Kim Jong Un Guides Firing Contest among Women MLRS Gunners of KPA

    Pyongyang, November 19 (KCNA) --

Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, guided a firing contest among women multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) gunners selected from the large combined units of the KPA.     He organized this contest all of a sudden and guided it on the spot in order to estimate and confirm the combat capability of women gunners through the firing contest among MLRS batteries for eliminating enemy helicopter-borne troops dropping on a landing area for an assault, and take steps and raise a hotter wind of training in the entire army the way the anti-Japanese guerillas did in Mt. Paektu.
    He was briefed on the mode and method of the contest at an observation post and issued an order to start the contest.
    Watching women gunners rapidly taking firing positions, he said the women gunners are doing really well though it would be hard for them to pull MLRS on the ankle-deep sand. Saying that there is a gap between men and women in the limits of their physical strength but there is no difference between the men and women soldiers in their loyalty to the Party and the revolution, the country and its people, he underlined the need to train the women soldiers as indomitable fighters steadfast in their revolutionary spirit to help them do their shares in the great war for national reunification.
    When the order to fire was given, the women gunners fully demonstrated their marksmanship of never missing targets they have cultivated through a high-pitched movement for becoming crackshots.
    Observing the contest, he stressed that commanding officers should be well aware of why he organized the contest all of a sudden. He underlined the need for them to prepare all gunners to be capable of hitting targets whenever and wherever they are ordered to fire. To this end, the training of artillery units should be conducted under the simulated conditions of an actual battle, he emphasized.
    The training irrelevant to an actual war is not necessary no matter how frequently it is conducted and soldiers would have to pay dearly in combat for such training, he said, adding ardent patriotism and loyalty of the commanding officers and their warm love for soldiers are manifested in remaining strict with soldiers in training.
    He gave instructions to round off the combat readiness of the KPA and bolster up its artillery force.
    The women MLRS battery under the 9th Corps of the KPA came first in the contest and prizes personally prepared by him were conveyed to the winners.
    He shook hands with the winners one by one and had a photo taken with the participants of the contest. -0-