North Korean leader Kim Jong-un paid a visit to an electrical machine factory that earlier leaders of the communist state helped open, Pyongyang's state media reported on Sunday.

The Korean Central News Agency, monitored in Seoul, said Kim visited the Chonma Electrical Machine Plant, accompanied by other officials. The KCNA noted that the area where the plant is located is "closely associated with the footprints of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il," the current leader's grandfather and father.

The report said Kim Jong-un complimented the plant workers for meeting their production quotas despite difficulties.

"Looking at the electrical machines produced by the plant, he said that they are proving effective in reality and high in demand," the KCNA's English-language report read. "He underscored the need to expand the capacity of the plant and energetically step up the updating of the production processes in order to supply cutting edge electrical machines to various sectors of the national economy."

Kim told factory officials to build facilities to help workers enjoy "a cultural life" and promised to solve problems arising from their work to expand their production, the KCNA added.

Among those accompanying Kim to the factory were Hwang Pyong-so, the director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, and Jang Jong-nam, the minister of the People's Armed Forces. (Yonhap)