NORTH KOREAN LEADER KIM Jong-Un has overseen the test-firing of a new tactical weapon with a “powerful warhead”, the country’s state media has reported.

The test was “conducted in various modes of firing at different targets” the Korean Central News Agency said, adding that Kim “guided the test-fire”.

It also said Kim described its development as one “of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People’s Army”.

The “advantages” of the weapon were “the peculiar mode of guiding flight and the load of a powerful warhead”, KCNA added, although it gave no details of the weapon.

It is the first test of its kind since nuclear negotiations with US President Donald Trump stalled earlier this year, and marks a ratcheting up of tensions with Washington.

It also comes after satellite imagery suggested heightened activity at a nuclear test site.

South Korea had not detected anything on radar so it was unlikely to have been a missile, a military official told AFP.

“When North Korea launches a missile, our radar catches it. But no missile was detected,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Seoul’s presidential office said it had no comment, while Pentagon officials said they were aware of the test report but declined to comment further.

With reporting from - © AFP 2019.