North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a prestigious boarding school for orphans and descendants of “revolutionary martyrs” for the second time in a week on Sunday, according to state media, stressing the school’s role as a pipeline for the military and ruling party.

Kim praised officials and teachers of the Mangyongdae Revolutionary Academy for making sure young children “spend their formative years” going through trials in preparation to someday “strengthen the revolutionary armed forces and become military commanders,” the Rodong Sinmun reported on Monday. 

The Kim family has long made the Mangyongdae academy a key symbol of efforts