Kim Jong watches ground jet test of new high-thrust engine

North Korea's top leader Kim Jong Un watched the ground jet test of a newly developed high-thrust engine, the official news agency KCNA reported on Sunday.

The test was intended to confirm the overall technical indices of the engine such as features of its thrust power in the combustion chamber, accurate movement of the turbine pump, the control system and various valves and their structural reliability, according to Xinhua.

Kim visited the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground at dawn to learn about the technical features of the engine as well as preparations for the test and ordered the start of the test, it said.

Kim noted that the success of the test "marked a great event of historic significance as it declared a new birth of the Juche-based rocket industry which has radically turned into a development- and creation-oriented industry both in name and in reality," KCNA reported.

--IANS

ahm/