North Korea’s Kim Jong Un calls for more shell production: KCNA

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks while he inspects military factories, as he urges ramp-up in shell production to meet modern warfare demands, at an unknown location in North Korea, June 13, 2025.  KCNA via REUTERS

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected military factories and called for ramp-up in shell production.

PHOTO: REUTERS

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SEOUL – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected military industrial factories, calling them to expand production of shells that meet modern warfare needs, state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on June 14. 

He visited lines for pressing metals and assembly a day earlier, checked the progress of shell production in the first half of 2025 and suggested new tasks for improvement, KCNA added.

“If we are to increase the production of new, powerful shells that meet the needs of... modern warfare, we need to expand and reinforce our production capacity, arrange the production process more rationally, and constantly increase the level of unmanned production,” Mr Kim said, according to KCNA. 

In recent months, his publicised moves have focused on strengthening the military and improving ties with Russia, while North Korean state media has mostly stayed quiet on criticism against South Korea as the latter picked a new liberal president in June

North Korea has supplied Russia with more than 20,000 containers of munitions, according to a report by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, a group comprising 11 UN members, in May. REUTERS

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