HANOI — President Trump took time off from his morning in Vietnam to exchange insults with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me 'old,'/ when I would NEVER call him 'short and fat?'" Trump said during a Sunday morning tweet storm in Hanoi that included a defense of his recent meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump added: "Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen!"

At a news conference a few hours later, Trump said that while it would be "a good thing" if he and Kim became friends — "I think anything is a possibility; strange things happen in life" — he doesn't expect it to happen.

Trump may be watching cable news.

CNN, which is available in Vietnam, reported the North Korean Foreign Ministry as calling Trump a "destroyer" who "begged for nuclear war" during an Asia tour in which he asked China and other countries to pressure Kim's government into giving up nuclear weapons.

"His current trip to our surrounding region is a warmonger's visit for confrontation to rid the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) of its self-defensive nuclear deterrence," the foreign ministry said in a statement published on state media, Korean Central News Agency.

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Earlier in the week, Kim called Trump "a lunatic old man," according to the North Korean government.

During his trip to Asia, Trump asked China in particular to cut off oil and other economic assistance to its ally North Korea, a request he also referenced on Twitter.

"President Xi of China has stated that he is upping the sanctions against #NoKo. Said he wants them to denuclearize. Progress is being made," Trump said.

The president tweeted before heading off to meetings with Vietnamese officials.

