North Korea buying time to develop nuclear weapons, says Trump's new security adviser John Bolton

Incoming US national security adviser John Bolton on Sunday vowed to maintain a hardline stance in upcoming negotiations with North Korea, warning that Pyongyang was only coming to the table in an effort to buy time to develop its nuclear weapons programme.

In his first interview since his nomination, Mr Bolton told the Cats Roundtable radio show that preparations were already underway for a historic US-North Korea summit, which should take place sooner rather than later to prevent Pyongyang from finalising missiles capable of striking the US.

“I think we have to look at what North Korea’s motivation is here,” he cautioned. “They’ve got a very limited number of things that 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 to slow roll the negotiations to buy more time,” Mr Bolton said.

“Although it’s certainly true that the normal route is months and months and months of preparation, that would simply play into the North Korean playbook, what they’ve done many times before,” he continued.

The talks should be a “straightforward” discussion, Mr Bolton added.

“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 are going denuclearise North Korea. The sooner we get to it and cut to the chase, the better.”

The announcement of Mr Bolton’s nomination as national security adviser on Friday gave rise to much debate over the weekend about the possible impact of his new role on a future, and unprecedented, summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.

Mr Trump surprised the world, and much of his own administration, earlier this month when he accepted an invitation to meet Mr Kim and said it would take place “by May”. Pyongyang, however, has yet to formally confirm its participation.

As national security adviser, Mr Bolton will hold huge sway over the White House’s preparation for the talks and the tone of the meeting itself.  

In an interview with Radio Free Asia early last week, Mr Bolton, widely considered to be hawkish on foreign policy, said that discussions at the proposed summit should be similar to those that led to components of Libya’s nuclear programme being shipped to the US in 2004.

North Korean missile ranges

“Let’s have this conversation by May, or even before that, and let’s see how serious North Korea really is,” he said. “If they’re not prepared to have that kind of serious discussion, it could actually be a very short meeting.”

But Mr Bolton’s long-time tough approach to foreign policy could lead to a breakdown in the recent diplomatic détente with Pyongyang that was forged during the Winter Olympics, fear some North Korea analysts.

In the early 2000s, after a trading of insults between Mr Bolton and Pyongyang, the North Koreans refused to negotiate if he was at the table, pointed out Ankit Panda, senior editor at The Diplomat magazine.  

In the recent past, Mr Bolton has publicly supported the idea of regime change, and laid out the legal case for striking North Korea first.

“Bolton... is a vehement proponent of preventative war. His appointment does not bode well for a successful first US-North Korea summit,” Mr Panda told the Telegraph.

Others have warned that the failure of the high-stake talks would increase the chances of military action.

“People are genuinely nervous,” said Robert Kelly, professor of political science at South Korea’s Busan University, adding that the North Koreans may be more hesitant to join talks with Mr Bolton in the room.

“The North Koreans still haven’t technically accepted the summit… I wonder if this is going to deter them from accepting it all.”