Open to meeting with Kim Jong-un, says Trump

United States President Donald Trump has stated he would "certainly be open" to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Speaking at the outset of a five-nation Asia tour, in an interview broadcast, Trump said, "I don't think it's strength or weakness; I think sitting down with people is not a bad thing."

"So I would certainly be open to doing that [sitting down with Kim] but we'll see where it goes. I think we're far too early," the Guardian quoted Trump, as saying in the broadcast.

His comments unfolded after months of escalated rhetoric between the two leaders.

The U.S. and North Korea have long been engaged in back-and-forth barbs over the latter's threat of a nuclear attack.

Trump threatened to rain "fire and fury" on North Korea and also called Kim Jong-un as "Little Rocket Man", while North Korea denounced Trump as a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard."

North Korea jolted major world leaders when it carried out the strongest of its six-ever nuclear tests in early September, claiming to have used a hydrogen bomb.