The White House’s national security adviser has accused Pyongyang of not adhering to the deal reached by Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un at their Singapore summit, in the latest sign that the US president was premature in saying North Korea no longer posed a nuclear threat.

John Bolton on Tuesday blamed North Korea for the lack of progress towards denuclearisation since Mr Trump and Mr Kim met in June. His comments came just two weeks after Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, rejected suggestions that Mr Kim had hoodwinked Mr Trump in Singapore.

“The United States has lived up to the Singapore declaration. It is just North Korea that has not taken the steps that we feel are necessary to denuclearise,” Mr Bolton told Fox & Friends, a US television programme. “What we really need is not more rhetoric, but performance from North Korea on denuclearisation.”