Kim Jong-Un rides through the woods of Mount Paektu KCNA via REUTERS

North Korea on Tuesday warned the US that it would receive a „Christmas gift“ if it did not make meaningful progress in talks this year.

The country also accused the US of delaying a response to North Korea’s cessation of intercontinental ballistic missile tests because of the 2020 election.

„The dialogue touted by the US is, in essence, nothing but a foolish trick hatched to keep the DPRK bound to dialogue and use it in favor of the political situation and election in the US,“ Ri Thae Song, the country’s vice foreign minister of US affairs, said.

North Korea previously took issue with the US’s claim that talks in October were „good discussions.“

Kim Jong Un told US President Donald Trump in April that he had until the end of 2019 to show flexibility in terms of nuclear and missile testing.

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North Korea on Tuesday warned the US in cryptic and ominous terms that it could expect a „Christmas gift“ but that the nature of it would depend on US action.

The country accused the US of putting off a response to its decision to cease testing intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2017 because of the 2020 election.

„The DPRK has done its utmost with maximum perseverance not to backtrack from the important steps it has taken on its own initiative,“ Ri Thae Song, North Korea’s vice foreign minister of US affairs, told the Korean Central News Agency in regard to ending tests.

„What is left to be done now is the US option and it is entirely up to the US what Christmas gift it will select to get.“

Using an abbreviation for North Korea’s formal name, Ri described US dialogue thus far as „nothing but a foolish trick hatched to keep the DPRK bound to dialogue and use it in favor of the political situation and election in the US.“

Intercontinental ballistic missiles are seen at a grand military parade celebrating the 70th founding anniversary of the Korean People\'s Army at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, in this photo released by North Korea\'s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) February 9, 2018. KCNA/via REUTERS

Talks between the two countries have stalled since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in April set a year-end deadline for the US to show more flexibility about missile tests.

Should North Korea resume nuclear and long-range-missile testing, it would undermine State Department claims that „good discussions“ were had between the two in October.

North Korea previously expressed anger over the State Department’s summary of those talks between low-level officials in Stockholm.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry said the Trump administration was „misleading the public opinion by touting ‚good discussions.'“

Trump Kim Leah Millis/Reuters

It also warned that if the US did not change its approach by the end of the year, then relations between the two countries „may immediately come to an end.“

In mid-November the US postponed a planned military exercise with South Korea, in what US Defense Secretary Mark Esper called an „act of goodwill“ toward North Korea.

North Korea did not see the act in the same light.

The US remains hopeful North Korea will make good on its promise in June 2018 to denuclearize.

Speaking at the NATO summit in London on Tuesday, Trump said of Kim: „He definitely likes sending rockets up, doesn’t he. That’s why I call him rocket man.“

He added: „If I weren’t president, you’d be in a war right now.“