A June 2018 photo shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump meeting at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island in Singapore (Photo: AFP)

Trump made the statement after North Korea’s vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui said Monday that Pyongyang was willing to return to denuclearization talks with the US at the end of the month. The President’s increasingly open position follows this week's departure of the hawkish John Bolton as US national security adviser, which has raised hopes for a quick resumption of the denuclearization talks.  

Trump and Kim have had three meetings since June 2018 to negotiate the North's denuclearization in exchange for US sanctions relief and security guarantees.