The White House on Wednesday defended President Trump’s tweet that he had a “bigger & more powerful” nuclear button than North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un​ by​ saying the commander-in-chief is just looking out for the ​security of ​America​ns​.

“I don’t think that it’s taunting to stand up for the people of this country,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at the White House news briefing. “This is a president who is committed to protecting Americans and protecting the people of this country and he’s not going to back down from that.”

Then she took a shot at former President Barack Obama for failing to curtail Kim’s nuclear ambitions during Obama’s eight years in office.

“I think what’s dangerous is to ignore continued threats. If the previous administration had done anything and dealt with North Korea and dealt with Iran instead of standing by and doing nothing, we wouldn’t have to clean up their mess now,” she said.

Vice President Mike Pence said Trump’s tweet shows that he will not back down from threats from the reclusive regime.

“President Trump made it clear: America will not be bullied, America will not be threatened, and that the United States of America has —​ and by being clear, managed to marshal an unprecedented amount of economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea,” Pence said in an interview on “Voice of America.”

Trump on Tuesday responded to Kim’s threat in a New Year’s Day speech that Pyongyang could strike the US mainland with a nuclear weapon and ​that he ​has a “nuclear button” on his desk.

“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 wrote on Tuesday.

​The war of words between Trump and Kim comes as the United Nations welcomed the opening of a key cross-border communication channel between the Koreas that had been closed since 2016.

​”It is always a positive development to have a dialogue between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea,” said Farhan Haq​, a spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.​​

The hotline was restored Wednesday after Kim reached out to South Korea about beginning talks before Seoul hosts the Olympic Winter Games next month.

The first call lasted about 20 minutes, a South Korean Unification Ministry official said.

With Post wires