North Korea claims new ‘strategic weapon successfully' tested

North Korea claimed on Friday that it had conducted a "successful test" of a high-thrust solid-fuel motor, describing it as a new "strategic weapon" and the country's first of its kind.

The latest claim comes more than a month after North Korea launched dozens of missiles and projectiles amid joint military exercises conducted by the US and South Korea in the region.

“An important institute under the Academy of Defense Science succeeded in the static firing test of (a) high-thrust solid-fuel motor with a thrust of 140tf (ton-force), the first of its kind in the country, at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on the morning of Dec. 15,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, “guided the important test on the spot.”

“The aim of this test was to verify all technical specific features of the high-thrust solid-fuel motor based on the thrust vector controlling technology.

“This important test has provided a sure sci-tech guarantee for the development of another new-type strategic weapon system,” the report said.

Pyongyang's testing of the new strategic weapon comes amid ongoing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, which have seen the US and South Korea launch joint military exercises, while the North has launched dozens of missiles, including ballistic missiles and projectiles.