Pyongyang, North Korea - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an "epochal change" in war preparations by achieving arsenal production targets, state media reported Wednesday.

It comes as analysts say the nuclear-armed North could be testing and ramping up production of artillery and cruise missiles before sending them to Russia for use in Ukraine.

During an inspection of the tactical missile weapons system on Tuesday, Kim expressed "great satisfaction over the production results registered by the defense industrial enterprises" this year, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said in a dispatch.

Kim "particularly stressed the need to bring about an epochal change in the preparations of the KPA for war by carrying out the munitions production plans for 2024 without fail," it added.

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Missile launchers produced so far this year are intended for military units in the country's west, KCNA said.

North Korea has recently bolstered military ties with Russia, and Pyongyang thanked Moscow last month for using its UN Security Council veto to block the renewal of a panel of UN experts that monitored international weapons sanctions on Kim's regime.

The US and South Korea have accused Pyongyang of supplying weapons to Russia, despite UN sanctions banning such a move.

Inter-Korean relations are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North declaring the South its "principal enemy," closing down agencies that work towards reunification and threatening war over any kind of territorial aggression.