Bolton says nobody is ‘starry-eyed’ on N. Korea
Top Trump aide says Kim will be pushed on pledges
WASHINGTON — Top aides to President Donald Trump signaled skepticism Sunday about North Korea’s reported pledge to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for conditions including an American promise not to attack it militarily.
But as preparations moved ahead for a face-to-face encounter between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the officials insisted that Trump’s unconventional diplomacy had already yielded greater achievements than his predecessors could claim in reining in the North’s nuclear and ballistics program.
Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said Kim’s seemingly conciliatory rhetoric was not being accepted at face value and indicated that no easing of sanctions against North Korea would take place until North Korea committed to full John Bolton, right, indicated no easing of sanctions would happen until North Korea committed to denuclearization. denuclearization.
Bolton said the Trump administration would demand evidence that Kim’s pledges were “real and not just rhetoric.”
“We’ve heard this before,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” adding that “the North Korean propaganda playbook is an
KOREA , infinitely rich resource.” Interviewed separately on “Fox News Sunday,” Bolton said “nobody is starry-eyed” about the North following through on promises.
Bolton also said that the release of three Americans detained in North Korea would be a “demonstration of their sincerity” in the run-up to the summit. He said the administration is waiting to see what North Korea decides to do.
Bolton’s comments came after South Korean officials were quoted as asserting Sunday that Kim dangled the prospect of giving up his nuclear weapons last week when he met with his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, in the truce village of Panmunjom.
Kim also offered to allow in experts and journalists from the United States and South Korea to witness the shutdown next month of the North’s only known nuclear testing site, according to Yoon Young-chan, a South Korean presidential spokesman, cited by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
In his talks with Moon, Kim also sought to dispel the notion that the promise to shut down the nuclear testing site under Mount Mantap was an empty gesture because it had become too unstable to use, anyway, after the North’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date, in September.
“You will see that we have two more tunnels that are bigger than the existing ones, and that they are in good condition,” Yoon quoted Kim as saying, according to The Associated Press.
Earlier this month, North Korea said it had suspended its nuclear tests, along with ballistic-missile tests, and announced plans to shut down the test site. In the meeting with Moon, Kim insisted he did not want to threaten the United States or anyone else,