North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly visited a fertilizer plant construction site in an apparent move to stress economic self-reliance amid heightened tensions with the United States. 

The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) said on Tuesday that Kim guided the construction of the Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory in South Pyongan Province.

KCNA said Kim went to the site "as the first leg of his field guidance in the New Year" to emphasize that the factory's construction is one of the most important economic tasks of 2020. 

Kim reportedly pledged financial support for the project from the ruling Workers' Party and urged his Cabinet and related ministries to support the factory's construction as well.

The site visit marks Kim's first public activity in the new year and comes days after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian military leader.