TOKYO -- US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Washington will "decide soon" whether to relist North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Trump made the remark on Air Force One on his way to Japan to kick off his Asian trip, which will later take him to South Korea and China. During his three-day visit to Japan, Trump will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the two will likely reaffirm their stance of applying pressure on Pyongyang.

Trump arrives in Asia at a time of heightened tensions, caused by the North's sixth and most powerful nuclear blast test in September and a series of ballistic missile launches.

Last Thursday, H.R. McMaster, national security adviser to Trump, also said the US is considering relisting North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, since the North appeared to fit the criteria for designation following its alleged murder of leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother early this year.

Under a law enacted Aug. 2, the State Department had to determine within 90 days, or around last Thursday, whether North Korea should be back on the list.

North Korea was placed on the list in 1988 for an airliner bombing that killed all 115 people aboard. In 2008, it was taken off in exchange for progress in denuclearization talks.

The US left North Korea off its latest list of state sponsors of terrorism in July.

State sponsors of terrorism face restrictions on US foreign assistance, a ban on defense exports and sales, and financial and other sanctions. But relisting North Korea is largely seen as symbolic because it is already under extensive sanctions for its nuclear and missile programs.

On Sunday, Trump also defined North Korea as "a big problem,"

and added the North will figure prominently in talks in Japan, South Korea and China.

"(North Korea) is a big problem for our country and for the world, and we want to get it solved," Trump was quoted as saying by AFP.

The president, however, praised North Korean people as "great"

and "industrious."

"They're warm, much warmer than the world really knows or understands," he said. "They're great people. And I hope it all works out for everybody."

But Trump defended his tough rhetoric on North Korea, which he'd previously threatened to "totally destroy."

Without giving further details, Trump told reporters on Air Force One, "There's been 25 years of total weakness and so we're taking a very much different approach."

Then to US troops at Yokota Air Base, on the outskirts of Tokyo, Trump said, "No one, no dictator, no regime... should underestimate American resolve."

North Korea may well take provocative action with Trump in the region. Asked about such a possibility, Trump said, "We'll soon find out." (Yonhap)