North Korea tests new engines for ballistic missiles to strike US bases in Guam

By Jon Herskovitz

North Korea tested new engines for intermediate-range ballistic missiles, its state media said, a move that could help Pyongyang deliver quick strikes on US bases in places such as Guam.

Tests were conducted on November 11 and 14 on “new-type high-thrust solid-fuel engines” for “further enhancing the strategic offensive capabilities” of North Korea’s armed forces, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Wednesday.

The tests were for a first and second stage of a missile, and North Korea released images on the event on its state media. In the past, Kim Jong Un’s regime has conducted tests of missiles a few months after engine tests.

North Korean state media frequently says that its arsenal of ballistic missiles is capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

The announcement of the missile tests comes as the US is hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. Isolated North Korea is not a member, but the tests shine a light on Kim’s nuclear program ahead of high-stakes talks on the summit’s sidelines between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his counterparts from Japan and South Korea on the sidelines of APEC to discuss North Korea’s “increasingly destabilizing actions,” the State Department said in a statement on Tuesday.

Blinken also reaffirmed the US’s “ironclad commitment” to defend Japan and South Korea, which host the bulk of the America’s military personnel in the region.