The first leg of his visit was the Taean Heavy Machine Complex.

Kim Jong Il highly appreciated the proud feats performed by the workers of the complex over the past years, saying that they, true to the idea and leadership of the Party and the leader, have made a great contribution to laying the foundations for the independent national economy and, especially, to realizing the electrification of the country by producing generating equipment in a large quantity.

He acquainted himself with the details about technical improvement and production at the complex, going round several production processes, including the combined processing workshop No.1.

It was thanks to the full support by such a large number of powerful machinery plants as the complex that the DPRK could successfully carry out the socialist industrialization in a short period and rapidly increase the economic power of the country, he said, adding that this was a proof of the validity of the Workers' Party of Korea's unique line of economic construction, which calls for ensuring the preferential devolvement of the heavy industry with stress put on the machine-building industry while simultaneously developing the light industry and agriculture, and its great vitality.

Then he advanced tasks to be carried out by the complex, saying that the complex plays a very important role in the drive to accomplish the cause of building a great prosperous and powerful nation.

The next leg of his visit was the Kum Song Tractor Plant.

Going round the flexible manufacturing system for machining body and other production processes and seeing various kinds of new tractors, he learned in detail about the conditions of technical equipment and production at the plant.

The position and role of the plant is of weighty importance in comprehensively mechanizing agriculture, he pointed out, setting forth the tasks to be carried out by the plant.

He said that the workers of Kiyang were a model in carrying through the leader's instructions as they produced with empty hands the first tractor in the country in the postwar difficult period, true to President Kim Il Sung's earnest instruction.

Self-reliance is a traditional slogan of the WPK and a key to effecting a steady surge in socialist construction as in the past, so in the future, too, is to fully display the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance, he stressed.

Noting that more farm machines are needed in socialist cooperative fields of the country, he said that the plant should produce and supply in time tractors and all other kinds of farm machines to satisfy the growing demands for them.

He expressed the expectation and belief that the workers of the plant would invent and produce more modern farm machines invariably under the uplifted banner of self-reliance and realize the comprehensive mechanization of agriculture as early as possible, thus reliably performing the vanguard role in building a great prosperous and powerful nation.

Accompanying him were Pak Nam Gi, department director of the WPK Central Committee, and Ju Kyu Chang and Ri Jae Il, first vice department directors of the WPK Central Committee.