North Korea said on Friday that its leader Kim Jong-un oversaw a "fire assault drill" by an artillery unit a day earlier.

The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) said that Kim gave field guidance to the Hwasong artillery unit charged with an “important operational task” of the Korean People's Army on the western front on Thursday and watched the drill.

Overseeing the exercise, Kim reportedly stressed the need to "overwhelmingly respond" to any war preparations by the enemy.

Kim was accompanied by his young daughter Ju-ae, who has appeared recently in a series of major events.

The KCNA said that the artillery unit demonstrated its capability to respond in an actual war by striking an enemy operations airfield targeted in a simulated drill.

On Thursday, South Korea's military said the North fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the Yellow Sea from the North's western port city of Nampo at around 6:20 p.m.

[Photo : YONHAP News]