North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an "epochal
change" in war preparations by achieving arsenal production targets during
his inspection of a tactical missile system, state media reported Wednesday.
It comes as analysts say the nuclear-armed North could be
testing and ramping up production of artillery and cruise missiles before
sending them to Russia for use in Ukraine. During his inspection of the
tactical missile weapons system on Tuesday, Kim expressed "great
satisfaction over the production results registered by the defence industrial
enterprises" this year, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency
said in a dispatch. Kim "particularly stressed the need to bring about an
epochal change in the preparations of the KPA for war by carrying out the
munitions production plans for 2024 without fail," it added. Missile
launchers produced so far this year are intended for military units in the
country's west, KCNA said.
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. 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.
