Pyongyang, North Korea - North Korea's Kim Jong-un oversaw the test-firing of a 240 millimeter multiple rocket launcher equipped with a new "guiding system", state media said Wednesday, as Pyongyang continues to upgrade its arsenal.

The announcement comes about three months after North Korea said it would equip its military with a "new" multiple rocket launcher (MRL) known to be capable of striking Seoul.

The nuclear-armed country has recently bolstered military ties with Moscow, and analysts have said the North could be testing and ramping up production of artillery and cruise missiles before sending them to Russia for use in Ukraine.

The US and Seoul have accused North Korea of supplying ammunition and missiles for Russia's war effort, a claim Pyongyang has called "absurd."

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The multiple rocket launcher, "technically updated in its maneuverability and concentrated firing capability, was proved to be advantageous in all indices," Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday.

Updates included "newly applied guiding system, controllability and destructive power," it said.

At the test-firing, Kim also "set forth an important policy to be pursued in producing new artillery pieces and equipping army units with them."

The Wednesday report came just two days after the North unveiled a "suicide drone" designed to be deliberately crashed into enemy targets, effectively acting as guided missiles.

The North said in February it had developed a new control system for a multiple rocket launcher that would lead to a "qualitative change" in its defense capabilities.

In May, it said the updated launcher would be "deployed to units of the Korean People's Army as replacement equipment from 2024 to 2026."

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North Korea's older MRL was produced around the 1980s, and while capable of striking South Korean frontline units or the Seoul metropolitan area, they had "limitations in explosive power and precision", said Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

It was also difficult to "secure an advantage in firepower compared to US-South Korean forces" with the older weapons, Hong said.

To counter Seoul and Washington – which have overwhelming air superiority – Pyongyang is pursuing "enlargement, range extension, and guidance capabilities" of rocket launchers intended to "rapidly destroy" South Korean airfields, he told AFP.

Inter-Korean relations are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang declaring the South its "principal enemy."

The test-firing came as South Korea and the US have been carrying out their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military drills, which run until Thursday and are seen as provocative and threatening by North Korea.