People watch a television news program showing file footage of North Korea’s missile test, at a railway station in Seoul on January 1, 2020. (Photo: Jung Yeon-je/AFP)

The missiles are "a strategic weapon of great significance" and flew 1,500 km  before hitting their targets and falling into the country's territorial waters during the tests on Saturday and Sunday, KCNA said.

The latest test highlighted steady progress in Pyongyang's weapons programme amid a gridlock over talks aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes in return for US sanctions relief.

North Korea's cruise missiles usually generate less interest than ballistic missiles because they are not explicitly banned under UN Security Council Resolutions.

It is unclear whether North Korea has mastered the technology needed to build warheads small enough to be carried on a cruise missile, but leader Kim Jong Un said earlier this year that developing smaller bombs is a top goal.