Trump's comments seem to undermine a senior adviser
President downplays recent missile tests by North Korea
TOKYO — Seemingly contradicting his national security adviser, President Donald Trump on Sunday played down North Korea's recent missile tests and said they were not a concern for him.
The comments tweeted during his trip to Japan were sure to unnerve leaders of the U.S. ally that is directly threatened by short-range weapons from its Asian neighbor. While America is not, there are tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Japan and South Korea.
Trump also said North Korea's Kim Jong Un's criticism of Joe Bid en, the former vice president who is among the Democrats running for the White House in 2020, made him smile.
The remarks were the latest example of Trump's willingness to publicly under mine his senior advisers, fl out democratic norms and side with totalitarian leaders.
“North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me ,” Trump tweeted in one of his early morning messages.
“Some” of his “people” appear to include national security adviser John Bolton, who told reporters at a briefing Saturday before Trump arrived in Tokyo that a series of short- range missile tests by North Korea this month violated U. N. Security Council resolutions.
“There is no doubt about that,” said Bolton, citing the May 4 and May 9 tests that ended a pause in launches that began in late 2017. Trump ignored a shouted question Sunday about whether he agreed with Bolton's assessment and his press secretary did not seem to back up Bolton.
Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, said in an interview with NBC's “Meet the Press” that “we know that the activities at no point that took place over the last several weeks have been a threat to the United States or our allies.” She said Trump “still feels comfortable and confident in the relationship that he has with Chairman Kim.”
Trump and other administration officials have tried to play down the significance of the tests, insisting they do