Pictured: 'Super-large missile' launched by Kim Jong-un's North Korea into the sea off Japan's east coast in latest controversial test

Newly released images show a number of 'unidentified projectiles' believed to have been fired by North Korea into the sea last Sunday, South Korea's military has said.  

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectile launched on Sunday morning landed in water off the North's eastern coast.

Local media reported that 'a super-large multiple rocket launcher' had been used.

North Korea has fired a series of missiles and artillery shells in recent weeks in an apparent attempt to upgrade its military capability amid deadlocked nuclear talks with the United States.

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The testing of what local media call a super-large multiple rocket launcher in North Korea, in this undated photo released on March 28, 2020 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency

The talks have stalled since the breakdown of a second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump in Vietnam in early 2019. 

Projectiles were fired towards the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, Yonhap news agency reported earlier this week, citing the South's military joint chiefs of staff.

This was the fourth round of such launches this month by Pyongyang, as the world struggles with the coronavirus pandemic - and as a prolonged hiatus in disarmament talks with the United States drags on.

A little over a week ago, the nuclear-armed North fired what were believed to be two short-range ballistic missiles.

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South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectile launched on Sunday morning landed in water off the North's eastern coast

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) and US President Donald Trump shake hands on June 30, 2019, during a meeting on the south side of the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea

A day later, North Korean state media announced that US President Donald Trump had sent a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un detailing a plan to develop ties.

The report cited Kim's powerful sister Kim Yo Jong, who warned that the apparently good personal relationship between the two leaders would not be enough to kickstart broader relations.

'In the letter, he... explained his plan to propel the relations between the two countries of the DPRK and the US and expressed his intent to render cooperation in the anti-epidemic work,' an apparent reference to the coronavirus pandemic, she said in the statement reported by the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

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In this image released by Korea's Korean Central News Agency on March 22, a missile is fired from an unknown location in the country 

A senior US administration official confirmed Trump had sent a letter to Kim, 'consistent with his efforts to engage global leaders during the ongoing pandemic'.

Analysts say the North has been continuing to refine its weapons capabilities more than a year after a summit between Kim and Trump broke down in Hanoi.

The deadlock is over sanctions relief and what North Korea would be willing to give up in return.

Pyongyang is under multiple sets of United Nations, US and other sanctions over its weapons programmes.

The North set for Washington a unilateral end-2019 deadline to offer fresh concessions, and in late December, Kim declared his country no longer considered itself bound by moratoriums on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests.