North Korea's Kim Jong Un understands President Donald Trump "badly wants a deal," and he will play the president's decision to downplay missile tests "like a fiddle," former Director of National Intelligence Director James Clapper said Tuesday.

"I think this illustrates that North Korea is going to continue any way they can to enhance their capabilities with ballistic missiles," Clapper, now a national security analyst for CNN, told "New Day," adding it shows Trump's intentions to "cling to the hope he's going to have some kind of deal struck with Kim Jong Un to denuclearize, which I think is virtually very unlikely."

Trump on Sunday, while in Japan for a four-day state visit, tweeted he was not concerned about missiles fired by North Korea, and Clapper said he thinks Trump's comments put Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a "really awkward position."

"While the missiles weren't a direct threat to the United States, they certainly were a threat to Japan and (South) Korea, not to mention, of course, the thousands of troops and their families that we have in those two countries," Clapper said. "This is another example of the president kind of being his own truth bubble, his own reality bubble when the facts are that the North Koreans tested ballistic missiles."

Trump's comments will also move Kim to reach further with his actions, Clapper said, and the missile tests are a "big deal" in Japan.

Abe handled Trump's words "as diplomatically as he could," said Clapper, but "once again, we have an unconventional president doing unpresidential things."

• North Koreans Call Bolton a 'War Monger'
• Sen. Joni Ernst: NKorea Missile Tests 'Very Disturbing'