The largely isolated country has recently bolstered military ties with Russia, and Pyongyang thanked Moscow last month for using its UN Security Council veto to block the renewal of a panel of UN experts that monitored international weapons sanctions on Kim’s regime.
South Korea and the United States have accused North Korea of supplying weapons to Russia, despite UN sanctions banning such a move.
KCNA said Saturday that Kim discussed ways to raise production of the new rocket launcher system and shells to “the highest level”.
It also said a “significant change will be soon made in increasing the artillery combat ability of our army”, without providing details.
Inter-Korean relations are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang declaring South Korea its “principal enemy”. It has jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and threatened war over “even 0.001 mm” of territorial infringement.
While escalating its military threats towards South Korea, the North is “also signalling its intentions to participate in weapons exports and other defence-related economic activities via ongoing technical advancements”, said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
In the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Pyongyang has “indirectly verified the performance of its existing weapons” by supplying them to Russia, he told AFP.
