President Donald Trump said Friday at his bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the “big problem” of North Korea’s ambitions for a nuclear weapon will be dealt with, telling reporters that “you can bet on that.”

Trump was back in Italy Friday morning for the second time this week, this time in Sicily for a meeting of the G-7 world leaders, as part of his eight-day, multi-nation international trip. The president’s met with Abe, with whom he met and played golf at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year, ahead of the day’s slate of larger G-7 meetings.

"We will be discussing many things including of course North Korea which is very much on our minds. We will be discussing terrorism but I think we will really in particular be focused on the North Korea problem,” Trump told reporters who were briefly allowed into the bilateral meeting between the U.S. and Japanese delegations. “It's a big problem. It's a world problem and it will be solved at some point. It will be solved, you can bet on that"

Trump said he and Abe had developed a “a close partnership and collaboration and friendship” and that he was looking forward to seeing and spending time with his Japanese counterpart throughout the weekend. Abe, for his part, congratulated Trump on his “very successful” trip to the Middle East and to Thursday’s NATO summit.

“"There is one unfortunate thing I have to confess, this time around we will not be able to play golf together,” Abe said.



POLITICO