N.Korea confirms another medium-range ballistic missile drill

Kim Jong Nam. Pic/AFP

North Korea confirmed on Saturday that it conducted another medium-range ballistic missile drill Friday under the personal guidance of its top leader Kim Jong Un.

"The launching drill was conducted with the aim at calming down the belligerence of the US which has recently cried out for using military muscle against North Korea, and at bolstering up operation capability for attack and counterattack to counter it with swift and powerful military counteraction, examining the order to deal with nuclear warheads and confirming action procedure of actual war," said North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

A Hwasong-12 medium-range ballistic missile "zoomed to the sky with dazzling flash and big explosion" and "crossed the sky above Hokkaido of Japan along the preset flight track and accurately hit the preset target waters in the Pacific," Xinhua news agency cited the report as saying.

The missile was fired from Sunam near Pyongyang and flew 3,700 km with an altitude of 770 km and hit the targeted spot in the northern Pacific, according to earlier media reports. Kim said the "combat efficiency and reliability of Hwasong-12 were thoroughly verified, operation members' capacity for actual war is also very perfect and the work for increasing combat power of Hwasong-12 has been realized," according to KCNA.

Kim also said the the final goal of North Korea in developing its nuclear and missile programs was to establish a strategic equilibrium with the US. "Our final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force with US and make the US rulers dare not talk about military option for North Korea," he was quoted as saying by KCNA.