SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observed a test of a high-thrust, solid-fuel engine for weapons and hailed it as a development to boost the country’s strategic military capability, state media reported Sunday.
The test likely indicates Kim is intent on enlarging and modernizing an arsenal of missiles capable of reaching the United States mainland.
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This undated photo provided on March 29, 2026 by the North Korean government, shows what it says a solid-fuel engine test at an undisclosed place in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo released by Belarus' Presidential Press Service, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, left, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attend an official meeting ceremony in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (Belarus' Presidential Press Service via AP)
In this photo released by Belarus' Presidential Press Service, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, right, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko shake hands during their meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Belarus' Presidential Press Service via AP)
FILE - This photo provided by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, center, claps hands as he was re-elected to the top post of the ruling Workers' Party, during the party's Congress in Pyongyang, on Feb. 22, 2026. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
The report on Sunday from Korean Central News Agency came days after Kim delivered a speech at North Korea's Parliament pledging to irreversibly cement his country’s status as a nuclear power and accusing the U.S. of global “state terrorism and aggression,” in an apparent reference to the war in the Middle East.
Kim watched the ground jet test of the newly upgraded engine using a composite carbon fiber material, according to KCNA, which reported the engine's maximum trust is 2,500 kilotons, up from about 1,971 kilotons reported in a similar solid fuel engine test in September.
A push to increase the engine power is likely associated with efforts to place multiple warheads on a single missile to increase chances of defeating U.S. defenses, observers say.
KCNA did not report exactly when or where the test occurred.
The test was conducted as part of the country's five-year military escalation program. The plan's objectives include upgrading “strategic strike means,” KCNA reported.
The reference is understood to mean nuclear-capable, intercontinental ballistic missiles targeting the continental U.S.
Kim said the latest engine test had “great significance in putting the country’s strategic military muscle on the highest level,” KCNA reported.
In recent years, North Korea has test-fired a variety of ICBMs demonstrating the potential range to reach the U.S. mainland, including missiles with solid propellants that make detection prior to liftoff more difficult. The country's older liquid-fuel missiles must be fueled before liftoffs and cannot last long.
Some foreign experts say North Korea still faces technological hurdles before it has a functioning ICBM, such as ensuring its warheads survive the harsh conditions of atmospheric reentry. But others dispute that assessment given the number of years the country has spent on its nuclear and missile programs.
North Korea has pushed hard to expand its nuclear arsenal since Kim's high-stakes diplomacy with U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019. In a ruling Workers' Party congress in February, Kim left open the door for dialogue with Trump but urged Washington to drop demands for the North’s nuclear disarmament as a precondition for talks.
This undated photo provided on March 29, 2026 by the North Korean government, shows what it says a solid-fuel engine test at an undisclosed place in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo released by Belarus' Presidential Press Service, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, left, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attend an official meeting ceremony in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (Belarus' Presidential Press Service via AP)
In this photo released by Belarus' Presidential Press Service, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, right, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko shake hands during their meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Belarus' Presidential Press Service via AP)
FILE - This photo provided by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, center, claps hands as he was re-elected to the top post of the ruling Workers' Party, during the party's Congress in Pyongyang, on Feb. 22, 2026. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Large crowds protested Saturday against the war in Iran and President Donald Trump's actions in “No Kings” rallies across the U.S. and in Europe. Minnesota took center stage, with thousands of people standing shoulder-to-shoulder to celebrate resistance to Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement.
Minnesota's flagship event on the Capitol lawn in St. Paul drew Bruce Springsteen as its headliner. He and other speakers praised the state's people for taking to the streets over the winter in opposition to a surge of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents.
Springsteen performed “ Streets of Minneapolis,” the song he wrote in response to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents. Springsteen lamented Good and Pretti’s deaths but said the state's pushback against ICE gave the rest of the country hope.
“Your strength and your commitment told us that this was still America,” he said. “And this reactionary nightmare, and these invasions of American cities, will not stand.”
People rallied from New York City, with almost 8.5 million residents in a solidly blue state, to Driggs, a town of fewer than 2,000 people in eastern Idaho, a state Trump carried with 66% of the vote in 2024.
U.S. organizers have estimated that the first two rounds of No Kings rallies drew more than 5 million people in June and 7 million in October. They expected 9 million participants Saturday, though it was not clear whether those expectations were met.
Organizers said more than 3,100 events — 500 more than in October — were registered, in all 50 states.
Protests were mostly peaceful, but some arrests were reported.
In Los Angeles, authorities deployed tear gas near a federal detention center downtown. One man had a leaf blower, attempting to clear the air. The Los Angeles Police Department later arrested people for failing to disperse. Earlier in the day, a band was playing and people were dancing to Spanish-language music.
The Denver Police Department said on the social platform X that it declared an unlawful assembly and deployed smoke canisters after a small group of protesters blocked a road and did not leave as asked. Some threw the canisters back at officers, police said. At least eight people were arrested, as was a ninth person later on who police said was throwing objects.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson called them the product of “leftist funding networks” with little real public support.
The “only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” Jackson said in a statement.
The National Republican Congressional Committee was also sharply critical.
“These Hate America Rallies are where the far-left’s most violent, deranged fantasies get a microphone,” spokesperson Maureen O’Toole said.
Trump's immigration enforcement push, particularly in Minnesota, was just one item on a long list of grievances that also included the war in Iran and the rollback of transgender rights. Speakers at the Minnesota rally decried billionaires' economic power.
In Washington, hundreds marched past the Lincoln Memorial and into the National Mall, holding signs that read “Put down the crown, clown” and “Regime change begins at home.” ”
Bill Jarcho was there from Seattle, joined by six people dressed as insects wearing tactical vests that said, “LICE” — spoofing ICE — as part of what he called a “mock and awe” tour.
“What we provide is mockery to the king,” Jarcho said. “It’s about taking authoritarianism and making fun of it, which they hate.”
About 40,000 people marched in San Diego, police there said.
In New York, Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said during a news conference that Trump and his supporters want people to be afraid to protest.
“They want us to be afraid that there’s nothing we can do to stop them,” she said. “But you know what? They are wrong — dead wrong.”
In Topeka, Kansas, a protesters dressed up in an inflatable frog costume and a baby version of Trump. Wendy Wyatt showed up with a “Cats Against Trump” sign. Many things upset her about the administration, she said, but the rallies are “very hopeful to me.”
Organizers said two-thirds of RSVPs for the rallies came from outside of major urban centers. That included communities in conservative-leaning states like Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, South Dakota and Louisiana, as well as suburbs in electorally competitive Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.
Organizers designated the rally there as the national flagship event.
Before Springsteen took the stage, organizers played a video in which actor Robert DeNiro said he wakes up every morning depressed because of Trump but was happier Saturday because millions of people were protesting. He also congratulated Minnesotans for running ICE out of town.
The bill also included singer Joan Baez, actor Jane Fonda, Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and a long list of activists, labor leaders and elected officials.
Protesters held up a massive sign on the Capitol steps that read, “We had whistles, they had guns. The revolution starts in Minneapolis.”
“Donald Trump may pretend that he’s not listening, but he can’t ignore the millions in the streets today,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
Demonstrations were also held in more than a dozen other countries, according to co-executive director Ezra Levin of Indivisible, which spearheaded the events.
In Rome, thousands marched with chants aimed at Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose conservative government saw its referendum for streamlining Italy's judiciary fail badly this week. Protesters also waved banners protesting Israeli and US attacks on Iran.
In London, demonstrators held banners with slogans such as “Stop the far right” and “Stand up to Racism.”
And in Paris, several hundred people, mostly Americans living in France, along with labor unions and human rights organizations, gathered at the Bastille.
“I protest all of Trump’s illegal, immoral, reckless and feckless, endless wars,” organizer Ada Shen said.
Richmond reported from Madison, Wisconsin, and Hanna from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press journalists Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu; Nicholas Garriga in Paris; Mike Pesoli in Washington; Colleen Berry in Milan; Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California; and Jill Connelly in Los Angeles contributed.
Protestors face off against police firing tear gas outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles during a "No Kings" rally Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Jill Connelly)
Demonstrators march in downtown Los Angeles during a "No Kings" protest Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Jill Connelly)
EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - Demonstrators rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the No Kings protest in Washington, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
Demonstrators march over the Frederick Douglass Bridge during the No Kings protest in Washington, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
Demonstrators march through the Country Club Plaza shopping district during a "No Kings" protest Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
People attend a "No Kings" protest Saturday, March 28, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People take part in a national anti-war demonstration organized by "No Kings Italy movement" in Rome, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
People take part in a national anti-war demonstration organized by "No Kings Italy movement" in Rome, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
People take part in a national anti-war demonstration organized by "No Kings Italy movement" in Rome, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
A woman holding a banner reading "No Kings, No War" takes part in the "No Kings" protest in Paris, France, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
A woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty takes part in the "No Kings" protest in Paris, France, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
FILE - Protesters stand off against California National Guard soldiers at the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, during a "No Kings" protest, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
FILE - A person holds a sign reading "No Kings, No Oligarchs" as veterans and their supporters demonstrate outside Union Station Nov. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - Thousands of protesters fill Times Square during a "No Kings" protest in New York, Oct. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova, File)
FILE - Dee Cahill of Margate, Fla., holds a "No Kings" sign as she participates in a pro-democracy, anti-Trump protest outside Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., as part of the "Good Trouble Lives On" national day of action, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - Demonstrators march down Benjamin Franklin Parkway during the "No Kings" protest, June 14, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
