Trump renews Twitter spat with Kim Jong-un with 'short and fat' jibe

Donald Trump has renewed his Twitter spat with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a series of tweets that once again took aim at the media and the Democrats.

The US president said he would never call Kim Jong-un "short and fat " in response to Pyongyang calling him an "old lunatic" after Mr Trump delivered a stern speech aimed at whipping up global pressure against North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

Mr Trump wrote: "Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me "old," when I would NEVER call him "short and fat?" Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen!"

Shortly after sending the tweets, President Trump offered to serve as a mediator on the South China Sea territorial disputes in a meeting with the Vietnamese president in Hanoi.

Mr Trump told President Tran Dai Quang he would be willing to help in the Vietnam's dispute with China over the strategic waterways, insisting he wasa "very good mediator and a very good arbitrator".

The president's series of tweets also criticised the "haters and fools" who were skeptical of his relationship with Russia. Mr Trump insisted closer ties with Moscow was a "great, great thing".

The US leader met Russian president Vladimir Putin on Saturday during his 13-day tour of Asia where they briefly discussed the future of war-torn Syria.

During their fleeting meeting on the sidelines of an economic summit in Vietnam, Mr Putin reportedly told his American counterpart he did not meddle in the 2016 US president election.

Despite seemingly taking Mr Putin at his word that Russia did not meddle in the elections and earlier dismissing former US intelligence officials as "political hacks", Mr Trump told reporters in Vietnam he believed "very much in our intelligence agencies" that are "currently led by fine people".