Kim Jong-un, North Korea's Chairperson of the State Affairs Commission, inspected an ammunition-producing munitions factory, ordered a "strengthening of mortar and howitzer firepower," and emphasized boosting the modernity and expertise of small arms and ammunition production plants.
The Korean Central News Agency reported on the 13th that the Chairperson visited several munitions industry enterprises on the 11th to give on-site guidance and "grasped the status of implementing the munitions production tasks for the first half of 2026."
At a bullet production plant, the Chairperson set out key tasks to establish a production system in line with demand for high-precision multipurpose rounds and special-function rounds by caliber, as well as training rounds.
In particular, while stressing "strengthening mortar and howitzer firepower," the central news agency said the leader presented major tasks to enhance the modernity and expertise of small arms and ammunition production plants, including the "establishment of a specialized artillery weapons production complex and a sniper weapons factory" to meet "the prospective needs of our armed forces."
The Chairperson said, "Connection points are latent in the structure, production system, and facilities of our munitions industry," and urged, "We must focus on modernization, such as practical renewal of the production structure and rational arrangement of production processes, realize the optimization of technology management, talent management, and labor (personnel) management, and vigorously wage the effort to constantly raise production efficiency."
To that end, the leader said, "Munitions industry enterprises must enhance the modernity of product inspection process systems, further subdivide inspection indices in a more scientific way, and thoroughly establish a practice of strictly adhering to them."
Accompanying the inspection were Jo Chun-ryong, secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee; Kim Jeong-sik, first vice department director of the party's munitions industry department; military elder Park Jeong-cheon, adviser to the Ministry of National Defense; Kim Kang-il, vice minister of the Ministry of National Defense and director general of the Equipment Bureau; Yu Chang-seon, director of the General Staff Department's Artillery Bureau; Kim Myeong-seon, director of the Ministry of National Defense's Ordnance Appraisal Bureau; and Kim Yong-hwan, president of the Academy of National Defense Science.