Page 31 - 2020 Defence White Paper
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strategic cooperative relations. After President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pyongyang
               for the first time in June 2019 since his inauguration, the two countries agreed to     Chapter 1
               strengthen their exchanges and cooperation in areas such as economy and personnel.
               Meanwhile, North Korea continues to make efforts to maintain its traditional
               friendship with China despite restrictions on normal trade and human exchanges
               following the blockade of the border between North Korea and China in late January
               due to COVID-19 in 2020.
                 Since the launching of the North Korea-Russia Economic Cooperation Committee
               in 2014, North Korea has maintained an amicable relationship with Russia after the
               declaration of the "Year of Friendship" and the adoption of a joint resolution in March
               2015. Chairman Kim made his visit to Vladivostok to hold a summit with President
               Putin for the first time on April 25, 2019. In November, Choi Sun-hee, First Vice
               Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Korea, visited Russia and held the f rst strategic
               dialogue with Igor Morgulov, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister. In a situation where
               personnel exchanges were restricted due to COVID-19 in 2020, Chairman Kim sent
               a congratulatory message to President Putin on the 75th anniversary of Russia’s
               victory, expressing his willingness on developing friendly relations between North
               Korea and Russia.





               2. North Korea’s Military Strategy and Military Command Structure


               Military Strategy   In 1962, in accordance with the principle of "self-defense in
                                   national defense"  embedded in the Juche ideology, North
                                                29)
               Korea adopted four military guidelines and has since continued to bolster its military
               strength. Chairman Kim, upon succeeding his father as the leader of North Korea,
               proposed the "four core strategic lines" as a new strategic line to build the military of
               the people into a powerful military. The four core strategic lines refer to (a) creating   29)
                                                                                     Article 60 of North Korea’s
               a politically and ideologically stronger Korean People’s Army (KPA), (b) creating a   Constitution provides, “The
                                                                                     State shall implement the
               morally stronger KPA, (c) developing the KPA into an army of sophisticated tactics,   line of self-reliant defense,
                                                                                     the import of which is to
               and (d) making the various branches of KPA stronger.                  arm the entire people,
                 While maintaining a military strategy centered on guerrilla warfare, hybrid   fortify the country, train the
                                                                                     army into a cadre army and
               warfare, and blitzkrieg, North Korea is also exploring a variety of strategies and   modernize the army on the
                                                                                     basis of equipping the army
               tactics. It has also selectively enhanced the performance of its conventional weapons   and the people politically
                                                                                     and ideologically.”
               and built up asymmetrical capabilities such as nuclear weapons, WMD , missiles,
                                                                       30)
               long-range artilleries, submarines, Special Operation Forces, and cyber units. Since   30)
                                                                                     Weapons of Mass
               May 2019, North Korea has been test-f ring new short-range ballistic missiles based   Destruction




                                                          Chapter 1.  Changes and Challenges in the Security Environment
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