SEOUL – North Korea has test-fired a tactical ballistic missile equipped with a new "autonomous navigation system," state media reported on Saturday, with leader Kim Jong Un vowing to strengthen the country's nuclear force.

Kim oversaw Friday's test-launch into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, on a mission to evaluate the "accuracy and reliability of the autonomous navigation system," Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The launch was the latest in a string of increasingly sophisticated tests by North Korea, which has fired off cruise missiles, tactical rockets and hypersonic weapons in recent months, in what the nuclear-armed, United Nations-sanctioned country says is a drive to upgrade its defenses.

The launch came hours after the leader's powerful sister Kim Yo Jong denied allegations by Seoul and Washington that Pyongyang is shipping weapons to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

Seoul's military on Friday described the test as "several flying objects presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles" from North Korea's eastern Wonsan area into waters off its coast.

The suspected missiles traveled around 300 kilometers (186 miles) before splashing down in waters between South Korea and Japan, the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said.

"The accuracy and reliability of the autonomous navigation system were verified through the test fire," the KCNA said on Saturday, adding that Kim Jong Un expressed "great satisfaction" with the launch.

In a separate report, the news agency said Kim visited a military production facility on Friday and urged for "more rapidly bolstering the nuclear force" of the nation "without halt and hesitation."

During the visit, it added, he said the "enemies would be afraid of and dare not to play with fire only when they witness the nuclear combat posture of our state."

Pyongyang's nuclear force "will meet a very important change and occupy a remarkably raised strategic position" when its munitions production plan, aimed to be completed by 2025, is carried out, the KCNA said.

Putin's attentionSeoul and Washington have accused North Korea of sending arms to Russia, which would violate rafts of UN sanctions on both countries, with experts saying the recent spate of testing may be of weapons destined for use on battlefields in Ukraine.

North Korea is barred by those sanctions from conducting tests using ballistic technology, but its key ally Moscow used its UN Security Council veto in March to effectively end UN monitoring of violations, for which Pyongyang has specifically thanked Russia.

But Kim Yo Jong said on Friday that Pyongyang had "no intention to export our military technical capabilities to any country," adding that the North's priority was "to make the war readiness and war deterrent of our army more perfect in quality and quantity."

She accused Seoul and Washington of "misleading the public opinion" with their allegations that Pyongyang was transferring arms to Russia.

The Friday launch came while Russian leader Vladimir Putin was in China on Friday, the final day of a visit aiming to promote crucial trade with Beijing — North Korea's most important ally — and win greater support for his war in Ukraine.

North Korea's latest weapons tests were likely intended to attract the attention of Putin while he was in China, said Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies.

The North would benefit greatly from an expected visit by Putin to Pyongyang, and "they want their country to be used as a military logistics base during Russia's ongoing war (in Ukraine)," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

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