The state media report on Friday on Kim's visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute and a production base for weapon-grade nuclear materials was accompanied by the first photos of the centrifuges, providing a rare look inside North Korea's nuclear program, which is banned under multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The photos showed Kim walking between long rows of metal centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium.
The report did not make clear when the visit occurred nor the facility's location.
Kim urged workers to produce more materials for tactical nuclear weapons, saying the country's nuclear arsenal is vital for confronting threats from the United States and its allies.
The weapons are needed for "self-defence and the capability for a pre-emptive attack", he said.
The North Korean leader said "anti-DPRK nuclear threats" from the "US imperialists-led vassal forces" have crossed the red-line, according to the report.
South Korea condemned North Korea's unveiling of its uranium enrichment facility and will never accept Pyongyang's possession of nuclear weapons, the South's unification ministry said.
North Korea is believed to have several sites for enriching uranium.
Analysts say commercial satellite imagery has shown construction in recent years at the main Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, including its uranium enrichment plant, suggesting possible expansion.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday the UN nuclear watchdog had observed activity consistent with the operation of a reactor and the reported centrifuge enrichment facility at Yongbyon.
Kim stressed the need to boost the number of centrifuges so as to "exponentially increase" North Korea's nuclear arsenal, and expand the use of a new type of centrifuge to strengthen the production of weapon-grade nuclear materials.
North Korea invited some foreign scientists to view a centrifuge facility at Yongbyon in 2010, but Jenny Town of the US-based Stimson Center said Friday's report was the first and only photographs of the equipment.
"It shows how advanced their enrichment capability has become, which gives greater credibility to both their ability and commitment to increasing their nuclear weapons arsenals," she said.
North Korea has previously shown photos of what it says were nuclear warheads.
It has conducted six underground nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017.
Estimates of the number of North Korean nuclear weapons varies widely.
In July a report by the Federation of American Scientists concluded the country might have produced enough fissile material to build up to 90 nuclear warheads, but that it has likely assembled closer to 50.
Kim also oversaw the test launch of a new 600mm multiple launch rocket system on Thursday and visited an army training base on Wednesday, according to separate KCNA reports.
