Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono said Tuesday that projectiles lauched by North Korea a day earlier were short-range ballistic missiles, a move that would again violate U.N. sanctions that ban the nuclear-armed country from such technology.

The North's state media said in a report Tuesday that leader Kim Jong Un had overseen a "long-range artillery" drill on Monday, confirming Pyongyang has carried out its first launch of projectiles this year.

The report by the official Korean Central News Agency came a day after South Korea said the North fired two projectiles believed to be short-range ballistic missiles from near Wonsan toward the Sea of Japan on Monday afternoon.