'It's a situation that concerns us': National security adviser says US still expects 'gift' from North Korea

National security adviser Robert O'Brien said Sunday the U.S. is still expecting the "Christmas gift" North Korea promised to deliver if progress is not made in negotiations between the two nations ahead of an end-of-year deadline imposed by leader Kim Jong Un. 

O'Brien said in an interview on ABC's "This Week" that the U.S. "always monitors the situation" in North Korea and noted that Kim "has said there would be something over Christmas."

O'Brien said Kim and President Donald Trump "have a good relationship personally" and expressed hope that "perhaps he's reconsidered" his regime's Christmas threat. 

"But we will have to wait and see. We're going to monitor it closely. It's a situation that concerns us, of course," O'Brien said. 

North Korean state media reported the country opened a high-profile meeting of the ruling Worker's Party's Central Committee in Pyongyang on Saturday. The same meeting in 2018 was used to announce the suspension of nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests (ICMB) tests. Observers believe this year's conference could be used to announce the resumption of such tests as talks with the U.S. have faltered. 

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that leader Kim presided over the "first-day session" of the meeting, which is intended to "overcome the manifold and harsh trials and difficulties and further accelerate the development of the revolution with transparent anti-imperialist independent stand and firm will."

The meeting will also discuss "important matters" in the party and national defense, KCNA said.

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At their first summit in Singapore in 2018, Trump was able to secure a promise from Kim to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, which the administration touted as a major foreign policy win. North Korea proceeded to halt tests and missile launches, and began to dismantle key testing sites.

But the second summit between the two leaders was cut short and the talks have stalled. Since the end of that meeting in Hanoi between the two leaders, North Korea has resumed missile tests and has threatened to start launching long-range missiles again. Testing has also resumed at a long-range missile site Kim had begun to dismantle in 2018. 

North Korea has demanded swifter and broader removal of the sanctions plaguing its already beleaguered economy while the U.S. has sought the total dismantling of its nuclear program. In April, Kim said that if the U.S. did not bring something new to the table by the end of the year, his regime would seek a "new path." 

Earlier this month, a North Korean official said it "is entirely up to the U.S. what Christmas gift it will select to get." 

With troops anxiously waiting to see what sort of gift the regime has in mind, an alarm was accidentally sent blaring across a U.S. military base in South Korea Saturday instead of the intended bugle call. A public affairs officer attributed the mistake to "human error." 

When asked how the U.S. would respond if North Korea announced it would restart nuclear and long-range missile tests, O'Brien said, "Kim Jong Un promised to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. We want to hold him to that commitment." 

"And we hope he follows through with the commitment that he made in Singapore," O'Brien said. "But, if he doesn't, we have other tools in the toolkit, as the United States, and we will use those as necessary." 

Without offering any specifics, O'Brien said "additional pressure can be brought to bear on the North Koreans" and if Kim resumes testing, "we will be extraordinarily disappointed – and we will demonstrate that disappointment." 

O'Brien stressed that Trump had taken "a different tack" than other administrations that had failed to address the North Korea situation, which he called the "most difficult challenge in the world when President Trump took office." 

John Bolton, who served as national security adviser until September, said in a recent interview that the Trump administration has made "no visible progress" on North Korea. 

O'Brien said the president and Bolton "did not always see eye to eye on how to conduct American diplomacy" and disputed the criticism about a lack of progress, pointing to the halt in nuclear tests. 

"We've diffused a very high tension situation, and so we're going to have to see if the president's approach works," O'Brien said. "But, look, like Ambassador Bolton, the president has no illusions that this is a very dangerous, concerning matter." 

He said that the administration had not called for regime change and that Trump promised Kim "an extraordinarily bright future with a great economy" if he gives up his nuclear ambitions.

"Now, whether they take that opportunity or not, we'll have to see. And if they don't take it, the United States is still the leading military power in the world," O'Brien said. 

Contributing: The Associated Press 

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