North Korea's Kim warns 'enemies' after cruise missile tests

North Korea has test-fired a pair of strategic long-range cruise missiles, state media reported, in the latest of a flurry of drills to highlight its tactical nuclear capability.

Leader Kim Jong-un oversaw on the spot the test firing of these missiles that travelled 2,000 kilometres over the sea and he expressed "great satisfaction," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Thursday.

Stressing that the test-fire was another clear warning to its "enemies," leader Kim said the country "should continue to expand the operational sphere of the nuclear strategic armed forces to resolutely deter any crucial military crisis and war crisis at any time and completely take the initiative in it," according to KCNA.

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles early on Sunday, making it the seventh such launch since September 25.

North Korea's recent flurry of missile tests was designed to simulate showering the South with tactical nuclear weapons as a warning after large-scale navy drills by South Korean and US forces. 

READ MORE: North Korea conducts tactical nuclear drills against 'enemy'

Nuclear weapon test

North Korea's ruling Workers' Party decided to conduct the drills as an unavoidable response to a large-scale mobilisation of US and South Korean naval forces, including an aircraft carrier and a nuclear-powered submarine.

Thursday's tests were the latest in a series of weapons tests that have sent tensions soaring on the Korean peninsula — and heightened fears that Pyongyang might conduct its first nuclear test since 2017.

North Korea has finished all technical preparations for a new test in the underground tunnels at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test site, which has been shuttered since 2018, leaving the question of timing in the hands of leader Kim, South Korean officials have said.

READ MORE: N Korea fires ballistic missile after US, S Korea, Japan joint drills