The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday said it had launched a "newly developed new-type tactical guided projectile" a day earlier, state news agency KCNA reported on Friday.

The launch, the country's first ballistic missile tests in nearly a year, underscored steady progress in its weapons program amid stalled denuclearization talks with the United States.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday the United States remained open to diplomacy with the DPRK despite its missile tests this week, but warned there would be responses if Pyongyang escalates matters.

The U.S. State Department later condemned the ballistic missile launches as destabilizing. "These launches violate multiple UN Security Council resolutions and threaten the region and the broader international community," a State Department spokesman said.

The new weapon is based on existing technology that was improved to carry a 2.5-ton warhead, KCNA reported.

It said the two weapons accurately struck a target 600 km off DPRK's east coast, which conflicts with estimates by South Korean and Japanese authorities who said the missiles flew about 420-450 km.

"The development of this weapon system is of great significance in bolstering up the military power of the country and deterring all sorts of military threats," Ri Pyong Chol, the senior official who oversaw the test, said, according to KCNA.

Photos released by state media showed a black-and-white painted missile blasting off from a military launch vehicle.

KCNA said Thursday's test confirmed the missile's capability to conduct "low-altitude gliding leap type flight mode," a feature that makes such weapons harder to detect and shoot down.

(With input from Reuters)