Trump downplays DPRK's possible 'Christmas surprise'

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on Tuesday downplayed the significance of a possible "Christmas surprise" from Pyongyang, saying he would deal with it successfully.

"We'll find out what the surprise is and we'll deal with it very successfully," Trump told reporters at his resort Mar-a-Lago, Florida when asked about the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s threat of a possible "Christmas surprise."

"Everybody's got surprises for me ... I handle them as they come along," he said, adding that the DPRK might send him "a beautiful vase" instead of a missile test.

DPRK's Vice Foreign Minister Ri Thae-song warned in early December that Washington would soon need to decide what kind of "Christmas gift" it will receive from Pyongyang.

Pyongyang had set its deadline for the denuclearization negotiations at the end of this year, and it also carried out two "important tests" at its Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on Dec 7 and 13.

The denuclearization negotiation between Washington and Pyongyang has lost momentum since the impasse of the Hanoi Summit in late February and the unproductive working-level talks in Stockholm in October.