The prestigious military academy, which has recorded innumerable brilliant feats in its glorious colours while creditably performing its duty of training the primary commanding personnel, the backbone of basic combat units reliably supporting the immortal mightiness and invincibility of the heroic Korean People’s Army, has greeted the glorious moment unprecedented in the proud 80-year history of its development.

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, inspected the Kang Kon Military Academy, a parent body of military education institutions in the country and the most prestigious commanding officers training centre, on February 25.

He was accompanied by Pak Jong Chon, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the WPK and secretary of the Party Central Committee, No Kwang Chol, minister of National Defence of the DPRK, and other members of the Central Military Commission of the WPK.

After arriving at the academy, the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un visited the bust of Kang Kon, an anti-Japanese revolutionary fighter, who was one of the most faithful comrades-in-arms of President Kim Il Sung and a competent commanding officer, and laid a wreath before it.

Written on the ribbon of the wreath were letters reading “Our army will remember your name, Kang Kon, forever.”

Recalling the distinguished feats of Kang Kon, the first chief of the KPA General Staff who dedicated as a solid cornerstone his precious life to the sacred cause for the birth and remarkable development of the DPRK’s regular revolutionary armed forces, Kim Jong Un paid high respects to the great army founding generation.

There was a ceremony of greeting the head of state.

All the teaching staff and students of the academy broke into stormy cheers of “Hurrah!” looking up to the invincible and iron-willed commander who is ushering in a golden age of strengthening the military capabilities, most brilliant in the history of the country, by wisely leading the cause of building a powerful Juche-oriented army.

An educator and student of the academy presented fragrant bouquets to Kim Jong Un, in reflection of the unanimous mind of loyalty of all the teaching staff and students.

Acknowledging the enthusiastic cheers, Kim Jong Un extended militant greetings to all the educators who are devoting themselves to the steady innovation and development in the training of military cadres, standing with their pure conscience on the sacred teaching posts entrusted to them by the Party and the country, and to the students who are preparing themselves as excellent commanding officers for the future.

He reviewed a march-past of the teaching staff and students of the academy and then saw a kyoksul (a Korean martial art) demonstration by the students.

Full of high morale and great emotion at having Kim Jong Un, the supreme commander of the armed forces of the DPRK, in the campus of their academy, the students powerfully demonstrated their militant stamina, with which they are fully preparing themselves politically, ideologically, militarily, technically and physically, true to the Party’s policy of bringing about a radical turn in training and military education.

Guided by the senior officials of the academy, Kim Jong Un made the rounds of various places of the academy, including a tactical study room, unit command and management study room, military topography study room and shooting gallery.

The worthy feats of the military education institutions, which have firmly defended the core positions of the army, are clearly imprinted in the course of brilliant exploits of our armed forces which have led the dynamic upswing of the revolution as the main force of national defence, but there is no military academy with such a noble and proud history and traditions as the Kang Kon Military Academy, he said, adding:

The academy’s distinguished position in the glorious army-building history can be well understood through the fact that it was awarded the first colours of the armed forces of the Republic and it stood in the van as the first column during the first military parade of the regular army.

The academy should firmly defend and carry forward its sacred history and traditions in the vanguard of military education institutions at all levels, and this holds an important position in implementing the military policy of the WPK determined to open up a new avenue for strengthening the whole army by further consolidating its basic units.

After learning in detail about the state of military education at the academy, he referred to the fact that the management and operation of educational facilities and the educational environment are not meeting the policy-oriented requirements for building a powerful army of the WPK aspiring after modernity and advanced character. And he added that the Party Committee of the KPA and the policy-oriented guidance departments in charge of the military education institutions have not fully fulfilled their responsibilities and roles.

Saying that we can see what important role this academy has played in strengthening and developing our revolutionary armed forces through its unique names, the first military educational institution of our state, a “pedigree farm” for training military cadres and a symbol of the regularized appearance and combat capability of the KPA, he gave instructions on correctly implementing the military educational policy of the Party, adding that we can now wonderfully renovate the commanding officers training bases related to the future of the KPA in line with the principles of modern pedagogy and the level of modern culture as we have the precious traditions bequeathed by the army founding generation that brought about a legendary miracle of army building from scratch and have the might that has been further strengthened in the trials.

He said that the WPK attaches importance to the academy because its graduates are to be posted to important positions closest to the soldier masses, the lowest echelon of the army, though their first posts are not high, and they can grow into competent warriors who always know victory only when they took their first steps properly as military commanders. And he expressed the steadfast will of the WPK to develop the KPA, by making a radical turn in the military education sector, into a powerful army that always wins victory in every battle and that conquers any fortress when it is determined.

Saying that the military education front is the eternal first echelon and forefront in increasing the military capability and it is our Party’s constant view that a shortcut to training a powerful army is to further raise the flames of revolution in military education, he affirmed that it is his unshakable determination to successfully build this academy as a standard unit in training army commanders, in which modern educational culture is perfectly embodied, and to upgrade the military education sector of the country.

He saw the live shooting contest of teachers and students of the academy and their physical exercises with multi-purpose apparatuses.

Saying that the qualitative strengthening of the KPA and its might largely depend on how primary commanding officers of tactical-level units are trained, he stressed that the military education sector should surely instil in the students the resolute revolutionary consciousness to make the revolution before transferring military knowledge to them, and at the same time prepare them to be fighters of combat type, possessed of crack-shot marksmanship, skilful combat methods and strong physical abilities, and continued:

The basic task facing the academy is to firmly consolidate the cornerstone of a powerful army by training heroes who devote their all on the road of faithful service for the Party, the revolution and the people and creditably carry out any difficult task. The academy should make sure that all its students carry forward the faith of loyalty and patriotic spirit consistently cherished by the commanding officers of the revolutionary armed forces, from the first generation of army founding to the present one.

Today the aggressive and bellicose nature of the imperialists is most openly expressed in history and war and bloodshed have become commonplace; this international situation demands that our armed forces be perfect in readiness for a war.

He then set forth important tasks facing the military education sector in intensifying military practice-centred education and preparing all students to be reliable military personnel of field-officer type, who win only sure victory, by making them learn about in our own way the actual experiences in modern battle fields, master the rapidly-developing weapons and other combat and technical equipment and acquire the commanding abilities for modern warfare.

That day, Kim Jong Un had a photo session with the teaching staff and students of the academy.

The campus resounded with the boundless gratitude and enthusiastic cheers of all the teaching staff and students, who came to enjoy the greatest glory and happiness they had desired even in dreams during their honourable military service and the greatest trust to be dearly cherished in their minds forever.

Kim Jong Un expressed expectation and belief that the academy will steadily carry forward the sacred traditions and valuable feats of having firmly consolidated and defended the core stronghold of our revolutionary armed forces, the cornerstone of a powerful army, train a larger number of competent military commanders boundlessly loyal to the Party, the revolution, the country and the people and possessed of every capability to fight a war, and thus make a positive contribution to accomplishing the Party’s cause of building a powerful army.

The loud shout of “Death-defying Defence,” reflecting the unanimous pledge of loyalty of the teaching staff and students of the military academy to the great brilliant commander, resounded far and wide.

Kim Jong Un’s historic field guidance at the Kang Kon Military Academy serves as a decisive turning point that provided a foundation for vivid changes and progress in bringing about a radical improvement in military education in the new era and as an important occasion of landmark significance in developing the KPA into an invincible and matchless army forever.