Seoul says Bolton is ruining summit
Adviser’s ‘Libya model’ spooking North, experts say.
SEOUL — President Donald Trump is blaming Kim Jong Un for changing the scope of their summit talks planned for next month and will doubtless air his frustrations when he meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Washington today.
But in South Korea, many say the blame for the sudden problems in the diplomatic process lie squarely at the feet of someone else: John Bolton.
“There are several land mines on the way to the summit between North Korea and the U.S.,” said Chung Dong-Young, who served as unification minister during the last progressive administration and is now a lawmaker. “One of those land mines just exploded: John Bolton,” Chung told YTN Radio.
Woo Sang-ho, a lawmaker in Moon’s ruling Democratic Party, agreed. “Bolton’s preposterous ‘Libya solution’ is a red light in North Korea’s summit talks with the U.S. and South Korea,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
Officials now in senior positions in the Moon administration know the current American national security adviser’s background all too well. Many served under pro-engagement president Roh Moo-hyun, at a time when Bolton was a strong proponent inside the George W. Bush administration of the invasion of Iraq and of regime change in North Korea.
“I think a lot of people who were involved with the Roh administration are concerned about Bolton because he was such a neoconservative at the time, and it seems that he hasn’t changed,” said Lee Geun, a professor of political science at Seoul National University. “People are worried that he’s going to interfere and botch the process,” Lee said.
Moon’s visit to Washington today was scheduled in the wake of his own feel-good summit with Kim at the end of April and was intended to help Trump prepare for his summit with the North Korean leader, scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.
Trump had repeatedly said the talks were shaping up well, even calling Kim “nice” for releasing three American hostages held for more than a year. Until last week, that is, when North Korea made clear it had no interest in “unilateral nuclear abandonment” and would “reconsider” proceeding with the summit if that was the condition.
This followed Bolton’s appearance on the Sunday shows May 13 to tout the “Libya model” whereby Col. Moammar Gadhafi gave up his nuclear weapons program in 2003 in return for sanctions relief. The North Korean regime, however, remembers what happened afterward: Gadhafi was overthrown and brutally killed by his opponents.