North Korea has decided to expand the role of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, which is in charge of collecting information and conducting operations against the South and abroad. Alongside strengthening military intelligence and reconnaissance functions, related organizational reshuffles and personnel moves are also seen as likely to follow.
Korean Central News Agency reported on the 10th that an expanded meeting of the 9th Central Military Commission of the Party, 1st session, was held the previous day with Kim Jong-un attending.
According to the agency, the meeting presented tasks and implementation plans to "diversely expand the functions and missions of the Reconnaissance General Bureau and dramatically enhance the bureau's military reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering capabilities."
The Reconnaissance General Bureau is known as an organization expanded and reorganized from the previous Reconnaissance Bureau under the General Staff of the People's Army. North Korea described the agency as "key to managing the threats of potential adversaries and collecting critical information." However, it did not disclose具体 details on how the functions of the Reconnaissance General Bureau would be expanded.
The agency said the meeting "handled organizational issues related to dismissing, adjusting, and newly appointing major commanding members of the People's Army's main echelons." Accordingly, internal adjustments to the military's command structure, including the reconnaissance and intelligence fields, and follow-up personnel moves are expected.
The meeting also discussed measures to raise the military's overall combat readiness. The agency said that "important political and military tasks to increase the People's Army's political-ideological and military-technical strength and to bring qualitative change in strengthening combat readiness at all levels across the entire military" were taken up as an agenda item.
At the meeting, the chairperson signed seven orders related to "grave military measures." He said, "The national prestige and system, and the very survival of Socialist Korea cannot be conceived apart from powerful military strength," adding, "Evolving [the military] into an invincible and ever-victorious armed force is our Party's unwavering policy for building a strong army."
He went on to say that "along with safeguarding socialism, the People's Army must consistently play a leading and core role in the struggle for the comprehensive development of the state," and that "the People's Army must be thoroughly field-oriented and modernized, and its real-war capabilities must be enhanced."
Strengthening nuclear forces and modernizing military infrastructure were also on the agenda. The agency said the meeting discussed "plans to prospectively push ahead with renewing the technical infrastructure of combat systems, quantitatively and qualitatively expanding and strengthening nuclear forces, and standardizing, specializing, and modernizing military bases."
In addition, the agency added that the meeting addressed the construction of modern naval bases, the expansion of capacity and technological renovation projects at shipyards at all levels, and the confirmation of tasks related to redevelopment projects in coal mine districts nationwide.