Trump: North Korea’s ‘Christmas Gift’ for U.S. Might be a ‘Beautiful Vase’
“Maybe it’s a present where he sends me a beautiful vase as opposed to a missile test. Right? I may get a vase, I may get a nice present from him, you don’t know. You never know,” the president told reporters in Florida.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un gave the U.S. until the end of the year to provide concessions in talks over the country’s nuclear arsenal. Without a resolution, Pyongyang warned it has a “Christmas gift” ready for the U.S.
Administration officials say North Korea appears to be preparing to test engines and other components of its missile program.
Former national security adviser and uber-hawk John Bolton publicly criticized the Trump administration’s approach to North Korea in an interview published Sunday.
“We’re now nearly three years into the administration with no visible progress toward getting North Korea to make the strategic decision to stop pursuing deliverable nuclear weapons,” said Bolton.
“The idea that we are somehow exerting maximum pressure on North Korea is just unfortunately not true,” said Bolton, who added that he doesn’t think Trump “really means it” when he calls for total disarmament, because if he did he “would be pursuing a different course.”
Bolton’s tenure ended amid a string of Trump administration “maximum pressure” campaigns on Iran, North Korea, and a failed attempt to foster regime change in Venezuela.
