Mick Hartley

The South Korean government seems keen, predictably, to present the reopening of the hotline between North and South Korea last week as some sort of diplomatic breakthrough, with Pyongyang's abandonment of nuclear weapons and adoption of free and fair elections only a heartbeat away. The North Koreans, via the Supreme Leader's sister Kim Yo-jong, have raised their usual objections to the joint US-South Korea military exercise scheduled for later this month, and their concerns are being given a sympathetic hearing south of the border:

South Korea's spymaster on Tuesday claimed North Korea is "willing" to improve cross-border relations if joint South Korea-U.S. military drills are suspended.

"It was North Korean leader Kim Jong-un who requested the reconnection of inter-Korean communication lines, which shows his intention to improve inter-Korean relations," National Intelligence Service chief Park Jie-won told the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee.

Park said South Korea should "consider taking a flexible approach toward the joint drills to maintain momentum of dialogue and draw a big picture of North Korea's denuclearization."

That is more or less the official government line but unlikely to win any sympathy from the U.S., which insists the drills must go ahead to provide vital training.

Kim Jong-un's younger sister Yo-jong earlier this week demanded that the drills be suspended.

Park's comments provoked fury among opposition lawmakers, who reported his remarks made behind closed doors to the press. People Power Party lawmaker Ha Tae-keung said the NIS, which is supposed to take care of South Korea's national security, has "degenerated as an agency that actually follows orders from Kim Yo-jong."

The North Koreans, meanwhile, are making their priorities clear:

North Korean military authorities have reportedly handed down a special order to the so-called “Storm Corps,” the nation’s most elite special forces unit, to “prepare for guerilla warfare,” distributing to the unit 3D military maps of South Korea’s major regions….

The supreme command ordered the unit to “carry out preparatory training based on the transformation of South Korea’s topographical structure,” stressing that modern guerrilla warfare requires “thorough preparations for standard mountain warfare along with urban warfare.”

Distributing to all branches of the army new topographical maps in the guise of an order entitled, “Systemic Transformation of Tactical Topography in Areas of Operation,” the supreme command basically ordered the Storm Corps in particular to begin training for urban guerrilla war to infiltrate target objectives.

To put this another way, they ordered the Storm Corps to properly familiarize themselves with the transformed urban topography of South Korea — the “enemy” — and carry out intensive training, re-establishing operation plans for small-unit combat infiltrations.

Accordingly, the Storm Corps has begun training to boost its guerrilla combat capabilities. The unit is also carrying out joint operations and a reorganization of its command and control. This suggests the unit believes it must not neglect rear-area support matters as well.

In particular, one of the unit’s major tasks during this year’s summer training is to build a new training field where personnel can practice attacking mockups of South Korea’s strategic facilities, including the presidential palace, Cheong Wa Dae.

According to the source, the supreme command stressed that the Storm Corps “must cherish the firm conviction that they will suppress military threats in South Korea and dynamically bring forward the unification of the Fatherland through ‘strong defensive power,’” and that the corps must “prepare all combat personnel as phoenixes of guerrilla warfare.”