North Korea announced on Sunday (December 8th) that it has conducted a "very important test" from its Sohae satellite launch. An announcement surrounded by mystery but significant of the failure of nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington.
The information was reported by the official KCNA agency, which gave no details on the gear or weapon tested. "A very important test took place at the satellite launch base in Sohae on the afternoon of December 7," said a spokesman for the National Academy of Sciences North.
The result of this test will have an "important effect" by changing the "strategic status" of North Korea, he added. That same Saturday, US President Donald Trump was still congratulating the press in Washington on his "very good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
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Rocket throwing
"I think we both want to keep it that way, he knows I have an election coming," he said, confident that he would be "surprised if North Korea was acting hostile".
Located on the northwestern coast of North Korea, the Sohae site, also known as Tongchang-ri, has been at the heart of three-way diplomacy between Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington for more than a year.
It gives all the appearances of a space center to put satellites in orbit. But the North Koreans have used it for several rocket launches condemned by the international community, which denounces long-range missile training.
More and more nuclear activities
At a summit in Seoul in September 2018, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to close it. Then progress towards the "denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula had fizzled out.
In March, satellite work was reported on this basis for "rapid reconstruction". Other satellite images taken on Thursday showed a large container that seemed "a pretty reliable indicator of preparations for a gear test," according to Jeffrey Lewis, an East Asian nuclear weapons specialist at Middlebury Institute. in Monterey California.
Speaking ahead of North Korea's announcement on Sunday, the expert saw it as "yet another sign that North Korea is leading more and more missile activity as Kim Jong's deadline approaches." One for a relaxation of sanctions ".
Tensions still very present
Pyongyang hopes that by December 31, Washington will make a proposal to restart the peace talks. But on Saturday, two statements confirmed that it was time for tension.
"The current situation on the Korean peninsula is serious," US and South Korean presidents Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in said in a telephone conversation, according to the South Korean presidency.
And North Korean ambassador to the UN Kim Song said "the issue of denuclearization is no longer on the negotiating table".
With AFP