N. Korea conducts another test at Sohae launch site

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a welcome ceremony as he arrives at the railway station in the Russian far-eastern city of Vladivostok. (Reuters Photo)

North Korea has conducted another "crucial test" at its Sohae satellite launch site, state media reported Saturday, as nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington remain deadlocked with a deadline approaching.

"Another crucial test was successfully conducted at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground from 22:41 to 22:48 on December 13," a spokesman for the North's National Academy of Defence Science said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

The "research successes" will be "applied to further bolstering up the reliable strategic nuclear deterrent" of North Korea, the spokesman added.