HAPPY NUKE YEAR
North Korea warns Donald Trump he’ll receive a ‘Christmas gift’ if US misses nuke talks deadline
NORTH Korea today issued a very chilly festive warning to Donald Trump by saying it is “up to the US what Christmas gift it will get” from the rogue state.
Kim Jong-un has given the White House until December 31 to end what it calls ongoing “hostility” while warning time is running out to salvage nuclear missile talks.
6
The thinly-veiled threat comes as the regime piles pressure on Washington ahead of Kim’s deadline for the US to offer mutually acceptable terms for a deal.
Ri Thae Song, a vice minister in charge of US relations, accused the US of trying to drag out planned denuclearisation talks ahead of the presidential election next year.
His words appeared to be in response to a US state department statement calling for “sustained and substantial dialogue” after North Korea’s test of new multiple rocket launchers last Thursday.
“The dialogue touted by the US is, in essence, nothing but a foolish trick hatched to keep the DPRK bound to dialogue and use it in favour of the political situation and election in the US,” he said, referring to the official name for North Korea.
6
6
Pyongyang - the North Korean capital - had “done its utmost with maximum perseverance,” he then added.
“What is left to be done now is the US option and it is entirely up to the US what Christmas gift it will select to get.”
The warning came as Kim officially opened the new city and "socialist utopia"; of Samjiyon, in the shadow of a sacred mountain where his long-ruling family claim their roots.
He cut the ribbon to the town surrounded by cheering locals and troops while calling it the “epitome of modern civilisation”.
Photos released by state media showed Kim smiling as he cut a ribbon at the ceremony surrounded by buildings covered in snow.
Washington has not yet responded to the latest threat however the statement led to speculation on social media about whether the “gift” could be a nuke.
6
6
The US and North Korea attempted to restart behind-the-scenes negotiations in October but quickly hit another stalemate.
Afterwards the North Koreans hit out at the Americans’ “old stance and attitude.”
That move came after Trump's talks with Kim during a second so-called peace summit broke down in Vietnam.
The summit collapsed without an agreed deal for denuclearising the Korean Peninsula.
Washington has since said it will only relax crippling economic sanctions against the country if North Korea gives up its nukes and long-range missiles.
But North Korea has said it will only scrap its nuclear weapons after sanctions are lifted entirely.
Kim and Trump exchanged crude insults and war threats amid a provocative run in North Korean nuclear and missile tests in 2017.
MOST READ IN NEWS
The North Korean leader made a rare public address on state TV on 22 September 2017 in which he likened the US to a "frightened dog" that needed to be tamed "with fire".
At one stage the US leader even famously branded his trigger-happy counterpart "Little Rocket Man."
The US President lashed out after Kim branded him "mentally unstable".
And after the North tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile in July 2017, Kim called the missile a “package of gifts” to the Americans for their Fourth of July holiday.
6
North Korea leader Kim Jong-un celebrates completion of new sacred mountain city dubbed a 'socialist utopia'
Topics