The announcement followed two North Korean ballistic missile launches detected by South Korea earlier Wednesday.

South Korea says it has carried out its first underwater-launched missile test, hours after rival North Korea fired two ballistic missiles toward the sea.

President Moon Jae-in's office said in a statement that Moon observed the test of a domestically built submarine-launched ballistic missile on Wednesday afternoon.

It says the missile fired from a 3,000-tonne-class submarine flew a previously set distance before hitting a designated target.

The announcement followed two North Korean ballistic missile launches detected by South Korea earlier Wednesday.