Trump praises 'wise' Kim

♦ US MILITARY CHIEF URGES CHINA TO PRESSURE NORTH

♦ US-JAPAN CONDUCT AIR DRILLS AMID REGIONAL TENSION

US President Donald Trump yesterday praised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a "wise" decision not to fire missiles towards the US territory of Guam, which has eased escalating tension between the two countries.

Reclusive North Korea has made no secret of its plan to develop a missile capable of firing a nuclear warhead at the United States to counter what it perceives as constant US threats of invasion.

Trump warned North Korea last week it would face "fire and fury" if it threatened the United States, prompting North Korea to say it was considering plans to fire missiles towards the Pacific island of Guam.

But North Korean media reported on Tuesday Kim had delayed the decision while he awaited to see what the US did next.

"Kim Jong Un of North Korea made a very wise and well reasoned decision," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"The alternative would have been both catastrophic and unacceptable!"

North Korea's threat to fire towards Guam had prompted Trump to say earlier that the US military was "locked and loaded" if North Korea acted unwisely.

The United States has been hoping China can press the North to rein in its weapons programmes. The top US general reiterated that in talks in Beijing this week.

Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford told Fang Fenghui, chief of the Joint Staff Department of the People's Liberation Army, in Beijing that North Korea's weapons programmes threatened the entire international community.

Meanwhile, some 300 Japanese and US military personnel yesterday carried out live-fire artillery training in northern Japan, officials said, amid high regional tensions over North Korean missile threats.

China has repeatedly called for all sides to exercise restraint and remain calm. It says the key to a resolution lies in Washington and Pyongyang talking to each other, rather than expecting China to do all the work.