
After taunting North Korea's volatile dictator yesterday evening in a tweet, President Donald Trump lunched at the White House with his secretaries of defense and state.

Trump took a slap at Kim Jong-un on Tuesday evening following the tyrant's claim that he has a nuclear button on his desk. The U.S. president retorted that he can also fire at will, and his button is 'much bigger & more powerful' and it actually works.

Following his latest bout of Twitter diplomacy, he sat down with Pentagon chief James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Vice President Mike Pence was also thought to be in attendance.

After taunting North Korea's volatile dictator yesterday evening in a tweet, President Donald Trump lunched at the White House with his secretaries of state, Rex Tillerson (left), and defense, James Mattis (right)

Kim Jong-un's regime will reopen a hotline with South Korea after nearly two years as he forges ahead with peace overtures ahead of the Winter Olympics. He is seen here giving a New Year's address

Kim's New Year address also included a warning to the US that he has a 'nuclear button' on his table, prompting a furious response from President Trump on Twitter

The luncheon is all that is on Trump's agenda today after his daily intelligence briefing. The president for a second day in a row has no public events.

It runs adjacent to an offer for high-level talks between the South and the North for the first time in two years as the neighboring countries prepare for the Winter Olympics. A hotline that shut down in February of 2016 has also reopened between Seoul and Pyongyang.

Moon Jae-In's government in South Korea is looking to ease tensions with Kim's regime before next month's Pyeongchang Games. The South Korean president called the games a 'groundbreaking opportunity for peace' after Kim said in a New Year's address that he would like to send a delegation of players to the international sporting competition.

The despot also claimed that he has a 'nuclear button' on desk and 'the whole territory of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear strike' in a new threat to Trump.

Trump responded Tuesday night with a jab at Kim that reminded him of the United States' military might.

'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!' Trump stated.

At a press avail the U.N. headquarters in New York on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said, 'We won't take any of the talks seriously if they don't do something to ban all nuclear weapons in North Korea

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump struck a balanced tone on North Korea as he speculated that renewed ties between the country could either be good or bad.

'Sanctions and “other” pressures are beginning to have a big impact on North Korea,' he said. 'Soldiers are dangerously fleeing to South Korea. Rocket man now wants to talk to South Korea for first time.'

Trump added, 'Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not - we will see!'

U.S. officials were skeptical on Tuesday that talks would be beneficial to the global peace process.

At a press avail the U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said, 'We won't take any of the talks seriously if they don't do something to ban all nuclear weapons in North Korea.

'So North Korea can talk with anyone they want, but the U.S. is not going to recognize it or acknowledge it until they agreed to ban the nuclear weapons that they have,' she stated.

The sanctions regimes the international community put in place last year, 'That was a great achievement. But there is more to do to ensure full implementation of the Security Council resolutions, as we hear reports that North Korea may be preparing for another missile test,' Haley said.

'I hope that does not happen,' she interjected. 'But if it does, we must bring even more measures to bear on the North Korean regime. The civilized world must remain united and vigilant against the rogue state's development of a nuclear arsenal. We will never accept a nuclear North Korea.'

In Foggy Bottom, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said North Korea might be 'trying to drive a wedge of some sort' between the United States and South Korea.

'I can assure you that that will not happen, that will not occur,' she asserted. 'We are very skeptical of Kim Jong-un’s sincerity in sitting down and having talks. Our policy hasn’t changed, the South Koreans’ policy has not changed, that we both support a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, as, frankly, does the world.'

At a simultaneous press briefing in Washington the White House press secretary also said the United States' alliance with North Korea 'remains stronger than it ever has been.'

'Our policy on North Korea hasn't changed at all and the United States is committed and will still continue to put maximum pressure on North Korea to change and make sure that it denuclearize the peninsula,' she said. 'Our goals are the same, and we share that with South Korea, but our policy and our process has not changed.'