North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited key military factories, including a tactical missile production plant, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing state media KCNA.
Kim "expressed satisfaction" with a factory's "recent focus on tactical missile production" and "expanding production capacity" during his visits last week, the report said.
He "presented a significant goal" to improve missile production, praised the latest operability of howitzer shells, and personally drove a combat armored vehicle, KCNA said.
The visit comes days after Kim dismissed the military's top general and called for more preparations for the possibility of war, a boost in weapons production, and expansion of military drills.
Kim made the comments at the 7th Enlarged Meeting of the 8th Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).
The actions by Kim follow a string of recent provocations on the part of North Korea, which has intensified its missile launches in the past year.
The country tested dozens of ballistic weapons in 2022, including its first intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017.
In July, North Korea test-fired a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), in a launch that was supervised by Kim.
The North said the missile flew 1,001 kilometers for 4,491 seconds at a maximum altitude of 6,648 km before splashing into the East Sea.
A week later, it fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern sea. The missiles flew about 550 kilometers before landing in waters east of the Korean Peninsula