Kim visited the transporter erector launcher, or TEL, facility with his young daughter Ju-ae as well as senior officials including his sister Kim Yo Jong, propaganda chief Ri Il Hwan and close aide Jo Yong Won.
He called the strategic missile TELs "the top priority for bolstering up the national defense capabilities," according to state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Kim urged production to be "pushed forward ... nonstop, given the prevailing grave situation that requires the country to be more firmly prepared for a military showdown with the enemy."
Tensions remain high on the Korean Peninsula, with the North doubling down on its U.N.-banned nuclear and missile programs while allies Seoul and Washington boost military cooperation.
Photos carried by KCNA showed TELs mounted with what appear to be Hwasong-17 and Hwasong-18 ICBMs, both believed capable of reaching anywhere on the U.S. mainland.
The Hwasong-18, first tested in April and fired again last month, is the North's first solid-fuel ICBM. Analysts say solid-fuel rockets are more mobile and quicker to launch than liquid-fuel types, making them harder for missile defense systems to counter.
The report of Kim's factory visit comes shortly after the White House said that Russia is using ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea in its attacks on Ukraine.
"We expect Russia and North Korea to learn from these launches, and we anticipate that Russia will use additional North Korean missiles to target Ukraine's civilian infrastructure and to kill innocent Ukrainian civilians," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday.
Washington and Seoul claim that the North is receiving advanced technology for its space and missile programs in exchange for supplying weapons to Russia.
In November, North Korea launched what it said was its first military spy satellite. Leader Kim Jong Un said over the weekend that the North would launch three more satellites this year as well as continue to build up its nuclear arsenal in preparation for a confrontation with Seoul.
The KCNA report noted that Kim's "respected daughter" Ju-ae accompanied him on the TEL factory visit. She is believed to be 10 years old and has been seen at several public events alongside her father since first appearing in November 2022 at the launch of a Hwasong-17 ICBM.
Speculation has swirled that Ju-ae is being positioned to one day replace her father at the top of the dynastic regime that has ruled North Korea since its founding. On Thursday, South Korea's National Intelligence Service called Ju-ae Kim's "most likely successor," marking the first time the spy agency has officially voiced that assessment.
N Korea's Kim calls for expanded missile launcher production
Seoul (AFP) Jan 5, 2024 -
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for expanded production of missile launchers in preparation for a "military showdown" with South Korea and the United States, state media said Friday.
His comments, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, came shortly after Washington said Russia had used ballistic missiles and launchers provided by North Korea in a recent flurry of attacks on cities in Ukraine.
State media images showed Kim, his young daughter Ju Ae in tow, touring a factory that produces transport erector launchers (TELs) used for the country's banned intercontinental ballistic missiles, before hailing a "dynamic drive for increased production" of the weapons.
Kim told workers increasing TEL production capacity was important "given the prevailing grave situation that requires the country to be more firmly prepared for a military showdown with the enemy," KCNA said.
"He specified the immediate plan for production of varieties of TELs, long-term production plan and task of production capacity expansion" to bolster the country's nuclear war deterrent, it added.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday that Pyongyang-supplied missiles, which have ranges of around 900 kilometers (550 miles), were fired by Russia in two attacks on Ukraine within the past week.
"Our information indicates that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea recently provided Russia with ballistic missile launchers and several ballistic missiles," Kirby told reporters in a briefing at the White House, using the North's official name.
"This is a significant and concerning escalation of the DPRK's support for Russia," he added, calling for the US Congress to pass a package of vital military aid for Ukraine.
Kim met with Moscow's President Vladimir Putin in Russia's far east in September, with both Washington and Seoul subsequently accusing Pyongyang of shipping weapons for use in Ukraine, in exchange for satellite know-how.
- Major production goals -
Images released by KCNA on Friday show Kim and Ju Ae, surrounded by top officials, inspecting giant TELs, topped by what appear to be long-range missiles.
Another photograph shows Kim instructing officials behind the wheel of one of the launch vehicles, as Ju Ae watches from the side.
Kim lauded the factory officials, saying they had already been "over-fulfilling the TEL production goal" set by the party in 2023.
He also praised officials for "vigorously striving to attain a new production goal in the new year," KCNA said, without giving details of any target figures.
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in decades, after Kim enshrined the country's status as a nuclear power into the constitution while test-firing several advanced ICBMs.
Both North Korea and Russia are under a raft of global sanctions, for their banned weapons programs and the war in Ukraine respectively.
Kirby said the US would raise Russia's sanctions-busting use of North Korean missiles and launchers in Ukraine at the UN Security Council.
At Pyongyang's key year-end policy meetings, Kim warned of a nuclear attack on the South and called for a build-up of the country's military arsenal ahead of armed conflict that he warned could "break out any time".
In 2023, the North successfully launched a reconnaissance satellite, after receiving what Seoul claimed was help from Russia in exchange for arms transfers for Ukraine.
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