Third Meeting of Company Commanders of the Korean People's Army Held

At a time when the core and vanguard role of our legendary army is being extraordinarily highlighted in the gigantic transformative struggle to firmly defend the sacred sovereignty of our glorious fatherland, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and the honour of the Korean people, and to open the new era of revival and prosperity, the Third Meeting of Company Commanders of the Korean People's Army was held in the capital Pyongyang on October 22 and 23.

This meeting, the first army-wide gathering since the historic 9th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, is of great practical significance in that it mobilizes all the company commanders of the entire army to the struggle to consistently hold fast to the strengthening of companies—the basic combat units of the People's Army and the living bases of the service personnel—as the starting point and central link of strengthening the whole army, and to turn every company into an elite combat ranks that death-defyingly defends the ideas and cause of the Party and an all-arms, all-capable company able to independently and satisfactorily carry out any combat mission, thereby redoubling the powerful driving force for building a strong army in the new era.

At the meeting, the achievements and experience made in the struggle to implement the line of building a strong army based on attaching importance to companies and strengthening companies in recent years were comprehensively analyzed and reviewed, and, on the basis of the goal of strengthening companies set forth by the Party at the present stage, the tasks and practical ways for bringing about substantial and fundamental improvement in raising the practical combat capability of companies, thereby turning all companies of the entire army into elite combat collectives that can reliably guarantee the victory of a revolutionary war militarily and technologically, were discussed.

The respected Comrade 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, guided the meeting.

Principal commanders of the Ministry of National Defence and military and political commanding officers of large combined units of the Korean People's Army courteously greeted the Supreme Commander of the armed forces of the Republic.

When Comrade Kim Jong Un appeared on the platform, the impassioned cheers of all the participants burst out and shook the hall, looking up to the iron-willed brilliant commander of one hundred victories who unfolds the highest heyday of the strengthening of the revolutionary armed forces with his original ideas on army building and outstanding art of command.

The meeting was attended by company commanders of the armed forces of the Republic and commanders of military and political organs of each service.

Taking their places on the platform were Comrade Pak Jong Chon, Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea; Comrade Kim Song Gi, Minister of National Defence of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; Comrade Yu Kwang U, First Deputy Director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army; Comrade Ri Yong Gil, Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army; military and political commanding officers of each service and large combined units of the Korean People's Army; and company commanders exemplary in implementing the Party's military line.

The national anthem of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was solemnly played.

Comrade Kim Jong Un delivered the programmatic speech “New-Era Building of a Strong Army and the Tasks of Company Commanders”.

Comrade Kim Jong Un expressed his feelings at meeting face to face, at the Third Meeting of Company Commanders of the Korean People's Army which will engrave clear coordinates on the historic course of the cause of building a strong army in the new era, the company commanders who are the young core of our armed forces and the commanders of the basic combat units, and expressed fervent thanks to the company commanders of the entire army who are becoming the supporting stones that uphold the mightiness of the revolutionary armed forces and the prosperity of Korea at the grassroots of our army.

Comrade Kim Jong Un said that the fighting records of our army are vividly embroidered with the noble traces of the responsible and devoted service of company commanders, and assessed that to have combat unit commanders who regard a life dedicated to the fatherland and comrades-in-arms as the greatest honour and remain faithful to their duty with high awareness and strong exertion is the strength of our army and the pride and boast of our Party and state, and sent militant encouragement to the company officers and men of the entire army who are carrying on the days of honourable service by firmly defending the fronts for the defence of national sovereignty and socialist construction.

Comrade Kim Jong Un clarified the intention of the Party Central Committee, which put forward the cultivation of the world's strongest armed forces as the pre-emptive task to be achieved in the new prospect plan period and as a realistic goal, in convening an army-wide meeting of company commanders as the first meeting in the military sector since the 9th Congress of the Party.

Comrade Kim Jong Un said that the central link that the Party Central Committee consistently advocates and strives to strengthen in the strengthening of the army is precisely the company, and that in the unprecedented great cause of army building that we are carrying out, the company occupies the most crucial position, and that the line of building a strong army based on attaching importance to companies and strengthening companies is precisely the best choice that can renew the appearance of the entire army in the shortest possible time.

Comrade Kim Jong Un said that the general direction of strengthening companies is to renew the combat capability and appearance of companies in keeping with the prestige and dignity of the elite revolutionary armed forces, and affirmed that when all companies of the entire army are each purified ideologically and spiritually, powerfully elite-ized militarily and technologically, and tempered into flawless combat forces in their normalized appearance, the strength of our army will be incomparably amplified.

Comrade Kim Jong Un said that the might and majesty of our armed forces should rightly be embodied in the company, the basic combat unit of the People's Army, and the prestige of a strong army should be intuitively seen in the appearance of the company, and expressed the firm will of the Party Central Committee to trust the company commanders of the entire army and open the shortcut to fostering a strong army in the new era.

Comrade Kim Jong Un mentioned the importance of the role of company commanders in the struggle to turn the entire army into elite armed forces simultaneously and as soon as possible, as the Party conceives and as our revolution demands.

Comrade Kim Jong Un said that this meeting should become an occasion for more correctly recognizing the position the company occupies in building a strong army in the new era, for awakening extraordinarily, and for beginning a new change, and set forth the combat tasks and ways to be held fast to as the key in the work of strengthening companies, the cells of building a strong army.

Comrade Kim Jong Un continued by clarifying the basic goal of strengthening the combat capability of companies, whose implementation our Party intends to bring into full swing starting from this meeting, and the epoch-making significance it has in the realization of the Party's military strategic policy.

Comrade Kim Jong Un stressed that company commanders, who always live without a single inch of distance from the soldiers, must always read and engrave in their hearts the trust and entreaty of the people who have entrusted their sons and daughters to them, and must become the elder brothers of the company soldiers and true comrades-in-arms before being commanders, devoting utmost sincerity and devotion to making the company a dear home for the soldiers.

Comrade Kim Jong Un clarified the principled issues arising in the work of the company commanders—who are the new-generation commanders who must firmly carry forward the true nature of our army as the army of the Party and the army of ideology, and the core who must directly lead the soldiers on the battlefield and achieve victory—thoroughly consolidating the ideological elite-ization of the company and ceaselessly improving company management and military life under iron military discipline.

Comrade Kim Jong Un said that the key issue in successfully carrying out the weighty tasks for strengthening companies lies in the company commanders themselves preparing perfectly ideologically, morally and in ability and fully performing their assigned role as organizational commanders, and mentioned the political, ideological, military and practical qualifications and abilities that the company commanders of the armed forces of the Republic, who hold high the banner of the army-strengthening decided by the Party Central Committee, must possess.

Comrade Kim Jong Un declared that the basic spirit of the Third Meeting of Company Commanders of the Korean People's Army is to build the strongest army by fostering the strongest companies and to accelerate our-style military revolution.

Comrade Kim Jong Un said that when all companies of the entire army are prepared as the strongest, the combat readiness of our armed forces will be completed and the goal of building a strong army in the new era will be achieved, and expressed his conviction that the company commanders of the entire army will heavily aware of their respective missions in building a strong army and will surely attain the new goal of strengthening companies through responsible activity.

The greatest respect of all the participants, respectfully offered to the peerlessly brilliant commander who declared the immortal grand programme for the eternal might and invincibility of our revolutionary armed forces, burst out in stormy cheers of “Hurrah!”.

All the participants steeled their solemn will to firmly grasp the combat banner of strengthening companies and strengthening military power bestowed by Comrade Kim Jong Un and to powerfully display the honour and absolute prestige of our armed forces that guarantee the triumphant advance of the fatherland and the revolution.

At the meeting there was a report by Comrade Kim Song Gi, Minister of National Defence.

The reporter said that the seven years since the Fifth Meeting of Company Commanders and Political Instructors of the Korean People's Army have been a proud age in which, under the outstanding ideas and leadership of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, the mightiness and gallantry of our revolutionary armed forces, unmatched by the army of any country in the world, have been fully displayed and an epoch-making leap has been achieved in the struggle to strengthen the companies of the entire army into elite combat collectives.

He mentioned that by the wise leadership of Comrade Kim Jong Un, who set forth scientific lines and policies capable of elite-izing and strengthening our revolutionary armed forces and vigorously raised an army-wide wind of arming with revolutionary ideas and cultivating spiritual strength, the indomitable spirit and strong mettle peculiar to our revolutionary armed forces—strong in ideology and invincible in ideology—have come to overflow in the companies of the entire army.

He stressed that the absolute trust of Comrade Kim Jong Un, who put forward the People's Army as the basic core and locomotive propelling the comprehensive development of socialism, is the fundamental secret that has enabled our service personnel to steadily write new epics of proud creation and feats at the outposts of the honourable construction struggle to realize the long-cherished desire of the Party and the aspirations of the people.

The reporter mentioned that, thanks to the lofty revolutionary enthusiasm and devoted efforts of the company commanders of the entire army who have faithfully upheld the idea of attaching importance to companies and strengthening companies of Comrade Kim Jong Un, valuable successes have been achieved in the work of strengthening the political and military might of companies.

He mentioned that the noble outlook on life, which holds fast to the execution of the Party's orders as the first duty and first honour and finds the most valuable pride and reward on the path of carrying out the Party's orders, and the spotless patriotic loyalty that offers its irreplaceable life for the Party and the fatherland without seeking reward or remuneration have become the ideological and spiritual traits of the service personnel of the People's Army, and that the companies have been firmly consolidated as bulwarks of death-defying defence of the Party Central Committee.

He said that they regarded it as the most important mission of our revolutionary armed forces to suppress all challenges threatening the sovereignty and security of the Republic and to reliably guarantee peace and development militarily, held it as the foremost revolutionary task before the company commanders, fully displayed the combat power of companies in the struggle to defend the safety of the fatherland and people, and concentrated efforts on implementing the Party's line of training revolution, thereby achieving remarkable successes.

He mentioned that whenever difficult junctures blocked the course of the revolution's advance and arduous tasks arose, they followed the heaven-like trust of the Party Central Committee, which calls the People's Army to the very forefront, with the vigorous march of loyalty and feats, and that the companies created miracles astonishing the world in the great construction fronts for realizing the long-cherished desire of our Party and the ideals of the people.

The report also analyzed and reviewed the problems to be overcome in strengthening companies.

The reporter said that whether or not all companies of the People's Army are strengthened into elite combat collectives depends importantly on the awareness, exertion and activity of the company commanders, who are the basic masters of strengthening companies, and appealed that all should hold the heavy sense of mission of having taken charge of the basic combat units of the ever-victorious heroic army that displays the world's strongest might with the great commander held high, and fight vigorously to staunchly consolidate the combat power of companies by faithfully upholding the ideas and leadership of Comrade Kim Jong Un.

Following the report, there was a viewing of a video compilation containing content on the noble ideological and spiritual world and high combat command ability of company commanders who carried out the combat orders given by the Party at the cost of their lives.

At the meeting, fresh experience of company commanders created in the practical struggle to implement the Party's idea and policy of attaching importance to companies was introduced through video compilations.

The screens showing the experience of excellent company commanders achieved in the course of conducting high-intensity practical training, holding fast to combat training as the first revolutionary task that must not be neglected under any conditions or circumstances in keeping with the realistic demand that is hastening the qualitative change of our army, struck the heartstrings of the participants with extraordinary power of impression and penetration.

While watching the video compilations, the participants acquired the methodological issues and excellent experience for concentrating all efforts on strengthening the combat power of companies and making them into invincible elite ranks prepared to swiftly and accurately carry out assigned tasks under any vicious combat circumstances, and once again engraved the awareness that they must have their patriotic loyalty to the Party and state verified by the completion of combat preparations before any achievement.

The meeting hall was filled with the extraordinary resolve and combat zeal of the new-generation hot-blooded commanders who will fight bravely at the outposts of defence and creation for the great Comrade Kim Jong Un, for the shining victory of the cause of national prosperity and military strength, and for the peace and happiness of our people.

Following the meeting, there was a ceremony for awarding Party and state commendations to exemplary company commanders with outstanding merits in the work of strengthening companies.

The decree of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was conveyed by Comrade Yu Kwang U, First Deputy Director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army.

The certificate of commendation of the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea was awarded to Comrades Choe Kon, Yun Myong Nam and An Ok Kyong.

The Order of the National Flag First Class was awarded to 5 persons, the Order of the National Flag Second Class to 17 persons, the Order of the National Flag Third Class to 50 persons, and the Military Merit Medal to 172 persons.

The awarding venue seethed with boundless gratitude and pledges of loyalty to Comrade Kim Jong Un, who values the devoted efforts of the ordinary company commanders who have defended the grassroots of our army and raises them high on the pedestal of honour.

The Third Meeting of Company Commanders of the Korean People's Army became a meaningful occasion that provided an epoch-making turning point in the struggle to more firmly consolidate all companies of the entire army into perfectly elite combat collectives, ideologically and spiritually and militarily and technologically, and into cornerstones upholding the mightiness of our revolutionary armed forces and the revival and prosperity of the state.

Political News Team of the Rodong Sinmun