North Korea test fires new tactical guided weapon with a ‘powerful warhead’ as despot Kim Jong-un looks on

NORTH Korea tonight announced it has test-fired a new tactical guided weapon with a "powerful warhead" - threatening to renew feverish tensions with the West.

In a brazen taunt, Kim Jong-un watched the firing of the weapon on Wednesday at North Korea's Academy of Defence Science.

And issuing a chilling warning, Kim said the test "serves as an event of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People's Army," state media reported.

Precise details of the weapon have not been released - but it is said to have a “peculiar mode of guiding flight”, state media added.

"Tactical" implies it is a short-range weapon, as opposed to the long-range ballistic missiles that have been seen as a threat to the United States.

It is the first weapons test carried out by North Korea since Kim and US president Donald Trump's second summit in Vietnam ended without agreement in February.

NEW ACTIVITY AT MISSILE SITE

Tonight's announcement comes after reports of new activity at a North Korean missile research centre and long-range rocket site.

North Korea is believed to be building long-range missiles targeting the US mainland.

The White House said it was aware of the report and had no comment.

In November last year, Kim had also overseen a test of an unidentified "tactical weapon" that could protect North Korea like a "steel wall", state media said.

Experts said that was part of Kim's drive to put high-tech weapons in the hands of his nearly 1.3 million-strong army.

In April 2018, Kim had said North Korea would stop nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles - because Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities had been "verified."

But US National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Wednesday that the United States needs to see "a real indication from North Korea that they've made the strategic decision to give up nuclear weapons."