While the world awaits the next North Korea-U.S. talks on denuclearization.... U.S. President Donald Trump's former national security chief has waded in on the subject,.... saying the regime will never truly abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Lee Ji-won reports.
Former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton claims North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will never voluntarily give up his nuclear weapons arsenal,... at least under "the current circumstances".
"I think the strategic decision that Kim Jong-un is operating through is that he will do whatever he can to keep a deliverable nuclear weapons capability and to develop and enhance it further.// He may make some concessions but under current circumstances, he will never give up the nuclear weapons voluntarily."
Bolton made the remarks in Washington on Monday at a forum co-hosted by the South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Insisting the U.S. is in a classic standoff with the North, Bolton said a partial lifting of sanctions would be more beneficial to North Korea than any marginal reduction of the regime's nuclear weapons stockpile,... as it would allow them to sustain their authoritarian system and keep their economy afloat.
Countering sentiments expressed by his former boss, President Trump, Bolton said that slow progress works against those who oppose nuclear proliferation as it gives countries like North Korea and Iran more time to test and produce bombs.
On why North Korea has stopped nuclear testing, Bolton claimed it's because the regime no longer needs to.
"One reason, one very good, very troubling reason why there's no more testing of nuclear weapons for the moment or of long range missiles is that North Korea has in its judgment for well or ill, finished testing and can produce nuclear warheads and long range ballistic missiles. That's not an encouraging sign. That's a sign to be worried about."
Bolton also said the North's recent test-firing of short-range ballistic missiles should not be viewed as "unthreatening", as the capabilities and maneuverability of those missiles could be adapted to longer-range ballistic missiles.
Bolton, well-known for his ultra-hawkish views, insisted military force has to be an option at some point if one cannot accept North Korea as a nuclear state.
Citing such concerns as well as the growing military, political, and economic threats posed by China,... Bolton stressed it's time for the U.S. to get more involved and show greater leadership not only on the Korean Peninsula, but around the world.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.
