Trump praise for Chinese

US President Donald Trump says a major conflict with North Korea is possible in the standoff over its nuclear and missile programs, but he would prefer a diplomatic outcome to the dispute.

“There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely,” Trump said in an Oval Office interview.

Nonetheless, Trump said he wanted to peacefully resolve a crisis that had bedevilled multiple US presidents, a path that he and his administration were emphasising by preparing a variety of new economic sanctions while not taking the military option off the table.

“We’d love to solve things diplomatically, but it’s very difficult,” he said.

Trump praised Chinese President Xi Jinping for Chinese help in trying to rein in North Korea. The two met in Florida earlier this month.

“I believe he is trying very hard,” Trump said. “He certainly doesn’t want to see turmoil and death. He doesn’t want to see it. He is a good man. He is a very good man and I got to know him very well.

“With that being said, he loves China and he loves the people of China. I know he would like to be able to do something, perhaps it’s possible that he can’t.”

Trump spoke just a day after he and his top national security advisers briefed US politicians on the North Korean threat and one day before Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will press the United Nations Security Council on sanctions to further isolate Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile programs.

Any direct US military ac- tion would risk massive North Korean retaliation and huge casualties in Japan and South Korea and among US forces in both countries.

Trump, asked if he considered North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to be rational, said he was operating from the assumption that he was rational. He noted Kim had taken over his country at an early age.

“He’s 27 years old. His father dies, took over a regime. So say what you want, but that is not easy, especially at that age,” Trump said.