North Korea acknowledged on Monday it had fired tactical guided missiles in its latest test highlighting its evolving missile programs, Reuters reported, citing the North’s official KCNA news agency.
The report came after South Korea's military said North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles from an airport in its capital city of Pyongyang.
KCNA said a test of tactical guided missiles was conducted by the Academy of Defense Science from the country's west, in which the system "precisely hit an island target" off the east coast.
"The test-fire was aimed to selectively evaluate tactical guided missiles being produced and deployed and to verify the accuracy of the weapon system," the North Korean news agency said, adding it "confirmed the accuracy, security and efficiency of the operation of the weapon system under production."
The launch marked North Korea’s fourth missile test in recent weeks. On January 5, Pyongyang said it had test fired a "hypersonic missile" that successfully hit a target.
Last week, North Korea said it conducted a test-firing of a hypersonic missile.
The North said the projectile hit the "set target in waters 1,000 km off" and added that leader Kim Jong Un attended the firing.
This past Friday, the country test-fired ballistic missiles from a train in an apparent reprisal over fresh sanctions imposed by the Biden administration last week for its continuing test launches.
North Korea regularly launches ballistic missiles and had a series of such tests in late 2021, the most recent of which was in October when it test-fired a new ballistic missile from a submarine.
North Korea restarted its missile tests after denuclearization talks with the United States came to a halt.