Kim Jong Un tells North Korean company commanders to turn their units into self-reliant combat teams

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over a two-day conference of army company commanders in Pyongyang on 22 and 23 October, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency, which reported the meeting on Saturday 24 October. South Korean newspapers and Reuters carried the state media account. None of the details below has been independently verified, and they should be read as North Korean claims.

KCNA said it was the third conference of company commanders of the Korean People's Army, and that Kim gave a speech on building a strong army in a new era and on the duties of company commanders. The Seoul Economic Daily noted that it was the first time since February 1999, a gap of 27 years, that North Korean media had reported such a conference. State media also described it as the first gathering of the whole military since the ruling Workers' Party held its Ninth Congress in February.

According to the KCNA account, Kim said building the world's strongest armed forces was a priority and a concrete goal for the country's new five-year planning period. He said the core aim of the meeting was to build the strongest army by first building the strongest companies, and to speed up what he called a military revolution in North Korea's own style.

The state media report said each company should become a combined-arms, multi-purpose unit able to carry out combat missions on its own, with front line companies to be reshaped into versatile units that can fight independently. Kim also called on company commanders to strengthen ideological training, enforce military discipline and improve the living conditions of their soldiers, KCNA said.

Senior officers named by state media as attending included Pak Jong-chon, vice chairman of the party's Central Military Commission, Defence Minister Kim Song-gi, Yu Kwang-u, first deputy director of the army's General Political Bureau, and Ri Yong-gil, chief of the General Staff. After Kim's speech the defence minister delivered a report, participants watched videos about company commanders' combat experience and outstanding commanders were honoured, according to KCNA.

The company is the basic combat unit of the North Korean army. Korea JoongAng Daily assessed that Kim's decision to lead the meeting himself and to stress the readiness of front line units appeared aimed at tightening discipline and giving combat units a bigger role. At the February party congress Kim had called for stronger conventional forces while also reaffirming work on nuclear weapons and missiles, Reuters reported.

The conference was Kim's first reported public appearance in four days, since a visit to a footwear and clothing exhibition in Pyongyang on Monday. It came after rumours spread on overseas social media that he had died. South Korea's National Intelligence Service told the National Assembly's intelligence committee on Friday that the rumours were unfounded. The Seoul Economic Daily cautioned that his appearance has been confirmed only through photographs and reports released by North Korean media.