Promoting his relationship with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un, Donald Trump undermines his national security officials over Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programs.

Defying Washington’s pursuit of “denuclearization”, North Korea resumed testing of ballistic missiles earlier this month.

The step broke a moratorium for Trump’s two summits with Kim, in Singapore in June 2018 and in Vietnam in February. It comes amid an effective suspension of talks after Kim walked out of the second summit early.

National Security Advisor John Bolton told reporters on Saturday that there is “no doubt” that the missile tests violated UN Security Council resolutions. He said Trump is determined to maintain sanctions pressure on North Korea until it backs down.

It was the first assertion by a senior Administration official that North Korea had resumed defiance of UN resolutions. US agencies had held back in what appeared to be a demonstration of willingness to restart talks.

But Trump, who quickly switched from warnings of “fire and fury” against “Little Rocket Man” once North Korea offered a photo-opportunity summit, pushed back during his trip to Japan. He defended Kim over the missiles and also linked the North Korean leader to an insult of former US Vice President Joe Biden, who is running for President in 2020:

The episode is the latest intervention by Trump appearing to contradict his officials. In March, he issued a tweet that cancelled a new round of US sanctions from his Treasury Department.

The “small weapons” in Sunday’s message were short-range ballistic missiles, one of which flew almost 300 miles before landing in the sea. Japan — which would be vulnerable to medium-range missiles — said the test violated the Security Council resolutions, while noting they did not land in Japanese waters or directly threaten security.

The Japanese have long argued for a tougher line against North Korea. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has urged no sanctions relief and sought a resolution over Japanese citizens abducted by the North Koreans.

But Trump saw no complication for his visit from his Twitter thought. Instead, he sent out several tweets later on Sunday about his round of golf with Abe, while throwing another jab at his political opponents.