The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Tuesday that leader Kim Jong Un supervised a long-range artillery strike drill a day earlier to inspect his forces' "sudden military counterattack capability."

Kim "guided another firepower strike drill of long-range artillery sub-units of the Korean People's Army on the front," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

"The purpose of the firepower strike drill was to inspect the sudden military counterattack capability of the long-range artillery units on the front," it added.

At Kim's order, the artillery men fired all at once and "hit the target with excellent marksmanship," the KCNA said.

Kim expressed "great satisfaction" with the result, urging the unit to "go on in the direction of further strengthening the artillery training," it noted.

No other details on the weapons tested and where the drill took place were revealed.

According to Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff, the latest projectiles were fired northeastward from areas near its eastern town of Sondok, with some of them flying around 200 kilometers and reaching a maximum altitude of around 50 kilometers.

"We continue to call on North Korea (DPRK) to avoid provocations, abide by obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions, and return to sustained and substantive negotiations to do its part to achieve complete denuclearization," said a U.S. State Department spokesperson, Yonhap News Agency reported.

On Sunday night, a senior U.S. government official said Washington was "aware of reports" of the launch.

The U.S. continues to monitor the situation and is consulting with its allies, South Korea and Japan, the official said.

Commenting on the launch, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said that China calls on all parties to demonstrate flexibility on issues of mutual concern, stick to dialogue and consultation, and make efforts to sustain the current momentum of dialogue and detente.

The DPRK accused European nations of "illogical thinking" on Saturday after they called a closed-door UN Security Council meeting to condemn missile launches by the DPRK.

"The illogical thinking and sophism of these countries are just gradually bearing a close resemblance to the United States, which is hostile to us," a DPRK foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement to KCNA.