North Korea tested engine for missiles capable of hitting the US

North Korea’s latest missile test came just days after Kim Jong-un gave a speech in which he promised to irreversibly consolidate his country’s status as a nuclear power.

The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-unaccompanied a test of a high-power solid-fuel engine for missiles, which it classified as an advance capable of strengthen strategic military capacity of the country, state media reported.

The test most likely indicates that Kim intends to expand and modernize a missile arsenal with ability to reach continental territory North American, says .

The news, released this Sunday by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), came days after a speech in parliament in which Kim promised irreversibly consolidate the country’s status as nuclear powerin which he accused the United States of “state terrorism” and aggression on a global scale, in an apparent reference to the war in the Middle East.

According to KCNA, Kim attended the ground test of the new improved engine, manufactured with a carbon fiber composite material. According to the agency, the engine’s maximum thrust is 2,500 kilotonnesup from about 1,971 kilotons reported in a similar solid-fuel engine test carried out in September.

Photos released by KCNA showed Kim Jong-un inspecting what appeared to be part of the engine, flanked by officials. Another image showed flames erupting from a installed engine not onlyilluminating the surrounding test area with an orange light.

Ground ejection test of what KCNA describes as a high-power solid fuel engine, which uses carbon fiber composite materials

According to observers, the effort to increase engine power will probably be linked to attempts to place multiple warheads in a single missile, thus increasing the chances of overcoming defenses North Americans.

KCNA did not indicate precisely where or when the test took place, which is part of a five-year military reinforcement program for the country, whose main objective is the modernization of “strategic means of attack” — a likely reference to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) with nuclear capabilities aimed at the continental United States.

In recent years, North Korea has tested several types of ICBM, which have shown a sufficient potential range to reach the territory US — including solid-fuel missiles, whose detection before launch it’s more difficult. Pyongyang flew its last ICBM in October 2024.

Os oldest missiles in the countrypowered by liquid fuel, must be stocked before launch and do not allow prolonged storage under these conditions.

Some foreign experts argue that North Korea continues to face technological obstacles that prevent it from having a fully operational intercontinental ballistic missile for now, namely ensuring that warheads resist re-entry into the atmosphere.

Others, however, dispute this assessment, taking into account the number of years over which the country has developed its nuclear and ballistic programs.