Rep. Keith Ellison, deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, on Friday sought to immediately retract claims that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is acting more responsibly than President Trump.

"North Korea is a serious thing," Ellison, D-Minn., told attendees at the NetrootsNation conference during a question-and-answer session. "You have this guy making bellicose threats against somebody else who has very little to lose over there. Kim Jong Un, the world always thought he was not a responsible leader; well, he's acting more responsible than this guy is."

Ellison immediately retracted those remarks in an interview with a Washington Post reporter after leaving the panel.

"That was one of those I wish I'd not said," Ellison told the Post. "It's tailor-made for somebody to misuse. I'd say, he's being incredibly irresponsible, and he's putting us in a situation where you could have an accidental launch.

Ellison warned Trump's rhetoric could spur Kim to take action first and called for someone to bring "calm to the situation, not spiking it."

Trump has not backed down from his fiery warnings from North Korea, offering a third stern warning in a week to Pyongyang on Friday.

"If [Kim] utters one threat in the form of an overt threat ... or if he does anything with respect to Guam or any place else that's an American territory or an American ally, he will truly regret it and he will regret it fast," Trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., Friday.