Kim Jong-Un Pictured Watching Rocket Launch

Photographs of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un at a rocket firing drill have been released by the secretive state.

The country's state-run television station KRT broadcast the stills showing Mr Kim speaking to military officials.

Mr Kim called on troops to prepare for both words and actions, stressing to keep up combat readiness, KRT said.

The exact date and location of the visit on the western border are not known.

The images emerged a day after the North launched short-range missiles into its eastern waters.

The missiles, which an official of the South Korean joint chiefs of staff said appeared to be ballistic Scud-class, were launched from a province in western North Korea and flew about 500km (310 miles) before falling into waters to the northeast.

South Korea condemned the launch as a "serious provocation" that threatened stability on the peninsula.

UN resolutions bar the North from conducting any ballistic missile tests.

Wednesday's test was "unusual", ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok said, because the missiles were fired from a sensitive location close to the demilitarised zone (DMZ) which has bisected the peninsula since the Korean war ended in a fragile armistice.

"It appeared to be aimed at delivering a message ... that South Korea could be the target of surprise attacks by North Korean ballistic missiles anytime and from any place," he said.