ANKARA

North Korea on Tuesday rued that Donald Trump's presidency "didn't bring any substantial positive change" in bilateral relations.

"It is true that Trump, when he was president, tried to reflect the special personal relations between the heads of states in the relations between states, but he did not bring about any substantial positive change," state-run KCNA reported.

Pyongyang's reaction came after the Republican presidential candidate Trump said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would “like to see me back too.”

"Even if any administration takes office in the US, the political climate, which is confused by the infighting of the two parties, does not change and, accordingly, we do not care about this," said Pyongyang.

Trump had said: “We stopped the missile launches from North Korea. Now, North Korea is acting up again, but when we get back, I get along with him."

“I think he misses me, it's nice to get along with somebody who has a lot of nuclear weapons,” said the former US president.

However, Pyongyang cautioned: "Foreign policy of a state and personal feelings must be strictly distinguished."

Trump and Kim met thrice - their first summit was in Singapore in 2018, followed by one in Vietnamese capital Hanoi and later the two leaders met at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the border of divided Koreas.