North Korea’s leader drives new tank during mock battle

 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided a military demonstration involving a new battle tank, state media KCNA reported.

“He expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the new-type main battle tank successfully demonstrated its very excellent striking power and mobility, displaying its amazing combat capability for the first time in the tankmen’s match,” KCNA said.

The "training match" was designed to inspect the combat capabilities of tank crews and make them familiar with combat action on different tactical missions, it said.

The 105th Tank Division, which was declared the winner of the mock battle, was the unit which occupied the South Korean capital Seoul during the Korean War, according to KCNA.

After reviewing the tank crews, Kim Jong Un “mounted a new-type main battle tank, seized the control lever and drove the tank himself.”

The mock battle comes as joint annual drills involving South Korea and the U.S. were due to wrap up on March 14. As part of the drills, South Korea's army said the combined forces had conducted a joint live fire exercise featuring tanks, armoured cars as well as FA-50 fighter jets.

North Korea has long condemned such military drills as rehearsals for war, while Seoul has said they are purely defensive.