Trump trades ‘short and fat’ barb with N Korea’s Kim

It said Trump’s warnings “can never frighten us or put a stop to our advance”, according to the state-run KCNA news agency, quoting a Pyongyang foreign ministry spokesman.

Utilising Twitter’s new 280-character tweet length Mr Trump gave his thoughts on a range of subjects, from relations with Russia, China’s efforts to rein in North Korea, and a sarcastic message about his bid to make “a friend” of Kim.

The escalating war of words between Trump and Kim has raised concerns about a potential outbreak of hostilities.

Earlier in the day, Kim lashed out at Trump in statement and called him a “dotard”, meaning very old person.

Trump has often equated personal relationships with foreign leaders with broader USA foreign policy, speaking often about his friendship with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his warm regard for China’s Xi Jinping.

In a series of tweets he also said Chinese President Xi Jinping was “upping sanctions” on North Korea in response to its nuclear and missile programs and that Xi wants Pyongyang to “denuclearize”. Several nations back an active American military presence in the region to serve as a counterweight to China’s increasingly assertive actions, including the construction of seven man-made islands equipped with military installations. “We need to move on so many tracks with Japan but also finding a way to deal with the issues of the past, not to paper over them, but to deal with those issues as genuine issues with the collective wisdom of the two sides and the leaders on both sides”. A lot of people stick to paying attention to whatever’s going on in their own country, trying not be sucked into what’s happening on the other side of the world.

Trump will attend a state banquet on Saturday night ahead of a welcoming and deal signing ceremony in Hanoi on Sunday with Vietnam’s top leadership. The US leader seemed to suggest that buying what he called the “greatest missiles in the world” would help wipe out a trade imbalance.

“As to whether I believe it or not, I’m with our agencies, especially as now constituted”, Trump said.

In an emotional interview with The Telegraph, Taewon Lee, 29, said he last heard from his wife and four year old son – whose identities he wanted to protect – on November 4, in a snatched telephone conversation when she told him they had been arrested in China.

The President had been working to rally global pressure against North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme on the trip to Asia, including a stern speech delivered in South Korea.