North Korean media made no mention Sunday of a suspected firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile the previous day, amid growing speculation that the country may carry out a nuclear test in the near future.

Pyongyang has also not commented about a weapon test since South Korea and Japan said the nuclear-armed nation fired a ballistic missile on Wednesday. North Korea's state-run media usually reports on weapons tests the day after they are carried out.

North Korea is likely to launch more ballistic missiles and could conduct its seventh nuclear test as South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol takes office on Tuesday, foreign affairs experts said.

Pyongyang, which has urged the United States to drop its "hostile policy," also might step up military provocations on the occasion of U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to South Korea and Japan for five days from May 20, they added.

South Korea and Japan said the North fired a ballistic missile on Saturday that was likely launched from a submarine into the sea off its eastern coast.

The missile is believed to have flown around 600 kilometers and up to an altitude of about 50 km before landing outside Japan's exclusive economic zone. The Japanese government has received no reports of damage, according to its officials.

Last Wednesday, Tokyo said Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile eastward into the Sea of Japan. The missile is estimated to have traveled to an altitude of around 800 km and covered a distance of about 500 km.

Since January, North Korea has tested a barrage of missiles in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions imposing economic sanctions on the country.

On March 24, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile that the Japanese government assessed to be a new type, marking an end to its self-imposed moratorium on ICBM firings dating back to April 2018.

The official Korean Central News Agency reported that the missile was the Hwasong-17, which could be capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to anywhere in the continental United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has recently reiterated his intention to "pre-emptively" use the nation's nuclear weapons if the country is threatened by what it regards as "hostile forces."

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