( CNN ) North Korea tested what it described as a new type of `` cutting-edge '' anti-ship missile with its leader Kim Jong Un pictured beaming at the launch , as shown in state media on Saturday . But some analysts are saying North Korea 's touted missiles appear to be Russian designs . The announcement of the test also occurs just weeks before the annual joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises , that annually draws colorful rhetoric and promises of catastrophe from Pyongyang . The test-firing took place in the East Sea and the North Korean media boasted that its `` intelligent rocket precisely sought , tracked and hit the 'enemy ' ship after taking a safe flight . '' The South Korean Defense ministry said five short-range missiles were fired on Sunday with a range of 200 kilometers ( 124 miles ) . The purpose of the new missiles are for North Korea to defend its waters and `` strongly react to any attempt of the enemy 's fleets of warships for military attack , through close combat or distant combat , '' according to North Korea 's state-run KCNA news agency . North Korean media also showed a beaming Kim standing with military generals who were applauding . It also reported that Kim expressed `` satisfaction '' over the `` highest level '' of rockets being developed in North Korea . But that point is being disputed , as one analytical officer wrote the weapon appeared to be a Russian Kh-35E anti-ship cruise missile . `` Whether the KPN ( Korean People 's Navy ) acquired the system directly from Russia or a third party is unclear , '' wrote Joseph S. Bermudez in the North Korea analysis site , 38 North . `` Should the new system be successfully integrated into the KPN and widely deployed it would represent a significant step towards redressing the service 's obsolescence and increasing the threat poised to South Korean and U.S. Navy vessels in the region . '' Bermudez also cautioned that this was only a `` potential development '' as North Korea 's military has a `` long history of slow and often poor system integration . '' This year , North Korea has made the usual protestations of the joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises , which it has referred in the past as `` joint saber-rattling . '' It offered a nuclear moratorium earlier this year in exchange for canceling the joint exercises . But the U.S. rejected the proposal , with a State Department spokeswoman calling it a `` false choice . '' Through KCNA , North Korea has since denounced U.S. with its colorful slogans as : `` Let 's wipe out and annihilate the enemy and give death to him ! '' and warning that the U.S. `` imperialists will face final doom . '' After the Korean War , which ended with an armistice in 1953 , the U.S. has maintained military personnel in South Korea . Based on a mutual defense treaty , the countries have carried out annual joint military exercises between U.S. units and South Korean armed forces , that they say are defensive in nature . CNN 's Paula Hancocks in Seoul , South Korea , contributed to this report .
North Korea tests anti - ship missile it says was developed in the 1990s . It says the missile actually looks similar to Russian Kh-35E anti - ship cruise missile . This comes before annual U.S.-South Korea exercises that received heavy criticism from South Korea .