(Seoul) North Korea has developed and successfully conducted ground tests of a “new type” of solid-fuel engine for its banned intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), state media said Wednesday.
Pyongyang also announced that a Russian delegation led by Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov was visiting North Korea to discuss cooperation in trade, economics, science and technology.
Increased military cooperation between the two countries has been a source of concern for Ukraine and its allies, particularly since the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin in September.
North Korea “has once again developed new-type high-thrust solid-fuel engines for intermediate ballistic missiles, which are of great strategic significance,” the North’s official KCNA news agency reported.
Pyongyang also claims to have “successfully conducted the first ground tests of the first stage engine and the second stage engine, on November 11 and 14, respectively,” the agency added.
According to experts, solid fuel missiles are generally easier to use and safer than liquid fuel weapons.
Solid-fuel missiles do not need to be fueled before launch, making them harder to locate and destroy, and faster to use.
Testing a technologically more advanced solid-fuel missile was one of Kim Jong-un’s main goals as part of the military modernization drive announced in his New Year’s report.
Historic allies Russia and North Korea are both subject to international sanctions, the former for its invasion of Ukraine and the latter for its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
South Korea said Pyongyang was supplying weapons to Moscow in exchange for Russian space technology aimed at putting a military spy satellite into orbit.
The chiefs of defense of the United States and South Korea on Monday updated, for the first time in a decade, a key military agreement intended to counter Pyongyang and its growing nuclear threats.