SEOUL,
South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Sunday that it carried out a “very
important test” at its long-range rocket launch site that it reportedly
rebuilt after having partially dismantled it at the start of
denuclearization talks with the United States last year.
The
announcement comes amid dimming prospects for a resumption of
negotiations, with the North threatening to seek “a new way” if it
fails to get major U.S. concessions by year’s end. North Korea has said
its resumption of nuclear and long-range missile tests depends on the
United States.
Saturday’s
test at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground will have “an important
effect on changing the strategic position of (North Korea) once again in
the near future,” an unidentified spokesman from the North’s Academy of
National Defense Science said in a statement, carried by the country’s
official Korean Central News Agency.
North
Korea didn’t say what the test included. Kim Dong-yub, an analyst at
Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said that North Korea likely
tested for the first time a solid-fuel engine for an intercontinental
ballistic missile.
The
use of solid fuel increases a weapon’s mobility and reduces the amount
of launch preparation time. The long-range rockets that North Korea used
in either ICBM launches or satellite liftoffs in recent years all used
liquid propellants.
CNN
reported Friday that a new satellite image indicated North Korea may be
preparing to resume testing engines used to power satellite launchers
and intercontinental ballistic missiles at the site.
Seoul’s
Defense Ministry said in a brief statement later Sunday that South
Korea and the United States are closely monitoring activities at the
Sohae site and other key North Korean areas.
On
Saturday, President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in
discussed developments related to North Korea, and the two leaders
committed to continuing close communication, the White House said in a
statement. Moon’s office also released a similar statement, saying the
two leaders had a 30-minute phone conversation at Trump’s request.
The
North Korean test “is meant to improve military capabilities and to
shore up domestic pride and legitimacy,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a
professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “With the activity at Sohae,
Pyongyang is also trying to raise international concerns that it may
intensify provocations and walk away from denuclearization talks next
year.”
The
Sohae launching center in Tongchang-ri, a seaside region in western
North Korea, is where the North has carried out banned satellite
launches in recent years, resulting in worldwide condemnation and U.N.
sanctions over claims that they were disguised tests of long-range
missile technology.
North
Korea has said its satellite launches are part of its peaceful space
development program. But many outside experts say ballistic missiles and
rockets used in satellite launches share similar bodies, engines and
other technology. None of North Korea’s three intercontinental ballistic
missile tests in 2017 was conducted at the Sohae site, but observers
said the site was used to test engines for ICBMs.
After
his first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in
June last year, Trump said Kim told him that North Korea was “already
destroying a major missile engine testing site” in addition to
committing to “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula.
Satellite
imagery later showed the North dismantling a rocket engine-testing
stand and other facilities at the Sohae site. Last March, South Korea’s
spy agency and some U.S. experts said that North Korea was restoring
the facilities, raising doubts about whether it was committed to
denuclearization.
U.S.-North
Korea diplomacy has largely remained deadlocked since the second summit
between Trump and Kim in Vietnam in February due to disputes over how
much sanctions relief the North must get in return for dismantling its
key nuclear complex — a limited disarmament step.
North
Korea has since warned that the U.S. must abandon hostile policies and
come out with new acceptable proposals by the end of this year or it
would take an unspecified new path. In recent months, North Korea has
performed a slew of short-range missile and other weapons launches and
hinted at lifting its moratorium on nuclear and long-range missiles.
North
Korea said the results of Saturday’s test were submitted to the Central
Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party. The North said last week that
the Central Committee will hold a meeting in late December to discuss
unspecified “crucial issues” in line with “the changed situation at home
and abroad.”
At
the United Nations, a statement released by North Korea’s U.N.
ambassador, Kim Song, said Saturday that denuclearization had “already
gone out of the negotiation table.”
The
statement accused the Trump administration of persistently pursuing a
“hostile policy” toward the country “in its attempt to stifle it.” The
statement was a response to Wednesday’s condemnation by six European
countries of North Korea’s 13 ballistic missile launches since May.
The
North Korean diplomat accused the Europeans — France, Germany, Britain,
Belgium, Poland and Estonia — of playing “the role of pet dog of the
United States in recent months.”
“We
regard their behavior as nothing more than a despicable act of
intentionally flattering the United States,” the ambassador said.
___
Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
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