Pyongyang conducts ‘very important test’ at rocket launch site – state media

North Korea has announced that it carried out a “test of great significance” to the leadership of the country at a launch site close to the Chinese border, adding that it will help to change the "strategic position" of Pyongyang.

The reported test took place on Saturday afternoon local time, a spokesman for North Korea’s Academy of National Defense Science reported in a statement carried by KCNA, which lauded the launch as “successful” and “of great significance to the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.”

The results of the recent important test will have an important effect on changing the strategic position of the DPRK once again in the near future.

The launch was carried out from the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in Tongch'ang-ri, Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, the statement said. The site is located close to North Korea's northern border with China.

Very few details have been revealed about the test itself so far, apart from the time and place where it was carried out.

It comes hours after a North Korean envoy to the UN rejected the US’ call to galvanize the stalled negotiations, labeling them a “time-saving trick." He went on to state that the denuclearization of North Korea, sought by US President Donald Trump, has already been taken off the table.

Simmering tensions between Washington and Pyongyang have been ramped up recently, with North Korean state media warning earlier this week that even an accident could result in a full-blown armed conflict, while urging Washington to refrain from using force against North Korea.

The stern warning came after Trump issued a thinly veiled threat against Pyongyang, saying that he might unleash the might of the US military on North Korea if he thinks there is no other way to proceed.

Pyongyang has repeatedly voiced its frustration over the deadlocked negotiations, which it labeled “a foolish trick” to “keep” the reclusive country “bound to dialogue” without offering anything in return, such as relief from crippling sanctions.

On Tuesday, Pyongyang launched another broadside at the US for dragging out the talks. Insisting that the ball is now in Washington’s court, North Korea said that it is “up to the US what Christmas gift it will choose to get.”

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