Seoul: North Korea said on Wednesday leader Kim Jong-un supervised a live-fire demonstration of newly developed, short-range ballistic missiles intended to send a warning to the United States and South Korea over their joint military exercises.

The official Korean Central News Agency said two missiles launched from a western airfield flew across the country and over the area surrounding the capital, Pyongyang, before accurately hitting an island target off its eastern coast.

In this August 6, 2019 photo provided by the North Korean government, Kim Jong-un visits an airfield in the western area of North Korea to watch its weapons demonstrations. Credit:KCNA via AP

Its four rounds of weapons demonstrations in two weeks come during a stalemate in nuclear negotiations and after President Donald Trump repeatedly dismissed the significance of the tests, even though the weapons show North Korea's ability to strike at US allies South Korea and Japan and its military bases there.

Experts say Trump's downplaying of the North's weapons displays allowed the country more room to advance its capabilities and build leverage ahead of negotiations, which could possibly resume sometime after the end of the allies' drills later this month.