North Korea claims ‘successful’ test of new rocket engine

KCNA said the engine would give the country “sufficient carrier capability for launching various kinds of satellites, including Earth observation satellite at a world level”.

Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the test at the Sohae Space Center, reports the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Foreign ministers for the United States, Japan and South Korea met in NY on Sunday, ahead of U.N. meetings, to discuss stepped-up measures against North Korea and expand collaboration with one another after Pyongyang’s fifth and largest nuclear test.

Kim was quoted Tuesday telling state media that the satellite launch must be completed as soon as possible, amid “the enemies’ harsh sanctions and moves to stifle”, in an apparent reference to the United States and South Korea.

In its 2015 assessment of North Korea’s military capabilities, the U.S. Department of Defense estimated that “If successfully designed and developed, the KN-08 likely would be capable of reaching much of the continental United States”.

A Wall Street Journal report on Monday said both China and the US are also now targeting the finances of Liaoning Hongxiang Industrial, the Chinese conglomerate that the Obama leadership believes plays a role in North Korea’s nuclear program.

The North’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried photographs of Kim on a podium overlooking the vertical test stand that housed a rocket engine which blasted a column of flame.

NorthKorea claimed after its nuclear test this month that it had mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile, a worrying prospect for neighbors South Korea and Japan.

While Pyongyang says its two past satellite launches were for peaceful purposes, many analysts believe they were covertly used to conduct long range ballistic missile tests.

China, the North’s last-remaining major ally, has been reluctant to use its influence over Pyongyang for fear that pushing the regime too hard could result in instability in the North and hurt Chinese national interests. About 28,500 USA troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

North Korea appears to have finished extracting plutonium from spent nuclear fuel, gaining up to four more nuclear weapons worth of plutonium, a US research institute said Tuesday.

In March 2016, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2270, which imposes the toughest sanctions against North Korea so far.

North Korea is barred from nuclear tests and developing ballistic missile technology under numerous UNSC resolutions.

North Korea launching the satellite Kwangmyongsong-4 in early February. “Chinese companies that have capacity for producing or securing goods for North Korea may be anxious now”, he said.