North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stressed the importance of combat readiness at a recent military meeting, Pyongyang's state media reported Sunday, calling on his troops to place training ahead of everything else.
  

Kim presided over the fifth meeting of training officers of the Korean People's Army on Friday and Saturday, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The participants discussed ways to bolster the North's combat capabilities, among other issues, the KCNA added.
  

In his opening remarks, Kim said the most important task facing the KPA is "to bring about a radical turn in training" and prepare the troops for combat "in line with the strategic intention" of the ruling Workers' Party.
  

"He said that the main link in the chain efforts to bring about a radical turn in training is to conduct drills under the simulated conditions of an actual battle and put them on a scientific and modern basis," the KCNA report added. "He called on all the participants in the meeting to focus all their efforts on the training as the top priority task."
  

Kim gave both the opening and closing speeches, and a pledge to Kim was adopted at the meeting, too.
  

Army Gen. Ri Yong-gil, chief of the General Staff of the KPA, was among the other officials on hand. (Yonhap)