N. Korean leader calls for mass dairy, meat production by army

SEOUL, Nov. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has visited goat and
cotton farms run by the North's Korean People's Army (KPA) and encouraged mass
production to provide for soldiers and ordinary citizens, state media said
Sunday.
Kim gave field guidance to the goat farm of the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su 105 Guards
Tank Division of the KPA and the cotton farm under KPA Unit 1596, said
Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency. As usual, the report did not say where
the army units are located.
"(Kim) watched cheese, butter, yogurt and other varieties of processed milk
products churning out from each production process and expressed great
satisfaction," the report said.
Army units increasingly operate goat, cattle and rabbit farms across the country
to produce milk and meat, in line with a directive by the country's founder and
Kim's father, Kim Il-sung, to "obtain meat from grass," the current leader was
quoted as saying.
"He stressed the need to actively follow the example of the People's Army to
widely breed goats in a mass movement," it added.
Kim also visited the cotton farm under KPA Unit 1596 and praised workers for
their efforts for high productivity to "settle the problem of cotton."
Kim was accompanied by the country's military top brass: Kim Yong-chun,
vice-chairman of the National Defense Commission and minister of the People's
Armed Forces, Kim Jong-gak, first vice-director of the General Political Bureau
of the KPA, and Ri Yong-ho, chief of the General Staff of the KPA.
Those senior army officers were also with Kim during his latest morale-boosting
visit to the Command of KPA Navy Combined Unit 587, which was reported Friday.
The naval unit is believed to be based in the southwestern port of Nampo, near
the inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea, where the navies of South and North
Korea exchanged gunfire earlier this month.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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