Kim Jong-un inspected the frontline troops for the first time and gave weapons to order artillery shooting at the scene.

According to a report by Korean Central News Agency on the 25th, Kim Jong-un, the top leader of North Korea, recently inspected the defense forces stationed in Changlin Island, the front line in the west of North Korea, and stressed that the army should be prepared for battle, enhance its combat effectiveness, conduct scientific training, and ensure the combat readiness of personnel and weapons. According to the report, Changlin Island is the "forefront of the motherland" of North Korea, and the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il visited the island.

The report said that Kim Jong-un learned about the logistics supply and preparations for the troops stationed on the island, and ordered the coastal artillery units on duty to conduct shooting training. Kim Jong-un instructed the troops to carry out scientific, practical and high-intensity training close to actual combat, so as to ensure that soldiers are prepared politically, ideologically and physically to successfully complete any combat mission. Kim Jong-un also asked all levels of the People’s Army to do a good job in the overhaul and maintenance of technical equipment and weapons and equipment to ensure that any unit can carry out combat tasks at any time. He also presented binoculars, automatic rifles and machine guns to the defense forces, and took photos with all the defense forces soldiers and their families as a souvenir. General Park Jung-tien, Chief of Staff of the Korean People’s Army, and the Central Cadres of the Workers’ Party of Korea accompanied the inspection.

According to reports, Kim Jong-un also inspected the female soldier company of the 5492nd Army of the Korean People’s Army stationed in the southwest front line, and expressed "great satisfaction" with the company’s soldiers being highly vigilant in carrying out frontline defense tasks. According to the report, Kim Jong-un paid tribute to the monument of Kim Jong Il’s on-site guidance, inspected the company’s facilities for study, life and training, and specifically learned about the military life of female soldiers. Kim Jong-un instructed all the soldiers of the company to remember the honor, follow the revolutionary policy, and set off a training upsurge in the company, thus continuously strengthening the company into a company of god gunners.

This inspection was Kim Jong-un’s third public military-related activity in November. The first two were to observe the combat flight technology competition at Gema Airport in Yuanshan, and to guide the landing training of the Korean People’s Army aviation and air defence forces sniper divisions.

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Choe Hyun-soo expressed regret on the 25th that North Korea’s top leader Kim Jong-un directed coastal gun shooting in the buffer zone in the western waters. Cui Xianzhu said that North Korea’s military action violated the September 19 Military Agreement between the ROK and the DPRK, and we urge North Korea to stop all military actions in this region, which may aggravate military tension in the border areas between the ROK and the DPRK and violate the September 19 Military Agreement between the ROK and the DPRK.

South Korean Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Cui Xianyu (video screenshot)

Regarding whether there are plans to protest to North Korea, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense said it would make further observation. Lee Sang-min, spokesman of the South Korean Unification Ministry, said that according to the news released by Korean Central News Agency, this is the first time that Kim Jong-un has inspected the Changlin Island Defence Force since he took office, but it is not the first time that Kim Jong-un has inspected the border guards.