North Korea's state media has released still photographs of its leader Kim Jong Un watching test-firing of a new anti-ship cruise missile by Korean People's Army (KPA) naval units.

The still photographs aired by the state television KRT showed Kim observing a missile being fired from a small naval vessel.

KRT described the missile as a "new type of cutting-edge anti-ship rocket" developed by North Korean scientists that will "bring a great change in the navy's defence of territorial waters."

KRT did not specify the date or location of the test-firing.

The images were released in the lead-up to U.S.-South Korean military exercises this spring. North Korea routinely seeks to raise tensions ahead of the annual drills, although this year Pyongyang has also offered to suspend nuclear testing if Washington calls off the exercises.