North Korea's heir apparent has watched a live-fire army drill in the presence of his aging father who had promoted him to the rank of general, Pyongyang's media said Tuesday, the first official field inspection by the son who debuted last week, Yonhap reported.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency did not say when or where the drill by the Korean People's Army unit took place. As soon as leader Kim Jong-il, 68, ordered the start of the drill, "various ground guns showed powerful fire while units moved in close harmony to annihilate enemies," it said.
Among those who watched the drill were his third son, Kim Jong-un, believed to be 27 or 28 years old, and vice marshal Ri Yong-ho, chief of the general staff. Kim became a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party last week in a move that signaled the start of another father-to-son power succession in the impoverished communist state.