Donald Trump has defended efforts by him and his administration to maintain close ties with the Kremlin amid intense and growing scrutiny of Russian meddling in the US election, insisting a good relationship with Vladimir Putin was a "good thing".

He called out "haters and fools" who questioned the benefits of maintaining friendly relations with Moscow, claiming Barack Obama tried and failed to foster closer links with Mr Putin because of a lack of "chemistry".

He also claimed "progress is being made" in efforts to reign in North Korea's nuclear programme after China vowed to increase sanctions against the pariah state.

In a series of tweets on Saturday evening that ranged from the Korean crisis to the "fake news media" and "crooked Hillary Clinton", the US President wrote: "President Xi of China has stated that he is upping the sanctions against #NoKo [North Korea]. Said he wants them to denuclearize. Progress is being made."

Tweeting from Vietnam - the penultimate stop on his five nation Asia tour - Mr Trump added: "Met with President Putin of Russia who was at #APEC meetings. Good discussions on Syria. Hope for his help to solve, along with China the dangerous North Korea crisis. Progress being made.

"When will all the haters and fools out there realize that having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. There always playing politics - bad for our country [sic]. I want to solve North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, terrorism, and Russia can greatly help!"

He claimed Ms Clinton and Barack Obama had "begged" Russia for closer ties, but added that his predecessor in the White House had "zero chemistry with Putin".

His comments followed several brief conversations between the Russian and US leaders during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.

The men reportedly discussed the North Korea nuclear crisis, the Syrian civil war and Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

Speaking after their meeting, Mr Trump said the accusations had hurt Mr Putin’s feelings.

“He said he didn’t meddle,” the US leader told reporters aboard Air Force One. “I asked him again. You can only ask so many times... He said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. He did not do what they are saying he did.

“And I believe, I really believe that, when he tells me that he means it.”

Mr Trump also appeared to respond to reports last week that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had described him as a "lunatic old man".

And he said he had tried "so hard" to be Mr Kim's "friend...and maybe someday that will happen!".