US President has expressed confidence in his country's stance on state-of-the-art missile threats • "It can be a nice gift, like a vase"

• President of the United States Donald Trump // Photo: APP

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday addressed the North Korean threat "to give the United States a Christmas present" and said his country "will deal with the situation very successfully."

Trump told reporters at his Florida estate: "We'll find out what the surprise is and deal with it very successfully. We'll see what happens." The president added: "Maybe it's a nice gift. Maybe it's a gift that he (North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un) sends to me, like a vase."

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Pyongyang warned Washington earlier this month that it would give Americans a "Christmas present," after North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un set an ultimatum to talks with the United States by the end of the year.

The North Koreans have blamed Americans for trying to drag the talks on the dissolution of Pyongyang nuclear until after the US election this year. In an official statement in North Korea, they said: "Only the United States will decide what the Christmas present will be.

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Pentagon officials have warned that North Korea may intend to conduct an intercontinental ballistic missile test, as it did in 2017. Satellite images released by private surveillance companies show that work has actually accelerated in several missile facilities in North Korea.

President Trump has so far withdrawn senior warnings about North Korea's willingness to return to missile development and has shown his personal friendship with the state-ruled shutdown as a guarantee of continuing talks between the countries.

Special relationship, Trump and Kim Jong Un on the border between readings // Photo: Reuters

Earlier this year, talks between Trump and Kim surfaced after the two met in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. Due to disagreement over the issue of nuclear disarmament and the removal of sanctions over North Korea, the two separated without understanding.