Watch: Kim Jong-un oversees massive missile launch

Kim Jong Un has overseen the firing of missiles from six “super large” rocket launchers in the western region of North Korea.

The drills came a day after South Korea and Japan reported North Korea’s launch of several short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, its first such missile test in about two months.

Video footage released by Pyongyang shows Kim, dressed in a leather jacket, appearing to direct military personnel ahead of the launch of six rockets before he is pictured smiling with satisfaction at the outcome.

At the end of the video, the North Korean leader is shown punching the air as he views photos of explosions.

According to state media KCNA, the drills were aimed at testing the “real-war capabilities” of 600-millimetre multiple rocket launchers and improving the military’s combat morale and readiness.

The drills also included simulating an air explosion of a shell of the “super-large multiple rocket launcher” at a preset altitude above the target, KCNA said in a report on Tuesday.

The military unit displayed “high mobility and accurate and strong striking power” in carrying out a sudden combat mission, the report added, and was praised by Kim.

“They fully demonstrated their excellent crack-shot artillery marksmanship and prompt and thorough combat readiness,” KCNA said of the troops.

Under Kim’s leadership, Pyongyang has broken with decades of its inter-Korean policy, scrapping a military pact and declaring South Korea a hostile enemy state.

When asked about threats by the North’s multiple rocket launchers at a news conference on Monday, Seoul’s defence minister, Shin Won-sik, warned that if Pyongyang fires a large number of conventional missiles against the South, it would “constitute a war” and prompt strong retaliatory attacks.