On May 13, North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun reported on Kim Jong-un’s on-site guidance of key defense industry enterprises established under the Second Economic Committee, which took place on May 11-12. Kim Jong-un inspected the modernization of the production processes at the newly established and reorganized “core defense industry enterprises” under the Second Economic Committee. He lauded the defense industry for achieving “world-class” development and called for a “full mobilization in the ammunition production.”
On that day, Rodong Sinmun extensively featured 29 photos of Kim Jong-un inspecting the automated ammunition production lines, the production plants for sniper rifles, and the new 240mm multiple rocket launcher vehicles. Particularly, it showcased Kim Jong-un test-firing a sniper rifle and test-driving a launch vehicle. The newspaper reported his assessments using superlative terms, highlighting the “world-class performance and power” and the realization of a high level of “automation system.”