Trump claims North Korea stand-off 'largely solved'

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Donald Trump said Friday that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have ''great chemistry'' and claimed the standoff with the nuclear-armed Asian nation is ''largely solved.''

Trump, speaking to reporters outside the White House, said he had given his ''very direct'' telephone number to Kim, adding: ''He can now call me if he has any difficulty.''

''That's a very important thing,'' Trump said. ''We have communication.''

In a video message released later by the White House, Trump said Tuesday's summit with the young North Korean leader in Singapore was ''open, direct and very, very productive.''

''If there's a chance at peace, if there's a chance to end the horrible threat of nuclear conflict then we must pursue it at all costs,'' he said.

The results of the Singapore meeting, at which Kim and Trump signed a pledge ''to work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,'' have been greeted with skepticism by many observers.

Kim has not yet taken any concrete step to dismantle his nuclear programs.

Trump said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would be ''working directly with North Korea'' in the coming weeks and months to ''implement the denuclearization deal.''

''In the meantime, sanctions will remain in place,'' he added.

Trump's unilateral decision to reduce tension by cancelling joint military exercises by US and South Korean forces meanwhile appeared to catch both close ally Seoul and some Pentagon officials by surprise.

But Trump recalled that when he came to office last year, his predecessor Barack Obama had warned that North Korea's growing missile and nuclear threat was the United States' ''most dangerous problem.''

''I have solved that problem,'' Trump told reporters. ''Now we're getting it memorialized and all, but that problem is largely solved.