North Korea has confirmed that it carried out a test launch of a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile on Saturday afternoon.

The ruling Workers' Party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said on Sunday that the missile was fired from an international airport in Sunan on the outskirts of the capital Pyongyang.

The paper claimed that the test has shown to the United States and South Korea that North Korea has the capability to launch a strategic nuclear counterattack.

It said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued an order to conduct the test at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

A Hwasong-17 ICBM was tested in November last year. The latest launch was reportedly conducted by the same team under the auspices of a newly-founded "missile general bureau."

The paper said that the missile was launched on a lofted trajectory and reached an altitude of 5,768.5 kilometers, flying the distance of 989 kilometers in an hour, six minutes and 55 seconds.