▲ This photo, carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency on Aug. 6, 2023, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un giving "field guidance" at an arms factory. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

NK leader-key party meeting

N. Korea's Kim calls for bolstering war preparations in 'offensive' way: KCNA

SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for preparing for a possible war in an "offensive" manner during a meeting of the ruling party's central military commission, the North's state media said Thursday.

Kim made the remarks while presiding over an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea the previous day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim stressed the importance of a "strong army" in carrying out the party central committee's military strategy and called for "securing more powerful strike means for carrying out the mission of war deterrence" and "intensifying the work for deploying them in the units for action in a mobile way," it said.

During the meeting, North Korea replaced its top general Pak Su-il with Ri Yong-gil.

Other "important tasks" discussed during the meeting included preparations for a militia parade to mark the 75th anniversary of its founding day on Sept. 9, according to KCNA.

The meeting came as South Korea and the United States plan to hold their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise later this month.

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