North Korea's Kim Jong-un oversees hypersonic missile launch

SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen the launch of an intermediate-range strategic missile and called for continued efforts to bolster the "fatality" of the country's offensive weapons, state media reported Sunday.

North Korea conducted a firing drill of the missile toward the East Sea at dawn on Saturday as part of efforts to train missile troops operating the "hypersonic strategic weapon system," according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim said it is very important to demonstrate the counterattack means of the North's military in a "constant mobilization posture," according to the report.

"We must continue our responsible efforts nonstop to constantly and repeatedly make the enemy recognize the reliability and fatality of our strategic offensive means," the North's leader was quoted as saying by the KCNA.

"This is a form of exercising deterrent," he said, noting that such a missile launch is aimed at "more rapidly developing the country's nuclear war deterrent."

Photos published by state media showed Kim overseeing the launch with his daughter, Ju-ae, and his wife, Ri Sol-ju.

The KCNA said the missile, launched toward the northeast, hit a target 1,000 kilometers away from the East Sea.

The South Korean military earlier said it detected North Korea firing a ballistic missile toward the East Sea early Saturday morning from the Wonsan area and it flew over 700km.

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North's leader, disclosed the missile firing Saturday in an unusually swift move. She claimed military authorities of South Korea and Japan failed in tracking the trajectory of the missile due to the limitation of their tracking capabilities.

Experts raised the possibility of North Korea firing the Hwasong-16 Na hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile, citing North Korea's media report that the launched missile was capable of changing its flight orbit at a low altitude.

The missile launch came amid heightened tensions over last month's land mine blast inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that injured three South Korean soldiers.

The South Korean military blamed North Korea for the Sept. 21 mine blast and called it a "blatant" violation of the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. Seoul demanded an apology and responsible measures from Pyongyang.

North Korea has denied responsibility for the incident, accusing Seoul of fabricating the findings and warning of "merciless" retaliation if the South takes any corresponding actions.

On Sunday, the defense ministry said the missile behind Saturday's launch was within the range of detection and interception by South Korean and U.S. defense assets while denouncing the launch as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

"South Korea and the U.S. are maintaining a robust combined defense posture, and the North's recent missile launch is assessed as within the range of detection and interception by the assets available to South Korean and U.S. military," the ministry said in a notice to the press.

"North Korea's ballistic missile launches amount to a severe act in violation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions," it said, adding, "We urge North Korea to immediately halt acts that heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula and to join efforts to establish peace on the peninsula."