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, visited the special operations training base under direct control of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army and learned about the training of the sniper and special operation sub-units on August 27.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un was accompanied by Jo Chun Ryong, secretary of the WPK Central Committee, Kim Jong Sik, first deputy department director of the WPK Central Committee, and other leading officials of the WPK Central Committee.

He was greeted on the spot by No Kwang Chol, minister of National Defence of the DPRK, and Ri Yong Gil, chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

At the training base he met snipers assembled for carrying out special missions and soldiers of the special operations unit and familiarized himself with the military equipment of the sub-units and their training.

He acquainted himself with the new-type sniper rifle being produced and supplied to units.

He appreciated the high-precision long-range sniping character and superiority of the new-type sniper rifle designed and developed by the DPRK Academy of Defence Sciences this year in our own way to improve the ergonomic efficiency of the weapon and the tactical mobility of snipers, and satisfactorily said it is very good for our units to have come to be armed with such sniping weapon of new generation.

Saying that the sniper forces have a very important duty in the combat ability composition of units, he noted that a sniper is a specially selected soldier ready to conduct independent and voluntary military actions and is as good as a hunter surely killing enemy soldiers with perfect marksmanship in battlefields. He added that it is an important task in building up our armed forces to drastically strengthen the special operations forces and specialized sniper forces in the future.

He said that the Central Military Commission of the WPK would examine the matter of organizing a central sniper training centre under the General Staff in the future.

Saying that concentration and acute power of observation are essential qualities for snipers, he noted that they should be trained for discerning varied surroundings and getting used to the environment in order to improve their concentration, endurance and observation, and referred to the need to establish correct training methodologies for making them acquire the methods of selecting the targets of sniping, concealing and moving, selecting and building firing positions and observing targets with various kinds of equipment and ensuring high-precision long-range shooting, and the knacks of marksmanship and the like in attack and defence between the teams of snipers and between sub-units, and to intensify scientific specialized training so as to increase the capability for fighting an actual war.

He instructed the Ministry of National Defence to produce quality camouflage uniforms to be supplied to the sniper sub-units from this year in conformity with the conditions and seasonal characteristics of the mission zones.

The most urgent task for the KPA in war preparations at present is to thoroughly implement the Party’s policy on effecting a revolution in training, ideology and equipment and thus more firmly prepare the special operations forces to be the pivotal and core forces in fighting a war and the strongest combat group, he said, and continued:

In order to have the absolute upper hand no special operations forces of any country can get at battlefields at present when powerful military equipment is being developed and introduced competitively, it is necessary to positively step up the modernization of military equipment, steadily explore and apply innovative war methods and combat plans of our own style and make the soldiers fully master them.

He oversaw a live shooting drill of the sniper sub-unit.

Watching with pleasure the training of the combatants demonstrating their perfect marksmanship, he said that they are really good at shooting and that no enemy within their sight will be able to survive.

Then he watched the general special physical exercises of the combatants of the special operations unit.

The soldiers participating in the drill fully demonstrated the physical and technical abilities of them who are preparing themselves as an invincible combat unit and advance detachment of the powerful revolutionary army.

Highly appreciating the transparent ideological and moral world of the combatants who always think about the battle, true to the Party's idea of building special operations forces, and do their utmost to remain faithful to the noble mission and duty they have assumed for the country and people, he had a photo session with them.

When the photo session was over, the participants broke into stormy cheers of "Hurrah!" expressive of their pledge of loyalty to devotedly defend the Party Central Committee headed by Kim Jong Un.

Kim Jong Un warmly encouraged the reliable guards and passionate warriors full of the firm will to win only victory in accomplishing any combat mission at any time, saying, "You must make enemies tremble with terror at the mere sight of you."

That day he congratulated three snipers who showed their distinguished marksmanship, fully displaying their high-precision long-range sniping capability, and had a photo taken with each of them.

He also had a photo session with the officers and soldiers of the sniper sub-unit cultivating perfect marksmanship in the intensive drill for an actual war.

The soldiers of the sniper sub-unit and the combatants of the special operations unit, who were honoured to be guided by the great brilliant commander in their training, made a firm pledge to be more fully prepared as core arms of the KPA and as ferocious tigers leaping over mountains, cherishing the sense of mission to defend the country and revolution, and thus fully demonstrate the mightiness of the invincible KPA and immortalize its name.