Donald Trump: You people hate to hear this, but it's very important!

US President Donald Trump said that there is communication between his administration and North Korea, which he described as a “major nuclear power“, and added that it will probably “do something at some point”, Kyodo News reported.

Trump made the statement in response to a question about whether he plans to contact North Korea or its leader Kim Jong Un in the near future. “You people hate to hear this, but it is very important“ to engage with Kim, the president said.

“We have a great relationship... He is a smart guy,” Trump noted. "I got to know him very well.“

Trump became the first U.S. president to hold talks with a North Korean leader when he met Kim in Singapore in 2018. He held two more rounds of talks with Kim the following year, but both sides ultimately returned home empty-handed.

Under the previous administration of President Joe Biden, the United States made little progress in curbing North Korea's missile and nuclear ambitions, despite calling for dialogue between the countries without preconditions.

After North Korea deepened its military ties with Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, former Biden administration officials suggested that there was virtually no meaningful communication between Washington and Pyongyang during his four-year term.

Unlike Trump, North Korea has shown little interest in engaging with the United States.

There is speculation that Trump will try to revive talks with Kim during his second term, moving away from seeking the complete elimination of North Korea's nuclear arsenal.

It remains unclear whether his latest description of North Korea represents a departure from Washington's long-standing position of not officially recognizing the country as a nuclear-armed state.