North Korea leader Kim calls for strong artillery production ahead of party congress

By Ju-min Park and Jack Kim

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a factory that produces multiple rocket launchers and ordered increased output of the weapons system that would be the mainstay of the country's modernised long-range artillery, state media reported on Tuesday.

In recent weeks, Kim has made a series of visits to factories that build weapons as well as to a nuclear-powered submarine and has overseen missile tests ahead of the next year's Ninth Party Congress of the Workers' Party convened to set out major policy goals.

North Korea has not announced the exact timing of the congress but experts expect it to happen as early as January.

"It is necessary to further perfect the enterprise's production structure...to secure strong production capacity and thus fully guarantee the successful attainment of the munitions production goals, to be set forth at the Ninth Congress of the WPK," state media KCNA cited Kim as saying.

Kim toured the factory where huge rocket launch vehicles loaded with what appeared to be multiple launch rockets were lined up, state media photographs showed.

The North Korean leader's latest activities to show off the country's nuclear-capable weapons including an upgraded version of cruise missiles and artillery rockets suggest he will announce a push to make more nuclear weapons and new weapons systems at the party congress, analysts say.

"Next year, doors are open for North Korea to negotiate with the U.S. so all these military moves by Kim are also connected to him trying to raise his negotiating leverage, by showing weapons linked to nuclear (arms)," said Park Won-gon, a North Korea expert at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.