N Korea carries out ‘very important test’ at rocket launch site
North Korea said yesterday that it had carried out a “very important test” at its longrange rocket launch site that it reportedly rebuilt after having partially dismantled it when it entered denuclearisation talks with the United States last year.
The announcement comes amid dimming prospects for a resumption of negotiations, with the North warning it would seek “a new way” if it failed to gain major US concessions by year’s end.
North Korea has said its resumption of nuclear and long-range missile tests depends on the United States.
Saturday’s test at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground would have “an important effect on changing the strategic position of (North Korea) once again in the near future,” an unidentified spokesman from the North’s Academy of National Defence Science said in a statement, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
He said the defence academy submitted the test results to the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party.
The North said last week that the Central Committee would hold a meeting in late December to discuss unspecified “crucial issues” in line with “the changed situation at home and abroad”.
North Korea did not say what the test included. Analyst Kim Dong-yub, at Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said North Korea likely tested for the first time a solid-fuel engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile. The use of solid fuel increases a weapon’s mobility.
CNN reported on Friday that a new satellite image indicated North Korea may be preparing to resume testing engines used to power satellite launchers and intercontinental ballistic missiles at the site.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in discussed developments related to North Korea and the two leaders committed to continue close communication. Mr Moon’s office also released a similar statement.
The Sohae launching center in Tongchang-ri, a seaside region in western North Korea, is where the North has carried out banned satellite launches in recent years, resulting in worldwide condemnation and UN sanctions over claims they were disguised tests of long-range missile technology.
North Korea has said its satellite launches are part of its peaceful space development program.
At the United Nations, a statement released by North Korea’s UN ambassador, Kim Song, on Saturday said denuclearisation had “already gone out of the negotiation table” and accused the Trump administration of persistently pursuing a “hostile policy” toward the country.