WASHINGTON/SEOUL:

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he wanted to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year and that he was open to further trade talks with South Korea even as he lobbed new criticisms at the visiting Asian ally.

"I'd like to meet him this year," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he welcomed South Korea's new President, Lee Jae Myung, to the White House. "I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong Un in the appropriate future."

Trump and Lee held their first meeting in tense circumstances. The US president lodged vague complaints about a "Purge or Revolution" in South Korea on social media before later walking the comments back as a likely "misunderstanding" between the allies.

Despite clinching a trade deal in July that spared South Korean export

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