North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Monday that his country must be ready to launch nuclear attacks at any time to end a war, accusing the United States and South Korea of expanding joint military exercises involving U.S. nuclear assets.
Kim's comments come as North Korea has held what the North's official official Central News Agency has called a two-day "nuclear tactical exercise" aimed at sending strong warnings to allies.
The drill saw a test of a ballistic missile that flew 800 kilometers before hitting the target at an altitude of 800 meters under a tactical nuclear attack scenario, the agency said.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sunday confirmed the launch of the missile, saying it had spotted "a short-range ballistic missile launched from the vicinity of Tongchang-ri area of North Pyongan province at 11:05 a.m. (02:05 GMT) towards the East Sea," also known as the Sea of Japan.
It called the launch a "serious provocation" that violates international sanctions, adding that "our military remains on strong readiness based on its ability to respond strongly to any provocation from North Korea, while conducting intensive and comprehensive joint exercises and exercises."
Tokyo also confirmed the launch, and Deputy Defense Minister Toshiro Inoue told reporters that Japan "lodged a strongly worded protest and strongly condemned (North Korea) through our embassy in Beijing."
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command condemned the missile launch, saying it highlighted the "destabilizing effect" of North Korea's banned weapons programs.
On Thursday, North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed in the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan, hours before the South Korean president arrived in Tokyo for a rare summit on ways to confront nuclear-armed Pyongyang.
Pyongyang has also conducted several recent missile launches, amid ongoing joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, which Pyongyang condemns as hostile acts.