North Korea says it carried out ‘very important test’ at missile-engine site

North Korea said Sunday that it had conducted a “very important test” at its missile-engine test and satellite-launch site, another sign of the country’s escalating pressure on the United States to make further concessions before a Dec 31 deadline set by its leader, Kim Jong Un.

The test was carried out Saturday at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, referring to the Tongchang-ri site near the North Korean border with China, a spokesman for the North’s Academy of National Defense Science said in a statement that was carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The brief statement provided no further details. But analysts said North Korea had most likely tested a new type of engine for long-range ballistic missiles.

The academy reported “the results of the successful test of great significance” to the Central Committee of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, the spokesman said. The spokesman said that the successful test “will have an important effect on changing the strategic position” of North Korea “once again in the near future.”

North Korea has used the Tongchang-ri site to test rocket engines and launch satellite-delivery vehicles, accumulating technology that Washington said it then used to build and test long-range ballistic missiles. A series of resolutions by the United Nations Security Council has banned the North from conducting tests that could be used to build ballistic missiles.

In Mar 2017, North Korea successfully tested a new high-thrust engine at Tongchang-ri that was used to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles, such as the Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15, later that year.