DPRK conducts 'very important test'

PYONGYANG－The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has carried out "a very important test" at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, state media said on Sunday.

The DPRK's Academy of National Defense Science reported the results of "the successful test of great significance" to the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The test on Saturday will "have an important effect on changing the strategic position of the DPRK once again in the near future", the KCNA said, without revealing any further information.

The defense ministry of the Republic of Korea said Seoul and the Washington are cooperating closely in monitoring activities at major DPRK sites including Tongchang-ri, the area where Sohae is located.

Sohae, on the DPRK's northwest coast, is reported to be a facility designed for putting satellites into orbit. But Pyongyang has carried out several rocket launches there that were condemned by the United States as disguised long-range ballistic missile tests.

Missile experts said it appeared likely that the DPRK had conducted a static test of a rocket engine, rather than a missile launch, which are usually quickly detected by the ROK and Japan.

"If it is indeed a static engine test for a new solid or liquid fuel missile, it is yet another loud signal that the door for diplomacy is quickly slamming, if it isn't already," said Vipin Narang, a nuclear affairs expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.

"This could be a very credible signal of what might await the world after the New Year," he said.

Tensions have risen ahead of a year-end deadline set by the DPRK, which has called on the US to change its policy of insisting on Pyongyang's unilateral denuclearization and demanded relief from punishing sanctions.

On Saturday, Kim Song, the DPRK's ambassador to the United Nations, said denuclearization was now off the negotiating table with the US and lengthy talks with Washington are not needed.

Meanwhile, hours before Pyongyang announced its latest test, Trump had emphasized his "very good relationship" with the DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un.

"Well, we'll see about North Korea (the DPRK). I'd be surprised if North Korea acted hostile," he said on Saturday afternoon in Washington." (Kim) knows I have an election coming up. I don't think he wants to interfere with that. But we'll have to see."

US-DPRK diplomacy has largely remained deadlocked since the second summit between Trump and Kim in Vietnam in February ended without an agreement.

Pyongyang has warned Washington that it must abandon hostile policies and come out with new acceptable proposals by the end of this year or it would take an unspecified new path.