[Yonhap News Photo]
North Korea claimed Tuesday to have successfully conducted the ground test of a new and powerful rocket engine capable of carrying a geostationary satellite into space in an operation led by leader Kim Jong-un.
The test was conducted successfully at the Sohae Space Center where North Korea launched a satellite into space on February 7, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The nuclear-armed country hailed the February launch as an "epoch-making" event and promised to go ahead with more rocket launches. Washington and its allies condemned the launch as a cover for developing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear bomb up to the US mainland.
The test of "a new type high-power engine of a carrier rocket for the geostationary satellite" will boost North Korea's capability to launch rockets for Earth observation and various other satellites, KCNA said.
Kim was quoted as saying that North Korea should tighten its belt and step up the development of space technology despite economic woes.
[Yonhap News Photo]
South Korean military authorities said Pyongyang has probably tested a high-powered single engine with an improved propulsion power for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), given its claim that the engine's thrust reached 80 ton force (tf). North Korea used a bundle of four engines with 27 tf each for its February launch.
On September 9, North Korea claimed to have conducted its fifth nuclear test aimed at acquiring technology for the production of diversified and miniaturized nuclear warheads to be carried by strategic missiles.
North Korea is ready for at least three more blasts at any time, Joel Wit, chief editor of 38 North, the website of a US research institute, said, adding Pyongyang could deploy more powerful nuclear weapons and more dangerous delivery systems "more quickly than previously expected".
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
