SEOUL, May 15, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - 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.