International News

SEOUL, (APP/AFP): North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un hailed
an “historic” advance in the country’s nuclear strike capability, with the successful test of a solid-fuel rocket engine, state media said Thursday.
It was the latest in a string of claims by Pyongyang regarding the
growing technical sophistication of its nuclear deterrent — 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 January 6, followed a month later by a long-range rocket launch that was widely seen as a disguised ballistic missile test.
Angered by ongoing 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 inventory.