US President Donald Trump said Friday that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have “great chemistry” and claimed the stand-off with the nuclear-armed Asian nation is “largely solved.”

Trump, speaking to reporters outside the White House, said he had given his “very direct” telephone number to Kim, adding: “He can now call me if he has any difficulty.”

“That’s a very important thing,” Trump said. “We have communication.”

In a video message released later by the White House, Trump said Tuesday’s summit with the young North Korean leader in Singapore was “open, direct and very, very productive.”

“If there’s a chance at peace, if there’s a chance to end the horrible threat of nuclear conflict then we must pursue it at all costs,” he said.

The results of the Singapore meeting, at which Kim and Trump signed a pledge “to work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” have been greeted with skepticism by many observers.

Kim has not yet taken any concrete step to dismantle his nuclear programs.

Trump said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would be “working directly with North Korea” in the coming weeks and months to “implement the denuclearization deal.”

“In the meantime, sanctions will remain in place,” he added.

Trump’s unilateral decision to reduce tension by cancelling joint military exercises by US and South Korean forces meanwhile appeared to catch both close ally Seoul and some Pentagon officials by surprise.

But Trump recalled that when he came to office last year, his predecessor Barack Obama had warned that North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear threat was the United States’ “most dangerous problem.”

“I have solved that problem,” Trump told reporters. “Now we’re getting it memorialized and all, but that problem is largely solved.

“We signed a very good document,” he added. “But more importantly than the document, I have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Friday praised a “possible new avenue to peace” with North Korea, but warned the United States must remain vigilant to countries pursuing nuclear weapons.

But Trump seems keen to claim a quick diplomatic victory, and the halt to US military exercises on the peninsula is a significant concession to both Pyongyang and Washington’s rival China.

Some of Trump’s domestic critics condemned his decision to halt what the president calls “war games” with South Korea — using a pejorative term for military drills that US officials have previously rejected.

“Making unnecessary and unreciprocated concessions is not in our interests — and it is a bad negotiating tactic,” Republican Senator John McCain said.

“Parroting Chinese and North Korean propaganda by saying joint exercises are ‘provocative’ undermines our security and alliances.”

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