North Korea may have tested a solid-fuel rocket engine

Pyongyang may have tested a solid-fuel missile engine earlier this week, according to an analysis of recent satellite images of a testing site in the North.

A solid-fuel engine for a "new-type strategic weapons system" is tested on Dec. 15 in this footage broadcast by Pyongyang's state-controlled Korean Central News Television (KCTV). [YONHAP]

Pyongyang may have tested a solid-fuel missile engine earlier this week, according to an analysis of recent satellite images of a testing site in the North.

While the test was not reported by North Korea’s state-controlled media, it would mark the first weapons test by the regime since its short-range ballistic missile launch on Jan. 1.

Satellite images taken by Planet Labs that was released on Monday by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies show a blackened field at the Magun-po missile engine testing site in Hamju County, South Hamgyong Province.

The center’s report concluded the test, likely to be that of a solid-fuel engine, took place between 10:53 a.m. on Sunday and 9:03 a.m. on Monday, based on the difference between photos taken at those times.

The photo taken on Monday shows a trail of charred earth that starts at the end of the engine test stand and extends in the shape of a long trumpet that reaches 120 meters (393 feet) in length.

The engine test stand at Magun-po is positioned horizontally, and not straight down into the ground.

The center’s report noted that the scorched, exposed ground stood in sharp contrast to its surrounding area, which remained covered in snow.

Pyongyang’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) previously reported that “an important institute under the Academy of Defense Science succeeded in the static firing test of high-thrust solid-fuel motor” for a “new-type strategic weapons system” at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in North Pyongan Province on Dec. 15.

North Korea’s Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which has the longest range of all the known missiles in the regime’s arsenal, uses liquid fuel, which typically needs to be loaded into the missile at the launch site before it can be fired — a time-consuming process that makes the weapon easier to find and destroy.

Solid-fuel missiles can remain in storage for an extended period, allowing them to be deployed and launched in a shorter time frame.

Although the North has previously tested numerous solid-fuel missiles, including the short-range KN-23, KN-24 and Pukguksong series, it has yet to launch a solid-fuel ICBM.

At a Pyongyang military parade in April 2022, the North rolled out a new solid-fuel missile alongside the Hwasong-17.

The missile resembled the Pukguksong-5 and Pukguksong-4, two types within the Pukguksong series that have not yet been test-fired by North Korea.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]