North Korea said Friday that it has successfully launched a newly developed tactical guided missile, threatening high-precision attacks on those who challenge Pyongyang's sovereignty.
The report carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) came a day after the communist country test-fired three short-range projectiles into the East Sea on Thursday.
North Korea did not disclose when the reported test-firing took place, but it mostly likely refers to Thursday's firing.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "guided the test-launch of newly developed cutting-edge ultra-precision tactical guided missiles," the KCNA said, adding that the launch had been "successful."
"The test-firing clearly proved that the tactical guided weapons didn't have an inch of deviation in their scientific and technological performance," the KCNA reported.
"The test-launch helped the Korean People's Army get the master key to putting all strike means including short-, medium- and long-range guided weapons on ultra-precision basis of the world level and opened a prospect for maximizing their striking accuracy and power," the news wire service also said.
Referring to "extremely reckless" moves by the U.S., South Korea and their allied forces "to isolate and stifle" North Korea, the communist country said the latest test-fire marked "a significant event in bolstering up the defense capability for self-defense."
"Kim Jong Un expressed great satisfaction over the results of the test-firing."
Alluding to possible attacks, the North also noted "those who challenge the sovereignty and dignity of the socialist Korea ...will never get out of the range of our various ultra-precision firepower means whether they are near or far off, or an individual or a group target."
The North's rare announcement of the missile development is seen as being aimed at boasting its military capacity at a time when the country deals with months of heightened tensions with South Korea as well as being aimed at showing discontent at Seoul and Washington's ways of dealing with the communist regime.
Inter-Korean relations have been battered since February when the North strongly protested against joint Seoul-Washington military drills conducted in the southern part of the peninsula. (Yonhap)
