PYONGYANG, (NORTH KOREA): North Korean state media announced on Sunday that the nation’s leader, Kim Jong Un, had personally overseen the test-firing of two new air defense missiles.

The launches, which took place on Saturday, are the latest in a series of provocative actions by Pyongyang amid heightened military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the new weapon systems demonstrated “superior combat capability,” utilizing a “unique technology” to effectively destroy aerial targets such as drones and cruise missiles.

This display of military expansion comes just days after South Korean forces fired warning shots at approximately 30 North Korean soldiers who briefly crossed the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Tuesday, an incident Pyongyang labeled a “deliberate provocation.”

The missile test also coincides with ongoing large-scale joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, which North Korean leader Kim has previously condemned as “most hostile and confrontational.”

The timing is particularly sensitive as American President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Washington on Monday.

The newly elected South Korean leader had campaigned on improving inter-Korean relations, a goal that has been rebuffed by North Korea’s leadership.

Amid these developments, officials in Seoul have expressed concern that North Korea is receiving advanced missile technology from Russia in exchange for providing troops to support Russian aggression in Ukraine.

While it remains unclear if the latest missiles incorporate any such technology, analysts point to North Korea’s aging air defense systems as a likely area of military cooperation between the two nations.