Kim Jong Un test-drives North Korea's new battle tank

SEOUL, March 14 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a military training drill and drove a new battle tank that he claimed was the world's "most powerful," state-run media reported Thursday.

The drill, which was held on Wednesday, was a mock battle between tank units meant to simulate "actual combat capabilities and make them get familiar with combat action methods on different tactical missions," Korean Central News Agency reported.

Kim "expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the new-type main battle tank successfully demonstrated its very excellent striking power and maneuverability, displaying its amazing militant performance for the first time," KCNA said.

The winner of the training battle was the 105th Tank Division, which had occupied Seoul during the Korean War, according to KCNA.

After the drill, Kim reportedly mounted and drove one of the new vehicles, which he said were "the most powerful tanks in the world." Several images released by state media showed Kim's helmeted head peering out of a cockpit.

The North Korean leader's latest visit to a military site came as the United States and South Korea continued their large-scale Freedom Shield joint exercise, which wraps up on Thursday.

The 11-day exercise has focused on countering threats from the nuclear-armed North and includes 48 joint field drills, almost twice as many as last year.

On Thursday, U.S. and South Korean forces staged live-fire drills near the inter-Korean border, the South's Army said in a press release. The drills, which began last week, involved 300 personnel and South Korean K1A2 tanks, K21 armored vehicles and FA-50 fighter jets.

North Korea regularly condemns the allies' joint exercises as rehearsals for an invasion and has used the drills in the past as a pretext for its own missile tests.

Last week, Kim oversaw an artillery firing drill that included a demonstration of long-range units with the range to bombard Seoul.

The United States and South Korea have increased their military cooperation over the past two years in response to the North's provocations, with expanded drills and the deployment of U.S. assets such as aircraft carriers, a B-52 nuclear bomber and a nuclear ballistic missile submarine to the Korean Peninsula.