WASHINGTON, August 25. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump has pledged to improve relations between the United States and North Korea and expressed hope for "great progress" in this area.

"We'll have talks. He'd like to meet with me," the head of the American administration said, commenting on the prospects of personal contact with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "He didn't want to meet with [Joe] Biden because he had no respect for Biden, but we look forward to meeting with him, and we'll make relations better. You'll help with that," Trump said at talks with South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung at the White House.

"We can do big progress, I think, with North Korea, absolutely," the US president said.

He also expressed confidence that he would be able to assist in ensuring, as Lee Jae-Myung put it, "a new era of peace on the Korean peninsula." "Resolving this issue through my engagement is not an easy thing, and the only person that can make progress on this issue is you, Mr. President, the peacemaker. So, if you become the peacemaker, then I will assist you by being a pacemaker," Trump said.