U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton on Monday shot down a New York Times report suggesting the Trump administration is working on a plan that “tacitly accepts” North Korea as a nuclear power while effectively “freezing” its nuclear ambitions.
“I read this NYT story with curiosity. Neither the NSC staff nor I have discussed or heard of any desire to ‘settle for a nuclear freeze by NK.'” Bolton tweeted.
“This was a reprehensible attempt by someone to box in the President. There should be consequences,” he added. Bolton’s comments came after President Donald Trump held a weekend meeting on the Korean Peninsula with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un.
Experts said the meeting, their third, was rich in symbolism, but lacked substance.
The Times said the idea behind the plan was aimed at stopping North Korea’s nuclear arsenal from expanding, but would not dismantle North Korea’s existing arsenal of weapons, estimated at “20 to 60,” according to the paper.
U.S. administration officials have repeatedly insisted that North Korea should not be allowed to join the “club” of nuclear-armed nations that include, addition to the United States, China, France, India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom.
Two previous Trump-Kim summits, first in Singapore last summer and then in Hanoi, Vietnam, this year, have not yet yielded any concrete steps by North Korea to relinquish its weapons. Pyongyang has been holding out for relief from economic sanctions.
President Trump meets with Kim Jong Un and is first U.S. President to step onto North Korean soil (Photo: Getty)
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