North Korea said on Saturday it has successfully tested a new intercontinental rocket engine that will give it the ability to stage nuclear strikes on the United States.
The engine’s ground test, if true, would be a big step forward for the North’s nuclear weapons programme, which saw its fourth atomic test earlier this year. But the North may still need a good deal of work before it can hit the US mainland with nuclear missiles. South Korean officials say North Korea doesn’t yet have a reliable long-range missile, let alone the ability to arm it with a nuclear warhead.
The test, announced by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, is only the latest in a string of what Washington and its allies consider North Korean provocations, including last month’s launch of a medium-range ballistic missile that violated United Nations Security Council resolutions that prohibit any ballistic missile activities by North Korea. It was the North’s first medium-range missile launch since early 2014.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner called on North Korea to “refrain from actions and rhetoric that further destabilise the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its commitments and international obligations”.
The North has also threatened pre-emptive nuclear strikes against Washington and Seoul and fired short-range missiles and artillery into the sea in an apparent response to ongoing US-South Korean military drills and tough UN sanctions imposed over the recent nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch earlier this year.