The First Workshop of the Commanders and Political Officers of the Korean People's Army was held in Pyongyang, the capital of the revolution, between July 24 and 27 under the guidance of the respected Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The Central Committee and the Central Military Commission of the WPK organized the grand assembly of military and political cadres of the whole army in order to further enhance the military and political might and the revolutionary fighting spirit of the KPA, the backbone of the national defence force and revolutionary armed forces of the Party, and explain again and convince the military and political cadres of the important idea of the Party Central Committee on military strategy and tactics and the orientation and policies of army building suited to the demand of the changed situation.

The recent workshop, the first of its kind in the history of army building, was mainly aimed at making all levels of units, combined units and large combined units of the KPA politically and ideologically strong iron-willed army supporting the leadership of the WPK with loyalty and invincible militant ranks and awakening and encouraging the military and political cadres to perform their responsibility and role as the hard core in carrying out the honourable tasks and rearming them in an all-round way.

Present at the workshop were military commanders and political commissars of all services, corps, divisions, brigades and regiments of the KPA. Also on hand were members of the Executive Committee of the KPA Committee of the WPK and officials of the General Political Bureau and the General Staff of the KPA and the Ministry of National Defence of the DPRK.

Kim Jong Un made an opening address of the workshop and guided the first-day sitting.

The First Workshop of the Commanders and Political Officers of the KPA started on July 24, which will mark another clear milestone in strengthening and developing the Juche-based revolutionary armed forces.

Kim Jong Un arrived at the April 25 House of Culture, the venue of the workshop, in order to guide the workshop of military and political cadres, who was greeted by commanding personnel of the KPA.

A ceremony of courteously receiving the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the DPRK was held at the April 25 House of Culture.

The national anthem of the DPRK was solemnly played and the Commander of the Guard of Honour of the KPA made a salute to Kim Jong Un.

Kim Jong Un reviewed the guard of honour of the KPA and met commanding personnel of the army, inspecting the commanders of the services and army corps-level units and the glorious colours of the large combined units.

When he appeared on the rostrum of the venue of the workshop together with Pak Jong Chon, Chief of the General Staff of the KPA, Kwon Yong Jin, Director of the General Political Bureau of the KPA, Ri Yong Gil, Minister of National Defence, and commanders of the large combined units of the KPA, all the participants raised stormy cheers of "Hurrah!" shaking the house of culture.

Kim Jong Un made an opening address.

He said the First Workshop of the Commanders and Political Officers of the KPA is held just before the significant V-Day at the time when the entire people across the country are waging an indefatigable struggle for a new victory of the revolution. He made clear the purpose of having organized the large workshop of the military and political cadres of the units, large units and large combined units of the whole army as the first assemblage of the People's Army after the Eighth Party Congress.

The Party Central Committee attaches special importance to the significance of strengthening all services, corps, divisions, brigades and regiments of the People's Army in tiding over the severe difficulties in the way of the Korean revolution and achieving a fresh victory, he said and continued:

I have never forgotten even a moment the military and political cadres of units at all levels who are devoting themselves on the forefront of strengthening the military muscle and at the sites of gigantic struggle for prosperity of the country and happiness of the people. Availing myself of this opportunity, I extend warm militant greetings to the service personnel of the whole army.

When the divisions, brigades and regiments of the whole army are prepared as one, we are not afraid of any threats and there is no problem in the victorious advance of our revolution. The commanders of the services, corps, divisions, brigades and regiments and other military commanding officers and political commissars of the People's Army should make more strenuous efforts than ever before, he stressed and made a detailed analysis of the operation-commanding ability, the level of management of units and political and practical qualifications of the military and political cadres.

Kim Jong Un said the military and political cadres of the People's Army should clearly know the intention of the Central Committee and the Central Military Commission of the WPK which organized the recent workshop on a large scale, examine and sum up the whole work of the units seriously and find out ways to overcome the shortcomings and deviations while swapping excellent experiences.

He stressed that through the recent workshop, the army commanders and political commissars at all levels should have a deeper understanding of the importance of strengthening the services, corps, divisions, brigades and regiments and the direction and policies of the Party on the army-building policy, find out a bright idea and methodology for them and make positive efforts to learn more, regarding it as a very precious occasion to improve and train themselves in a revolutionary way.

He declared the First Workshop of the Commanders and Political Officers of the KPA open, expressing the belief that the workshop would become an important starting point of revolutionizing the cadres to prepare the military and political cadres of the whole army as genuine commanding personnel of the revolutionary armed forces of the Party and as an occasion of epochal leap in consolidating the operational and combat capacity and political and military might of the units in every way.

The workshop heard a report.

The report was made by Vice-Marshal of the KPA Kwon Yong Jin, Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK, Member of the Central Military Commission of the Party and Director of the General Political Bureau of the KPA.

The reporter said Kim Jong Un organized the large-scale workshop of the commanders and political commissars of the services, corps, divisions, brigades and regiments of the whole army on the occasion of the V-Day at the crucial and vital time of the Korean revolution. It reflects his noble intention to glorify the immortal exploits performed by the great leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in leading the army generation after generation and prepare the commanding personnel, the hard core of the People's Army, as genuine military and political cadres of the Party army with high political consciousness, revolutionary style of work and noble moral traits, he added.

Speeches were made at the workshop.

Kim Jong Un made an important concluding speech at the second-day sitting of the workshop.

At the second-day sitting, speeches continued in the wake of the first-day sitting.

The second-day sitting was held amid the ideological readiness and mounted enthusiasm of the military and political cadres to have their work summed up in a comprehensive way, arm themselves more thoroughly with the military lines and policies of the Party and discharge their heavy obligations granted to them.

The commanders and political commissars of units and combined units who took the floor mentioned the achievements and experiences obtained in the work to prepare their units as the first death-defying corps of defending the Party Central Committee which carried forward the noble soul of the heroic soldiers during the war, train one-match-for-a-hundred soldiers with iron fists and make full preparations for decisive battle and in the improvement of the military life and the grand construction campaign.

The speeches seriously analyzed and criticized the shortcomings occurring in the military and political work including the combat and political training, command and management of units and education of service personnel.

The workshop highly estimated the exemplary units which are playing the leading role in strengthening the combat efficiency, establishing the military discipline and improving the military life, true to the military policy of the Party.

Kim Jong Un made a crucial concluding speech to put forward important revolutionary tasks of struggle for the People's Army at present in implementing the army-building lines and policies of the Party and mention the issues raised at the workshop.

In the concluding speech, he first referred to the purport of having organized the large workshop of the leading commanding personnel of the whole army, the first of its kind in the history of army building.

He said the First Workshop of the Commanders and Political Officers of the KPA was organized to decisively enhance the role of the commanders and political officers of units at all levels in correctly and thoroughly implementing the lines and tasks of making the revolutionary armed forces elite and powerful army which were presented by the historic Eighth Congress of the WPK.

He said:

The commanders and political commissars of the units and combined units are the core military and political cadres constituting the backbone of our revolutionary armed forces; they are field commanders and political officers who are leading the units to fight according to the operational plans of the Supreme Command. It is a consistent strategic policy of our Party in modernizing the army to prepare the commanders and political officers well and rearm them steadily.

Kim Jong Un referred to the organization of the recent workshop just before the V-Day and said:

Now we are faced with manifold challenges and trials unprecedented in history and we have to overcome them with our strong will and resolute determination. It is, first of all, necessary to treasure it and translate it into the present reality. It is a great tradition of victory.

The succession of revolution is not mere handing down to one's posterity, but the succession of the fighting spirit and that of the vigorous and indomitable spirit. It is a great fighting spirit of the victorious wartime generation that we should carry it forward more powerfully and vigorously without getting dim or discoloured no matter how many years may go by.

In the concluding speech Kim Jong Un put forward the general task to strengthen the units, combined units and large combined units.

He formulated that the general task facing all levels of units of the People's Army is to make them invincible militant ranks infinitely loyal to the cause of the WPK and said:

It means making the units a political and ideological group with absolute loyalty and obedience to the idea and leadership of the WPK and carrying on all the operations and battles, the management of units and the military life of the commanding officers and soldiers according to the policy of the WPK and in its way and as intended by the Party.

As the People's Army is the armed forces of the Party, all the political and military activities should represent the will and strength of the Party and its voice and meet its demand.

Kim Jong Un presented the principled issues and tasks which should be maintained in the work to thoroughly establish the monolithic leadership system in the People's Army.

He importantly said the units at all levels should make all the occasions and processes of the Party political work and the military affairs definitely run through the course of defending the ideology and authority of the Party and strengthening the security of the state and thoroughly establish the revolutionary military discipline of accepting the orders and instructions of the Party Central Committee immediately and implementing them resolutely.

He also said:

The commanders and political officers should concentrate all efforts on perfecting the preparations to cope actively and offensively with any military provocations of the enemy. This is the supreme order given by the Party and our revolution to the People's Army; it is a pressing task nobody can take other's place and the commanding personnel should be responsible for at the cost of their lives.

The hostile forces strengthen all sorts of frantic and tenacious aggressive war exercises, keep expanding the ability to make a preemptive attack on our state systematically and build up armaments. The present situation further explodes the decision and fighting spirit of our army to fundamentally terminate the vicious cycle of the escalation of tension.

All the military and political cadres should not forget even a moment that the first standard of estimating their loyalty to the Party and revolution and their work ability and results lies in perfecting the preparations to correctly carry out the combat tasks for wartime operations, but put the greatest spurs to strengthening the combat efficiency of their units.

In the concluding speech Kim Jong Un presented the tasks for the units at all levels to launch a fierce drive for training according to the five-point policy on bringing about a radical change in training and specific ways to provide the service personnel of the People's Army with better conditions for military service and life.

Touching on the necessity to further intensify the ideological education in the army, Kim Jong Un said it is important for the service personnel involved in socialist construction to keep the pride of being the creators for happiness of the people, front-line soldiers defending the people's confidence in the Party and a stone building the citadel of the single-minded unity.

He stressed that good education should be given among the service personnel to fully display the traditional traits so that they can always respect and love the people like their parents and brothers and sisters and defend the lives and property of the people at the risk of their lives.

In the concluding speech Kim Jong Un specially stressed the need to raise the qualifications, ability, responsibility and role of the military and political cadres.

He said the military commanders and political commissars our Party wants are the commanding personnel strictly modeled on the WPK and they are the military and political cadres who inherited the tradition of intense loyalty to the WPK and possessed able working manner and persistent militancy proper to the Party.

He also said the loyalty to the Party Central Committee is the life and soul and fundamental criterion of the commanding personnel of KPA, the revolutionary army of the Party, and continued:

The commanders and political commissars of the units, combined units and large combined units should become the genuine men of faith and obligation sharing the idea, will and destiny with their Party forever in whatever adversity and trials and staunchly fighting for the WPK and our revolution to the last moment of their lives and men strong in idea and brave commanders striking terror into the hearts of the enemy.

The military and political cadres should deeply study and thoroughly carry out the military and political tasks presented at the Eighth Party Congress, plenary meetings of the Party Central Committee and enlarged meetings of the Central Military Commission of the Party and powerfully rouse the service personnel in the van.

Saying the party spirit and political consciousness are the basic criteria defining the quality of the commanding personnel of the People's Army, Kim Jong Un stressed in detail the need to correctly analyze, estimate and deal with all affairs arising in military activities and party political work from the viewpoint of Party policy, make purposeful efforts to know well the idea and policies of the Party and keep breath and step with the Party and voluntarily and sincerely participate in the Party ideological and organizational life.

He also said the military and political cadres should possess high practical qualifications and persistent militancy.

He noted that all the commanding personnel should make painstaking efforts to surpass the present level and overcome the limitations of ability and register remarkable successes with high goal, courageous stamina, strong endeavour, tireless passion and fighting spirit to be the military and political cadres of practician type and commanding personnel of strong grip.

The military and political cadres should design and plan all the work in a big way with great confidence and disposition to make their units assigned by the Party those widely known to the whole army and a-match-for-a-hundred militant ranks and display their infinite self-sacrificing spirit and spirit of devoted service in order to materialize it.

The military and political cadres should be firmly united ideologically and purposefully and in humanity to combine the military affairs with the political work well. They should make steady efforts to always have the proficient style of work and noble moral traits befitting the commanding personnel of the revolutionary army.

Saying the position and duty of the General Political Bureau, the General Staff and the Ministry of National Defence are very important instrengthening the whole army, Kim Jong Un presented ways to firmly orient and subordinate the Party political work and military affairs to thoroughly implementing the militant tasks advanced by the Party Central Committee to the People's Army.

He underscored the need for all the units to more dynamically conduct different kinds of mass movements such as the Movement of Winning the Title of O Jung Hup-led Seventh Regiment and the Three-Revolution Red Flag Movement so as to bring about a radical improvement in the political and ideological readiness and the spiritual and moral traits of the commanding personnel and soldiers and consolidate their combat efficiency in every way.

He said the glorious tradition of victory of our revolutionary armed forces can be brilliantly carried forward and developed only by the resolute struggle and devotion of the commanding personnel of the new generations infinitely faithful to the leadership of the Party. He expressed the belief that all the military and political cadres would redouble their efforts to thoroughly establish the monolithic leadership system of the Party Central Committee in the whole army and make a decisive progress in completing the preparations to cope with war and improving the living of the service personnel.

Finishing his concluding speech, Kim Jong Un ardently called upon all to wage a vigorous struggle for the well-being and eternal prosperity of our glorious motherland, for our great people, for the strengthening and development of the People's Army and for a new victory in our revolution in firm unity with one mind and purpose around the Central Committee of the WPK, our guiding Party.

An intensive short course was given for the participants in the workshop.

The third-day sitting of the workshop gave a short course to convince them of the ways to thoroughly carry out the militant tasks set forth by the Party and improve the military and political work of the units by following the ennobling fighting spirit and traits shown by the commanding officers of the guards units during the war.

The short course dealt with issues on firmly consolidating the units as the crystallization of resolutely defending the Party Central Committee by learning after the transparent spirit of resolute defence of the leader displayed by the victorious wartime generation, on making full preparations to cope with any form of war with the indomitable spirit of defending the country and the heroic fighting spirit displayed by the brave soldiers of the People's Army during the Fatherland Liberation War and on making the revolutionary way of struggle and life created by the victorious wartime generation pervade all the units.

It referred to the practical issues on applying the indomitable revolutionary spirit and unyielding fighting spirit created during the hard-fought Fatherland Liberation War to the present military and political work and introduced experiences of the excellent units.

Kim Jong Un made a closing address.

The First Workshop of the Commanders and Political Officers of the Korean People's Army came to a close in the fourth-day sitting on July 27 amid high enthusiasm of the military and political cadres who are determined to make all the units of the entire army invincible militant ranks with absolute loyalty and obedience to the leadership of the WPK.

Kim Jong Un made a closing address at the workshop.

He said the recent workshop, in which all the military and political cadres had a clear understanding of the idea and intention of the Party Central Committee and their position and duty and found out clear-cut practical ways to bring about a radical turn in strengthening the militancy of their units, has become a significant assemblage that set up a new milestone in the modernization of our army.

He said:

The military and political cadres should make redoubled and great efforts to lead their units in conformity with the requirements of the Party and the revolution. They should always bear in mind that the officers and men of their units place their great hope on the commanders and political officers who have come back after participating in the workshop, the first of its kind in the history of army building, and exert themselves to complete the combat preparations of their units.

Kim Jong Un stressed time and again that the commanders and political commissars of the units should have a high goal and strong desire for work to make their units powerful bulwarks of defending the revolution and the country and thoroughly carry out the tasks of struggle presented at the workshop to further strengthen their services, corps, divisions, brigades and regiments politically and militarily.

He touched on putting efforts into hardening the party spirit and self-improvement to bring about a radical improvement in their idea and spirit, working spirit and work attitude, practical ability and moral traits and completely break from the non-revolutionary and non-militant ideological viewpoint and style.

He said there are no difficulties not to be overcome and fortress not to be occupied when the commanders and political officers live and struggle with the indomitable revolutionary fighting spirit and will of the WPK however rigorous today's trials may be. He expressed the firm will of the WPK to constantly carry forward the glorious tradition of victory, believing in the People's Army, the invincible revolutionary army of the Party, and believing in the military and political cadres of the whole army.

Kim Jong Un declared the First Workshop of the Commanders and Political Officers of the KPA closed, expressing the belief that all the military and political cadres would deeply bear in mind the important idea of the Party on army building and the tasks and ways stressed at the recent workshop and devote themselves to implementing them and thus bring about an epochal progress in strengthening the combat efficiency of their units.