Pyongyang is celebrating its Wednesday test launch of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile against a backdrop of calls for harsher sanctions from around the world.
Photos of North Korea's smiling leader Kim Jong-un inspecting missile equipment around the time of the country's latest ballistic missile launch have been published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Touting the launch as a "breakthrough", Kim "declared with pride" that North Korea has "finally realized the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force, the cause of building a rocket power," the Independent quoted KCNA as saying.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has urged countries around the world to sever their commercial, diplomatic, military and any other ties with North Korea after the latest launch, which violated a UN Security Council resolution.
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting, she also said that the North Korean leader "made a choice yesterday that brings the world closer to war, not farther from it."
US Defense Secretary James Mattis, for his part, told journalists shortly after the launch that this North Korean missile was "higher, frankly, than any previous shot they have taken."
Early on Thursday, an emergency UN Security Council meeting over North Korea's latest missile launch is set to take place at the initiative of Japan, South Korea and the United States.