The country’s Missile Administration “conducted another ground test of a high-thrust solid-fuel engine using carbon fiber composite material on September 8,” the state-run KCNA news agency reported in a statement. “The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un supervised the important test,” it added.
According to KCNA, this was the “ninth ground propulsion test” and “the final step in the development process.” The agency quoted Kim as saying that the new engine “heralds a significant change in the expansion and strengthening of North Korea’s nuclear strategic forces.”
Images released by state media show Kim watching the flash produced by the device through binoculars, while another photo depicts what appears to be fire shooting horizontally from the test.
The maneuver comes just days after Kim returned to North Korea from a trip to Beijing to attend a major military parade marking Japan’s surrender in World War II, where he stood alongside Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.
