N. Korea successfully tests its new rocket engine

N. Korea successfully tests its new rocket engine. September. 21, 2016 07:26. by 주성하기자, 손효주기자 zsh75@donga.com,hjson@donga.com.

North Korea said on Tuesday that it successfully conducted a ground test of its new rocket engine, which is three times more powerful than Kwangmyongsong, a long-range missile that it launched in February. North Korea’s Rodong newspaper reported on the same day, saying, “We have made a big success in the ground test of a rocket engine used for our new geostationary satellite.” It is likely that North Korea could launch a long-range missile around the October 10 anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party following its fifth nuclear test.

If it is true that the engine can operate for 200 seconds and its thrust is about 80 ton-force, as it claims, the engine would be more powerful than an engine that South Korea’s Korea Aerospace Research Institute plans to develop by 2020 (75 ton-force and 145 second working time). When North Korea launched Kwangmyongsong in February, it tied four 27-ton force Rodong missile engines. Experts say that if North Korea successfully bundle four 80-ton force engines, it could develop an intercontinental ballistic missile that can send a nuclear warhead that is over one ton to anywhere in the United States. The engine test conducted with the presence of its leader Kim Jong Un is reportedly to have taken place in a missile launch site in North Pyongan Province. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said that North Korea actually tested an engine for an ICBM on Tuesday.

As a warning to the North, the U.S. will reportedly send two B-52 strategic power projection bombers to South Korea on Wednesday at the earliest. One of them will land and stay in Osan Air Base of Pyeongtaek in South Korea.

Washington will take more stringent sanctions including a secondary boycott against China-based Liaoning Hongxiang Group, which sold substances to be used for nuclear and missile development, and Beijing will reportedly cooperate on this.