North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected the combat readiness of a special operations unit and issued instructions for its development. He visited the headquarters of the 11th Corps, watched a training session, and expressed great satisfaction with its perfect war posture. The visit occurred on the same day as South Korean President Lee Jae-myung held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit.
North Korean state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that leader Kim Jong-un visited the headquarters of the Korean People's Army's 11th Corps on November 1. The 11th Corps is the North's most elite special forces unit, which deployed troops to Russia late last year to support its war with Ukraine and gained experience in modern warfare.
While touring the unit's museum, Kim said, "It is the will and desire of the (ruling) party to turn the whole army into a strong and heroic one like the unit that always wins victory in every battle." He received a briefing on the unit's operational plan and set forth "strategic policies and important tasks" for the development of the special operations forces.
The leader also stressed the need to take a "military organizational and structural measure for strengthening" the unit, adding that the party's Central Military Commission will examine the issue on a full scale. After watching the unit's training, he expressed "great satisfaction over the perfect war posture," stating that the military is "fully ready" to thoroughly defend the state's sovereignty and development rights and reliably safeguard the destiny and future of the people.
The visit coincided with talks between South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju. The South Korean presidential office had said denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula would be on the agenda, but the disclosed results made no mention of it. North Korea denounced the announcement as a "pipe dream" on Saturday, though Sunday's report omitted the issue.