The Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, said DPRK leader Kim Jong Un personally supervised the launch early Saturday morning.
The exercise was aimed at training troops to operate the country’s strategic hypersonic weapons system. Pyongyang said the missile hit a target at sea about 1,000 kilometers away.
KCNA quoted Kim Jong Un as saying that further improving the reliability and combat effectiveness of the strategic weapons system is important to strengthening the country’s nuclear deterrence capabilities.
Earlier, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it had detected the DPRK launching a ballistic missile from the Wonsan area in Kangwon Province at around 6:30 a.m. Saturday local time. The missile flew more than 700 kilometers toward waters off the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula.
It was the DPRK’s 16th ballistic missile launch this year. South Korean and US authorities are jointly analyzing the missile’s technical specifications.
The test comes amid heightened tensions between the two Koreas following a landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone on September 21 that injured three South Korean soldiers. Efforts to resume inter-Korean dialogue have yet to make progress.
