{"id":4386,"date":"2019-12-20T10:17:13","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T01:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=4386"},"modified":"2019-12-25T09:29:17","modified_gmt":"2019-12-25T00:29:17","slug":"no-going-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2019\/12\/military\/no-going-out\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e \u201cPeace is an Illusion\u201d: Regime Ratchets Up Military Tension to Match Recent Hard-Line Stance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A thin young military officer buys goods at a market. Photographed in August, 2013 (ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

Following winter military drills that began on Dec. 1, the Kim Jong-un regime is reportedly raising military preparedness, banning soldiers from going on leave and conducting extra sessions for ideological education. A reporting partner living in North Korea met with a soldier in person to listen to recent developments.<\/p>\n

The reporting partner met with the border guard soldier in early December and explained what he heard as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderscoring the current state of tension, the Supreme Leader teaches that, no matter whether there is dialogue with the United States or not, soldiers must be taught a \u2018hostile ideology\u2019 and rid themselves of the \u2018illusion of peace\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soldiers of the Korean People\u2019s Army are told that the \u201cmain enemies\u201d are the United States and the puppet government of South Korea. During this winter\u2019s training, military units were said to have been inspected frequently, with soldiers banned from leaving camps and officers banned from returning home. In addition, high-ranking officers, including colonels, were ordered to take up residence in the barracks alongside ordinary soldiers.
\nNext page :Soldier\u2019s families requested to provide food...<\/strong>
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\u25a0 Soldier\u2019s families requested to provide food<\/h2>\n

With the revamping of military discipline has come an apparent improvement in soldiers\u2019 diets. The brigade of the soldier interviewed by the reporting partner, had requested families of soldiers to provide the military with bags of white rice mixed with corn at a ratio of 7 to 3.<\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s military holds drills each winter but this year in particular, the sense of tension is said to be unusually high. After nearly 2 years of dialogue, Kim Jong-un is now taking a more hard-line stance towards the United States and seeking to tighten his military\u2019s discipline.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, according to reporting partners, air defense and evacuation drills, usually conducted during times of military tension, are not under way and the atmosphere amongst ordinary residents, for now, remains calm. (Kang Ji-won)<\/p>\n

\u203bASIAPRESS contacts reporting partners in North Korea through smuggled Chinese mobile phones.<\/p>\n

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