HANOI - President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shook hands and exchanged smiles as they joined for a 'social dinner' at a historic Hanoi hotel – and Trump proclaimed their relationship a 'good one.'

The two men met in the Vietnamese capital in front of a bank of six flags from each nation, for the first meeting of the two men since their historic summit in Singapore in June.

'It's an honor to be with Chairman Kim. It's an honor to be together,' said Trump.

In introductory remarks, Trump did much of the talking – and once again dangled the promise of prosperity for North Korea, and addressed critics who noted their initial joint statement was vague and hard to measure.

'It's great to be with you. We had a very successful first summit,' Trump said. 'I felt it was very successful. Some people would like to see it go quicker. I'm satisfied, you're satisfied. We want to be happy with what we're doing.'

'I thought the first summit was a great success, I think this one hopefully will be equal or greater than the first,' the president added.

As he has said repeatedly, Trump pointed to personal chemistry with the North Korean leader – although his secretary of state says North Korea is still a nuclear threat, having tested a hydrogen bomb and conducted a skein of missile tests months ago.

'We made a lot of progress and I think the biggest progress was our relationship is really a good one,' Trump said.(FA)