Kim Jong Un Threatens U.S. Ominously With A ‘Christmas Gift’

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has promised to give the U.S. a “Christmas gift” if ongoing talks with the U.S. don’t improve. Some North Korea experts have surmised that he is hinting at the resumption of long-distance missile tests as North Korea’s self-imposed year-end deadline expires soon.

Diplomats from the two countries have been attempting to negotiate a trade that would see Kim give up the country’s nuclear weapons and the ballistic missiles used to deliver them in exchange for relief from draconian U.S. and U.N. sanctions that have crippled the North Korean economy.

The negotiations between the two countries have gotten bogged down recently with the North Koreans accusing the U.S. of leveraging the nuclear talks for gains in domestic politics. North Korea conducted several shorter-range missile tests recently, making matters worse.

On the July 4 holiday in 2017, North Korea successfully conducted the test launch of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). North Korea called it a “gift” for the U.S.

First vice minister on US affairs at the North Korean Foreign Ministry Ri Thae Song echoed Kim’s views. “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 favor of the political situation and election in the U.S.,” Ri said. DPRK is the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “It is entirely up to the US what Christmas gift it will select to get.”

On Wednesday, North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency announced that the country’s most powerful political body, the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, will meet at the end of December “in order to discuss and decide on crucial issues in line with the needs of the development of the Korean revolution and the changed situation at home and abroad.”

Article by Rajeet Guha