U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said North Korea was a “big problem”, but assured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that issues surrounding the secretive Asian state would be resolved.

“It is very much on our minds, it’s a big problem.

“It’s a world problem and it will be solved.

“At some point it will be solved. You can bet on that,’’ Trump said sitting alongside Abe in a bilateral meeting ahead of a Group of Seven summit.

North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threat is seen as a major security challenge for Trump, who has vowed to prevent the country from being able to hit the U.S. with a nuclear missile.

(Source: Reuters/ NAN)