North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a nuclear facility and called for boosting the country's nuclear capabilities in the face of growing threats from Washington and its allies, state media reported on Friday (local time), according to AFP.
The report comes a day after South Korea's military said that North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into waters east of the Korean peninsula.
In an apparent reference to that test, North Korea’s official news agency, KCNA, reported that Kim "oversaw the test-fire for verifying the performance of a new-type 600mm multiple rocket launcher."
Kim inspected the Nuclear Weapons Institute and a production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials, the news agency said.
As he toured the facility, Kim "encouraged the nuclear scientists faithful to the Party to unconditionally implement the Party's policy of building up nuclear force without an inch of deflection with their strong faith and high practical ability," KCNA added.
Noting that nuclear threats from the United States and its allies "have become more undisguised and crossed the red line," Kim said North Korea must "steadily expand and bolster up its defense capability... and the capability for a preemptive attack with the nuclear force as a pivot."
North Korea has staged dozens of launches this year, most recently in July, when it tested a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a 4.5-ton super-large warhead.
In January, the country launched a hypersonic missile. In response, South Korea, the United States and Japan carried out joint naval drills in waters off southern Jeju Island.
North Korea then announced it had tested an "underwater nuclear weapon system" in response to the joint naval exercises.
In April, North Korea successfully test-fired a new mid- to long-range solid-fuel hypersonic missile.
Weeks later, the country fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile which fell into the sea.