On Saturday morning, North Korean state media reported that the two missile launches detected by South Korea, Japan and the U.S. on Jan. 14 were part of a “firing drill” involving rail-mobile missile units with the Korean People’s Army (KPA). The KPA’s Railway Mobile Missile Regiment tested the missile system, first introduced in Sept. 2021, from Uiju in the country’s northwest, near the Chinese border.

According to state media, the launches were operational and not developmental tests, unlike the first two missile tests in Jan. 2022. Notably, the Jan. 14 launches came after the Biden administration sanctioned