North Korea said Thursday it has successfully conducted a solid-fuel rocket test, adding that the accomplishment will boost the country's ballistic rocket capabilities to hit its enemies.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made the comments during his visit to the site of the ground-based test on the rocket engine and its separation, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The success of this test will help "strike great horror and terror into the hearts of the enemies," Kim was quoted as saying by the KCNA.

If confirmed, the North's push for developing intercontinental ballistic missiles is likely to gain traction, experts said. Uses of solid propellants for its rocket engine can make it easier for the North to swiftly launch missiles, they added.

The North has been ratcheting up its threats against South Korea and the United States over their joint military drills. The North has long denounced them as a rehearsal for a northward invasion, a charge denied by Seoul and Washington.

The North said Wednesday that it is ready to turn President Park Geun-hye and her office into "a sea of flames and ashes," with its large-caliber multiple rocket launching system.

Following tougher U.N. sanctions unveiled in early March, the North has increased the level of its threats, raising speculation that it may carry out another nuclear test and missile launches.

North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a long-range rocket launch in February, which outside experts viewed as a cover for a banned test of its ballistic missile technology.

Experts said that the North is believed to have used solid propellants for its rocket engine test, instead of liquid fuel, which usually takes more time to inject into a rocket.

North Korea is using solid fuel for launches of its KN-02 type short-range missiles and a new multiple rocket launching system, according to the South's military.

But it usually relies on liquid fuel to propel its ballistic missiles, including medium-range Rodong missiles and Musudan missiles with a range of more than 3,000 kilometers.

The North said last week that it plans to conduct nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles tests "in a short time," in the latest show of defiance against the new U.N. sanctions and the Seoul-Washington military drills.

It said it has acquired the re-entry technology that is a key to hitting a far away target with a nuclear-armed ballistic missile, a claim that Seoul and Washington do not buy. (Yonhap)