DPRK top leader inspects munitions factories, urges war preparations

SEOUL -- Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), inspected some major munitions factories on Friday and Saturday, and urged the country's armed forces to step up war preparations, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Monday.

During the inspection, Kim asked the tactical missile factory to drastically boost its existing capacity, and urged the factory that produces tactical missile transporter-erector-launchers to speed up the production of modern and highly efficient launching vehicles, said the report.

Kim drove a newly-developed armored multi-purpose vehicle when inspecting the country's armored fighting vehicles factory, and during his inspection of the large-caliber controllable rocket artillery shell factory, he requested an "exponential increase" in shell production to enhance the combat capabilities of the frontline forces, it said.

Kim also demanded that the country's armed forces should possess overwhelming capabilities to respond to any war at any time, and to be on high alert, it added.

According to previous KCNA reports, the Central Military Commission of the Worker's Party of Korea recently convened an enlarged meeting, discussing ways to intensify war preparations in response to the grave situation on the Korean Peninsula. Before the meeting, Kim also inspected some crucial military-industrial facilities in the country.