North Korean soldiers undergoing the final month of the country’s annual winter military exercises in February 2025 are expressing relief and excitement, saying they have “hit the jackpot” compared to troops who trained in the brutal cold of December and January.
A Daily NK source in the North Korean military, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said recently that while this year’s winter exercises “have been more intense than previous years” in line with leader Kim Jong Un’s “combat-ready tactics” policy, soldiers with units that began training in February “are quietly happy because they have relatively more days of leave and more indoor training than outdoor training than in December and January.”
Troops who trained in December and January were left exhausted after relentless high-intensity outdoor drills in freezing weather, with many groaning that they were “truly suffering.” The mood has shifted sharply in February, with soldiers humming in joy.
The primary reason is a reduced number of training days due to a string of national holidays, including the Feb. 8 founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army and the Feb. 16 birthday of late leader Kim Jong Il.
With the Ninth Party Congress scheduled this year, the military has also shifted its February focus toward indoor political and ideological education over physically demanding outdoor drills, a change soldiers have welcomed.
Supplies, leave, and a stroke of luck
Troops are also cheered by additional food and supplies that units have received from the public, as civilian support for the military intensifies this month.
In the Fourth Corps, responsible for coastal defense in frontline regions of South Hwanghae province along the Yellow Sea, soldiers whose platoons began training this month under the unit’s rotational system have fared considerably better than those who trained earlier in the season.
“Platoons that trained in December and January suffered due to the cold and hard training, but platoons training in February have had more days of leave and plenty of supplies from the public, so soldiers compare themselves with others in the same unit and say they’ve hit the jackpot and struck it lucky,” the source said.
The underlying emphasis on battle-ready training has not changed, but the particular character of February has made this month’s rotation considerably easier.
“Even in the same winter training, soldiers feel it in very different ways depending on which month they train,” the source said. “In particular, new recruits who enlisted last year feel the differences more acutely in their first winter training, saying that military life also depends on luck and that you have to catch a good break with the timing.”
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