N. Korea claims success in ‘very important test’

By Omer Faruk Yildiz

KUALA LUMPUR (AA) - North Korea carried out a “very important test” at a satellite launching site, the state news agency announced on Sunday.

“A very important test took place at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on the afternoon of Dec. 7, 2019,” said Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), quoting an official from the Academy of the National Defence Science.

The venue is an area which the U.S. officials said North Korea had promised to close.

According to the KCNA, the successful test -- not specified what was tested -- will have an “important effect on changing the strategic position of the DPRK” in near future.

No more details were revealed about the test.

The North Korean administration announced on Dec. 3 that it would send a "Christmas gift" to the U.S., with which talks for a nuclear deal underway.

The East Asian country said the content of the present would depend on the negotiations between the Washington and Pyongyang administrations.

During a Hanoi meeting in Vietnam with the U.S. President Donald Trump in February, North Korea leader Kim Jong-un promised to close the controversial Sohae satellite launch site.

*Writing by Fahri Aksut