Fresh from his appearance at China’s Victory Day parade in Beijing last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally oversaw the trial of a lighter, more robust solid-fuel ICBM engine, state media reported on Tuesday, touting the achievement as a “strategic” breakthrough.
Reportedly built with advanced carbon-fibre composites, the high-thrust engine “heralds a significant change in expanding and strengthening the nuclear strategic forces” of North Korea, Kim declared, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
He described the test as “a success assuming the most strategic nature in the recent modernisation of defence technology”.
The development marks a potential watershed in North Korea’s missile programme. Pyongyang’s references to a ninth and “final” test point to the imminent debut of a new ICBM – possibly the Hwasong-20 – according to Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
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