North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toured a tractor factory and called for enhanced farm machine production to help fix the nation’s chronic “food problem,” according to state media on Thursday, less than a day before another failed military satellite launch underlined the DPRK’s prioritization of defense spending.

Visiting the Kumsong Tractor Factory to the west of Pyongyang on Wednesday, Kim expressed satisfaction with recent large-scale renovations at the plant but said he found “irrational problems” when examining production lines more closely, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

The inspection comes as North Korea has continued to primarily import Chinese industrial vehicles and large farm equipment such as tractors in the last year, in violation of U.N. sanctions, and despite Kim ordering production expansion during his last visit to the factory in 2017.

Some of the large tractors, harvesters and smaller walking tractors on display at the Kumsong factory during Kim’s visit appear similar to Chinese models that the ruling party has handed out to farms in recent years. But further investigation is needed to determine whether the factory is importing parts or complete products from China. 

The photos show mostly fully assembled models but also some partially assembled tractors, other equipment and their components. They also show production line machines, pointing to the factory’s ability to manufacture at least some components themselves. 

Kim said the factory has achieved “automation of major production lines” and that it strives to “develop and make modern tractors and farm machines in a larger quantity,” according to KCNA. 

A “second stage” of the factory’s overall “modernization” project is currently underway, while a third stage is also planned, according to state TV images showing Kim looking at a project map of the complex. 

He added that making “a radical leap forward in the farm machine industry is the most urgent issue in solving the food problem” and that this is a top priority in building a “strong military.”

The DPRK leader also sought to reassure the public of efforts to fix agricultural problems through a series of on-site inspections — a rare occurrence since the start of the pandemic in 2020 — to flood-damaged farmlands in recent weeks. 

He has otherwise mostly focused on promoting military development as a top priority this month, after stating in late 2021 that military spending would continue to have an “overriding importance” over economic development.

Kim’s latest factory visit took place less than a day before North Korea failed to launch a military satellite for a second time, a failure likely to add to military development costs. 

As part of the recent military promotion, Kim visited a weapons plant that analysts determined was one North Korea calls the Kanggye Tractor Factory, despite a lack of evidence that the factory has produced tractors in recent decades.

There are no known recent links between the Kumsong Tractor Factory and major munitions production, though U.S. intelligence determined the plant was involved in manufacturing chassis for self-propelled artillery in the early 1980s. 

State media has started to more openly report on weapons factories since early 2022, while attempting to obscure their locations and real names by blurring the faces of their managers and workers.

However, managers and workers were not blurred in images of Kim’s inspection of the Kumsong plant, suggesting Pyongyang does not find the visit as sensitive as those to the weapons factories earlier this month.

The Kumsong Tractor Factory recently unveiled a new large mosaic mural of Kim Jong Un — one of only a few known artistic murals of the current leader on public display in the country — to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding. 

Edited by Bryan Betts

Updated at 12:16 p.m. KST on Aug. 24 with additional details about the factory’s construction project