TOKYO — There is no doubt North Korea violated United Nations Security Council resolutions by testing ballistic missiles earlier this month, national security adviser John Bolton said on Saturday, adding that President Trump is determined to maintain sanctions pressure on the regime until it backs down.
With Trump due to arrive in Tokyo for a state visit later on Saturday, he faces deadlock and the possible collapse of what he considers to be one of his key foreign policy achievements, calming tensions with Pyongyang, ending its nuclear and missile tests and starting a dialogue about denuclearization.
Now, missiles are being tested, talks have completely dried up and threatening language is on the rise, with both sides demanding the other back down, in what amounts to a nuclear-armed staring match.
North Korea conducted two sets of missile tests earlier this month, with Bolton describing them as “close-range ballistic missiles,” as well as “more standard SRBMs, short-range ballistic missiles.” UN Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 1695, specifically prohibits North Korea from launching any ballistic missiles, he said, adding: “I know that because I wrote it.”
The comments mark the first time a senior administration official has confirmed that North Korea launched ballistic missiles in contravention of UN resolutions, with officials appearing reluctant until now to make such a clear statement to demonstrate their willingness to restart dialogue.
“In terms of violating Security Council resolutions, there’s no doubt about that,” Bolton told reporters on Saturday, hours before Trump is due to land and be greeted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“I think the prime minister and the president are going to talk about making sure the integrity of the UN Security Council resolutions is maintained,” he said.
On Friday, North Korea’s foreign ministry again blamed the United States for deliberately causing the collapse of the Hanoi summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un by making unilateral and impossible demands.
Dialogue between the two countries will never be resumed unless the United States changes its “calculation,” an unnamed foreign ministry spokesman told the Korean Central News Agency, “and the further its mistrust and hostile acts toward the DPRK grow, the fiercer our reaction will be.”
North Korea’s formal name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“God knows what they said this time,” Bolton said when asked about the latest comments. “After many years of being called human scum by North Korea, I take most of what they say with a grain of salt.”
But he made it clear the Trump administration was not about to change its stance.
“The North Korean leadership well knows the president’s view,” he said, which he said concurs with that of Abe: “keeping sanctions in place and in force, until North Korea shows it has made a strategic decision to give up its nuclear weapons.”
“I don’t think that’s going to change,” he added.
Bolton rejected suggestions he was behind a hardening of the U.S. negotiating position in Hanoi, arguing it had been Trump’s consistent position, dating back to the campaign trail as well as the 2018 Singapore summit with Kim, that North Korea can have a bright future if it surrenders its nuclear arsenal.
“The president’s opened the door to North Korea, and we’re just waiting for them to walk through it,” he said.
Bolton said Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, “can’t wait” to meet his North Korean counterpart again, “but they haven’t responded,” adding that Biegun was ready to get on a plane and go “anywhere, any time.”
“We really haven’t heard much from the North Koreans since the Hanoi summit, nor has President Moon of South Korea,” he said.
Facing North Korean stonewalling, Bolton said he welcomed Abe’s recent offer to hold unconditional talks with Kim Jong Un.
In the past, Abe had insisted he wanted to see progress on the return of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea decades ago, but recently dropped that demand in a bid to convince Kim to talk.
“The president has held two unconditional meetings with Kim Jong Un, so I wouldn’t see anything untoward if Prime Minister Abe had an unconditional meeting,” Bolton said.
Abe had spoken about the abductees almost every single time he spoke with Trump on the phone or in person since Trump took office, Bolton said. The U.S. president raised the issue with Kim several times in Hanoi, and recommended he talk to Abe directly.
“The president is aware of the priority Japan places on it,” Bolton said. “We are waiting to see some response from the North Korean regime.”
Given the importance of the abductee issue, and Japan’s interest in the elimination of North Korea’s weapons program, an Abe-Kim summit “could be of substantial assistance,” Bolton said.
For now, though, the prospect of such a summit appears even more remote than a third Trump-Kim meeting, experts say.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/bolton-says-north-korea-is-violating-un-resolutions-and-refusing-talks/2019/05/25/b9541aa0-7e5a-11e9-b1f3-b233fe5811ef_story.html
2019-05-25 04:44:01Z
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