Trump downplays threat of N. Korea test

President says he might get a ‘nice present’ from Kim

PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that if North Korea tests intercontinental ballistic missiles, the U.S. will “deal with it.”

North Korea had long suggested it would use the end-of-year holiday season to deliver a “Christmas gift” to the U.S. after demanding Washington make additional concessions as part of long-stalled nuclear talks between the two sides. Earlier this year, Kim Jong Un’s regime set a Dec. 31 deadline for a breakthrough that has long seemed elusive.

“Oh, that’s OK, we’ll find out what the surprise is and we’ll deal with it very successfully,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-aLago club in Palm Beach, Florida, after a video teleconference with troops. “Everybody’s got surprises for me, but let’s see what happens. I handle them as they come along.”

Trump said that Kim’s threat might turn out to be a “nice present” on Christmas rather than a missile test, which would deliver another blow to his effort to broker a landmark nuclear pact with North Korea.

North Korea has added a structure to a factory linked to the production of intercontinental ballistic missiles, NBC News reported, raising concerns the reclusive country will resume testing weapons that can reach the U.S.

The commercial satellite images from Planet Labs show a temporary structure added to the site that can accommodate the raising of a launcher arm for such long-range missiles, according to NBC. The news report cited an analysis by Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

Trump has long touted his outreach to Pyongyang — and his personal ties to Kim — as one of his key foreign policy triumphs. Kim and Trump have met face-to-face three times — a first for any sitting American president — and the two regularly praise each other.

Whatever comes next, Trump may have lost some of the leverage he once gained from talking tough.