North Korea Now Has ICBM

North Korea Says It Has Tested a New Long-Range Rocket Engine

By CHOE SANG-HUN

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Tuesday that it had conducted the ground test of a new long-range rocket engine used to put a satellite into orbit, an effort long considered by Washington and the United Nations Security Council to be a cover for developing an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The announcement followed the North’s nuclear test on Sept. 9. The United States and its allies are calling for the Security Council to adopt a new resolution to enforce tougher sanctions to punish the North for the latest nuclear test, its fifth since 2006.

In the past, such sanctions have usually prompted the North to respond with provocations, like another nuclear test or a rocket launch to place a satellite into orbit.

North Korea last launched a carrier rocket in February, a month after its fourth nuclear test, to place its Kwangmyongsong, or Shining Star, satellite into orbit. (The country also launched a rudimentary satellite in 2012.)

Analysts have said the North may launch another satellite in time for the Oct. 10 anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party, using that as a signal to the outside world that it was pushing ahead with its long-range missile program despite sanctions. At home, such a launch is used to boost Kim Jong-un’s leadership.

On Tuesday, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Mr. Kim visited the Sohae Space Center, the North’s main satellite launch site near its northwestern border with China, to observe the engine test. He ordered officials there to finish preparations for another satellite launch “as soon as possible” to glorify the North Korean people who he said “have fastened their belts owing to the enemies’ harsh sanctions,” the agency said.

The news agency did not say when the single-engine test took place.

“The test was aimed to make a final confirmation of the feature of combustion chamber, operation accuracy of valves and control systems and structural reliability of the engine during 200 second-long working time,” it said, calling the test a success. It said the successful test of the engine will enable the country to launch “various kinds of satellites including earth observation satellite at a world level.”

After the North’s latest nuclear test and a series of ballistic missile tests in recent months, its claim that it has acquired the ability to mount short- and midrange missiles with nuclear warheads has been taken more seriously by United States and South Korean officials. But they said the country was still years from being able to build a nuclear tipped long-range missile, although it habitually threatens to attack the mainland United States with nuclear missiles.

After the satellite launch in February, South Korean defense officials said that the Unha rocket used in the launch, if successfully reconfigured as a missile, could fly more than 7,400 miles with a warhead of 1,100 to 1,300 pounds — far enough to reach the West Coast of the United States.

Mr. Kim has called for his country to develop and launch “a variety of more working satellites” using “carrier rockets of bigger capacity.” The country has also renovated and expanded the gantry tower and other facilities at the launch site to accommodate more powerful rockets.

In an analysis posted on the website 38 North, Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. and Jack Liu said that the engine test represented an “anticipated and significant step in the continued development of larger, more advanced space launch vehicles” by the North.

In January, while announcing sanctions imposed on 11 individuals and entities involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program, the United States Treasury included three Iranian officials it said have worked with North Korea on its missile and space programs, including the development of “an 80-ton rocket booster.”