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Trump chief of staff John Kelly: 'Believe it or not, I do not follow the tweets
White House chief of staff John Kelly (right) told reporters Sunday that he and his staff don't react to President Donald Trump's tweets. "Believe it or not, I do not follow the tweets,” Kelly said. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump chief of staff John Kelly: 'Believe it or not, I do not follow the tweets

White House chief of staff John Kelly told reporters Sunday that he doesn't follow or react to President Donald Trump's tweets, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"Someone, I read the other day, said we all just react to the tweets," Kelly said following a presidential news conference in Vietnam. "We don’t. I don’t. I don’t allow the staff to. We know what we’re doing.”

"Believe it or not, I do not follow the tweets,” he added.

“I find out about them," Kelly said, according to the Times. "But for our purposes, my purpose, is we make sure the president is briefed up on what he’s about to do."

Kelly's comments came on the heels of Trump's Saturday insulting tweet about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

“Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?’ Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen!” Trump tweeted in response to insults made about him in a statement issued by the North Korean government.

The Kim regime lashed out Saturday over comments Trump made during his speech Wednesday at South Korea's National Assembly in Seoul, Fox News reported.

"Reckless remarks by an old lunatic like Trump will never scare us or stop our advance," the North Korean government wrote in a statement.

Trump's speech at the South Korea National Assembly speech was one of many during his five-nation, 12-day tour of Asia. The denuclearization of North Korea and trade were among the topics the president addressed with the foreign leaders.

What did Trump say in his speech in South Korea?

In his speech, Trump first congratulated South Korea on its triumphs since July 27, 1953, when it signed an armistice with North Korea that ended a three-year conflict, according to the speech transcript CNN published.

"In less than one lifetime, South Korea climbed from total devastation to among the wealthiest nations on Earth. Today, your economy is more than 350 times larger than what it was in 1960. Trade has increased 1,900 times. Life expectancy has risen from just 53 years to more than 82 years today," Trump said, according to CNN.

Then he called for all nations to join forces to "isolate the brutal regime of North Korea."

"We call on every nation, including China and Russia, to fully implement U.N. Security Council resolutions, downgrade diplomatic relations with the regime, and sever all ties of trade and technology. It is our responsibility and our duty to confront this danger together, because the longer we wait, the greater the danger grows and the fewer the options become," Trump said.

Finally, Trump issued a warning to the North Korean dictator.

"The weapons you are acquiring are not making you safer, they are putting your regime in grave danger," Trump said. "Every step you take down this dark path increases the peril you face."

What else did the North Korean statement say?

Seemingly unfazed by Trump's warning, the North Korean government said in its statement that it will continue growing its nuclear force.

"On the contrary, all this makes us more sure that our choice to promote economic construction at the same time as building up our nuclear force is all the more righteous, and it pushes us to speed up the effort to complete our nuclear force," the regime's statement said.

North Korean officials also described Trump's visit as "nothing but a business trip by a warmonger to enrich the monopolies of the US defense industry" and called his a "destroyer" of world peace.

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