The top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) inspected a major factory that produces strategic missile launching vehicles, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday.

Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, inspected the factory's production of large strategic missile launching vehicles and other military vehicles, KCNA said, without specifying the exact date of the inspection tour.

Kim stressed the factory's important position and role in bolstering the nation's defense capabilities, citing the prevailing grave situation on the peninsula, the KCNA report said.

During the inspection, the DPRK top leader underscored the importance of producing various launching vehicles for tactical and strategic weapons in bolstering the country's nuclear war deterrent and specified the factory's immediate, long-term production plan to expand production capacity, it added.

Read more:

ROK says it conducted live-fire military exercise off western coast

(Cover: An undated picture released by the DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on January 5, 2024 shows DPRK leader Kim Jong Un (C) inspecting an important military vehicle production plant at an undisclosed location in the DPRK. /CFP)