N Korea conducts ‘crucial test’

North Korea has conducted a “crucial test” at a satellite launch site to boost its nuclear deterrent, state media reports.

A spokesman told KNCA news agency it took place late on Friday at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, but did not give specific details.

This is the second test to take place at the Sohae site in less than a week.

Talks between the US and North Korea about its nuclear programme remain stalled.

Pyongyang has set an end-of-year deadline for the US to offer the country new concessions and has said it will adopt a “new way” if that does not happen.

It is not clear exactly what North Korea tested at the site.

Ankit Panda, North Korea expert at the Federation of American Scientists, told the BBC it could be a ground test for a ballistic missile engine. South Korea’s defence minister had previously said this was the purpose of the test earlier in December.

North Korea had previously promised to dismantle the Sohae site.

US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun is visiting to South Korean capital Seoul on Sunday. US President Donald Trump has said he still hopes to reach an agreement.

The UN Security Council met on Wednesday at the request of the US to discuss North Korea’s weapons programme amid the growing tensions. North Korea called the meeting a “serious provocation”.

Mr Trump made pursuing diplomacy with North Korea a centre-piece of his foreign policy agenda in 2018 but has failed to extract significant concessions on denuclearisation despite holding two summits with leader Kim Jong-un and even setting foot in North Korea.

The US tested a medium-range ballistic missile over the Pacific Ocean on Thursday – a weapon that would have been prohibited under the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which President Trump left earlier this year.