The Diplomat:
North Korean ballistic missile scientists carried out a static test of a new type of solid-fuel engine early last week, a U.S. government source with knowledge of North Korea’s ballistic missile programs told The Diplomat. According to the source, the test took place at North Korea’s solid-fuel engine testing site in Hamhung, on the country’s east coast.
The test is the first reported static solid-fuel test since March 2016, when North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un inspected the test of what North Korean state media described as a “high-powered solid-fuel rocket engine and stage separation.” The engine was tested in a horizontal configuration unlike North Korea’s vertically configured tests of large liquid-fuel ballistic missile engines.
In September 2017, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun had reported a failed test of a new solid-fuel engine for a submarine-launched ballistic missile at Sinpo, but The Diplomat was unable to confirm that such a test had taken place. North Korea is not known to carry out engine tests at Sinpo, which remains largely dedicated to ship and submarine-building…
