North Korea's state media on Tuesday ramped up criticism against joint military drills by South Korea and the United States, calling them a "nuclear war exercise," but made no mention of the North's ballistic missile test a day earlier.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a test-launch of strategic cruise missiles and ordered full readiness to use nuclear attack capability, which would ensure the most effective defence for the country,

South Korea’s military says North Korea fired several ballistic missiles off the North’s west coast on Monday. The launches came hours after the South Korean and US militaries began their annual drills that North Korea views an invasion rehearsal.