NORTH KOREA said today it had completed three days of weapons tests including of ballistic missiles armed with cluster bomb warheads.

The Korean Central News Agency said tests included anti-aircraft weaponry, carbon-fibre bombs (designed to take out electricity grids with minimal casualties) and electromagnetic weapons systems.

The Hwasong-11 missiles tested carrying cluster munitions (neither Korea is a signatory to the international Convention banning these) are also nuclear-capable. The South Korean military said they were fired into the sea, flying 240-700km.

Pyongyang has heightened military readiness given regular US-South Korean war-gaming of an assault on the North, and the unpredictable character of the Donald Trump administration, which has attacked Venezuela and Iran this year and is trying to cut Cuba’s access to energy.

With the US having withdrawn from most arms limitation treaties, the Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor report last month found all declared nuclear states were actively increasing their arsenals. Nuclear Information Project director Hans Kristensen warned: “The era of nuclear reduction is over.”