North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has visited key arms factories, apparently aiming to highlight the country's focus on weapons production.

North Korea's ruling Workers' Party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, reported on Monday that Kim visited "major defense industrial enterprises" on Saturday and Sunday.

The paper carried a photograph of Kim at a plant that manufactures newly developed sniper rifles. The image shows Kim firing a gun and hitting the center of a target.

Other photos show a large number of rocket launchers at a manufacturing plant and Kim driving a vehicle.

North Korea said last week that it had test-fired an updated version of a 240-millimeter multiple rocket launcher system.

National defense industrial enterprises are set up under the Second Economic Commission, which is responsible for the country's military industry.

Rodong Sinmun said Kim noted "the recent remarkable development made in the national defense industry on a world level" during his visits to the arms factories.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency quoted observers as saying North Korea appears to be ramping up the mass production of munitions in a bid to export them to countries such as Russia.