SEOUL - North Korea has carried out a "very
important" test at its Sohae satellite launch site, state media
KCNA reported on Sunday, a rocket testing ground that U.S.
officials once said North Korea had promised to close.
The reported test comes as a year-end deadline North Korea
has imposed nears, warning it could take a "new path" amid
stalled denuclearisation talks with the United States.
The KCNA report called it a "successful test of great
significance" but did not specify what was tested.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, which usually issues
alerts if a missile is seen launching from North Korea, declined
to comment.
Missile experts said it appeared likely the North Koreans
had conducted a static test of a rocket engine, rather than a
missile launch.
"If it is indeed a static engine test for a new solid or
liquid fuel missile, it is yet another loud signal that the door
for diplomacy is quickly slamming, if it isn’t already," said
Vipin Narang, a nuclear affairs expert at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in the United States.
"This could be a very credible signal of what might await
the world after the New Year."
Tensions have risen ahead of a year-end deadline set by
North Korea, which has called on the United States to change its
policy of insisting on Pyongyang's unilateral denuclearisation
and demanded relief from punishing sanctions.
On Saturday North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations
said denuclearisation was now off the negotiating table with the
United States and lengthy talks with Washington are not needed.
"The results of the recent important test will have an
important effect on changing the strategic position of the DPRK
once again in the near future," KCNA reported, using the
initials of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea.
BUILDING UP TO A LAUNCH
The test is the latest in a string of statements and actions
from North Korea designed to underscore the seriousness of its
deadline.
North Korea has announced it would convene a rare gathering
of top ruling-party officials later this month, and on Wednesday
state media showed photos of leader Kim Jong Un taking a second
symbolic horse ride on the country's sacred Mt. Paektu.
Such meetings and propaganda blitzes often come ahead of
major announcements from North Korean authorities.
While North Korea has not specified what its "new path"
could be, observers have suggested the launch of a space
satellite is a possibility, allowing Pyongyang to demonstrate
and test its rocket capabilities without resorting to overt
military provocation such as an intercontinental ballistic
missile (ICBM) launch.
"Such testing is meant to improve military capabilities and
to shore up domestic pride and legitimacy," Leif-Eric Easley, a
professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said of Sunday's test.
"North Korea is avoiding violations of its long-range
missile test moratorium for now, but it is still improving the
propulsion and precision of its missiles so that it can claim a
credible nuclear deterrent," he said.
Kim Dong-yub, a former South Korean Navy officer who teaches
at Kyungnam University in Seoul, said North Korea may have
tested a solid fuel rocket engine, which could allow North Korea
to field ICBMs that are easier to hide and faster to deploy.
"North Korea has already entered the ‘new path’ that they
talked about," he said.
'REVERSIBLE STEPS'
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters in June 2018
after his first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that
North Korea had pledged to dismantle one of its missile
installations, which U.S. officials later identified as Sohae.
Shortly after that summit, analysts said satellite imagery
showed some key facilities at Sohae being dismantled.
However, in the wake of the second summit between Trump and
Kim earlier this year, which ended with no agreement, new
imagery indicated the North Koreans were rebuilding the site.
At the time Trump said he would be "be very disappointed" if
the reports of rebuilding were true.
"Remember this is at the site that was supposedly dismantled
as a 'denuclearisation step,'" Narang said. "So this is a first
step at 'renuclearising.' Reversible steps are
being...reversed."
In recent weeks, media reports indicated a high number of
U.S. military surveillance flights over the Korean peninsula,
suggesting growing expectation of North Korean tests.
Commercial satellite imagery captured on Thursday by Planet
Labs showed new activity at the Sohae Satellite Launching
Station and the presence of a large shipping container, CNN
reported, with analysts suggesting it indicated a test was
imminent.