North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly supervised the launch of what the regime claimed was a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile(ICBM) on Thursday with his daughter, Ju-ae.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) said on Friday that the ICBM was test-fired the previous day in response to the instability of the security environment on the Korean Peninsula resulting from the "provocative and aggressive large-scale war drills" conducted by the United States and South Korea.

The North claimed that the launch had no negative impact on the neighboring countries, adding that it confirmed the war readiness of the ICBM unit. 

Kim reportedly expressed "great satisfaction" with the test-firing and stressed the need to strengthen the country’s nuclear war deterrence to a degree that it cannot be dismantled.

He also hinted that Pyongyang will continue its military actions in response to the South Korea-U.S. combined military exercises, saying that the North will make its enemies realize that they will face an irreversible threat at a serious level.

[Photo : YONHAP News]