N Korea conducts very important test, Trump warns Pyongyang has ‘everything to lose’
SEOUL/WASHINGTON : North Korea has carried out a “very important” test at its Sohae satellite launch site, state media KCNA reported on Sunday, a rocket testing ground that US officials once said Pyongyang had promised to close.
The reported test comes as a year-end deadline North Korea has imposed nears, warning it could take a “new path” amid stalled denuclearisation talks with the United States. The KCNA report called it a “successful test of great significance” on Saturday but did not specify what was tested.
South Korea’s defence ministry said South Korea and the United States are cooperating closely in monitoring activities at major North Korean sites including Tongchang-ri, the area where Sohae is located.
Missile experts said it appeared likely the North Koreans had conducted a static test of a rocket engine, rather than a missile launch, which are usually quickly detected by South Korea and Japan.
“If it is indeed a static engine test for a new solid or liquid fuel missile, it is yet another loud signal that the door for diplomacy is quickly slamming, if it isn’t already,” said Vipin Narang, a nuclear affairs expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US. “This could be a very credible signal of what might await the world after the New Year.”
Tensions have risen ahead of a year-end deadline set by North Korea, which has called on the United States to change its policy of insisting on Pyongyang’s unilateral denuclearisation and demanded relief from punishing sanctions.
Reacting to the news of the test, President Donald Trump warned that North Korea had “everything” to lose through hostility towards the US.
“Kim Jong Un is too smart and has far too much to lose, everything actually, if he acts in a hostile way,” Trump tweeted.
“He signed a strong Denuclearisation Agreement with me in Singapore,” Trump continued.
“He does not want to void his special relationship with the President of the United States or interfere with the U.S. Presidential Election in November.”