"I'm not happy about it but then again he's not in violation of the agreement," Trump said after state media said North Korea's Kim Jong Un supervised the test-firing of a "super-large multiple rocket launcher".

Pyongyang fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday, Seoul's military said, the latest in a series of recent launches in protest at joint US-South Korean military exercises, which ended a week ago.

His remarks were made as world leaders attended a G7 summit in the southwestern French resort of Biarritz.

But Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took the opposite view, saying North Korea's latest missile test was a clear violation of UN rules which was "extremely regrettable".

"The launch of short-range ballistic missiles by North Korea clearly violates the relevant UN Security Council resolutions," Abe said.

Trump has staked enormous political capital on personal diplomacy with Kim in a so-far unsuccessful effort to persuade the dictator to give up his nuclear weapons arsenal.

The latest missile tests could further thwart the resumption of the negotiations, which have been stalled since a second summit between Trump and Kim in Hanoi in February collapsed without an agreement.