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 munitions enterprises under the Commission of the Second Economy to learn about the production of artillery shells and the actual state of the machine-building industry.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un was accompanied by Jo Chun Ryong, secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK, Hong Yong Chil, deputy department director of the Central Committee of the WPK, and Kim Yong Hwan, president of the Academy of Defence Sciences.

He was greeted by the officials of the relevant enterprises on the spot.

Going round various places of the general artillery shell production enterprise, he learned in detail about the state of production and the expansion of production capacity and modernization.

The workers, scientists and technicians of the enterprise, who have turned out as one in the campaign to attain the goal of modernizing the defence industry set forth by the Party, have perfectly carried out the stage-by-stage tasks for modernization by waging a technical revolution and dynamic drive for increased production with high enthusiasm for struggle and spirit of creation, thus attaining a remarkable growth speed of increasing the shell production four times the average-year level and nearly twice the peak-year level.

Expressing great satisfaction over the fact that modernization of the enterprise, which plays a core role in bolstering up our artillery, has reached a high level, followed by an unparalleled growth speed of production capacity of shells, he appreciated that it serves as clearest proof of the correctness and validity of the orientation of the WPK's policy on modernizing the munitions industry.

He said that this remarkable growth of productivity, which has been achieved through the combination of the production structure updated in a modern way and innovative technology and the fighting stamina peculiar to our munitions industry workers, has a very important meaning in realizing the Party's strategy for the development of national defence, affirming that this will serve as an important factor in improving the main fighting efficiency of our armed forces.

Noting that the soaring enthusiasm of the munitions industry workers and the campaign for increased production at the production sites will provide further momentum to the struggle in all fields of the national economy towards the fulfilment of the five-year plan for national economic development, he warmly encouraged the workers of the enterprise, hoping that they will produce more shells to contribute to the increase of the combat power of our armed forces, mindful of the fact that bolstering up the artillery immediately means strengthening the fighting efficiency of the army and winding up its combat preparedness.

He stressed that the major munitions enterprises, whose construction is to be launched or which are to be commissioned, should introduce the experience gained in the modernization of this enterprise so as to accelerate the significant change in bolstering up our armed forces.

He visited a general machine-building enterprise, and discussed with the accompanying leading officials the new modernization goal of the enterprise and the long-term development of the country's machine-building industry.

He underlined the need to turn the enterprise into a model mother base which plays a pivotal and leading role in the development of the machine-building industry of the country by carrying out on an annual basis the stage-by-stage goals for attaining the general goal specified by the report on the development strategy for the machine-building industry of the Commission of the Second Economy deliberated by the Tenth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the WPK.

Noting that this important task serves as a decisive guarantee for making the country's defence industry leap forward to a world-class, advanced industry and constitutes an important work of strategic significance in cultivating the prospective potential of the machine-building industry, he stressed once again the steadfast determination of the Party Central Committee to make sure that this historic task is strictly carried out by the appointed time.

He asked the enterprise to concentrate its efforts on developing and producing a larger number of intelligent, high-speed, precision and multi-functional machine-building equipment for raising the production and technical power of the munitions industry and various fields of the national economy of the country.

Pointing out the shortcomings latent in some issues specified in the report on the development strategy for the machine-building industry and the core policy orientation for the machine-building industry to be consistently held fast to, he assigned the task for launching practical processes for the technical upgrading of the general machine-building enterprise at the world level, and took important measures to this end.