US: Former NSA John Bolton asserts North Korea unlikely to give up nuclear weapons

US National Security Advisor John Bolton on Saturday asserted that America and its allies have not been able to convince the North Korean administration to surrender their nuclear armaments. He further mentioned that the US should have considered other options including a regime change to stop North Korea. In a webinar hosted by the Institute for Korean-American Studies think tank, the former White House official said, "There was never once convincing evidence that North Korea had made a strategic decision to give up nuclear weapons," Yonhap News Agency reported.

During his time as the national security adviser to the former US President Donald Trump, John Bolton played a vital role in setting up US-North Korea summits between the former President Donald Trump and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un, held in Singapore in June 2018 and in Hanoi in February 2019. Earlier, at the Singapore summit, Kim had agreed with the US and promised to completely denuclearize his country in exchange for normal relations with America. However, North Korea has stayed away from denuclearization negotiations with the US after the summit in Hanoi ended without a deal. Bolton highlighted that the North has always committed to giving up nuclear weapons, but never kept the words.

North Korea unwilling to give up nuclear weapons says former US NSA

Bolton further added "They're certainly prepared to negotiate for relief from economic sanctions or to get tangible economic benefits. But when it comes to following through on their commitment to giving up their nuclear weapons program, somehow it just never happens, and that's because they don't want to, and that's something we should recognize because that colours every other possible option available to us."

The former US National Security Advisor suggested other possible options that could lead to denuclearization. He said the use of force could be one option. "One other thing I'd like to say is for all those people who for years have said it's not acceptable for North Korea to have nuclear weapons but weren't willing to take other steps, weren't willing to consider the use of force, weren't willing to consider regime change, are you going to be held to account when North Korea has deliverable nuclear weapons that can hit any target they want in the United States," said Bolton.

The former NSA also criticised the Chinese government for not taking any initiative to change North Korea's behaviour and mentioned that the US should pressurise Beijing to make efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. "I think at least one thing we can do if you could get agreement within the United States, is to make China the centre of focus," Bolton said. Without China's support, without its shipment of oil and other fuels to North Korea, without its economic lifeline, the (North Korean) regime would fall very, very quickly, he further mentioned.

Image: AP