The leader of North Korea has ordered production of missiles and other weapons to be increased dramatically, state media reports.
The push to build more weaponry comes days before South Korea and the US are set to begin annual military drills – which Kim Jong Un views as an ‘invasion rehearsal’.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim visited factories producing tactical missiles, mobile launch platforms, armoured vehicles and artillery shells over the weekend.
During a stop at the missile factory, Kim set a goal to ‘drastically boost’ production capacity so the facility can mass produce missiles to meet the needs of frontline military units.
He said: ‘The qualitative level of war preparations depends on the development of the munitions industry and the factory bears a very important responsibility in speeding up the war preparations of the (North) Korean People’s Army.’
Visiting other factories, Kim called for building more modern missile launch trucks and said there is an urgent need to boost production of large-calibre multiple rocket launcher shells ‘at an exponential rate’.
He also drove a new utility combat armoured vehicle.
Kim has been focusing on enlarging his nuclear and missile arsenals since his high-stakes diplomacy with then US president Donald Trump collapsed in 2019.
Since the start of 2022, Kim’s military has conducted more than 100 missile tests, many of them in the name of warning the US and South Korea over their expansion of joint military training exercises.
North Korea calls the US-South Korean training a practice for an invasion. The allies say they have no intentions of attacking North Korea.
American officials also believe Russia’s defence minister recently spoke with North Korea about buying more weapons for its war with Ukraine.
North Korea has denied American claims that it shipped artillery shells and ammunition to Russia – but has publicly supported Russia over the war and hinted at sending workers to help rebuild Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine.
Kim has been trying to strengthen ties with China and Russia in the face of US-led pressure campaigns over its nuclear programme and pandemic-related economic difficulties.
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