Trump insists talks with North Korea ‘going well’ as US intelligence says Pyongyang is continuing its nuclear programme

Mr Pompeo is due to meet with his North Korean counterparts this week

President Donald Trump says that talks with North Korea are “going well” as the two countries work to find an agreement to denuclearise the Korean regime.

The comment came following last month’s summit between the American president and North Korean Kim Jong-un in Singapore, and ahead of a planned trip by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to North Korea.

While Mr Trump has praised his deal making ability — and promised to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the competing interests of the US and North Korea — American intelligence assessments have indicated North Korea has been expanding its weapons capabilities recently.

The White House has not commented on those reports, and have instead insisted upon a positive characterisation of the ongoing meetings and talks with North Korea.

Mr Trump has bolstered that characterisation on Twitter, saying that North Korea has conducted “no Rocket Launches or Nuclear Testing in 8 months”.

Mr Pompeo is set to head to North Korea this week to continue those talks, and a US delegation met over the weekend with their North Korean counterparts at the border between the North and South Korea. Those two parties were said to have discussed the next steps towards implementing the declaration agreed to between the US and North Korea on June 12.

“Many good conversations with North Korea-it is going well!” Mr Trump wrote on Twitter. “All of Asia is thrilled. Only the Opposition Party, which includes the Fake News, is complaining. If not for me, we would be at War with North Korea!”

Mr Trump has latched onto the perceived rapid warming of relations between the US and North Korea as a point of pride, and has frequently noted that no previous US president met with North Korean leadership.

Pyongyang has frequently promised to denuclearize, but has not followed through on those promises.