North Korea claims to have tested new tactical weapon capable of carrying nuclear warheads

State-owned Korean Central News Agency said supreme leader Kim Jong-un observed the launch from an undisclosed location

North Korea says it has successfully test-fired a newly developed tactical guided weapon.

The state-owned Korean Central News Agency said supreme leader Kim Jong-un observed the launch from an undisclosed location, and that it was expected to bolster the effective operation of the country’s tactical nuclear forces and firepower of its long-range artillery corps.

While the dispatch suggested the weapon tested is likely capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, KCNA didn’t elaborate any further. It also didn’t specify when the launch occurred.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement on Sunday that it had detected two projectile launches from the North Korean eastern coastal town of Hamhung early on Saturday evening.

The statement said South Korean and US intelligence agencies are analysing additional details of the launches, adding that South Korean officials held an emergency meeting to discuss the incident.

The announcement came soon after North Korea observed its most important public holiday – the birth anniversary of Mr Kim’s state-founding grandfather Kim Il-sung – without the expected military parade on Friday.

The country typically unveils its latest weapons systems with a parade to demonstrate the full might of its military.

News of the latest launch activity comes amid concerns that the east Asian country may soon conduct a larger provocation, such as a nuclear test, to force a reaction from the US and restart discussions around the rollback of crippling economic sanctions by the US.

North Korea started this year with a slew of weapons tests, including its first flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017.

South Korea and the US said Pyongyang could soon launch additional provocations like another ICBM test, a rocket launch to put a spy satellite into orbit or even a seventh nuclear detonation test.

South Korea’s military also said it has detected signs that North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground it partially dismantled weeks before it entered now-dormant nuclear talks with the United States in 2018.

Sunday’s KCNA dispatch quoted Mr Kim as presenting unspecified tasks to boost North Korea’s nuclear fighting and military capability after praising what he called successive progress in its efforts to reinforce the country’s war deterrence capabilities.

Additional reporting by agencies