Trump says DPRK must denuclearize

US leader responds to Pyongyang's announcement of 'very important' test

WASHINGTON/SEOUL－US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea risks losing "everything" if it resumes hostilities and refuses to denuclearize, after Pyongyang said it had carried out a "successful test of great significance".

" (The DPRK's top leader) Kim Jong-un is too smart and has far too much to lose, everything actually, if he acts in a hostile way. He signed a strong Denuclearization Agreement with me in Singapore," Trump said on Twitter, referring to his first summit with Kim in Singapore in 2018.

"He does not want to void his special relationship with the president of the United States or interfere with the US presidential election in November," he had said earlier.

Trump's statement came just hours after Trump said he would be "surprised" by any hostile action from the DPRK, emphasizing his "very good relationship "with Kim.

The DPRK's state media KCNA reported earlier on Sunday that the country had carried out a "very important" test at its Sohae satellite launch site, a rocket-testing ground that US officials once said Pyongyang had promised to close.

The test will "have an important effect on changing the strategic position of the DPRK once again in the near future", said the KCNA without further elaboration.

The reported test also came ahead of a Dec 31 deadline the DPRK has imposed for the US to drop its insistence on unilateral denuclearization. Pyongyang has warned it could take a "new path "amid the stalled talks with the US.

The DPRK, "under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, has tremendous economic potential, but it must denuclearize as promised", Trump said on Twitter.

Missile experts said it appeared likely the DPRK had conducted a static test of a rocket engine, rather than a missile launch.

"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 Pyongyang, which has called on Washington to change its policy of insisting on Pyongyang's unilateral denuclearization and demanded relief from punishing sanctions.

On Saturday, Kim Song, the DPRK's ambassador to the United Nations, said in a statement that denuclearization was now off the negotiating table with the US and lengthy talks with Washington are not needed.

30-minute talk

On Saturday, President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea spoke by phone with Trump and agreed to maintain dialogue with Pyongyang.

The 30-minute talk was the first conversation between Trump and Moon since they met at the UN General Assembly in New York in September.

"The two leaders shared an assessment that the current situation on the Korean Peninsula is grave," said Moon's spokeswoman Ko Min-jung, adding that Trump had requested the call.

Trump and Kim engaged in months of mutual insults and threats of devastation in 2017, sending tensions soaring before a diplomatic rapprochement the following year.

The test is the latest in a string of statements and actions from Pyongyang designed to underscore the seriousness of its Dec 31 deadline.

The DPRK has announced it would convene a rare gathering of top ruling-party officials later this month. On Dec 4, state media showed photos of Kim taking a second symbolic horse ride on the sacred Changbai Mountain, also known as Mount Paektu.

Such meetings and propaganda blitzes often come ahead of major announcements from the DPRK authorities.

Separately, interviewed on the CBS TV news program Face the Nation on Sunday, US National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien was asked whether Pyongyang was preparing to restart nuclear tests.

"I hope not. That would be a mistake on the part of North Korea (the DPRK)," he said.

REUTERS—AFP—XINHUA