Seoul, Dec 8 (AFP/APP): North Korea said Sunday it had carried out a “very important test” at its space launch centre, as Pyongyang ramps up pressure on Washington over stalled nuclear talks. The announcement of Saturday’s test at the Sohae satellite launch site came just hours after US President Donald Trump said he would be “surprised” by any hostile action from the North. “A very important test took place at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on the afternoon of December 7, 2019,” a spokesman for North Korea’s Academy of the National Defence Science said. The result of the latest test will have an “important effect” on changing the “strategic position” of North Korea, the spokesman said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency. The statement did not provide further details on the test. Sohae, on North Korea’s northwest coast, is ostensibly a facility designed for putting satellites into orbit. But Pyongyang has carried out several rocket launches there that were condemned by the US and others as disguised long-range ballistic missile tests. Satellite imagery taken on December 5 showed a large container box at the site that was “a decent indicator of an impending engine test”, Jeffrey … Continue reading North Korea conducts ‘very important test’: KCNA