U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton denied Sunday that last week's summit with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was a failure, despite President Donald Trump coming home empty-handed.

A high-stakes second meeting to strike a disarmament deal with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un broke up Thursday in Hanoi, without even a joint statement.

Bolton told CBS that Trump's failure to obtain commitments from Pyongyang on destroying its nuclear capability should be seen as "a success, defined as the president protecting and advancing American national interests."

He said the issue was whether the DPRK would accept what the president called "the big deal" – denuclearizing completely – or something less, "which was unacceptable to us."

"So the president held firm to his view. He deepened his relationship with Kim Jong Un. I don't view it as a failure at all when American national interests are protected," Bolton added.

According to senior U.S. officials, in the week leading up to the Hanoi summit, the DPRK side had demanded the lifting of effectively all UN Security Council economic sanctions imposed on Pyongyang since March 2016.

And in return, Pyongyang was offering only to close part of the Yongbyon complex, a site covering multiple facilities.

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DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho however disputed the U.S. account, saying Pyongyang offered to dismantle all nuclear production facilities in the Yongbyon area in exchange for partial sanctions relief.

A day after the summit, Ri said his nation has only proposed that the United States partially remove its sanctions impeding the livelihood of the DPRK people.

If the United States agrees to the proposal, he said the DPRK "will permanently and completely dismantle all the nuclear production facilities in Yongbyon area, including plutonium and uranium in the presence of U.S. experts and by the joint work of technicians of both countries."

"This proposal was the biggest denuclearization measures we can take at the present stage in relation to the current level of confidence between the U.S. and DPRK," Ri said.

"However, during the meeting, the United States insisted we should take one more step besides the dismantlement of nuclear facilities in Yongbyon area. Therefore, it's crystal clear that the United States was not ready to accept our proposal," he added.

After an abrupt change of plan on Thursday, the U.S. president said, "Sometimes you have to walk and this was just one of those times."

He added on Friday that his relations with Kim were "very good," and a senior US official said the process was continuing, with "still ample opportunity to talk."

Bolton's evocation of progress was dismissed by leading Democrats, however, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who described the Hanoi meeting as a "spectacular failure."

"The president did give up a great deal, by going to that summit, by enhancing Kim Jong Un's prestige on the world stage, by giving up those military exercises in the last summit and getting nothing for it," Schiff told CBS.

"This is, I think, the result of a president who is not prepared for these kinds of negotiations, a staff that is not well-prepared and is essentially flying by the seat of its pants," he said.