Kim also urged officials and researchers to round off preparations for launching satellites as soon as possible, KCNA news agency reported.
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The Institute for Science and International Studies (ISIS) said that satellite imagery taken of the North’s Yongbyon nuclear complex between July and August shows little activity at the North’s nuclear reprocessing plant, compared with brisk activity earlier this year when reprocessing was believed to be under way.
A man watches a TV news showing images that North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper reports of the ground test of a high-powered engine of a carrier rocket and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the country’s Sohae Space Center, at Seoul Railway station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. The letters read “North Korea conducts rocket engine test”. The test explosion, the most powerful to date, was carried out on the 68th anniversary of the founding of North Korea’s government.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang didn’t directly criticize North Korea over the latest engine test but called on “all parties” to honor United Nations resolutions on the use of ballistic-missile technology.
Rocket scientist Chae Yeon-Seok at the South’s Korea Aerospace Research Institute said with the new engine, the North is “coming close to having an inter-continental ballistic missile [ICBM] that could hit the USA mainland”.
This includes shipping to North Korea so-called “dual-use” goods, such as aluminum oxide, which can have both civilian and nuclear-weapons development uses.
In a joint statement, the ministers said North North’s disregard for multiple United Nations resolutions prohibiting its missile and nuclear programs called for even stronger worldwide pressure.
Washington, on the other hand, has been pressing Beijing to tighten its rein over North Korea.
“North Korea’s space programme is focused on developing launch vehicles that can easily be used for missiles rather than developing decent satellites”, Chae told AFP.
South Korea says the defence shield is needed to counter the missile threat from Pyongyang, but China says it poses a threat to its own security.
The Liaoning Hongxiang Group operates six companies that allegedly sold North Korea aluminum bars and chemicals that have potential military purposes, 10 ships involved in the North’s banned mineral trade, including coal, and a hotel that allegedly is the headquarters for a group of North Korean cyber hackers. The United States has said it is willing to negotiate with the North if the country commits to get rid of its nuclear weapons, which Pyongyang has refused to do.
“We can not escape the prospect of nuclear war unless we all commit to stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and pursuing a world without them”, Obama said.
Kim Jong-un reportedly also called for more satellite launches so that North Korea becomes a possessor of geostationary satellites in the next several years.
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DPRK is the acronym for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
