North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned his opponents on Thursday that his nuclear forces were fully prepared for "real war", a day after the isolated country conducted another missile test.
Our nuclear combat forces have once again demonstrated their full readiness for actual war to keep our enemies under control, Kim Jong-un said, according to a report by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The leader's aggressive statement - the first in several months regarding North Korea's missile program - came after KCNA reported that he personally supervised Wednesday's long-range cruise missile test over waters west of the Korean Peninsula, CNN reported.
According to the channel's calculations, Wednesday was the regime's 26th cruise or ballistic missile test this year, although analysts stressed that KCNA's reports should be treated with caution as North Korean state media tend to overestimate the success of launches.
On Monday, North Korean state media broke a six-month silence on a series of missile tests this year, saying they were part of a simulation designed to demonstrate Pyongyang's readiness to fire tactical nuclear warheads at targets in South Korea.