WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Saturday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had apologized over a recent spate of missile tests and wants to resume denuclearization talks as soon as US-South Korean military exercises end.

Trump, hours after North Korea carried out the fifth such test in two weeks, tweeted that Kim made these statements in a letter to him. Trump said he looks "forward to seeing Kim Jong Un in the not too distant future!"

"In a letter to me sent by Kim Jong Un, he stated, very nicely, that he would like to meet and start negotiations as soon as the joint U.S./South Korea joint exercise are over," Trump wrote.

The exercises began Monday and are due to last another week. North Korea has said the recent short-range missile tests are designed to protest the war games.

On Saturday, Trump again seemed to side with Kim by criticizing the exercises, which are a cornerstone of US-South Korean military cooperation.

"It was a long letter, much of it complaining about the ridiculous and expensive exercises. It was also a small apology for testing the short range missiles, and that this testing would stop when the exercises end," Trump said.

Trump has appeared determined to secure a denuclearization agreement with North Korea ahead of next year's presidential elections in the US, despite faltering talks since he first met Kim in a historic ice-breaking summit in Singapore in June 2018.—AFP