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Story: North Korean state television broadcast on Saturday video of leader Kim Jong-un visiting an artillery unit near the country's sea border ahead of an annual joint military drill between South Korea and the United States.
KRT did not mention the date of the visit to Mu island where the military unit is located.
Kim's visit, and his recent resumption of "field guidance" to military units, precede annual war games by allies South Korea and the United States. The military drills are scheduled to begin on Monday and continue until Aug. 31.
State news agency KCNA said Kim, who came to power in December 2011 after the death of his father, visited the same artillery unit that launched a deadly attack on South Korea's Yeonpyeong island near the western sea border two years ago.
Kim inspected the unit on Mu island, which KCNA said was "stationed in the biggest hotspot in the southernmost part of the southwest front". The report was released on Friday and was monitored in the South on Saturday.
"He ordered the servicepersons ... not to miss their golden chance to deal at once deadly counter-blows at the enemy if even a single shell is dropped on the waters or in the area where the sovereignty of the DPRK is exercised," KCNA said of Kim's guidance to his Democratic People's Republic of Korea troops.
Pyongyang, impoverished and isolated, has periodically used the term "sacred war" to counter what it sees as a threat from the South and its key ally the United States.
It has also branded this month's military drills "an all-out war rehearsal" for an invasion of the North.
Seoul and Washington say the drill, which will mobilize more than 85,000 servicemen, including some 30,000 U.S. troops, is only for defensive purposes.
Kim, in his late twenties, has focused many of his trips since inheriting dynastic power on encouraging workers and promoting nationwide economic projects.
That prompted many East Asia watchers to speculate he might have given up on the military-first policies of his father, Kim Jong-il.
