ISTANBUL 

US President Donald Trump said North Korea is a "sort of nuclear power" and that he is open to meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as he embarked on a tour of Asia where he will also meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

"Well, I think they are sort of a nuclear power. I mean, I know how many weapons they have. I know everything about them and I've had a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un," Trump said aboard Air Force One on Friday, according to an audio of informal briefing with reporters shared by the White House.

"When you say they have to be recognized as a nuclear power, well, they got a lot of nuclear weapons. I'll say that," he told reporters.

"If he'd like to meet, I'm open to it," Trump added.

Trump left for Malaysia on Friday to attend the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur.

Pyongyang has said earlier that a meeting is possible if the US accepts its nuclear status, which Kim argues is “irreversible.”

Trump will fly to the South Korean port city of Busan on Wednesday, where he will meet President Lee Jae Myung before delivering remarks at the APEC CEO luncheon and will attend a US-APEC leaders working dinner that evening. He will hold a summit with Xi the next day.

Speculation is rife that Trump could meet Kim in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. They last met in 2019 during Trump's first term, as the US president sought to broker a denuclearization agreement with Pyongyang that never materialized.

On Monday, the Unification Ministry said field trips to the truce village of Panmunjom will be suspended until the beginning of November.

Separately, South Koreans held a protest in Seoul on Saturday, with demonstrators carrying placards reading “No Trump,” according to videos of the rally.