WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that North Korea is one of the topics he would discuss in summit talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

"It's an honor to have the prime minister of Vietnam at the White House, in the Oval Office. Prime Minister Phuc has done a spectacular job in Vietnam, led so many different categories in trade and other things," Trump said at the start of the meeting with Phuc.


"We're going to be discussing trade. We're going to be discussing North Korea," he said.

Trump did not elaborate, but he was believed to mean that he would try to enlist Vietnam's support for pressuring Pyongyang to curb its nuclear and missile programs.

The talks came just a few days after the North carried out its ninth missile test this year.

The Trump administration has been stepping up efforts to rally international support for driving up pressure on the North.

In late April, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hosted a special ministerial session of the UN Security Council and urged UN members to suspend or downgrade diplomatic relations with the North and cut off trade ties supporting Pyongyang's illicit activities. (Yonhap)