
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, says it is "good for the United States" that North and South Korea are set to engage in high-level talks, but warned Pyongyang's nuclear weapons ambitions still pose a serious threat to the world.
"This is a very dangerous situation," Haley told ABC News on Sunday.
She said the United States is "not letting up on the pressure" to end North Korea's nuclear weapons development and warned, "We can destroy them, too." She said that if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were to launch a nuclear attack on the United States, "It is not going to be us [The United States] that is destroyed."
She defended U.S. President Donald Trump's response to Kim after the North Korean leader said in a New Year's address that he had a "nuclear button" on his desk and that “the whole territory of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear strike.''
Trump, in a Twitter comment, retorted, “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