Kim Jong Un guided NKorea missile launch

North Korea launched a missile over Japan to counter military exercises between the South and the US, the rogue state's leader Kim Jong Un says.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided a launch of its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan in a drill to counter the joint military exercises by South Korean and US.

"The current ballistic rocket launching drill like a real war is the first step of the military operation of the KPA in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam," the North's official KCNA news agency quoted Kim as saying.

KPA stands for the Korean People's Army, the North's military.

North Korea threatened to fire four missiles into the sea near the US Pacific territory of Guam earlier this month after President Donald Trump said the North would face "fire and fury" if it threatened the United States.