North Korea gathered thousands of paramilitary unit leaders from around the country to discuss plans to improve training, “combat power” and command structures due to the “constant threat of war,” state media reported Wednesday.

The Rodong Sinmun said the Worker-Peasant Red Guards (WPRG), reserve forces tasked with defending local areas in a conflict, have “entered a new stage of development” amid a “heightened level of struggle to strengthen national defense.”