North Korea savages Trump as an ‘erratic old man’ after US president’s blast over Kim’s ‘nuke’ missile test

NORTH Korea has slammed Donald Trump as a "heedless and erratic old man" after he tweeted leader Kim Jong Un wouldn't want to "void his special relationship".

Trump yesterday warned trigger-happy Kim it has "too much to lose" hours after its latest controversial "missile" test.

The tough-talking US President took to Twitter to take aim at Kim by ordering him to stick to his pledge to stop his nuclear ambitions now.

But Kim Yong Chol, a governing communist party vice chairman, hit back on behalf of the North Korean dictator.

In a statement to state news agency KCNA, he said: “As [Trump] is such a heedless and erratic old man, the time when we cannot but call him a ‘dotard’ again may come.

"Trump has too many things that he does not know about [North Korea]. 

“We have nothing more to lose. 

“Though the US may take away anything more from us, it can never remove the strong sense of self-respect, might and resentment against the US from us.”

In the initial tweet that sparked the salvo, Trump said: "Kim Jong Un is too smart and has far too much to lose, everything actually, if he acts in a hostile way.

"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.

"North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, has tremendous economic potential, but it must denuclearize as promised.

"NATO, China, Russia, Japan, and the entire world is unified on this issue!"

Trump had himself been responding to North Korea which had bragged about carrying out a "very important test" at a long-range rocket launch site rebuilt after it was partially dismantled before "peace" talks.

It didn't say what the test included but Kim Dong-yub, an analyst at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the rogue state likely tested for the first time a solid-fuel engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The use of solid fuel increases a weapons mobility and reduces the amount of launch preparation time.

The long-range rockets that North Korea used in either ICBM launches or satellite liftoffs in recent years all used liquid propellants.

CNN reported Friday that a new satellite image indicated North Korea may be preparing to resume testing engines used to power satellite launchers and intercontinental ballistic missiles at the site.

The news comes after Pyongyang appeared to shut the door on further US talks and just days after Pyongyang warned it is “up to the US what Christmas gift it will get” from the rogue state.

Kim has now given the White House until December 31 to end what it calls ongoing “hostility” between the two nations.

"We do not need to have lengthy talks with the US now, and denuclearisation is already gone out of the negotiating table," the North Korean envoy to the UN, Kim Song, said in a statement on Saturday.

North Korea has already said its resumption of nuclear and long-range missile tests depends entirely on Washington.

While Kim's military leaders insist their ongoing "satellite launches" are part of its peaceful space development programme

However, many outside experts say ballistic missiles and rockets used in satellite launches share similar bodies, engines and other technology.

None of North Korea's three intercontinental ballistic missile tests in 2017 was conducted at the Sohae site, but observers said the site was used to test engines for ICBMs.

After his first summit with the North Korean leader in Singapore in June last year, Trump said Kim told him he was already destroying a major missile engine testing site" in addition to committing to complete denuclearisation" of the Korean Peninsula.

Satellite imagery later showed the North dismantling a rocket engine-testing stand and other facilities at the Sohae site.

Last March, South Korea's spy agency and some US experts said that North Korea was restoring the facilities, raising doubts about whether it was committed to denuclearisation.

North Korea has since warned that the US must abandon hostile policies and come out with new acceptable proposals by the end of this year or it would take an unspecified new path.

In recent months, North Korea has performed a slew of short-range missile and other weapons launches and hinted at lifting its moratorium on nuclear and long-range missiles.