North Korea claimed its ballistic missile launches this week were part of a drill to target South Korean ports and airfields in the southern region.

Military experts in South Korea say the swifter-than-usual explanation by the North about its provocation is aimed at showing off its enhanced ability to strike American augmentation troops arriving on the peninsula in times of contingencies, as well as causing a rift within the South over the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense(THAAD) battery.

The North’s Korean Central Television (KCTV) and other state-run media on Wednesday claimed that Tuesday’s three ballistic missile launches were part of a training exercise to strike ports and airfields in South Korea.

According to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS), Pyongyang launched what appeared to be Scud and Nodong missiles toward the East sea, with two of them traveling up to 600 kilometers.

Along with images of Nodong and Scud missile launches, the ruling Workers’ Party's official Rodong Sinmun also carried photos of leader Kim Jong-un monitoring the exercise. Kim is seen with a map that pinpoints possible target locations in waters off South Korea's southern coast.

Drawing South Korean experts’ attention to the latest North Korean missile launch is the North’s seemingly enhanced ability to launch projectiles at a steep-angle, which enables the regime to shorten the flying distances of its mid- or long-range missiles.

The North Korean military operates missiles of various ranges, including the Scud-B with a range of 300 kilometers, the Scud-C with a range of 500 kilometers, the Nodong with a range of one-thousand-300 kilometers, and the Musudan with a range of three-thousand-500 kilometers.

One or two of the North Korean missiles launched on Tuesday were analyzed to be the Nodong missiles launched at a steep angle to shorten the flying distance.

Local analysts say the North was showing off with the latest missile launches that it now has more diverse means of striking the South.

The steep-angle launch also accelerates the descending velocity of a missile. Some observers speculate that the North intended to trigger an internal rift in the South over the efficiency of THAAD, raising doubts whether it can intercept the Scud and Nodong missiles coming down at increased speed.

Meanwhile, the South Korean military said that the North’s claim rather justifies Seoul’s and Washington’s decision to deploy a THAAD battery in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, from which it says the battery can intercept North Korean missiles aimed at major ports and airfields in the southeastern part of South Korea, such as Ulsan and Busan.