North Korea has fired a ballistic missile at the Sea of Japan as Kim Jong-un ramps up tests during Christmas.
It came days after U.S. and South Korean warplanes conducted joint drills that North Korea viewed as an invasion rehearsal.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launch occurred Friday but gave no further details, such as what type of weapon was fired and how far it flew.
The U.S. flew nuclear-capable bombers and advanced stealth jets near the Korean Peninsula for joint training with South Korean warplanes on Tuesday. North Korea typically calls such military exercises by the U.S. and South Korea an invasion rehearsal.
South Korea's Defense Ministry earlier said the drills were part of a bilateral agreement on a U.S. resolve to defend its Asian ally with all available military capabilities, including nuclear.
The training came after North Korea recently claimed to have conducted key tests needed to develop its first military spy satellite and a new strategic weapon, a likely reference to a more mobile intercontinental ballistic missile.
North Korea said it launched a pair of rockets Sunday to test cameras and other systems for the development of its first military reconnaissance satellite. Its state media published low-resolution photos of South Korean cities as viewed from space.
Some civilian experts in South Korea and elsewhere said the photos were too crude for surveillance purposes and that the launches were likely a cover for tests of North Korea's missile technology. South Korea's military said North Korea fired two medium-range ballistic missiles.
Such assessments have infuriated North Korea, with the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issuing crude insults of unidentified South Korean experts. Kim Yo Jong said there was no reason to use an expensive, high-resolution camera for a single-shot test and that North Korea's space agency used two old missiles as space launch vehicles.
North Korea has test-launched a barrage of missiles this year, including nuclear-capable ballistic weapons designed to strike the U.S. mainland and its allies South Korea and Japan.
North Korea said it was compelled to carry out such tests to respond to previous military drills between the United States and South Korea.
Earlier this month, Kim supervised the test of a “high-thrust solid-fuel motor” for a new strategic weapon, state media reported.
The development could give the despot the reins of a more mobile, harder-to-detect arsenal of interncontinental ballistic missiles that can reach the mainland of the US.
Thursday’s “static firing test” of a missile engine at the country’s northwest rocket launch facility was the first of its kind in North Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
It said that the test provided “a sure sci-tech guarantee for the development of another new-type strategic weapon system.”
Kim praised scientists and technicians over the test, saying he expected the new weapon would be built “in the shortest span of time,” KCNA said.
North Korea is likely referring to a solid-fuelled ICBM, which is among an array of high-tech weapons systems that Kim vowed to introduce during a major ruling Workers’ Party conference early last year.
Other weapons systems Kim promised to manufacture include a multi-warhead missile, underwater-launched nuclear missiles and spy satellites
The latest motor test showed that North Korea is determined to carry out Kim’s vows to develop such sophisticated weapons systems despite its pandemic-related domestic hardships and U.S.-led international pressures to curb its nuclear program.
In recent months, North Korea has test-fired a barrage of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles including last month’s launch of its developmental, longest-range liquid-fuelled Hwasong-17 ICBM designed to carry multiple warheads.
