Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, has said he is willing to talk with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, a move that would mark a major shift in the US policy towards the isolated nation.
Trump declined to share the details of his plans to deal with North Korea, but said he is open to a face-to-face meeting with Kim as he tries to address the issue of Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
"I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him," Trump said, according to Reuters.
In a wide-ranging interview with the news agency, Trump also said he disapproved of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in eastern Ukraine and called for a renegotiation of the Paris climate accord. He also said he would dismantle most of the Dodd-Frank financial regulations if he is elected president.
North Korea's mission to the United Nations did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Trump's remarks.
The 69-year-old New York businessman said he would also push China, which is Pyongyang's only major diplomatic and economic supporter, to help him in his efforts to find a solution to North Korean nuclear threat.
"I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China. China can solve that problem with one meeting or one phone call," Trump added.
Trump's preparedness to talk directly with the North Korean leader is in contrast with the policy of President Barack Obama, who relied on senior US officials to talk to their North Korean counterparts.
However, a South Korean foreign ministry official declined to respond directly to Trump's comments and said South Korea and the US were committed to denuclearization as the top priority of any dialogue with North Korea.
Trump said he was "not a big fan" of the Paris climate accord, which prescribes reductions in carbon emissions by more than 170 countries. He said that he would want to renegotiate the deal because it treats the US unfairly and gives favourable treatment to countries such as China.
"I will be looking at that very, very seriously, and at a minimum I will be renegotiating those agreements, at a minimum. And at a maximum I may do something else," he said.
A renegotiation of the pact would be a major setback for what was addressed as the first truly global climate accord, committing both rich and poor nations to reining in the rise in greenhouse gas emissions blamed for warming the planet.
