North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has supervised a ground test of a new rocket engine to launch satellites, state media reported on Tuesday, the latest in a rapid succession of missile-related tests this year by the isolated state.
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Leader Kim Jong-un also called for more tests, so that North Korea will become a “possessor of geostationary satellites in a couple of years to come”, the agency also cited him as saying.
The engine test claim comes weeks after North Korea conducted its biggest ever nuclear test, and as South Korea says the regime is ready to conduct further atomic detonations.
Kim called for his country’s space agency to speed up its technological advancement, despite now struggling to fix the damage caused by North Korea’s worst flood since being established in the wake of World War II.
North Korea is cognizant of Beijing’s dilemma and is expected to continue its brinkmanship at a time when its nuclear weapons development is said to be near completion.
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.
The event marks the first time Kim has appeared in public in a non-civilian site since September 9, when North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test at Punggye-ri.
“The next test, disguised as a satellite launch, is likely to come when the UN Security Council adopts new sanctions over its last nuclear test or around the time when the United States presidential election takes place in November”, Yang said.
Obama met Li on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly session in NY. In February, North Korea put a satellite into space with a long-range rocket and has since test-fired dozens of short- and midrange ballistic missiles.
In recent months Pyongyang has repeated threats to attack the USA with nuclear-tipped long-range missiles.
North Korea has also performed a series of unsuccessful missile tests in recent months which are part of its push for a nuclear-armed missile that could one day reach the American mainland.
Tehran has continued to test ballistic missiles, despite U.N. Security Council resolutions, even after the deal with world powers to cap Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for a lifting of global sanctions took effect in January.
A Chinese conglomerate trading heavily with North Korea is suspected of involvement in exports of “dual-use” goods, dealings with sanctioned entities and provision of IT services underpinning cyber infrastructure in the North, a joint South Korea-U.S. research report showed Monday.
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China and United States have also held talks pertaining to the same.
