U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un risks losing “everything” if he resumes hostility and that his country must denuclearize, after Pyongyang said it had carried out a “successful test of great significance.”

“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 U.S. Presidential Election in November,” he said.

There was wide speculation yesterday that the test involved a new engine for either a space launch vehicle or a long-range missile.

Whatever it was, the North Korean announcement suggests that the country is preparing to do something to provoke the United States if Washington doesn’t back down and make concessions in deadlocked nuclear negotiations.

While no rocket or weapons launch was detected over the weekend, many foreign experts speculate that North Korea tested a new high-thrust engine, which is needed to launch bigger, more powerful rockets.

Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute, tweeted that satellite images “suggest it conducted a rocket engine test at Sohae.”

Analyst Kim Dae-young at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy in South Korea said the test is likely related to a space launch vehicle, not an ICBM. He said North Korea would not conduct a long-range missile launch or nuclear test unless it completely abandons talks with the U.S.

(SD-Agencies)