KCNA said the successful test took place on Monday. The launch marked Pyongyang's first missile test of 2025 and came with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the region for what is expected to be his last foreign trip as America's top diplomat.

North Korea says its latest weapons test was a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to strike targets in the Pacific as leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further expand his collection of nuclear-capable weapons to counter rivals.

North Korea has claimed it fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile tipped with a hypersonic warhead which "will reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region". The launch on Monday - Pyongyang's first in two months - came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Seoul for talks with some of South Korea's key leaders.