North Korea has claimed it tested a beefed-up missile system over the weekend that could eventually reach the U.S North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who observed the launch, said that the engine test had “great significance in putting the country’s strategic military muscle on the highest level.” The test wasn’t covered independently, and some experts aren’t buying it. Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, believes the state was “bluffing” after failing to disclose the engine’s total combustion time. According to state media, the engine’s maximum thrust is 2,500 kilonewtons, up from North Korea’s most recent test last September that hit 1,970 kilonewtons. North Korea has been seeking to grow its stock of hard-to-detect, nuclear-capable ballistic weapons, with state media reporting that the test was part of its need to upgrade its “strategic strike means.”
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