nuclear test. The missile was launched at Hwa-dae, N. Hamkyung Prov., and the nuclear test was conducted at Kilju, N. Hamkyung Prov..
A government source commented, "After having cast his vote for the election of representatives for local People's Assembly at a cooperative farm located at Hamju, S. Hamkyung Prov., Kim Jong-il appears to be touring nearby military units. It bothers us that he is visiting units associated with missile or nuclear test, but it could be also seen as an indication that he has made or is about to make some important decision on agendas for the second half of this year, such as N. Korea's nuke."
Other analyses suggest that either he toured the units to boost their morale prior to Ulchi Focus Lens, an annual joint military exercise by S. Korea and U.S.(Aug. 20 ~ 31), or to show that his health is in good shape after his heart operation last May.
It is my take that Kim knows U.S. won't easily accommodate many demands N. Korea put forth in return for working toward disbanding its nukes, and want to sofen up U.S. further by making military provocation, which Kim figure U.S. is ill-equipped to deal with these days.
IMHO, three possible candidates for potential provocation by Kim are (1) another naval firefight around NLL in Yellow Sea (2) the second nuclear test (3) more missile launches. I put the naval clash as a top candidate because N. Korea has been bringing up NLL issue again and heating up its rhetoric. It also broke off military talks between two Koreas, after NK's representatives made belligerent statements.
Ping!
Thanks for the translation. I was looking on the English version of Chosun Ilbo a few minutes ago for this article, but it hasn’t been published there yet.
Kamsahamnaedah!
Maybe those units were in need of some “on the spot guidance.” It’s been a while since he was out to do that.
Thank you for the alert.
Maybe he up to something I don’t know
I thought he was seriously ill. Could this be some sort of disinformation scheme directed at internal military consumption?
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