Updated

North Korea says leader Kim Jong Un vowed to complete his nuclear weapons program in the face of strengthening sanctions after he inspected a powerful new intermediate-range missile that was fired over Japan.

The North's state media carried Kim's comments on Saturday, a day after U.S. and South Korean militaries detected the missile launch from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

It traveled 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) before landing into the northern Pacific Ocean.

It was the country's longest-ever test flight of a ballistic missile.

The North has confirmed the missile as an intermediate range Hwasong-12, which it also launched over Japan on Aug. 29.

North Korea has also threatened to fire a salvo of these missiles toward Guam. It conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3