DPRK?s Kim guides rocket engine test
 

‘New engine can be used for a long-range missile’



SEOUL: **rth Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a ground test of a new rocket engine to launch satellites, the **rth’s state media reported on Tuesday, the latest in a rapid succession of missile-related tests this year by the isolated state.

Kim asked scientists and engineers to make "preparations for launching the satellite as soon as possible on the basis of the successful test," the official KCNA news agency said, indicating the **rth may soon launch a**ther long-range rocket.

The test was conducted amid global condemnation of the **rth’s fifth nuclear test earlier this month and a call by the United States, Japan and South Korea this week for greater pressure on Pyongyang over its disregard for United Nations resolutions banning missile and nuclear programmes.

**rth Korea has been testing nuclear ******* and ballistic missiles at an unprecedented rate this year under Kim’s direction, including the launch of a satellite in February that was widely seen as a test of long-range ballistic missile tech**logy.

The **rth’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried photographs of Kim on a podium overlooking the vertical test stand that housed a rocket engine which blasted a column of flame.

A spokesman for South Korea’s military, Jeon Ha-gyu, said it was likely to have been a test for a new engine that can be used for a long-range missile. A satellite image dated Sept 17 provided to Reuters by 38 **rth, a Washington-based website devoted to analysis of **rth Korea, showed preparations for an engine test, including a heavy crane over the vertical engine test stand and a shelter that would house the rocket engine.

"This test is a**ther important development pointing to the first launch of a bigger, better space vehicle to place satellites in higher orbits, which could happen in the **t too distant future," said Joel Wit, founder of the 38 **rth website.

**rth Korea claimed after its nuclear test this month that it had mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile, a worrying prospect for neighbours South Korea and Japan.

Developing an effective intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) would put the continental United States in range of the **rth’s nuclear *******.

Joshua Pollack, editor of the US-based **nproliferation Review, said **rth Korean media’s description of a rocket engine with 80 tonnes of thrust would make it "a very powerful rocket, well beyond anything the **rth Koreans have shown the world before.

"The test, Pollack said, may be the result of cooperation with Iran. The US Treasury said in a January an**uncement of sanctions on people involved in Iran’s missile programme that Iranian technicians had in recent years "traveled to **rth Korea to work on an 80-ton rocket booster being developed by the **rth Korean government."

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/World...~4/TR--pEAWLYo

أكثر...