U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that North Korea no longer posed a nuclear threat and his top diplomat offered a hopeful timeline for “major disarmament,” despite skepticism at home that Pyongyang will abandon its nuclear weapons following this week’s summit.

The US says its discussions with North Korea are moving "more quickly than expected" ahead of the summit in Singapore on Tuesday.

The preliminary talks between officials have been taking place ahead of the unprecedented first meeting.

The White House also confirms that President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un will hold a one-on-one meeting, with only translators present.

The outcome may determine the fate of North Korea's nuclear programme.

The US insists it will accept nothing less than complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

All signs may point to a successful and historic summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, but the stakes are so high that the U.S. national security community is braced for the possibility of a rapid spiral toward nuclear brinkmanship if the talks between the two men turn sour.

Washington's top diplomat Mike Pompeo said Thursday that Kim Jong Un had personally informed him that North Korea is ready to give up its nuclear arsenal.

The secretary of state is the most senior US official to have met the North Korean leader and a key figure in preparations for next week's historic summit.

US President Donald Trump is due to meet Kim on June 12 in Singapore for a summit called to press Pyongyang to end its nuclear and long-range missile programs.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday said it was possible a planned summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un could still take place on June 12 as originally planned, just a day after he canceled the meeting citing Pyongyang’s “tremendous anger and open hostility.”

Trump welcomed the conciliatory statement from North Korea saying it remained open to talks after on Thursday he called off a summit with North Korea’s autocratic leader, Kim Jong Un.

President Donald Trump on Friday warmly welcomed North Korea's promising response to his abrupt withdrawal from the potentially historic Singapore summit and said "we're talking to them now" about putting it back on track.

"Everybody plays games," said Trump, who often boasts about his own negotiating tactics and skill.

Trump said the summit could still take place on June 12, as originally planned.

President Trump said Friday that the U.S. is again talking with North Korean officials, a day after he canceled a June 12 denuclearization summit due to Pyongyang’s “hostility” toward his administration.

“We’re talking to them now,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House. “They very much want to do it. We’d like to do it. We’ll see what happens.”

He added that North Korea released a “very nice statement” in response to his canceling the summit in Singapore. He said the meeting could even be put back on track for June 12.

US President Donald Trump has cancelled a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, saying the world had "lost a great opportunity for lasting peace".

He said his decision was because of "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent North Korean statement.

The summit aimed at ridding the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons and would have been the first time a sitting US president met a North Korean leader.

But both sides have recently cast doubt on whether the talks would happen.

President Donald Trump on Thursday canceled his planned summit with Kim Jong Un, scolding the North Korean leader for "tremendous anger and open hostility" while also bluntly reminding Kim of the United States' nuclear prowess.

“Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting,” Trump wrote in a letter to Kim that was released by the White House.

President Trump has pulled out of the scheduled summit with North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un in Singapore. The meeting was scheduled for June 12.

In a letter to Un released by the White House Thursday morning, President Trump expressed his disappointment in recent behavior by the regime.