Kim Jong-un hailed a “historic” advance in the country’s nuclear strike capability, state media said, as the North Korean regime claimed it had successfully tested a solid-fuel rocket engine.



It was the latest in a string of claims by Pyongyang regarding the growing technical sophistication of its nuclear programme – accompanied by threats of strikes on the US mainland.

Tensions have been soaring on the divided Korean peninsula since the North carried out its fourth nuclear test on 6 January, followed a month later by a long-range rocket launch that was widely seen as a disguised ballistic missile test, and a string of smaller launches.

Angered by continuing large-scale South Korea-US military drills, Pyongyang has ramped up the rhetoric in recent weeks, maintaining a daily barrage of threats against both Seoul and Washington.

The solid-fuel test was personally monitored by Kim, who said it would allow for a major upgrade of the North’s missile delivery systems that would “strike great horror and terror into the hearts of our enemies”, the state-run KCNA news agency said.

Solid-fuel missiles would have distinct advantages – including greater mobility and the ability to launch within minutes – over Pyongyang’s current, largely liquid-fuelled arsenal.

The North is already understood to use solid fuel for its short-range, road-mobile ballistic missiles, but not for medium-range or untested long-range missiles.

According to KCNA the solid-fuel test was of a “large output” engine and included separation testing.

“This is an historic and unforgettable day,” Kim was quoted as saying.

In recent weeks North Korea has also claimed to have miniaturised a thermonuclear warhead that can fit on a ballistic missile, and to have successfully tested re-entry technology that would allow the warhead – when carried on a long-range missile – to survive its plunge through the atmosphere.

Experts say the claims are likely a mix of fact and exaggeration. However there is a consensus that North Korea has made progress towards its goal of an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear bomb to the continental United States.