US President Donald Trump has announced in his State of the Union speech that he will hold a second nuclear summit with North Korea’s leader this month.
In an address to the nation with the theme “Choosing Greatness”, he vowed once again to build a border wall.
While appealing for political unity, the Republican president also said “ridiculous partisan investigations” could damage US prosperity.
In a rebuttal, Democrats accused Mr. Trump of abandoning US values.
His primetime address came less than a fortnight after he backed down to end the longest US government shutdown in history when Democrats refused to fund a US-Mexico border wall.
Another shutdown could happen if no spending plan is agreed by the end of next week.
On Tuesday night, Mr. Trump said: “Our hostages have come home, nuclear testing has stopped, and there has not been a missile launch in 15 months.
“If I had not been elected president of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea.
“Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong-un is a good one.”
The president vowed once again to build wall on the border, calling illegal immigration “an urgent national crisis”.
But he refrained from declaring a border emergency that would allow him to bypass Congress for wall money.
With another government shutdown deadline looming on 15 February, the president has few options to fund a border wall.
Mr. Trump told his audience that working class Americans pay the price for illegal immigration.
