North Korea has created and successfully tested a new type of solid-fuel engine for its banned intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
Pyongyang also revealed that a Russian delegation led by Moscow’s natural resources minister, Alexander Kozlov, was visiting Pyongyang to discuss cooperation in commerce, industry, research, and technology.
The two countries’ deepening military collaboration has alarmed Ukraine and its allies, particularly when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Russian President Vladimir Putin in September.
On November 11 and 14, the country also successfully conducted the first ground jet tests of the first-stage engine and the second-stage engine.
Solid-fuel missiles, according to experts, have a better level of operational convenience and safety than liquid-fuel weapons.
Solid-fuel missiles do not require pre-launch fueling, making them more difficult to detect and destroy while also being faster to deploy.
Testing a more technologically advanced solid-fuel missile was one of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s primary goals in his New Year report on military upgrading.
Pyongyang said in April that it had successfully tested its first solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (the largest, longest-range category of ballistic missile), hailing it as a significant step forward for the country’s nuclear retaliation capabilities.
The most recent engine testing offered a definite guarantee that the development of the new-type IRBM system would be accelerated in a reliable manner.
The advancement is critical in view of the country’s terrible and uncertain security climate, in which opponents will become more savage in their military collaboration.
Allies of the past Russia and North Korea are both sanctioned by the international community, the former for its invasion of Ukraine and the latter for its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
South Korea has stated that Pyongyang is exchanging armaments for Russian space technology in order to launch a military spy satellite into orbit.
On Monday, US and South Korean defence leaders updated a key military accord to tackle Pyongyang and it’s escalating nuclear threats for the first time in a decade.
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