North Korea claims that it has conducted a successful test of an engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile, which it says would boost its ability to carry out a nuclear attack on the U.S.
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According to Reuters, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency reported that the engine for an ICBM was ignited at the North Korean leader’s orders and then it gave a “fiery blast”.
The news agency quoted him saying that the North can now tip intercontinental ballistic missiles with more powerful nuclear warheads that could keep the United States mainland within striking distance and “reduce them to ashes so that they may not survive in our planet”. High-powered engine successfully tested, increasing the range of North Korea’s nuclear missiles, Pyongyang says.
January 6, 2016: North Korea claims it has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, its fourth test of an atomic device, but Western experts doubted it had the power of a hydrogen nuclear explosion.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner called on North Korea to “refrain from actions and rhetoric that further destabilise the region”.
This is the latest in a litany of reports made by the North Korean regime about its weapons development.
Local news reports said Saturday that the 13 had originally worked at a restaurant in Yanji in China’s Jilin province near the Sino-North Korean border before being transferred to Ningbo, in northeast Zhejiang province, last December.
The North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper published photos of Kim smiling widely and clapping with officials.
One picture showed Kim looking down from an observation tower as flames were seen over the horizon. Kim declared that warheads had been miniaturised for use on ballistic missiles.
South Korea and the United States have shown scepticism over the North’s statements about rapid progress in its nuclear and missile programs ahead of a ruling party congress in May, where analysts expect it to declare itself a major nuclear weapons state.
A television image of Kim Jong Un after Korea’s solid-fuel rocket test in March this year.
The North has also claimed to have mastered a re-entry technology created to protect a warhead from extreme heat and other challenges when it returns to the atmosphere from space following a missile launch.
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Even amid skepticism, the United States and South Korea have conducted large-scale joint drills in response to missile testing North Korea has flaunted recently.
