Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, gave field guidance at major defence industrial enterprises under the Second Economic Commission on May 11 and 12 to learn about the implementation of the Party's policy on munitions industry.

He was accompanied by Pak Jong Chon, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the WPK and secretary of the C.C., WPK, Jo Chun Ryong, secretary of the C.C., WPK, Kang Sun Nam, minister of National Defence of the DPRK, Kim Yong Hwan, president of the Academy of Defence Sciences, Hong Yong Chil and Kim Yo Jong, vice department directors of the C.C., WPK.

Kim Jong Un inspected a complex producing ultramodern precision munitions to learn about modernization of its production lines.

Noting that it is a prerequisite and important guarantee for developing the self-reliant defence industry onto a more radical development stage to ensure that modernization of the production lines at the defence industrial enterprises playing a core role in bolstering up the combat capability of the army is put on a higher level and they possess world-level technical capabilities, he added that the recent remarkable development made in the national defence industry on a world level is a brilliant fruition of the validity and vitality of the Party's strategy for national defence economic development and its policy for carrying it out.

He highly appreciated the fact that automation and streamlining have been successfully realized at many enterprises, and expressed great satisfaction at the ideas and efforts proactively made to ensure practical and effective arrangement of ultra-modern equipment and devices with high accuracy and reliability in operation throughout the whole production lines, ranging from production of parts to their assembly and test and to perform the production in a scientific way.

He stressed the need for major defence industrial enterprises to effectively organize the economic work for serial production of major munitions whose quality is thoroughly guaranteed, saying that it is important to build up the technical forces, establish strict quality control regulations and order, and carry on the supply of materials and products under contract in a planned way in keeping with their production lines being modernized on a high level.

He said that the core defence industrial enterprises under special care of the Party should play a vanguard role and fully guarantee the combat readiness of the Korean People's Army materially and technically, calling for conducting ideological education of all officials and employees in a more offensive way and giving full play to their spiritual strength as required by the prevailing situation of the revolution so that they can turn out as one in the munitions production.

He urged all the defence industrial enterprises under the Second Economic Commission to wage on a more developed basis the struggle for establishing a cultured way of production and life and continue to create a model culture of the munitions industrial workers in the new century and innovate it.

He visited an enterprise producing major small arms to learn about the performance of various small arms newly developed in Korean style, including sniper's rifle.

Showing his deep care for a newly-developed sniper's rifle, he spoke highly of the scientists and technicians for having developed sniper's rifle with world-level performance and might.

Referring to the WPK's plan and intention to bring about a revolution in the production of small arms of a higher level, he indicated the orientation of long-term development for major small arms production enterprises and the issues of principle to be maintained in the work for organizing the national defence economy for its realization as well as important tasks and ways.

He learned about the production of updated 240mm multiple rockets launchers to be equipped by KPA artillery units newly formed this year.

Going round the produced launchers, he acquainted himself with the production plan for this year and the production results to date. And he got on a launcher to learn about its combat performance, giving its test run personally.

He noted with appreciation that the automation system of the launchers has been put on a high level and they have been made qualitatively on the principle of ensuring the maximum combat effectiveness of the 240mm multiple rocket launcher system, stressing the need to further expand the production results by increasing and steadily innovating the scientific and technological capabilities and thus accelerate the bolstering of combat capabilities of the artillery of the KPA.

In order to mass-produce multiple rocket launchers of our style with high efficiency and reliability, it is important to steadily improve the level of modernization of the production lines, he said, calling for continuously updating the goal for modernizing the production lines with the main emphasis put on steadily improving the performance of the launchers.

He expressed expectation and belief that the major defence industrial enterprises would not only carry out the munitions production plan, set forth by the Party, in a qualitative way without fail but also make fresher innovations and leap forward with the spirit of development and manner of creation peculiar to them, always holding high the banner in the vanguard of struggle for implementing the Party's national defence development strategy.