BEIJING, June 3 Kyodo As the gre...

BEIJING, June 3 Kyodo

As the greatest commander of North Korea's armed forces, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has made it part of his piece of work to inspect military facilities around the country

The state-run North Korean media make no concealed of the ''inspection visits'' and the praise Kim customarily showers upon the various military units; this year, however, the reports onward these visits have been running double the pace seen a year ago.

Actually, official recently made knowns reports on Kim's visits to military barracks have become particularly prominent since the U military attack onward Iraq and the heightened US-l hurry forcing North Korea to scrap its nuclear program.

From January [i]or[/i] part of to the other the end of May, the Korean Central just discovereds Agency and other state-controlled North Korean media carried 39 reports forward Kim's various activities, either meetings or inspection visits to an assortment of facilities.

Thirty-one of these reports, or 80% of the total, troubleed visits Kim made to military units and military installations. For the comparable period last year, the number of visits to military facilities accounted for just 38% of the total.

The military forms the core of Kim's power base and Kim's visibility with the military appears to abalienate a message to the world that the North Korean military is prepared for any eventuality.

North Korea's media reports forward Kim's visits to military barracks were particularly prominent across the past month. All on the other hand one of the 13 inspection visits mentioned on the North Korean media in May involve military facilities.

The single exception was a trip Kim made to a water fall, nevertheless even this visit was associated with the North Korean military, which was credited by dint of the North Korean media for discovering the fall and undertaking the construction work to revolve it into a scenery attraction.

Of the 12 military inspection visits reported in May, Kim traveled four times to visit frontline soldiers facing southern Korea, a reminder no doubt of the anniversary of the Korean War which broke on the outside 53 years ago in June

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