The test possibly involved technologies to improve intercontinental ballistic missiles that could potentially reach the continental United States.

The announcement comes as North Korea continues to pressure the Trump administration for major concessions as it approaches an end-of-year deadline set by leader Kim Jong Un to salvage faltering nuclear negotiations.

North Korea’s Academy of Defense Science did not specify what was tested on Friday. Just days earlier, the North said it conducted a “very important test” at the site on the country’s northwestern coast, prompting speculation that it involved a new engine for either an ICBM or a space launch vehicle.

The announcement suggests that the country is preparing to do something to provoke the United States if Washington doesn’t back down and make concessions to ease sanctions and pressure on Pyongyang in deadlocked nuclear negotiations.

An unnamed spokesman for the academy said scientists received warm congratulations from members from the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee who attended the test that lasted from 10:41 to 10:48 p.m. Friday at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, where the North has conducted satellite launches and liquid-fuel missile engine tests in recent years.

The spokesman said the successful outcome of the latest test, in addition to the one on Dec. 7, “will be applied to further bolster up the reliable strategic nuclear deterrent of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” referring to North Korea’s formal name.

Kim Dong-yub, a former South Korean military officer and currently an analyst from Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the North mentioning its nuclear deterrent makes it clear it tested a new engine for an ICBM, not a satellite-launch vehicle. Kim said it was notable that North Korea announced the specific length of the test, which he said possibly signals a larger liquid-fuel ICBM engine.

North Korea’s current ICBMs, including the Hwasong-15, are built with first stages that are powered by a pair of engines that experts say are modelled after Russian designs. When the North first tested the engine in 2016, it said the test lasted for 200 seconds and demonstrated a thrust of 80 tons-force.

Last week, a 5-year-old named Charlie called the Mesa Police Department in search of McDonald’s, and asked for a Happy Meal, before hanging up.

“Do you have an emergency?” dispatcher Anthony Bonilla asked in audio footage released by the department, Today reports.

“One Mc-Happy Meal,” Charlie responded, before ending the call.

In a follow-up call to the household, Bonilla told the boy’s father, Randy Skabelund, that an officer would soon arrive for a welfare check and that he’d perhaps stop by Mickey D’s beforehand, according to The Arizona Republic and Inside Edition.

Fifteen minutes later, Officer Randolph “Scott” Valedez arrived to speak with Charlie – with the requested McDonald’s in hand.

“He said, ‘I brought you a Happy Meal but before I give it to you we need to talk about the right time to call 911,’” Charlie’s mom, Kim Skabelund, said. “Officer Valdez was wonderful. He handled the situation with such love and kindness and really touched our hearts.”

“We were completely surprised and a little embarrassed,” she admitted, telling Inside Edition that her son now clearly understands that he should tell his parents – not 911 – if he’s craving McDonald’s.

Kim said she was also surprised to realize that her young son likely ordered the meal – a cheeseburger with ketchup – for his older sister, Jadyn, 6.

“That’s what Jadyn gets. Charlie only eats the chicken nuggets,” the mom told Today. “He’s always looking out for Jadyn.”

“In a letter to me sent by Kim Jong Un, he stated, very nicely, that he would like to meet and start negotiations as soon as the joint U.S./South Korea joint exercise are over,” Trump tweeted. “It was a long letter, much of it complaining about the ridiculous and expensive exercises.”

Trump says he received ‘small apology’ from Jong Un

He went on to say that he is looking forward to meeting with him soon.

“It was also a small apology for testing the short range missiles, and that this testing would stop when the exercises end. I look forward to seeing Kim Jong Un in the not too distant future!” he said. “A nuclear free North Korea will lead to one of the most successful countries in the world!”

Donald Trump’s tweet comes as the isolated country continued, as Donald Trump indicated, to continue to test short-range missiles on Saturday. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired from the North’s east coast and landed in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

Pyongyang has claimed that the United States-South Korea exercises force it to “develop, test and deploy the powerful physical means essential for national defense.”

Donald Trump has made unprecedented efforts to resolve the crisis in the Peninsula, shifting dramatically from warnings of “fire and fury” for North Korea if it continued to defy the international community in 2017 to two friendly summits in 2018 and 2019. He said on Friday that he received a “beautiful” three-page letter from Kim and predicted more talks.

However, this year talks have stalled on the question of Pyongyang’s denuclearization. Seoul and Washington have scaled down exercises since the first talks in 2018, but North Korea has continued to insist that even those violate agreements between Trump and Kim.

Experts that spoke to Fox News said that China is complicit in the abuse, and have said in cases where involuntary abortions aren’t ordered, North Korean officials engage in outright infanticide.

“Terrifying reports from female defectors depict undergoing forced abortions after they fled to what they thought was freedom in China, only to be repatriated back to North Korea by authorities in China,” said Olivia Enos, Senior Policy Analyst for Asian Studies at The Heritage Foundation. “Other women from North Korea recount having aborted babies born alive or giving birth in ordinary prison camps only to have border guards smother or drown their babies before their very eyes.”

Kim Dong-hyun, an analyst and journalist for Chosun News-Press and a former Air Force Officer for the Republic of Korea, added there has been no marked improvements with regards to North Korea’s human rights record in recent years when it comes to forced abortions.

“These [women] are treated like an animal and have been put through forced abortions and it is done in many ways,” he said. “This is inhumane and a serious problem.”

Indeed, the barbarity allegedly knows no bounds, as Kim explicitly detailed.

“Pregnant women can be made to lie on the ground. Then [guards] put a long and wide piece of wood on her stomach. They pick two people for the job. These two people could be the son of the woman, her husband or lover, or any relative. These men stand on top of the wooden board like a see-saw,” Kim said. “Using a burning iron is another method. The punisher carries a long piece of metal and lets it burn until red or yellow, then puts it into the pregnant woman. A woman can die from this punishment, and often, if she survives, she cannot walk properly.”