Bolton says N. Korean missile tests violate U.N. resolution

TOKYO — North Korean weapons tests this month clearly violated U.N. Security Council resolutions, White House national security adviser John Bolton said Saturday, going further than President Donald Trump in characterizing the tests of short-range ballistic missiles.

Trump initially declared he was “not happy” with the tests but then played down their importance.

“In terms of violating Security Council resolutions, there is no doubt about that,” Bolton said, speaking in Tokyo before Trump’s four-day visit to Japan. “I think the prime minister and president are going to talk about making sure the integrity of the Security Council resolutions are maintained,” he said, referring to a Monday summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and Trump.

Bolton said the United States fully supports efforts by Japan’s prime minister to meet with Kim Jong Un of North Korea without any preconditions.

Bolton said the president had had “two unconditional meetings with Kim Jong Un,” in Singapore and Hanoi, Vietnam, and he did not see “anything untoward” in Abe pursuing a similar meeting with the North Korean leader.

Until recently, Abe had said he would meet with Kim only after the North Korean dictator had taken concrete steps toward denuclearization and agreed to resolve a dispute over Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and ’80s.

But in a retreat from that hawkish position this month, Abe said he would be willing to meet Kim on an “unconditional” basis.

Bolton said such a meeting could help further the effort to denuclearize North Korea as well as resolve the issue of Japan’s abductees, a top priority for Abe that he had mentioned in virtually every meeting or phone call with Trump.

“Given Abe’s willingness to hold this meeting with Kim Jong Un,” Bolton said during a briefing with reporters, “it would certainly be in North Korea’s interest to accommodate the prime minister.”