By Brad Lendon, Nectar Gan, CNN

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) — Kim Jong Un on Monday watched a test of North Korea’s new high-thrust rocket engine, an event that sets the stage for Pyongyang to test its newest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Hwasong-20, which state media said last week would be powered by the new rocket.

The test comes less than a week after Kim traveled to Beijing for a massive military parade, where he shared the parade stand with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The visit likely left him emboldened to pursue his nuclear weapons program with increased vigor, having reinvigorated ties with his country’s longtime political and economic patron, China, while standing alongside the leader of his new military ally, Russia.

Monday’s test was the ninth and final one for the new engine, which is solid-fueled and made with carbon-fiber composite materials, according to a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Solid-fueled rockets are more stable, and can be moved more easily to avoid detection before a launch that can be initiated in a matter of minutes, experts say – compared with liquid-fueled missiles that may need hours before launch, giving time for adversaries to detect and neutralize the weapon.

The successful test of the engine “heralds a significant change in expanding and strengthening the nuclear strategic forces” of North Korea, the KCNA report said.

Kim had visited the factory where the rocket engine is made last week, before his trip to Beijing, and a KCNA report at the time said he discussed plans for “serial production” of the new rocket engine.

It would be used on the Hwasong-19 ICBM – which was successfully tested last October and exhibited a range to hit targets anywhere in the United States -– and the “next-generation” Hwasong-20, which has yet to fly, the KCNA report said.

That the rocket test came less than a week after Kim’s meeting with China’s Xi is seen as significant.

During their first summit in six years, Xi and Kim pledged to deepen strategic coordination and reaffirmed that their commitment to bilateral friendship will not waver.

And for the first time in a Xi-Kim meeting, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was not mentioned in China’s official readouts – a striking break from their five previous meetings.

The omission has raised concerns that China is quietly abandoning its long-stated goal of a nuclear-free peninsula and tacitly accepting North Korea’s nuclear status.

Kim’s illegal nuclear weapons program has transformed North Korea into the most heavily sanctioned state in the world.

However, Russia – and to a lesser extent China – have become less openly critical of that program in recent years as tensions with Western powers have risen.

Putin has been embracing North Korea as he taps Pyongyang for military hardware – including missiles – and troops to support his war on Ukraine.

Last year, Kim signed a mutual defense pact with Putin, as the two countries pledged to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance in the event the other is attacked.

Experts said China’s apparent acceptance of North Korea’s nuclear status may be in reaction to the strong Putin-Kim ties.

“Beijing is clearly uneasy about losing ground in Pyongyang as North Korea deepens ties with Russia,” said Shuxian Luo, an assistant professor of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.

“This meeting looks like China’s bid to reassert itself as North Korea’s top patron, which in turn can bolster Beijing’s leverage in dealing with Washington.”

The news about the rocket test was published coinciding with North Korea’s 77th Day of the Foundation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, an anniversary around which Pyongyang has tested weapons in the past.

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