US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has warned Kim Jong-un that he possessed a nuclear button that is “much bigger & more powerful” than that of the North Korean leader.

He tweeted: “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’s message came after Kim used his annual New Year address to warn he has a “nuclear button” on his table, but sweetened his remarks by expressing an interest in dialogue and taking part in the Pyeongchang Games next month.

South Korea responded positively yesterday, proposing high-level talks with Pyongyang on 9 January.

But US envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley dismissed the proposed dialogue between the Koreas as a “band-aid” warning that Washington would never accept a nuclear-armed Pyongyang.

Meanwhile, Trump admitted the Middle East peace process was in difficulty and threatened to cut aid to Palestinians worth more than $300 million a year, drawing a rebuke that they would not be “blackmailed”.

“We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” Trump tweeted.

“With the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”

It was not immediately clear whether Trump was threatening all of the budget, worth $319 million in 2016, according to US government figures.

“We will not be blackmailed,” senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement Wednesday after Trump’s tweet.

“President Trump has sabotaged our search for peace, freedom and justice. Now he dares to blame the Palestinians for the consequences of his own irresponsible actions!”

- © AFP 2018

Read: South Korea offers high-level talks with North in demilitarised zone >

Read: Kim Jong-Un warns that the ‘nuclear button’ is always on his desk >