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John Bolton, the new US National Security Advisor
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“The sooner we cut to the chase” on denuclearization, the better, says John Bolton
John Bolton, who was recently appointed the White House National Security Advisor, has been taking steps over the past few days to get on the same page as US President Donald Trump. Given Bolton’s widely negative reputation as an extreme hardliner, some reports suggest that he may attempt an “image makeover” once he assumes his responsibilities. On Mar. 25, Bolton said during an interview with The Cats Roundtable, a radio program on New York’s AM 970, that “the sooner we have the meeting and have a very straightforward discussion” between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the better. Bolton appears to be trying to get on Trump’s wavelength. In his first public statements about North Korean policy after being appointed national security advisor, he advocated holding the North Korea-US summit early. "Is North Korea going to give up its nuclear weapons? How are we going to do it? How are we going to take it out of the country? Not a theoretical discussion about these issues but very concretely, how they're going to denuclearize North Korea – the sooner we get to it, cut to the chase, the better," he said. Since this implies that Bolton prefers a “sweeping agreement” in the North Korea-US summit, it is not much different from the Trump administration’s current stance. One reason that Bolton said the US needs to “cut to the chase” on denuclearization is the possibility of North Korea playing for time. "They've got a fairly limited number of things they need to do in North Korea to make their nuclear warheads actually deliverable on targets in the United States. So they want to try and slow roll the negotiations to buy more time. This is something they've done consistently over the last 25 years,” Bolton said. Bolton passed the ball to Trump in regard to North Korea’s motivation for proposing a summit. “I think [the North Koreans] are very worried that they've got a different president in the White House than Barack Obama. They're worried about the pressure that the president's already put on,” Bolton said, suggesting that Trump’s “maximum pressure” approach has had an effect. Appearing on Fox News a few hours after his “Twitter appointment” by Trump on Mar. 22, Bolton declared, “What I’ve said in private now is behind me . . . and the important thing is what the president says and what advice I give him.” In the interview, he downplayed his own role as that of “honest broker.” The news website Axios quoted people well acquainted with Bolton’s opinions as saying he is aware of his portrayal as a hawk, while predicting he would work to promote internal confidence through a more cautious, measured, and quiet approach. The site also reported sources as saying Bolton would steer clear from stating his hawkish opinions, at least initially. Meanwhile, Fox News reported results from a survey of 1,014 Americans on Mar. 18–21 showing 63% of respondents supporting a North Korea-US summit and 30% opposing it. But when asked whether North Korea would be convinced to give up its nuclear weapons, 76% of respondents predicted it would not, while only 16% predicted it would. By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
