(2nd LD) N. Korean leader visits naval command

(ATTN: UPDATES with quotes from KCNA English language report in paras 3-8)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has visited a naval
command to boost morale, state media said Friday, on a tour following an
inter-Korean skirmish along the Yellow Sea border earlier this month.

The Korean Central News Agency said Kim viewed the Command of Korean People's
Army (KPA) Navy Combined Unit 587 and gave instructions to further strengthen the
country's naval force.
As is typical with North Korean reports, the dispatch did not disclose the
location of the military unit or the date of Kim's visit. But the unit appears to
be stationed in the southwestern port of Nampo, based on a 2003 North Korean
media report on Kim's visit to the same unit that attached responses by a local
official in Nampo.
"Our socialist country is impregnable as these invincible ranks have reliably
defended its seas," Kim was quoted by the report as saying.
"The navy is of important significance in the DPRK (North Korea) as it is
seabound on three sides," Kim said.
Kim also inspected entertainment and educational facilities in the unit, the
report said.
Kim later held a photo session with the unit's sailors, the report said.
He was accompanied by the country's military top brass, including Kim Yong-chun,
minister of the People's Armed Forces and vice chairman of the National Defense
Commission; Kim Jong-gak, first-vice director of the KPA General Political
Bureau; Ri Yong-ho, chief of the KPA General Staff; and KPA Generals Hyon
Chol-hae and Ri Myong-su.
The navies of the Koreas exchanged gunfire on Nov. 10 after a North Korean patrol
boat crossed the Northern Limit Line, the de facto border in the Yellow Sea.
No South Korean soldiers were wounded, but the North Korean boat retreated in
flames, possibly with casualties, according to the South's military authorities.
Baek Seung-joo, an analyst at the state-funded Korea Institute for Defense
Analyses in Seoul, said Kim's visit was a routine inspection, dismissing
speculation that it may be linked to the skirmish. It was his 144th public
activity this year and 41st among military-related ones.
"There is no reason for him to go there and order something like retaliation," he
said. "This is a routine activity to boost the navy's morale. For a strong
action, he would go secretly. Public inspections are not intended for that."
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)