NORTH KOREA (REUTERS) - North Korea's state-run television KRT released on Tuesday (Jan 24) a video of leader Kim Jong Un supervising the test launch of an intermediate-range missile, believed to have taken place last June.

After watching the test launch of the Hwasong-10 missile, Kim said that the country now has the capability to attack US interests in the Pacific, according to KRT.

Hwasong is Korean for Mars.

Still photographs of the drill had been released in June 2016.

South Korean and US military officials have said the North launched what appeared to be two intermediate-range missiles dubbed Musudan on June 22.

The first of the two was considered a failure. The second reached a high altitude in the direction of Japan before plunging into the sea about 400km away, they said.

The missile, which is fired from mobile launchers, has a design range of more than 3,000km, meaning all of Japan and the US territory of Guam are potentially within reach.

Tension on the divided Korean peninsula has been high after two North Korean nuclear tests and an unprecedented flurry of ballistic missile tests.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in his New Year's speech that the country was close to test launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and state media has said a launch could come at any time. Experts on country's missile programme believe the claims to be credible.

The United States has seen indications that North Korea may be preparing for a new missile test-launch in the coming days or weeks, US officials said on Jan 19.