Kim Chang Jun said they were being dispatched to farms but still prepared for war if need be.

NPR: NKorean Soldiers Put Down Arms To Help Plant Crops

"The elections are a midterm evaluation of the presidency of Kim, " says Lee Hoi Chang, whom Kim defeated in the 1997 presidential race.

CNN: Evaluating Kim

Kim bowed to pressure - including a poll-boycott threat - from opposition leader Lee Hoi Chang to keep the single-member constituencies, even though that will help the opposition in Assembly elections next April.

CNN: Of 'Fur-gate' and Other Fights

Since Mr Kim's illness in 2008, conservative hardliners including his powerful brother-in-law, Chang Sung Taek, are thought to have become stronger.

ECONOMIST: North Korea