North Korea confirmed Thursday that it fired projectiles the previous day, with state-run media reporting that leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test firing of a "newly-developed large-caliber multiple launch guided rocket system."
The rocket system "would be an inescapable distress to the forces becoming a fat target of the weapon," the Korean Central News Agency quoted Kim as saying, adding he "expressed satisfaction over the result."
A South Korean military official, however, maintained the previous day's assessment by Seoul that the North had fired two short-range ballistic missiles, judging from their flight characteristics.
The South has said they were fired from the Kalma area near the North's eastern port of Wonsan at 5:06 a.m. and 5:27 a.m. and flew about 250 kilometers while reaching an altitude of about 30 km before falling into the Sea of Japan.
On July 25, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles as a warning against South Korea's plan to carry out a joint military exercise with the United States this month.
The new type of rocket "will play a main role in ground military operations," the news agency said.
Thursday's KCNA report also did not refer to the U.S.-South Korea military drill, slated to be held from Aug. 5 to 20. Pyongyang has denounced such exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion.
[Photo courtesy of Korean Media]
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Recently, North Korea said that it may reconsider its suspension of nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests if Washington and Seoul go ahead with their joint drill as scheduled.
Later Thursday, the Korean Central Television ran photos of a rocket sending flames into the air. But the picture of the launch pad was pixelated in an apparent attempt to prevent the United States and South Korea from analyzing the details of the projectiles.
U.N. Security Council resolutions have banned North Korea from using ballistic missile technology.
South Korea's military has said the two missiles launched last week, which it assessed as having flown about 600 km before plunging into the Sea of Japan, bore a resemblance to the Russian Iskander surface-to-surface, short-range ballistic missile.
In early May, North Korea also fired what resembled Iskander missiles.
Despite North Korea's provocations, the United States and South Korea have indicated that they have no intention of halting their planned military exercise.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry said Lee Do Hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, held talks with his U.S. counterpart Stephen Biegunin in Bangkok on Wednesday.
The officials, who were in the Thai capital ahead of Friday's meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, exchanged views on how to respond to North Korea's latest missile launch.
They also agreed that Washington and Seoul should make diplomatic efforts to resume negotiations between the United States and North Korea on the latter's denuclearization, according to the ministry.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, meanwhile, has canceled his participation in Friday's regional security forum centered on the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Thai government said.
Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump made an agreement at their June 30 meeting at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjeom that the two countries would restart stalled denuclearization talks within weeks, but they have yet to take place.
In Bangkok, Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono and his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung Wha agreed Thursday to work in tandem to achieve denuclearization of the North, although ties between Tokyo and Seoul have been frayed by disputes over wartime history and territory.
