Changing the regime in North Korea is the end objective of the United States and its allies, but the United Nations doesn't share the same goal, a senior U.S. diplomat said Tuesday.
Amb. John Bolton, already on record for his disapproving views of the U.N., said the U.S. goal in Korea has been the same since 1945: to see a peaceful reunification of the country under a democratic government.
"And it's not something that people at the U.N. like to talk about," he said on Fox News. "We have a different vision, obviously."
"If you talk about changing regimes, from authoritarian or semi-authoritarian to democracies, in the U.N. you would have a lot of countries quite unhappy."
"But I think that's something the United States and its friends should be pursuing on their own, because that is our ultimate objective," Bolton said.
These goals, however, are more in the future, he said.
The U.N. should also be "a lot more concerned" about what's going on inside North Korea and inside Iran as well, Bolton said, naming the two countries seeking to build nuclear weapons.
The U.N. Security Council already sanctioned Pyongyang for its nuclear test Oct. 9 and is discussing similar actions against Iran for pushing ahead with its uranium enrichment program.
But the U.N. can help mobilize international support to isolate regimes in Pyongyang and Tehran economically and politically, the ambassador said.
"That puts pressure on them internally. I think that helps democratic forces in those countries or in their diasporas," he said.
Washington, Oct. 24 (Yonhap News)
Changing N.K. regime ultimate goal, but U.N. has different vision: Bolton |
