'Feelings did not appear to be mutual': Trump disappointed after 'old friend' snubs him

President Donald Trump is reportedly disappointed after he was snubbed by an "old friend," revealing "the feelings did not appear to be mutual" between him and North Korea's leader.

Trump had expressed interest in meeting with Kim Jong Un, who has strengthened his ties to Russia since the two first met during Trump's first presidency, according to The Washington Post.

"An encounter with Kim would have provided Trump a chance to rekindle the 'good relationship' he enjoyed in his first term with the leader of a pariah state that almost all other American presidents have sought to isolate," the Post reported. "Trump’s public campaign for a Kim visit was more than an expression of his personality-driven style of diplomacy and faith in his face-to-face instincts. It also reflected a desire to see his old friend again.

"The feelings did not appear to be mutual. North Korea showed no interest in Trump during his Asia swing, pointedly focusing its diplomatic activity instead in support of Russia."

The meeting was apparently the one thing he really wanted during his trip to Asia, where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping at a summit and visited Japan to meet the nation's first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, who said she would nominate him for a Nobel Prize.

"It was a singular disappointment on a trip that largely conformed to the U.S. president’s desire to be celebrated," according to the Post.

Kim is less keen on pursuing a relationship with the U.S. now than he was in 2019, when Trump first posted on social media that he wanted to meet him, according to the report.

"In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, analysts said, Kim has been less interested in pursuing normalization with the United States, as Trump wants, and now views his country’s interests as more aligned with an anti-West bloc, including Russia and China, that challenges a U.S.-led global world order," The Post reports.