DONALD Trump has defended Kim Jong-un over the death of Otto Warmbier insisting the despot "didn’t know" about his horrific treatment in a North Korean prison.

Following his nuke summit with Kim in Vietnam, the US President discussed the American student who was sentenced to 15 years hard labour by the rogue state for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster.

After 17 months in jail, Warmbier was returned home in a coma in June 2017 after suffering brain damage while jailed in the crackpot country.

He died six days later.

Trump said he had raised the issue of the US tourist’s treatment during his crunch talks with Kim and believed the murderous dictator's denial.

Trump said: "He tells me he didn’t know about it and I will take him at his word."

The US leader said Chairman Kim "feels very badly" about Warmbier’s death.

He added: "I don’t believe that he would have allowed that to happen. It just wasn’t to his advantage.

"Those prisons are rough, rough places and bad things happen."

At the time of Warmbier’s death, North Korean officials claimed he had suffered a brain injury after contracting botulism, a form of poisoning.

However, US doctors found no evidence of the condition.

Trump, 72, had previously insisted he intended to press Kim on the hermit kingdom’s atrocious human rights record.

But while talking to reporters following his second summit with the 35-year-old ruthless leader, Trump said: "He is quite a guy, quite a character. I think our relationship is strong."

He later added: "We like each other, (we have a) good relationship."

This comes as Trump insisted he "had to walk" from his summit with Kim after the pair failed to agree a nuke deal and their lunch was dramatically cancelled.

The leaders scrapped a planned signing ceremony as their second day of crunch talks in Hanoi ended without an agreement on how to denuclearise the Korean peninsula.

At a press conference, the US President said the North Korean despot wanted the sanctions imposed on his crackpot regime lifted.

While insisting the two leaders had spent some "productive time" together, Trump said: "Sometimes you have to walk."

The US President continued: "They wanted the sanctions lifted. And we were unwilling to do that.

"We will end being very good friends with chairman Kim and North Korea. They have amazing potential.

"He has a certain vision. It’s not exactly our vision. But it’s a lot closer than we were a year ago."

The brash New Yorker said that the North Korea leader wants to "denuke a portion" of his country - which was another point of contention for the US administration.

He added that Kim promised that he would not resume testing of ballistic missiles despite the talks breaking down.