North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for a "drastic boost" of the country's missile production capacity, the North's state media said Monday.

Kim made the remarks during a two-day visit to major factories that produce strategic missiles, rocket launchers and other military weapons on Friday and Saturday, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The visit came less than a week after the North Korean leader conducted a "field guidance" of major munitions factories as South Korea and the United States plan to hold their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise later this month, which Pyongyang has denounced as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North, South Korea's news agency (Yonhap) reported.

It also came just days after Kim presided over an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, calling for preparing for a possible war in an "offensive" manner.

Kim was also quoted as saying that the North's Korean People's Army should be equipped with an "overwhelming military force" for "coping with any war at any moment so as to prevent the enemies from daring use their armed forces, and surely annihilate them if they launch an attack."

Source: Qatar News Agency