North Korea has blasted the United States' test of a long-range interceptor missile designed to gauge American readiness to counter potential threats from Pyongyang.

In a statement run by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Friday, a spokesman for the Korean People's Army's Strategic Forces, the unit that oversees the nuclear-armed country's nuclear and conventional strategic defense missiles, called the U.S. test a "serious military provocation that brings to light the U.S. imperialists' wild ambition for igniting a nuclear war."

According to the Pentagon, Tuesday's test successfully shot down an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) using an upgraded long-range interceptor missile.