North Korea has conducted a "very important test" at a rocket launch site, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday, but did not elaborate.

The news agency said the test was carried out on Saturday afternoon at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Tongchang-ri, northwestern North Korea, where Pyongyang previously developed a liquid-fuel engine for a long-range ballistic missile.

With talks with the United States over denuclearization at a standstill, North Korea has recently warned that it will resume nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests if the negotiations fail to achieve a breakthrough by the end of the year.

"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, referring to the country by its formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

(North Korea's "super-large multiple rocket launchers" test-fired on Oct. 31, 2019.)
[KCNA/Kyodo]

The test conducted by the Academy of the National Defense Science is regarded as a provocation against the United States. The results were reported to the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, headed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, KCNA said.

At the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit in June 2018 in Singapore, U.S. President Donald Trump promised to provide security guarantees to Pyongyang in return for "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea, however, has claimed that Washington has not implemented the agreement despite Pyongyang taking what it says are concrete measures to discard its nuclear arsenal.

Since earlier this year, North Korea has carried out test-firings of what appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning Pyongyang from developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.

Trump said Saturday that he is not expecting North Korea to take hostile actions or "interfere" in his re-election bid as tensions rise ahead of a year-end deadline for progress in their denuclearization talks.

Earlier this month, Trump hinted at using his country's military might against North Korea if necessary, rekindling tensions between the two nations.

North Korea, meanwhile, has said it will discuss and decide on "crucial issues" at a key ruling party meeting later this month in line with "the changed situation at home and abroad."

Washington and Pyongyang technically remain in a state of war after the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in a cease-fire. The two countries have no diplomatic relations.


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