The test was conducted as U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in China on a swing through Asia that has been closely focused on concerns over how to deal with Pyongyang\u2019s nuclear and missile programs.<\/b>
TOKYO\u2014North Korea has conducted a ground test of a new type of high-thrust rocket engine that leader Kim Jong Un is calling a revolutionary breakthrough for the country\u2019s space program.
Kim attended the test at the Sohae launch site, according to a report Sunday by the Korean Central News Agency, which said the test was intended to confirm the \u201cnew type\u201d of engine\u2019s thrust power and gauge the reliability of its control system and structural safety.
The KCNA report said Kim called the test \u201ca great event of historic significance\u201d for the country\u2019s indigenous rocket industry.
He also said the \u201cwhole world will soon witness what eventful significance the great victory won today carries\u201d and claimed the test marks what will be known as the \u201cMarch 18 revolution\u201d in the development of the country\u2019s rocket industry.
The report indicated the engine is to be used for North Korea\u2019s space and satellite-launching program.
North Korea is banned by the United Nations from conducting long-range missile tests, but it claims its satellite program is for peaceful use, a claim many in the U. S. and elsewhere believe is questionable.
North Korean officials have said that under a five-year plan they intend to launch more Earth observation satellites and what would be the country\u2019s first geostationary communications satellite \u2014 which would be a major technological advance.
Getting that kind of satellite into place would likely require a more powerful engine than its previous ones. The North also claims it is trying to build a viable space program that would include a moon launch within the next 10 years.
The test was conducted as U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in China on a swing through Asia that has been closely focused on concerns over how to deal with Pyongyang\u2019s nuclear and missile programs.
It\u2019s hard to know whether this test was deliberately timed to coincide with Tillerson\u2019s visit, but Pyongyang has been highly critical of ongoing U. S.-South Korea wargames just south of the Demilitarized Zone and often conducts some sort of high-profile operation of its own in protest.
Earlier this month, it fired off four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, reportedly reaching within 200 kilometres (120 miles) of Japan\u2019s shoreline.
Japan, which was Tillerson\u2019s first stop before travelling to South Korea and China, hosts tens of thousands of U. S. troops.
During diplomatic meetings in Japan and South Korea this week, Tillerson called for tougher sanctions on Pyongyang and said the U. S. would not rule out military action against the country.
While building ever better long-range missiles and smaller nuclear warheads to pair with them, North Korea has marked a number of successes in its space program.
It launched its latest satellite \u2014 the Kwangmyongsong 4, or Brilliant Star 4 \u2014 into orbit on Feb. 7 last year, just one month after conducting what it claims was its first hydrogen-bomb test.
It put its first satellite in orbit in 2012, a feat few other countries have achieved. Rival South Korea, for example, has yet to do so.
The new rocket marked the \u201cnew birth of the Juche-based rocket industry,\u201d state-run news agency KCNA reported, adding that it would help consolidate the country\u2019s technological foundation in \u201cworld-level\u201d satellite delivery capability.
\u201cJuche\u201d is North Korea\u2019s homegrown ideology and the word itself translates as \u201cself-reliance.\u201d
With files from Deutsche Presse-Agentur
With files from Deutsche Presse-Agentur<\/p>\n