WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Donald Trump said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has "kept his word" when it comes to nuclear and missile testing, contradicting his own national security adviser, John Bolton, who just hours earlier had accused Pyongyang of failing to follow through on its commitments.
Speaking to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, Trump said he had received a warm letter from Kim before again downplaying North Korea's latest test of a short-range ballistic missile -- a move Bolton and acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan have said violated UN resolutions.
"He kept his word. There's no nuclear testing. There's no large, there's no long-range missiles going up. The only things he's set up were very short term, short range. That was just a test of short range. It's a whole different deal, but he's kept his word to me. That's very important," the President said.
Earlier Tuesday, Bolton had told the Wall Street Journal at a speaking event in Washington that North Korea is not complying with the terms agreed upon during Trump's first summit with Kim, in Singapore last year.
"What they've said was that they're not going to test ballistic missiles, intercontinental range ballistic missiles, or have nuclear tests. That's continued. They're doing a lot of other things that still indicate that they have not made a strategic decision to give up the pursuit of deliverable weapons, which is why we continue the maximum pressure campaign," Bolton said.
In May, Bolton said that "there is no doubt" the tests violated the UN resolutions, something Shanahan has also said publicly.
But that conclusion is at odds with Trump's own assertions. "My people think it could have been a violation," Trump said in May. "I view it differently."
Trump also claimed Tuesday that the remains of U.S. soldiers in North Korea "keep coming back," despite the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency telling CNN in May that the effort was suspended due to a lack of communication from North Korean officials following the second summit between the two leaders, in Hanoi, Vietnam, earlier this year.
"We have a very good relationship together," Trump said of Kim. "Now I can confirm it because of the letter I got yesterday, and I think something will happen that's going to be very positive. But in the meantime, we have our hostages back, the remains keep coming back, we have a relationship."
The return of American remains was part of the U.S.-North Korea agreement reached during Kim and Trump's Singapore summit.