N. Korea holds key meeting to bolster military capabilities
2014/03/17 10:47
SEOUL, March 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has held a key meeting to discuss ways to improve combat readiness and military capabilities, the country's state media said Monday, in its latest show of force.
Participants of an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party also discussed issues related to establishing the party's monolithic leadership system in the army and improving livelihoods of its soldiers, the Korean Central News Agency said.
The state-run news agency did not elaborate on decisions made at the meeting presided by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The report came a day after North Korea fired 25 short-range rockets into waters off its east coast in what could be a routine military exercise.
Still, the salvo of rockets on Sunday evening could be also seen as the North's attempt to send a message to the United States, experts say.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki called on North Korea to "refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions."
On Friday, the North vowed to keep up its efforts to bolster its nuclear deterrence and take additional measures to demonstrate its might continually as long as nuclear threats and blackmailing from the U.S. persist.
The North's powerful National Defense Commission did not elaborate, but some experts say Sunday's rocket launch could be a warning of another nuclear test or long-range rocket launch.
North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and February 2013, drawing international condemnation and tightened U.N. sanctions.
Also on Monday, the KCNA said in a separate dispatch that Kim has instructed officers to intensify training of its pilots during his latest inspection of the country's air force unit.
Kim also enjoyed a performance by the Moranbong Band, a popular all-female music group in North Korea, along with his top aides and his younger sister Kim Yo-jong, according to the KCNA.
The sister, 27, has received media spotlight for accompanying her elder brother Kim Jong-un on March 9 when he cast his ballot in Pyongyang for elections of the country's rubber-stamp parliament.
The younger Kim was listed among senior officials of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party, though she was not elected to the one-house legislature, called the Supreme People's Assembly.
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