North Korea leader supervises test of new engine for missile: State media

Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised
a successful test of a new engine for an
intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), state
media said on Saturday, in their latest report of
advances in an arms programme that has attracted South Korea and the United States have shown
scepticism over the North`s statements about
rapid progress in its nuclear and missile
programmes ahead of a ruling party congress in
May, where analysts expect it to declare itself a
major nuclear weapons state.
Tension has remained high on the Korean peninsula
after the North`s nuclear test and a long-range
rocket launch earlier in the year and South Korean
and U.S. troops conducted large-scale joint drills
amid harsh rhetoric from both rival Koreas.
The engine was ignited at Kim`s command and
released a fiery blast, and the test showed the
indigenously designed rocket fulfilled all required
conditions, the North`s official KCNA news agency
said.
"Dear Comrade Kim Jong Un said now we can
mount an ever more powerful nuclear warhead on
a new intercontinental ballistic rocket and put the
den of evil in the United States, and all over the
world, within our strike range," the agency said.
The test was conducted at the North`s missile
station near its west coast, where, in February, the
country launched a long-range rocket that put an
object into space orbit, KCNA said.
South Korea`s defence officials did not immediately
provide comment on the authenticity of Saturday`s
report.
The North said in March it had miniaturised a
nuclear warhead to be mounted on ballistic missiles
and conducted a simulated re-entry test of a
ballistic missile, which could indicate advances in
its ICBM programme, if true.
But South Korean officials questioned those
assertions and said the North was several years
away from developing an ICBM. The United States
said there was no proof of the North`s statements
and urged Pyongyang to halt actions that fuel
tension.
The North conducted its fourth nuclear test in
January and the rocket launch in February, in
defiance of international warnings and past U.N.
sanctions, triggering a new Security Council
resolution that imposed more punishment.
Despite its assertions, the North has yet to conduct
a flight-test of a long-range missile or an ICBM and
show mastery of the technology needed to bring a
missile back into the atmosphere and hit a target
with precision.
The North said its January nuclear test was a
successful hydrogen bomb test, but many experts
and officials in the South and the United States said
the blast was too small to have been from a
successful test of such a weapon.
Reuters.