WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump hinted Monday at fresh interactions with Kim Jong Un and said he was making the situation safer through his ties to the North Korean leader. Trump's vague comments came a day after he ordered the scaling back of U.S. military drills with ally South Korea and praised his relationship with Pyongyang's Kim. Asked why Kim hadn't replied to his requests for a conversation, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: "How do you know he hasn't responded?" When pressed about whether Kim had actually responded, Trump replied after a pause: "Yeah, he has." Trump then added "it's very positive" after he was asked what stage the conversations with Kim were at — but provided no further detail. In the past, the U.S. president has given similarly vague accounts of unconfirmed conversations with other foreign leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping. Trump doubled down on his praise for Kim — whom he met three times in his first term but has not encountered since returning to the White House last year — saying it reduced tensions with