North Korea has said its latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test demonstrated its “powerful physical nuclear deterrent” and its efforts to “turn its capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on hostile forces”.

The Hwasong-15 missile fired from Pyongyang’s international airport on Saturday fell into the Sea of Japan around 125 miles (201km) west of northwestern Oshima Island, according to Tokyo’s vice minister of defence Toshiro Ino.

North Korea said the launch was a reaction to South Korean and US military drills planned for next month.

The Hwasong-15 launch demonstrated the North’s “powerful physical nuclear deterrent” and its efforts to “turn its capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces” into an extremely strong one that cannot be countered, KCNA, North Korea’s state news agency, said.

Leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong also said on Sunday: “I warn that we will watch every movement of the enemy and take corresponding and very powerful and overwhelming counteraction against its every move hostile to us.”

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The US responded to the test by flying long-range supersonic bombers.

US B-1B bombers and other aircraft separately trained with South Korean and Japanese fighter jets over and near the Korean Peninsula.

A South Korean military statement said Sunday’s training reaffirmed Washington’s “iron-clad” security commitment to South Korea.

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UN Security Council resolutions have banned North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programme.

But North Korea claims its weapons are needed to counter “hostile policies” by the US and its allies.

North Korea had vowed “unprecedentedly” strong action against “arch-criminal” states after South Korea announced a series of military drills with the US over the coming months.

Kim Jong Un attended a large-scale military parade on the streets of Pyongyang last week, as troops rolled out more than a dozen ICBMs.

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