N.K. leader visits tool factory

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has visited a tool factory and encouraged workers on a facility modernization project, state media said Tuesday.

Yonhap News reported that the report of Kim`s visit to Unsan Tool Factory in North Pyongan Province came two days after his trip to the headquarters of the Ministry of People`s Security, the equivalent to South Korea`s National Police Agency.

"The factory has turned into a reliable tool producer making a positive contribution to the nation`s machine-building industry over the past dozens of years thanks to the wise guidance and meticulous care of President Kim Il-sung," the leader was quoted by the Korean Central News Agency as saying. Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994, is his father and the country`s founder.

"He made the rounds of the drill shop and other places of the factory to acquaint himself in detail with the technical equipment and production there. He warmly encouraged the workers waging a drive for increased production, counting every minute and second,"

the report said.

Kim encouraged workers trying to complete a "technological updating" project within a year, it added.

The leader was accompanied by Workers` Party secretary Kim Ki-nam and party department directors, Pak Nam-gi and Jang Song-thaek, also his brother-in-law.