Launch of missiles a warning to US and South Korea, says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the launch of tactical guided missiles on Tuesday was a warning to the United States and South Korea`s joint military drills, state media KCNA said on Wednesday.

The missile launch, the North`s fourth such action in less than two weeks, came amid stalled nuclear talks with Washington and US-South Korea military exercises, though the allies played down the tests.

Kim said the latest missile test was “an occasion to send an adequate warning to the joint military drill now underway by the US and South Korean authorities,” according to KCNA.

The “new-type tactical guided missiles,” launched from the western area of North Korea, flew across the peninsula “over the capital area and the central inland region” to “precisely hit the targeted islet” in the sea off the east coast of the country, KCNA said, confirming the South Korean military`s report of their trajectories on Tuesday.

The launches “clearly verified the reliability, security and actual war capacity” of the weapon, KCNA said, echoing analysts who said the launches showed North Korea`s confidence in its missile technology.

The United States and South Korea kicked off their largely computer-simulated Dong Maeng exercises this week, which means “alliance”, as an alternative to previous large-scale annual drills that were halted to expedite denuclearisation talks.

North Korea decry those exercises as a rehearsal for war aimed at toppling the regime.

“South Korea and the United States have downscaled, refocused, rescheduled and quietly conducted their combined exercises to allow space for diplomacy with North Korea,” said Leif-Eric Easley, who teaches international security at Ewha University in Seoul.

“But Pyongyang shows no appreciation for this, keeping its own exercise schedule unchanged, conducting provocative weapons tests, and dialling up its rhetoric.”