At the beginning of

this year Kim Jong Eun ordered a Chosun People’s Army artillery unit based in

South Pyongan Province to disband, according to inside sources in the region.

The unit, which had been under the command of the 3rd Corps, was

adjudged to have failed a shooting demonstration that Kim reviewed in early

2013.

“Because the unit was adjudged to have failed the shooting

demonstration, Kim got angry and left,” a source in the region told Daily NK on

the 11th. “After that, the General(Kim) started conducting more frequent reviews of artillery units, and their

training got harsher. Unit cadres were dispatched at the time of the Jang Song

Taek incident last year, then at the beginning of this year the unit was

scrapped.”

“Soldiers who had done very well in training did badly when

Kim was watching, possibly because they were nervous,” the source explained.

“But in the end the unit concluded that it was all down to ‘insufficient loyalty to the Party and the

Fatherland.’”

The commanding officers from the disbanded unit have been

transferred to other units, while the ordinary soldiers have been discharged

from the military. The source said, “Before they were discharged, the soldiers

said they thought it was no bad thing to be able to enter society early and

start preparing for something else. But at the same time they also complained

about the stain left on their careers as a result of meeting Kim on a bad day.”

The North Korean leader caused a commotion during the review itself, reportedly forcing military cadres to scramble to change his beverage at one point, while making an issue of a number of minor problems throughout.

Citing a former member of the disbanded unit, the

source said, “He totally stumped the

cadres there by abruptly demanding a different drink and pointing out all kinds

of unwarranted trivial things. He was probably

taking out his annoyance over the failed demonstration on the people under

him.”

According to the

source, the late Jang Song Taek visited the disbanded unit on a number of

occasions, and it had been the cause of

antagonism between Kim and his uncle over the problem of military supply lines. “On

the subject of the disbandment of the unit, it’s going around that ‘Kim’s

gotten a lot more sensitive since he killed his uncle,’” the source mused.

Meanwhile, Kim’s wife Ri Sol Ju accompanied

him on the unit inspection. According to the source, she followed Kim’s mood

closely; if he was happy then she tended to be happy, but she was very careful

when he appeared angry or frustrated.