My nuclear button 'bigger, more powerful' than North Korea's, says Trump
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After North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's message that he was always within reach of the nuclear button comes President Trump's tweet that the "US nuclear button is bigger and more powerful one than his."
Trump tweeted: "North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the "Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times." Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!"
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018
"The nuclear button is always on my table. The US must realise this is not blackmail but reality, Kim Jong-Un had said while reiterating his claims that North Korea was a nuclear state.
"(The North) can cope with any kind of nuclear threats from the US and has a strong nuclear deterrence that is able to prevent the US from playing with fire," Kim said in his annual address to the nation.
He also said that North Korea must mass-produce nuclear weapons and missiles.
"We must mass-produce nuclear warheads and ballistic missile and speed up their deployment," said Kim.
On Tuesday, US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, warned North Korea against staging another missile test.
Nikki Haley told the press the United States was hearing reports that North Korea might be preparing to fire another missile.
"I hope that doesn't happen. But if it does, we must bring even tougher measures to bear against the North Korean regime," Haley said.
The US envoy said Washington would not take any talks between North and South Korea seriously if they did not do something to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.
Trump and Kim's latest remarks come after months of escalating tensions over North Korea's country's weapons programme.
US President Donald Trump has responded to each test with his own counter-threats, threatening to "totally destroy" Pyongyang and saying Kim Jong-Un was on "a suicide mission".
Kim Jong-Un has presided over multiple missile tests in recent months and the North's sixth and most powerful nuclear test -- which it said was a hydrogen bomb -- in September.
In December the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed new, US-drafted sanctions to restrict oil supplies vital for the impoverished state. The sanctions also received the backing of China, the North's sole major ally and economic lifeline
The third raft of sanctions imposed last year, which the North slammed as an "act of war".
(With inputs from agencies)