A firing practice contest among artillery sub-units of large combined units of the Korean People's Army was conducted on July 23 amid the hot wind of training sweeping the entire army to further consolidate the militant might of the elite revolutionary army.

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, oversaw the artillery firing contest.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un was accompanied by Pak Jong Chon, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea and secretary of the Central Committee 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 KPA General Staff, and other commanding officers of the General Staff and military and political officers of the large combined units at all levels of the KPA.

He heard a report on the preparations for the contest on the spot and emphasized the importance of the contest to be conducted according to the plan of the General Staff.

The contest was conducted in the way of deciding ranks by examining the capability of each artillery sub-unit for performing the night march, combat deployment and firing attack on an unexpected enemy target in coastal regional environment and conditions in summer, making them master the combat methods in modern artillery warfare and judging the result of fulfiling the firing missions.

The commanders of the large combined units commanded the firing of their sub-units.

The artillery sub-units, which received the order to fire, fully displayed the capability that they had firmly developed to master the combat manual of our style and punish the enemy at one blow, thus hitting the suddenly-set marine targets in the set time.

Kim Jong Un expressed great satisfaction over the contest that was conducted like an actual war and its result.

This contest serves as a good occasion for showing the practical and fundamental changes taking place in the KPA's efforts to round off the combat readiness after the Seventh Conference of Training Officers of the KPA, he said, adding that this was a positive result of the outstanding political and ideological readiness of our service personnel supported by the scientific combat training regime and system.

The combat capability of the core arm of our revolutionary armed forces should be highly perfect and matchless to lead and pull in the vanguard of the entire army the implementation of the Party's training-first policy, he said, stressing the need to continuously and rapidly develop our-style artillery tactics and combat methods in an innovative way in keeping with the harsh and acute environment of the daily-changing modern battlefields.

He said that the courage, abilities and self-confidence with which to actively cope with any war and crisis are cultivated in the furnace of the training revolution transcending precedents and limits, and that the comprehensive and formidable combat strength capable of defeating any powerful enemy is the defenders' genuine heroism, toughness and feat deserving a gold-star medal.

Reiterating that the surest war deterrent is the most thoroughgoing outlook on the arch enemy, he expressed expectation and conviction that the units at all levels of the whole army would more firmly establish the atmosphere of attaching importance to training and concentrate on actual war-like drills in response to the epochal build-up of the overall artillery forces so as to bolster up in every way the combat capability of the a-match-for-a-hundred invincible army capable of immediately coping with a war anytime and destroying the enemy in every battle without fail.

Congratulating the combatants of the 2nd Battery of the 3rd Battalion of the 16th Artillery Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division of the 4th Corps of the KPA, who successfully attained all the goals set in the contest and won the contest with the highest score, he invited the battery as special guests to the celebrations of the 72nd anniversary of victory in the war as an award.

All the artillerymen, who received his deep trust and love, hardened their iron will to remain infinitely faithful to the mission and duty of the defenders who guarantee the security of the country and the people most staunchly and most powerfully with the thoroughgoing spirit of defending the country and the revolution.