North Korea ‘conducts high-thrust rocket engine test’

North Korea’s military has tested a new high-performance rocket engine that its leader is calling a revolutionary breakthrough for the country’s space programme.

Leader Kim Jong-Un attended the test at the Sohae launch site, according to a report on Sunday by the Korean Central News Agency.

It said the test was intended to confirm the engine’s thrust power and gauge the reliability of its control system and structural safety. The North Korea leader said the engine would help North Korea achieve world-class satellite launch capability, the Korean Central News Agency added.

The report said the test was a success.

The KCNA report said Kim called the test "a great event of historic significance" for the country's indigenous rocket industry.

He also said the "whole world will soon witness what eventful significance the great victory won today carries" and claimed the test marks what will be known as the "March 18 revolution" in the development of the country's rocket industry.

North Korea is banned by the UN from conducting long-range missile tests, but it claims its satellite programme is for peaceful use, a claim many in the US and elsewhere believe is questionable.

The test, not confirmed elsewhere comes as Rex Tillerson, US secretary of state, is in China – Pyongyang’s main ally - on a tour of Asia that has been closely focused on concerns over how to deal with North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.

North Korean officials have said that under a five-year plan they intend to launch more Earth observation satellites and what would be the country's first geostationary communications satellite - which would be a major technological advance.

In South Korea on Friday, Tillerson said a US military response would be on the table if North Korea threatened South Korea or US forces.

The US and China pledged to work together to get the North to take "a different course" and move away from its weapons programmes after Mr Tillerson met his Chinese counterpart on Saturday.

North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests and a series of missile launches. Experts and government officials believe it is working to develop nuclear-warhead missiles that can reach the US.

Kim Jong-un has said the country is close to a test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.