North Korea’s top leadership has begun inspections of arms and ammunition factories.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected the country’s key defense factories, including those that produce artillery systems and ballistic missile launchers.

The DPRK leader promised to accelerate efforts to improve the weapons and combat readiness of the country’s armed forces.

Kim’s inspections came as the United States and South Korea prepared for the next round of joint military exercises scheduled for later this month.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have reached their highest level in years due to the pace of North Korea’s missile tests and joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea.

Kim’s visit to defense plants could also be linked to possible military cooperation with Moscow, which could include North Korea supplying artillery and ammunition.

Koo Byoungsam, spokesperson of South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said Friday that Kim’s staged visits to the arms factories are possibly aimed at both demonstrating North Korea’s military might in the face of U.S.-South Korean drills and also communicating an intent to export weapons.

“We express deep regret that North Korea continues to develop nuclear weapons and ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) as well as conventional weapons at the expense of the wellbeing of its citizens,” Koo Byoungsam said.

Increase in production

During a visit to an unspecified factory, Kim praised the factory’s efforts to employ “scientific and technological measures” to improve the quality of shells and increase manufacturing speed.

He also urged the factory to move ahead with the development and large-scale production of new kinds of ammunition.

Kim echoed the message in visits to two other factories, calling the delivery of launcher trucks designed to transport and fire ballistic missiles “a top priority” for the military and urging the “rapid expansion” of production.

His tour of the weapons factories comes after a giant military parade last month in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, where Kim was joined by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and a Chinese ruling party official.

Shoigu’s presence at the July 27 parade added to suspicions that North Korea was willing to supply arms to Russia to support its war efforts against Ukraine.

Cheong Seong Chang, an analyst at South Korea’s Sejong Institute, said Kim’s visits to the factories likely had a dual goal of encouraging the modernization of domestically produced weapons and examining artillery and other supplies that could possibly be exported to Russia.

According to Chang, Kim’s comments at the artillery factory about improving the quality of shells and the need to develop new types of ammunition, which he described as key to the country’s “national defense economic work,” clearly communicate an intent for exports to Russia.

As previously reported, in the war against the Russian Federation, Ukrainian servicemen are using rockets manufactured in North Korea.