Special to WorldTribune.com

By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com

North Korea’s military discipline has been significantly eroding and soldier loyalty to the regime weakening largely due to protracted economic troubles, according to South Korean think thanks, citing confidential military documents from the North.

The declining military discipline had prompted the late ruler Kim Jong-Il to regularly issue proclamations calling for tightened ideological indoctrination campaigns for soldiers, according to a report jointly made by the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification and the Institute for National Security Strategy, run by the South’s spy agency.

Since taking power following his father’s death in 1994, Kim Jong-Il had adopted the military-based ruling formula of “Songun” (army-first) under which top priority for the country’s slim resources is given to the 1.2-million strong armed forces.

Kim ruled the reclusive country in the capacity of the top military leader and as the chairman of the National Defense Commission.

But economic difficulties that began worsening in the mid-1990s have reached the point where even the military has been suffering, leading to the breakdown in military discipline, said the report based on confidential military documents.

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  Erosion of N. Korean military discipline prompted repeated warnings from Kim, Kim Jong-Il, Korea Institute for National Unification, National Defense Commission, Songun