China's President Xi Jinping emphasised the importance of cooperation between Beijing and Pyongyang in an unspecified "new situation", North Korea's state media reported Saturday.

North Korea, officially known as the DPRK, carried out an unprecedented seven weapon tests in January — including its most powerful missile since 2017 — with negotiations with the United States at a standstill.

It paused testing during the Beijing Winter Olympics, with analysts saying the decision could have been made out of deference to China.

Beijing is Pyongyang's most important ally and economic benefactor, their relationship forged in the bloodshed of the Korean War in the 1950s.

In his message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Xi said Beijing was ready to "develop the China-DPRK relations of friendship and cooperation" under a "new situation", the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

KCNA did not further elaborate on what the "new situation" entailed.

North Korea is reeling economically from a self-imposed coronavirus blockade, and restarted cross-border trade with Beijing last month.

China accounts for more than 90 percent of the isolated country's bilateral trade.

Pyongyang is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

But regardless, it has warned it could abandon its self-imposed moratorium and resume testing intercontinental ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons.

Some experts have warned that with the eyes of the world focussed on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, North Korea might take the opportunity to test-fire long-range missiles.

N. Korea fires 'unidentified projectile': South's military
Seoul (AFP) Feb 26, 2022 – North Korea has fired an "unidentified projectile", South Korea's military said Sunday morning, after a seemingly quiet month without launches during the Beijing Olympics.

"North Korea fired an unidentified projectile eastward," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, without giving further details.

Pyongyang carried out an unprecedented seven weapons tests in January, including of its most powerful missile since 2017, when leader Kim Jong Un baited then-US president Donald Trump with a spate of provocative launches.

But the North paused testing during the Beijing Winter Games, possibly out of deference to only major ally China, analysts have said.

North Korea also warned last month that it could abandon its self-imposed moratorium on testing nuclear and long-range weapons, which have been on hold since 2017.

The North's fresh sabre-rattling comes at a delicate time in the region, as South Korea gears up to elect its next president on March 9.

Experts say Pyongyang could use its next key anniversary — the 110th birthday of Kim Il Sung on April 15 — to carry out a major weapons test.