After Xi, Kim meeting, Trump says North Korean leader 'will do what is right for his people and for humanity'

As Kim Jong Un met China's President Xi in Beijing in a secret, President Trump in a tweet said the North Korean leader will do "what is right and move toward peace".

China said Kim had pledged to denuclearise the Korean peninsula while North Korean state media said Xi had accepted "with pleasure" an invitation to visit the North.

Trump and Kim are set to meet each other in May for talks amid tensions in the Korean peninsula.

Trump in a series of tweets last year had slammed North Korea's alleged nuclear programme as both leaders traded insults openly.

However, after Kim expressed his country's willingness to send a delegation for the Winter Olympics in South Korea tensions cooled in the region.

Trump later surprised everyone declaring that he was ready for talk with the controversial North Korean leader.

In his tweet, Trump said: "Received message last night from Xi Jinping of China that his meeting with Kim Jong Un went very well and that Kim looks forward to his meeting with me."

However, the US president added that in the "meantime, and unfortunately, maximum sanctions and pressure must be maintained at all cost." "For years and through many administrations, everyone said that peace and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was not even a small possibility," Trump said.

"Now there is a good chance that Kim Jong Un will do what is right for his people and for humanity. Look forward to our meeting," the US president declared.