CIA Director Mike Pompeo says the North Koreans have reached out to South Korea to begin talks because they’re being “strangled” by President Trump who has made clear their behavior is “unacceptable.”

“The North Koreans are in a tough spot,” Pompeo told “Fox News Sunday.” “President Trump has made very clear that the U.S. policy is denuclearization of the peninsula and that we are going to achieve that. You see the North Koreans doing what they have historically done, reaching out, trying to find space, trying to come up for air when they are being strangled by a president who’s made very clear that their behavior is unacceptable.”

South Korea offered to hold high-level talks with North Korea this week after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was open to negotiations as his country aims to strengthen its nuclear weapons program. (WASHINGTON EXAMINER)

President Trump on Tuesday said that the nuclear launch button on his desk is “much bigger” and “more powerful” than that of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – and that his button actually “works.”

“North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times,'” Trump tweeted. “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

Trump’s comments came after Kim said in a New Year’s Day speech that he had a nuclear launch button at his desk, and that the international community would have to accept North Korea’s status as a nuclear-armed nation as a “reality.” (THE HILL)