(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said that if North Korea tests intercontinental ballistic missiles, the U.S. will “deal with it.”
“I handle them as they come along,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
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 suggested that Kim’s threat of a “Christmas present” might be a “nice present” rather than surprising him on Christmas with another missile test, which would deliver another blow to his effort to broker a landmark nuclear pact with North Korea.
“Maybe it’s a nice present. 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,” Trump told reporters.
The president has frequently cited his personal relationship with Kim as a reason he believes a deal can get done.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jordan Fabian in Palm Beach, Florida at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at [email protected], Justin Blum, Jon Morgan
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