'Very standard stuff:' Trump says he is not concerned about N. Korean short-range missile tests

US President Donald Trump has said that he does not view recent short-range missile launches by Pyongyang as a violation of his trust, telling Politico that he and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un are still on good terms.

In an extensive interview on Friday, Trump briefly touched on his take on North Korea's increased missile activity. 

US President Donald Trump has said that he does not view recent short-range missile launches by Pyongyang as a violation of his trust, telling Politico that he and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un are still on good terms.

In an extensive interview on Friday, Trump briefly touched on his take on North Korea's increased missile activity. 

Trump sounded equally ambiguous when talking about his supposedly "excellent" relationship with Kim. He said that for the moment being the two remain on friendly terms, adding that this too might change "at some point."

Following the Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi in February, the budding thaw between the two nations has appeared all but over, after the talks ended with no deal and were followed by strong rhetoric from Pyongyang questioning Washington's willingness to mend ties with the North.

North Korea accused the US of an arm-twisting approach to the negotiations, urging it to drop "its current calculation method" and vowing to increase its own defense posture in the meantime, including to resume missile tests.

The talks in Vietnam ended abruptly after the US reportedly refused to relieve North Korea of sanctions in exchange for it halting nuclear and ballistic missiles tests, while insisting on full and irreversible denuclearization.

In the wake of the short-range missile launches by Pyongyang, the US test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile and conducted a submarine missile test. The US military insisted that the timing of the tests is in no way connected to the North Korean launches.