On North Korea, Trump seems to undermine a senior adviser

TOKYO (AP) — 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, unlike America, is threatened by short-range weapons from its Asian neighbor.

Trump also said North Korea's Kim Jong Un's criticism of Joe Biden, 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 undermine his senior advisers, flout 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 a flurry of 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 of 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...