Request of the Supreme Commander

The Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) is leading the entire army by virtue of love, trust and benevolence.

One day in January 2012 during his inspection of a KPA unit he visited the house of the commander. Warmly shaking hands with the commander’s wife who was in tears as she was  so  happy  and  excited,  Kim Jong Un asked if she was preparing dinner, and looked into the kitchen and the living rooms. Like a father who was visiting his daughter’s home, he bent his body to feel the floor of the room, and he was sorry it was rather cold.

As each of  his   words  full  of  warm  affection  reminded  the  commander  and  his  wife  of  Chairman  Kim Jong Il’s loving care for the soldiers, they could not contain their tears and threw themselves in his bosom in great emotion.

Trying to change the atmosphere from the tearful scene, the Supreme Commander turned to look at family photos on the wall, and said that the regiment commander was rich in daughters as he had got three daughters without a son, and he laughed heartily. He asked about the children’s jobs. Hearing that they were serving in the army like the father, he said that it meant they were succeeding to their father, and wished them good luck in their worthy life for national defence.

Before leaving, the leader told the hostess earnestly and warmly that the wives of the pilots should look after the health of their husbands well so that they could fly better in good health. Then he said he entrusted their wives with their health.

That’s not all.

Kim Jong Un pays deep attention to the living conditions of the soldiers whenever he visits units. He looks into every corner of their conditions. He learns the temperature of barracks and mess halls, the water temperature in wash-cum-bathrooms and the quality of blankets, and even tastes their cigarettes and bean paste for their meals.

When he visits companies, he is wont to tell the commanders to look after the soldiers like their elder brothers, elder sisters and revolutionary comrades-in-arms. He says that he entrusts the soldiers to them. Then he stresses that the commanders should work strenuously to provide better living conditions to the soldiers. He tells them that the officers are there for the soldiers, not just the other way around.

In April last, he told the participants in the Fifth Conference of the KPA Training Officers that the training officers should train themselves with arms in hand just like the soldiers, become umbrellas for the soldiers when it rains and snows, become a scaffold for them to use to climb sheer cliffs, become stepping stones in a ford for them to cross, become comfortable soles for them on a long march, become a bonfire to warm them up, become a breeze to cool them, become a shield to keep them from shells and bullets, and become a step for them to mount the platform of honour when orders and medals are to be attached to their breasts for their heroic merits in training.

This was so affectionate a statement that it still lingers in every mind.

All the KPA soldiers regard him as their parent rather than their Supreme Commander.