Kim Jong Un, the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), oversaw artillery units' firing drills, state media said Tuesday, a day after Republic of Korea (ROK) said the nation fired what appeared to be two ballistic missiles.

ROK's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement that the projectiles were launched toward the ocean near the DPRK's east coastal town of Wonsan at about 12:37 p.m. local time (0337 GMT).

It was the DPRK's first launch of projectiles this year. During the latest test-firing on November 28 last year, two projectiles were launched from the DPRK's eastern province of South Hamgyong towards the eastern waters.

After inspecting the long-range artillery sub-units' testing of the multiple rocket launcher system, Kim expressed "great satisfaction" and called for a strong "military readiness posture," Yonhap News Agency reported.

"He said that the People's Army should keep full combat-readiness to protect the sky, land and sea of the country from any encroachment, [and] steadily increase its combat capabilities," according to the Korean Central News Agency.

Monday's firings came just days after the first anniversary of the second summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam. 

Little progress has been made in the denuclearization talks since the two-day meeting collapsed without a deal amid the two sides' wide differences over Pyongyang's denuclearization steps and Washington's sanctions relief.